We have been on a mission now for one year! And it just dawned on me that this is hard work.
I started suspecting that when we didn't have time to eat dinners. Or when we barely had time to heat up one little frozen dinner in the micro-wave and so we split it before running to the next appointment.
There have been a couple of illnesses and emergency surgeries that have required dinners to be taken around. It has been a blessing in impressing part member families. Mormons aren't too bad after all!
And Glen has put in a lot of time getting five sisters their Food Handlers Permits through the Church Employment Services center. And a fork lift operator permit through the same place. People really need the opportunity to work.
We have English classes that we teach each week with Glen teaching the beginner class and me teaching the slightly advanced class.I always figured it would be easier to teach the Branch to speak English than for me to learn Spanish. This is actually very fun and we have members and investigators there.
We also keep very busy taking members to the Family History Center to get family names to take to the Temple. When we go to the Temple in April we will be doing the sealings for the families of the Branch members that we have all been working on. Also we have some of the newest adult converts ready, interviewed, and excited to go do baptisms for the dead! Plus Glen has lined up a member of the Temple Presidency to come and speak to our Branch in April. It is amazing how fast the Lord sends ideas to someone like Glen who is willing to move on them.
For me there are the Relief Society lessons, visiting teaching, lining up missionary dinners and also activities to be done.We had a Relief Society birthday celebration with a breakfast together and then we made 50 sack lunches to take to the Rescue Mission homeless shelter. It was really fun and I made a Spanish quiche that turned out surprisingly good. (Never made a quiche before in my life.)
The Bishop's Storehouse has been closed for months while undergoing renovations. So we do the shopping ourselves for the members needing food and deliver it to them.
And there is the Executive Secretary work for Glen along with helping the branch clerk (who speaks no Spanish). Glen does a lot of planning on the agendas trying to get everyone where they need to be, doing what they need to do. That is NOT easy.
And those are just some of the things we do with the Branch. Then we do MISSIONARY WORK. That means meetings (this week we left for a Zone Special Training meeting at 8:30am and got home from it at 6:30p.m. Yeah, that was one of those no dinner nights because we had to run and help a family member right after.) Then we work with the other missionaries in fellowshipping and teaching. And Glen's specialty, finding investigators.
I think it would be a hard thing to return from our mission and wish we had done more. Our Mission President always ends his letters and lessons with this admonition:
Never Surrender! Never Quit! No Regrets!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
"The Go To Guy"
Our Mission President is into sports. A real movie was made about him and his soccer team.(Forever Strong). So it's understandable when he talks in sport story mode. When he talks about Joseph Smith he asks, "How could the Lord choose a 14 year old boy?" Then he explains, "The Lord didn't see a 14 year old boy. He saw a "Go To Guy". The guy you know you can trust in a pinch to do exactly what needs to be done."
When you consider that we lived forever before we came here to earth, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ knew Joseph Smith there, it is easy to see that when they looked at him they didn't consider his age at all. In infinity numbers are irrelevant. What they saw was their "Go To Guy".
So what do they see when they look at us? We may exhaust ourselves with fear, anxiety, distractions, and doubts but we want them to know that we WILL do what they ask. The Prophet Joseph Smith said we were ordained to our earthly callings in the Grand Council of Heaven. Whether it is as a missionary, teacher, Bishop, Young Women's President, home teacher or whatever, the Lord knew who he would call and to where.
So we have to be alert. If someone offered you a cigarette right now would you go out and smoke it?
No. So Satan doesn't waste his efforts there. He will come after us with one of our personal weaknesses.
And so Heavenly Father gives us help. Whenever we want to talk to him we can pray. Whenever we want him to talk to us we can open the scriptures and receive answers. We can live so that we are worthy of revelation in our lives. Elder Bednar says revelation can come quickly like turning on a light. Or slowly like the sun rising. Or even like being in a slight fog where you need to take a few steps in faith. Ponder, move forward,and we can say, "If this is a wrong decision or the wrong choice let me know. Otherwise I will go ahead." He will always be watching over you.
President Monson says he wants to say to Heavenly Father, "I am Tommy Monson and you can trust me."
Now that is a "Go To Guy." What we do for, and give to, Heavenly Father shows our love for him. He asks for all we have and in return he gives us all he has. As the Lord comes to trust us, we can also become his "Go To Guy".
When you consider that we lived forever before we came here to earth, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ knew Joseph Smith there, it is easy to see that when they looked at him they didn't consider his age at all. In infinity numbers are irrelevant. What they saw was their "Go To Guy".
So what do they see when they look at us? We may exhaust ourselves with fear, anxiety, distractions, and doubts but we want them to know that we WILL do what they ask. The Prophet Joseph Smith said we were ordained to our earthly callings in the Grand Council of Heaven. Whether it is as a missionary, teacher, Bishop, Young Women's President, home teacher or whatever, the Lord knew who he would call and to where.
So we have to be alert. If someone offered you a cigarette right now would you go out and smoke it?
No. So Satan doesn't waste his efforts there. He will come after us with one of our personal weaknesses.
And so Heavenly Father gives us help. Whenever we want to talk to him we can pray. Whenever we want him to talk to us we can open the scriptures and receive answers. We can live so that we are worthy of revelation in our lives. Elder Bednar says revelation can come quickly like turning on a light. Or slowly like the sun rising. Or even like being in a slight fog where you need to take a few steps in faith. Ponder, move forward,and we can say, "If this is a wrong decision or the wrong choice let me know. Otherwise I will go ahead." He will always be watching over you.
President Monson says he wants to say to Heavenly Father, "I am Tommy Monson and you can trust me."
Now that is a "Go To Guy." What we do for, and give to, Heavenly Father shows our love for him. He asks for all we have and in return he gives us all he has. As the Lord comes to trust us, we can also become his "Go To Guy".
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