Arizona Tucson Mission

MLC- June 2018

I can’t believe it, we have some more guests!!

Just like our May Zone Conferences, we had some special guests for our Missionary Leadership Council….

Because of some other assignment in the area, they were in Tucson, and were willing to come and teach and lift our dear missionaries.

They made an effort to spend most of the day ministering to our ATM leadership, even though they had a booked schedule.

What a powerful and thrilling meeting. All were edified and recharged to do the Lord’s work. As Elder Wakolo would say, we were “ON FIRE”!

Elder Wakolo, Elder and Sister Heyman, thank you so much!

Zone Conference-May 2018

What a special month for Zone Conference!

Why…you may ask.

For this batch of Zone Conferences, we had a visiting special guest that came and gave wonderful insights, teachings and shared some great experiences.

That guest was President Boyd Fenn, the Mission President of President Browning!

When President Browning was a young missionary in the Spain Barcelona Mission from 1986-1988, President Fenn was one of two Mission Presidents that President Browning served with.

We combined the usual four conferences into just two so all of our missionaries could be with President Fenn as he was only here for two days.

President Fenn is a young 90 year old and loves all things missionary. He not only served as a Mission President in Spain, Barcelona, but also as the Guatemala MTC President in the early 90’s.

What a privilege to have him come and spend time with us and teach our missionaries.

Thank you President Fenn for traveling around with us and having a great influence on us all! We love you.

Here is the Barcelona Bunch….All of these men served with President Fenn as young missionaries in Spain.

The aprons were handed out for lunch because Sloppy Joes were on the menu. Good call with all of those white shirts and silk ties.

Singing for our dinner! Giving a special rendition of “Called to Serve” to all those wonderful women who feed us lunch.

Our wonderful cooks and servers of our yummy lunch. They are from the Willcox, AZ area.

Our birthday missionaries.

Elder Lambson…our beloved car czar!

President (Sheriff) Browning making sure our missionaries are safe drivers.

Sierra Vista Zone

Gila Valley Zone

New Mexico Zone

A quote by Elder Richard G. Scott from our training.

The North Zone

The South Zone

The East Zone

The West Zone

Transfer Week Apr/May 2018-Departing Missionaries

Switching gears now…let’s get to the temple where we meet up with the departing missionaries.

After a special time with our departing missionaries in the temple, we head off for the mission office for some lunch and interviews.

Everyone….these are Sonoran Hot Dogs. They are the Tucson bomb!

A good brother from Tucson makes these for us. They are something everyone should try, they are THAT good.

All of the departing missionaries squeal with delight, well maybe not the Elders, when we tell them what’s for lunch… their last ATM lunch.

They are THAT good.

Let’s eat!

Elder Gillespie thank you for being an ATM missionary. We enjoyed getting to know you and work along side you. We love you!

Off to the mission home for our last dinner and special testimony evening. Pass around the tissue box!

Departing Wednesday-early in the morning… doubt none got very much sleep.

Off to the airport and to get them home to their families! Bitter sweet.

Unloading the precious cargo of eighteen months/two years. Hoping every bag is under 50 lbs! Cross your missionary fingers.

Tickets in hands and hearts a-pounding. Gulp.

This sight is the most tender sight of the transfer cycle. Backs to us, and faces toward their futures. Onward, ever onward!

God Bless you all!! May you take what you’ve learned from your missions and light the world with your Savior’s LIGHT!

Transfer Week Apr/May 2018- Transfer Tuesday

Bright and early, up and at ’em! That describes missionary life. Especially on transfer morning.

Our new missionaries are here, ready for their official first day and to meet a very important person in their life…their trainers.

Goodbyes. Hellos. Bags. Suitcases. Bins. Bikes. Hugs. Tears. Blow horns. Chaos. Excitement.

Those are some of the words that describe a transfer morning.

Inside, after the transfer vans and missionaries leave, we have a training meeting for the trainers and new missionaries. It’s an exciting time!

Here are the new Trainer/Trainee companionships.

Welcome to the ATM!!

Transfer Week Apr/May 2018- New Missionary Monday

Welcome to our Transfer Week.

Let’s start with our Monday where we receive our new missionaries. It’s a wonderful way to start out Transfer Week!

Load up!

Our new and wonderful new missionaries! (We will meet another new Elder at the mission office.)

At the Mormon Battalion Monument in downtown Tucson.

We got to meet Elder Wells’ family which is always a treat. They dropped him off and were able to meet some of the other Senior missionaries.

Now for the orientation and trying to keep them learning while so tired!

Dinner at the mission home….

…and a beautiful walk around the Tucson Temple.

Lets’ get these poor tired missionaries to bed!

See you tomorrow morning bright and early to meet your first companions, your trainers!

Zone Conference-April 2018

Zone Conferences for this transfer cycle fell in the month of April. We love gathering together to be trained and uplifted. As you can see from the missionaries faces, Zone Conferences are wonderful!

On a side note, the Sierra Vista, New Mexico and Gila Valley Zones do not have the candid photos that some of the other zones have. The camera woman (Sister Browning) usually can’t make it to those Zone Conferences. We will have to remedy that somehow.

The Sierra Vista Zone

The New Mexico Zone

The Gila Valley Zone

The East and South Zones

The North and West Zones

Elder Lambson provided homemade cakes for those being obedient and responsible with the mission vehicles.

ATM Senior Couple Missionaries

Our senior couple missionaries are the BOMB!

In the speak of our young missionaries, that is the truth.

They are MIRACLE WORKERS and the best thing “since sliced bread”.

They are the “Elves” in “The Elves and the Shoemaker” story. Behind the scenes, they make EVERYTHING work so smooth and flawless…well as flawless as a mission can be.

In the ATM we have 9 full time senior couple missionaries, and 5 service couple missionaries. What is the difference between full time and service?

Service missionaries are from the area of the mission, live in their own homes and work an allotted amount of time. They are similar to part time workers in the real world.

Full time missionaries are called to the ATM from different areas of the world to come and live in our mission for a certain amount of time (6, 12, 18 or 24 months). They devote their time fully to the work.

Senior Couples are the secret sauce of a mission. Never underestimate the influence that they have. They bring such a maturity and calming affect upon the young missionaries, just like grandparents do, and they offer such needed skills and knowledge that we couldn’t do this work without them. We wake up each morning so grateful to have their “magical” talents bless the ATM and especially the work of salvation.

Do you have a desire to serve? Or do you have a loved one that would like to? PLEASE CONSIDER IT!

You will not only bless countless lives, but you will be filled with overflowing joy, having not enough room to contain it.

It’s a WIN/WIN for sure.

Thank you DEAR Senior Missionaries!!