Always Something New

There is always something interesting or new going on in the mission, and it definitely keeps us hopping. This last week was no exception.

On Tuesday, Ian and Sue Preston from Eden, Utah (Ogden area), arrived to serve with Seminaries and Institutes (CES) in Albania. The Prestons are originally from New Zealand and still have their wonderful accents. Marty has asked them to serve in Elbasan, where there has not been a couple for a few years. That was a change from what they had been told by the CES people in Salt Lake, but after being in Elbasan for an afternoon, they came to feel that this was the place for them. They will strengthen the branch, and especially the Seminary program there and start up Institute classes as well. They are enthusiastic and friendly, and before even putting the key in their new apartment had invited three young women in their neighborhood to a Family Home Evening the following Monday!

We learned last week that Elder Taylor Allen, one of Marty's Assistants who had gone home three months ago for medical evaluation after suffering from severe headaches, was doing better had been cleared to return to Albania! We feel really blessed, because missionaries who go home on medical release usually are reassigned somewhere in the United States. We picked him up Thursday and he's right back into the work!

Two weeks ago we received a large packet from the Missionary Department detailing some new training for the missionaries, with a focus on improved teaching. It's an eight-lesson course with an accompanying DVD showing actual missionaries from the San Diego mission applying the principles in the lessons. The instructions were for Marty to begin the training of mission leaders in July. As it was already the middle of July, that gave Marty one week to plan eight lessons. He gave the training all day Thursday and Friday, 9AM to 6PM, with a one-hour break for lunch each day. I sat in on some of the lessons, and Marty did a wonderful job. We think these are inspired lessons and should really help the missionaries. They were very receptive to the training, and two missionaries who tried it out during tracting on Friday night reported back to Marty that they were very excited about what they had learned. They found a woman willing to come back to the church for a short "zero" lesson. In that lesson they tried listening to the spirit in asking questions, and being directed in the way the lesson should go by the investigator's answers, and they were pleasantly surprised at the results.

The training packet also had a new calendar based on the month, rather than the six-week transfer schedule we've been using. Zone Conferences are to be once every three months, instead of every six or seven weeks, and interviews will also be every three months. The training is to be repeated every two months, until the missionaries are very well-versed in the methods. By May 2011, the incoming missionaries will have been trained while at the MTC. We're not sure if the Zone Conference schedule will revert back to be more frequent. The missionaries really look forward to Zone Conferences and will miss being together as often.

I provided lunch on Friday: Teriyaki Chicken/Rice/Veggie bowls with cut melons as a salad. The best compliment I received was (obviously from a Utahn) "This was better than Rhumbi's!"

Interviews begin this week. Marty is one of the few mission presidents who gives interviews by traveling to each district. Since we have only 40 missionaries, he can really spend some time with each one. Mission Presidents with 150 or more missionaries give very short interviews after zone conferences when the elders and sisters are all in one place.