Mission Blog: New Missionaries

Friday, November 29, 2013

New Missionaries - November 27, 2013

November 27, 2018

The plane carrying the new missionaries was delayed and we had to wait in the cold airport lobby until it arrived.

We had two missionaries this time--una sorella and uno anziano. It was a big difference compared to the 20-25 we had during the summer months. Things ran much smoother and it was more relaxed. Gratefully, all their luggage arrived with them. We always consider that a miracle.

After a quick stop at the Rome Temple site, we took the new missionaries to the office to make copies of their driver's license to have on hand in case of emergency and then they had a brief training on finances in the mission field.

After a quick lunch in the mission office, President Waddoups walked with them to the mission home. Along the way they each gave out a pass-along-card. That's a pretty good start to a mission.

At the mission home, a warm, cozy bed awaited each of them. After getting up at 2:00 am the morning before and traveling all day, they were exhausted. Two hours just didn't seem like a long enough nap, but we wanted them to be able to sleep that night.

The assistants took them to Roma Centro for a drive past the Colosseum and some of the historical sights. After they returned, we had a pasta dinner with gelato for dessert before we did some additional training. After the training, each of the new missionaries opened their golden envelope that contained their assigned area and the name of their trainer. They usually don't know where the area is or who the person is that is soon to be by their side for 24 hours a day, but they are still excited.

Everyone sings the Inno di Roma (Hymn of Rome) for the first time and then it's off to bed. They are missionaries serving in the Italy Rome Mission now.

The assistants spend the night at the villa with us and they are good at answering questions and giving guidance. This time we had one assistant who is moving on to become a zone leader and another one who will be the new assistant and both of their new companions join us at the villa.