This last week has been a lot more "normal" than past weeks. Really, than the last month. An emergency transfer across the country to take the place of a departing missionary who's the last in a generation right before the old mission president bows out the door and a new mission president arrives who is just in time for the leadership conference and a week of zone conferences when you're sleeping on the floor and then getting up to motivate, inspire, and train your friends and family before landing in the most beautiful city in the world and taking a break on P-day to recover is quite busy.
This last week, on the other hand, has focused more on us building up our own proselyting area, helping president Irwin get acclimated, and putting future plans and changes in motion to bring the mission to broader heights.
I do have to ask a favor of you all, and I've got a confession to make. A public confession. I've tried my best to keep this a secret from the world by wearing fashionable clothes, being well groomed, and spending lots of time with friends at movies, on dates, and other things. As a missionary, obviously, all this was focused into being consecrated to the best work in the world and trying to really connect with the people here by being open and friendly and loving and even making missionary work cool. These things have brought great blessings for certain. But, something was still underneath the surface, and it's this deep, dark secret that I'd like to reveal to you all and ask you all to please still love me despite how different I am.
I'm an absolute nerd.
Yep, it's true. Now, don't stop reading here, and my request still stands: I hope you can all find a little room in your hearts to harbor some hope for me while I strive to cope with this reality. It's not lethal, but it may be incurable. I bring it up today of all days because of some really neat projects we're pushing out in the office in the near future.
In the past, and traditionally in missionary work, we gauge missionary performance on lessons taught, czech spoken, baptisms, and other key indicators. Here in the mission home these statistics are carefully indexed in a database on a zonewide basis. This database runs back to 2004 and is fascinating to read. A week ago, we introduced version 2.0, a major leap forward in the world of mission progress tracking. From our press release, "We really believe that version 2.0 will change the way we look at missionary work and will serve as an example to other missions who, in the dazzling light of this great innovation, will rush to follow suit." These major upgrades consisted entirely of adding a nicely arranged and carefully color-balanced graph to each table of data, as well as coloring the tables blue instead of grey. They even have a nice drop shadow behind each graph line, a finishing touch I felt was necessary to make it just right.
But the next step will be based on some secret research we're collaborating on with the missions from the UK. It's a system designed by a former Norwegian AP from several years ago who, when the mission president discovered his humble genius with numbers and computers, locked him in the office under high security for a year and had him produce amazing reporting systems for him. Based on his development, we're developing a tracking system for storing area performance instead of zone performance, and then being able to run analysis on any area or arbitrary collection of areas with any set of data. This data will then be graphed and processed for each leadership companionship so they can more effectively see trends and help their missionaries progress more effectively.
I guess the bottom line is that we're laying the foundation for many many years of missionary leadership, and we'll be starting with our call in and accountability responsibilities. It's very exciting to be apart of, and it helps me to think about different things I'd like to do after my mission to help the church push missionary work forward. But, in the mean time, we've got a lot to do and another baptismal date for that matter.
It all started last saturday when we were on Namesti Miru (Peace Square) talking to people on benches. I walked up to a nice looking lady with two dogs and asked her about the meaning of faith to her. She explained that she's a catholic and that Christ is most important in her life. I sat down and started talking with her about baptism. While she'd been baptized, I explained she could be baptized by someone who has authority from Christ and it would be her decision, not her parent's. She found the idea very exciting and we arranged to meet again this week. On Thursday, we met up again and we dived into the Book of Mormon and the need for baptism. We talked about Christ being baptized when He was older and how His baptism is an example for us to follow, and we asked her to follow His example by being baptized next month. She's very excited about it, accepted wholeheartedly, and we'll be meeting again on Monday to teach her about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel.
It's humbling to see what the message of the gospel brings to people. It's very open, very inviting, but also includes concrete things to do. I'm very grateful that the Lord gives us specific things to help us to grow in specific ways so that we are prepared for a certain future in His kingdom. Many people believe in heaven, but they see it as a way to get out of work and suffering. While we don't suffer in God's presence, the purpose of progressing is all about becoming better, and after this life we will continue to progress.
I love you all, and we're really looking forward to our baptisms in the up and coming weeks, along with all the nerdy office improvements. If all goes well, our VoIP system will be up and running very soon.
Some plugs for the Mormon.org website: They have a new one, and you need to see a real czech on there. His name is Daniel, and you can read about him here: http://mormon.org/me/1G2P-eng/ and also watch the film on http://mormon.org/missionary-work/ and look for Sister Ganbaatar. She's been visa waiting in Provo for 8 months and is down there working with the missionaries and is apparently a real fireball. Hopefully we can get her visa really soon.
Love you all, look forward to hearing from you and writing again soon.
Elder Brent Anderson
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