The Importance of Missionary Work

We are in the middle of a string of zone conferences, one for each of the seven zones in the mission.    Zone conferences for Raleigh (which took place in the stake center where the mission office is located) and Apex (which is held in the stake center adjacent to the Raleigh Temple) happened last week.  This Tuesday and Wednesday we have Raleigh South and Wilmington Zone Conferences.  Wilmington is the farthest away -- about a three-hour drive south from here.  The other three zones (Durham, Fayetteville, and Fayetteville West) will have their conferences in the following two weeks.  Then come the three days of transfers, and the cycle begins again.

The office staff goes to all zone conferences to give short training presentations to the missionaries on various topics within our stewardship.  Things like keeping apartments clean (the housing supervisor); the importance of drinking enough water to stay hydrated (mission nurse); safe driving (car czar); ways to reduce utility bills (finance elder); and the proper way to fill out baptismal forms (mission secretary, me).  The vehicle elder also has to check all the missionaries' vehicles to make sure they're being taken care of (oil, fluids, tires, etc.)  Most of us can leave after our part is complete, but on Wednesday I stayed for the entire meeting.

May I just say how impressive these missionaries are!  So focused, so intelligent and eager to learn. The two Assistants to the President, Elder Barlow and Elder Shearer, each gave a 30-minute presentation without notes, and their poise and confidence, mingled with their humble acknowledgement that they are only servants of our Heavenly Father, brought me to tears.  I see the Lord's hand very clearly in this work, and that is evidenced by the stories and examples they share with the missionaries.

In addition to assisting President James, the Assistants also spend their evening tracting and teaching.  Elder Shearer told of knocking on a door and beginning the door approach.  The man who had opened the door immediately started waving them off, saying he wasn't interested, and attempting to close the door.  Elder Shearer just kept smiling and talking, telling him of the restoration of the church.  He had just begun to tell the man about Joseph Smith reading scriptures and going to the grove to pray when the man really began to close the door.  Elder Barlow spoke up, saying "You need to listen to this!  It's important!"  The man held the door open a little bit and listened to the rest of the story, then paused, looking thoughtful.  He said "I've never heard anything like that before.  You'd better come in and meet my family." They are now teaching that family the truths of the gospel.

The moral of the story, of course, is to never give up.  We have the truth, after all.  There will be people who have so hardened their hearts that they no longer are open to anything other than what they have felt is true all their lives.  No amount of testifying will be able to sway someone who has closed off their mind and heart and will not listen.  But others are sincere seekers and open-minded, and can be touched by the right approach.  They are the ones the Spirit can teach.

I haven't yet gone to the temple, but seeing it on Wednesday makes me want to make time to go very soon.  It is a much smaller temple than any in the Salt Lake Valley, but still very beautiful.  It is only open for a couple of sessions on most days, with more sessions scheduled on Saturday, and anyone wishing to go to the temple must call ahead to make a reservation.  That takes more planning than I'm used to doing, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  It's only about a half hour drive away from my apartment by freeway.

On Friday, May 26, 2017, my luminous oldest granddaughter Jessica married KJ, the man of her dreams, in the Salt Lake Temple.  They met when they were both teaching Spanish-speaking missionaries at the Provo MTC, and will now be making a life together.  I was sad not to be able to be there with them, but Vanessa thoughtfully hooked me up on Facebook Messenger so I could
experience some of the reception festivities and see and be seen by some of my family.  It was a great treat, and I enjoyed it very much.  Family IS what the Church is all about.  Jessica and KJ have formed a bond that is eternal, as each of my children has done with their partner.  I am so thrilled that all six of my children, are married in the temple and active in the Church.  I know that their lives are enriched by the gospel, and I know that because of the Plan of Salvation, and the sacrifice of our elder Brother Jesus Christ, we can and will be together in eternal life.  Graham is there already, waiting for us to join him, and the reunion will be sweet.

This is what missionaries want to provide for the people they teach.  The opportunity to forge those eternal bonds, to learn what they have to do and the covenants they need to make to help them reach that happy state in the eternities and feel the joy that comes with it.  That is the importance of missionary work.

A Variety of Missionary Efforts

Many thanks to Kelly Ambrose for designing the beautiful logo banner for this blog post.  It is so nice to have wonderfully talented family members!

I had a very productive week, and yet I still feel that I'm behind.  How can this be?  Here are some of the things I did:

Prepared welcome booklets for four senior couples who will be arriving in the mission in the next couple of months; forwarded returning missionary travel itineraries to their stake presidents and bishops (I have to assume that their parents received copies of the itineraries at the same time I got them -- will have to verify that); sent out the letters that had to go to parents whose missionaries will be returning in six months; send emails requesting travel requests from parents whose missionaries will be returning in four months; ordered supplies and processed incoming supplies; forwarded mail; entered information regarding recent convert baptisms into the CDE (what that stands for I've no idea); spent several hours cleaning up the Contacts list on the phones used by the President and office staff; maintained the list of incoming and returning missionaries based on emails from Church headquarters; printed and distributed current organization lists to everyone needing to know the results of the recent transfers; spent considerable time figuring out how to get the information in IMOS (yet another alphabet soup name that just means the Church's database of missionaries in each mission) to merge seamlessly with correspondence templates in order to automate communication with parents and priesthood leaders more effectively ...

