May 18, 2010, Day Two of Pre-Mission Training, SLC Headquarters

Rainy Day but a great and informative day.

We arrived at the Church Office Building at 8:00 am and got our guest badges for the 21st Division Floor floor from Security. 

Tuesday through Friday the three Senior Mission Couples have a short devotional, so we enjoyed the devotional with then this morning and the closeness of these missionaries. Their desires to serve the Lord by furthering his work through the languages needed throughout the world to hear the words of the Prophet and General Authorities and others is indeed humbling.

9:00 Planning Meeting with our Division Manager...Brad Lindsay and his secretary.

         The three senior couples, American Sign Language sister, and the three other language co-ordinators met and discussed the next two weeks of events. It was mind boggling to hear all the details that everyone is involved in. 

For example the Gila Arizona Temple dedication this weekend. The Stake President in that area requests the languages that are needed for the temple dedication broadcast. (five different ones). The talks from the speakers are submitted and then are to be translated by those five language teams. The interpreters are booked to broadcast from the CC (Conference Center) during the temple broadcast. 

The planning today even included plans on the Stake Conference Broadcast from Vancouver that even Cardston will hear. The Vancouver Stake President has requested a half dozen languages that are now being prepared and talks collected to be translated for this broadcast. Just incredible amount of work and people involved. It is these three Senior Missionary couples that HELP correlate those translators, interpreters and the broadcasts. We are in awe of ALL the people involved in these events and broadcasts...oh my we had no idea what goes on behind the scenes to facilitate this world wide church and all the languages involved!

Spent the rest of the morning getting trained by the Senior Mission Couple, the Joneses, whom we will be replacing in the fall. They were so patient with us and gave us an informative overview of our duties with the languages we will be in charge of...some of the languages we have never heard of. LOL At a later date we will list those languages for our family/friends. LOL

Lunched with just two of the Senior Missionary Couples Joneses and Evans, as the Porters worked through their lunchtime so they can attend the temple at 3:00 with their mission ward. Lunch was yummy and we saw a couple of the General Authorities from the Quorum of the Seventies there too. They were pointed out to us as we weren't that familiar with them. 

After lunch Philip McClain, who takes care of the three Senior Mission Couples, as the Personnel and Financial Division Head for the Translation Department, came in to say he had arranged for our names to be ACTIVATED NOW in the church personnel files, even though we were not yet officially on our mission. We went immediately to get our pictures taken and then they issued us the high security passes that get us in the Conference Center at all hours, as we need access to the studios there for all hours of the day. These passes get us in the tunnels to get to all the other church buildings also. Not only were WE stunned that we got these passes already, so were the other Senior Missionaries. (And now we get to park free of charge in the underground church parking lot.) Amazing! Now for sure we are coming back. LOL

We then spent the rest of the afternoon with the Evans and were introduced to the new church computer program called Clarity. They had us get right on their computers and went through many of the events and responsibilities on it. A bit mind boggling but exciting.

Tomorrow is our last day of training and we get to log on to our OWN computers as we are now REAL in the system. Hard to believe eh? Not having to wait until September to get introduced to all this is a HUGE plus. September is so so busy getting all the language teams ready and translating and prepping to interpret. This will help us to at least understand some of what is going on. 

We will book out of the Radisson Hotel in the morning before we go train some more Wednesday. We so appreciate being taken care of so well with the lodgings paid for and being given a diners card for meals. Brother McClain has been so good to us. He wishes we could stay right now too as we are so needed. Now that we have high security passes, tomorrow we can park close to the COB (trying to get use to the initials on the daily planning schedules). Church Office Building. 

We will head to Osenbachs Wed late afternoon and spend the night. 

Thursday we head back to Canada...so much to do at home as we are moving out and our renters are moving in just nine days!

Big day but so so enjoyable...tired brain!

May 18/2010: Day One of Pre-Mission Training, SLC Headquarters

Loved it! 

Day One of three days of 'pre-mission' training at Church Headquarters today. 

Amazing workers in the Translation Department...so looking forward to tomorrow!

Started our day at 8, meeting our several 'bosses'. Jeff Batesman is the Head of the whole Translation Division (married to a Taber girl). Jeff Johnson is the Department Head over us, however it is Brad Lindsay who is our Department Manager, whom we will report to and work very closely with and plan with weekly.

We then attended the Monday 8:30 weekly devotional where all the Translation Division staff meet. We were introduced at this time to all the Translation 21st Floor Staff. Special.

So friendly and helpful...they sure wish we could stay right now and start...they need us 

and one of the senior couples leaves June 1st with no replacement in sight yet. We met the three Senior Mission couples now working in the Translation Division. The Evans are leaving June 1st, and they are the ones we were originally suppose to replace, however due to the long wait for Visas, we aren't able to be there. So NO couple is replacing them at this time. (Not good as no other couple has been called.) Their duties will be divided up to the other couples. The Joneses leave right after October Conference...we will replace them. The Porters have another year to serve and we are SO glad!! 

We were taken on tour of the tunnels from Church Office Headquarters connecting to the Conference Center, Tabernacle, SLC Temple, and Administration Building. Walked them all today. The tunnels have major security at every door, are quick, and wide enough for golf carts to take the General Authorities safely. Inclement and too hot weather also makes the tunnels valuable. (We saw start of the private tunnel leading to the Apartment Building where the Prophet lives.)  Believe it or not, the Translation Senior Mission Couples have the security passes to swipe and get through all those secured doors. They need to use the Conference Center at all hours with their translation team. They need to get in the Joseph Smith Building via the tunnel as the Mission Office is there on level 3 and so on. What a responsibility to carry that high of security pass!

In the Conference Center we toured all the many recording studios, and translation booths and so on that are accessed only by one certain elevator that goes to that level M1. The large studio where the Stake Conferences are staged and broadcast, audio recording studios for all broadcasts and so on. Totally in awe and humbled by so much behind the scene talented staff.

Lunchtime: huge cafeteria at the COB (Church Office Building). Not open to the public but just for the missionaries of any age, and ALL church staff workers from garden staff, cleaners etc. and up. Saw two of the Quorum of the Seventy eating there too.  Yummy food...huge variety of buffets and such. Hundreds of missionaries eating there...amazing and humbling. We ate lunch with the three Senior Missionary Couples from the Translation Division (officially called Headquarter Missionaries). We brainstormed with these couples about housing, and so many other questions.

In the afternoon we met at the Mission Office in the Joseph Smith Building with some of the staff. President Simmons was not there, but we met his wife.  Sat down with some of the mission staff to check our file and then the mission housing sister took us on a walking tour of the four housing complexes that Senior Missionaries live in. She slipped on her walking runners as we left. We walked many blocks in and around the COB. We won't know where we will live until we get closer to the date of officially arriving, and seeing what apts. are available at that time.

We definitely got in our 1,000 steps...only wish we had on our running shoes. I even got a blister on my toe...lol.

We learned that we have a 60 mile radius for our mission where  we CAN travel without permission, when we have free time, and go visit anywhere in that area...

which means hello occasionally to Plain City (daughter Emily, hubby Mark, and five grandkids) and Ogden too (brother Gordon and sister Sharon and spouses) ...yeah! There is a map in our mission book that shows all 60 mile area.

So much to learn, but feel we so blessed and area absorbing as much as we can!

We are also grateful to Philip McClain, the Financial Manager, who is also in charge of the Headquarter Senior Missionaries and their well being. He arranged for our stay at the Radisson Hotel and Diner card as we train for these three days. He has a fun sense of humor too. He has been our liason by phone and email.

Looking forward to Day Two of training tomorrow!!