BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CHANGES

On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, President Veirs announced to all 234 missionaries of the San Pedro Sula, Honduras mission that our mission was going to be split at the end of June.  There had been rumors floating around the mission for a couple of weeks, and we had known for a few days because an architect had come into the office to make of study of how our office space could be divided to accommodate two separate missions.  But, it was a wonderful surprise for all.

The new missions will be called the San Pedro Sula East Mission and the San Pedro Sula West Mission.  He also announced that Kristin and Norman S. Klein from Highland, Utah will be presiding over the East mission. No announcement was made about the new president of the West mission.  President Veirs quipped, "Yes, that goes to show you that it is going to take two men to replace me."  The missionaries got a kick out of that. Of course, an immediate buzz began to spread through the missionaries as they realized that this announcement meant some of them would be split from their friends.  This change was made necessary because of the huge growth in the numbers of young men and women who were applying to serve missions.  In all, fifty-eight new missions are being created to keep pace with the new missionaries.  Welcome, President and Sister Klein, we wish you well in your new opportunity.

That announcement was not the only big surprise of the day.  Wayne was given the microphone and spent nearly an hour explaining the new policy of money in the mission.  He has poured through every financial report that was received during the year 2012 and realized that there was a huge amount of money being wasted each month. Missionaries had come to believe two false ideas: (1) that the Church will always give you more money if you say you need it, and (2) that there is no need to plan ahead or to sacrifice because if you need more money, rule #1 kicks into place.  Beginning March 1, 2013 these young men and women will have to learn to sacrifice, be thrifty, use a budget and plan ahead.  The other secretaries in the office call Wayne the "secretary of fear" but his penny-pinching approach is beginning to rub off on them too.  LaRae said that as he spoke she could see many in the congregation nodding their heads in approval.  This is a change that was long overdue and was much needed.

Of course, each transfer meeting always brings change. This time we had to say "goodbye" to Elder Carlos Omar Garcia from Quetzaltenango, Guatamala who was transferred out of the office.  He has been the glue that has held us together for the past two months and every one of us shudder just a little bit to realize that he won't be there anymore to answer every question we have. We both have grown to love this happy, dedicated young missionary. And, of course, there was also the arrival of new missionaries.  This time we received 23 "newbies" and only had three missionaries that left for home.

Each time new missionaries come we have to train them and give them a little bit of insight into what is going to happen to them over the next 24 months of their lives.  They come from all over the USA, Mexico and all of Central America.  Most of them already are native in Spanish, but about one-third of them come from the USA only having spent six weeks in language training.  The miraculous power of the Lord is seen in the rapidity of their growth and understanding.  They come with such energy and excitement. Very soon they will be fearless and bold in declaring to the world the things that they have come to know are true.  We are doing the same thing.  We are sharing a message with the world.  We are declaring that God has again spoken to the earth through a prophet, and that He is manifesting his will to the people of this time period just as He did in the days of old.  You, too, can know this is true if you will humbly bow your head and ask your Heavenly Father in prayer.  He will answer your prayer, just like He answered ours.

Well, this pretty much sums up our life right now.  We are doing very little out among the people.  We miss that part of the mission very badly, but we are doing what we have been called to do.  We spend 10 hours per day in the office typing and trying to solve the day-to-day problems of the missionaries.  Eventually, we hope to become quicker at what we do so that we will be able to spend more time with the people.