Crazy Transfer Week!

 

What a wild week! There were very long days, and a ton of excitement. We received 21 new missionaries! Along with all of that we saw two of our office elders moved into other assignments. We have a brand new Assistant to the President, Elder Bernabeu, and a new technology secretary, Elder Olmsted. They were thrown right into the fire with this huge transfer. We also said goodbye to 5 missionaries who finished their missions. 

Wednesday was the real crazy day for us. Not only was it transfer day, we also were saying goodbye to Brenda's sister Carla and her friend Misti. The plan was for President Heckmann to take one missionary to the airport and pick up two who arrived super early. He was then going to take them back to the office, I was going to trade cars with him so that I had a bigger car to help pick up a group of 15. However, what happened was that as President was hurrying to get to the airport someone cut him off. This caused him to swerve into the curb which blew two of his tires. So now we have President and Sister Heckmann and poor Elder Roca stuck on the road with the clock ticking. President left Sister Heckmann there with the car to wait for the tow truck (new cars don't do spare tires anymore), while he took a taxi with Elder Roca. I heard what happened, and immediately dropped Brenda off at the office, and took Carla and Misti directly to the airport. I got there in time to say goodbye to them, and immediately join the hunt for the two lost missionaries who had already arrived. We finally found them, and sent them with President Heckmann in the taxi that had been waiting at the curb for him. "Meanwhile, back at the ranch"...the assistants were supposed to take the MAV (Mission Assault Vehicle) to the airport along with another couple so we could handle all 15 and their luggage. The APs first went by the office to get Elder Bernabeu a phone, which took some time to get ready. They got to the airport in just enough time.

As I was at the airport waiting for our 15 new ones, another couple went to the train station to pick up 3 Spanish missionaries, so their car was out of the mix. The excitement there was that 2 of the missionaries missed their train in Madrid so they came later. We were hoping to use the car of another couple that had come to Barcelona because they were going home the next day. However, the car was full of their luggage which they didn't want to unload until it was loaded into the MAV the day after transfer. So, we lost one of the cars we were counting on using along with the President's. This meant that we only had the MAV, and two small sedans to take all 15 missionaries. The sweet missionaries showed up all bleary-eyed, but extremely excited. We were able to "Tetris" the MAV floor to ceiling/ front to back with the luggage. It was a thing of beauty! Three missionaries were able to go in the front seat there. I was able to take 4 missionaries in my car, and Elder Evans was able to take 4 in his car. We had to hire taxis for the rest of them. 

The chaos then shifted to the office as we had to find places to put all of the luggage while the missionaries were being interviewed, and processed. I had to eat a late lunch because I had to go to the train station to pick up the missionaries who had missed their earlier train. I wandered all over the place there. I remembered a scene from the movie "Escape from Germany" where the elder starts whistling hymns to find the missionaries. As I was wandering around doing my best to perform "Ye Elders of Israel, come join now with me", I was asked no fewer than 5 times something about departing trains, and where different platforms were, etc. I guess I just have the air of a railroad man. Once we got back,we all went upstairs to the President's house for lunch, while President finished deciding who was going to serve where. Then it was outside to do the big reveal of who serves with whom. I never get tired of this little ritual. After hugs and cheers and pictures with new companions and President and Sister Heckmann, it's back into the office for the reveal to the new missionaries where they are going to serve. 

President and Sister Heckmann had to bolt right after the pictures because they had a big meeting with a bunch of government officials which included the mayor of the city where the Temple is supposed to be built. He turned the area assignment reveal over to me to do. The instant the companionship reveal was done Elder Dunn, our travel secretary, started purchasing the tickets to get them all to where they needed to go. Just a huge mad-house. We had to rent an Airbnb for one companionship because we still don't have a piso in their city. 

Overall, things came together like they always seem to in the work of the Lord. Yes, 14 hour days are hard, but to see the enthusiasm on the faces of these sweet missionaries as they find out where their fields of labor will be is really fun. 

On Friday it was the first Institute night. There was a meeting where the institute director introduced the teachers, and afterward they had a dance. We couldn't hold the meeting at our normal meetinghouse because the last time they did a dance, the police were called and a ticket was issued for disturbing the peace. Therefore, we had to haul all of the food to the stake center which is over a half hour away. After cleaning things up and taking all the crockpots and other stuff back to our chapel, and getting home we finally got to bed at about 1:00 AM.

Saturday, we got up early so we could pick up Tammy and Gerald at the cruise port. Once we got them settled we went to Park Guell here in Barcelona which is something that we have wanted to do ever since we got here. Goudi was an amazing man. His park is really cool and even I who am NOT an architect would appreciate the craftsmanship and interesting designs of what he did.

Today has truly been the "Day of Rest". We have to recharge the old batteries before Zone Conference week which starts tomorrow! We love what we're doing even though these old bodies have a hard time keeping up on occasion! The work goes on, the Lord is in charge, and it's fun to know that we are exactly where He wants us to be. The Gospel is true, and we still love serving in the mission field.

We hope you have a fabulous week!

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