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Curtis Fam. Gone, Jensens arrive! |
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July 5, 2001 - (Thursday)
Holy Mackerel! It happened! Pres. Curtis is gone and his replacement Pres. Jensen has arrived.
Monday afternoon Pres. Jensen came in by plane. Tuesday morning at 5:00 am Anz. Ditto and I went to the hotel Piroga to pick up Pres. Curtis and his family. It was a strange drive to the airport. A lot of small talk. Pres. Curtis cracked a couple jokes. The best was when we pulled up next to a truck w/ bundles of hay on the back... Pres Curtis said: "Hey, John"... or "Hay John." John quickly burst out: "I knew you were going to say that!" You could see it was a family joke.
We drove through the almost deserted streets of an early Padova morning toward the Venezia airport. I kept looking back in the rear view mirror to see the small, yet powerful man's peaceful yet anxious face. Every time I looked he seemed to be lost in thought - I kept asking myself what he was thinking.
Here he was with his amazing wife and family closing a chapter in his life. For the 2nd time leaving Italy after serving a full-time mission for the Lord. I know he touched hundreds of lives and his service strengthened the church and its members in thousands of ways. He would never say that though - he would always say that the growth he went through personally was far greater than anything he gave.
He left a great legacy behind him, and will always be an example for me in all I do. I hope the Lord continues to bless and watch over him.
At the airport we unloaded all of their baggage from the van and said our goodbyes. Honestly, I expected something ground-breaking and land-marking to happen. Some tear shed, some great last quote from President. But instead it was a normal goodbye. I think Pres. hides his emotions well. Sam and Sis. Curtis were the most emotional, they just seemed to take a second and consider exactly what they were leaving. All too soon they had their luggage on the carts and were off into the airport. Then we were back on the Rd. to Padova.
Pres. Jensen is way different than Pres. Curtis. Not that he's better or worse, just different. It's easily explained like this: Attorney vs. Bigtime Computer CEO. Pres. Curtis was a much smoother talker - Pres. Jensen is very to the point. A good thing - The office has leaped into the 21st century. We now will have a computer on the Assistant desk while Pres. and Sis. Jensen both have lap-tops. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more digital presentation from Power Point than we ever have before.
As we are organizing ourselves, Pres. Jensen likes to take a moment to teach various doctrines and concepts. He loves to teach - and he finds willing listeners in us. He came right in and took hold of the mission - he's changing a few things and keeping some of the old for the time being. A cool thing he changed is that new trainers will receive personal instruction from him and us about the importance of their calling. He is very big on training and believes it will help double the baptisms in the mission.
He's much more of an open and touchy feely person than Pres. Curtis. He's less intimidating and more cogliente. It'll be fun to see the slant the mission takes under this new direction.
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