WE’RE OFF!

Training in Salt Lake City and the Trip to Argentina

After finishing at the MTC we spent a nice weekend in Idaho Falls moving Adrienne and Josh and family into our home, taking care of other last minute details, packing and saying our goodbyes. After a late (really late) Saturday night packing, we attended our last sacrament meeting in our home ward for 18 months, had a nice meal with Adrienne, Josh and girls, and headed for John’s house in Kaysville, where we were based for the next few days of training.

Early Monday October 17 we headed for the Church Office Building to begin our training with the Church’s Office of General Counsel (OGC). Church General Counsel, Elder Wickman, and Assistant General Counsel-International, Bill Atkin, welcomed us and explained in more detail how the OGC is organized and the makeup and functions of the various departments of the Church. Brother Atkin indicated that in terms of size and scope, most of the Church’s departments, if they were to stand alone, could each be a Fortune 500 company and that each is international. We were extremely impressed with the quality of the training and the technology the Church uses. Most of the training was given by Regional Legal Counsel (RLC) who assist Brother Atkin. Each has served at least once as an Area Legal Counsel (ALC) and some had also served in other functions, such as mission president, counselor in an MTC presidency, etc.  Each RLC is responsible to help several Area offices of the OGC and each also has one or more specific functional areas of responsibility for the Church, such as temples. As a result, the training they provided was very insightful and full of hands-on experiences. We learned how to use the excellent technology the OGC has developed for its legal counsel and where to find the extensive array of policies and procedures relevant to international Church operations. As a side note, each RLC used his own assigned Church laptop to conduct the training and it was interesting to see the email notifications that were frequently coming into their accounts from area offices literally all over the world. OGC provided a continental breakfast and a wonderful lunch each day. After our training, we felt well-fed and very well-prepared for the basics of our responsibilities.

On Wednesday, Robyn snuck away from the training for lunch and a visit with Mandy and Taysum. Also, in the evenings we were able to go to dinner and spend some time with Rachael, Randy and Cannon and with John, Sarah and Ali. We stuffed ourselves both nights. We spent Wednesday night repacking and weighing our bags.

On Thursday, John, Sarah and Ali went with us to the airport and helped with our bags and kept Robyn company while Dennis turned in the rental car. We were each allowed 2 large bags of up to 50 pounds each, plus a carry-on bag of up to 40 pounds and the fees for exceeding the weight are hefty (pardon the pun) so we needed to get it right. Right up to the time we had to check in we were redistributing items to ensure we met the weight allowance and we made did it with not much to spare. After checking in and getting free of our bags we said our goodbyes to John and family and headed for security, lunch and our gate. One stop in Atlanta and an overnight, 10-hour flight brought us to Buenos Aires. We’re finally off!

Saying goodbye at the Salt Lake Airport.