On July 1st, 2013, I was serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had been called to serve in the Washington Seattle mission, but effective immediately on July 1st, I became a missionary in the new mission, the Washington Federal Way mission.
It was a hot day, especially for Washington. We didn't have an air conditioning unit so my companion and I took turns standing in front of the open freezer door during our one-hour lunch break. There was a knock on the door, and we opened it to two frantic Elders. Our zone leaders. They asked for our phone, and they promptly took it and deleted any phone numbers associated with the Seattle mission. Because we were no longer a part of that mission, we were not allowed to contact anyone in it.
The change in missions, mission rules, and mission president was a very interesting experience. I thought it would be a lot smoother than it actually was. Because this new mission took missionaries form the Seattle and Tacoma missions, there was a great variety in opinions on how the new mission should be run. Seattle missionaries were used to very strict rules, the Tacoma missionaries--less so. This clash of opinions led to some disobedience, and some social chaos. It was evident that a lot of missionaries did not respect the authority of their zone leaders, AP's, or even the new mission president. Many had in mind that they knew better how to run the mission than anyone else.
Luckily, it didn't last forever. My new mission president got situated in his new role and his new world. Unlike my first mission president, he quietly and respectfully earned the respect of the missionaries rather than demanding it.
Now this personal example of mine is not very typical. There wasn't a huge event and total chaos that caused the breakdown of authority. The breakdown of authority in my situation was linked directly to the amount of respect that missionaries had for the authority. Because there was little respect for the authority figures, authority did not exist.
I hear this happen to a lot of missionaries who serve during the switch of mission presidents. It's so interesting to think how opinions change once their is an opportunity for comparison. When things are stable, there are no complaints because this is how it's always going to be and always has been. Once something new happens, we can suddenly make comparisons and make our experience better or worse. Only we can decide.
ReplyDeleteI didn't experience any changes in authority during my mission (same mission, same president the whole time), so I can't imagine how hard it'd be as the mission president to try to reestablish order to the chaos of change. Although it is interesting that missionaries have a hard time with those changes because the authority of the mission rules and obeying Heavenly Father never change. He is always in authority, and I think maybe it's easy to forget that sometimes?
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