Are you breathing heavily after reading that list?

And here's a partial list of things I still need to do:  Send letters to all recently baptized members (two months' worth now and growing); send letters to parents and priesthood leaders of missionaries who received leadership calls (to AP, ZL, DL, STL, etc.) in the last transfer; get my desktop printer fixed (yes, it jammed and in trying to clear the jam I managed to tear the paper so it won't print now); get the next issue of the Tar Heel newsletter drafted and printed by Friday for distribution; process the orders from the Zone Leaders for supplies of pamphlets, Books of Mormon, pass-along cards and videos, all in various languages, and get the supplies in the zone buckets by Friday for MLC (Mission Leadership Council). 

Am trying to convince myself to take one task at a time, complete it, and move on to the next.  At least I will never be able to say that this assignment doesn't provide variety!  My MTC companion Sister Mathews, is doing the same assignment of office secretary but in Brisbane, Australia.  She writes that they have missionaries from 31 different countries, speaking about that number of languages.  Arranging travel in each direction for such a diverse group and communicated with all of their home contact people is quite a complicated task.  I see how blessed I am that I have mostly English-speaking missionaries to deal with, or I would be even busier!

As part of my assignment, I get to talk to family members who need various information communicated to their missionaries.  We had a call from a grandmother who was on a bus tour in the southeast and wanted to arrange to see her granddaughter who is serving here. She said she would have been present for the Mother's Day call if she hadn't been away from home. President James spoke with her and agreed to let the sister missionary call her grandmother while she was in the area.  I'm not sure the grandmother was completely satisfied, but anything other than that would have been a huge disruption in the missionary's work. 

Another mother wanted to know if it was okay to send her son a taser, as he felt the need for more security than he had.  The answer was, well, no.  By mission rules the missionaries are allowed to carry pepper spray, but nothing more than that.  It's a good thing the mother asked first.

There is a senior couple who just completed their training at the MTC and who are now driving from Utah to North Carolina to serve a Member Leader Support mission.  All four of their tires were brand new, but while driving through Arkansas they still got a flat.  While Elder N. was trying to get the spare tire out, a young man pulled up and helped them.  Sister N. talked with the young man's wife while the men did the manly things, and was able to explain that they were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to tell her a little bit about what that entailed.  It turned out that the couple had a teenage son living in North Carolina.  Sister N. reported that she got their contact information and plans to follow up.  How amazing it is that the Lord's plan can be so detailed.

There are so many miracles surrounding those involved in missionary work.  You can see by the list of tasks above that a great deal of effort and Church resources go into the support of these young missionaries.  I really had no idea how huge this missionary program is.  How important it must be in the eyes of the Lord to warrant this amount of effort and expenditure.  He truly does love all of His children, and wants each one who is honestly seeking for the truth to have a chance to hear the good news of the gospel and make the changes in their lives that will bring them closer to Him. 

What are we certain of?

The title of this blog site, A Certain Sister in North Carolina, is derived from the April 2017 Women's Conference talk by Linda K. Burton.  She talked about Certain Women, and defined them as "disciples centered in the Savior Jesus Christ [who] have hope through the promise of His atoning sacrifice."

In our MTC group of 50+ senior missionaries which began training on April 3, 2017, there were 11 single sisters.  Having just heard Sister Burton's talk, we called ourselves the "Certain Sisters."  My MTC companion, Sister Mathews, prepared a classroom label that we used for our afternoon classes when we Certain Sisters were together.

The majority of our group were headed for Salt Lake City to fill various assignments in family history, the visitor's center, etc.  Sister Mathews is now in Brisbane, Australia, also working as the mission office secretary there.  Others from our group have gone to California and Equador.  And here I am in North Carolina.  Which proves there are Certain Sisters all over the world.

11 Single Certain Sisters

This week was Transfers.  Which means that on Monday, 7 new missionaries arrived; on Tuesday, 50+ missionaries were transferred; and on Wednesday, 10 missionaries returned home.  The seniors in the office are very involved in the whole process, greeting and saying goodbye, preparing documents and gathering information, preparing meals, transporting, etc.  It's crazy chaotic fun.

