Sunday, December 14, 2008

Departure dinner for 14 young missionaries

Every month or so we receive new missionaries and lose some. On Tuesday we had two new young elders come, both Russian-speaking, begin their missions here, after 3 weeks in the MTC to learn the language.

On Thursday evening, Sister Harper and I rode a bus to the mission home. It's a lovely apartment, but nothing in Riga looks on the outside like it would in America. We had 10 young sister missionaries who finished their missions here and 4 young Elders. We had a delicious dinner of lasagne and salads (Sister Harper and I made a jello fruit salad and a green salad, which we transported on the bus).

It was so fun to see these great young people, full of enthusiasm for the experiences they had had, and excited to be going home to their families. Following the dinner, we sang a Christmas hymn and each of us had the opportunity to share our testimonies of the work in which we are involved. The young people each expressed love for the people they had served here and especially of the increased love they have gained for our Savior Jesus Christ.

It was a wonderful evening. This was my first real opportunity to get acquainted with Pres. & Sis. Dance. They are very warm and loving people. They are excited that their 3 grown children will be coming for Christmas.

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