On The Job & Easter

Monday’s mission devotional was amazing!  The Elijah choir sang about 6 songs; sometimes the sister chorus, sometimes the elder chorus, and sometimes the entire choir sang.  Elder Wilkes sang a solo, and Elder Winn was the narrator.  Elder Winn has a deep Darth Vader kind of a voice.  Elder Wilkes was a professional opera singer, now a missionary. I thought the selection of songs and scriptures was just perfect.  President Peterson gave such a good talk that we had people requesting copies of it when we got back to the office. I have one. Then we floated off to work, our Easter week begun.

Tuesday is always staff meeting.  Sister Shelley told me ahead of time that I would begin doing the minutes for that meeting this week, so I have been practicing by taking minutes every where I can: prayer meetings, devotionals, and general conference sessions.  I came to the conclusion that I was not going to be up to speed in time to do a good job.   I thought, prayed, and researched and finally decided a digital voice recorder was my best option.  I purchased one, practiced using it and recorded the staff meeting Tuesday.  Then I went home that night and practiced with all the features to play the minutes back and transcribed them.

Wednesday morning I converted the transcription into minutes (a condensed version of what was reported and decided) and sent the minutes out to all the staff.  Then I waited a few days for corrections to come back.  Only one person came back with a correction.  It could be she was the only one who read the minutes.  What I wrote was what the person said.  She noticed the date was incorrect.  She also suggested I move a conclusion up to a different part of the minutes.  Once again, I put it where it was in the recording but she was right.  It made more sense there.  I’m thinking of seeing if she would like to proof my minutes every time before they go out. This responsibility is the one thing I don’t have much preparation for.  I took shorthand in college, but that was about 40 years ago.  No help at all.  I won’t transcribe it word for word again.  That was just practice using the voice recorder.  It should go faster next time. I hope.

Wednesday was the birthday luncheon held once a month.  All the mission office staff bring their lunch and eat together in the conference room where we have staff meetings.  President Peterson was coming up to our floor in the elevator, cake in hand, when President Henry B. Eyring stepped onto the elevator.  He asked about the cake and President Peterson explained what it was for.  President Eyring wished the young elder (assistant to the president and the only birthday this month) a happy birthday.  Elder Lyon was delighted by that.  He said, “You mean I can write my mom that Elder Eyring saw my cake?”  He was being funny, but this same Elder brought everyone to tears this week in prayer meeting (also held in the conference room) with a video about the Savior he set up for us and the mood he set for the day when it was his turn to give the spiritual thought this week.  Did I mention yet that I love this place?

Thursday I’ve got nothing.  I’m going to start making notes on my calendar at the end of the day so I can remember better.  I’ll use this space to answer a question Tami had about what the mission office secretary does.  I answer the phone, set up appointments with the president (there are a lot), keep the president’s calendar, take minutes at staff meetings, make files for incoming missionaries, archive files for outgoing missionaries, make phone calls for the president, write letters to speakers for our devotionals, write letters for missionaries being released (to the missionary, the bishop, and the stake president), handle notices of change (extensions, callings, changes of zone, contact information, etc.), print and distribute a lot of reports from the access database on the last day of the month (called “the big run”), write address get well, thinking of you, and birthday cards for missionaries, take out the mail twice a day, distribute the incoming mail, restock office supplies from the “store” (underground route to a supply room), ring the bell when it’s time for prayer and staff meetings(I set my phone alarm for these and the mail), feed the appointments into the president (keep track of the people in the waiting room), and send people back to see other staff members (call and see if the staff person can see the visitor).  I think that’s most of what I do.  I like serving in the hub of the wheel.  I’ll like it even better when I’m an old hand at it.

Friday Sister Shelley took her temple and research ½ day, so we tried to get as much done as possible in the morning before she left.  We made a “to do” list for the afternoon and she left at lunch time.  Hardly anyone was in the office that afternoon, either because they left or because they were in meetings and assignments in other places.  So naturally all kinds of visitors streamed in or called with all kinds of questions and problems that afternoon. One was a brand new missionary who was home in her apartment wondering if there was some place she was supposed to be.  She was supposed to be where I was, in the Joseph Smith Memorial building, but at the orientation luncheon for new missionaries.  She couldn’t lock her door, didn’t know where to come, etc.  Just the right person came walking in to my area of the office about that time. Elder Kuchar was able to go down to the first floor and wait for her and show her where to go.  We told her just to pull her door shut and come.  She lives in the same apartment complex I do and that is one place I would consider doing that.

Saturday was my “get the work done day”.  I cleaned my apartment, did some laundry, and took out the trash as fast as I could.  Then I worked on my mission secretary tutorial notebook (something I’m making for myself so I can keep track of all my responsibilities and refer to how to do them) until it was time to meet Sister Calandra and Sister Munger at 2:00p.m. To kick off our Easter celebration we went shopping for spring clothing and then out to dinner at the Blue Lemon, all in the City Creek Center just south of Temple Square.

I started Easter Sunday with Music and the Spoken Word in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.  So did President Monson and his wife and Elder Richard G. Scott.  Lloyd Newell took a simple little story and made an inspiring message out of it, as always.  The Choir sang several beautiful songs and ended the program with the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.  Sometimes I still can’t believe I’m here.

General Conference and Easter are always around April 2nd, the anniversary of Bruce’s death.  They always remind me of the Savior’s atonement and the hope we have because of Him.  I have felt that was one of the Lord’s tender mercies from the beginning.  I often think how much I would love to share all of this with Bruce.  I was touched and pleased to see the things our children did to commemorate the day, posted at our family website.  I love my family.

Sunday night after Church I had a Skype visit with all ten of my kids and their families at the Nally’s.  That was so great!  It was so much better than just the phone.  I loved seeing everyone “face to face”.