New Assignment

President Stringham, our stake president at home, told us that our mission would be different than we expected...and he was right! This week we had an assignment change. Rick was asked to serve as the executive secretary to the Area Presidency, as the current missionary serving in that position has been called and is preparing to serve as mission president. This may only be a temporary change, as they may call a new couple to serve in this position, but in the meantime Rick will be working closely with Presidents Martino, Amado, and Duncan. Even though this will mean long hours, he is excited for the opportunity to learn from them. I will also be serving in the area office, helping him on some assignments, but my main focus will be the mission recommendation forms that come from all seven countries in Central America. I process them...and translate them into English...before they are sent to Salt Lake. Then after the calls are made, I prepare the calls to be sent to the newly-called missionaries. For those of you who didn't know that my Spanish was good enough to translate...you're right! I do what I can, ask for help from those who speak both languages, and sometimes resort to using an electronic translator. Fortunately I have learned enough Spanish that I can correct the poorly-translated material and make it sound like English. Because we may only be in the office for a few months, we are still trying to do many of the tasks we have done for the North Mission. This makes us extremely busy! We just don't want to let go of our work with the young missionaries, our branches, or the families we visit as it is so rewarding!

These are some of the missionaries we visited this weekend--Elders B. and M. in San Jeronimo.