By President Jerrry & Sister Portia Boggess
We have an opportunity for a lucky couple to have a wonderful life-changing experience. The senior missionary couple that serves with us in the Nigeria Enugu Mission will be returning home at the end of November. We are recruiting for their replacement.
About your mission:
- This is a rich part of the Lord's vineyard. The harvest is great. This mission is one of the highest baptizing missions in the church.
- The commute from the couples apartment is very safe unless you trip and fall down the stairs. Your apartment is upstairs and the mission office is on first floor. Our Senior Couple used the stairs for their Stairmaster machine doing 25 laps up and down each morning.
- There is a security guard at your gate 24 hours a day. You did always want to live in a gated community; now is your chance.
- You will have electricity 24 hours a day from the back up generator. It automatically starts when the security guard pushes the start button.
- Running water 24 hours a day as long as the security guard doesn't forget to tell you when the tank is getting low so that the water truck can be called for delivery.
- Aba temple is just two hours from Enugu.
Responsibilities in the office:
Co-coordinating arrival and departure of missionaries; inputting baptismal records and finances. Working with the missionaries; helping the local Priesthood leaders; working with auxiliaries in the branches. It is your pick. (In the US they say it's your choice here they use the British way “it's your pick.”) It is an English speaking mission. Help with Family History, music, libraries, temple preparation, Young Single Adults (it all depends on the couples experience and where the spirit guides).
Toyota car is provided but it may be replaced with a double cab Toyota truck. Your preference will be a truck as you experience the roads with their numerous chuck holes.
The scenery, the villages, the markets, are beautiful, fascinating, intriguing but you just can't explain it. You can only experience it.
Witnessing the conversion stories, the dedication, the sacrifices, the faith, the hope, the joy and happiness that comes to these people receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ enriches our lives everyday.
If you can “do it” e-mail us so we can start the ball rolling. It will definitely be a life-changing experience with blessings for you and your family. If you can't, please pass this e-mail on to others who may want the opportunity.
Thanks for your assistance.
President and Sister Boggess
Nigeria Enugu Mission
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
The Boggess’ are dear friends of ours from Boca Raton. Serving with them would be amazing. If you’re interested, please whisper to me and I’ll give you their contact info.
What a neat experience this sounds like it would be! However, I have a question: Wouldn’t this normally go through the Missionary Dept of the Church and come as a regular mission call from the President of the Church, rather than from a mission pres?
How would they “start the ball rolling” – by contacting the couple’s Bishop or by contacting Church HQ and letting them know of the couple’s interest? Why would the Mission President be involved in this at all? (These are sincere questions. I honestly don’t understand.)
Couple missionaries have the opportunity to pretty much ”choose” where they serve. My guess is that they are letting people know that the opportunity/opening is available and then, yes, the couple would be ‘called to serve’ through normal channels, requesting to fill this spot. Another guess– they probably don’t have enough couple missionaries to fill all requested spots, so the Mission Presidents have the opportunity to do a little recruiting on their own.
That is SO cool. I’m not in any hurry to age, but it’s nice to know that there are missions like these to look forward to when it happens!
We still have another 15 years or so before my husband can retire, but we’re totally planning on serving a mission!! Just reading this post gets me all excited. This specific mission sounds like a blast!! I’d LOVE to go someplace like that!
I remember for awhile there, maybe around 8 or 9, thinking hat I’d grow up and join the peace corps, or work with the Red Cross in some far off land– volunteering in a medical clinic, organizing school classes in a straw hut I’d help build for the local village children, helping to build adobe type houses, digging wells— everything a kid could dream up while flipping through a National Geographic. :tooth:
Take that and mix it up with teaching the gospel, and this mission sounds like it would fit my childhood fantasies!!
Sharilee pretty much addressed this. For the most part, couples can say, “I’d like to server ______ doing ______.” So the Boggess’ are drumming up some interest in their particular area.
FWIW, this is their third mission since we left Boca. The first two they were “regular” missionaries and now THEY are serving as president and presidentess. (Yes, I have my knickers in a twist over how BOTH the husband and wife leave home, learn a language, and serve for three years–yet only the men get a title.)
Reminds me of when my dad served as a bishop at the MTC. My mom was expected to leave her ward and attend church with him. She did, of course. MTC bishops all get a “missionary” name tag that says, “Bishop Moore” or whatever. My mom got one that said, “Sister Moore” and under that it said “wife” or “wife of bishop.” I’ll have to dig that out. I used it as a visual aid when I spoke at her funeral.
Couples have much more “freedom” while they serve and much more say in where they serve – but it is NOT a guarantee. My parents just arrived in their area for their third mission. The first two were temple missions; this one is office work/proselyting – not what they requested. And on the mission forms there is a newer question about asthma symptoms and what triggers them. For my dad that would be cold weather – and they got sent to an area with colder winters than UT where they live! Ray’s parents served a mission a few years ago, requesting Cove Fort visitors center or something similar. They were called to serve a proselyting mission clear across the country. They are still in contact with some friends they made as they friendshipped some less active/part member families.
The Lord knows what He is doing with His work – even if we don’t quite understand all the reasons!
I don’t mean that to come across as “know-it-all” or whatever. I know y’all – or most of you – know that info. I’m just giving specific examples where senior missionaries don’t always get what they request. 🙂
Not me!! I’m clueless when it comes to all this.
Good point, Michelle!! The Lord definitely knows what He is doing. He has the full picture and we wouldn’t want to ‘mess’ with that. I guess when my call comes (several years down the road) if I don’t get what I request I will think of you and smile with my little knowing that everything is as it should be! Thanks for the reminder–
This reminded me of this article from Mormon Times. I also look forward to serving as a senior missionary with my husband. When I served my mission in Guatemala, there was a couple that was serving in our mission or area as music missionaries, to help with training people in music. I got to do some music teaching myself as part of an additional assignment in welfare, but I thought it was really neat that they got to do it full-time.