Arriving Missionaries December 2010

We welcomed our new missionaries in the rain and sent them off to tract for an hour. Elder Gishie returns from Arizona after knee surgery, Sister Pinto from Bolivia, Sister Nibley from Utah, Elder Shannon from Washington state, Elder Clements from Texas, Elder Choi from Korea, Elder Muse from Kentucky, Elder Alvarez from norther California.

After lunch they met their new trainers; Elder Gilbert (Muse), Elder Molinaro (Clements), Elder N. Evans (Shannon), Elder Son (Choi), Elder Hoehn (Alvarez), Sister L. Garcia (Pinto), Sister Phillipy Nibley)

Departing Missionaries December 2010

We lost ten percent of our missionaries in one day. Last day traditions include a temple session, dinner, and testimony meeting.

Good-bye to (seated) Ja Min Byon, Marissa Masihdas, Christie Salazar, Jennifer Thomas, Kimberly Stevens, Chelsea Williamson (standing) Ryan Bingham, Mitchell Brower, Anson Fillerup, Joshua Loveless, Cameron Clark, Dallin Nead, Marcus Dahle, Ivan Sanchez, Scott Jackson, Jordan Gustin, Kyle Richins, Cory Lovelace, Andrew Simon, Christopher Yanez, Yeon Sung

Christmas Eve 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve event. The whole mission gathered togetherfor a Christmas concert. We had a 60 voice choir led by Sister Lyman that was just amazing. We had an additional dozen numbers performed by small groups. It was Christmas at its best.

Afterwards, the missionaries met in the cultural hall to mix and mingleand enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls with hot chocolate.Christmas wouldn't be the same without Santa Claus (aka Elder Hancock).
We ended with gifts; boxes from from family and friends (this is one week's worth)and a mini loaf of poppy seed bread from the mission.

Christmas at the Los Angeles Temple

Monday in the Mission Office

This is one day's worth of Christmas boxes. The mailman brought his usual mail truck plus a van just to deliver our mail. Elder Hancock and some other missionaries had to help carry it all in through the rain.

The reason missionaries were available to help with the mail is that many of them were nearby in the Familly History Center. The FHC is next door to us in the Visitor Center basement and since they aren't very busy on Monday mornings, they are gracious enough to allow the missionaries to use the center to email their families.

New Office

The old office is now abandoned. It is the end of an era as the original office complex was built at the same time as the temple in the 1950's. It is going to be completely torn down and two homes will be built on the site; one for the Mission President and one for the Temple President. We do not expect to ever live in the new home ourselves.

The old Mission Office was one corner of a rectangle built around a courtyard. The building also included the Mission Home, the Assistants' apartment, extra rooms for missionary transfers, a commercial kitchen, a dining room with a table that seats 16, and the Fireside Room, which was a group meeting room with several couches and chairs.

The new office is across a parking lot in the basement of the Visitor's Center. It took a while to get all those boxes unpacked.

Everybody is now up and operating. This is President Baker's office.

Arriving Missionaries November 2010

Elder Skousen from Utah, Elder Hough from Washington state, Elder Acosta from New Mexico, Elder Hackney from Florida, Elder Carter from Utah, Elder Lee from Utah, Elder Wilson from Utah, Elder Powell from Utah, Elder Hernandez from North Carolina, Elder Matheson from Utah, Elder Carver from Utah, Sister Schumacher from Maryland, Sister Green from Utah, Sister Cannon from Utah, Sister Flake from Utah, Sister Fonokalafi from New Zealand

Trainers: Elder Goold (Hough), Elder McRae (Carver), Elder Hill (Acosta), Elder Orozco (Matheson), Elder Welch (Skousen), Elder Bigler (Carter), Elder Jones (Lee), Elder Lovelace (Hernandez), Elder Giles (Hackney), Elder Yanez (Wilson), Elder Riska (Carter), Sister Garcia (Cannon), Sister Stout (Fonokalafi), Sister Williamson (Flake), Sister Garza (Green), Sister McCullough (Schumacher)

Turkey Bowl 2010: Day Two

Team South Bay

Team Central

Team Penninsula

Turkey Bowl 2010: Day One

Team Lakewood

Team Marina

Team Metro

Team Westwood

Clean Apartment Awards November 2010

Elder McRae, Elder Carroll, Elder Brooks, Sister Villanueva, Sister Stevens, Elder Jones, Elder Wilcox, Elder Hoggan. The Sisters won for cleanest apartment, Elder Brooks won for eating the most homemade rolls (but he didn't set a record) and Elder Wilcox doesn't want his mother to know that he knows how to clean.