This week we've had Transfers, which is always a busy but amazing time, to go from one end of the missionaries’ mission life to the other in a matter of forty-eight hours.
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Hermana Arreola arrived earlier in the day
and helped in the kitchen |
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Our first glimpse
Elder St. Martin, Elder Hicken, Hermana Gomm, Elder Lawrenson,
Elder Howard, Hermana Okey |
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Elder St. Martin, (a man with a phone), Elder Howard, Hermana Okey,
Elder Lawrenson, Elder Allen, Elder Ralph, Elder Frisby |
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| Hermana Gomm, Elder Allen, Sister Whiting, Hermana Okey |
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President Woodbury, Elder Morriss, Elder Allen, Elder Hicken, Elder Frisby, Elder Lawrenson, Elder Howard, Elder Winn, Elder St. Martin, Elder Fegan, Elder Ralph Elder Clarke, Elder Green
Sister Whiting, Hermana Arreola, Hermana Okey, Hermana Gomm |
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Unloading at the Mission Home
Elder Morriss, Elder Green, Elder Howard, Elder Lawrenson, Elder Winn,
Hermana Gomm, Sister Whiting |
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Elder Frisby, Elder Allen, Elder Howard, Elder Clarke, Elder Fegan,
Elder Lawrenson, Elder St. Martin, Elder Green, President Woodbury |
After picking up bags and driving to the Mission Home, Interviews with the President begin while I do orientation and the Assistants take pictures to be used on the Transfer boards at the Mission Office and Mission Home.
At dinner we are joined by the Office Couples, Elder and Sister Warner and Elder and Sister Lewis. The menu this time was chicken haystacks, green salad with avocados, artichokes and strawberries, cinnamon pull-apart rolls, and frozen fruit dessert and cookies.
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| Cinnamon Pull-aparts |
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| Sister Whiting, Hermana Gomm, Hermana Arreola, Hermana Okey |
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| Elder Frisby, Elder Howard, Elder Fegan, Elder Ralph, Sister Warner |
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| Elder Lawrenson, Elder Green, Elder Clarke, Elder St. Martin |
Afterward, the couples head home and the rest of us move downstairs for Testimony Meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting the Assistants do a skit illustrating the first day of a missionary’s life in the mission field. Its quite humorous, showing the exhausted new Elder trying to wake up at 6:30 am, exercising doing “Baptism squat thrusts,” opening the cupboard to find just Ramen and potato flakes for breakfast, and knocking on doors all day with no success.
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The Skit:
Elder Fegan and Elder Morriss
before the 6:30 alarm |
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| Companionship Study |
At the end of the day the new missionary is wiped out and dejected from all the rejection and effort expended. The two of them kneel down to pray and while doing so we see a man (the third Assistant when like this time, he is “retiring the next day”) praying at the very same time, asking God for help in his life and with his family. It is his door that is chosen as the last for the day, and he welcomes the Elders into his home.
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| Teaching |
The new Elder is jazzed up when he leaves the house and wants to go and go and go, but instead they head back to their apartment at the designated time. As they say their prayers that night, the new Elder falls asleep and drops onto the floor. The older missionary/Trainer covers him with his own suit coat, and patting him on the back says, “Welcome to the best two years, Elder…” We are always moved by the ending of the skit, but this time particularly so. The Assistants did an especially good job and the Spirit was very strong…
After a musical number,
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Special Musical Number by
Elder Fegan, Elder Howard, Elder Winn, Elder Hicken and Hermana Okey |
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| Elder Howard, Elder Winn, and Elder Hicken |
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| Elder Fegan |
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| Elder Winn, Elder Hicken, and Hermana Okey |
the testimonies begin, and it has a sweet feel to it, kind of like sitting around a campfire on the eve of the battle, the warriors scared, intimidated, but also ready to get to it, to join the fight for the souls of God’s children. Several times as I have talked I have related the statement made by Elder Neal Maxwell, about how the Star of Bethlehem was placed into its orbit millions of years before, so it would be at the precise point to shine over that stable at that exact time. And likewise, how the Lord has set each of in our own orbit so that we can be in this exact place at this exact time. Additionally, how there is someone, if not many someones out there, who have been placed in their orbits to intersect with us at the right place and time, to be invited to hear about the Restored Gospel and respond to the promptings of the Spirit. President Woodbury and I felt the “orbit-setting” in our calling and mission assignment, hence our Mission motto: Now is the time, and the GKLM is the place!
Then it is time for the exhausted missionaries to drop into their beds to sleep...
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| By their [shoes] ye shall know them... |
In the morning a hot breakfast of egg and ham casserole, muffins, and fresh fruit awaits, then everyone has Companionship Study conducted by the Assistants, and instruction on financial matters by Elder Warner. More pictures are taken then its time to load up and move over to the Church next to the MIssion Office nearby.
