New Mission Office

To make our first month here even more exciting, we had the opportunity to move our mission office across the parking lot to a brand new space.  It is on the same campus and very convenient to connect with the MTC and also the Church Educational System staff that offer Institute classes.  The old office is being used to expand the Africa Mission Training Center  and is being converted to bedrooms and meeting spaces for newly arriving sister missionaries. They are not coming to our mission, but to the Africa SouthEast Area.

So, the day after our transfers on July 23rd, everyone in the office assisted in a big move. The Hansen's and the Thompson's did much more of the heavy lifting and re-organizing than did the Dunn's. Luckily, the construction company brought a team of movers and they really made the move happen in one day. Everyone else has helped to make it organized now that we are in a new space.

It is a wonderful new space and we are very fortunate to have brand new surroundings as we get settled as a new team.

Elder Hansen helped plan and negotiate where everything would go. This was not an easy task.  He even purchased and quickly assembled the black bookshelves until permanent ones could be built in. He will use the assembled ones in the basement later on.

Once we were in, we still have had great workers hanging doors, cabinets and even painting. We have all needed to watch our backs..literally!!!

Our wonderful Assistants,  have gained a new space. It is a little more private, but with nice windows and a good place to cover all the bases. I don't know how a mission could ever run without the help of Assistants. They solve so many of the surprises and just make everyday an honor to work with them. Elder Bodily(L) returns home on August 19th! Shame! (as they say in SA). Elder Davies( Center) is from Australia and has two transfers left and Elder Stephens (R) is on his mission until February. We love these Elders.

What would we do without Sister Hansen (above) and Sister Thompson (below)? They place all the requests and orders from almost 200 missionaries. They keep track of travel, visa's, correspondence to families and making sure all of the missionary's spiritual and temporal supplies are available. They work 6 days a week and right now, it has been about 10 hour days.  We are all positively influenced by their amazing attitudes.

Elder Hansen makes sure all the cell phones are in the right hands and contracts are accurate. He replaces stolen phones, accounts for all the supplies in flats and pays rents and utilities for almost 100 flats.  Brother Thompson keeps all our vehicles running and in good repair. This mission has more vehicles that any other mission in the world, we are told.  Elder Thompson  and Hansen also handle all our financial transactions for vehicles and housing. We couldn't survive without their incredible commitment, expertise and willingness to be here giving freely of their time.

Office Staff meeting is held on  Monday Mornings. We move over to the CES space right adjacent to our office for an important weekly meeting. Our Assistants join us in this meeting so they can share their insights and take information back to Zone Leaders that is relevant.

Sister Thompson is quickly getting our supply room re-organized with new shelves that house all our books, training materials and teaching supplies. With over 90 vehicles to keep track of,  key organization is a premium. Most impressive is how quickly a problem of lost keys to apartments or cars is solved by this great mission office staff.

Besides being a great help and very efficient, we are making new friends that we love and appreciate. We all spend a great deal of time together keeping everything running smoothly and adjusting to surprises each and every day. I am suddenly realizing why senior couples feel so valued on missions. They are needed desperately and never wonder if their time is valued. Huge thanks to the Hansen's and Thompson's for jumping into this work just a week or so before we arrived. We are all new and that makes it fun, because our knowledge and efficiency will only increase.

President and Sister Dunn have rarely worked in the same office before, but now we do.  It has been fun and challenging to get everything organized in a manner that works for us. In just 5 weeks, with a move, a transfer, new unexpected missionaries and even a small earthquake, we are on our way and loving each new day.