Blogging Away

One thing I have been asked to do as part of my missionary service, is to add to the mission blog.  When we arrived, it had pictures of missionaries going and coming at each transfer with their names.  It also had photos from a couple of conferences or activities they have had in the mission.  President Baird asked that I do a whole bunch more with it.  He is even trying to keep track of everything he does in a week, so that I can write a blog about a week in the life of a mission president.

When we first receive notice from Salt Lake City that a new missionary will be coming to our mission, (it varies between two and five months early) there is a  long list of things I have to do to get everything ready for his or her arrival.  It is long enough that I could never remember everything without a checklist.  But one thing is to send him and his family a packet of materials, including an "New Missionary Information Sheet."  It is two pages in length, but has about six questions on it for the missionary to write about.  We want to know a little about him, including why he or she decided to serve a mission.

These forms are really important in helping President Baird get to know the missionaries and place them with companions who are compatible. When the forms come back to the office, I get to summarize them, copy and file them in several places for future use.  I'm sure it's no surprise that not every missionary returns them.  When we arrived, there seemed to be about a 50% return rate.  As I have come to realize how important they are (and been assigned to write a little blog entry about each missionary), I have started sending a reminder to those who don't send it by a certain time.  This month we got about an 80% return, and those who didn't do them are still getting a bit of pressure from yours truly.

Here's the email I sent them, and some missionaries who have been here longer but who never turned in their information sheet:

Dear Wonderful Elder ________,

I need your help to fulfill an assignment made to me by President Baird.  I have been asked to write the mission blog.

I know, I know.  You only have so much time on P-day and this is hard.  But could you take just a few minutes and give me about five sentences?  I would deeply appreciate your help.  I would even love you forever, and I know THAT makes a huge difference to you.

When you first received your mission information packet, you were asked to fill out a New Missionary Information Sheet.  Guess what?  Yours got lost in the mail.  So I just need to know a few things about you to put in the blog.

Like, for instance:

• Tell me something quick and fun about your family.
• What do you plan to do when you get home?
• What did you love to do before your mission?  Hobbies, activities, interests.
• What are your goals, either now or after your mission, or both?  (Even just one is OK!)
• Give me a couple of words that describe your personality.
• Or anything unique and interesting that you wouldn’t mind having your future wife or your children read about you in years to come.  Because it will be on the blog for all to see.  I’m sure it will be the world’s most famous, popular blog ever, because it will have YOU in it.

I’m just not comfortable making things up about you…..yet.  You never know what I might write about you if you don’t help me out here.  So take a minute and make me happy.  Good things come to those who……help Sister Barney.

Love,

Sister Barney, of course.

(They are receiving a chocolate candy bar in the mail when I get a response.)

It was fun when I got responses from several missionaries.  One of them said my email made him really have a good laugh.  Another said, "Sister Barney, I think I might have forgotten to send mine in."  It was cute that one took me seriously and the other caught my little attempt at humor. I'm thinking that if I don't get responses after two or three weeks, I may compose an email something like this:

Dear Elder ________,  Since I haven't gotten any information from you to put in the blog, I went ahead and  composed something about you.  What do you think?
Elder ________ weighs 500 pounds and his hobbies are running (he's up to six steps) and twiddling his thumbs.  His favorite food is octopus and he doesn't burp very often after eating it.  People love him for his ability to snore while awake.  When he finishes his mission, his goal is to start a fly collection.  After that he plans to write blogs for Sister Barney as a volunteer effort.

What do you think, Elder?  Shall I go ahead a post that, or would you rather send me some information?
Love,
Sister Barney