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Stories: How Our Mission Came To Be
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| The New York Utica mission was formed July 1, 1994. The mission was formed with missionaries from the New York Rochester and Connecticut Hartford missions. The Rochester mission had a tradition of attending the Cumorah pageant. That year, they would be going on July 8th, a week after the mission split. President Hatch got permission from church headquarters to not only allow the Rochester missionaries to return to their mission for the pageant but also allow the Connecticut missionaries to attend as well. The former Connecticut missionaries met very early the morning of the 8th at the Albany Stake chapel to take a bus to Utica. There, they toured the mission office. Then, they traveled with President and Sister Hatch to the Palmyra chapel for an all mission conference. After the conference, they continued to the Sacred Grove and to the Hill Cumorah. After the pageant, all the missionaries traveled home. District and Zone leaders were called to report everyone's safe arrivals to their areas in the late hours of the night.
The experience was awesome and testimony building. And to think...the entire mission was outside its boundaries all at the same time. That doesn't happen very often. Thank you President Hatch for getting us permission and arranging the whole day.
The mission conference was awkward. Two very different missions were coming together, but we had one faith to make us whole. The unity did not come right away. Independently, both missions coined the phrase, "the dark side" to refer to the "other" mission. This carried on for several months, but the unity of the gospel soon took over the mission. Having new missionaries who knew of no other mission and having old missionaries go home also helped the process. And so, that's how our New York Utica Mission came to be. |
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| LDS QUOTE: |
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"You are a great army of returned missionaries. Go forward with new zeal and determination, and through your example shine the light of the gospel in this troubled world. This is the Lord’s work in which we are engaged. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. We belong to His Church. This is my witness to you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
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