Mission Audit - Friday, April 9, 2010

Rich woke up anxious because of the audit today, so he planned to leave for the office at 8:00 in order to make sure he was ready for Marco. I followed, and got there right at 9:00. The elders were already there, as was President Argyle. He came because of the audit and to work with Elder Hales on the rent issue with the apartments.

Marco was a little late due to traffic build up on the freeway. When he got here I gave him a bag of a dozen cookies and he was overjoyed. He asked Rich if he could give me a hug and then threw his arms around me. You would have thought I gave him something of real worth, and they were just cookies. He said he was going to sneak them in his desk and enjoy every one himself. He was so cute. And . . . he IS cute. He is a handsome young man.

Elder Kroff and Marco worked together for about two hours and he didn't find anything out of order. He even balanced Rich's drawer (red tin can) and it came out perfect. Rich was glad he balanced it last night before he left the office, so he knew it was right on.

I also made points with him (other than the cookies) because he said that we are the only mission that had a copy of the supplies we order attached to the packing slips that come when they are delivered. I do that and keep them organized into months and all stapled together. He was impressed.

At 10:00 Elders Ceccón and Charles came to the office so Elder Ceccón could take the English test. So we had a crowd this morning. He took the test on Sister Argyle's computer in the President's office so President Argyle had to pull up a chair and remain in the outer office with all of us. It was okay because he was needed for input at the audit desk ocassionally, but his focus was working with Elder Hales on apartment matters.

The President and Elder Hales have been trying to solve the on going problem we have with paying rents. Half of the rents are paid electronically right to the landlords bank account, and half are hand carried by the zone leaders to the dueños. President Argyle wants all the rents to be paid electronically, as would Elders Kroff and Hales. New contracts are set up that way, but the old ones are the problem. So now Elders Kroff and Hales are going to call all the old dueños and tell them that the church is changing it's policy. Because of security issues we can't have our missionaries walking the streets with large sums of rent money on them, so they need to either change to electronic payments, or we can prepare a check that they can come by our office to collect. President Argyle, himself, called a few landlords to talk to them and Elder Hales caught on quickly how he wants it done. It will take some time to get through the list, but if two are calling, it will get done faster. This will be so much better for the zone leaders who should be out baptizing rather than searching for landlords who are sometimes not there, in order to give them money. Let's hope it works well and that all landlords are agreeable. If they protest, we will have to move from their apartments. Usually they come around when they think they are losing a tenant. Coming by our office for a check would be out of the question for most landlords due to distance and transportation.

The audit went well, Marco bid us farewell, and Elder Kroff is relieved it's over. So the rest of the morning was relaxed for the finance clerk. I busied myself with welcome letters, calls to some missionaries relating to medical matters, and various odds and ends.

At noon, we left with President Argyle to go to the mission home to pick up Sister Argyle and their luggage to take them to the airport. He has a district conference in the South that he has to attend. Mission Presidents are like Stake Presidents to Districts. They have District Presidents who oversee everything, but there are some things that the mission presidents are responsible for. He and Sister Argyle have to speak at the conference and then they will return Sunday night. He was going to have us pick them up at the airport on Sunday evening until he saw that the plane gets in at 10:00. We would have gone, but are glad he said they would bring a remise home.

We went back to the office and worked for a while, with me leaving before Rich. He had to finish his email and attachments to the missionaries that have a debt to the mission -- mainly for the supplies they order. At transfer time then they bring the money when they come to change companions. They need to get this email on "P" day which is Monday when they have their internet opportunity.

Since we have the car this weekend, we went to Carrefour to shop because that is the only place that has the hairspray I like. Well, they didn't have any!!! Not surprising! I get so frustrated because nothing is ever consistent around here.

I kept falling asleep writing this entry, so I bagged it and went to bed. Better late than never, though.