Mission President

You will have many companions, investigators, ward members, and leaders, but you will only have ONE Mission President (okay you might have two if your Mission President ends his mission during your mission)! 

Your Mission President will change your life if you let him. He has the authority to proceed over everyone and thing in your mission. Learn to love him and respect him in every way possible. I know when I got my mission call, right after I read where I was going to serve and when I'd report to the MTC I hurried and flipped to the page where it said who'd by my Mission President. I took my mission map and the picture of my mission president and taped it on the way of my desk by my bed. Each morning and night for five months before I reported to the MTC I prayed have a love for the people of Chile and my Mission President. I prayed to have the motivation to serve them and love them with all my might, mind, and strength.

When I went into the MTC I took this map and their picture and continued this. When I got to the mission field and came down the escalator of the Concepcion Airport and saw my Mission President and his wife for the first time I was overcome with love for them and felt like I knew them already. I taped the picture of my Mission President and the map of Chile in every house I lived in during my mission and I can say that each and everyday I grew to love my Mission President more. Leaving Chile was extremely hard but saying good-bye to my Mission President felt like I was saying good bye to my parents as they were sending me off. A mission can be hard as you are away from those who you love most, but the Lord has given you two people who love you and pray for you every single day and who consider you as their own child and that is your Mission President and his wife.

Love them. Develop a relationship with them. Never talk bad about them. Follow everything he says with exactness. Your mission will be so much more enjoyable as you find a love for the two people who God has placed in your life to make an extreme impact and example. Take time each week in your weekly emails and letters that you will write to your Mission President to thank him and let him know of your love, respect, and desire to be a better missionary. Parents occasionally write a short letter to your child's Mission President letting him know how much you appreciate his service and desire to serve the Lord. There are 405 Mission Presidents serving all around the world today and you as a missionary did not go to your mission just because of the people you will teach or your companions but as Elder Bednar taught, you are placed in your specific mission because of your Mission President.