On October 19th, we welcome 20 new missionaries to the TKM. We couldn’t be more excited about every one of them and know they will love Tennessee and the wonderful people here.
By the time they arrive in Tennessee, these missionaries have had a really long day. They typically got very little sleep there last night at the MTC. We take them from the airport to the mission home, feed them a good meal, and get them to bed to get rested before their orientation day.
The next morning, we share what they can expect in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, provide orientation about finances, health care, vehicles, and the places they will live, take them to the University of Tennessee campus to do some finding, and snap a picture with each of them.
Following the morning of orientation, we announce the area they will start in and who their trainers will be, and by 1pm they head out and get to work.
Over the last three transfers, we had 18 missionaries arrive in July, 21 in September, and 20 in October. That is 59 new missionaries since we arrived, which is 1/3 of our mission. We currently have 41 missionaries in training, with 41 trainers, which is just under half of our mission. We’ve seen some amazing missionaries return home, but they continue to be replaced by these remarkable men and women who are ready to serve.
Barlows in TKM 