Ins, Transfers and Outs

Transfer Week began Monday, November 24

Monday is the day for our Arriving Missionaries or as we call it our INs

We had 9 Elders and 10 Sisters arrive from the MTC. 

Elder Urban drove a 15 passenger rental van, the Assistants

drove the mission van pulling the trailer for luggage, and Elder Hunt

drove President and Sister Craven to the airport. There's a lot of

planning that's involved in this procedure each transfer and Tom

is very involved with the logistics of it all. He is perfect for this job!

There are always lots of surprises at transfer time! 

This time, one of the new Sister missionaries got sick on the plane and was 

grounded in Atlanta with her companion for a short time. 

Luckily, Mission Travel was able to get them on the next flight to Charlotte.

Sister Hunt and I scrambled to get to the airport to pick up these two tired sisters.

We made it!

Another surprise was Sister Makaya! She was sent to our mission 

because her visa for Australia had not been approved in time. 

Usually our Visa Waiters are waiting to go to Brazil or Mexico.

Sister Makaya had never been off her little island of Pohnpei in Micronesia. 

She is delightful and we are so happy she is with us in North Carolina,

 even if for a short time.

This is beautiful Pohnpei. Tom says it's about the geographic size of San Francisco.

I am fascinated with Pohnpei and with Googles help I'm learning about 

this gorgeous spot in our world.. This little island

has 6 wards, 2 branches and 1 stake. It is in the Micronesia Guam Mission.

An interesting side note is that one of our wonderful missionaries, 

Sister Zarbock, flew home from her mission to Guam 

where her parents are now Mission Presidents there.

Pohnpei is a little dot southwest of the Marshall Islands.

Sister Makaya's father is Bishop in their ward.

They live on the east side of the island south of Alohkapw.

Sister Makaya is very courageous! She flew, for the first time in her life, all alone 

to Guam and then to Tokyo where she met 2 other sister missionaries. 

They were there 2 or 3 days before flying to Seattle and then to Salt Lake. 

She speaks some English and has won the hearts of all who have met her!

We will be sad to see her leave. Her visa has arrived but she doesn't know it yet.

Tuesday is Transfer Day 

After rereading my last blog entry, I already explained Transfer Day! 

Wednesday is the OUTs Day

These are some of the photos of the Missionaries who were headed home after

faithfully serving the Lord in North Carolina Charlotte.

We left our apartment at 5:15 AM to pick 20 departing missionaries at the

Mission Home and take them to the airport, the day before Thanksgiving.

Many anxious and excited families were waiting for their loved ones to arrive home.

It's getting harder and harder to say goodbye to these wonderful friends we love!

President Craven

Sister Hunt and Sister Craven

We spent a beautiful Thanksgiving afternoon with President and Sister Craven

in the Mission home for dinner. It was a small gathering including Elder and Sister Slade,

Elder and Sister Andrus and us. We missed our family and friends but

had much to be grateful for here in North Carolina as well as at home.

We took a wonderful walk in Reedy Creek Park on Saturday.

It felt so good to be outside and enjoy the crisp sunny afternoon!

I couldn't resist taking this picture of Tom trying to set his phone up on the garbage can

 to get a photo of the two of us! It was pretty comical as well as futile!

I'm two weeks behind in my efforts to keep this blog current.

I'll keep trying.....

Sending our love to y'all!