The last two years as the Branch Mission Leader has been quite an experience. It certainly had its ups and downs. I just thought I would share some of the experiences I had as well as what I have learned from my time working with the missionaries.
When I was extended the calling by President Saxy two years ago I remember thinking that I was in no way fit for this calling. I accepted it but I didn't know how well I would do at it. I was handed a binder with a bunch of papers in it and I was told to go out and figure out what was going on. The Branch had a mission leader about six months before I was called that got things organized a bit but moved before anything really got going. So I had to do a lot of organizing and figuring out how things were supposed to work. I was thrown right into the middle of the pilot program that the Church was doing at the time. It was a program that is now used church wide but at the time there was only like 16 stakes doing the new mission plan stuff. So I had to learn all that stuff. Fortunately the other mission leaders in the stake were very helpful in explaining the whole thing. Also, shortly after I was called there was a training meeting with the Ogden mission president and an area authority on the plan. So I had a lot of good training to get things started with.
After a few months of not much going on things changed in a hurry. It got to the point where I was going out with the missionaries to lessons every single night. I didn't have any branch missionaries back then and I had no hope of getting any either. So I had to do it all myself. It got to the point where Leona set ground rules and told the missionaries I wasn't allowed to go out with them on Sundays or Mondays any more because she wanted to actually see me every once in a while. We had a few baptisms during that time. One of which you probably know. It was Troy Price. Probably the greatest thing about being a Mission Leader is that you don't have to worry too much about being transferred. I have been able to watch Troy go from an investigator to a new convert to receiving the Priesthood as a Deacon, learning to pass the Sacrament, becoming a Teacher and now he is a Priest. It is very rewarding seeing the fruits of your labor continue to grow. As a full time missionary you never really get to see what becomes of the people you taught. You teach them and move on. Rarely do you get to see the fruits of your labor (even though I married the fruit of my labor ;) ). Seeing people join the church or return to the church is a great feeling. Knowing that you helped them makes you feel even better.
Another thing I learned is that you don't need to be called as a branch missionary to do missionary work in the branch. Most people here in the branch are really good about missionary work. People are so willing to go out and invite their neighbors to meet with the missionaries. They are always willing to help. If you look at the branch today, it is where it is because of the efforts of all those who are in the branch. It could have easily stayed very small in size. But now we have the same attendance as a lot of wards. It has been great watching the branch grow.
I have learned that any missionary effort, no matter how small, can have big results. Even if it is something as simple as talking to your neighbor about your family home evening the night before. You don't have to invite them to anything. Just share your family experience with them. If they seem interested in something like that then invite them over for your next family home evening. Heck, invite them over for dinner and let them feel the Spirit in your home. That is all it takes sometimes to get someone to join the Church. It is amazing how often we have missionary opportunities and we don't even know it. I guess that is why we are taught over and over to live Christ-like lives all the time. You never know when someone will see your actions and make life changing decisions based on what you did without you even knowing it.
It hasn't been all roses. There have been many times where I have been extremely frustrated with the full time missionaries. It is very frustrating trying to get missionaries to teach someone when they won't walk out to the branch. They live on the other side of the stake and sometimes the missionaries that were here didn't have bikes. And they didn't like to walk out here. There were times that I felt like a taxi cab. I would drive them all over. And not just in the stake. Since we have the district leader covering the branch I often times had to drive them out to places like Syracuse and West Point. I had to take one to Roy once even. It got old after a while.
I had times where I got fed up with it all and didn't do much work during the week. I had several meetings I had to go to every Sunday so my weekends felt really short. I got tired of all the meetings I had to go to. I don't know how people in presidency positions can stand all the meetings they have. It would drive me crazy. But I survived. I learned a lot in those meetings. I learned how to be a better steward over the people I was called to serve. I learned how to better organize my time. I learned how to better report what needed to be reported in the least amount of time possible and still get what needed to be said said. So it was a learning experience for me.
Am I glad I have been released? Yes and no. I will miss working with the missionaries and teaching like I was doing. But at the same time I will have a little more time to do the things I have been putting off for a long time. I also have my new calling that is going to take a lot of time as well. It is something new and different. So it should be interesting. I am grateful for the time I had as the Branch Mission Leader. I got to know a lot of great people. I learned a lot of things that have helped me become a better person. Now it is time for me to move on to the next lesson. Cub scouts is something that has always been a part of my life and yet I haven't really done much with it. So I guess I get to start doing all the stuff that my mom did when I was growing up. At least I have someone that can guide me when I get lost :)
Thus ends one chapter of my life. On to the next chapter...
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