Resilience

The rain poured down this morning for several hours.  It was a cool, gray and wet morning.  That is always a great time to curl up to study.  An hour in the morning is never quite enough for the course of New Testament reading the mission has embarked on, the Come Follow Me - Doctrine and Covenants, and The Book of Mormon - which I read daily.

SK always sleeps later than I do, and that is marvelous time to sit alone in the living room and just read and enjoy the morning.  SK is a social person and loves to talk.  That makes it difficult if we are in the same room.  He is doing a LOT of indexing, working toward a goal of doing 2 or 3 Thousand a month, which means he has to get quite a few done each day. 

And he can do that and carry on conversations, or at least pause and start a conversation.  I find that a bit difficult if I am engrossed in what I am reading.  But we manage - especially if I have that hour in the morning.  When he gets up, we study and pray together.

We delivered more cookies today. I'm wondering if we ought to just think about delivering beautiful fresh fruit....it's healthier!

I received a letter from a young woman today.  We have been making cookie runs to her every once in awhile, and she was here in our flat for dinner/movie one night.  She is finishing up her course of study this week, and will do an internship here in Oxford as well.

She explained that she has had a rough life and that she struggles with anxiety, depression, self-destructive behavior, and feelings of worthlessness.  She listed what has been the source of some of those challenges, and I can understand why she struggles.

She is getting proper help from the medical world, but wanted me to know, because she has had people leave her when they know she has emotional problems.  She wanted to make sure right up front that we are aware of her problems, and if we choose to leave, she'll understand.

My heart goes out to her.  I wrote her back a lengthy letter and delivered it today.  I hope she is alright with everything I said.  I encouraged her to continue getting help from a doctor, and beyond that expressed my love for her and confidence in her ability to move forward.  I told her that a relationship with Jesus Christ will help her get past what has gone before.  

Beyond that, I assured her that we love her and are here for the express purpose of being grandparents to those in town who may need older friends.  We have found that to be the case more and more these days.  

We talked to a bishop this evening who told us that he is seeing more mental illness than ever before.  England's leaders have done everything they can to keep the people here safe, but at what cost?

The news tonight suggests that school may start by March 8, and that would be the first easing up of the restrictions.  It will be April before beauty salons and barber shops and the like will open.  At that point, they are considering opening up non-essential shops and restaurants.  Pubs will be the last to open their doors to the public, and that could be May.

I hope the emotional fitness of the typically-stoic British people will hold up that long.  Deb told me that there is a very interesting article she recently read about resilience.  The number one factor in a person's ability to bounce back is connection with other people.  

On a side note, we went into London on official business....to say happy birthday to Deb.  SK loved going on a longer journey than the 10-minute drive to pick up our weekly groceries, and I enjoy the drive too.  It's a 3-hour drive roundtrip, and perfect.  Dave and Deb have put in a heavy week, and they were both weary, but happy weary.

That's the best kind of tiredness.


Comments

melissa said…
Oh, that poor girl. This year has taken a heavy toll on so many. Deb is wise.
February 19, 2021 at 6:16 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Master Teacher

In the 1st Ward today, an 11-year-old boy gave a talk that was one of he best sacrament meeting talks I have ever heard.  He got up to speak and his head just barely cleared the podium.  He is small and has a shock of dark hair topping a cute slightly freckled face. It will be several years yet before his voice deepens.  He had his written talk, and he read most of it, but he was familiar enough with it that he looked up often and it seemed as if he was speaking from his heart. He began with a quote from Nephi in 2 Nephi 25:29, where Nephi prophesies about the future and then tells us how to worship the Savior. How? this boy asked us. He went on to answer his own question.  Nephi says "with all our might."  The boy then asked how that is done. He cited the story of the converts in the Congo who threw all of their idols into a massive waterfall where they were unrecoverable.  The boy said that when we worship the Savior with all our might, that mea...
Read more

Going Home

  Fifteen missionaries are returning to their homes this week.  For this Saturday night zoom conference broadcast, each bore their testimony from their flats with their companions by their sides.  SK and I teared up many times as we listened to humble, sweet and strong testimonies.  It is easy to see the difference as they get close to their release date.  It they have been faithful, there is a maturity and a sweetness that is unexplainable. Here is a smattering of what was said: There is no growth in the comfort zone.  I am about to go home to my comfort zone...but it struck me that my old comfort zone is no longer comfortable for me.  I want to be in a growth zone. The early apostles did not succeed, but they knew we would. One elder quoted Dave's poem "If."  "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same...Hold on...even through the hardest times."  "How can I accomplish these things?  Jesus Chr...
Read more

Shark!

Image
We left our flat way too early for my taste this morning, heading out to go south to Farnborough.  Forty-eight miles, supposedly an hour and twenty minute drive.  We got into some heavy stop and go traffic and it was closer to 2 hours before we got there. We inspected the two young sisters' flat, which was beautifully clean and organized.  They are cute sisters.  They had been in London yesterday for zone conference and excitedly shared all they had heard and been taught.  They had their notes out and were very cute to repeat some great messages from President Checketts.  I hardly ever talk to him when he isn't dealing with numerous issues in the mission and in the middle of at least one or two crises, and planning the next gathering....all at the same time.  It must be that he and Deb are in a constant state of stress.  But he has cleared the half-way mark.  I wonder if he knows how highly he is esteemed by these young missionaries, who ...
Read more