15 June 2008 – Sunday<\/p>\n
I actually slept fairly well so it was a shock when the alarm went off at 5:30. We reported to the High Council this morning. Along with another couple who had served at the MTC, a young sister who served in Atlanta, and a young man who served in Honduras. It just shows the power of the stake to have 6 missionaries reporting their missions on the same day. I did not feel comfortable about what I said – how do you report 18 months of amazing experiences in 5 minutes?<\/p>\n
I felt good and was sure that the nasty cough was gone. I tried to sleep between our early report and going to the 8th ward to speak but I failed. So instead I decided to write a talk – or perhaps it would be better to say that I decided to write some talking points. I first thought I would try to do \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153My mission in five minutes,\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d but that did not work out. So I ended up with \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153Five Things I Learned on My Mission.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n
1. The Lord knows where I needed to serve. I included the thought that we teach young members \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153I\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122ll go where you want me to go\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d but when we get older that many decide that we know better where we should serve than the Lord does.<\/p>\n
2.\u00c2\u00a0 I really do belong to the Household of God – a Fellow Citizen with the Saints. (Ephesians 2:19) That no matter what branch we went to, we were immediately accepted and felt welcomed.<\/p>\n
3.\u00c2\u00a0 My Mission was more about learning than about teaching. I learned to have more patience, more faith, and to listen to the Lord. I learned from the leaders and the members on what it means to be faithful in adversity. That you do not need lots of money to be happy.<\/p>\n
4.\u00c2\u00a0 There are no sacrifices in serving a mission. (Mosiah 2:24)<\/p>\n
5.\u00c2\u00a0 Missions are like potato chips – one is not enough. Home is a wonderful place to visit between missions.<\/p>\n
We arrived at the 8th Ward just in time to hear the Primary choir sing Father\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122s Day songs. I remembered it was Father\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122s Day earlier but it had slipped my mind. It seems to have slipped lots of minds.<\/p>\n
The two youth talks were very good – brother and sister different in a good way. They had a very good PH choir sing as an interlude. Mary spoke on a number of things and when I looked at the time I could use and still leave the High Councilman adequate time, I cut my talk down to 3 points (1, 4 and 5) but managed to work 2 in by taking 2 minutes more. The talk felt good and hopefully it at least stirred up a couple of those who are still thinking up reasons to stay home.<\/p>\n
Just as the last speaker was finishing up, I got a coughing fit and had to rush out. For the next hour or so I fought a losing fight with my cough. I left SS class and then left Sacrament. It was not fun in the least. I ended up listening to Sacrament meeting from the stage and then the foyer. I was afraid of going into the chapel. It was Taylor Barrett\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122s home coming and he did a great job using stories about members and experiences to get his message across without preaching. He did even better than I did. A mission is such a powerful experience that it is impossible to tell anyone who has not been on one what it is like. I am not sure that you can even explain to someone who went on a mission when they were young what it is like to be a senior couple.<\/p>\n