Eighteen New Missionaries!!

We never have too much time to mourn the missionaries who leave us, because only a few hours later, new ones arrive. This week we said goodbye to 15 and welcomed 18. Seventeen of those were from Mexico and one was from the United States. Four of the 17 were Sisters. All of them seem like they will be great missionaries.

Because the ones from Mexico arrive early in the morning, after feeding them and having interviews we went ahead and did their training so they could leave for their areas. This does make for a long day for them (since they usually have to get up at 4 to get here) but it also allows them to jump right into missionary work. We will have them all come back in four weeks for follow up training as well.

Our one American arrived at night, so we also fed him (along with his new companion) and then after spending the night in the office he received his training the next morning--in English so he could understand it.:-)

Here are some pictures from the day--beginning with a very bad picture of the early group. (The shadows from the palm trees messed it up a bit. I won't be doing that again.)

At the church for training

Getting to know their trainers This is always the most fun part for me. Everyone is so excited to see who their companion will be and the new ones are dying to know where they will be working.

And here are pictures of everyone with their trainers. The blessing of being at the church is we are next to the temple. Our American elder's picture was taken at our house in front of the "tree of life".  I have not specified which are the new ones and which are trainers, but I know their parents will know.:-)

And this picture just made me laugh. This elder is apparently "growing" He actually borrowed a suit (pants and jacket from two different people). It is always good to have friends.:-)