New Arrivals!!! December 28, 2010

What a great day it is when we receive new Elders and Sisters! Today we were fortunate to receive 7 new Elders and 2 new Sisters. Sister Nina Leppanen from Espoo, Finland was the first of the new arrivals we welcomed to Poland.

Elder Vreeken from Kanab, Utah, followed close behind.

We are adding to our great German Elders....Elder Aaron Fritzsch is from Langwedel, Germany.

Here is Elder Alan Johnson from Idaho Falls, Idaho.

From Auburn, Washington, comes Nicole Ellis who was followed by.....

Jacob Waits from Bulverde, Texas.

And we have another missionary from Las Vegas, Nevada...Elder Nathan Tanner.

Here we are.....and the miracle is we did not lose 1 bag! But we did lose 2 Elders! (The Hancock Family and Marsing Family need to have a little faith...their sons' stories are coming!)

The first stop for these new Missionaries is the Kodak Express store to get photos for their Residency cards that will enable them to stay in Poland for 2 years.

While we were waiting for our photos to process, we took a lunch break in the Food Court of the mall. Subway sandwiches and salads were the popular items. These Missionaries were then taken to the Mission Office where they were oriented by the office staff. Meanwhile, I left to go to the Mission Home to finish getting dinner ready for tonight and President Nielson......well, he went back to one of his favorite 'waiting places'......the airport to try to retrieve his 2 lost Elders.

Several hours later, our last two Elders arrived. A passport had been lost ( and then found on the plane they had just left). It was a miracle to find the passport but it wasn't in time to get on the flight with the other Missionaries. Here are Elders Hancock and Marsing. Unfortunately, Elder Marsing's 2 bags were lost. So tomorrow we hope they deliver them in time for the transfer.

We are SO happy to welcome Elder Boyd Marsing from Price, Utah, and Elder Casey Hancock from Winslow, Arizona, to the Poland Warsaw Mission. We are now complete. Tomorrow is a big day....All these Missionaries will be leaving for their assigned cities in the morning to meet their new Trainers. Stay tuned!

It was a long day for these new missionaries. They woke up at 2:30am on Monday at the MTC in Provo and arrived here Tuesday, at 11:40am and 4:45pm respectively.