We are LOVING working in the mission office! So far everyday is
different and 8 hours seems like 10 minutes. We see missionaries daily
and talk to many others on the phone so there is no shortage of
interaction, as we had feared.
Monday mornings at 9 am we take turns giving a spiritual message along with the regular group prayer to start the day. Lee's message was on unity, loyalty and having fun in the "mission office" family. He challenged us to communicate with kindness, with the assumption that all of us are doing their very best, and to have patience with ourselves and each other. It was a great start to the "rest of our mission."
This past week I rode along to the airport with Lee while transporting a missionary going home due to medical reasons. Lee's unexpected second trip to the airport was because President Carter came down sick and was unable to meet a visa waiter arriving from England. Poor kid had been traveling many hours from London to Dubai to Perth to Adelaide, and with Friday night rush hour traffic, Lee arrived at the gate only 2 minutes before the missionary did. After dropping the new missionary to stay with the assistants, Lee was glad to get home at 8pm. The office staff met the Elder back at the office Saturday morning for orientation after his interview with President Carter. The poor kid was still jet lagged but went right to work!
General conference is rebroadcast in Australia Oct 12 and 13, so we had regular fast and testimony meeting this past weekend. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was a multi stake TFY in our building (TIME FOR YOUTH) for 14~18 year old kids, similar to Youth Conference in the states. There were a great number of TFY youth at our church meetings Sunday and we heard some of their spiritual experiences in testimony meeting. When Sacrament meeting should have ended after the first hour of the block, the Primary children and leaders were excused but testimony meeting continued through the second hour. It didn't seem long to me, but was a tender mercy to bask in the feelings of the Spirit as we listened to the testimonies of the youth.
(I was thinking that the youth leaders must have felt great satisfaction for the expense, effort and coordination it took to organize the event- it seemed like a total success!)
Sunday night was the monthly Missionary Fireside. Missionaries and investigators are invited, as well as recently baptized members and others from the ward. The program featured a Primary song duet by missionaries, two new members sharing their conversion and testimony, and the main address by another Elder. The theme for the evening was The Book of Mormon. President Carter usually speaks but as I mentioned earlier, he was home sick. The fireside was a nice end to a wonderful Sabbath day.
In between church and the fireside, we had a set of missionaries over for dinner. One is from Orchards, Washington and the other from New Zealand. I served meatloaf and baked potato with sides for dinner and it was the first meatloaf ever for the New Zealander, although he thought it similar to local mince pie. We enjoyed having them with us and they enjoyed the dinner and chocolate cake for dessert.
I'll tell you about the Monday calendar "gong show" next time I post.
Monday mornings at 9 am we take turns giving a spiritual message along with the regular group prayer to start the day. Lee's message was on unity, loyalty and having fun in the "mission office" family. He challenged us to communicate with kindness, with the assumption that all of us are doing their very best, and to have patience with ourselves and each other. It was a great start to the "rest of our mission."
This past week I rode along to the airport with Lee while transporting a missionary going home due to medical reasons. Lee's unexpected second trip to the airport was because President Carter came down sick and was unable to meet a visa waiter arriving from England. Poor kid had been traveling many hours from London to Dubai to Perth to Adelaide, and with Friday night rush hour traffic, Lee arrived at the gate only 2 minutes before the missionary did. After dropping the new missionary to stay with the assistants, Lee was glad to get home at 8pm. The office staff met the Elder back at the office Saturday morning for orientation after his interview with President Carter. The poor kid was still jet lagged but went right to work!
General conference is rebroadcast in Australia Oct 12 and 13, so we had regular fast and testimony meeting this past weekend. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was a multi stake TFY in our building (TIME FOR YOUTH) for 14~18 year old kids, similar to Youth Conference in the states. There were a great number of TFY youth at our church meetings Sunday and we heard some of their spiritual experiences in testimony meeting. When Sacrament meeting should have ended after the first hour of the block, the Primary children and leaders were excused but testimony meeting continued through the second hour. It didn't seem long to me, but was a tender mercy to bask in the feelings of the Spirit as we listened to the testimonies of the youth.
(I was thinking that the youth leaders must have felt great satisfaction for the expense, effort and coordination it took to organize the event- it seemed like a total success!)
Sunday night was the monthly Missionary Fireside. Missionaries and investigators are invited, as well as recently baptized members and others from the ward. The program featured a Primary song duet by missionaries, two new members sharing their conversion and testimony, and the main address by another Elder. The theme for the evening was The Book of Mormon. President Carter usually speaks but as I mentioned earlier, he was home sick. The fireside was a nice end to a wonderful Sabbath day.
In between church and the fireside, we had a set of missionaries over for dinner. One is from Orchards, Washington and the other from New Zealand. I served meatloaf and baked potato with sides for dinner and it was the first meatloaf ever for the New Zealander, although he thought it similar to local mince pie. We enjoyed having them with us and they enjoyed the dinner and chocolate cake for dessert.
I'll tell you about the Monday calendar "gong show" next time I post.
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