President Waddoups gave each new missionary a "Golden Envelope". They were not to open them until instructed and then they were opened one by one. Each missionary got to take a turn standing up, opening their assignment, and then reading where they were going and who their companion would be.
By the time we got to this point, it was really, really late because we had to wait for all the missionaries with lost luggage to go to the airport and retrieve it. Eleven of the missionaries had to go to the airport and the other ten stayed at the villa, took showers, and pretended to be awake.
Once the missionaries were assembled in the living room and President Waddoups started distributing the Golden Envelopes, everyone was wide awake. It was an exciting moment.
We have a large map of Italy with the locations where the missionaries serve marked on it. They were pretty excited to get a closer look at the map. Some of the missionaries had no idea where the city was that they were assigned to. None of them had a clue who their new trainer would be.
If they were afraid, their enthusiasm covered it up. They are in the Lord's hands and He will guide them. From this point on, they will be out of the familiar confines of the MTC and in unknown territory doing what they have waited their whole lives to do. I'm certain some of the prayers whispered that night were the most sincere prayers they had ever said.
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