On January 11th we welcomed 18 new missionaries to the TKM! This is always an exciting day. Flights were delayed and many of these missionaries just barely made their connecting flights. They start early in the morning, so it ends up being an extremely long day for them. They arrived tired but ready to get to work.
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After loading up at the airport, we brought this new group to the mission home to get something to eat, give them a short message and instructions for tomorrow, and then off to the hotel to get some sleep.
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We get started the next morning at 8am. After watching videos that provide background on the TKM, as well as a few required safety videos, the orientation for these new missionaries begins. Half of the group heads to the UT campus to do their first finding in public. The other half goes through a rotation that includes time with Elder and Sister Jentzsch on cars , Elder and Sister Hillman on phones, Elder Sawyer on apartments, Sister Sawyer on finances, Brother Taggert on Adjusting to Missionary Life, Sister Young on health and medical, and separate interviews with me and Sister Barlow. We also get pictures of each missionary.
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By far, the most exciting part of the day is announcing the assignments to their trainers. Not only exciting, but this assignment is incredibly important, and is where Sister Barlow and I feel the greatest direction. We look for the very best missionaries to be trainers. We feel it is the most important leadership role in the mission. Trainers help these new missionaries adjust, set the standard and expectations, set an example of obedience and hustle an diligence, and help build the skills of these new missionaries. It’s a big job…and a really important one. It is so much fun to get to announce these assignments.
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I had to share these pictures of Daisy. She always finds the person she knows she can guilt into sharing. This time it was Elder Jenkins. He’s becoming her favorite…
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Last week we gathered all of the new missionaries back to the Farragut building for New Missionary Follow Up. This day is filled with skill building around finding people to teach. We teach them a finding flow and work to build their confidence and commitment to talk with everyone. After lunch we do workshops on Facebook finding and how they can do that effectively. We are really excited about this new group of missionaries. They are going to make a tremendous difference in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.
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Barlows in TKM 