Caleb and Jacob:
Some of the things I share with you are the stuff that I would do differently if I had the chance to serve a mission again. You'll have to humor me.
I did not understand the importance of Ward Council and communicating to the ward leadership on my mission. As a result, if I were to serve again, I would treat Ward Council as one of the most important meetings of the week. As such I would do everything in my power to help the Ward Mission Leader to succeed in his calling. That may mean that you go overboard to help the ward mission get involved with your investigators. You do this at the expense of being efficient as a missionary. On the other hand, if you can get the ward excited about missionary work, you multiply your efforts.
I spent some time talking to Grandpa Gibbons this past week and getting his ideas and we are of the same mind that the way to get the Ward Mission excited is to bring them success and make them successful... You take the approach that if they feel the spirit, they will have a desire to make and keep commitments just as your investigators do. When viewed in that light, you become the teacher to investigators and members alike. Your goal is the same, to get them to feel the spirit so that they will have a desire to make and keep commitments.
How is it done? That is the golden question.
I am the managing tax partner in the firm and am responsible to get 5 other tax partners to catch the vision of where the firm is headed and essentially choose to orient their behavior such that they choose to self-align their actions with the firm vision. I've tried many things, but I have decided that a meeting once a week where I inform them of happenings and make assignments for the upcoming week is a good way to help them in this process.
I create a draft email (I title the email "Agenda") early in the week and when I think or hear of things that need communicated with them, I immediately write them down in that email. I also look at the prior week agenda and make sure I follow-up on open items. Then, usually early Monday morning, I take 30 minutes and organize my thoughts as relating to the topics I've written down during the week. Then every Monday morning at 8:30, we meet as a partner group and I always have an agenda that directs our meeting. It works well and generally nothing falls through the cracks. I am confident that we all are headed in the same direction and without saying anything, I'm also confident that I'm in charge and directing them. I also know they appreciate it.
I think you could do the same thing as relating to ward councils and the ward missions that you serve. I can almost guarantee that nobody is doing this in the wards you serve in; primarily because it's a volunteer church and most people don't make the time to over-achieve in their callings. Ward Mission Leaders will love you as you make them look awesome when they show up to their meetings with meaningful ways that the members can help you in your missionary efforts. If the WML buys into the process, you'll find that the ward leadership will follow. Soon the WML have every auxiliary asking how they can help and the stone will start to roll. Once it is rolling, it won't be stopped as long as you are in the area. Once you leave, all bets are off.
Anyway, when you do this, you put yourself into a tier that not many (if any) other missionaries do well. The other point is that you learn to do this well on your mission and it can become a prototype for running your businesses in the future. Do it and do it well. Learn to let go of controlling tasks and focus instead of controlling (or helping the WML control) the strategic direction of the ward mission. Joseph Smith said that he taught the people correct principles and let them govern themselves; that's what you should do here. The church is super-easy to lead effectively because everyone has a common goal and money isn't involved. Learn and implement well. It will be the difference between 100K and 400K in salary in the future. You need to learn how to leverage your abilities and delegate to others. Get people excited about your successes with your enthusiasm and they will want to be a part of working with you.
Finally, I suggest that you get material and study what should be happening in ward councils as relating to the role of the ward mission leader. Someone has spent a lot of time putting that information together and most people only skim the content. My experience is that when the church produces instructions, the material is excellent. Let me know if you want me to gather some stuff and I will.
I love you both. Do your best and be the master of your attitude,
Dad
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