January 9th 2018
Just three bits of news to share.
First - the weather. The last almost three weeks have been brutal. Starting on Christmas Eve the night time temperatures were in the low single digits. Some nights were below zero. The cars in this mission with the exception of one or two are all parked outside. We had many, many dead batteries, a couple of key fobs that quit working, and several cars that slid into curbs - sometimes hard enough to puncture the sidewall of the tire. As you can well imagine, when the temperature gets down to -4 during the night, it really doesn't warm up that much during the daytime. Sunday the 7th of January we finally got above freezing. First time since December 24th. It was a long cold spell and we are really glad it is over.
Second - our first district meeting. Last Wednesday we were able, for the first time since we have been here, to attend our district meeting. Our district has one set of sister missionaries, three sets of elders, and us. Two of the sets of elders do not have a car and one of them live about 10 minutes north of us. For them to catch a bus to the church they catch one into downtown Cincinnati then transfer and come back into Northern Kentucky. It takes them about one and a half hours to get from their apartment to the Church where we have the district meetings. So we go and pick them up and then take them back home after meeting. Our district leader, Elder Cutler conducted the meeting and did a great job. It was good to get to know these missionaries better and watch them interact with one another.
Third - MCL (Mission Leader Council) Last Friday morning we drove to the Mission home with a bunch of stuff from the office, transferred it and us to the Welch's SUV, and rode with them an hour north to attend the Mission Leader Council. This is a meeting where all of the Zone Leaders (there are six zones in the mission) and all of the Sister Training Leaders (one set per zone - kind of a assistant zone leader for the sisters) in the mission meet together for training and reporting on their stewardships.
The big news at this MLC was the training of all of the mission leaders in the use of smart phones for proselyting. Oh my goodness. This technology is a huge game changer. Each missionary will have a smart phone - they will share a data plan. The area book (record of all contacts and people being taught) will now be a part of a world wide area book that they will access with an app on the phone. Referrals will be sent directly to the missionaries who are in the area of the referral. They will be able to keep in touch with via instant message, both audio and video, all contacts and members. Bishops and ward councils will have access to their teaching pool. Imagine you are a person who is being taught by the missionaries and are attending your first church meeting. When you get there everyone already knows who your are - they have seen your picture and know a little of your story - and they are able to welcome you and pull you in.
How huge is that? Not to mention receiving media referrals directly on you phone and being able to find people who have been looking for the church and asking about it. We are all very excited about this change.
Hope you all are well. Remember - "All things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things." 2 Nephi 2:24
Last week we bought a bird feeder to put on our back patio - it held three pounds of bird feed. It kind of just sat there while the weather was so cold. Now that it is warm, the birds emptied it in three days.
Just three bits of news to share.
First - the weather. The last almost three weeks have been brutal. Starting on Christmas Eve the night time temperatures were in the low single digits. Some nights were below zero. The cars in this mission with the exception of one or two are all parked outside. We had many, many dead batteries, a couple of key fobs that quit working, and several cars that slid into curbs - sometimes hard enough to puncture the sidewall of the tire. As you can well imagine, when the temperature gets down to -4 during the night, it really doesn't warm up that much during the daytime. Sunday the 7th of January we finally got above freezing. First time since December 24th. It was a long cold spell and we are really glad it is over.
Second - our first district meeting. Last Wednesday we were able, for the first time since we have been here, to attend our district meeting. Our district has one set of sister missionaries, three sets of elders, and us. Two of the sets of elders do not have a car and one of them live about 10 minutes north of us. For them to catch a bus to the church they catch one into downtown Cincinnati then transfer and come back into Northern Kentucky. It takes them about one and a half hours to get from their apartment to the Church where we have the district meetings. So we go and pick them up and then take them back home after meeting. Our district leader, Elder Cutler conducted the meeting and did a great job. It was good to get to know these missionaries better and watch them interact with one another.
Third - MCL (Mission Leader Council) Last Friday morning we drove to the Mission home with a bunch of stuff from the office, transferred it and us to the Welch's SUV, and rode with them an hour north to attend the Mission Leader Council. This is a meeting where all of the Zone Leaders (there are six zones in the mission) and all of the Sister Training Leaders (one set per zone - kind of a assistant zone leader for the sisters) in the mission meet together for training and reporting on their stewardships.
The big news at this MLC was the training of all of the mission leaders in the use of smart phones for proselyting. Oh my goodness. This technology is a huge game changer. Each missionary will have a smart phone - they will share a data plan. The area book (record of all contacts and people being taught) will now be a part of a world wide area book that they will access with an app on the phone. Referrals will be sent directly to the missionaries who are in the area of the referral. They will be able to keep in touch with via instant message, both audio and video, all contacts and members. Bishops and ward councils will have access to their teaching pool. Imagine you are a person who is being taught by the missionaries and are attending your first church meeting. When you get there everyone already knows who your are - they have seen your picture and know a little of your story - and they are able to welcome you and pull you in.
How huge is that? Not to mention receiving media referrals directly on you phone and being able to find people who have been looking for the church and asking about it. We are all very excited about this change.
Hope you all are well. Remember - "All things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things." 2 Nephi 2:24
Last week we bought a bird feeder to put on our back patio - it held three pounds of bird feed. It kind of just sat there while the weather was so cold. Now that it is warm, the birds emptied it in three days.
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