New Mission Policies

The mission presidency is concerned that some of the missionaries are not using their four hours of personal research time as effectively as they might. They also desire to establish a closer relationship as a presidency with each missionary. This is challenging with about 400 FTM’s and 900 CSM’s. One way that they are planning to do this is for them, in addition to the welcome luncheon, is to spend a morning and afternoon giving them direct instruction during their first week. This has been handled before by Elder Kucher and others. This will cut out some of the time we have with them in the training center but that time will be spent with current missionaries who have finished their training and will be their personal research time by appointment. Often missionaries have additional questions or need help with their research so this is a specific time that they can get this help. Missionaries shouldn’t go home from our mission feeling like it was “like a job” but should have documented, personal research that they can share with their families. This will make our weeks more intense. It triples the workload on some people because they have to keep track of everyone in the mission so that they can be called back but it will be worth it.
The past three days I have taught a sister who is handles the records at the Salt Lake Temple who desired to learn how to do her own genealogy. She and her husband were baptized in Mexico about the same time I was there so it has been a delight to research her family and visualize places that I worked.