31

This was a week we have been looking forward to with dread and anticipation.  And the good news is that we survived!  It was transfer week.  But this transfer week was like no other since we arrived in the mission, because we welcomed 31 new missionaries!

We have known for a couple of months that we would be getting a lot of missionaries at the beginning of May.  Once a missionary accepts their call, their name and information appears in IMOS for us to see.  It allows us to prepare for their arrival and it also gives us an opportunity to see their picture and learn a little about them before they arrive.  We also are able to plan for the transfer, knowing how many Sisters and how many Elders will be arriving.  Ideally the same number would arrive as are leaving, but I do not think that has ever happened here.  Since March we have watched the May list get larger and larger, finally settling at 31.  31!?  What on earth would we do?  We had 2 go home, so it was a net of 29 new missionaries.  How would we manage? Especially since we have only had 1 arrival batch larger than 15 in over 2 years!  Would we remember how to manage?

We began our planning basically the week after last transfer, for we knew it was going to take time.  19 of the new arrivals are Sister missionaries, and we would still have 6 Sisters in training from the last arrival (Missionaries are in training for the first 12 weeks of their mission.  They are assigned a trainer that will help and look after them as they adjust to missionary life.) This brings the Sister missionaries in training number to 25.  We only had 27 other Sisters.  So basically, nearly every Sister is in training or training another missionary!  We have a couple of companionships that both are in their second cycle, and they will finish training each other.  It is much the same for the Elders, with only a handful of companionships not training.

Amid the stress of figuring out this puzzle was the joy that we would be able to open 14 Areas!  No longer would we have a companionship trying to cover 4 areas!  We travelled to Tuguegarao for a Stake Conference today, and it was so wonderful to have 5 companionships of missionaries in attendance, and every companionship was in training.  We still have one area with no missionaries, because we need an apartment for them, and one companionship will still cover 2 wards, but it is a lot different than the 2 1/2 companionships we had before the transfer.  It is all quite unbelievable, considering how small the mission was in October of last year, with only 49 missionaries.   

The flight arrived at noon on May 4.  We drove both vans and both trucks to the airport.  We didn't have enough room to bring them all and their luggage back, so had to make a second trip with the vans.  We had to use the church for our welcome and orientation groups, because there was not enough room in the Mission Home.  Lunch was first on the agenda, and Sister Rosie and President Quitola prepared a most wonderful lunch.  President Craig welcomed them all to the mission and talked about being a successful missionary, then we divided them into 3 groups to rotate through the orientation.  I took one group in the chapel, the Assistants took another group in the cultural hall, and the last group went to the office with the Office Elders and President Craig.

Finally, after 7 hours and dinner, prepared by Sister Uy, all of the interviews with President Craig were complete.  We knew ahead of time that it would take a long time to finish, so had booked hotel rooms for all of the arriving missionaries on Wednesday night.  When our groups were finished, the Assistants and I organized travel to the hotel as their room of 2 or 3 was finished their orientation.  As the last Sister finished her interview at 9:40 PM, I drove up to the compound to pick up the last group. 

 Thursday morning assignments had to be made for each missionary, and we still needed to take arrival photos.  Just before noon we gathered them all in the chapel to announced the assignments.  A few of the Trainers were there, which is preferable, but because it would have meant nearly every missionary travelling to Cauayan, we made the decision to only have a companionship from each Zone come and get the new missionaries and take them back to their Zones.  This travel was organized by the MLC (Mission Leadership Council), and they did a great job of getting everyone where they needed to be.

I usually try to have the names and faces of the new missionaries learned by the time they leave the orientation, but that is not the case this time.  But I am working on it!  I hope after we have seen them a second time in a smaller setting that will become easier.  

We were exhausted but happy.  Our royal army now numbers 102 and will grow to 117 next month.  We will continue to grow quickly. 

We never thought we would see the mission grow again before we went home, but it is happening!  It is humbling to watch the work move forward.  It would be easier if the numbers increased more slowly, but God's ways are not man's ways.  He will not fail, and if we are with Him, we will not fail either.  It is a blessing to be a small part of this great work.