Mission Presidents and Fond Memories

[Guest mormonmusic]

One of the best experiences in my Church life was my mission president.

He did a number of things to really boost my confidence and experience as a missionary. And his decisions showed intelligence and charity.

One, he mentioned a couple times about how he was impressed with what I did to get myself on the mission (there were huge financial obstacles). At the end of my mission, in my last thre months, he put me in charge of a part of the mission and completely stacked the whole area with his most productive and effective missionaries. I believe he did this as reward for the efforts I'd made to get into the mission field.

the month I went home, the missionaries outperformed our monthly goals -- something that rarely ever happened in this mission. The last month I went home, I was walking on air due the blessings the missionaries I worked with had seen in having so much success.

I also confided in my Mission President that I had trouble talking to people spontaneously in the first year of my mission. So, for a solid year, he put me with missionaries who were talk-a-holics -- could make people laugh, talk to anyone about anything, and were immensely popular. One was planning a career as a comedian.

This was actually hard on me because I wasn't able to get a word in edge-wise, and felt like a fifth wheel a lot of the time. But months upon months of observing other missionaries make conversation (who were good at it) showed me how to make conversation with others, and to add some sparkle and charisma to my personality.

After that period ended, and he put me with more low key people, I confided in him that it was difficult being assigned to such talkers all the time, but I learned heaps about how to talk to people as a result. He replied "That was why I put you with those missionaries -- so you could learn to do it better".

Do you have any other stories about mission presidents who showed great depth and spirituality and who created fond memories of your mission as a result of their leadership?

[MarginOfError]

One of the best experiences in my Church life was my mission president.

He did a number of things to really boost my confidence and experience as a missionary. And his decisions showed intelligence and charity.

One, he mentioned a couple times about how he was impressed with what I did to get myself on the mission (there were huge financial obstacles). At the end of my mission, in my last thre months, he put me in charge of a part of the mission and completely stacked the whole area with his most productive and effective missionaries. I believe he did this as reward for the efforts I'd made to get into the mission field.

the month I went home, the missionaries outperformed our monthly goals -- something that rarely ever happened in this mission. The last month I went home, I was walking on air due the blessings the missionaries I worked with had seen in having so much success.

I also confided in my Mission President that I had trouble talking to people spontaneously in the first year of my mission. So, for a solid year, he put me with missionaries who were talk-a-holics -- could make people laugh, talk to anyone about anything, and were immensely popular. One was planning a career as a comedian.

This was actually hard on me because I wasn't able to get a word in edge-wise, and felt like a fifth wheel a lot of the time. But months upon months of observing other missionaries make conversation (who were good at it) showed me how to make conversation with others, and to add some sparkle and charisma to my personality.

After that period ended, and he put me with more low key people, I confided in him that it was difficult being assigned to such talkers all the time, but I learned heaps about how to talk to people as a result. He replied "That was why I put you with those missionaries -- so you could learn to do it better".

Do you have any other stories about mission presidents who showed great depth and spirituality and who created fond memories of your mission as a result of their leadership?

I used to argue endlessly with my mission president. To the point that at zone conference he once singled me out in a manner the damaged my social standing among the other missionaries (although not my credibility). We almost came down to a screaming match in the mission office one time. I'd follow that man anywhere.

[john doe]

Sadly, there are a few not-so-great mission presidents. I had one of those. Mine yelled at me after I wrote him a letter talking about the troubles I was having as a greenie. I learned not to bother him with my problems and deal with them on my own. He saw me as a problem missionary, and sent me far from the mission home for the duration. The only times I saw the mission home were when I arrived and when I left. I heard years later that he had met a woman on a plane, left his wife and was excommunicated. It took me a few years to reconcile that while the church is true, some of the people in it, including some leaders, are not. While I had a great mission I can't credit my president for any of it, I view him as one of the hurdles I had to overcome.

[Guest mormonmusic]

Then I count myself fortunate. Here's something else my mission president did.

In our quarterly interviews (or semi-annual interviews, can't remember) he would often ask me a question that got right to the heart of what was on my mind at that time.

I remember once, he said "How are your parents reacting to your serving a mission? Are they writing to you regularly?". When he asked that question, thing that was weighing heavily on my mind was how they rarely wrote to me, and it bothered me from time to time. I had wanted to share it in our interview. (My mother did write four times over the two year period, just so I'm being completely forthright, and my brother and sister wrote once).

After he asked that question, there was total flooding the room with the Spirit and I could see it in my Mission President's eyes.

His eyes turned red and a single tear streamed down his cheek, although he was fully in control of his emotions. And then he gave strong support for what I was doing -- hugged me. Expressed his admiration for me, the work I was doing. He was truly in tune with God to be able to sense what to say in that situation to strengthen one of his missionaries.

Or the time he put me with this disobedient elder. This elder was really hard to get along with -- lazy, always soliciting dinner appointments, avoiding responsibility, hindering the work. After about 3 months I was done, and intended to ask for a transfer. In my interview with the President, he opened the interview with "Elder Mormonmusic, how has Elder [insert name of difficult companion] PROGRESSED over the three months you've been together?".

But his opening question took the wind out of my sails. I listed a bunch of things he was doing -- studying, learning to teach, had stopped listening to Michael Jackson music, etcetera.

My mission president then encouraged discussion about my plans to help this elder progres, and I never did express my concerns about this problem missionary. We stayed together another two months.

He really was a great man who had more than simply increasing the membership at heart.

Edited May 6, 2010 by mormonmusic