Mission Week 51

I'm pretty sure this week would usually be considered a slow week, but since I've been so low on energy, it felt really busy. The office is ridiculously quiet though. The managing director was out to Hong Kong for an area review and three of the other directors have transferred to different departments. It's been very strange seeing all the empty offices.

This week's tasks included:

• Attempting to train my missionary replacement, firehose style.
• Beginning to train my full-time employee replacement (so pretty much they got two people to replace me. Kind of wish they had done that earlier. He'll do a little more than I did though.).
• Creating a contacts cheat sheet.
• Doing all the stuff I usually do while attempting to put it into words more helpful than, "just push lots of buttons until you figure it out," which is pretty much how I do anything.
• Helping plan my farewell, which I jokingly call a funeral because the person is leaving, you learn more about the person as they leave than you ever did in your every day interactions, and the talks start to sound like eulogies.
• Learn about the process of reorganizing an entire department. I like knowing how things work, just not doing it myself. There is going to be a ton of paperwork and I'm so glad to be leaving that mess in somebody else's lap. I don't even feel guilty about it. Mostly.

I also finally, a week before I'm released, came up with a code-name for Alan. He would have been Genie, because his office is so small. See figure 1.2 for explanation:

Figure 1.2

Getting ready to leave my mission is a bittersweet experience. I'm definitely ready to move on to the next experience, and I'm very tired. But I will also miss things. I will miss the nice people and being part of something so great. I will miss working on Temple Square and feeling the spirit there. I'll miss getting to see things grow from Church Headquarters.

Plus, I'll have to give up all my special powers like being able to grant building access and stalking everyone in the in the building (I don't, but it's fun to know I could). Do you ever think, "Wow, it's a good thing I'm one of the good guys, because I could cause a lot of damage right now.? Because I will admit, I think that a lot. But I digress. I love my mission, but I also know it's time to leave. I love wearing my missionary badge, and I will be sad to take it off. Wearing that badge was a dream I've had for a long time, and I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to serve as a missionary, literally wearing the name of Jesus Christ on my heart. But it's okay. There will be other great adventures ahead.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Love,

Sister Ward


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Mission Weeks 49 and 50

My apologies to anyone who went in search of my "weekly" missionary post last week. I have been struggling to get over a new virus and my motivation to write was low. I also didn't have a lot to write about since I've spent most of the last three weeks home sleeping. It is very hard not to act trunky when you're already home and sleeping most of the day away.

My replacement has been called, so I started training him this week. It was a lot harder than I thought. I've made really good notes for him, but I'm not sure how to teach someone to turn finicky processes into a matter of habit. Ah well, he'll just do like I did and ask for help every day. The HR team has decided that it takes at least six months to be relatively competent at the job, so no matter how good you are, there is going to be a steep learning curve.

It's funny that it happened less than a month before I'm released, but an article has been written about my mission: Listen for the Whisperings. The author, Tiffany Tolman, is one of my fellow writers that I see every month, and she did a 'bang up' job.

My week was pretty slow, but I did experience some miracles. One- I've finally begun to feel better. The second miracle happened on the one day I made it to Salt Lake this week (a miracle in itself). Our Financial Director felt prompted to tell me about his son's ongoing illness (which sounds incredibly similar to what I've been experiencing), and how his son just happened to be assigned to an internship with an alternative medical practice that was able to diagnose his illness. After our family's fasting and praying to know what to do to improve my health, this was definitely a ray of hope for me. This was also the day after I finally prayed for myself to get better. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, that I could pray for things for myself that I don't have any control over, but I never did until this week. My hope has definitely been strengthened by this experience.

Thanks and all my love,

Sister Ward