Transfers always makes for a busy week but when it also comes on a week with the first Friday of the month, there is the added excitement of Zone Leader’s council. After the meeting almost all the ZLs come in to pick-up supplies, drop off baptism records, and to talk to elder Bare about vehicles or bikes.

 

  

Earlier in the day sister Stegelmeier came in with sister Merrill who she is training in the Davies area. Sister Merrill seems like a perfect match for sister Stegelmeier. I asked sister Merrill how she is adjusting to being in the mission field and how she was sleeping. She said she had no trouble sleeping last night – Thursday – and I told her I was not surprised because keeping up with sister Stegelmeier can wear anyone out. They have a family of 5 that should be baptized on Sunday – which is a great way to start a mission. I love the last shot because I managed to catch sister Stegelmeier stuffing some pastry into her mouth…as usual she called me rude. Which means she still loves me.

  

About 3:00 the ZLs came in and I took a few pictures. Of course the hallway with the mission board is always the most popular gathering place. But most also head down to the supply room where – like elders Plowman and Bowen who are the ZLs in the Hialeah Zone – they pick up supplies for themselves and the missionaries in their zone.

 

Elder Hunt looked sharp in his suit coat and was soon joined by his friend elder Smoot. I wonder if elder Hunt has managed to put away all the stuff he took with him on transfer day. If you wonder what I am talking about take a look at the picture of him and elder Smoot in the transfer day post.

We held our next to the last Last Lunch on Tuesday but I got so busy with posting other sets of pictures, these are a little out of order. Missionaries know that they are getting transfer by the time we meet but they have no idea where they are going. So one of the big topics of conversation is guessing where they will be serving and with who they will serve. Since we know where some of them will be serving they tend to press us for information and we are careful not to let anything slip. Those who will be trainers know that they will be getting brand new missionaries to train for the next 12 weeks.

  

Since we have internet and five computers in our apartment, some of the missionaries come over an hour early to do their mail. This week it was elders Thorne and Rondo with Burt and Andelin. Mary joined in on the fifth computer. Later elder Van Wagenen came to join the party.

  

The tradition is that on their first Last Lunch I take pictures of them individually and then as a companionship. I think elder Van Wagenen’s pink tie and elder Jones’ blue tie make a nice picture.

  

This was elder Andelin’s first LL but elder Burt had been here a number of times before. Elder Burt takes lots of pictures and I usually get one of him pursuing his hobby. I do not know if he took one of me taking a picture.

 

This was elder Hunts first and last Last Lunch as he was being transferred – he is now serving as a ZL with elder B. Jones in the Coral Springs zone. Elder Smoot of course has been to about as many of these as we have.

  

We had lasagna, garlic bread, green salad and of course brownies with ice cream. Sister Bean especially likes the brownies so we sent some extras home with her.

  

Towards the end of eating the APs – elders Gust and Shipley showed up and joined in. The missionaries love to get together and talk about who is being transferred, what has been going on, etc. Of course the APs know exactly what is going to happen the next day but are really good about keeping their lips sealed.

  

Elder Burt looked through our African photo book and the couch and chairs get a good work out as missionaries either wait for the start of the meal or to rest up afterwards. Sisters Bean and Lake join elders Thorne and Andelin before lunch. Mary is joined by elders Smoot and Hunt after lunch

  

Elders Rondo and Hunt were comfortable while they ate. We took a picture with those who will be transferring out of our district. Elder Hunt to Lauderhill North, elder Rondo will be close by in Plantation, and sister Lake will go to Miami Beach to be with sister Brown who is now known on the mission records as sister Montgomery-Brown. While elder Jones was here he wanted to down load some pictures so he could send them to his family. One of them was this last picture of the Fort Lauderdale district and the ZLs and he let me share it.

  

He also had this picture of what is a good portion of the Fort Lauderdale Zone who appear to be having a p-day activity playing dodge ball at the Stake Center. The last three pictures come from the first district meeting on Thursday. We had planned to go because we missed so many the last transfer. Elder Thorne is seen with his new companion elder Brimley. Elder Jones on the left of the last picture is still with elder Andelin on the right. The brother in the middle brought the Zone Leaders to the meeting and as usual I have forgotten his last name.

Elder Burt was playing the piano and I told him I did not know he played. He said he had been teaching himself since he came on his mission. I think he is doing quite well.

At this point we got a call from the office saying there was a problem with one of the missionaries traveling home. One of the flights had been cancelled and the airlines said that there was no other flight out until early the next morning. President Anderson said that was not acceptable so we apologized to the missionaries and hurried back to the office to try to solve the problem. To make a long story short, after 2 hours or so of phone calls to the missionary travel, airlines, the airport and the missionaries’ parents I found that American had got him on a plane that actually got in about 2 hours earlier than the scheduled one. When the parents called and told us that their missionary was safely home we all felt relieved. The Lord does take care of his missionaries.