The Every Sixth Week Ritual

Every sixth week we have transfers. It's really a crazy time even when the numbers aren't too large. With big groups, it insane.
The schedule is that the day after a transfer Brent starts thinking about and working on the next transfer. When it's all in place Thierry starts working on visa issues since there are three, soon-to-be four countries involved.  Then we deliver the letters to each missionary who will be affected, usually between 25 and 50.  We work on plane tickets, packets of information and papers for both incoming and outgoing missionaries, transportation and schedules.
Transfers take three days.
Day 1- The new missionaries arrive and are picked up at the airport and brought to the office. We take their pictures for our missionary board  and give them their papers and supplies provided by the mission (bedding, books, red pencils, etc, etc.) The we get them settled in transition housing.
We bring the missionaries back from outlying cities who are going home and do the same with them.
Day 2-Brent has a final interview with each missionary going home and issues them a temple recommend. We weigh their bags and give them documents for them and their stake president and their transportation home. Then we take the going-home picture.

We take them to our home and do dinner and a testimony meeting. 

 

After that we send the departing missionaries to the employment center for a day and a half to help them see what possibilities there are in their future. The reintroduction of RM's to life is very hard, so we do this to help them see that they do have things that they can do to have a good future. Going home can be very discouraging with 90% unemployment and few good opportunities. So we hope to give them a hand up by having them do this training.
Immediately after that Brent holds the "train the trainers meeting." Each new trainer comes to the house and receives about 90 minutes of training on the church's First 12 Weeks training program.

Day 3- Brent interviews the new missionaries and then we and the Assistants do a morning of orientation and then lunch. Then they're trained in the afternoon on the First 12 Weeks program and they meet their new companions.  Our staff then loads them all into vehicles and delivers them to their first areas. 

We, at this point, collapse on the couch until we realize that we've done none of the normal things that we do during these three days, so we get up and move on.  This is the Every Sixth Week Ritual.