New Missionaries--the first of the year!

The morning after every farewell dinner, is a welcome breakfast. This time we welcomed nine elders and six sisters who arrived from the CCM in Mexico City

First we take their pictures in front of our tree of life. This is to remind them they are here to partake of the love of God/atonement in their own lives and share those blessing with others. Next comes breakfast followed by President Wagner's,  "The next couple weeks will be the worst of your life speech." It really isn't terrible for all of them, but experience has taught us that about 80% will want to go home after the first week and at least one will call saying he/she wants to go home, so President wants them to be prepared for that.

Next we divide.  I take the sisters and talk about health issues while President starts interviewing the elders. The elders waiting for their interviews also meet with the assistants to go over language goals. All Spanish speaking natives are expected to learn English while they are here, so we like to get them started on that right off.

(Meeting with the assistants)

And then we switch and I talk with the elders, while the sisters have their interviews and meet with the assistants.

(Waiting for interviews)

 And everyone also signs our quilt. Everyone who has served with us has signed it. We know we will treasure it always.

Then we head to the stake center for all the rest of the training and to meet their companions (who are also trained the same day). After feeding them pizza, they hop on the bus and head out to their areas. They are all pretty exhausted but excited to get to work.

Meanwhile--President heads back to the airport to pick up the missionaries coming from Provo. This time there were only two of them. They then came to the house for an early dinner and some training. They went to work in the evening and we finished their training the following day in the office.

The two newest ones are the two in the middle. The other two arrived in the morning from Mexico. We kept them together for training so we could do their training in English since they are all from the U.S.  (we found they do better if they understand what we are saying.:-)

Next post will be all the new missionaries with their companions!!