Dear
Family and Friends,
I'm sitting up much too late typing this instead of going to sleep, but I'm just a little wired and probably won't sleep much tonight anyway. It's a 7 AM departure for us from SLC tomorrow morning. We're packed and ready to go--sort of. Can anyone really be ready such for such an experience full of unknowns? Our nerves have set in this week, but we've managed to keep ourselves pretty distracted with our classes and visiting friends and family.
Our "office training" was so different from last week. The spiritual stretch and role playing of last week was primarily replaced with sitting at a computer, learning programs and practicing. However, the teachers kept a spiritual approach and helped us see spiritual connections to our service. For example, they said that as office missionaries we have a unique opportunity to serve the young missionaries who at ages 18-21 are dedicating their lives to serving the Lord. We keep things running smoothly for them--their apartments, their cars, zone meetings/food. We also can create a little "home environment" in the office where the missionaries can find encouragement and support. So, though the office assignment may not seem very glamorous or service oriented, the mission could not run without us. Thanks to our professional lives, John and I both felt pretty confident with the training and found it exciting to see our names on the missionary roster and transfer board. Maybe that's when the nerves started to act up, though, because it all started to seem a little more real.
Pres. and Sis. Weidman ( counselor in the MTC mission presidency ate lunch with us one day and talked about their experience living in Sweden about 25 years ago.) They mentioned the "balanced" lifestyle and cultural attitude of the Swedes. (There's a word for it that I don't remember.) Anyway, the Weidmans described this attitude as being quiet, reserved and avoiding attention. I couldn't help but feel a connection to the Swedes; I would describe John and I the same way. Perhaps hidden in our DNA is some Swedish blood after all.
All of our teachers are young returned missionaries and most of them are either engaged or newly married. They usually introduce themselves beaming with a few pictures of their significant other. One of our teachers had just gotten engaged and kept repeating "She's perfect." After the third time, John said, "Keep saying it!" Everyone laughed. Someone commented that I didn't even blush. I guess after 41 years of marriage I can only laugh, too.
One of the quotes this week that really spoke to me was by Pres. Eyring (a member of the First Presidency--a counselor to our prophet). He said, "There will be times when you feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are inadequate to answer a call and represent God with only your own powers. But you have access to more than your natural capacities and you do not work alone." Honestly, we are pretty anxious about what lies ahead and feel very inadequate in many ways, but we want to serve. For us, this commitment is requiring a lot of faith, and there are moments already that we've had to dig pretty deeply to find that faith. However, peace prevails and we know we can do what will be required of us, with the Lord's help. I think we all have moments we feel overwhelmed, and though we may not be missionaries, we still have access to more than our natural capacities to help us through those moments of inadequacy. I hope you will remember that when you feel like you aren't measuring up to what is required of you.
Best wishes to all of you,
Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, John, Linda
I'm sitting up much too late typing this instead of going to sleep, but I'm just a little wired and probably won't sleep much tonight anyway. It's a 7 AM departure for us from SLC tomorrow morning. We're packed and ready to go--sort of. Can anyone really be ready such for such an experience full of unknowns? Our nerves have set in this week, but we've managed to keep ourselves pretty distracted with our classes and visiting friends and family.
Our "office training" was so different from last week. The spiritual stretch and role playing of last week was primarily replaced with sitting at a computer, learning programs and practicing. However, the teachers kept a spiritual approach and helped us see spiritual connections to our service. For example, they said that as office missionaries we have a unique opportunity to serve the young missionaries who at ages 18-21 are dedicating their lives to serving the Lord. We keep things running smoothly for them--their apartments, their cars, zone meetings/food. We also can create a little "home environment" in the office where the missionaries can find encouragement and support. So, though the office assignment may not seem very glamorous or service oriented, the mission could not run without us. Thanks to our professional lives, John and I both felt pretty confident with the training and found it exciting to see our names on the missionary roster and transfer board. Maybe that's when the nerves started to act up, though, because it all started to seem a little more real.
Pres. and Sis. Weidman ( counselor in the MTC mission presidency ate lunch with us one day and talked about their experience living in Sweden about 25 years ago.) They mentioned the "balanced" lifestyle and cultural attitude of the Swedes. (There's a word for it that I don't remember.) Anyway, the Weidmans described this attitude as being quiet, reserved and avoiding attention. I couldn't help but feel a connection to the Swedes; I would describe John and I the same way. Perhaps hidden in our DNA is some Swedish blood after all.
All of our teachers are young returned missionaries and most of them are either engaged or newly married. They usually introduce themselves beaming with a few pictures of their significant other. One of our teachers had just gotten engaged and kept repeating "She's perfect." After the third time, John said, "Keep saying it!" Everyone laughed. Someone commented that I didn't even blush. I guess after 41 years of marriage I can only laugh, too.
One of the quotes this week that really spoke to me was by Pres. Eyring (a member of the First Presidency--a counselor to our prophet). He said, "There will be times when you feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are inadequate to answer a call and represent God with only your own powers. But you have access to more than your natural capacities and you do not work alone." Honestly, we are pretty anxious about what lies ahead and feel very inadequate in many ways, but we want to serve. For us, this commitment is requiring a lot of faith, and there are moments already that we've had to dig pretty deeply to find that faith. However, peace prevails and we know we can do what will be required of us, with the Lord's help. I think we all have moments we feel overwhelmed, and though we may not be missionaries, we still have access to more than our natural capacities to help us through those moments of inadequacy. I hope you will remember that when you feel like you aren't measuring up to what is required of you.
Best wishes to all of you,
Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, John, Linda
| Sweden, here we come! |
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