Another Week

Hm, well this week has been quite the busy one! We have a ton of stuff
that we've been working on in preparation for the Zone Conferences
that are coming up this next week, along with trying to balance our
time in our area as well as going on exchanges, so it's been pretty
insane recently! Now that it's my third transfer as an Assistant I
decided I better try and do a little more than we've been doing in the
past. I figured that now I know about how long it takes to get
everything done so I'm not quite as worried about just making sure it
gets done. It means that we've had time for more exchanges and more
time in our area, but it also means we are literally running around
every second of every day, haha which is a good thing! This past week
we had a lesson with a part member father named Carlos. His wife
recently reactivated herself and because of that he also became
curious about the church. We were able to go and teach him but it was
interesting to see the difference between him and his wife. His wife
returned because she felt a spiritual abyss in her life and Carlos is
on the other end where he's content and believes his life is pretty
set. It was once again a reminder of the importance of an eternal
perspective. His greatest desire in life is to have a good job in
order to provide for his family so that they have no physical worries,
which is definitely an honorable desire, we're just hoping we can
inspire him to gain a more eternal perspective.
There seems to be a similar temptation for all of us, whatever stage
of life we may be in, and whether or not we are members of the church.
We seem to see it constantly with the missionaries as well, that they
just lack a little bit of that eternal perspective in regards to the
work we're doing and the impact of their missions. We've been trying
to find a way to inspire them and remind them of their potential. The
vast majority of the missionaries are good, but there are always those
few that we worry about and try to find a way to help. Haha it means
we're already thinking about the next transfer and the next transfer
may result in some interesting changes in the mission leadership (but
I can't tell you too much about that yet, sorry! ;) )
This week I was also reflecting on some of the lessons I've been
learning in the mission and some of the themes the Lord seems to have
been teaching me. One of the ones that stuck out to me, especially
right now in the mission, has been the principle of submission. It's
such an interesting thing to think about. We have to ask ourselves if
we really are willing to submit to the Lord in everything we do,
including giving up our dreams and desires even though they may be
good ones, in order to submit ourselves to the will of the Lord.
Whether that's in a career choice, marriage, schooling, friends,
transfers, being faster, smarter, or whatever. It's been humbling to
see how much the Lord seems to have been teaching me the lesson of
submission throughout the mission/life. Granted it is one of those
vital eternal principles ;) Still, it's been good to reflect on my
level of submission and if I really am willing to give up all of my
dreams and desires in order to fulfill the will of the Lord, even if
it's completely different from every good desire I have. Something to
think about.
Random story, yesterday we went on exchange deep in the heart of the
mission and due to traffic and some random mishaps I spent a total of
5 hours of the day not driving, haha man it was crazy! Still, it was a
good time to meet with the missionaries in that part of the mission.