A beautiful day at the San Diego Temple. It was chilly outside, but the sun was shining and the sky was blue. This is something we hadn't seen in Eugene for a while.
The Mormon Battalion Visitors Center was really a great place. The sister missionaries there did a very good job and it was fun to visit with them.
President was "selected" to be the model for the battalion gear. The cameras were flashing every where!
We had a visit from the remaining cast of District 2. Many of the mission presidents and wives had questions for them. Their personalities really came through. It was fun to spend some time with them for some "behind the scenes" information.This was the week of our annual mission president’s seminar. The dates of the seminar were the 15th through the 18th (Wednesday through Saturday) and it was held in San Diego. This was the same city we met in for our first seminar in 2008. Although the actual location was different, we followed the same format of having in attendance the 17 missions in the west area (which includes the California & Hawaii missions) and the 9 missions in northwest area (which includes the missions located in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and one Canadian mission). Elder Clayton presided at the meetings. In the past the annual meetings were presided over by a member of the twelve, but I understand that policy is changing. Of course we would have been richly edified if one of the twelve had come, but we came home lifted and wiser. That being said, this seminar didn’t lack any in the companionship of the spirit and we were able to learn much in some of the “how-to-dos” of running a mission.
The things we learned are included in our personal journals and are centered on the fundamentals contained in Preach My Gospel. In addition to Elder Clayton, Elder Bowen of the 70 and Stephen Allen of the missionary department came. Brother Allen was able to teach much about what is happening now and also some things that are being tested in various areas of the church. These tested items related to reaching people through internet, texting, and advertizing campaigns and other more modern, nontraditional missionary methods. These approaches have resulted in more hits to Mormon.org and more media referral last month than ever before in a month.
It was good to be there and be instructed, but also somewhat melancholy to see some of the mission presidents and their wives for the last time in the mission field. While I will see the Northwest mission presidents at the midyear seminar in the spring, this was the last one to be attended by Sister Macdonald and the other mission president’s wives in our class. Some of the people we will miss seeing include the Dyches from Portland, of course, with whom we have grown quite close, the Reeves in Riverside who was our youngest son’s (Clint) mission president for the second half of his mission, and Keith and Ada Wilson in Everett, Washington who have been friends and co-workers for many years, as well as all the presidents we came through the MTC with. There were hugs and feelings of love expressed, and times that will not soon be forgotten.
Associated with these gatherings is an activity or two. This year we went to the Mormon Battalion visitor center in old town San Diego and also enjoyed a short dinner cruise in a boat made to look like an old time paddle boat. The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was fantastic and the company was better than both.
Most of our missionaries didn’t know we attended this meeting, but their obedience and hard work made it easy for us to be gone with only limited phone calls back and forth. We are so glad they are doing so well and are easy to lead, motivate and love.
The things we learned are included in our personal journals and are centered on the fundamentals contained in Preach My Gospel. In addition to Elder Clayton, Elder Bowen of the 70 and Stephen Allen of the missionary department came. Brother Allen was able to teach much about what is happening now and also some things that are being tested in various areas of the church. These tested items related to reaching people through internet, texting, and advertizing campaigns and other more modern, nontraditional missionary methods. These approaches have resulted in more hits to Mormon.org and more media referral last month than ever before in a month.
It was good to be there and be instructed, but also somewhat melancholy to see some of the mission presidents and their wives for the last time in the mission field. While I will see the Northwest mission presidents at the midyear seminar in the spring, this was the last one to be attended by Sister Macdonald and the other mission president’s wives in our class. Some of the people we will miss seeing include the Dyches from Portland, of course, with whom we have grown quite close, the Reeves in Riverside who was our youngest son’s (Clint) mission president for the second half of his mission, and Keith and Ada Wilson in Everett, Washington who have been friends and co-workers for many years, as well as all the presidents we came through the MTC with. There were hugs and feelings of love expressed, and times that will not soon be forgotten.
Associated with these gatherings is an activity or two. This year we went to the Mormon Battalion visitor center in old town San Diego and also enjoyed a short dinner cruise in a boat made to look like an old time paddle boat. The food was wonderful, the atmosphere was fantastic and the company was better than both.
Most of our missionaries didn’t know we attended this meeting, but their obedience and hard work made it easy for us to be gone with only limited phone calls back and forth. We are so glad they are doing so well and are easy to lead, motivate and love.
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