Looks a little like President is strangling me. He had actually just finished kissing me--camera was a little slow (or he was too fast!)
Awe, the Zone Leaders under control and ready for work.
Elder Tui One's family made this beautiful blanket for us. We certainly don't deserve this kindness, but we do love it.
It was a beautiful day at the Portland Temple. We are looking forward to the wedding next week.
Thank you Sister Hansen for stopping in to say hello. We hope you had a wonderful visit back in the OEM. It was so good to see you.While the highlight of our week may sound like it has little to do with missionary work, it is in fact the very essence of missionary work. This week our son and daughter in law to be (they are getting married on May 7, 2010) traveled to Oregon for a visit and for her to receive her endowments in the Portland temple. Her parents also flew in and met us in Portland on Saturday. I say this is the essence of missionary work, because every missionary understands that it is not just the covenant of baptism, but actually temple covenants and then eternal life that we really hope the people we meet and teach will embrace. Somewhere there are missionaries to thank for teaching her father and my parents the gospel so that these two could enter the temple and begin an eternal life together. We enjoyed being with them for a couple of days before going to the temple, and I will always be so grateful to the two of them for their willingness to come here so I could be a part of that beautiful experience.
We held Zone Leaders Council on Tuesday of this week and once again it was an example of seeing the Lord’s involvement in directing this work. When I meet with these young leaders in this mission I am so impressed with their desire to seek the Lord’s direction in what they do and to help by offering their advice on how things can improve. This week we looked at a few things that we have always done and asked if doing them helped in reaching our goals or not. As discussions unfolded I was pleased to see that the decisions made were better than the ones I would have thought to make, or that I would have made alone. My testimony of the benefits of counseling increased. It is good when people gather together and use their collective reasoning to come up with a better solution, but it is great when that reasoning is combined with heartfelt prayers and the spirit blesses your thoughts with His assurance that you are going in the right direction.
As a follow-up to last week’s posting, Sister Macdonald and I have had several discussions with the elder who lost his mother to cancer. He is strong and is being supported and loved by his fellow missionaries, ward members and the peace that can come through the Spirit of the Lord. On Friday of this week he participated in the funeral over the web and was able to see and hear the rest of the funeral as well. We continue to keep him and his family in our prayers.
With this week being a bit less structured we also enjoyed having some missionaries over for dinner, I took some out to lunch and made a trip to visit with two that needed some shoring up as well. I have felt the need to have less of my time committed and structured so that I can act on the immediate influences of the spirit and reach out to those the Lord tells me need help at that moment. I have heard “You can pretend you care, but you can’t pretend you were there.” I hope that as much as possible I will be there when my personal ministry prompts me to go.
This week we had another visit from a missionary who had returned home over a year ago. This sister and her new husband were visiting the area after finishing school at BYU and before heading to the east to begin their careers. She had been such a great missionary and it was so fun to see the two of them happy in life and excited about the future. We feel so blessed.
We held Zone Leaders Council on Tuesday of this week and once again it was an example of seeing the Lord’s involvement in directing this work. When I meet with these young leaders in this mission I am so impressed with their desire to seek the Lord’s direction in what they do and to help by offering their advice on how things can improve. This week we looked at a few things that we have always done and asked if doing them helped in reaching our goals or not. As discussions unfolded I was pleased to see that the decisions made were better than the ones I would have thought to make, or that I would have made alone. My testimony of the benefits of counseling increased. It is good when people gather together and use their collective reasoning to come up with a better solution, but it is great when that reasoning is combined with heartfelt prayers and the spirit blesses your thoughts with His assurance that you are going in the right direction.
As a follow-up to last week’s posting, Sister Macdonald and I have had several discussions with the elder who lost his mother to cancer. He is strong and is being supported and loved by his fellow missionaries, ward members and the peace that can come through the Spirit of the Lord. On Friday of this week he participated in the funeral over the web and was able to see and hear the rest of the funeral as well. We continue to keep him and his family in our prayers.
With this week being a bit less structured we also enjoyed having some missionaries over for dinner, I took some out to lunch and made a trip to visit with two that needed some shoring up as well. I have felt the need to have less of my time committed and structured so that I can act on the immediate influences of the spirit and reach out to those the Lord tells me need help at that moment. I have heard “You can pretend you care, but you can’t pretend you were there.” I hope that as much as possible I will be there when my personal ministry prompts me to go.
This week we had another visit from a missionary who had returned home over a year ago. This sister and her new husband were visiting the area after finishing school at BYU and before heading to the east to begin their careers. She had been such a great missionary and it was so fun to see the two of them happy in life and excited about the future. We feel so blessed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment