A comment on another thread about a mission president's random method of deciding transfers got me thinking about transfers in my mission.

The calls always came late at night (after we were in from tracting, of course), And it was always a case of, "Be there in the morning." Sometimes, "Be there tonight."

That was no big problem for elders being moved to a different part of a city, or to a neighboring town, but our mission covered a huge area, and a lot of transfers involved getting your butt from your remote village to a remote village hundreds of miles away -- overnight. At your own expense. And since it was almost always near the end of the month, we would be broke. We'd have to find money, somehow, late at night. We also had to settle up whatever rent deposits there were to deal with (this was back in the day when we paid everything directly ourselves) and still have money to put into deposit at the new place. And alert the folks back home where to send the next check so we wouldn't be penniless in the new area.

The MP did these late-night, no-warning transfers because he feared missionaries would try to hook up with whatever sweetie/stud muffin he'd been flirting with. And it was to demonstrate his awesome authority and power.

He once decided he needed to really shake things up, so one week he transferred half the missionaries. Everyone got new companions. Then, the next week, he transferred everyone who hadn't been transferred the week before.

It was total chaos, but it came directly from the Lord, right?

The AP's would meet with our MP on Thursday evening. We always got our move notice in the mail on Friday or Saturday and moved on Mondays. (P day). I thought that was how they were all done. Mutt, your MP was an idiot.
I spent 8 months in the Mission Home as the accountant an staff leader. MP would always review the moves with me on Friday morning and we'd make a few changes if the Assistants were being idiots. He trusted me because I didn't play games.
The previous MP had a terrific sense of humor. I'm not kidding here. He put Elder White with Elder Black, he put Elder Salmon with Elder Haddock, Elder Green with Elder Black, and Elder Anderson with Elder Anderson.

I am pretty sure we served in the same mission or both of our mission presidents had same twisted humor. My MP put and elder black with and elder white, and two andersen's together.

You didn't happen to serve in Kentucky did you?

Was not in Kentucky, Scotland!

there it is. "proof" its the lord with the sense of humor... elder cox and elder ball was my favorite combination from my mission.

My son was in the office and said the APs used a dart board and then would pray about it and forward the info to the pres.

I was an AP for several months of my mission. Here is how we did transfer's.....

The Mission Prez. and the AP's would sit in the room with everyones pictures on it and discuss who should be with who. Usually it was based on how long someone had been on a particular island (Caribbean) and how long the his visa was good for.

We talked about their personalities, weaknesses, strengths, issues that could come up in certain companionships, etc. Basically we just discussed what made sense based on who the people were, how they acted, what kind of missionary they were, etc.....regular old human traits and behaviors.

Then we prayed. Then we would all look up and say that we felt good about it so let's go ahead with the plans we made and do the transfers.

Our Prez. never acted like it was anything else either. He was a good one.

What Carribean mission where you in? I was in the West Indies Mission from 00-02

We were called at 6:30 am.
"Catch the bus at 1:OO pm."
oh, and our monthly budget was 415.00. We were told that that figure did not include transfers. Then when we got there we were not allowed to ask for more money for transfers. Bus around my mission was $50-70. That's a huge chunk of your pittance.
We only got the call the night before if it was to be moved up the leadership ladder.

It was usually just bus fare, but I had to take a flight for one transfer. That was back when airlines had cheap standby flights for those under 21. But it was still a chunk of change when you're broke.

I mentioned on a different thread that the MP would basically just shuffle cards for transfers, which was an oversimplification. There definitely was some thought put into it, and it was a lot of work. But I guess the thing that surprised me as a naive missionary was that whatever divine inspiration was supposed to have directed transfers and callings was beyond subtle.

Running you ragged doing unnecessary moves at the drop of a hat was his way of showing off the power of his Phood. Arrogance at its finest. Oh, but its from the Lord, so OBEY.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2011 04:31PM by FreeRose.

I had just arrived in winter in a new flat (in a farmhouse), new area (North England), with a new comp. He was late showing up because his last comp had gone missing and he was told to wait awhile.

During this round of transfers the AWOL elder had flown back to Ohio where he proceeded to spend a few weeks with his girlfriend. He decided to go back to England but had to have an interview with a GA.

In the meantime the mish that was supposed to be his new companion had to come and stay with me and my new comp. (confused yet?) We didn't have a spare bed so I slept on a sofa sort of thing about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide; you know the law of sacrifice.

Lots of fun!

Transfers were wonderful events. We would either hear the night before, via radio (there was one station in the entire island nation), or the mission leaders would show-up at your living quarters with a truck or land cruiser. You would either be taken directly to your new village, or to the boat dock if another island was involved.

The transfer to a new village was almost always welcome, even though clearly, some areas were better than others.

If we changed islands, we would get a day or two off from proselyting due to the travel factor. That was an added bonus. A transfer was particularly welcome when you suffered from a bad companion.

Generally, we would spend between 2 and 5 months in one location. With one exception, I was always ready to move on.

I ended my mission as an AP. The transfers may have looked random, but there was thought put into each decision. We tried to avoid conflicts, but sometimes sacrificed elders to save others. We tried to keep the bad eggs closer to the mission home. I don't think we every pretended that we were receiving divine revelation. We were just doing a job.