The Mission Leadership Thread and Poll

[LA Ute]

How did you like being a leader? If you weren't a leader, how badly did you resent those who were?

I had to travel a lot, in hot weather, in "chicken buses," all around Western Guatemala and later Eastern El Salvador. I recall that being a pain, and the most memorable experiences of my mission didn't involve the leadership work, although I thought it was fun to work with lots of the other missionaries.

How many girls were impressed by your leadership role(s) post mission?

Were you brown-nosed as a leader?

If I was, I was too obtuse to realize it.

How much obedience did you command?

Favorite leadership memories (as ruler or ruled)?

Going on a 3-hour bus trip to move a couple of elders out of a member house, where they were living while one of the elders was dating the members' oldest daughter. I later served in that town and the member family involved would not speak to me. I think I was seen as the guy who foiled what lookd like a promising plan to marry their daughter off to a North American.

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More serious questions:

How did being thrust into leadership affect you personally?

I got lots of chances to interact with my MP, who was a great man and taught me a lot about how to lead.

How did it affect you spiritually?

Just the teachings from my MP. My truly spiritual experiences came doing plain old missionary work.

Did any mission leader profoundly impact your mission/life?

I think of my MP often when a challenging spiritual situation comes up. He was an important positive influence in my life.

___________________________

Joking aside, personally I thought certain aspects of being a leader were fun, but I wasn't comfortable with it. I don't think I did a tremendous job either. I can be a fairly terse person and I don't think that it helped motivate other 19 year olds.

My favorite privilege was driving the mission van, and seeing all the cities in the mission, because prior to that I had only served in 3 areas over 20 months, so I felt kind of pigeon-holed.

I wasn't an AP and the closest I got to any wheeled vehicle was a chicken bus (and an occasional Greyhound, or Galgos, bus), but I also felt uncomfortable being on kind of a pedestal among other young people my age. When I think of my mission I think of my companions and the people we taught, and the experiences I had with other missionaries (P-days, dealing with problems, baptismal interviews). I don't really think about any leadership assignments. Thanks for re-focusing me on a time that is now long ago for me.

[Green Monstah]

How did you like being a leader? If you weren't a leader, how badly did you resent those who were?

I liked it well enough. I had varying degrees of success with the other Elders and Sisters, based mostly on having to mature fairly rapidly in a short amount of time. By the end, I think I was as good as I could have been at that time in my life.

How many girls were impressed by your leadership role(s) post mission?

Married my wife 6 weeks after I got home, so I guess the answer is one.

Were you brown-nosed as a leader?

Nope. I questioned a lot of what the MP said/did. He didn't like it too much, but his wife thought I was the cat's meow.

How much obedience did you command? (Did you rule with an iron fist?)

At the beginning, yes. Over time, I realized that I could maximize others' efforts by helping them feel happy, which excluded much of the early mission douchebaggery.

Favorite leadership memories (as ruler or ruled)?

Intending to ream out a sister for staying home and knitting shawls and blankets for her investigators. Then I saw here teach and realized she was probably doing exactly what God wanted her to do. On a more serious note, helping greenies who wanted to go home to weather the rough storm for the first few months. Perhaps my best work as a missionary was doing just that.
______________
More serious questions:

How did being thrust into leadership affect you personally?

Helped me realize that leadership was not dictatorship (as I'd been raised, really).

How did it affect you spiritually?

I'm not sure it did.

Did any mission leader profoundly impact your mission/life?

An elder was called to be AP that didn't fit the AP mold. The prior APs (including a famous BYU kicker) kind of ruled with an iron fist and used a lot of intimidation/guilt (okay, the kicker wasn't as bad as his comps and those right after him). The new AP was a people person. It was universally known that he wasn't the hardest worker, the best teacher, or the most effective leader. But, he had figured out the whole charity thing and treated everyone with the utmost respect. He was the most revered AP in the mission and I learned a lot from him (dude went from being a Jr. Companion with 9 mos. to go to AP for the final three months of his mission).

