A little view of OUR schedule today:
7 AM - meet at airport to help 30 missionaries check in - take photos - say goodbye. Last flight for
them leaves at 9:25.
9:50 AM - greet 29 new missionaries - flying in from the MTCs in Mexico City and Santiago. The 30th one arrived later in the afternoon, flying in from Provo.
Group photos, gather a gazillion pieces of luggage, load the bus, head to the mission office.
11 AM - 1:30 PM - Welcome, introductions, training, discuss finance, visa and health issues, have them write a quick letter home to be mailed later with photos with us, have them email home to let the families know of their safe arrival. All of this times 30, while President Bluth is interviewing each one to determine the companions who will train them, and their sectors to serve in.
1:30 - head for the mission home for their first almuerzo here! Photo session with each one!
4 PM - back to mission office - Pres. continues interviews, and visa photos are taken. More training and emailing. Begin taking ones who are finished to the hotel for the night - a welcome thing after traveling for the last 24 hours!!! Trying to keep them awake for training was tricky!
7:30 - last interviews completed, last group to hotel, pizzas brought in for them - and goodnight!!
9 PM - Pres. & I back to the mission home to make final placement and type up assignment list for the morning. Easier said than done, by the way! Are we tired yet??
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| Here we are at the airport with 27 brand new, very tired, somewhat apprehensive, greatly excited, and extremely dedicated MISSIONARIES!!! One companionship must have been in the restroom, and the last Hermana flew in at 2:30. |
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| Almuerzo for 40 today, since we invited the office staff! Ingrid was on her own, since I was with the group all day. I don't know how she does it all!! She fixed chicken enchiladas, chips and guacamole, spanish rice, refried beans, chicken chimis, and brownies and ice cream. What a fantastic first feast!!! Dishwashing for 40, anyone?? THE NEXT MORNING - the new trainers for these 30 received instruction from the APS and Pres. Bluth. The bus brought the new ones to this little chapel and we fixed sack lunches for them to take to their new "homes" - most of them needing to ride the bus - some for 5 or 6 hours to the south! Everyone was anxious to find out who their companions would be and where they would be going! |
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| Assignments made, happy faces, time to gather luggage and head for the bus station! |
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| Trainers are the greatest! |
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| And off they go! |
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| One last time as a group and then - |
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| a little walk to the bus terminal - maybe a half mile away. |
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| Delivering a few oversized bags to the Hermanas at the terminal, and trying to find who left a few things behind. Once a mom, always a mom!! Do we really do all of this again every 6 weeks?!?!? |
Sister Bluth - this is Kara Herron, mom of Elder Alexander Herron who works in the mission office. I'm so excited to find your blog, and see a few pictures of my missionary. We just received a letter from him describing this day that you are talking about - he loved it. I wanted to share what he wrote about the new missionaries... "The bus ride from there until the chapel in Collao was kind of... powerful. You could just feel the nervousness and anxiety from the 30 new missionaries. They just felt so dedicated and consecrated and pure. They were all singing hymns like the Spirit of God and Called to Serve. It was a humbling experience." Alex loves working in the office, and it's taught him SO much. Thank you for this blog - the few glimpses we see of our missionaries and mission life are priceless to missionary moms. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks so much for taking such good care of our sons and daughters.
Love,
Kara
Dear Hermana Herron:), We LOVE Elder Herron! He and Elder Thompson work their technology magic for us old-timers on a regular basis! He is such a kind, quiet, hard-working Elder. We are grateful for him and you can be so proud of him! We will take good care of him!! With love, Hermana Bluth
DeleteSister Bluth--My son is Elder Austin Gale and was one of the missionaries you welcomed on Tuesday! At least I am hoping he is, since he isn't in the group picture at the airport. Hopefully he's not lost already :). Thanks for all you do! Jodi Gale
ReplyDeleteDear Hermana Gale, Elder Gale is alive and well here in the mission! We thought we had all of the missionaries in the photo, but he and his companion must have been in the restroom or hunting down luggage. He is a wonderful young man and we are excited to have him! He has a great trainer and is going to be a fantastic missionary - very obedient and hard working! We were with him for a mission conference today in Los Angeles (Chile!), and he looked happy, healthy, and ready to preach the gospel. Love, Hermana Bluth
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