25 July 2015

I am actually writing this on Sunday evening even though I put the title/date as of yesterday.

In our Life Skills Workshop which we teach to the Missionaries who are going home, we ask the question:  "What did you learn on your mission"?  It is surprising that few can or will answer the question until we give them some examples.  Some simple examples might be the following:  I learned how to budget my money; I learned how to manage my time;  I learned how to have faith in Jesus Christ; and I learned how to feel the spirit.   Once we give the examples, then we start to get some really good answers.  The point of the exercise is to help them see the value of their mission not just in people they have converted and helped bring into the gospel but also in the things that they have learned themselves that will be a blessing to them for the rest of their lives.  The value in this discussion is helping them to see that the mission they have completed honorably has been a training ground for the rest of their lives.  When they couple the things they have learned with the gifts and talents that God has given them, they are ready to learn how to partner with the Lord in creating the rest of their lives.

Sadly there are some who don't understand these principles and subsequently miss out on the great things that God has in store for them.  We recently read of a new program from the church for returning missionaries.  It is called "My Plan" and will be an online training tool available to all missionaries.  You can go online and learn of the whole program if you have interest.  I just want to quote here a statement from Steven Peterson, President of the South Weber Utah Stake, who has been involved in piloting this program.  He said, "too often we say of returned missionaries, Oh, he'll be back to normal soon.  If normal is what they were like before, I hope that they are never normal again.  If you forget what you learned on your mission , what was the point? The fact is that the mission is the MTC for the rest of your life.  The mission shouldn't stand out as a unique opportunity. It just prepares us for everything else we have to do."

These words are going into our next Life Skills Workshop because they are so powerful.  If we could only realize that God has given us talents and opportunities to learn and grow and that if we will take his hand, he will help us become what we want and what he knows we can be.



I am just going to post a few pictures from the week and a little bit about some people we met and that will be it for this week.

We were driving to Pili for church last Sunday and saw this beautiful terraced rice field and so we stopped on our way home to take some pictures.

It is hard to see how beautiful this was from these pictures but we thought it was so great to see.

The old man leaning on the truck is the owner.  They also
gave us some Coconuts.  The one in hand has been cut
open and we drank the water from it.  Very healthy and good!

Kathlene got out of the car to take the pictues and there were some people there who she started talking to.  It turned out to be the owner of the land and his family.  The rice field has just recently been prepared for planting which was to take place the following Thursday.  We had a really nice time visiting with him.  He spoke very good English as he had worked for the government in Agriculture prior to retiring a few years ago.  He was pleased that we thought his farm was beautiful.

Missionaries from the Pili District who we trained on Thursday in District meeting.

We had some English tests on Monday and invited these Sisters and Elders to join us for lunch.  The American Elder on the right in the back worked in the office for the last 6 months and we knew him very well.  Both he and his companion are going home in 2 weeks.