Another wonderful and full week here in the Great THSM has come and gone…
Monday, we were on alert for a winter weather advisory coming in and it almost canceled Zac’s golf fundraiser tournament but luckily didn’t. Aaron was supposed to golf with Zac but we had a sister that was sent to us last minute from Mexico so was unable to. Jessie and I volunteered to help with the event. Our assignment was driving a golf cart handing out treats. We had so much fun talking with the golfers and making sure they enjoyed all the treats we had. We refilled our tub-o-treats and coolers with water/Gatorade 3 times. The weather was great with sun and temps in the low 70’s.
Although after the tournament, the wind picked up and it started to rain in the evening. Our winter weather advisory was now a winter weather alert. At 8pm, the school district made the decision to cancel school. By Tuesday morning the temps had dropped into the low 20’s and everything that was wet turned to ice. We had scheduled our first day of zone conferences on Tuesday, but made the decision to postponed it for Friday. The “Deep Freeze”, as it is now called by the missionaries, lasted until late Wednesday morning and every overpass, bridge, or wet surface was frozen. We had the coldest day on record since 1996 and here in Sugar Land the temp on Wednesday morning was a balmy 8 degrees. People lose their minds down here when it gets this cold. The kids ended up being out of school for two days, they have now had 14 excused days for the year. Crazy!! We have missed more school days in Houston for weather in one year than all the years living in North Ogden. Who would have guessed?
With the “freeze”, our entire weekly schedule was thrown way off. To make the most of the time on Tuesday, Aaron and I held a virtual zone conference with the entire mission and we taught the importance of positive daily follow up with investigators. This was a need I identified during the first three days of interviews. This was a perfect opportunity to share how technology could open up ways for us to teach and share best practices across the mission. Even though we had missionaries stuck inside, we had some that taught as many as six+ lessons during the day without ever having to leave their apartment. Aaron created a Facebook messenger group with all the missionaries and every night they share miracles and best practices. We can see the potential of where one day most of the teaching for missionary work will be done online and where face to face visits, while still the best way to teach, will be less frequent.
Following the “freeze”, we held two days of zone conference and our theme was “Faith is a Choice”. Of all the principles we teach, without faith in the Savior and His Atonement, we have no foundation to build upon. To guide the discussion and interaction for our conference, Aaron shared a brief video that he edited from Elder Bednar on how we learn by faith. He teaches that faith is founded on three principles: the assurance of things hoped for that are true, the evidence of things not seen, and the principle that initiates action in all intelligent beings. An example is repentance… we repent because we have the assurance (hope) that the Savior will make us clean, wash away guilt, help us feel forgiveness, and help restore peace in our lives. With this assurance, we act by confessing and forsaking sin, we correct wrong behavior and begin to live more Christlike lives. The evidence of our repentance is peace of mind, guilt removed, and ultimately the change that leads us to become like the Savior. We then applied these three principles to how they help build the faith of their investigators as they teach the assurance, action, and evidence for prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, and coming to church. True faith in the Savior and His Atonement always leads to action!
I taught on the Book of Mormon and held a PMG quiz to test their knowledge. As part of my teaching, I shared this video of apostles and prophets testifying of the Book of Mormon.
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-06-8-book-of-mormon-testimonies?lang=eng
I love it because it shows the uniqueness of their personalities in their testimonies and why they love the Book of Mormon. I then shared my testimony of the Book of Mormon using the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon and had Aaron share how he uses the pictures too but in a way that is more personal to him. We then invited the missionaries to create a brief video introducing the Book of Mormon to post on their FB or send to an investigator. Our assistants taught on working through members, less actives, part members and the ward council and we have them continue giving tips and tricks on using technology. We had our zone and sister training leaders focus on a principle of faith they would like to increase in their zone. It is always fun to see what they come up with and they do a great job of motivating and inspiring their zones to do better. We felt like the conferences have hit the mark so far and that the faith of our missionaries in the Savior and His work is increasing.
One of the many highlights of the week was the blessing to be with Elder Bednar on Friday night. The three mission presidents, temple president, the local stake presidents and wives and the local Stake Relief Society Presidents and husbands were invited to attend. He decided to come Houston as an opportunity to visit families that were impacted by Harvey. He shared with us what he refers to as the delayed casserole principle. He talked about how as members of the Church we are very quick to run to the aid of those in need when tragedy or difficulties first occur. Everyone brings a casserole and there is an outpouring of love and support at the beginning, but that no one thinks of bringing a casserole 4-6 months later when it is needed most. Saturday he has lined up ministering visits all over Houston and will be with families to understand their needs and progress after Harvey. There are still thousands in the rebuilding process and many members are living out of their garage or just a few rooms of their home. It’s a surprise visit for all of them, can you imagine opening the door!
He spent about two hours with us teaching and letting us ask questions. A few highlights in addition to the importance of ministering to the one… He talked about the priesthood and how many members of the church equate priesthood to men, instead of the priesthood being God’s power to bless all of his children. He likened the priesthood to an umbrella, and that all under the umbrella of the priesthood are able to receive all of God’s blessings. Men have simply been asked to hold the umbrella, and that all are equally eligible for all the blessings available. He taught about the importance of priesthood keys (three categories of keys, Apostolic, Stake President, Bishop) and that our focus should be on helping individuals become worthy to enjoy all the ordinances available. He shared how we should think about dropping the title of being called presidents and instead work to be called Alma’s. He encouraged us to do what Alma did, which was to not only govern the church, but more importantly to be among the people and shepherd them to the temple. He invited us to make sure that our focus in everything we do should be to help people walk the covenant path. He spent a good amount of time sharing the process of how a new prophet is called. He emphasized that not one man leads the Church, but that 15 prophets and apostles have to be unanimous in their decision making, and that if one of them is uncomfortable moving forward, they wait until the time is right. Too much to share, but these small and intimate trainings are simply incredible experiences.
Aaron shared with the missionaries the news of who would be replacing us this week via email. It was probably the hardest for him to send because he recognizes that our days are numbered. Bode had a two basketball games this week again, scored well, won one and lost one. We weren’t able to get to either of them, but he seemed to be pleased with his effort. It obviously was too cold for Zac to golf this week besides Monday for the tournament. Jessie wasn’t going to let a little cold stop her from going to Tennis lessons nor two other girls out of the eight. It was too cold for the others. Allie had a rough week at work but is taking it in stride. Using it as a learning experience and moving on. I am proud of the growth I see in her. Now to prepare for a new week in the great THSM!!