The General Authority’s Secretary
Hey friends! My bad, I completely left a cliffhanger in my last email and I'm gonna leave it like that hehe. I'll keep y'all deep in thought for now, at least until transfer week. About this week, well at least these four days. It was busy but also not as crazy as I expected which was kinda nice. Lots of random tasks, like really really random. I just know you want to hear about them.
What is a General Authority?
In super simple terms it is someone called by the First Presidency of the Church (the prophet and his counselors) to be a special witness of Christ throughout the world. They also assist in administrating the Church in different parts of the world. If you want to learn more the Church has a really good explanation here.
We were lucky enough to have Elder Koch, a General Authority Seventy and President of the Brazil Area, come to our mission to give a few trainings and see how we are doing. Aka: “mission tour”.
Day 0 - Set-Up Day
Tuesday was pretty chill lowkey. We got some office work done and at 5pm our truck arrived to take all the tables to the chapel where we would have our conferences. We loaded the truck and headed over there to set everything up. Usually we set up tables by ourselves but this time it was a General Authority that was coming. That means that it involved the APs and President being there to test and oversee everything. Every cable was tested, name tags were printed, tables were placed down the inch, everything had to be perfect. After we got it all pretty looking it was head back home and sleep.
Day 1 - Mission Leadership Council
Woohoo! Wednesday! Most of the morning was us welcoming the missionaries to MLC and making sure everyone had what they needed. Elder Koch was supposed to arrive at 8:30am. He did not. I took the extra time to talk to some of my friends and organize some things. My comp and I walked downstairs and President was waiting with his wife and the APs to greet Elder Koch, who still hadn't arrived. He grabbed my comps and I to stay with him and sent the APs to get everyone seated. At 10am he gets a call from Elder Koch telling us he was late (obviously) and would be there at 10:30am. We were given very specific instructions, when he arrived we would run upstairs and tell everyone that he was there, then we would come back down and close the gate. What was not involved in that was greeting him and taking his bags.
Elder Koch arrived and we waited for him to get settled so we could close the gate but, before I knew it, I was being called over to greet him. I greeted him and was quickly handed his extra suit, his suitcases, a package, and President's car keys. Not what I was expected. After we got all of it in President's car, the meeting had started and we just chilled making some phone calls waiting for lunch. When it arrived we helped get it all set up and the meeting ended. Missionaries got their lunch then it was just a bunch of talking with friends. When everything died down and President and Elder Koch left we started the set up for the next day's conference. With a bunch of Elders helping it actually went pretty fast. When all was said and done I made a crap ton of phone calls to some referrals we received and we headed back to our area to do some visits. We luckily got a lesson in and then had to head back to babysit some Elders. They stayed the night with us because they had to be at the next day's conference. We bought a bunch of pizza and chatted a bit. It was great… for a few minutes… but let me tell you, babysitting Elders is not fun. Luckily I still got my own room and own bed.
Day 2 - Zone Conference 1
We made it to Thursday. We pulled up to Zone Conference and I was immediately put to work trying to figure out how we were going to broadcast the conferences (don't know how that became my job but oh well). Got that figured out and President arrived. I got handed the car keys again and asked to get Elder Koch's snacks. Yes, snacks. A cooler that had a specific brand of water in it and a box of chocolates, fruits, some sweets, and a cake. I couldn't help but chuckle. We got that sorted out and put on the stand right behind him and were able to sit for the first five minutes when Sister Andrade called us over and told us that we needed to escort President's counselor and his wife to go plate Elder Koch's snacks. I definitely chuckled again. Eventually it all got done and we got to sit and listen to the training by Elder Koch.
The training ended up being really good with lots of good points about our missionary purpose and having humility. Something that I definitely need to focus on more. Every now and then we were sent off to do other random tasks like let in President’s kids, check on lunch, grab a folder of papers, etc. We listened to another training by his wife about the Book of Mormon, listened to some final testimonies of the missionaries going home (one had everyone crying), had a training by President, and then it was lunch time! Lunch was super good with some more random tasks here and there. I got to talk to a bunch of friends for what was probably the last time before the mission split and then had to send them off. I was definitely fighting back tears. I love these missionaries so much and to think that most I will not see again is super sad. Remember that cake we got, he only ate one slice so I went and ate the rest to cope with my sadness.
