Transfer Week and a Good-bye to a Senior Couple

 February 17-23

TRANSFER WEEK!  Monday staff meeting on transfer weeks are a little crazy.  We find out which apartments will close or open.  It's a little stressful.  We have about 8 apartments that don't have any missionaries in them.  So they always have to be clean and ready to put missionaries back in them.  We are in charge of the keys to each apartment.  So we send out a message to all the missionaries the night before that are getting transfered to be sure to leave their apartment key with their companion.  For those that apartments are getting White Washed (meaning both missionaries are leaving an area and 2 new ones are coming in) we are in charge of collecting the keys and Sim Cards from their phones. Then we need to be sure the right missionaries get the new keys and Sim Card for their new area.  It can get a little crazy because the missionaries are so excited to be at transfers and seeing their old companions, it's like a big family reunion every 6 weeks.  This transfer we had 8 white washes and 1 apartment closure. I actually love watching all the missionaries greeting each other and all the hugs that are going on.  It gets pretty loud and it is sometimes hard to get the missionaries to focus on getting their keys and si cards.  But so much fun!  We have 1 senior couple that has been MLS here for 18 months and their time was up, they were going home.  So that night all the senior couples in the area got together and went out to dinner at the Pasta House.  It's fun to be all together and just visit.  

Tuesday, all the incoming missionaries arrive!  This time 15 missionaries came in together but 3 were coming in 2 hours later, so President asked me to be the one to greet them at the airport.  So I would know what to do, President McKay and his wife invited me to come with them to the airport.  It was so fun to be their.  I was so impressed that they greeted each missionary by name, knew where they were from and some of their hobbies.  Dan is there with the trailer to pick up the luggage, then the new missionaries go to the Temple for a picture and then to the Mission Home for interviews and dinner. After Dan picked up the luggage I got into the truck with him and we waited at the airport for a couple of hours and then Dan dropped me off and I went to greet the 3 new ones.  After we got them all loaded up into the truck we took them over to the Mission Home.  They had missed the picture at the Temple so I took a picture of each of them with President and his wife to send to their parents, just so they know they arrived here safely.  After dinner they are taken to a Hotel close by, for the night.

Wednesday morning we take all the luggage over to the church and match up all their luggage with a new pillow, blanket and bed cover, that I have purchased for them.  We give a little spill about housing to the newbies and encourage them to keep their apartments clean. This transfer, President decided to close 1 apartment Wednesday morning without telling me.  That was a little nervous because I wasn't prepared for it.  But one thing we are learning is to be nimble and ready for anything.  Sister Bryan, (who is a records preservation senior missionary) always comes to help me.  Thank goodness for her.  This time we had a few other senior missionaries just show up to see if they could help.  They were such a blessing to both of us.  While I am in making sure the missionaries are getting the right keys and Sim Cards, Dan is out loading the departing missionaries luggage into the trailer.  Each suitcase has to be weighed first.  If it is to heavy then the missionary has to figure out what to do.  Most of the missionaries leave to go to the airport at the same time but this time we had 3 that were going earlier, 4 that parents were coming to pick them up and then the rest going to the airport the next morning.  So you have to be aware of where you put each suitcase.  It gets a little tricky sometimes.

Thursday morning Dan is back at the airport with the departing missionaries.  The missionaries get dropped off and then come over to the trailer and get their luggage from us.  It was so cold and a couple of the Sisters were having a hard time pulling all their luggage. So Dan helped a couple Sisters into the airport to check in and he told me to stay with the truck.  But there were a couple of other Sisters that were having and hard time and so I started helping them.  Sister Booth, who we served with in Fairview Heights, was one of the ones having a hard time.  I love her so much.  As I started helping her, she told me she was so scared to go home.  It just felt strange.  She was almost in tears.  I tried to reassure her and hugged her really tight.  She'll be fine, it is hard to leave the mission where everything in your day is planned out and you know what you are supposed to do almost every minute of the day.

Friday we didn't stay very long at the office.  We needed to do some grocery shopping for ourselves and also needed to get some supplies for Zone Conference next week.

Saturday and Sunday it was Stake Conference in the O'Fallon Stake.  It was such a great conference and the Spirit was so strong.  I love our Stake!!