Parking Lot on Transfer Day

Monday night the new missionaries were all at the mission home for dinner, interviews with President James, testimony meeting, and sleeping (when they weren't in the basement playing pingpong).  On Tuesday, in addition to transferred missionaries meeting their new companions, the new missionaries got some preliminary instructions from the office staff, met their trainers, and learned where they would be living for the next six weeks at least.  Then on Tuesday night the missionaries who were returning went to the mission home, got their itineraries and boarding passes, had dinner, had a wonderful, spirit-filled testimony meeting, and slept (again, allowing for considerable pingpong time). The first flight out on Wednesday morning left at 7:20, so the whole group (with Pres. and Sister James and those who were driving the van and luggage trailer) had to leave the mission home around 5 a.m.  Most of the missionaries were returning to places like California, Arizona, and Utah.  Sister Huang was going back to Taiwan.  She may still be on an airplane as I type this.

And today was Mother's Day, one of the only times when missionaries can call home.  Yesterday and today, Elder Lehrschall, a service missionary here in the office who maintains the mission's Facebook page, and I were kept busy fielding calls from frantic parents who didn't know when their missionaries were going to call, or from missionaries hoping to enlist our help in contacting their families.  Knowing how much this call means to the families, we were happy to help make those connections. 

As a Senior missionary, I am grateful that I am not limited to just two phone calls a year with my family back home.  I've already had several Facebook Messenger video chats from children and grandchildren, and it's such a joy to see their faces and hear their voices.  I am so blessed to have a wonderful family.  I'm Certain that the gospel that enriches our lives will bond us together for eternity, and that gives me a peaceful assurance that our lives have significance in the Lord's plan.

Many thanks to all who have sent me cards and messages of love and support.  I miss you all, but know that the work I'm doing is important if it allows these great young missionaries to focus more fully on finding and teaching those who are sincerely searching for the truth.

Boss Sister

Life is beginning to settle into a routine, of sorts.  Monday mornings President and Sister James are in the office around 9:00 a.m. for an office staff meeting.  We begin with prayer, sing a hymn, have a scriptural thought and testimony, and discuss and plan for the events of the upcoming week.  If there have been problems during the past week we discuss those and look for solutions.  Sister James's mother and sister were visiting this past week, so they attended a number of the events with the missionaries.  They also squeezed in some sightseeing with Sister James.

Friday was the final temple trip for the missionaries who are returning home this coming Wednesday. Two of the returning Sisters didn't have their own temple clothes, so two of the office sisters lent them their clothing to use in the special session.  Unlike in the Salt Lake Valley, where patrons can just show up pretty much any time they want to and do an endowment session, at the Raleigh Temple every visit has to be scheduled ahead of time.  The temple needs detailed information about the number of sisters and brothers who will be attending each session.  There are a limited number of sessions per day, most days just two; on Saturday there may be as many as five sessions.

Sister Porter, who is also in charge of housing issues, supervises meals for all such missionary events, with the able help of Sister Salgado and any of the other office staff who are available.  The Raleigh Temple is next door to the Apex Stake Center, which the mission can schedule to use for such gatherings.  Meals are provided by stake or ward Relief Societies for some other meetings, such as zone conferences, and all of that has to be scheduled at least a month ahead.

Now just to clarify, wherever you read the word "schedule" in this blog, you can insert the name "Sister Ambrose," as I am apparently in charge of scheduling everything.  But it's okay, because at Monday's staff meeting I learned that I am also the boss of the office.  The BOSS!  I've never been the boss of anything before.  I am great at taking orders, not giving them!  My children are rolling in the aisles imagining me being in charge, since I've been happily deferring that role to Denise, or anyone else willing to take over. Watch out, kids, I may just get used to this.

Last Saturday I signed up for WiFi in my apartment, so I now have access to the internet when I'm not at work.  As a Senior missionary I'm allowed a little entertainment, so I've been taking advantage of Netflix.  I've also set a goal for myself of doing at least one batch of indexing per day, and I try to do more than that if my stamina holds out. As a rank indexing beginner, I've been entering data from the World War II draft registrations in Minnesota and Nebraska.  I will have to consult history information to find out just why there were so many registrations on October 16, 1940.  I think at least half of the dates I've entered have been on or around that date.  Also quite a few in February, 1942.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I will spend it putting together welcome books for the seven missionaries arriving in the afternoon to be picked up by President and Sister James.  They will go straight to the mission home where they will be fed, instructed, have a testimony meeting, and sleep for the night.  The elders sleep in the big basement room in blanket rolls; the sisters sleep upstairs in bunk beds.  That day is followed by transfer day, which I hear is quite chaotic, with the parking lot full of missionary cars and luggage, the building full of missionaries, several kinds of training meetings, more meals to be prepared and eaten, etc.; and then on Wednesday President and Sister James and the Assistants take the returning missionaries to the airport for their flights home.  I hear the three days can be very exciting.  I'll let you know more next week what it was like.

Tonight the office staff are gathering for a meal at the apartment of Elder and Sister Root, who arrived in the mission just over a week ago.  We also get together each Monday evening for FHE at the office after work, sharing a meal and good fellowship.  Family is what the Church is all about, but those of us who are far away from our biological families can support and love each other in a makeshift family way, and it's very nice.

My love to all.  As I suspected, the Church is true in North Carolina too!