We stuck around and cleaned up for day three, listened to the Sister’s practice their beautiful musical number, and held back some more tears. When we got back to the office I had to get some office work done and then it was some more online work and off to sleep for a 5am wake-up the next day.
Day 3 - Zone Conference 2
Friday, the last day! We woke up at 5:20am to try to get there by 6:30am… we ended up waiting on an Elder and got there at 7:15am… whoops. On this fantastic morning we were tasked with buying ice for the water, the only problem was that nothing was open. We went from place to place asking for ice and eventually a restaurant sold us ice out of their freezer. It was super funny. We got back and by this point I knew the routine, President got there, I took the keys, unloaded the snacks and listened to Sister Andrade’s plating instructions. We were told to plate the food at 9:30am so we got to listen to a good bit of the training by Elder Koch. He talked a lot about how we are here to support the Church in this area. We should be looking to help the members, not ask for their help. We work with them to achieve their goals. It was actually a super cool shift of perspective that we never really talked about in our mission. His wife gave a training on using the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ that was really good. Unfortunately we had to go plate the food. I am going to be honest, that was perhaps the most stressful moment of the week. They finished early and went to break before we had finished. We threw everything down (made it pretty obviously) just as they walked in the room. They thanked us and we got the heck out of there.
The break ended and we went to listen to some final testimonies but lunch got there just as they started. We super quickly unloaded lunch and listened to the testimonies. Our AP bore his and it all got real really fast, he has been AP since I got on the mission. I am going to miss so many people. Then President gave a super quick training and then we had a Q&A session with Elder Koch. In the middle of it we went and set up the group picture and checked on lunch. Our AP gave an authoritative thumbs up to signal that lunch was ready and that was that. Mission tour over. I wish that meant that the work was over, but it was just starting. I helped our AP serve everyone’s drinks and then went to sit and eat myself. I got about 4 bites in when Sister Andrade comes running over. Yay and emergency! I went running after her then realized that I didn’t have a comp, luckily one of the other secretaries saw from the other side of the room and came to help. We still had no clue what the emergency was. We get downstairs and get waved over by President… are you ready? We had to move suitcases six feet, from one car to the other. It was super funny. We moved everything over and shook Elder Koch’s hand and sent him on his way.
The rest of the day was pretty chill. I had a talk with one of my AP’s which I did get interrupted in the middle of because a house’s rent didn’t get paid and then we started sending off missionaries. I gave President a hug as he was leaving and he said “Thanks for everything” and that made the whole week worth it. I sat and talked to some friends for a while, finished my talk with my AP and cleaned up. We eventually got back to the office, solved a few money problems and even managed to sneak in a lesson with one of our friends! He was able to read the Book of Mormon with us! Such a blessing. What a mission tour.
Random
This whole week
Made quesadillas for my lunch today
Quotes
“I put Elder Green and Elder Verde together. That one wasn't even inspiration, that was just me having fun.” [Elder Koch, 5/25/2026]
God's Hand
More chances to see my friends before the real goodbyes
Real conversations with people
Thank you’s
Special musical numbers
Answers to questions of my heart
Energy to get through the whole week
The restaurant that sold us ice out of their freezer
Everything going smoothly
Sleeping well and getting up on time
Patience
Spiritual Thought
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:13-15)
Would you give up your life for your best friend? All of it? Imagine your very best friend giving their life for you. I am positive you can’t encapsulate those thoughts in words. However, that is what Christ did. He loves us so much that He gave his life. I think, sometimes we think casually about that but, when we take even 5 extra seconds and reflect on how much love that takes, our love for the Savior is magnified and we feel His love even more. It's an amazing feeling.
Okay this email was wildly long and I have been writing for 2 hours so I will end it here. I hope you liked my stories from the week. I hope you laughed, smiled, and learned something. I hope you have a fantastic, miracle filled weekend and that you will be able to make it to Church on Sunday. If you are thinking you won’t go, just go. I promise you will get that answer you have been looking for. I love you all so much! Send me updates, if you don’t hear back from me it’s probably because I got a phone call with an emergency to be handled. Until next week!
Adeus,
Elder Urbano
