Sample Schedule

The month of March began with transfers. We had a group of 10 leaving, larger than normal but very manageable.

4 MAR (Sunday) - Three hours of exit interviews following church, followed by Sunday night in the office as the weekly reports came in from the zone leaders.

5 MAR (Monday) - A few more hours of exit interviews with departing missionaries. Began reading weekly letters in the evening.

6 MAR (Tuesday) - The official transfer day, with missionaries coming and going throughout the day. Usually new missionaries come in on Tuesday morning, but visa delays meant our 17 missionaries were still in Madrid. Dinner at 6:00 pm with the departing missionaries, followed by a testimony meeting. Then we all headed down to Plaza Catalunya for "Singing for the Angels." Back home about 10:30, with four hermanas staying in the mission home and several elders spending the night in the office dormitory.

7 MAR (Wednesday) - Off to the airport with 7 missionaries and their luggage (we did it in two cars plus the van); three missionaries were met by parents and we said goodby to them last night. In the afternoon we had meetings with the curtain men (new curtains being installed in the office for the new president).

8 MAR (Thursday) - Up at 5:00 a.m. to drive to the airport and fly to Frankfurt the Mission President Seminar. Arrived in Frankfurt, quick lunch at the hotel, then a day of meetings, ending about 9:00 p.m.

9 MAR (Friday) - More meetings, including a wonderful session with D. Todd Christofferson. Temple session at Frankfurt temple in the afternoon, then dinner at a little German restaurant with some of the other presidents.

10 MAR (Saturday) - Up early and back to Barcelona, unpacked, phone call with our replacements, read missionary letters.

11 MAR (Sunday) - Church at our own ward, then preparing notes for next round of zone conferences.

12 MAR (Monday) - Meetings with the office staff to deal with renting new apartments (this has reached the level of an emergency) and the Ayudantes to discuss missionaries and upcoming zone conferences.

13 MAR (Tuesday) - Packed the bags again and took the train to Valencia, arriving about 8:00 p.m. Went out for a light dinner and see the fallas.

14 MAR (Wednesday) - Zone conference in Valencia, a couple of interviews, then off to the airport for a flight to Palma. Great news: were able to stay at our favorite hotel in Palma and take a two hour break for dinner in the neighborhood.

15 MAR (Thursday) - Zone conference in Palma, followed by two interviews with prospective missionaries (this is a mission district) and a temple recommend interview. Then back to the airport, arriving home about 10:00 p.m.

16 MAR (Friday) - Our new missionaries finally arrive, all 17 of them! Sixteen came on the train in the morning, and through a complex set of logistics orchestrated by the our office staff (and the help of a couple of taxis), we got all of them to Montjuic, then back to the mission home for lunch and interviews, then to the chapel to meet their trainers and have a brief orientation. We sent 12 young missionaries off about 5:30 p.m. and met for an hour with the two couples who arrived. Then we headed back to the train station for the last elder who was delayed until the 9:30 p.m. train. We took his trainer to the station with us, gave the new missionary an abrazo, and dropped him off at the Ayudantes apartment. They left at 6:00 a.m. the next morning for their area, Girona. A long day!

17 MAR (Saturday) - Hosted the quarterly meeting of the Correlation Council at the mission home. In the U.S., this is a 2-hour meeting on a weeknight at a chapel. Here it is an all-day affair (several of those attending, including the presiding Area Seventy, have to travel in from varios places - Basque Country, Palma, Valencia, Madrid). Everyone finally left about 6:00 p.m.which gave us two hours to pack and get to the airport for a flight to Ibiza. Arrived at 10:00 p.m. and attended a baptismal service before arriving at the hotel about 11:30.

18 MAR (Sunday) - Church in Ibiza with miraculous attendance of 48 (this has happened so fast we have not yet organized a branch - three months ago it was a group of 10 members!). Spent the day interviewing members in Ibiza, before catching an evening flight back to Barcelona.

19 MAR (Monday) - Repacked and drove with the Ayudantes to Vitoria, got into the hotel about 7:00 p.m., ran over to Corte Ingles to buy some yogurt and cheese to eat for dinner in the room, dealt with the most urgen emails, and went to bed.

20 MAR (Tuesday) -  Zone conference in Vitoria. Following conference, jumped in the car and hit the road again back to Lleida, about 5 hours. Checked into the hotel, ordered room service, read a few letters, then went to bed.

21 MAR (Wednesday) - Zone conference in Lleida. Following the conference drove back to Barcelona (about 2 hours), arriving at 6:30 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. we met Jeff and Kara Edwards who were visiting for a few days. Since the leave in the morning, this was our only window to see them. Met them at Cafe Zurich, bought mussels at Tapa Tapa, then some tortilla and other tapas at Tapa 24. Back home about 11:00 p.m.

22 MAR (Thursday) - A full day at home. Spent the vast majority of the day dealing with many emails, including completing a questionnaire for my Spanish income taxes, obtaining a rental chapel in Ibiza, signing new apartment leases, and meeting with the painter who is going to repaint the office.

WHAT'S NEXT:

23 MAR (Friday) - Combined zone conference in Barcelona with 50 missionaries (a bigger group than I like to do, but we didn't have the option of another day).

24 MAR (Saturday) - At home to deal with office matters and paperwork and plan agenda and topics for next week's training.

25 MAR (Sunday) - Fly to Palma for the day to set a missionary apart and conduct some member interviews.

26 MAR (Monday) - Monthly zone leader council with all zone leaders and the Ayudantes.

27 MAR (Tuesday) - Quarterly leadership training with zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers

Wednesday and Thursday are relatively open... Friday we spend the entire day in interviews, the start of a 110 over the next week.

In the meantime: reading about 100 missionary letters each week, the death of the an aunt that was very close to sister missionary (who is the only member of her family) as well as breaking the news to her that her father is dying of cancer, and a call from a stake president informing me that a young sister in his stake had just confessed a serious transgression involving one of our best missionaries. It looks like he will be sent home, a big loss for us but the best thing for him. Oh yes, and 40 convert baptisms so far in the month with one weekend still ahead of us. It's great work, if you can get it!