May Transfers

     The last day of zone interviews were on May 1. After we finished interviews we enjoyed driving to a couple of the areas in Mindoro we had never been to. It was a beautiful drive. Saturday we met Elder and Sister Pjarro (he is an Area Seventy). We spent the afternoon in meetings for the Mindoro District Conference and again on Sunday. The Conference was really good and we loved the way that Elder and Sister Pjarro taught. They were so fun and easy to visit with and we feel like we have new friends.

The Mindoro District Conference was held in their beautiful new District building. It's quite a contrast to the little meetinghouse in the picture below. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery in our ride around Mindoro.

     May 3-5--Shortly after the Sunday meetings ended we headed to the port hoping to catch the Fast Cat boat but there wasn't room but fortunately we were able to get on another one that was only took two instead of three hours back. We made it to the port in Batangas and drove the hour and 15 minutes back to the mission home where we had 14 departing missionaries for dinner. This was a time I was very grateful for our House Help.  President Mangum had his interviews with the missionaries while others visited and worked on getting their luggage to the right weight.
    Monday morning after breakfast the departing group went to their Employment Training. That evening we had another nice Family Home Evening watching the departing video, sharing experiences and testimonies. Tuesday morning we said good-bye to another batch. Six weeks really goes by quickly.

This group had lots of energy! Several of the group earned their English certification.
It's always bittersweet to say good-bye to our missionaries.

     May 6-7--Wednesday morning we met the bus and our nine new missionaries. We had a good orientation with them on Wednesday and they had interviews with President Mangum as well as a proselyting experience. They get up very early to board the bus and leave from Manila so they're always tired and ready to go to bed early. On Thursday morning we enjoyed breakfast before some counsel and a testimony meeting. We then had a meeting with the new missionaries and their trainers. They ate lunch and left for their first areas.

A great new group of missionaries.

The first day of orientation and the meeting with their trainers before they left for their first areas.