Missionary Leadership Training
Its always an amazing experience as we observe the leaders of the mission counsel together with love unfeigned for all 286 missionaries, the work and for each other.
As we were counseling together and discussing the needs of the mission/missionaries, one of the concerns that came up had to do with planning discussed in chapter 8 of the guide manual "Preach My Gospel" that each of the missionaries have. (see below)
Preach My Gospel
Use Preach My Gospel to meet your needs as a missionary. You can spend an entire study session on just a few paragraphs—or an entire chapter. You can study chapters in order or plan another sequence that better meets your needs. This flexibility allows you to study what you need when you need it and as directed by your mission president.
All of the chapters in Preach My Gospel will help prepare you to fulfill your purpose as a missionary.
We particularly discussed chapter 8 having to do with planning and the need to do better in managing our time, particularly the weekly planning session. In Preach My Gospel it reads:
The Weekly Planning Session
Once you have set goals, decide how you will achieve them. You and your companion should hold a weekly planning session on a day and at a time that is less productive for proselyting, such as Thursday or Friday morning. Your mission president will set the day and time of the weekly planning session. This weekly planning may take two to three hours to complete.
Your discussion should focus on the needs of people and how to help them progress. During this weekly planning session, review past goals and set new goals for the coming week. Consider every aspect of your proselyting.
Sunday evening is the recommended time for the weekly call-in report. A Sunday-evening report provides the most accurate and timely status of the mission because most baptisms and confirmations take place on Saturday or Sunday.
Because the day you hold your weekly planning session is likely to be different from your reporting day, approach your weekly planning with 10 days in mind. For example, if your weekly planning session is on Thursday, you will review the progress on your goals so far that week, and you will plan what you need to do to achieve these goals through Sunday. Then, set goals and make plans for the next week from Monday to Sunday. On Sunday evening you will total and report the results from the past week, and you will have your plan ready for the coming week. Below is a description of how the planning guidelines apply to a weekly planning session.
So after much counsel and instruction, one of the things decided at MLC was that the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders were going to train and focus on planning and chapter 8 during interviews that were to take place the next 3 weeks!
