These are our new arrivals for the month. It's a great group.
The Rosenthals worked in the office. We will miss them.
Elder Payne was one of the A.P.s that helped train us. We will miss him so much and will always be grateful for all he has done to help us on our way.
Another fantastic group headed home. We will miss them all. It gets more difficult every time.
This was a week # 7/1 with transfers and zone leader’s council.
Specifics for this week – ending 9-20-08
Due to the mission presidents seminar last week we had a 7-week transfer cycle which is now being followed by a 5-week transfer. While the seminar was refreshing and got me more focused on this great work, it made this week extremely busy!
On Tuesday we had 22 new Elders arrive. When I was meeting them at the airport I noticed there were only 21 there. I asked the Elder in charge of the group how many he had with him and he said 21. There was a Spanish Elder who had been schedule to come out in the next transfer but as he was a native speaker, he didn’t need the extra time in the MTC and was coming in this group. When I called the missionary department from the airport no knew what was going on so we came home with 21 missionaries. I was thinking I would need to change a lot of transfer plans. As I walked in the door the phone was ringing. The missing Elder was calling me from a pay phone. He was at the airport and had been routed through Portland and arrived in Eugene about 30 minutes after the large group. The assistants went back to get him. About 5 minutes later I got a call from SLC telling me that he would was on a later flight.
I understand that 21 is the largest group of new missionaries this mission has ever had at one time - so we now have a new high bench mark at 22. It was exciting to see their enthusiasm and excitement for the work. Each one seemed so committed and ready to give his all. It is also fun to have various connections with them; one knew a business associate, another a ward member, and another a friend. By the way, 21 are coming in the next transfer.
On Wednesday we went to the temple with the returning missionaries and then had their final dinner etc. On Thursday we had them go home on the noon flight instead of the 6:00 am flight which made for time in the morning to study scriptures with them and have more relaxed departure plans. I lost an assistant and a mission assistant with this group; and the process begins again with training and helping others grow in new assignments.
Friday we had our zone leader’s council. We decided to have those items that are more announcement oriented printed out before hand so they could just be taken with them. Then we could spend more time in the scriptures together. I enjoyed having time in the scriptures with the leaders of the mission. I think we will follow that format in the future.
Throughout the week Sister Macdonald has cooked up a storm and was at it late every night so I hope she can relax a little bit tomorrow before we hit the road again with interviews, etc. on Tuesday.
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