[Soccermom]

This poll doesn't seem to include sister missionaries unless we served in an all female mission, but I have to say, I always thought the MP picked missionaries for APs based on who he liked and who he could tolerate being around all day long. Hence, if the MP was a mullah, the APs were likely to be mullah. If the MP was cool like mine, the APs were likely to be pretty cool too.

[wuapinmon]

My job as district leader consisted of managing the sister missionaries:

I'll relate my own.

I was district leader in Alajuela, Costa Rica in about October, 1993. The phones back then would only stay on until about 10PM, and then they'd shut off until the morning. We lived in an area called El Roble, and the sister missionaries in our district were in Villa Bonita.

We get home at 9:30PM one night with a message to call the sisters. Since our doña wouldn't allow outgoing phone calls, after we went to the bathroom, we hurried to the closest payphone at the plaza to call them back. I spend a good 10 minutes on the phone listening to the sisters tell me that they're fighting and just can't get along, and that they need blessings, tonight, to be able to work. These were the same sisters who had had us bless their apartment a month before to cast out evil spirits that they claimed had actually moved stuff around.

Anyway, while I'm talking to them, telling them no way, I hear the sister say something like, it's your priesthood duty to get over here and help us, and then the phones shut off. Since I had watched the last bus leave for the centro while I was on the phone, I was pissed. Like, madder than a volcano pissed. I told my companion that I was sorry, and that if a taxi came along, I'd spring for it. So, we started walking. Here's a map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FTWbmAAdX-f6-g%3BFcximAAdAIn6-g&mra=me&mrcr=0&mrsp=1,0&sz=17&sll=9.987775,-84.242166&sspn=0.007808,0.009645&ie=UTF8&ll=9.99514,-84.231749&spn=0.031233,0.038581&t=h&z=15

It wasn't hot out, but we walked it quickly. No taxis, hardly any cars. Just lots of dogs who didn't like us walking past their haunts. It took us a good 35-40 mins to get there at a brisk walk (it's an uphill walk). We arrive, knock on their bars, and nothing. Nothing at all. I keep knocking until their landlord comes out of the main apartment and politely tells me to drop dead, in so many words. So, we walk home, and the entire way home, I let loose a tsunami of English cusswords that, when I was done, so vast and detailed in their use were they that my companion had to ask me to define several of them for him.

The sisters' tepid apology the next day was, "sorry, we fell asleep after we prayed. We're fine now."

[kccougar]

This poll doesn't seem to include sister missionaries unless we served in an all female mission, but I have to say, I always thought the MP picked missionaries for APs based on who he liked and who he could tolerate being around all day long. Hence, if the MP was a mullah, the APs were likely to be mullah. If the MP was cool like mine, the APs were likely to be pretty cool too.

My wife served as basically the sister version of an AP. She got paired up with another sister and was asked by the MP to tour the mission and go on splits with all the sister missionaries.

[Green Monstah]

My wife served as basically the sister version of an AP. She got paired up with another sister and was asked by the MP to tour the mission and go on splits with all the sister missionaries.

My aunt was such a hardass on her mission that everyone called her "Elder Litster." Does that count?

[Sullyute]

This poll doesn't seem to include sister missionaries unless we served in an all female mission...

My wife was as close as a sister can come to an AP (that I know of). She was a traveling sister and went all over the country/mission doing splits with the sisters and teaching them how be better teachers and missionaries.

I only claim being a senior comp. Technically I was a district leader, but our district was only comprised of me and my companion, so I don't count it. I did train a greenie, for whatever that is worth .

As you can tell, I definitely married up .

[SportUTE]

I feel that leadership obsession within missions borders on ridiculous. It is, however, an excellent primer on what you are in for for the rest of your adult life

I was a Sr. Comp after 6 weeks. District Leader after 4 months. Branch President/District Leader at 7 months. I served as BP for 5 months and it was honestly the most difficult church assignment I have ever received.

