Transfer Day

Today we participate in our first transfer day.  All of the missionaries being transferred, including the newly arrived missionaries, as well as those receiving new companions met at the mission office/chapel.  President Cusick gave a short speech stressing the importance of the Book of Mormon and that we should focus on sharing the message of the Book of Mormon with investigators.  He also thanked the missionaries for their flexibility.  One Elder found out at 8:30 this morning that he was being transferred and needed to be at the mission office at 10.  He was there.

He then assigned the new missionaries to their trainers.  I have become acquainted with some of those assigned to be trainers, and I am impressed by them.  The new missionaries are in good hands.

President Cusick then read the remaining transfers.  It was interesting to watch as some missionaries were obviously excited to be working together, and others less so.  Not surprisingly, the sisters seemed to show more emotion.

That concluded at mid-day.  We checked the mission storage to see if there were any furniture items we could use.  We then drove back to Sarasota and dropped off some leasing papers at our hopefully permanent apartment.  It appears that everything is in place except for the credit check on the Church.  There certainly won't be any problem with that, but it will take the company some time to run the check.  Hopefully everything will be completed by tomorrow so that we can move in on Saturday.

We ended the day by attending a missionary coordination meeting with three high councilors from the Sarasota Stake along with Elders Nelson and Spach, the Sarasota Zone Leaders.  The high councilors wanted to make sure that they are current on what President Cusick is emphasizing with the missionaries.  We also discussed the 15 name program and how the missionaries could be involved with that.  The program is intended as a way for the ward council to identify inactive members whom the missionaries can teach.  Preferably, they should teach in conjunction with members.