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 

The Farewell Tour and the Handing over the Mission President's Phone!

Artwork by Sister Savana Moore--a gift

As we entered the weekend before leaving the California Riverside Mission, we decided that we must see our missionaries. We have seen them via video conferencing for several months now. We did have interviews face to face—mask to mask—in May, with a few of the zones, but we have not seen them all, face to face, just via video conferencing. So, we scheduled a drop by with each zone to take pictures, say goodbye, and then leave.

Ontario Zone

Jurupa Zone

Lake Elsinore Zone

Dropping by is one thing. Taking pictures is another thing. Saying goodbye was the most challenging part of the whole trip, perhaps one of the most challenging things we have done in the mission. We do not like to say goodbye, so it was a mere farewell "until we meet again."

Menifee zone

Murrieta Zone

On Saturday, June 27, 2020, we began with the Ontario Zone,  then drove to Riverside, Jurupa, Corona, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Temecula, Hemet, and Menifee, stopping along the way, saying goodbye and taking photos of all the zones.

Riverside Zone

Temecula Zone

Many of the zones quoted in unison our mission scripture—2 Nephi 25:26: “ And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” Then, they sang “Armies of Helaman.”

Hemet Zone Sisters

Hemet Zone Elders

Tears came readily and naturally as they always do at the beginning of the scripture and streamed through the hymn! Sadness and rejoicing, two diametrically opposed feelings, coalesced into one sweet, immense feeling of love for these young men and women, now “bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,” (see Genesis 2:23).

Corona Zone

Other zones sang “God be with you.” Again, tears streamed to its somber beat. We wondered where the tears kept coming from. The tears should have been done, water gone, drained from every tear duct after every single zone goodbye. We knew it would be that way, so why did we even think differently?

A few extra in Hemet

Good bye from Menifee!

On Sunday in the evening after all of your meetings, we drove over the Old Lake Building, the Moreno Valley Stake Center. After pictures and tender and joyous goodbyes, President and Sister Norman, our first counselor in the Mission Presidency came to say goodbye. He brought with him a Sister Malmberg print that we love that depicts California in the winter—orange groves, palm trees, and snow on the yonder mountains. How special that was to see them!

President and Sister Norman and President and Sister Hammon

Gift from President and Sister Norman and President and Sister Hansen:
a print of her painting of Bradley Road that depicts both the growing of
oranges palm trees and the snow on the mountains

Then we were done. We drove off in our car; the missionaries drove off in theirs. The drive to the hotel was a bit solemn, laced with some gladness, some joy, lots of tears, knowing that these missionaries will always be our missionaries, our friends throughout eternity.

Last transfer board, June 23, 2020

The final goodbye happened on Monday when we greeted President and Sister Watson and their beautiful family. After spending some time at the Mission Home, discussing ministrative things, we gathered in the Relief Society Room of the Grand Building, the home to the Mission Office. There the senior office couples, the assistants, and the office elders introduced themselves. It was a nice round-robin dialog. We then completed the most important task of the day: the handing over the phone.

I stood; President Watson stood, and I handed him the mission president's phone, lasting a mere four seconds. 

"Here is the phone..."

"Good luck with everything!"

Our tags had already come off the moment President and Sister Watson drove up the driveway of the Mission Home. Now, the phone, the last vestige of being mission president and spouse, was handed over. And it was done. We took lots of pictures.

The handing over of the phone: from President Hammon (r) to President Watson (l)

We have had some of most incredible young men on the planet to be our assistants. These two--Elder Peterson and Elder Larsen--are among these incredible young men. They have served and will continue to diligently under the keys held by President Watson. 

Elder Peterson, President and Sister Hammon, and Elder Larsen

President and Sister Hammon and Elder and Sister Glaus

President and Sister Hammon and Elder and Sister Aird

We do not know what we were expecting, if anything. We had prayed about it and knew that was what needed to be happening. We took a few more pictures with the assistants, and then we were off! We headed to the car, got in, and drove off as if that was the most natural thing to do. Actually, it was more than a bit surreal. 

President and Sister Watson with Elder Peterson and Elder Larsen, Assistants

We loved our mission! We love our missionaries! May the Lord continue to bless them and their families. May they understand whose they are "at all times and in all things, and in all place that ye may be in..." (see Alma 18:9).