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| Hermana Gomm |
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| Hermana Arreola |
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| Hermana Okey |
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| Sister Whiting |
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| Elder Howard |
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| Elder Hicken |
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| Elder Ralph |
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| Elder Frisby |
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| Elder Clarke |
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| Elder Lawrenson |
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| Elder St. Martin |
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| Elder Green |
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| Elder Allen |
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Top: Elder St. Martin, Elder Frisby, Elder Howard, Elder Clark
Third row: President Woodbury, Elder Lawrenson, Elder Allen,
Second row: Sister Woodbury, ELder Ralph, Elder Green, Elder Hicken
Front: Hermana Gomm, Sister Whiting, Hermana Okey, Hermana Arreola |
The Transfer Meeting follows where the departing missionaries share their "Words of Wisdom", the new Elders and Sisters meet their Trainers, "Called to Serve" GKLM -style is sung, and the rest of the Transfers are called out.
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| Sister Wood and Sister Ford |
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The Fearsome Foursome: The Sisters of Salem and Charlestown
Sister Wood, Sister Ford, Sister Nelson, and Sister Noakes |
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| Elder Warren, Elder Ahearn, Elder Barlow, Elder Gill |
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| Elder Foutz, Elder Eliot, Elder Young, and Elder Jacobsen |
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| Elder Adams and Elder Schelske |
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| Elder Armstrong and Elder Dewey |
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Elder Wight, Elder Waddell, Elder Rost, Elder Leake,
Elder Schofield, and Elder Wharton |
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| Elder Seegmiller and Elder Wiggins |
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| Moving on... |
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| New companions: Hermana Holt and Hermana Dunlop |
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| New companions: Elder Day joining Elder Bradford as a Zone Leader |
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| Elder Young, Elder Eliot, Elder Jacobsen, Elder J. Wood, Elder Rollins |
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| Elder Grandados, Elder Rollins, Elder Singleton |
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"Retiring" Assistant to the President- Elder Winn
and President Woodbury |
After a meeting introducing the 12-week Training Program, the new missionaries, Trainers, and departing missionaries have lunch at the church, have pictures taken, and then are off to their first areas.
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| Elder N. Johnson, Elder Winn, Elder Clarke, Elder Howard, Elder Duran |
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Elder Gill, Elder Lawrenson, Elder Christensen, Elder Richins,
Elder Green, Elder Broomhead, Elder Frisby |
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Elder Green, Elder Broomhead, Elder Frisby, Elder Jacobsen,
Elder Foutz, Elder Young, Elder Eliot, Hermana Arreola,
Hermana Gomm, Hermana Delgado, Elder St. Martin |
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Hermana Gomm, Sister Delgado, Elder St. Martin, Elder Banks,
Elder DeYoung, Elder Allen, Sister Wood, Sister Goodman |
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Elder J. Wood, Elder Hicken, Elder LEake, Elder Biddle,
Elder Fegan, Elder Morrison, Elder Morriss |
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| Elder Fegan, Elder Morrison, Elder Morriss, Elder Rollins |
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| President Woodbury Elder Ahearn, Elder Warren, Elder Bratter |
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| Elder Richins, Elder Green |
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Sister Clemons and Sister Whiting
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Hermana Arreola and Hermaa Taylor
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Broomhead and Elder Frisby
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Richins and Elder Green
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Bratter and Elder Ralph
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Winn and Elder Clarke
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Daynes and Elder Hicken
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Christensen and Elder Lawrenson
President and Sister Woodbury |
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ELder Duran and Elder Howard
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder Banks and Elder St. Martin
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Elder DeYoung and Elder Allen
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Hermana Delgado and Hermana Gomm
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Hermana Estrada, Hermana Okey, and Hermana Provost
President and Sister Woodbury |
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Departing Missionaries
Elder Jacobsen, (President Woodbury), Elder Foutz, Elder N. Johnson, Elder Eliot, Elder Young
SIster Goodman, Sister Wood, (Sister Woodbury) |
After the Transfer Meeting and everyone goes off with new companions, we see the other end of the spectrum, after attending a special Temple session together with the Office Couples and the outgoing missionaries.
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At the Louisville Temple
Elder Lewis, Elder Warner, Sister Warner, Elder Foutz, ELder Eliot
Sister Lewis, President Woodbury, Elder N. Johnson, Elder Jacobsen, Elder Young
Sister Woodbury, Sister Wood, Sister Goodman |
That night after dinner, we have another Testimony Meeting, this time more subdued, with many tears shed, the Sisters and Elders wishing it didn’t have to end, wondering where the time went, and wondering what comes next. The feelings expressed the first night are strong, burning, and hopeful, and the second night, deep, proven, and anchored, after eighteen months or two years of serving, growing, and seeing lives change, including their own.
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| Sister Wood |
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| Sister Goodman |
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| Elder Eliot |
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| Elder Young |
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| Elder Foutz |
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| Elder Jacobsen |
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| Elder Johnson |
The next morning its time to say goodbye, which is getting harder and harder, the more time with have with them, before they move on in their lives.
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