21 August 2014

When we got back to the office on Monday, Wayne's desk was loaded with bills that needed to be paid and receipt for train tickets for the missionaries that were coming into Warszawa to leave on Tuesday.  And our emails went on forever.  And by the way, it was Elder Smith's 21st birthday on Sunday so we got some balloons and a little gift and decorated his computer station.  He will be leaving us on Wednesday.  It will be sad to see him go.  After I got all of the returning missionaries packets done and all their letters to the President downloaded on a CD, Wayne and I went over to the mission home to say goodbye and to hand the packets to the President.  He has an interview with everyone of them and also gives a temple interview and Polish Temple recommend.

Here's a picture of Elder Durrant with Elders Stumpf and Smith.  These were the first elders we served with in Wroclaw.  Elder Stumpf was heading home.

Boy it's hard to see them go.

There were 12 missionaries going home on Tuesday.  One of the missionaries was going home early because he was getting headaches all the time and they couldn't figure out what was wrong so Germany decided to send him home to get proper medical attention.

Sister Edgren fed all of them Monday night.  Here is Elder Caskey helping her serve up the desert.  Her wonderful pie.

And here they all are

Elder Johnson, Sisters Blake, Wendel, Young, Elders Kotter, Stumpf, Stockford, Finch and Lanham.  And the Sisters sitting are:  Barth, Lidtka and Pearson.

So Tuesday, we had the excitement of receiving 13 new missionaries.  One of the Sisters had to stay back in Utah, because she had to testify at a trial.  Hopefully, she will be here in a couple of weeks.  They brought the Elders over first and took the Sisters to have their pictures taken and to have a bite to eat.  So here they are just talking to everyone and trying to get settled.

And here are the Elders:

Elders Wilcox, Summers, Quackenbush, Coutu, Jeffs, Campora and Wright.  They weren't as tired as some of the groups that come in.

And here are the Sisters:

Sisters Woodward, Bak, Benson, Grgich, Kuchar and Slagowski.  Sister Smith is still back in the states.

Very exciting day and they were all ready to get going.  Sister Woodward had a very bad sinus infection and a  mild case of mononucleosis.  (Don't know if that's spelled right)  She really needed to go to bed.  

There's some handsome guys and beautiful girls.  They are all going to be awesome.

We got our final bill from the hotel in Szczyrk, so now it's time to put everything together and submit our final expenditures to Germany.  That took us most of the day on Wednesday.  And I had to put together the legal packets so the Office Elders could go start the process for the new missionaries.  Busy day.

  They will have their 1st P-day on Monday and will get to email home and let their parents know where they were assigned.  The trainers the mission president has chosen are wonderful missionaries and will get these elders and sisters working hard right from the start.

We didn't hold FHE or English class this week.  Just too much to do and a lot to make up from last week.  I think I want that vacation now.  

Love you and miss you all.