The following is a letter from the mission president. This was emailed to my mom this morning. Elder McNew has more pictures (and a couple of videos) which I need to post but we had an issue with the SD card we're mailing back and forth so I'll add those as soon as he gets a new SD card and mails me back the one he's currently using.
Elder McNew was able to call each of his immediate family members (had to make four separate calls since we were all at work, well, except for me) on the day he flew to Ontario. That was especially sweet for me since I won't be home for Christmas to hear his phone call.
I also have two or three stories from the MTC that I need to post here, I'll add those with the photos as soon as they're available. Thank you all for following. If you'd like to leave a comment, I'll be sure to let him know what you are saying.
Dear Parents of, Elder McNew [seven other elders, and one sister],
THANK YOU for sending us your WONDERFUL sons and daughter!!! We are THRILLED to have them here in the CA Riverside Mission!!! We were happy to welcome them to sunny, blue skies and 75-plus degree weather. We picked them up at the Ontario Airport and drove them to the mission office in Riverside where they met and were trained by Elder and Sister Densley, in charge of our office and car fleet, Sister Crews, our financial secretary, Sister Blake, our baptisms and referral secretary and Sister Ottosen, our mission nurse with 29 years of critical nursing care experience. They had both breakfast and lunch at the office, before coming to the mission home. They were exhausted--many having been awake since 3 a.m., so we encouraged them to take a little nap--which we extended to about two hours! While President Reeves interviewed each missionary, Sister Reeves had them tell about themselves--their families, interests, etc. They were able to hear from President Reeves' two counselors, President John Plocher and President Greg Bishop, both outstanding men. Both currently teach Institute--one full-time and the other volunteer. Afterward, we had dinner, dessert and a testimony meeting. We took pictures and had them sleep here in the mission home.
After breakfast in the morning, your missionaries had the privilege of watching and listening to Elder Holland's powerful General Conference talks regarding modern-day revelation and Christ and the early Christian Church (October 2007 and April 2008). We then watched and listened to the sacred closing testimony of Elder Bruce McConkie, as he testified of the divinity of the Savior's life and atoning sacrifice. By that time, the Trainers had arrived. We again had each of your missionaries introduce themselves to the Trainers and tell why they had decided to come on a mission. Each trainer gave sage advice to the new missionaries and President Reeves announced the new companionships! We had a little snack and drove each of the missionaries to their new assignments!
*Elder McNew will serve with Elder Proffitt in Yucaipa, CA. He is from West Valley City, UT and has been serving one year.
Each of these trainers are excellent missionaries. They are all patient, loving, hard-working, obedient and have strong testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Elders Proffitt [and two others] are all on bicycles. The others will be in cars. Some of these missionaries live in the homes of members, but most are in apartments--some two-man and some four-man. P-Day is on Mondays. Almost all U.S. holidays fall on Mondays, so in the event of a Monday holiday, you will hear from your missionary on Tuesday or Wednesday of that week. (They usually email from libraries).
For your information, we have approximately 200 missionaries in the CA Riverside Mission. We currently have 11 sisters, 8 senior missionaries (three couples and two single sisters) and 179 elders. We have twelve zones--each zone assigned to one stake. Forty of our elders are Spanish-speaking, two are Mandarin speaking and seven elders and sisters are ASL (signing for the deaf) missionaries. We have about ten missionaries from Mexico and Central America, about ten from Canada and have had a missionary from Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Spain. We have two Samoan and fourteen Spanish wards or branches, and one ASL and one Mandarin unit.
Until you hear otherwise from your missionary, all letters and packages should be sent to the Mission Office at 5900 Grand Avenue, Riverside, CA 92504. Some of you may have been given another Mission Office address; that is our former office that we moved out of seven months ago.
You are welcome to send letters and packages directly to your missionary when he or she gives you the address where they are living, but if you opt to send it to them directly, you will need to keep track of transfer dates, which are every six weeks. The next transfer date is January 24th, 2011 and every six weeks after that (always on Mondays). It is a challenge to get letters to transferred missionaries in a timely manner. Many package deliverers will only leave a package with the addressee, so if the missionary has been transferred, the package will get returned to you. We truly are happy to have you mail anyway you'd like.
You might be interested in knowing that a little over a year ago the Missionary Dept. told us that friends and relatives would no longer be able to take their missionary to lunch or dinner, should they happen to be in area. Because our mission is so close to many great vacation spots, a lot of families come to the area. We are so sorry, as we, ourselves have visited a few young men from our own ward on their missions in our past life. We thank you so much for your sacrifice! Your missionaries are looking forward to their Christmas day phone call!
We thank you again for your wonderful daughter and sons. We are so grateful for them. What blessings they will be to the CA Riverside Mission! We feel so blessed to be here! It has been the greatest experience of our lives. We LOVE serving together and we are so grateful to have the blessings of being in great weather, wonderful food, terrific medical care and be part of a mission community where the majority of the people are religious and family-oriented. How grateful we are for the privilege of having the beautiful and holy Redlands Temple in our midst. We love our Heavenly Father and our Savior with all our hearts. We are seeing many being led to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness.
With love and good wishes to you and your families! Merry Christmas!!!
Love, President and Sister Reeves
