Florida Orlando Mission 2010-2013: September 2012

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

ARRIVALS

It is such a privilege to serve with each missionary that comes to the FOM. As we send missionaries home we reflect on their goodness and great contributions to this work. As new missionaries arrive we see in their eyes the excitement and anticipation of serving the Lord Jesus Christ. As hard as it is for us we love the spirit and strength of arrivals and departures.

I think one of the blessings of missionary work is to be able to see things as they really are. To really understand the piece of the mission that each departing missionary contributed, and what really they accomplished during their ministry. In short to see what God sees. We love all, past, present and future missionaries of this great work.

Monday, September 3, 2012

NO IT'S NOT A SLEEP OVER

Saturday, September 1, 2012

DEPARTURES

With the missionaries that concluded their missions and returned home the last two transfers we have lost a lot of capable and experienced leaders. The mission is now going through a phase where we have more new District Leaders and less experience with most of our Zone Leaders than we have had in the mission for a long time. We have lost some outstanding missionaries but there are outstanding missionaries ready and prepared to take their place.

FLORIDA ORLANDO MISSION HISTORY

Florida has a deep Mormon heritage, going back as far as 1843. Traveling elders were occasionally sent into Florida until the Florida conference was officially organized November 1, 1895, which conference was within the Southern States Mission. In 1937, the first chapel in central Florida was built in Orlando. In 1950, the church established what is now officially called Deseret Cattle and Citrus Ranch in Osceola County, southeast of Orlando. Today the Church owns 316,000 acres covering three counties, making it the largest cattle ranch in Florida. Orlando was the second Florida stake, and was organized on February 23, 1958.

On November 1, 1960 the Florida Mission was created out of the Southern States Mission. This was the fist mission for the State of Florida. The original Florida mission was divided into the Florida South Mission July 1, 1971, then later into the Ft. Lauderdale Mission (June 1974); the Tampa Mission being created in 1976, and the Jacksonville Mission in July of 1987.

The Florida Orlando Mission is now graced to have within its boundaries the Church Ranch and the first temple of the church in Florida, the Orlando Temple.