Trainings and the Temple

Ruka's Baptism 09/09/17

What a busy busy week! To start it all off we had our Mission Leadership Council on Tuesday and that went really well! The training that Elder Sorensen and I had prepared really fit in well with our mission president talking about setting goals. We talked about the different Key Indicators missionaries focus on and how we can break those down into smaller goals such as contacts, return appointments, Book of Mormons, etc. Then with the smaller goals we strive to achieve as much as we can by re-evaluating our goals and continue to set goals that push and stretch us. 

President Egan has taught me many things on my mission but probably one of the most important things he has continued to stress the importance of is to set goals and make specific plans to achieve them. Not even just in missionary work but in every aspect of my life whether it be in regards to the gospel, work, school, family, and really anything. That is one thing that I'm really grateful to have learned because even though I felt like I had always worked hard before for certain things I desired, making goals and plans help you achieve much more than you thought you could. It's like making a budget for your money. You either say, "okay this month I will try to buy less stuff and spend less money". You may try hard the whole month and end up saving some money but if you have the goal to save money, set specific plans (in this case a specific budget plan) then you will have something more concrete to follow and hold you accountable. Then in the end you end up saving more money. 

In a book called "Preach My Gospel" that we as missionaries use to help become better teachers and more spiritually mature it has a section that talks about goals as well. In that section I really love a quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that says, “I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” Learning to set goals and make specific plans is just one of the many things I have come to understand the importance of as a missionary. Hopefully I'll continue to implement that throughout my life haha.

Anyways, thats what we mainly taught on at MLC and then the next 3 days in a row we had 3 separate Zone Conferences. The first one was in Kumamoto, then Fukuoka, and lastly Hiroshima. Needless to say it was pretty busy and fun! All the trainings were a great time and I learned a lot from all the other missionaries. We will be having our last Zone Conference down in Okinawa this next week but we are hoping we will be able to make it down there with the upcoming typhoon. Nobody in our mission is going to church this week since the typhoon is supposed to hit us right on Sunday morning. We will see what ends up happening though. 

This morning we had the opportunity to go to the temple with that recent convert I mentioned in my last weeks email. Going with her was such an amazing experience! After we had the endowment session we had a sealing session in which I acted as proxy for her son so she could have her son sealed to her as well. The blessings of the temple are unlike anything else. Having the knowledge that you can be with your family together forever even after this life is the hope that this message contains. It was a very tender and special experience that I felt blessed to be apart of. It really strengthened my faith that we really can go out and find people that are prepared to hear and fully accept the gospel in their lives. It was just about a year and 4 months ago that my companion and I knocked on her door in Hiroshima. She was shortly thereafter baptized and thanks to the wonderful members in Kure that continued to love her and help her she was able to come to the temple and be sealed to her husband and son who had passed away when she was younger. It truly was a miracle that I was so happy to be able to play a small part in. 

Anyways, that was my week! It was fun and this next week I'm sure will be great as well. :) I'll talk to you all then! Love ya!

Elder Sherrill