The Wentworth Letter

We studied The Wentworth Letter in Relief Society last Sunday. I knew that The Standard of Truth was a part of the letter, but had forgotten. The Standard of Truth was something I said every day as a missionary. Each morning as part of companionship study and at every meeting we would recite it and D&C Section 4. My husband's mission also recited something called My Missionary Commission.

We encourage you to find out how your missionary feels about these, or how you felt about them as a missionary and journal or scrapbook those feelings. Is the field white already to harvest or still a little green? Have they personally felt the persecutions that rage? They are such great principles to ponder and to share.

While you are at it you may want to find out your missionaries daily schedule. There are many routines to a missionaries life. Weekly letters, daily studies, and monthly meetings and transfers.

The Standard of Truth

"....the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Dear President....

Once a week every missionary writes a letter to the Mission President. We tell them how things are with our work, share any concerns, and give a reporting of our efforts. Usually I have no fear about sharing the experiences I have had on my mission, but I hold back a little when it comes to Mission Presidents. To sum it up neatly I struggled with my Mission President. He and I had similar gaols and the same desires, we just disagreed on the method. I know that he was called to be a Mission President at that time. I always figured it was just for some one else's benefit.

That said, this relationship between Missionary and Mission President influences every ones mission. For the good or the bad. They are our priesthood leader, mentor, and parental figure. They set the tone of the whole mission. The tone of our mission was work.

We encourage you to share the relationship you had with your Mission President and also your Mission Mom. This months random kit is based on that theme.

What did you say...

It has been said, that if the church was not true, missionaries would have screwed it up a long time ago. There is truth in that. While missionaries are given that calling and mantle to serve, they are still human.

I talked about the 21 day promise that is currently floating around the Salt Lake City South Mission. We have participated in the challenge and had the missionaries follow up. At our follow up they encouraged us to do it again. (Encouraged is a key word here. In my day it was all about being direct. Example "Will you do the 21 day challenge again?" instead of "We encourage you to do the challenge again." I am getting off track.)

So two missionaries stopped by the other day when I was not home. According to my husband the conversation proceeded as follows.

Elders- "How is the 21 day promise coming?"
Husband- "We have not started a new one yet."
Elders- "So you don't pray anymore?"
Husband- "I pray."
Elders- "But just not to help the missionaries."

At this point my husband said to me 'Good thing they were Elders, if I didn't have a testimony......ramble ramble."

I thought it was funny. Which leads me to a scrapbook challenge. All missionaries say things they regret. Sometimes it helps us grow, makes us humble, or teaches us a hard lesson. It is something we probably do not like to admit to, but as the years pass and we gain wisdom we eventually fess up to our mistakes. Ask your missionary about a mistake they learned from or record one of your own.

Mother's Day Phone Calls From the Field

Did you get calls this weekend from that missionary of yours? How was it? Did it make you sad or make them sad? Or was it just great to hear their voices. I have been out of the loop a while, but this blog is based on the assumption that missionaries still get to call home twice a year. Once on Mother's Day and once on Christmas. Does that still hold true? I actually do not remember calling home on Mother's Day. I am sure I did. I think I called my twin sister too. She had just had her first child, so I rationalized that she was a mother worth calling.

I also thought about Sister Yancey yesterday calling her kids. She is a Senior Sister and surrogate mother to my husband and me from our youth. I thought about how those roles were in reverse. The mom calling from the field as the missionary. What a great example she is!

We just wanted to challenge you to write down or scrapbook the experience of your Mother's Day phone call this week.

The Dinner Appointment

We were bad. On Sunday my husband was out of town and I semi committed to feeding the Elders the next day. I told our ward mission leader that I would call him to confirm once I had checked with JP at home. Then I went home and promptly forgot. Monday about 3:00 I remembered. I tried to call the ward mission leader and got the family answering machine. The Elders never came....

It has made me think about dinner appointments. Once when the mission calendar was not full I mentioned to someone that it was no big deal. I personally did not mind being "home" for dinner on occasion. An hour of down time was refreshing. This Sister was surprised and a little shocked. Her boys were fed every day on their missions, the Elders should have a meal every day.

