Eighteen New Missionaries

Our new senior couple, Elder and Sister Monney, are standing in front of the 'baptism board,' with photos of over 300 baptisms that have taken place this year -- already 25% more than the mission had last year. Sunday night we took the Monney's to a baptism in the Placentia First ward, where Lorena Flores was baptized. It was an amazing service, with an opening prayer by an ex-Catholic and testimonies by an ex-Muslim and an ex-Buddhist. Bishop Rooney then told us that his ward was very diverse: 15 cultures are represented, with 30 languages (including missionaries who had gone out from this ward).

The Monney's have come at an interesting time. Their first day in the office was transfer day, with many missionaries coming in and out of the office, switching their area cellphones and cars, picking up supplies, etc. It was a noisy whirlwind of activity. It settled down in the evening with a dinner at the Watrouses for the two departing sister missionaries: one who was going home to Australia and the other to Minnesota.
Then on Tuesday we had orientation for 18 new missionaries, including one who is related to Edwin Benson, and another who is a friend of Gary's former student from BYU and living back east. They were a happy bunch of missionaries, all eager and willing to get to work.
Thursday night we were invited by President Skaggs of the mission presidency to provide the music for a missionary training meeting in our stake center. So Signe led the music while Gary played the piano. It was a wonderful meeting, including some training about what to do in case of an earthquake (which are quite frequent down here).
Saturday morning we played catch-up in the office, after doing laundry. Then we picked up the Monney's so that they could see what the Newport Beach Temple tours were like and could take care of this wonderful experience every other month next year. We had 65 English-speaking and 45 Spanish-speaking people show up. There was nothing left of the 26 dozen cookies we had purchased for the afternoon. By 6 we had cleaned up, and then we took the Monney's to Costco in Tustin and Sam's Club in Irvine so that we could buy some food. In between these two places we ate a light dinner at a Whole Foods store, each of us choosing exactly what we wanted to eat.
And so, another week has passed us by all too quickly!