Working in the mission office--temporarily

Unfortunately the current mission office couple go home at the beginning of February and their replacements don't come until the first week of March. We are learning what an office couple does--all the responsiblities and procedures. Then we will teach the new couple when they arrive. So we started part time in December, and will be full time until the end of March. Sister Oliver, the president's secretary is unfailingly kind, patient, and friendly to everyone. I'm not sure she is replaceable. Brother Oliver is very organized and gracious. He is the financial secretary. It is a big job to manage all the rents, cars, missionary funds, and deal with Finland's bureaucracies. The mission president is the legal representative of the church in Finland. And some church finance issues not related to the mission are handled through the mission accounts. We have certainly seen a different facet of mission life after being all by ourselves for 8 months in Joensuu. David loves working in the mission office. I am happy to help with the transition between mission couples but am eager to return to "real" mission work.

The mission office is in the same space as it was when David was a missionary 40 years ago. But the space we all work in now once held the office, the mission translation services, and the mission president's apartment. When David was here the mission president had 5 or 6 little kids living there too. Hard to imagine.