New Missionary Training

The new missionaries were in training all day today.  They stayed in a hotel last night, and the APs had them up early doing exercises.  We did not join them in that :-)

After traveling to the mission office, President Cusick started by talking about the need to be completely obedient.  He referred to their missionary call letter which included the statement that they would be blessed if they dedicated all of their heart, might, mind, and strength to their missionary service.  He promised them that if they are obedient they will see miracles.  Sister Cusick then discussed the pamphlet Adjusting to Missionary Life.  I think this is an excellent pamphlet on helping them deal with the stresses they will encounter as missionaries -- and continuing on in their lives.

Elder Young, a retired nurse and the mission health advisor, gave them sme general health advice using the acronym MISS -- movement, intake (water and nutrition), sleep, and stress.  He met with each individual missionary during the day to discuss their personal health situation.  He is basically on call 24/7 to help with health and injury issues.

They then met with Sister Tollerton to receive health insurance cards, President Healey to receive their personal debit cards (they receive $175 each month), and the office Elders who manage the auto fleet.

After pictures and lunch, the assistants conducted training on meeting people, including members, teaching using the Church brochures, and street approaches to tell their "story" of why they are here.  They had role playing as part of all of the presentations.

The mission office is adjacent to the USF campus, so they had the missionaries walk to the student center for dinner.  Each companionship was given a different route, and they were to stop and talk with students along the way and tell their story.  We stayed in the mission office to help with some work, but when they returned after dinner, they were in good spirits and had enjoyed talking with the people along the way.  This was the first time this training approach has been used, and I thought it was successful.