We received twenty six missionaries last week. They came in four groups at four different times. We trained those who came in on Tuesday and Wednesday together. The missionary department and the travel department are working very hard to get us all the missionaries who are waiting for their visas!
Tuesday Evening we were thrilled to pick up this group of thirteen missionaries. Three of them are from Chile, two are from Peru, one is from Uruguay, six are from the USA and one is from Argentina.
(Remember to double click on pictures you want to see larger.)
This is how they looked after hours and hours of travel!
This Hermana found that she was over the weight limit for her luggage so she solved the problem by wearing 15 pounds of her clothes. Here she is showing how many skirts she had on. I would say that is very creative!
After a good night's sleep and a shower they all came to the mission home for their first interview with President Lovell and to learn all about the mission.
We introduces all the new missionaries to facturas...a tradition here in the mission!
These facturas keep us all going as we do the morning paperwork and each have a first interview with President Lovell.
The assistants take a few minutes to teach them about the mission and answer any questions they may have.
One of my favorite things to do with the new missionaries is to talk about learning the language. As part of that training we teach those who are learning Spanish and those who are learning English to work together and to help each other.
It is even more fun when there are about even numbers of those who are learning English and those who are learning Spanish. This transfer there was 6 who are learning Spanish and 7 who are learning English. We divided into groups of two and practiced how to work with each other during language study time. They seemed to have a lot of fun!
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The assistants are always there to serve. We all try to make it a very special time for our new missionaries.
After we had dinner and got everyone settled we went to the airport to pick up our second group of missionaries.
President Lovell and I arrived at the airport first. It was so fun to see all of our assistants come in and check the flight schedule to see if the airplane will land soon. We have four assistants right now because of getting ready for the division of the mission.
We found out the plane will be about an hour late so we had time to notice things like what a perfect outfit this assistant had on!
Of course I always look for an opportunity to take extra pictures!
It is always so fun to hear that the flight we are waiting for is here. It is pretty easy to spot the missionaries through the glass. There are five missionaries from Ecuador and one Elder from Brazil! He is our first Missionary from Brazil!
It takes a lot of luggage to carry everything you might need for a year and a half or two years!
We dropped all the Elders off at the Casa Grande where they will be spending the night.
It was late when we arrived at the Mission Home but our new Hermana found a note to greet her from the three other Hermanas that had arrived the day before!
The next morning the three Hermana's with their coats on went with our Secretaries to do their paperwork to be legal in the country. We work very hard to have all of the visa and DNI documentation in perfect order for all of the missionaries.
The other new missionaries finish training in the office, do paperwork and have their interview with President Lovell.
Their official mission photos!
After lunch we all went to the church to meet the trainers!
All the new missionaries were excited to receive their new pillow!
The New Companionships
Thank you to the families of these wonderful new missionaries!
Thank you for taking such great photos. We were excited to see our missionary looking so happy! Love from Idaho Falls :)
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