Mission: First Week "In Field"

Having now spent our first full week serving our full-time mission, I can say that we have learned a ton!  And there are probably a mega-ton more to learn, just to get up to speed!

One thing I learned as the president's/mission secretary is that there are categories of missionaries.  They are Pre-MTC, MTC, In Field, In Other Mission, and Other.  Pre-MTC is missionaries who have been called to serve but who have not yet arrived at the Missionary Training Center.   MTC and In Field are obvious.  In Other Mission is when missionaries have been assigned to a foreign country mission and who have finished their training at the Provo MTC and are still waiting for their visa to arrive so they can get to their missions.

 In our mission we have one missionary who was assigned to a mission in Portugal but has been serving here for three months.  He is really doing well.  He had a baptism last week and at the transfers this month was assigned to be a trainer!  He is doing really well.

Just like in any group, there is lingo one must learn.  Transfers is a big deal here.  Every six weeks missionaries may be moved.  They are not always moved. In fact, some missionaries stay in the same area for multiple transfers.

Transfers were the week before we arrived so I really do not know at all what it is like.  I just know that the office is closed and all the senior missionaries are at the stake center where the transfers take place. (Stake centers are larger church buildings which may house several wards or branches which are what Latter-day Saints call their individual units/congregations.). Missionaries who are moving to a different area in the mission arrive with their two suitcases having removed ALL of their stuff from the apartment where they previously lived with the current companion.  The next Transfer Day is, I think September 25th.  I will know more then...

On Wednesday Dear One and I went to Zone Conference.  This is a time when all the missionaries  in a particular zone meet together with the mission president, his wife, the assistants-to-the-president (AP's) who are experienced missionaries with more leadership responsibilities and others to receive instruction and inspiration.  Also to have a nice lunch provided by an assigned Relief Society (the women's organization in the Church which is for all women 18 and over).  In our mission three zones meet together.  There are 9 zones in the mission so three meet each day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of zone conference week which is the week after transfers, I think.

This zone conference was really good.  We arrived in good season, meeting up with some of the other senior missionaries and meeting the Area Medical Director who was very nice.  His wife had a wide roll of masking tape and a Sharpie pen.  Missionaries would come in and hand her a pair or pants or other item of clothing, state their name which she wrote on a length of masking tape, then head into the chapel. She put the tape onto the clothing item and put it on the growing pile on the couch in the foyer behind here.  I finally realized that she was accepting mending jobs for the missionaries.  She spends all Zone Conference day mending for the missionaries.  That is truly an act of love because she does not get to receive any of the inspiration the rest of us get as we sit in the chapel basking in the Spirit.

This time the topic was Personal Revelation and Inspiration.  You might think this would have been a person preaching over the pulpit but that did not happen at all.  There were several Powerpoint Slides on the topic and the AP's and the mission president and his wife and the Sister Training Leaders all led parts of the discussion.  Everyone had the opportunity to participate.  We also each received a journal for recording our own moments of person revelation and inspiration.

The talk that was the basis for the conversation was:

How to Receive Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life by Elder Richard G. Scott.

It is really worth reading.  In our "personal revelation and inspiration" journals was a list of scriptures to read which describe feelings, etc that we receive as we have promptings.  President wants us to record our inspirations from the Holy Ghost and the scriptures and feelings we have so we can recognize those promptings/inspirations/revelations.  He hopes we will share some of them with him when we have personal interviews with him.

We had a lovely lunch:  Hawaiian Haystacks and orange melons of some kind.  Fortunately brownies were brought around afterwards!  Dear One did not eat the chicken sauce on the rice, nor did he eat most of the toppings.  I ate the sauce and all the toppings...onions, tomatoes, olive slices, and several others.  Neither of us ate the melon but we BOTH had a brownie!

On Friday Elder A, the Supplies and something else which escapes my mind right now missionary, senior missionary, brought in these lovely roses.

As far as for us, it was a great week as far as kitchen  goes.  The basics really are here in the kitchen but I am so accustomed now to some luxuries that I had to made some purchases.  On Thursday an Instant Pot arrived.  YAY!!!  Immediately I cooked some long grain brown rice and black beans.

On Friday we went to Best Buy where we indulged in a small Samsung television for our Netflix habit.  If you have any good suggestions of shows to watch, PLEASE let us know.  We are using up all the episodes of "our" favorite shows.

On Saturday this country wife/senior missionary decided to bite the bullet and spend some (well, a LOT) of her retirement funds on a few more kitchen tools.  I will report them as they arrive.  Today we purchased a 12" Lodge cast iron skillet and an Anchor Hocking butter dish and three-part glass set which I thought was a loaf pan, 8 by 8 pan, and a 9 by 13 pan.  Instead the 9 by 13 pan is 10.5 by 14.5.  I guess the brownies will be rather thin...

We also went to a farmers' market and found some rather limp kale, some beautiful bell peppers, and some cherry tomatoes.  Being organic, they rather set back my small stash of cash.  After cutting off the ends of the kale stems and putting them in a glass of water, they look happy now.