Introducing the Traveling Trainers

"Hey mom, I'm home!" seems to be what Elder Moore is saying as he walks into the office on Wednesday morning. But he was in Gijon doing great missionary work with Elder Araya. So what is the big deal? Just after he walked in with Elder Ashby, the following two Elders walked in.

"We're ready for duty" are the words from Elder Dredge and Elder "Captain" Corbridge. O.K., so let us explain what is really going on. In our mission we will be loosing over half of our Elders and Hermanas over the next 6-7 months. For some reason the way they send us missionaries makes things very lopsided during the year. Presidente Clegg noticed this and was trying to figure out a way to help the rest of our mission, full of young and very good missionaries "grow up" a little faster and become the leaders we know they can all be. He developed a plan and then talked with the Area Presidency and received permission to extend Elder Corbridge's mission by a transfer and designate him and Elder Moore as the "Traveling Trainers." For the next 2 transfers they will be traveling around the mission, staying 5 days with each companionship and work with them on their contacting and teaching, helping them to build their confidence more and to give them some intense training.

But to make this work successful, we need the hard work of our ayudantes to help with all the physical arrangements and to prepare the other missionaries for their coming. A lot of coordination has gone into planning where they go and when. These two Elders are incredible workers and have found a lot of success in the mission and we are hoping that they can pass on some of their knowledge to the other missionaries. We brought them in to first have a day of preparation and training and going over all the details to make sure everything was ready. Don't you think they look like the 4 sons of Mosiah or something like that as they ready themselves to listen to Presidente Clegg.

The next day we started with breakfast at the mission home. While Elder Moore and Corbridge were finishing the last of their planning, the ayudantes and I made breakfast burritos, a mission home favorite.

We had Elder Dredge's favorite spice cake for a desert. This was sent to him from home and he was saving it for a special day. Today seemed fitting. Afterwards we had a very special teaching/testimony meeting that filled our hearts and mind with the spirit and with the vision of what we hope will be accomplished. All the missionaries are very excited for The Traveling Trainers or T.T.'s to come to their city. They even have planned a very special District Meeting to help the Hermanas where ever they are working.

We hope you don't think that all we do is eat, but missionaries will be missionaries. One of the favorite places for any missionary who has served in Bilbao is this Chinese Buffet. It is real reasonable and the missionaries can eat till their heart's content. They are full and ready to get started.

Presidente was trying to see what it would be like to be taller than Elder Corbridge. Nice try!

We found a nice Spanish woman to take a picture of all of us. But now it is time for work and the schedule is tight.

We were getting the car out of the parking garage when we noticed that Elder Corbridge didn't have to stretch to touch the ceiling. I just hope it isn't too dirty up there Elder Corbridge.

We drove them to their first city, Santander, where Elders Griotti and Farnsworth were waiting and ready. Elder Farnsworth is a great district leader in Santander and just received Elder Griotti two days earlier in the transfers. They were both excited to have the Elders for a few days to work and learn from each other. We think this will be a wonderful experience for every elder. They can all learn from each other and feel the excitement of working together for a united reason, to invite everyone to Come unto Christ and be baptized by someone with the proper authority. This is the purpose of a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Presidente Clegg is leaving his last words of advice as we ready ourselves to return home. We love our missionaries and hope that all of them can feel of this love and also the love of their Heavenly Father. They are hard workers who want so much to do what is right and be the best that they can. We have so much confidence in all of them and wish Elders Corbridge and Moore good health as they start on this exciting journey through the mission.