Good morning! The sun is shining, it's going to be 14 C outside today (57.2 F) and it's p day! A great combination. The past week has been incredibly busy and I learned a lot.
We got to spend two days this week in London for various meetings with Elder Phillips, an Area Seventy, which means he is one of the General leaders of the church over our area. Much of what stuck with me was lessons learned both directly and indirectly. We spoke a lot about how we can help the people we teach. I wrote in bold in my notebook "Focus on individuals. You will not remember the numbers and statistics". This is so true. He also made an interesting comparison between CV (I think in the states we call it a resumé) attributes and eulogy attributes. For example, when applying for a job and you hand in a CV, you will want to have attributes on there like confident, organised, intelligent, etc... A eulogy is something commonly read about a person after their death, and could include attributes like "he was a loving person", selfless, etc... I don't think I do a decent job at explaining this, but eulogy traits are better than CV traits.
There were also many things I learned indirectly, including some things about myself. This week was absolutely exhausting. I was mentally drained after these meetings, plus having to put together a zone meeting. I noticed a few times that I was mentally worn down to the bottom. Luckily, I noticed and caught it before I broke down. If there are any prospective missionaries reading this: please take this advice. Your mission will be tiring. It will be exhausting. Take some time to recharge and you will be more effective. When I feel myself getting critically low, I go play the piano for half an hour or go on a brisk walk. Sometimes my companion and I even take a power nap for half an hour or so. I have seen so many missionaries, myself included, get so tired from "working so hard" that they are no longer effective in the activities they do, and thus they are just going through the motions. People see the light that you carry, and if you are too depleted, you will not have it. If you are trying to share a message of happiness with people but look like (and act like) the walking dead, it will not be effective. Consider King Benjamin's counsel to his people:
"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." (Mosiah 4:27)
Of course, this is not an excuse to discharge our duties, but I have learned through experience that being diligent and doing things in wisdom and order, sometimes means a time to recharge. Take time to notice the little things that make you happy.
Another zone meeting means another analogy in a training. I have a theme with big machines, going from trains to shredders to tractors and now to... Airplanes! Our friends we teach often see their conversion as a big, arduous task, comparable to landing an airplane with little experience and little help. It is our job as the guides to set the right expectations, act as air traffic control, help interpret the instrument panel, and so on, to help our friends "land their airplane" one day. Our next zone meeting is only in three weeks, so I will have time to think of a new analogy.
All the best!
Elder Spencer Ammermon
England London Mission
64-68 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London
England SW7 2PA