Once every transfer (six weeks), our entire mission gathers for a conference. It’s a pretty big event, and is filled with lessons and training and a few fun activities. It’s an opportunity for us to visit with the other senior missionaries, and reconnect with younger missionaries who have left our zone for other areas of the mission. Our first conference back in June wasn’t as fun because we didn’t really know anyone, but now we bump into a couple dozen friends and enjoy catching up with them.
One of the things I really enjoy is seeing a big crowd of young adults gathered with a single purpose, eager to learn how to improve at the single task they have for the next two years.
Our mission leaders, President and Sister Merritt, give multiple lectures, and both of them are dynamic speakers who have a knack for putting things in just the right way that the missionaries can understand and apply their lessons. But there are also sessions where the young missionaries themselves are leading and teaching.
I love watching all of them develop and hone life skills like time management, organization, planning, relationships, diligence, and even how to handle rejection (missionaries are constantly rejected!). I wish I’d learned some of those skills at their age, in a nice comfortable classroom, rather than through hard experience.
It was fun and inspiring. For the next six weeks, we’ll get to sit in our local “district councils” where the small group of missionaries we’re serving with meet to talk about their specific areas and challenges. That’s where these lessons really apply. It’s good to be a part of this work.