Trainers

     One of our senior elders suggested a subject for me to write about today, and I think it is a good one so thanks, Elder S.
     Last week I wrote about district leaders and how important they are, but there is another important missionary calling, which is training.  Every transfer when we receive brand new missionaries from the MTC each one is assigned a trainer.  The new missionaries are always nervous about who their trainer will be, and also in our mission about whether he or she will be Latin or from North America because of the language.  With a Latin companion a North American will be uncomfortable at first but will be proficient in Spanish much faster. We assign the companions pretty early in the day of training so that they can start to get comfortable with the companion who will probably be one of the most if not the most influential of their mission.
     Each new missionary and trainer receives a book called the First Twelve Weeks.  They will have an extra hour of study each day to use this book as a training aid.  Often the trainers are also nervous because they realize the responsibility of helping a new missionary get used to actually being in the field, speaking the language, and finding and teaching. Every missionary remembers their companions, but they especially remember their trainers.  A trainer definitely influences the entire mission of his or her trainee so President Warne very carefully considers which missionaries should train, based on obedience, desire for hard work, and of course, the influence of the Spirit.
     Sometimes missionaries show a remarkable talent for training new missionaries, and they often have the chance to train more than once.  We have no control over the number and gender of missionaries who come, so sometimes we have more possible trainers than we have new missionaries.
     Along with helping their trainee learn Spanish, and study The First Twelve Weeks, the trainer must also help them learn their area, including where to shop for food, where the members and investigators are, and the location of the Internet cafe and their apartment.  Many apartments have a huge map of their area or town marked with these important places.  Also the trainers teach the news about how our mission works--every mission is run a little bit differently so it is a chance to get everyone on the same page, if you don't mind the metaphor.
     We are very grateful to receive new missionaries every six weeks and we are also very grateful to our amazing trainers who take on this calling to serve in addition to their regular missionary labors.

I know this doesn´t show missionaries, but we enjoyed a beautiful
sunrise on our way to Hospital for branch conference.

One of our recent groups of trainers and news as we sometimes
call them.  You can identify the assistants in the second row
by their matching ties.

Another group of trainers and news.  The groups have been pretty
small lately, but in August we are thrilled to get 23 new
missionaries.

Tuesday we enjoyed our meeting with the coordinadoras or
sister training leaders.  They are a wonderful group of
hardworking and talented missionaries.