What Has Surprised You as Mission Leaders? - & Transfer Prep Week

It has been a full and meaningful week of transfer preparation, office meetings, and wonderful visitors. Some fun news for transfers is that we opened a new area in Woodland for sisters on bikes! Hermanas Brimhall and Proffitt will be the first to try it out! We also have a new AP - assistant to the president - Elder Mitchell McIntyre.

One more (and last) of the questions we are often asked as mission leaders is:

“What has surprised you? What did you not expect?”

Our very first surprise was how super hard it is to say goodbye to missionaries as they complete their service and return home. During our six months of training and time at the MTC, no one mentioned or prepared us for that. Every six weeks we say farewell to missionaries we have come to truly love. It pulls at our heart strings in ways we didn’t anticipate.

*Sisters Youngberg & Ashton with Elders McIntyre & Jensen*

Here are a few other things that have surprised us:

How much traveling—and daily driving—we would do
How uniquely and individually the Lord blesses each missionary
How demanding and stretching the work is
How often we would need to send missionaries home early
How many senior missionaries we would be serving with

We have been especially blessed to have served over our three years alongside 60 senior missionaries. Some of the senior missionaries currently serving with us will be returning home in the next few weeks. With 55 new missions opening around the world, the need for senior missionaries is growing. If you, or someone you know, has ever considered serving, we invite you to come! You will not regret this decisions and will truly love your experience here in Northern California.

Other unexpected blessings and realities:

The remarkable spiritual strength of our young missionaries
The number of mental health challenges we help navigate
The many health and physical wellness issues there would be with our missionaries.
How much our grandchildren would grow and how much we would miss them.
The many miracles we witness
How physically tired we can be—and how spiritually fulfilled
How much we have come to love the redwoods, coastline, and vineyards!
How consistently beautiful the weather is here in California (unless of course it is raining!)
How much we are learning about receiving and recognizing revelation
The fascinating experience of seeing the Church function on an area level
The immense resources, both financial and human, that the Church invests in missionary work — and it is worth every penny and effort!
Our deepened appreciation for the inspired and extensive missionary program
And finally… how hard it will be to leave

*Elders Witt and Halls with President Quinn*

A Glimpse of Today

Today was a beautiful and full Sunday. We enjoyed having house guest here, the Stocks, former senior missionaries who have come back to visit. (Earlier this week we had former missionary Sister Niedens and her husband here visiting.) We began the day by speaking at the Santa Rosa Stake Conference where Elder Charter of the Seventy was visiting. It is wonderful being in Santa Rosa where we have come to know personally so many of the saints.

*Sister Quinn with former senior missionary Phyliss Stock - Wonderful to have the Stocks visit!*

Following the conference, we traveled to Fairfield to attend the Hmong Branch Council. On the way, we participated in our monthly Zoom meeting with Elder Holmes, an assistant to our Area Presidency.

The Hmong Branch council was good — and especially focused on missionary work. Elder Brown and Elder Harris are serving there and doing an outstanding job. Branch President Vang expressed how meaningful their efforts to learn Hmong have been. The members feel seen, loved, and understood because of it. We went to see how the Hmong speaking program is going and were delighted that it is going so well and is needed.

*Elder Brown out doing missionary work with member from the Hmong Branch*

After the meeting, we spent time interviewing some missionaries before driving back to Santa Rosa. We stopped by the office to take care of a few things, and this evening we met with our Assistants, as we do each Sunday night.

It has been a full day and my heart feels full as well.

We are now at 🥁🥁 (drum roll) #40 for our Coming to Know Him journal prompts. This has been such a meaningful experience for our missionaries.