Airport Photo
The flight into Berlin arrives at 11:30 am. By this time the missionaries have been traveling for about 20 hours, they may have had a little sleep on the way but probably not much.
Lost Luggage Office
Four of the five had 2 of their 3 pieces of luggage, but one sister only had her carry-on, which wasn't packed with much. I think she will pack a carry-on bag with a little more care before her next flight.
The bus took the missionaries to the ward building that is nearest the mission office. The AP's traveled with them and had some instruction planned. They were also hoping to give the first discussion to the bus driver on the ride. (Those AP's always thinking!!!) The missionaries with lost luggage were delayed filling out paper work, so they road with Cliff and I in the back up vehicle, the mission blue van.
All the new missionaries met together in the chapel, President Kosak welcomed them and they were given an overview of the next two days. Each missionary meets with the Financial Secretary, Elder Gibson and he instructs them on their MSF cards and how the money works. He has some important things for them - but unfortunately they are so sleepy they don't get it all.
Sister Gibson has legal paperwork for them to sign, visa applications, Ministerial Certificates, etc. We make copies of their passports and scan their driver's licenses. They have their pictures taken and each has an interview with the mission president. With such a big group they were divided into smaller groups and we rotated them between workstations to get everything completed.
Throughout the day the AP's took groups to get American dollars exchanged into Euros and they also had a "first finding experience." Experienced missionaries take small groups of the new missionaries into the city and they have their first real missionary experience. They go "finding" usually to train stations or other areas where they can do some street contacting. They came back pretty excited about being a missionary - which is amazing to me considering they haven't had any sleep, and it was snowing and cold.
Waiting for an interview with the President
Jet Lag - Sleepy Missionaries!
"give me your tired, your hungry,...........your Mormons"!!
Dinner prepared by Sister Stoltz
President Kosak between interviews
About 7 pm we started shuttling missionaries to the hotel for the night. We got the last two sisters in their room about 9:30 pm. They were tired and so were we. (We started the day at 4 am taking finishers to the airport.)
The new missionaries get to sleep in the next morning as the trainers arrive and begin the new missionary conference. The bus picked up the new missionaries about 11 am and they joined their trainers at the church. Everyone is excited to meet their new companions, they take pictures and have new missionary training. After its conclusion they take a sack lunch and off they go catching trains and buses to their new areas.
We had the opportunity to attend a portion of the new missionary training conference the following day. What a blessing it was to be with a chapel full of missionaries as they met their trainers and prepared to begin their missions. President Kosak taught about "Living in Crescendo". He asks one person to begin singing "The Spirit of God", he gradually signals one or two at a time to join in and the song is completed in "Crescendo". It is a powerful message and the spirit is strong. There is excitement in the air as they gather their luggage and depart to begin their missions.
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