Day One of Training - Wednesday, December 1, 2010

We told the Schoenys that we would ring for them at 8:45 to leave for the office. They walked out their door exactly on time and we walked slowly to the office talking all the while. Maybe we talked a little too much, because they didn't concentrate on the exact route we took to get there. Tomorrow we will have to let them lead out and figure out at which corners to turn.

Before settling into our training, we took them over to the church to let them look around and to zero in on where the bathrooms are. That was a good precursor to the days activities. Then we explained what they would each be responsible for and started right in.

They feared they would be slow learners and apologized ahead of time. We remembered so clearly our first few days on the job and assured them that they would not, could not, be more overwhelmed than we were. Our only break was that we had our trainers for much longer than one week. Elder Kroff had Elder Whitmer for three weeks before he was moved out, and Elder Clegg was not transferred out for almost two transfers. I was very fortunate to have him as my resource for quite a while.

I showed Sister Schoeny the desk manual I had made for her and she seemed genuinely pleased. We started on entering baptisms and she listened while I called some elders to inquire as to where their registers were. It took most of the morning letting her practice on entering some. Luckily there were only fifteen baptisms to enter, so we won't plan on getting them all done today.

Rich spent all day on his cajachica and balancing his drawer after taking Elder Schoeny to the bank. He said Elder Schoeny asks good questions and is very thorough.

Midway through our morning training, President Gulbrandsen called and invited all four of us to come to the mission home for lunch and to introduce the Schoenys to the Zone Leaders Council. My first reaction was that we didn't have time, but of course we went. We didn't make it there by 12:30 as requested because we couldn't get away from the office. There were too many things going on and we had phone calls and other things that took time. It was hard to break away.

When we did make it by way of a remise, the elders were already eating, but we got our plate of BBQ beef on buns with chips and dip, plus a delicious refreshing cup of cut up fruit and enjoyed every bite. The elders were glad to meet the Schoenys, but sad to see us go. We have become good friends with many of the Zone Leaders and are going to miss our contact with them.

After lunch when the elders were all seated to resume their meeting, the President asked us and the Schoenys to bear our testimonies before we left. With no warning or much time for thought on the matter, we each took a couple of minutes to address the group. I informed this group of remarkable young leaders that our lives had forever been changed because of knowing and serving with them. They are super young men!

We continued training until after 5:00 and then took the Schoenys on a walk to Disco and the Farmacia. We thanked the people at the Farmacia for taking good care of us and introduced the Schoenys to them. They will take good care of their needs too, we're sure.

They liked Disco and bought several things not knowing what they would inherit from us. I steered them away from items I had in my cupboard.

We came home and shared some empanadas with the Schoenys for a light dinner. We all ate so much this afternoon at the mission home that we didn't want a big meal. Our friends, the Vegas, from our Virreyes branch brought over some home cooked ones today while we were at the office. We saved them for tonight.