First Ever Mission Leadership Council with Elders and Sisters in the Italy Rome Mission!

August 1, 2013

The Mission Office/Church is only a 15 minute walk from the villa.  After breakfast, we had all the missionaries walk to the church for Mission Leadership Council.

This was an historic day!  It's a wonderful time to be a missionary.  Sisters are taking an active part in mission leadership.  They are and always will be loyal to the priesthood, but they are stepping up and being leaders in their own way.

Today the council members talked about the things they had learned in the last Zone Conference and what had been successful.  During the last set of Zone Conferences, President had them practice doing baptism commitments on the first meeting.  This was a concept I struggled with in the MTC--until I actually did role plays and did it.  I am converted to the concept.  The spirit testified so strongly to me that this is what we are supposed to do.  It was exciting to have the missionaries tell us they had done what they had practiced and that it worked and they had so many more commitments for baptism.  They were enthusiastic and anxious to go to work and get even more commitments.

We also talked about using time wisely.  The Zone Leaders had given lessons about that in the last set of conferences.  Over and over we heard them tell us the importance of being prepared and having a plan in advance as to where they would go and what they would do.  Because they were following a plan and not just leaving things to chance, they were much more successful.

The number one way of finding investigators is through teaching English classes.  The church has a program they are using extensively in America to teach English to Spanish speaking individuals--members and non-members.  The program has been modified to teach English to the Italian people.  It is an organized program with posters and lesson plans and pass-a-long cards with the address and name of the missionary on it.  This is the first time the program is being used outside the United States and we will be watched closely to see how successful it is.  The missionaries are super excited.  It's an answer to prayers.  We have a couple of areas that have been using the program as a pilot.  Those missionaries raved about the success.  The plan is to give each companionship the materials at the next set of Specialized Training that starts next week.  This is another tool to be used in the hastening.  Again, it's a wonderful time to be a missionary.

Evening Mission Council

July 31, 2013

Gratefully, the living room of the villa opens up with the sun room on one end and a dining room on the other end.  This allowed enough space for meeting.

The theme for the evening portion of the council was obedience.  The missionaries assembled at the villa are the leaders of our mission.  They were counseled to be obedient and set a good example for those serving in their areas.  They set the tone.  If they are obedient, the younger missionaries will be obedient.  It was a good meeting.

At the end of the meeting, they sang the mission song.  They always sing the mission song.  They love the mission song.

Mission Council Dinner

July 31, 2013


Oh my!  This is the largest group we have had spending the night at the villa.  I actually had to sit five places at the table in the sun room to accommodate them.  (I don't know why I bothered.  They were so excited to be at the villa and be together that they just squooze  (sp?) in with everybody else.  This is the first time our mission has held an All Mission Council with both Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders.  We had 16 ZL's, 13 STL's, 2 AP's, 2 Senior Missionaries, and my husband and me.  That's a full house.  We served grilled hamburgers, potato salad, chips. watermelon and gelato.  Dinner was noisy and loud, but they were excited to see former companions.

Ants

July 31, 2013

I've heard complaints about ants from some of the missionaries and I've seen lots of them outside, but I'd never seen them inside the villa until the morning I was scurrying around trying to prepare for all the missionaries to descend on the villa that night.

Somebody told me once that ants were drawn to syrup and would crawl into it, get trapped and die.  That sounded great to me.  My only challenge was that I didn't have any syrup, but I found a bottle of molasses in the cupboard and decided to try that.  I put some in front of the door where they were coming in.  When I checked a while later,  the ants were lined up next to the molasses just like pigs lined up at a trough.

It reminded me of sin.  People rush into things because it's sweet and easy.  They don't stop to think about the consequences.

(Just for the record, syrup might work, but molasses turns hard.  I suggest a shot of Raid.)

Supplies

July 30, 2013

It takes a lot of effort to organize and prepare for 30 people at the villa.  The mission  office couple accompanied us to Metro Mart to get supplies.  Metro Mart is kind of like a Costco or Sam's Club.  It's a lot different than the little stores that surround the villa.  Everything comes in bulk but it''s Italian style bulk.  We still can't get many of the items we've grown accustomed to in the States.

Adding Beds

July 29, 2013

We have 18 twin size beds upstairs on the 3rd floor and 6 twin beds in the basement.  We also have 5 mattresses we can move wherever we need them.  You would think that would be enough beds, but it's not.  In order to accommodate the upcoming Mission Council with all the Zone Leaders (ZL's) and Sister Training Leaders (STL's) we needed more beds for sisters.

The Assistants literally assist us in everything.  They are wonderful.  One would think they would love the diversion from being a full time missionary, but first and foremost they are missionaries.  They are extremely obedient and do all that is asked of them.  They make train and plane reservations, gather information for reports, drive us to and from the airport, assist with incoming and outgoing missionaries, do presentations at Zone Conference and Specialized Training Sessions, and numerous other things.  We asked them to get six new bunkbeds and assemble them so we would have room to accommodate all the sisters at the Mission Council.  With all those additional beds, we are able to have all the missionaries spend the night at the villa.  (We have beds for everyone, but they are so close together it's difficult to maneuver your way around them.  It's never for more than just one night and they love being together.)