Re-Routed

 

Not much green outside our windows, but I love the view nevertheless.  The green is inside...I love these little houseplants.


I awakened with great hopes of great accomplishments and some energy.  I dressed in sweats, studied for awhile, and then SK and I began to plan out our day.  I got a text from Deb asking if we were attending the interview training for our zone.  You would think I would have gotten this down by now.  I assumed that the missionaries in our zone were reporting to Dave today, and that it didn't involve us.  Wrong.

After quickly sprucing up a few levels from sweats, I tuned in, not too late thankfully, and spent three hours in front of the computer again.  This was a marvelous meeting!  Dave and Deb both did some training.  Deb taught about prayer.  Several of the young missionaries quoted her later on.  She said, "Some of the most powerful experiences I have ever had have been on my knees in prayer."

What came after their training was training by our young zone leaders, the assistants to the president and our young sister training leaders.  They all know how to conduct meeting!  They all know how to speak and how to motivate and how to train.  They are completely amazing to me.  No one could do a better job than they do, and I come away from every meeting having learned and having been inspired.

Look at these adorable sister missionaries! - both very British and both outstanding young women.


They are training on how to be disciples of Christ, how to bring happiness to people through the restored gospel, how to share an important message, how to find happiness in their own lives, how to lead, how to follow, how to love and value every individual.  

I come away from these meeting wondering how any other experience on earth can prepare a young person for life the way a mission does.  I've experienced college - for myself, as well as in the lives of my children, not to mention four years of dental school with SK, who also went through basic training and (kind of) got into military life.  They pale in comparison to the education that is received by learning to get along with companions of different cultures, learning to communicate well with other individuals, learning the gospel and learning about life.

Many of the people they teach have difficult challenges, and find hope and change through the gospel.  The missionaries love these individuals, and get to know them.  Their hearts beat in empathy for their new friends as they teach and love them.

After being with those incredible young people in all of our zone training (about 3 hours), my heart was overflowing with gratitude to be able to share in that experience with them.  I still got a large pot of white chicken chili made and delivered to our Oxford missionaries, (and brownies with chocolate whipped cream frosting!), and got a large portion of the baseboards and carpet scrubbed, and attended Ward Council, and a missionary meeting with our stake president.  

He was a few minutes late tuning in and as he apologized, mentioned that he had just come from a very sensitive interview.  I realized once again what heavy burdens these leaders carry. He meets with our zone every month....there are 12 missionaries in our zone - counting us.  He is a tremendous man.  He is kind and thoughtful, and listens to our reports carefully, asking pointed questions and giving us directions and counsel as well as pledging what he will do.  

He is such a kind yet forceful leader that I think he must have served a mission somewhere along the way.

What I had hoped to be a day of accomplishing mundane but necessary tasks, was instead a day of inspiration. What a blessing!  Not only to be pulled away from ordinary pursuits, but to have the luxury of focusing solely on what was at hand.


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