Leadership‏ (from the president)

Dear Parents and Families,
Last week we welcomed twelve new missionaries and we are excited with their potential. We enjoyed getting to know them and they are now learning the ropes with their trainers. Next week they will spend another day together to ask questions and get more training after a few days of real experience.

I just wanted to say a few words about mission leadership. Each mission president will have his own way of assigning leaders. I thought you might like to know how President Gee feels about leadership opportunities. As you probably know, there are several outlined positions in the missions of the church. They include Junior Companion, Senior Companion, Trainer, District Leader, Zone Leader, and Assistant to the President. This is a terrific training ground for the future leaders of the Church. Every missionary has his or her own set of talents. Some have a gift to lead and some have a gift to follow. Each is essential. Some are comfortable being leaders and some fervently hope they won't be asked to become a leader. The most challenging part of leadership is they need to be the example of righteousness, obedience, skillful teaching, and working with people. They also need to be able to correct their peers if necessary, and that is hard to do. It is important for leaders to love and encourage the missionaries they are called to lead. They need to be loyal to the Lord and to their President. They are called on to demonstrate to the others how to teach and that puts the pressure on them. However, it is also fun and a good opportunity.

President Gee feels he should follow the pattern of Church callings. There are times to be called and times to be released. This is not a mission where once you become a leader you stay there for the rest of the mission. Assistants often end their missions as regular missionaries. Zone Leaders sometimes becomes District Leaders. There is a lot of shifting around. Sometimes missionaries serve well for a while and then get tired of the leadership responsibilities and desire to be free to concentrate on regular missionary work. We want you as family to know that if your son is moved around or released from these positions it doesn't mean anything is wrong. It is just a natural part of the missionary work.

We feel there are some advantages to not drawing a line in the sand and dividing the mission into leaders and others. We like having fluid movement back and forth between callings. For one thing, we all know it is one of Satan's tricks to divide into camps and throw stones at one another. It can happen in missions and it can happen in wards and stakes. We need to be careful. That is why it becomes such an important matter to sustain our leaders. Another of Satan's methods is to appeal to pride from position and power. It can become part of the culture here and back home to "climb the ladder" of positions. President Gee and I both have strong feelings about avoiding this mentality as much as possible. It is usually safe to say that a missionary who becomes a leader is doing well as a missionary. However, there are good missionaries who don't get these positions. As in the church, it is not where you serve but how that is important. We hope this helps you understand what is happening here and also to give praise and encouragement, no matter which position your missionary may be in at the time. You may also know your son enough to know if he needs to be pushed a little to work at his full potential.

Have a good week. Love, Sister Gee (and President Gee)