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| Beehive House Garden shows spring colors |
Randomness:
We have a sister who has been a service missionary in Acquisitions for the Church History library since 2000.
Leadership course:
"We have more opportunities to be good than we ever use" (Elder Soares?) "Jesus really believed in His followers, not alone for what they were, but for what they had the possibility to become"
Doing too much ourselves (as leaders) doesn't show trust in others or cause their development. Your job is to prepare your replacement.
"not always in agreement but always in harmony" (Oaks)
As few meetings as possible with as few people as possible - "Don't magnify your calling with someone else's time" Do more with less. Let good things go to make room for best
Don't close them down (others on your council) - make sure you listen FIRST
Anticipate the needs of those you serve, ask, learn to listen, get as much information from those you serve as you can. President Hinckley on temple site trip asked driver and valued his opinion as much as area leaders. Leaders must be open to learning.
Seeking to do what is right, not worrying about who is right. Listen and pick up revelation from other people - aggregate is always better than individual. Discussion not to get them to "buy in" but to empower - process of divine direction through counseling.
Zone Devotional for Relief Society birthday: - from wheat to masks! At one time the RS was asked to make and gather 40,000 quilts for refugees in just 60 days. They got 140,000 (and they still come).
Lunchtime treat! Sister Bartell's friend stopped in on his way to an adventure deep in the Congo - to take a mission president and member of area president to meet a group that has been living the gospel since 1975 (without baptism) - they now have a branch "nearby" (200 km!) so leaders are looking to get missionaries there to work with them (baptize). There is no transport directly to the area. In 1975 they were unhappy with some who had been teaching them so they drew lots to see what church they should join and every time the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came up so they wrote and eventually got some Book of Mormons and a few other materials and have apparently been going strong ever since. We are supposed to get a link to a fireside he will give after his return to talk about it, what an adventure!
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| Sorry if you are tired of these plaza shots, I have found the process very interesting, and what are the black plastic things that are sort of a grid of tubes that eventually were under several more layers? Maybe to help hold it level and strong when concrete is put over them? Less weight over parking garage (like the white Styrofoam areas)? |
We've enjoyed watching the unfolding of spring with help by the wonderful grounds crews who have put in all sorts of bulbs, pansies, etc. It's fun to see things popping up and new blooms along the way to work.
We had to participate in "The Great Utah Shake-Out" where at a specified time everyone acted like there was an earthquake. We were to get under our desks for one minute and then report through a calling tree that we were safe. We all survived.
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| My Sister Chris Graham and her husband Fred gave our Tuesday social group a special after-hours tour of the Beehive House that everyone really enjoyed, they do a super job and felt they could take time to share a lot more than some groups might have time for or interest in. Quite a few of the group leave mid or late summer so we don't know if the group will manage to continue... |
We've been able to go to a couple of Utah Symphony concerts, we really loved the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto, were a little less thrilled about a modern composition (Bird Symphony) that was all discord. I don't know if we are just getting old and tired or are unused to sitting through serious music but we find about half a concert would be enough. It is really nice to be living just a block and half away from a major concert hall though! https://www.saltlakecountyarts.org/venues/abravanel-hall/
Now that we have one of the assistants coming in two days a week, it was decided to start back into the pre-covid custom of getting treats for birthdays, starting with mine. She ordered several dozen of the wonderful cookies they make in the COB and since we still weren't supposed to gather to sing, she told everyone they had to come sing to me to get a cookie. Then she noted all the different singing I got to hear: (I've been celebrated enough to last several years, thank you) I was sung to in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, Tagolag, sort in of Zulu as well as a Primary song, a Disney song, and yes, English. Then we went with some neighbors to the Blue Iguana for dinner (where we had to end with flan, especially since no one in Missouri seems to have it anymore) and the next day the front desk people brought us a box of chocolates to celebrate our half-way mark - we have now had enough sugar for several months thank you. At least there are a few more people starting to come work in person to share goodies with.
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| Sharon really likes to pull out all the stops, she hung every birthday thing she has collected, went down and got cookies, made everyone sing..... |
More randomness: Getting missionaries into other countries has moved forward enormously, but there are still struggles - we hear Norway can take 9 months wait, Some island countries allow maybe 1 per month in and only if one leaves.
Mission Devotional - more learning about what goes on around here:
Church History Library - over 50,000 images digitized per week. Three zones, the ones that work with the public doing tours etc. (I forget their title), others are Projects and Collections. There is the "SPC Lab" where people go through documents checking for things that are sacred, private, confidential. The church takes privacy seriously so not everything digitized would be publicly available. (We know of several people who help transcribe journals and other records.)
One story in records was of a 30-year -old mission president who helped hundreds get out of Europe before the war (WWII)
One of the phrases that struck me from speaker "I place my hand in God's today"
Sister Elder, who happens to be our next-door neighbor, works in Collections collecting oral histories of mission leaders and "pioneering members". One mission president's wife was counseled, "you need more faith and less fear." One mission had a record of lots of baptisms but very little activity - started teaching everyone "Never Come Alone" (always bring someone along to meetings and activities).
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| From back at Christmastime but the photographer finally got it to send - |
Thoughts from Leadership Pattern council:
Deut. 6:6-7 Think more about scriptures throughout the day,
Pray more specifically, Pres. Nelson said "expect miracles every day"
Ordinances help us align our thinking with the Lord's
Work alongside the Lord while you work in His vineyard"
Anticipate the needs of those we serve
Not "preparing to receive revelation" but "living in revelation" (Bednar)
Seeking to do what is right not worrying about who is right (counseling together)
One of my favorite lessons about rendering an account: "don't give feedback but "feed Forward" (instead of telling them what they did wrong, say, "going forward, you might consider doing this, or doing it this way")
Don't "put a cap on people" - they might have talents and abilities outside the usual expectations of their position.
leaders' responsibility is to raise up others (not for self), help them overcome, be better,
Another devotional included a story about a mission president in Mexico City who got a call - missionaries in the metro saw a lady smiling at them and they squeezed through the crowd to catch her and she said she has some friends who meet together to study the bible and would like them to come, they had 20-30 people meeting 3-4 times a week! Missionaries called the MP for help because they were nervous about teaching the group but brought them all book of Mormons and most were baptized - the Lord is preparing people. We just need to find them. D&C 29:7, 42:8, 123:12
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