Remember the movie Groundhog Day?

Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray (no relation, although we both regret it) and Andie MacDowell. In the film, Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who is assigned to cover the annual Groundhog Day event (February 2) in Punxsutawney. Connors finds himself repeating the same day over and over again.

Missions are run on a six week cycle. We say good by to our most skilled missionaries and send them home. Then we go to the airport to fetch a new batch of fresh, young inexperienced missionaries. Six weeks later the cycle repeats itself. The faces change, the personalities vary, and the experiences are always unique -- but the pattern is predictable.

We have a 6-week calendar that provides continuity and discipline for our mission. One could make the error of leading a mission by managing the calendar. It is in the spaces between the lines that the magic of missionary work happens. Lives are changed, truth is revealed, testimonies are found, hearts are opened.

In some respects missions serve as microcosms for our larger lives. In this laboratory of gospel goodness we discover a pattern for living that brings us peace of heart and a deep and reverent love for God and his son Jesus Christ. Do not confuse this pattern of living with our six week mission calendar. The pattern referred to here revolves around our thoughts and actions driven by a desire to serve the God and bring others to Christ.

Below are photos of our newest batch of fresh, new missionaries with their trainers. They arrived on Tuesday night. These photos were taken on Wednesday morning as they ate breakfast at the Mission Home. Today (Sunday) they will be attending church for the first time in their assigned ward or branch. No matter who they are or where they are serving, the "first Sunday at church" is always an eye opening experience.