Transfer Week!

Last week was another great transfer week!  Of course it is ALWAYS difficult to say good-by to missionaries we have grown to love for 18 months and 2 years, but it is always fun to welcome brand new missionaries straight from the MTC.
Tuesday afternoon we took our 10 departing elders to the Calgary Temple, which is always a wonderful and special experience.  I love to see them in the temple.  We really feel like this is a great way to complete their mission-being able to be in the temple.  Following that session we came back to the mission home for another yummy meal made by Natasha Zandbergen.  I wish you could all taste her cooking-she is fabulous!  We have a lot of fun at that meal just talking and reflecting on their missions.
Then we held our testimony meeting which is always touching.  One of the true joys of this calling is to hear the departing testimonies of missionaries, and to see how their faith has grown, and also their love for the Savior.  It is quite a thing to see them be transformed on their missions as they experience the atonement in their lives.
The next morning we took the 10 elders to the airport to check them in and send them off to reunite with their families!  It is exciting and a little tender.  It is difficult to hug them good-by!  But I always think of their mothers waiting at the other end to hug them for the first time in 2 years, and it makes me happy!
Then we came home for a bit to do a few things and headed back to the airport to pick up our 23 new arriving missionaries!  They looked great, and we are so excited to have them in our mission and to feel of their enthusiasm and faith.  They really revitalize our mission!  We brought them back to the mission home for the 'administrative' training done by our senior couples in the office, while Steve began interviewing each one.  And then we have another great meal made by Natasha.  These missionaries loved it!  They were so tired of MTC food, and so grateful to have a home cooked meal!
And they were full of energy and lots of conversation!  Sometimes they are quiet and we really have to work at getting them to talk, but not this group!  Following dinner we went back downstairs for some more training-on the lighter side, and then we got them to the hotel so they could get a good night's sleep before transfer day on Thursday.
Thursday morning we began at 8:00 a.m. with them at the Willow Park Chapel, and by 9:30 they had met their new companions (at least all of the ones serving in the Calgary area).  The ones serving down south had to wait until we transported everyone to Lethbridge to meet their companions down there.  But we got everyone to their new companions, and areas, and things went pretty smoothly.  It was another successful transfer week.  We really are so excited to have had over 50 new missionaries in the past two transfers.  We are excited to get to know them and work with them and help them become the best missionaries they can be.
Thursday night my brother Kerry and his wife Karrie came up and met us for dinner before heading to Banff the next morning.  It was great to see them and spend a little time with them.  Then we immediately began doing our interviews for the transfer!  So, in the last few days we've already been able to see many of our new missionaries again, which is great.  And it is fun to see them with their trainers, and to see how they are doing in their new areas.
Saturday and Sunday we participated in the Fort Macleod Stake Conference, which was really nice, and then we drove back Sunday to have a meeting with our assistants and then we had a special Youth and Parent Fireside on 'Preparing for Missions' in the Calgary Stake.  It was a great event planned mostly by our missionaries serving there, with Elder Fox spearheading it.  It really was such a nice night for these youth and their parents.  We were so proud of our missionaries and their preparation and participation.  Whenever we are in stake conferences and wards, members come up to us and tell us how much they love the missionaries, and thank us for them.  We love it!  Sometimes our missionaries don't realize the good they are doing just by serving in a ward and loving and serving the members.  They are such a good influence on the youth, and we have had many people over the time we have been here tell us how their child was impacted by the missionaries, and decided to serve a mission because of what the missionaries did.  It is so awesome!
This is great work, and it is hard work, and we are so proud of our missionaries' desire to serve and for their faith.

Departing elders at the temple

New missionaries at the airport!

New elders walking with their overnight bags to the mission home

Heading to the mission home!

Sisters Ziegner and Moffett loaded and ready to go to their area!