Co-Comp at 12 months for about 2 months. Easily the most productive and successful time of my mission up until then.

ZL for my last 10 months in two different zones. The best reason to be a ZL in our mission was that you had a ZL companion. Two of my best friends in the world are former ZL comps.

[Viking]

You left out office positions such as Fin Sec, which I also was. CoSr, Sr, DL, ZL, FinSec, AP. Booyah.

[Green Monstah]

You left out office positions such as Fin Sec, which I also was. CoSr, Sr, DL, ZL, FinSec, AP. Booyah.

I'm not going to lie. This rattles my testimony.

[Surfah]

I'm not going to lie. This rattles my testimony.

Woot and Viking, APs. Really it's not that surprising. I am surprised SU wasn't.

[Paperback Writer]

The best reason to be a ZL in our mission was that you had a ZL companion. Two of my best friends in the world are former ZL comps.

Agree - at least ZL comps are usually competent. But then there is a greater possibility that work methods and styles will clash between two veteran missionaries. In retrospect, I found out that one of the reasons I was paired with another ZL at the end of our missions was because my ZL comp had made it through his mission without doing much tracting. That changed when we were paired up as I (probably mistakenly) felt we (as ZLs) needed to set an example by frequently tracting. Likewise, I wouldn't challenge an investigator to baptism until I felt he/she was ready and knew what they were getting into and about to commit to. My ZL companion thought otherwise and challenged baptism very early in the process and would seem to lose interst in those investigators who where unsure and needed more time. I (perhaps wrongly) interpreted that he just wanted to seem them baptized before he went home - both of us were close to the end of our missions.

But I digress. All of my "best" companions were ZLs or future ZLs. I was trained by a former ZL at the end of his mission. I trained a future ZL and was a senior comp with a couple of other future ZLs. All good missionaries and friends including when I was ZL...even the ZL that I had differences with - we laughed about our disagreements years later on the quad at BYU.

Anyway, that was just my experience. Look forward to rebuttals that "all my comps who became ZLs were jerks and the best missionaries/friends were not ZLs."

[Portland Ute]

No choice for trainer?

I was ZL over the office elders and the APs. It made me really happy to never have been stuck in there. They really didn't get to do any real missionary work. Though I love my desk job now, it doesn't involve much clerical work. Plus, if I'm sent half way around the world, I want to be out experiencing it.

The worst part about my mission was that I never got a native companion and therefore probably didn't learn the language as well as I could have.

I was an office Elder. I was the mail/requests/commissary guy. Awesome job. I got to get out and "experience" Spain and didn't have to tract. I got to do a lot of things I never would have without the chance. Dealing with visas, the mail system, banking, cars.... Pretty awesome. I think it enhanced my language skills greatly. I was sad when the time was over.

[Green Monstah]

I was an office Elder. I was the mail/requests/commissary guy. Awesome job. I got to get out and "experience" Spain and didn't have to tract. I got to do a lot of things I never would have without the chance. Dealing with visas, the mail system, banking, cars.... Pretty awesome. I think it enhanced my language skills greatly. I was sad when the time was over.

I was always a little jealous of these guys (they also got to travel a lot with MP/APs). Then, they were replaced with local old people whose fixed income didn't allow for a mission abroad (a great idea, btw), and my dream of having the perks with a little less work were dashed.

[falafel]

I was always a little jealous of these guys (they also got to travel a lot with MP/APs). Then, they were replaced with local old people whose fixed income didn't allow for a mission abroad (a great idea, btw), and my dream of having the perks with a little less work were dashed.

I spent six months in the office with no proselyting area. Meals at the MP's house, milkshake brakes with the MP's wife, saving most of my $140/mo. instead of spending it on crappy food, flirting with the sister office missionaries, peeking at the transfer board, first looks at all the newly assigned missionary files from SLC to see if any of the new sisters were hot... It was awesome.