Taking a break during a tough day!
Decisions, decisions!
August was a very different month for Elder Wilcox. He was assigned to work in the Monterrey Mission Office and he is very busy. Emails have gotten much shorter and come on random days and at random times when he has a few minutes to check in. Here is a recap of August 2017.
The first part of August Elder Wilcox was working very hard. His emails are typically very short and this is what he wrote on August 7, 2017.
Yesterday we ate with a family and they have a returned missionary. She was sharing her testimony with us and it was really awesome. It just reminded me why I’m here, to bring souls unto Christ and that is my purpose for this two years. The problems with my companion this transfer caused me to lose focus of that. So I decided I’m going to try to focus on the people here and what they need.
He was very happy to learn that he was being transferred to an extremely wealthy area of Monterrey called Zona Roma. His new companion was Elder Privera from Costa Rica, who spoke English. He was sad to leave the Mitras Zone because he had started to develop relationships with the people there. He felt they were just starting to trust him. But he was also going to be senior companion this transfer so he was looking forward to that. Elder Wilcox was transferred to Roma on August 8th. But on August 10th he and his companion had dinner with some members of his new ward. He said their home was a mansion and he was surprised at the amount of wealth that surrounded him. He had never been in a house that big, with servants and such. This is what he told us:
My area in Campestre was super rich. I ate dinner in a freakin’ mansion. It was so crazy, every house was really nice. The little I worked there was very hard, but we had some cool people in our ward.
Shortly after that dinner on August 10, Elder Wilcox received a phone call from his mission President informing him that he would be doing a “cambios chicos” (basically a quick change) and he needed to report to the mission office first thing in the morning. Elder Wilcox was being assigned to work there. One of the Elders who had been working in the mission office had become ill and unfortunately needed to go home rather suddenly. Elder Wilcox has now been assigned to serve as the Secretary of Materials for the Monterrey West Mission.
Just like when he is doing regular mission work, he was also assigned a new companion. Elder Figuero is from Morelos, Mexico and is 19 years old. He lives in a very nice home with the other missionaries who work in the mission office. Elder Wilcox said this:
My new house is super big. All the mission secretaries live in it along with the Assistants to the Mission President. It’s a really, really nice house, and super modern. I will take pictures.
We still haven’t received any pictures. Elder Wilcox is very excited to be in the mission office. He said there is a lot to learn and his days just fly by because he has so much to do. The best part is being inside for most of the day because the summer weather in Monterrey has been awful.
On August 14th he wrote:
The weather has been really weird. Like for a couple of days, it will rain, and then it will be super hot. Today it is 37° Celsius (that's almost 100° Fahrenheit) with 80 percent humidity, so it’s been really hot and sticky.
Even though Elder Wilcox is working in the office, he and his companion still do regular missionary work. But it is challenging to find a balance.
On August 21st he described what working in the mission office is like:
I am learning to work in MS Excel, so that has been challenging. There is also a lot of stuff to remember, but I’m kinda of settling in and working things out. I order all of the pamphlets, pass along cards, Books of Mormon, and just every bit of materials that we use for the mission. I also help prep for Zone Conferences and the activities that happen so that keeps us really busy too.
Different things happen all the time. This week we have an Elder with us who has bronchitis, I’m really not sure why he’s here, but he can’t be in the sun so we have not been able to go out and do actual missionary work in our area.
A typical day is - we usually get to the office at 8:30 ish. We start working, doing office things (ha! it just depends on what needs to be done). At around 2PM we usually go have food at a Church member’s house. Then we normally leave from the member’s house and go work in the mission field. But like I said, because of this sick Elder staying with us, right now we can’t go out. So we just come back to the offices after we eat and just kinda do random stuff. I have been using this time to study the language and work on the computer learning how to do this new job. Nothing super big has happened this week. just trying to settle in here and figure out how everything works. It’s cool, but I just feel like I’m always forgetting something hahaha, but what else is new?
Like I said, there is a lot of stuff to do here and it kind of goes by which week we are in for missionary changes. So some of the stuff I have to do is more like prep work for something that will happen in the future. For example, I have to put together sets of bed covers and pillows for new missionaries who are coming to the mission. They won’t be here until September 18th, but I have to make sure we have everything we need and it is ready when they arrive.
August was a sad time for our family. On August 17th our beloved sister-in-law, Brett’s Aunty Christine, lost her battle with cancer. We emailed Brett’s Mission President and his wife asking them to break the news to Brett personally. President McArthur was so very kind and allowed Brett to call home. It was great to hear his voice and share our memories of Christine. During that phone call, we learned more about his new assignment. Not only is Elder Wilcox responsible for ordering materials, he also has to manage the large inventory of items needed to help the mission function. When he has time to get away from his desk, he has taken the initiative to reorganize closets and other storage spaces. He is gaining some fantastic professional experience right now. While we spoke he bore a beautiful testimony about our Savior, the Lord’s plan for each of us and how he knows that we will see Christine again. This young man has grown so much and we are so proud of him!
