Transfer Week!

In the days and weeks leading up to Transfer Week, I really wondered about all the planning, all the attention to detail, all the things that needed to happen, all the people who needed to do what they were supposed to do and be where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there -- how was this all going to come together?  And it did, more smoothly than I could have imagined.

The nine new missionaries arrived at the airport Tuesday afternoon. President and Sister Wada and the two assistants met them at the airport and brought them back on the bus. They arrived at the mission home at about 8:00 p.m., where we had dinner waiting for them. They ate and then gathered in the living room for a brief discussion on Japanese culture, then were sent off to bed. The four sisters slept in guest bedrooms in the mission home, while the five elders and the two assistants went next door to the stake center and slept there on futons. Up early the next morning for a rousing dodgeball game, which was supposed to be followed by a run outside, but one brand new elder sprained his ankle -- welcome to Japan! It was decided they'd wait until later to decide if he needed to see a doctor (he didn't have his gaijin [foreignor] or insurance cards yet anyway), he was given a blessing and then sort of nursed it along throughout the day, it improved dramatically and turned out just fine, thankfully!

Bruce and I had gotten to the office early to help with breakfast, and then we had about an hour to present our part of their training. I confirmed with them their personal and contact information, reviewed some procedural and policy items, what to do in case of emergency (which probably means earthquake in Japan), that sort of thing.  

Bruce talked with them about their mission debit card, how much money they'll receive, how to request reimbursements for expenses the mission covers. You probably know that missionaries from the states (or their families) contribute $400 a month to their ward missionary fund that is applied to their missionary's support. We've learned that in Japan, it actually costs the Church $1200 per month per missionary!  So Bruce tried to impress upon them that their expenses are subsidized by others' contributions, that these are sacred funds and missionaries should be thoughtful and responsible in how they use the money allotted to them.

This was a unique group in that all four of the sisters are from the United States, but three of them already spoke Japanese (two of them have Japanese mothers and another had two years of Japanese at Stanford). These three sisters and the two Japanese elders had only spent two weeks in the MTC rather than nine. More than half the group was already fluent -- the rest did look a bit more shell-shocked! 

They spent the rest of the day training -- after lunch they partnered with missionaries in the Kichijoji District and headed out to dendo (missionary work)-- and to eat out for dinner and make sure their debit cards worked! 

New missionaries with President and Sister Wada.

And here with their trainers.

Thursday morning their trainers arrived in time for breakfast, more training, companion assignments made, luggage shipped to their apartments, lunch, pictures, and then they were off, by train, to their assigned areas. As they were leaving, the departing missionaries were arriving -- 17 of them going home. President Wada finished their final interviews (which had been spread out over four days while everything else was going on!), and we helped Sister Wada prepare sukiyaki for dinner for them (I think I need at least one more specialty kitchen appliance to make this when we get home...). 

Incidentally, usually when Sister Wada is feeding a crowd at the mission home, she'll go with an American menu, because it's easier and quicker to prepare in quantity. This sukiyaki dinner is an exception -- it's pretty labor intensive and a special treat for these missionaries' last meal with President and Sister Wada.

The returning missionaries spent Thursday night in the mission home -- again, the sisters in the guest bedrooms and the elders in the meetinghouse on futons. Friday morning, breakfast -- and a few of them had parents and other family members coming to pick them up who were also invited. Then pictures, visiting, lots of hugs and tears, and finally putting everyone on the bus to head to the airport. 

(FYI, Kendra -- the sister front and center, with the flowers-on-reddish-background shirt, is Sister Gappmeyer. She plays basketball for Snow College and will be living in Nuttal Hall this fall. She's expecting to meet you!)

All of this coming together was something to see, and we came away with even more admiration and respect for President and Sister Wada and the office elders. We spent 12-hour days at the office four days out of five this week, but these elders live there! Normally, they're supposed to be out of the office by 6:00 p.m. and spend their evenings doing missionary work, but I think Transfer Week makes being in the office a 24/7 kind of responsibility.  They do so much, it's hard to remember that most of them are just 19 or 20 years old!