Going, Going, GONE

The Mission Home is no more.

General Authority Visit

Elder Whitney Clayton, one of the Presidents of the Seventy, came this week and did a mission conference for the entire mission for three hours on Saturday. He was accompanied by Elder Reynolds, the area authority for our mission and the first thing they did was line up and shake hands and ask each missionary their name and home town. Elder Clayton said the meeting had one purpose and one purpose only: To help the missionaries to baptize more people who are all truly converted. We need people who will bless and strengthen the church. Missionaries should try to balance their efforts between baptism, retention, and activation. Properly done, activation and retention work should lead to more investigators and more baptisms. He said missionaries should look for families and reminded them that “seek and ye shall find.” They will find what they are looking for.

He asked how many of the missionaries had gone through all 13 steps in their weekly planning this week. Unfortunately, only a few raised their hands. He told them that planning is the process of revelation and promised that if they would be obedient to the planning guidelines in Preach My Gospel, they would have more baptisms.

The format for most of the meeting was allowing missionaries to ask questions. Elder Clayton used the opportunities thus presented to teach doctrine. He explained how important it is to be bold and clear in extending invitations to make commitments. He quoted 1 Nephi 4:6 and related how Nephi went forward in obedience not knowing what would happen. He had a very difficult experience but was blessed and everything worked out in the end. Many investigators will have similar experiences of going forward in keeping the commandments. He also read Alma 23:6 and emphasized that the Lamanites were converted to the Lord, not the missionaries. Keeping commitments is the way that investigators gain testimonies and blessings from the Lord.

He reminded them that the most diligent and obedient missionaries are the ones who get the referrals. Elder Clayton reviewed the story of the fig tree in Matt 21:19 and told the missionaries that it isn’t enough to wear the missionary uniform and look like missionaries, they have to bear figs (baptisms). He reminded missionaries that they are called to be angels. D&C 29:42. They should be as good as they can be and not even think of doing something wrong.

Sister Macdonald, President Baker, Elder Clayton, Elder Reynolds looking at the Book of Mormon pods.
Elder Macdonald, Sister Dansie, Sister Browning, Elder Clayton, President Baker (hidden), and Elder Reynolds during tour of Visitor's Center.

Apostle Visit

President Uchtdorf and his wife Harriet unexpectedly dropped by for a quick tour of the Visitors' Center before he spoke at the Westwood Second Ward Sacrament Meeting.
Our daughter Tracy and her family just happened to be visiting that weekend.

Zone Leader Council January 2011

Elders Muir, Thiriot, Simmons, Brady, Welling, Chambers, Amundsen, Tanner, Wood, Gagnon, Equizabel, Billat, Groves, Hetchler, Russell, Ricks.


See also the Christmas Day pictures inserted below.

Arriving Missionaries December 2010

We welcomed our new missionaries in the rain and sent them off to tract for an hour. Elder Gishie returns from Arizona after knee surgery, Sister Pinto from Bolivia, Sister Nibley from Utah, Elder Shannon from Washington state, Elder Clements from Texas, Elder Choi from Korea, Elder Muse from Kentucky, Elder Alvarez from norther California.

After lunch they met their new trainers; Elder Gilbert (Muse), Elder Molinaro (Clements), Elder N. Evans (Shannon), Elder Son (Choi), Elder Hoehn (Alvarez), Sister L. Garcia (Pinto), Sister Phillipy Nibley)

Departing Missionaries December 2010

We lost ten percent of our missionaries in one day. Last day traditions include a temple session, dinner, and testimony meeting.

Good-bye to (seated) Ja Min Byon, Marissa Masihdas, Christie Salazar, Jennifer Thomas, Kimberly Stevens, Chelsea Williamson (standing) Ryan Bingham, Mitchell Brower, Anson Fillerup, Joshua Loveless, Cameron Clark, Dallin Nead, Marcus Dahle, Ivan Sanchez, Scott Jackson, Jordan Gustin, Kyle Richins, Cory Lovelace, Andrew Simon, Christopher Yanez, Yeon Sung

Christmas Eve 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve event. The whole mission gathered togetherfor a Christmas concert. We had a 60 voice choir led by Sister Lyman that was just amazing. We had an additional dozen numbers performed by small groups. It was Christmas at its best.

Afterwards, the missionaries met in the cultural hall to mix and mingleand enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls with hot chocolate.Christmas wouldn't be the same without Santa Claus (aka Elder Hancock).
We ended with gifts; boxes from from family and friends (this is one week's worth)and a mini loaf of poppy seed bread from the mission.

Christmas at the Los Angeles Temple

Monday in the Mission Office

This is one day's worth of Christmas boxes. The mailman brought his usual mail truck plus a van just to deliver our mail. Elder Hancock and some other missionaries had to help carry it all in through the rain.

The reason missionaries were available to help with the mail is that many of them were nearby in the Familly History Center. The FHC is next door to us in the Visitor Center basement and since they aren't very busy on Monday mornings, they are gracious enough to allow the missionaries to use the center to email their families.

New Office

The old office is now abandoned. It is the end of an era as the original office complex was built at the same time as the temple in the 1950's. It is going to be completely torn down and two homes will be built on the site; one for the Mission President and one for the Temple President. We do not expect to ever live in the new home ourselves.

The old Mission Office was one corner of a rectangle built around a courtyard. The building also included the Mission Home, the Assistants' apartment, extra rooms for missionary transfers, a commercial kitchen, a dining room with a table that seats 16, and the Fireside Room, which was a group meeting room with several couches and chairs.

The new office is across a parking lot in the basement of the Visitor's Center. It took a while to get all those boxes unpacked.

Everybody is now up and operating. This is President Baker's office.