Wed, Oct 24, 2012 6:45 pm

Dear Brother and Sister Barney,

President Hill and I were thrilled yesterday afternoon to meet Elder Barney as he arrived in the Bucuresti airport with his MTC group. He seemed very happy to finally be in the mission field after 12 weeks in the MTC. He was a little tired after his long flights. But we had an enjoyable interview where we learned more about this wonderful young man. It is evident that he comes from a very loving, supportive family. Thank you very much for sending him to us. We were impressed by his maturity, faith and determination to be a great missionary.

After our interviews and some pizza at the office, he began his visa work. Today, after breakfast at the mission home, we visited Cismigiu Park, where Elder Russell M. Nelson dedicated the land of Romania for teaching the gospel. I'm attaching a picture of us there. Then, the new missionaries spent the day waiting for visas but were unfortunately pre-empted by a group of refugees from Syria! Our good office elders will help resolve that problem, and get them long-term visas before the 90 day visitor visa expires. Elder Barney will labor initially with Elder Knapp in Constanta, the only city in our mission on the Black Sea.

Thanks again for sending us such a wonderful young man. We could instantly tell he will be a very good, faithful, hard-working missionary.