October Cambio

We received a wonderful group of missionaries during our October cambio. I apologize that some of our pictures got lost somewhere in cyberspace. Here are pictures of our new missionaries.

Our gringo missionaries arrived but their luggage did not.  Being very resourceful they figured out the pay phones at the Santiago airport and called Presidente Bruce to inform them that they had missed their connection and would be arriving late.  We finally retrieved them at the Antofagasta airport, without luggage, but they all had smiles on their faces.  Later we returned to the airport to welcome our Latin missionaries and soon all were together at the Institute for training, dinner and introductions to their trainers.  Afterwards we put them on buses to their new sectors, many of them having to travel an additional 12 hours to Arica.

New missionaries waiting for their trainers.

More new missionaries being trained.

Viejo Training - October

The word "Trunky" doesn't exist in the Chile Antofagasta Mission so we have a special training day for our missionaries who are ending their missions to help them remain motivated until they return home.  This month we had those missionaries who are scheduled to return home in November and January come to Antofagasta for their Viejo Training.  As you can see from the group picture, we are soon losing a large group of missionaries who all have had a huge impact in the mission.

Some of our biggest clowns are in these two groups.

The November and January Viejos

I tried something new for lunch at this training meeting: pasta served in a bread bowl.  Everyone loved having their pasta and eating the bowl too.  There were no bread bowls left at the end of the meal.
None of the Latin missionaries had every heard of eating out of a large loaf of bread.  Some were hesitant at first, but soon all were eating with enthusiasm.

Before the afternoon session of training a few missionaries discovered the games at the Institute.

The set up before lunch.

Presidente and Hermana Bruce serving up lunch.

Fun Times in the Mission

Being a missionary is hard work but it is also a lot of fun. Recently we had lunch with the missionaries from the Antofagasta Zone at T.G.I. Fridays.  The Zone Leaders made a challenge with the President:  if they hit their goal for the month would we have lunch with them at the T.G.I. Fridays restaurant in the mall.  Of course Presidente Bruce accepted their challenge and at the end of the month this hard-working Zone had accomplished their goal and we all enjoyed lunch together.

The missionaries of the Antofagasta Zone:

Everyone enjoyed their burgers, fries and onion rings!!

One last photo before these missionaries go back to work.  

We distributed all of our mission shirts in September and took pictures of each zone wearing the mission colors.  Here are a few pictures from Arica.

The missionaries of the Los Olivos and Costanera Zones in Arica.

Posing for the camera.