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Elder Holm at his desk. |
Our young elders and sisters, and many senior missionaries, work hard to share the good news that Jesus Christ’s New Testament church has been restored to God’s children on earth. We do this also, but our mission is to support these valiant souls in other ways, as well.
So—what does a vehicle coordinator do? Elder Holm—vehicle coordinator for the Washington DC North Mission—manages the 74 cars that missionaries drive, the 12-passenger transit van used for picking up missionaries at the airport, and a truck and trailer for heavy work. He uses the Church Automotive Reporting System (CARS) program to manage vehicles and drivers in tasks such as: licensing and registration; reminding drivers get regular oil changes; informing them of citations; and making sure they are certified to drive mission cars. He oversees regular maintenance checks on all vehicles and manages repairs after accidents. He supervises the Driver Accountability Program for the 170 missionaries. This satellite system, which they log into with a “TIWI card”, warns them if they are speeding, etc., and has saved many lives. He supervises the retirement of mission vehicles and the pick-up of new vehicles.
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Elder Holm supervising vehicle inspections with Elder Pond from Meridian, Idaho, and Elder Gardner from Peachtree, Ga. |
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| Elder Hammond from Utah and Elder Milham from Ammon, Idaho, doing a vehicle inspection in Annapolis. |
He reaches out to missionaries with love when they have too many Tiwi violations for poor driving and when they get citations and excessive toll charges. He is available 24/7 for their phone calls about accidents and problems with their vehicles. When a month ends, he reminds and cajoles them to send their monthly mileage and credit card receipts. To do this, they spread out their mileage log, nametags, and all receipts for gas, air, carwashes, etc., take a photo, and send it to him. All receipts from these 74 photos must be reconciled against the financial records of the church, an arduous process in which the VC’s wife is also involved. [YAWN!]
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One of my duties is keeping a bowl of candy full for our young missionaries (this bowl is special--our normal bowl is much smaller!) And I am proud of myself that for most of the mission I fasted from mini-Snickers bars! |
What does an office secretary do? We have two full-time and two part-time senior sister secretaries, and there’s plenty of work to go around. I manage driver records—each new missionary must provide four vital documents, receive training, and have the mission president’s signature before they are issued the TIWI card—their official permission to drive a mission vehicle. I pull the files of missionaries who have finished their service and gone home.
I answer the phone, answer emails, help sort mail and packages for missionaries, order office supplies for our office and cleaning supplies for missionary apartments, and prepare new missionary packets for both young and senior arriving missionaries. I help plan and carry out meals for arriving missionaries and for zone conferences, compile the annual history, and write a seniors newsletter.
There's lots of work in a mission office! Elder Connell is the finance coordinator for the mission's funds and disburses monthly allotments to young elders and sisters. Sister Connell is the referral secretary, takes care of decorations for 15-ish tables at zone conferences, orders and shelves Bibles, Books of Mormon and other missionary supplies, manages missionary travel, and more; Sister Workman is our mission nurse and helps her husband with missionary housing issues.
That’s what we’ve been doing for the past year, and what we will be doing for the next two weeks as we train Elder Nyall and Sister Candy London, our replacements. Then this “busyness in the service of Lord and His children” will end, and we will turn our RAV toward Idaho on March 7: a bittersweet time, for sure. !
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| Elder Evan Connell at work |
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| Sister Connell organizing z.c. decor. |
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| Sister Cole before she went home in November--Debbie inherited this desk / front office job from her. |
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| Elder Holm is with Elders Cole and Workm who have managed apartments for 200 + missionaries.. |
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Elder Edlefson, Elder Connell, Elder Holm, Elder Farnsworth and Elder Frame moved these hulking files full of vehicle folders down a long hall-- kudos to them! |
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