Transfer week!!

 Transfer week is always exciting and especially for us going through it for the first time.  Even more exciting was obtaining a new lease and furnishing the apartment in just a few days.  We stumbled and bumbled our way through the process but, as this is the Lord's work, everything worked out.  On Tuesday Elder Cawley traveled to the new apartment in Vallejo which is about an hour from Santa Rosa.  Accompanying Elder Cawley, and with a trailer in tow full of furnishings, were Elder Nate (Mission Finance Coordinator) and Elder Ritchie (MLS missionary here in Santa Rosa).  With tools in hand we set up all the furniture and placed all the housewares into the apartment.  By the time the Elders arrived we were just about finished.  We will need to return to the apartment tomorrow (Monday) as there were a few items missing and the desks we ordered were too small.  So another field trip to Vallejo tomorrow.

 

Office Missionaries:  Sisters Curtis & Grose, Elders Gardner, Ritchie and Lunt holding a picture of President & Sister Quinn

During transfer week (which occurs every six weeks) the process is always the same in our mission:

Saturday

There is a mission-wide zoom call where the APs announce all the transfers and those who will be assigned to new missionaries.  The APs also announce whether the companionships will be on bikes, buses or cars.

Tuesday 

The missionaries returning home come to the mission office.  They write their testimonies with one copy they keep, another copy kept in the mission history journal, and a third copy is given to a new missionary.  To set the spirit, Sister Cawley gave a 5 minute inspirational message.  She also handed out a small keepsake to remind them of their mission.  

The outgoing missionaries then take a field trip, complete with a sack lunch, to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Since all missionaries fly into and out of the mission from the Santa Rosa airport, many have not had the chance to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  All missionaries who are transferring or receiving a new missionary come down to the mission office - some traveling as far as the Oregon border.  They meet their new companion, have their vehicle inspected and off they go.  Those assigned new missionaries stay with other companionships. That evening the returning missionaries have dinner at the mission home.  The Sisters stay overnight at the mission home and the Elders stay at the APs and Zone Leader's apartments.  In the morning we picked up new vehicles from the dealership.  Eight senior missionaries crammed into a van then traveled to San Rafael to pick up the new cars.  Mission cars are switched out every two years or based on miles.

Wednesday

The outgoing missionaries are taken to the airport by the APs.  The mission president meets the new missionaries at the airport and brings them to the mission office where they receive some instruction and have their picture taken.  That evening there is a dinner at the mission home where all the senior office and local MLS missionaries also attend.  Just as with the outgoing missionaries, the new Sisters stay overnight at the mission home and the new Elders stay with the APs and ZLs.    

   

Dinner for new missionaries at the mission home

Thursday

Breakfast is prepared for the new missionaries at the mission office by the office staff and then the new missionaries receive instruction.  They sing Called to Serve with a special CASRM verse (below). We gave a 15 minute presentation regarding housing.  The finance and vehicle coordinators likewise gave presentations.  For lunch they have Chick-fil-A and then meet their companion.  After more instruction from the mission leaders and interviews with President Quinn, off they go.

 

Called to Serve - CASRM style

New missionary orientation

Serving Breakfast: Sister Cawley, Elder & Sister Frodsham, Elder Nate and Elder Ritchie

New missionary breakfast

In other news, we worked on our back courtyard which is roughly 15 feet square.  When we arrived it was nothing but hard dirt around the perimeter of a concrete slab.  We spent our entire Saturday placing a border around the concrete, adding a lot of dirt and planting flowers and small trees.  We found a place selling half wine barrels which we used a planters.  We also hung a strand of outdoor lights for decoration.  It's not much but it added quite a bit to our apartment.

We are having so much fun serving a mission.  We go to bed exhausted every night and with a 'to do' list a mike long but with a smile on our face.  We love serving the young missionaries!!

Before

Before

After

After