June 23, 2020--Our last outgoing missionaries

I was gently reminded this evening (March 14, 2021) that I did not post anything about our last outgoing missionaries on June 23, 2020 on the blog. I couldn’t believe I allowed that faux paus to happen. Thus, I am apologizing and repenting to them for failing to recognize our last outgoing missionary group, truly a group of phenomenal leaders.

Elders Clifford, Newey, Chase, Bytendorp; Hermana Thompson;
President and Sister Hammon; Elders Jacobs, Larsen, Emry, Huffaker, and Barnes

Hermana Thompson was the only sister leaving the mission. Elders included Elders Jacobs, Newey, Huffaker, Emry, Larsen, Barnes, Clifford, Bytendorp, and Chase. We actually met at the Mission Home, the first outgoing for a couple of transfers because of COVID. We felt it would be important that this happened, particularly since this was our last outgoing before we left the mission a week later.

Our meal was the typical outgoing Mexican cuisine and tres leches cake! It was a great meal to end a great mission.

All seated at the dining room table for our last meal together!

Elders in line for a delicious Mexican meal!

The testimony meeting was extraordinary because of the circumstances. We really had not been together face to face for some time because of strict COVID restrictions in California. It was truly a blessing to be with these young people. Here are some snippets from their testimonies: 

H. Thompson—“In the mission, I learned how to make the gospel a way of life. I have always lived the gospel, but it became a part of me when I gave myself to the Lord.”

E. Newey—“I know this is the time the gospel has been restored through Joseph Smith.” 

E. Jacobs—”I am so grateful for the Spirit. It guides me every day as long as I stay on the path. As we continue down the path, we will be blessed.”

E. Huffaker—"This is the true gospel, something worth more than anything else. God is just. I want to continue to seek after it.”

E. Emry—“The Savior’s Atonement is real, and I have learned from it and changed. I know how truths can bless everyone.”

E. Larsen—“I have seen families come to the waters of baptism. Our Heavenly Father loves all of us.”

E. Barnes—“I have a strong testimony of the power of the Priesthood, especially when we align ourselves with God. It enables us to do things we don’t normally do.”

E. Clifford—“Heavenly Father is with us every step of the way. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and we all have individual talents.”

E. Bytendorp—“My testimony back home was just a drop in the bucket. I wish I knew that from the very beginning.”

E. Chase—“Before mission, I could recognize spiritual promptings. Now, I feel closer to my Savior. This closeness comes from following His example. The second we accept His Atonement, we can change. We haven’t come this far to come this far.”

S. Hammon—"I love watching you grow and develop. It is during study time when we truly show how much God means to us. We will be surprised how well we know Him.

Elders Clifford, Newey, Chase, Bytendorp; Hermana Thompson;
President and Sister Hammon; Elders Jacobs, Larsen, Emry, Huffaker, and Barnes

Both Sister Hammon and I were impressed with all the testimonies. 

The morning before we left, the missionaries who stayed at the Mission Home went for run. They continued their early morning exercise program. We hope they continue!

Early morning runners: (f) Elders Larsen and Emry;
(b) Elders Jacobs, Bytendorp, Barnes, Clifford, and Newey

There is something special and sacred about watching young people grow and progress and become so much better than they were when they arrived. This group epitomized this spiritual growth. We have great hopes for them now and, especially, for the future.

We wish you well! We love you!

President and Sister Hammon

Missionary Work and its transition to social media, technology, and video conferencing!

June 2020
Missionary work has changed because of the COVID-19, and the California Riverside Mission has taken on the challenge. While we became a “technology mission” in 2018, we did not dabble much in social media. Then came the coronavirus with vengeance and moved us inside, holed up in our apartments.

Young men and young women, many of them just six years out of primary, are not mean to be inside for longer than twenty minutes at a time. For the most part, though, our missionaries are succeeding in keeping productive and following the missionary schedule.

We literally do all of our missionary work online via social media and video conferencing.

All zone conferences, which we fondly call “multi-zone conferences,” are done via video conferencing. Before COVID-19, we held four different multi-zone conferences with two or three zones together (we have ten). We would travel to a church building and be the missionaries from 9:00 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m. We stopped for the lunch, and the members from the Relief Society, the phenomenal women’s organization in the Church, prepared and served a delicious and nutritious lunch.

Before lunch, we always took pictures of each individual zone to post to the blog and for their parents to see on Facebook. Then, we spent an incredible afternoon of presentations and trainings from the zone and sister training leaders, the missionary leaders in our mission. The final event was the testimony of those who were new in the mission and those who were leaving during that transfer of six weeks. It was highly spiritual and often teary, especially with those going home.

Then the Coronavirus drove us inside and onto video conferencing and social media to a different way of having multi-zone conferences.

Now, we have truncated our scheduling, primarily because it is challenging to sit in an apartment and stare at a small telephone screen for six hours and not become mesmerized with smallness. We went to a three-hour training time with five zones on the video conference at one time on one day and then the other five zones the next day. We usually had them read or study talks or doctrine prior to them arriving to the video conference.

All musical numbers, which have always played an integral in our meetings, were pre-recorded because of the difficulty of hearing them live, primarily because they could no longer get together to create a choir from a zone full of missionaries. Nonetheless, the musical numbers did not diminish in quality. In fact, they were enhanced because of the missionaries who performed them.

The testimonies of those going home were short and powerful. The Assistants to the President now have the outgoing missionaries pre-record their testimonies. Then during the north zone multi-zone conference, we play the pre-recorded testimonies of the south zone, and then the missionaries from the north zones give their testimonies live. Then, the reverse happens when we the south zones gather for their multi-zone conference. The testimonies are powerful and poignant.

As we moved these multi-zone conferences to video conferencing, we worried that the Spirit might not be as plentiful. After the very first one, we did not have to worry because the Spirit was even more powerful and plentiful as we gathered via video conferencing. We all felt it and testified of it.

Yes, missionary work has changed—missionaries now spending more time in their apartments than out of it physically. The irony is that missionaries now have great connections to so many people who could not connect with by our missionaries walking down a street. But what has not change is the Spirit and the testifying by the Spirit, and the teaching from Preach My Gospel and from the scriptures.

Their telephone screens may be small, but the missionaries loom large into homes of people. Our rediscovery is that the Spirit teaches, no matter the location, no matter the modality, and no matter the language. It is the Spirit that touches the lives of the people and aligns with their Light of Christ.

Missionary work or gathering Israel still continues in ways never before imagined, and we are a grand part of these pioneering way of helping Heavenly Father