Elder Callister

Elder Callister and his wife had an extremely important impact on our mission. We believe our second mission tour set the stage for a number of our successes. We will never forget Elder Callister’s talks – the best in our mission. We marveled at his mastery of his subject material. We couldn’t believe his ability to recite scriptures and poetry with equal passion. We loved his wife’s sound judgment and willingness to get involved with our lives and the lives of our missionaries. Being with a general authority and his wife for a solid week can be very stressful. The Callister’s were so down to earth that we simply relaxed and tried to feast on the wisdom of their guidance. We can not find a missionary in the mission who heard their talks who were not duly impressed. We had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner with them in Poltova. The missionaries had killed some turkeys out in Golovach and they had taught the lady at the University kitchen how to cook a turkey dinner. We all sat around a beautiful table after our conference and ate an excellent turkey dinner. The missionaries were able to mingle with the Callister’s and we feel fun was had by everyone present. Elder Callister provided us with the best direction of any general authority. He provided advice that helped us deal better with missionaries and members as well as our own relationship. He probably knows more about us than our parents. I loved our PPI’s because he always wanted to know how I was treating Sister McQueen. What’s fun is he still reminds me about treating her well when we talk on the phone. We don’t think there was another couple involved with our mission who truly loved the missionaries or members as much as the Callister’s. Their leadership style caused a great deal of growth for the church in the Europe East Area. Can you imagine being responsible for an area that covered something like 13 or 15 time zones? Just the travel time would have been a trial for me. I wonder how I would have dealt with all the idiosyncrasies of the different mission presidents and hundreds of missionaries. He also had to deal with the district presidents, members, and government officials. Just think of the job of trying to get us rentals that had heat let alone land on which we could build chapels. He did such a good job in these areas that we now have some real nice properties all over the Donetsk Mission. I remember during the mission tour that Elder Callister emphasized knowing your material when you speak. Many of you will remember he never referred to notes while he was talking. I remember Sister McQueen standing up after his talk and she did not use her notes. When Elder Callister asked her if she normally used notes while she talked she replied that she normally did use them. He wanted to know why she didn’t use them this time and she explained that she was trying to follow his example. Throughout the mission tour the Callister’s were able to see how efficient Sister McQueen was in teaching missionaries and members. When the tour was completed, Elder Callister complimented her on her abilities to teach. In just a short time, he was able to see what we all knew which was that Sister McQueen was an exceptional mission mother, teacher, and scriptorian. The only part of Elder Callister’s visit that caused us some consternation was when he kept referring to the Samara Mission as the best mission in the Europe East Area and he kept emphasizing that they were a “one language” mission meaning that they only spoke Russian. He talked a little about a factory which had a foreman who would write a number on the floor as a challenge for his people to produce an ever increasing amount of what-evers. The foreman for the next shift would erase the number and put his own in and so there started to be a little competition between the shifts. He wrapped this nicely into our mission and the Samara Mission. In Kharkov, after hearing this comparison for the third time, I stood up and told him and the missionaries I was tired of hearing about Samara being so good. I told him to just wait. The line in the sand had been drawn, the gauntlet thrown down, the challenge given and the challenge accepted. Throughout the entire tour as he talked about Samara being better then any other mission in the Europe East Area, no missionary stood up and challenged him. In Kharkov, Elder Day, in a rather forceful manner, explained to him that the Ukraine Donetsk Mission was in fact the best mission in the Europe East Area and then proceeded to list a few reason why. I don’t think I ever told Elder Day how much his support meant to me. I was so thankful for his comments and the impact they had on Elder Callister and us. Elder Callister’s challenge did cause a great deal of thought and thought lead to commitment, and commitment lead to action and for the next fifteen months our mission really shined. So, thanks to President Callister for the challenge.