Week #20
Good day all!
Still lots of Boulder damage to clean up and we have heard from President Brown that there have been some teaching opportunities opening up because of it, but I haven't heard of specific instances. We have had many people thank us for the service we do and have expressed how impressed they are with the quick action of the Church. I'm not sure, but I've heard that FEMA has placed the stake in charge of the relief effort. That was what we heard from a few stake leaders, but I'm not sure to what extent that is true. Either way, people are seeing our help and we're being recognized.
Highlight of the week: Stake Conference
From what I've been told, missionaries aren't usually allowed to attend the adult session, but in this case, the First Presidency specifically mandated that the missionaries attend because the topic of the session was missionary work.
The Boulder Stake Presidency was reorganized because our last president has been called to be a Russian speaking mission president. He doesn't know where or when, but he has received and accepted the call. We had two Seventies come Elders Schweitzer and Wright. They had some wonderful things to say about making homes an MTC and preparing children to serve. One of the stories told was of an inactive member who had gone on a mission and had the program from her missionary farewell framed and hanging in the stairwell of her home. She never attended church, probably didn't teach the scriptures to her sons, and yet all three of them went on missions.
Elder Schweitzer asked us why we thought those boys made that decision and then continued to tell a story of a woman whose son joined the Navy and went off to sea, never to return. She wept and wondered why her son decided on such a distant and dangerous career. To distract her from her sorrow, she decided to perform a thorough cleaning of her home. As she slowly progressed through her empty home, she noticed the paintings of ships hanging on the walls of each room and then ceased to wonder why her son had gone to sea.
The thought I wrote after Elder Schweitzer related this story was this:
The messages we place upon the bulletin boards or walls of our homes will silently, subtly, and significantly shape the decisions we and our children make.
That was soon followed by another though that echoes one of my mother's favorite quotes. Let's see if you know what it is.
The decisions regarding what is allowed in a home will determine the destiny of the residents therein.
I know the wording seems a little bit flowery, but this is how I think when I get ideas in conferences or personal study. I think making them sound quotable makes them easier to remember anyway. That's the important part.
I've heard many times, (especially in the MTC) that the thoughts we have during talks are so much more important than a word for word record of the talk given. I agree. Everybody can hear or read the words of a talk. We all hear the same ones and there are already many ways to record the words spoken. That's why General Conference is filmed and the talks printed in the Ensign. The aspects of a talk that requires sharing and recording on our part are the inspirations we receive during our reflection of the words everybody else hear.
(I'll let the reader insert a paragraph that ties the last two together and designs a personal application of them.)
That's all for this week.
Elder Dickson
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