Dinner appointment stories are great. There are always the "food" ones about what was eaten or where or in what condition. They tend to lead to the gross/scary side, but we think are worth noting. Missionaries are always on the move too. Dinner appointments are not just for eating. They are for finding, challenging, and testifying. Sometimes mission presidents put certain requirements on dinner. Some of the requirements are what I consider common sense (but still need to be stressed) confirm dinner, leave a thank you note, use good manners. Some are hard to live by, always eat at 5:00, never share a dinner appointment with the Elders/Sisters. Others were uniquely missionary, leave with a scripture and the name of a person to share the gospel with.

We challenge you to record some of your dinner appointments or ask your missionary what is required of them. Did any of them ever have a "green" meal? (Everything is died green to welcome the new missionary. See the pictures for Elder Eggett.) What new tastes did you bring home from your mission?

Mission Now and Then

We recently attended Scrapbook USA in Sandy, Utah and had a booth partner, Diane from All Occasions Photo. As Diane and I got to know one another I found out that she had a missionary in Madagascar. We talked about missionaries and she referred to e-mails instead of letters. The Elders in our area are currently carrying around cell phones. My Mom talks about the big black binder when referring to teaching in her mission and I talk about the discussions. While we had a recent missionary tell me that he was so worthy he no longer needed discussions or binders, but could teach as he pleased. (Yea, he was a little off the base.)

The point is missions are always changing, and I thought that would make an interesting page for your scrapbook. It would also make an interesting kit (we will let you know). Compare your mission with your child's or yours with your parents. If you are a first generation missionary compare yours to an early missionary from the beginning days of the church.

The methods, tools, and technology may have changed, but the message remains the same. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored.

Challenges and Promises

The Elders came to our house on Monday. They just dropped by. I was sick Monday and in my sweats, the house was a mess and I asked my husband to "turn them away". He didn't and I knew he wouldn't. Because if I had answered the door I would not have been able to either. So we invited them in. They issued us a 21 day challenge. A promise has gone out in the Salt Lake City Mission that if members would pray morning and night for a specific set of people to accept the gospel, that someone will accept the gospel. We accepted the challenge. So now we are going to issue a challenge to you.

Scrapbook those promises and challenges that you or your missionary received in the field. I think all missionaries receive special challenges with promises attached. One that we frequently talked about in my mission was to be a bold and testifying missionary. We were promised if we were bold and committed people to baptism on the first contact, that people would join the church. I have to admit my faith lacked on this one, but those who had faith like Nephi (build a boat, commit someone to baptism upon meeting them) had great success.

Companions

A couple of years ago I was relaxing on the couch and my mind wandered off to my mission. I started to think about my companions from my mission. I could see their faces and remembered their qualities and irksome behaviours. One thing I could not remember was their names!! What?! How could I have forgotten my missionary companions names, not even their first names (which is of course Sister) but their last names that they went by every day!! I was so shocked, then I thought of all my mission pictures and wondered what else I had forgotten.



We have to be honest here. I really loved my companions, but did not particularly like all of them. I must say that I did learn something form each of them. Not that I was the best, I am sure I was not a favorite for some of my companions. However companions are unique people. They are the one person who can relate to the current moment of your missionary's life. Once I had a Mom tell me "you know you are the only Sisters my son ever wrote home about." It made me feel good. This particular area was good area for me and I worked with great Elders and Sisters.



So here are some ideas for scrapbooking/journaling about your companions.....



If this is your own mission experience...



1. Write down their names because you will forget!

2. Do a quick statistic chart

name

area served

time served together

home

3. Scrapbook a page about what your companions taught you- diligence, love, patience, faith. How did they help you grow?

4. Do a specific page on a favorite companion (because we do have them).

5. Missions are hard, and that is OK. Write about or scrap the hard times with a companion, but remember you can talk about hard things without being mean.



If you are doing this for someone else who is on the mission currently....



1. Write a letter to your Missionaries current companion. Send them a set of questions to answer. They do not have to be about your Missionary. You could ask him about the area, the people, or the mission itself. It is always good to look through someone elses eyes.