October 21
Wow ten days since last post. Things are good here in sunny California! We have had wonderful weather which has been so nice. Our hot little apartment has turned into a more comfortable place.
I have had several people ask what a normal day for is like. There really is no normal day because things are changing all of the time. Here is what we do:
Five days of the week we spend 3-4 hours a day at the Mormon Battalion. Every now and then we serve on Tuesdays all day from 9-5 so the sister missionaries can be off for P day. We have Friday and Saturday with no commitment to the MB unless one of the other Senior Couples need help, have a doctor appointment, have kids in town and need time to play with them etc. So basically we have a schedule but it is always changing.
Along with the Mormon Battalion schedule we have assignments there to work on Public Relations and Tourism. We have meetings off and on with other members who are called to do the same thing. There are about 8 people called from 12 different stakes in the area to work with Public Relations for the church here in San Diego. Their calls are for 10 years so that they can make relationships of trust with the community and not have people keep changing and coming in and out of callings. We have just had a whole new group of people called and they are excited about getting the word out better than ever before that we have wonderful things going on here and that others should come participate. We get to be the liaison for the Mormon Battalion and Old Town for that group. They are planning big things to help bring others to Christ through great events, entertainment, patents etc. Exciting.
Also we are involved with Old Town merchants, tour guides and chamber of commerce with the things that they are doing to promote and make Old Town better. We are able to enjoy people from unique walks of life and get to know them, help them and be involved in Old Town activities.
The added joy of the Mormon Battalion is working with the Sister Missionaries and loving them! Oh how we enjoy learning from them and learning to love them. There are 28 Sister Missionaries called to the MB and they serve half of the day there and then have the other half to go proselyte in their area they are assigned to. At any given time there are 3-4 of those sisters who have been called to proselyte full time for two to three transfers (transfers are every six weeks) and then they come back and trade with others. We also have 4 other couples we get to work with and love.
Then we have the ward - which is our primary calling. We go to Ward Council on Sunday and the whole thing now is dedicated to missionary work. We then have a Missionary Council meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and the missionaries. We are excited about M Russell Ballard's challenge to have every member of the church introduce the gospel to one person before Christmas as a Christmas present to the Savior and are focusing on that to help members be more involved. Members are the key to the new "Hastening the Work" programs. Missionaries aren't as effective by themselves. Then we have our block of meetings with us attending Gospel Principles class. Sometimes we have had lots of people and other times it ends up being the leaders there with no new members or investigators. There are other things like the Relief Society night things, ward BBQ's, ward parties, ward endowment sessions and baptism sessions, cleaning the church, helping people move etc that we are involved in too.
We have several people we are seeing regularly. People with mental and physical problems and those who have problems with their testimonies. We want to interact with good members too so that they will know us and feel comfortable sending people our way. We don't do much teaching of the lessons. That is done by the Elders in our ward. We have had opportunity to be involved with investigators too in mostly a friend shipping effort. We fit all of that in between Mormon Battalion stuff.
It is good to have both or we wouldn't be able to keep busy enough. We have had opportunity to exercise at the beach, go on sightseeing tours, play with friends and family when they come, go to events and play with other wonderful Senior Missionaries and to enjoy each other's company.
We have had a good week - busy one and we are loving our mission!
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