Elder Renlund, PowerPoint,  and a Crazy Saturday

This is Baptiste's Cubicle

This week was pretty slow as far as events go.  We input quite a few for the rest of the month so we were busy.  We have a very large event that will cover three days for Roots Tech.  The biggest problem we had was it is still in flux.  Oh,  and the Supervisor in charge was on a cruise ship all week so he could only work on it when he had internet connections.  I wanted to wait until he got back before we created the PLUNET order, but he kept asking for updates on our progress with PLUNET.  After several major changes to the project I had Elder Linford delete the PLUNET order and start over.  Our supervisor is back on Monday so things should be easier.  

These are boxes Elder Wilcox
decorated for Baptiste so he could
pack up his stuff on Friday.

On Monday, after my eye doctor appointment we went home to finish working.  We received an email from our department manager telling us he has made some changes between branches within our department.  Interpretations is one and translations is another and so forth.  The manager decided to swap a supervisor from each of those two branches. I was really shocked to read our beloved Baptiste is moving to translations on February 7th.  We will get a new supervisor named Joelma. I immediately chatted Baptiste and cried.  He did too. We will all miss him so much.  My good friend, Sara, will be taking over much of what Baptiste was over so I will be working more closely with her now.  All week Baptiste has been the main topic of discussion everyday. We are ALL going to miss him so much.

I spent most of the week preparing for our Global Area Training meetings that will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  I have to create the agenda,  get the prayers from 4 different countries,  and give a PowerPoint presentation on PLUNET.  I think I'm almost done.  Wish me luck. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with meetings,  more preparation,  and helping others. On Tuesdays, we are taking a Leadership Pattern class called "Lead Like the Savior."
It is so powerful. After only two weeks of the 11 week course it has changed my life. I eagerly look forward to each week's studies. Our Zone has been given permission to teach the classes to our missionaries. Our Zone leader asked me if we wanted to turn our FHE group into a class for the next couple of months. I took a poll from our group and the majority says YES. Little did I know that he also wants me to teach the class. I'm actually very excited about it because our group is so good at discussions and I know "teaching" this class will be easy. Besides I'll have just gone through the material a few weeks before. haha  

Throughout the week we had many new events come in.  At the beginning of the week a Stake  Conference for Portland Oregon came in so we claimed the event.  It was scheduled for Saturday Morning.  By Wednesday two more Stake Conferences were added to Saturday.  Then on Thursday we got another one that also included a Friday evening event.  So we spent Thursday and Friday coordinating 2 meals and snacks for everyone.  All events were for Spanish so Sara was going a little crazy getting interpreters to cover everything since each event had at least two sessions with two having three. Many sessions overlapped others so we needed different Interpreters.  Sara created an awesome spreadsheet to help us keep everything straight. One of the events (2 sessions) also had Portuguese. The Linfords covered Friday night and we covered all day Saturday. 

In the spreadsheet shown in the picture, Friday is the cream colored line at the top. Everything from the blue line near the top clear down to the line before the Purple line was our Saturday.  The spreadsheet below the first one is the one Sara did just for Saturday. It includes all the people for each of the 4 events for both Friday and Saturday. Eunlan is pointing to that chart. I added some color coding for the meals so we knew who was getting dinner (easy, one event on Friday7 night), who was getting breakfast (also easy, two events that started the same time), who was getting lunch (a lot trickier because we had three different events at staggered times), and lastly, who was getting snacks (mostly easy because we brought out snacks between each session for everyone, plus they came in and got leftovers from lunch for the afternoon snacks.)

Friday was AWESOME.  We had a very special Mission Devotional with Elder Renlund and two other Elders and all their wives. For two hours we were spiritually fed by an Apostle of the Lord and His fellow servants.  All the talks were great. They also had a Question and Answer time that was very interesting. Elder Renlund shared personal experiences that touched me deeply.  I wish I could share my thoughts and feelings with you,  but there are no words to express it. 

With that I will close.  I really cannot say more. 

All our Love and Prayers, 

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Steve and Leslee 

Elder and Sister Wilcox ❤