Intake Day - Sixty New Missionaries.

Holy Hannah, can i just be honest about how this day went? At 8am we got a phone call (our first to our apartment, so much better than the doorbell) from one of our Greek missionaries telling us one of our new British missionaries had arrived 2 hours early. WWHHAATT?? Oh well, instead of running, I jump in the shower and begin the fourteen hour day of welcoming 60 new missionaries to the MTC. I started off really good. I felt like I was meeting them one by one, knowing their names and faces. Then the first bus arrived with 25ish people all at the same time. After the next five bus arrivals, I have no idea who I have talked to, what I have said, who they are, what they look like, and who is allergic to gluten, shellfish, chocolate and who is vegetarian and fussy about what they eat. Mind you, I am writing these important things down, but I couldn't identify but about 10 of the missionaries that I met. It was a very long, and tiring day. But I can't even complain, because these poor missionaries have been on planes for about 24 hours, are jet lagged, exhausted, in a new country, starting a new way of life, and totally disoriented. By the time I settled the last sister with her new companion, who arrived last night at about 9:30pm, I said goodnight. Thank goodness for a new day tomorrow, good pictures that will help me re-identify the new missionaries, and a fresh brain for remembering. Some days this job makes me feel very old and brain dead.

Families saying good bye to their missionaries.