Gift from Sister Arnold 

*Note: For some reason, all of the pictures from the Moreno Valley Zone visit were missing when I download all of the pictures--and for that I apologize profusely. We know the missionaries took some individual pictures with us, and we hope they have them and will send them to us, so we can have remembrances of those blessed times.

New and reassigned missionaries: Gifts to enhance the missionary work in the California Riverside Mission!

June 2020

We received 34 new and reassigned missionaries the last week we served in the California Riverside Mission. Five were brand new missionaries from their home MTC. Twenty-nine of them came from home via numerous countries.

What a sensation to know that these incredible missionaries had chose once again to serve and were assigned to us. In their former missions, they were zone leaders, sister training leaders, district leaders, and trainers. They have come to serve the Lord, show their love for Him, and help God's children come unto Him.

They came on a variety of flights, and it was fun to meet them as they came down the stairs since the escalators were under repair.

We assigned them to missionaries who had been serving here and to some who just came last transfer after being reassigned. In all over the past six weeks, we have received 73 new and reassigned missionaries. They are like the 2060 stripling warriors [and warrioresses] who have come to strengthen the Mission and enhance the missionary work in the southern California!

Elder Price (new) and Elder Lewis

Elder Gonzales and Elder Young (new)

Elders Ash (new) and Hobbs

Elders Updike (new) and Koyle

It appeared that as soon as they met their new companions, they bonded instantaneously. We also know it takes a bit of getting used to as they find their ways in the companionship. We seek for being equally yoked at all times.

Elders Syme and Andreasen (new)

Elders Ricord (new) and Butters

According to the Doctrine and Covenants 100:4-6 "I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place....therefore...lift up your voices unto this people [in the California Riverside Mission] speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts....For it shall be given you in the very hour, ye, in the very moment, what ye shall shall say."

Elders Green (new) and Andrus

Elders Ferrin (new) and Allen

Some will be in trios for a bit like Sisters Low, Ellsworth, and Shunn. Sister Low has been here for just a short time after being in Taiwan and then going home and then coming here. Apparently, Taiwan is ready to receive missionaries once again, and Sister Lowe will be returning. She is a wonderful young woman with lots of talents.

Sisters Low, Ellsworth, and Shunn

Elders Searcy and Wardwell (New)

Elders Steadman and Lee (new)

Some missionaries just exude happiness and positivity, and that's just how they roll. We pray they will continue to roll this way. These two elders were companions in the MTC, went to different places and are now reunited in California.

Elders Tindall and Toelupe (new)

Lots of talent has just arrived. They will be able to help our mission as it continues to work through the social media challenges. The missionaries have been doing well by being spiritual creative and innovative.

Elders McCammon and Jeffs (new)

Elders Whitmore (new) and Jensen

It is exiting to see these missionaries arrive and begin to become acquainted with their new surroundings. They expressed great happiness to be here.

Sisters Noble (new) and Maxey

Hermana Webb and Yergensen

Sisters Arnold and Neal (new)

The missionaries who were here are also excited that these new missionaries have arrived and will begin their service anew!

Elders Webb and Zierenberg (new)

Elders Chapman and Bentley-Dyches (new)

Have to love these smiles and enthusiasm!

Elders Tenney (new) and Winsor

And then some of them of the new ones--Hermanas Martinez and Howard--were assigned to serve together. Spectacular missionaries (en este caso, misioneras!).

Hermanas Martinez (new) and Howard (new)

As to when they might be returning to their countries, that is a question yet to be decided. Meanwhile, they will be "standing up and being all in" while the serve here. This is where the Lord assigned for the next phase of their mission.

Elders Kam and Killips (new)

Elders Lingwall and Johnson (new)

As the Lord taught us in  Doctrine and Covenants 100:15: "Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly, and to the sanctification of the Church."

Elders Pearce (new), Pedigo, and Farr

And sometimes, we even have to capture a few photos from the new Facebook pages!

Elders Yumisaca and Thomas (new)

Sisters Gunnell and Woolf (new) from their video

President and Sister Hammon and Elder Austin (new)

For some reason, we are missing the following photos of missionaries: Elder Avitia, Elder Price, Elder Saunders, and Elder White. Lo siento, jovenes!

Ah, the mission will definitely thrive with the current missionaries and new and reassigned missionaries--now just missionaries in the California Riverside Mission. What power comes from these young men and young women. It is no wonder they have been saved for these latter-day days to help gather Israel!

President and Sister Hammon