Mission: Week One, Day Five

This morning after breakfast we had our Teaching Member Experience.  It was so lovely.  A little tummy-tightening at the thought of teaching our first real person, but when we got in there and met Mary Anne, we totally gained confidence.  She was so nice and kind and interesting.  We spent ten minutes getting to know her then we had fifteen minutes to plan a lesson.  We had semi-planned last night but were waiting to meet her before finalizing that plan.

Because she had some of the same family issues and concerns that our missionary couple had, and which we had, we were able to use the bare bones of our previous lesson and flesh it out with even more specific thoughts and suggestions and discussion.  At the end of the lesson we said goodbye with tears in our eyes as we had in that very short time felt great love for this sweet kind lady.

After our district of four couples all completed their TME we met back together to talk about the experience and evaluate ourselves.  The final step was to receive an evaluation from our trainer who was to have met with Mary Anne to get her comments on our teaching.  As it happens, Mary Anne was having difficulty with her asthma.  She had volunteered to do the CME with another senior missionary couple prior to meeting with us, and being in the small divided room was difficult for her and she had to leave before evaluating us so our trainer just spoke with us about her impressions of how we did with our other assignments throughout the week.  Well, we were okay with that.  It seemed to us like the lesson went smoothly.

Following lunch we all met as a large group, the last time we would be all together as some missionary couples were leaving later that afternoon, and others were leaving over the weekend for their areas of labor.  Still others, about half of the 65 couples were staying for some days the following week for additional training for their specific assignments.  (We were one of those couples.).

During that final meeting we talked about what we had learned about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others, wherever we were and in whatever situation we found ourselves.  We were encouraged to be missionaries for Jesus even after the conclusion of our full-time service.

We also talked of "enduring to the end".  This is something that many Christians think about and talk about.  There is a short article by Dieter F. Uchtdorf  in the July 2016 New Era magazine that we referenced that was really good.  A section that I really enjoyed reading and cogitating over is:

"...enduring to the end is not just a matter of passively tolerating life’s difficult circumstances or “hanging in there.” Ours is an active religion, helping God’s children along the strait and narrow path to develop their full potential during this life and return to Him one day. Viewed from this perspective, enduring to the end is exalting and glorious, not grim and gloomy. This is a joyful religion, one of hope, strength, and deliverance."  

For myself, I hope that I can help others along their way to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father one day.  That will bring me great joy.

Weekend is here.  As Senior Missionaries, we have the time free to do whatever we need to do.  Some people went to visit local family members.  Others stayed at the MTC to do laundry, relax, and practice what we have been taught all week. Still others, like us, planned to attend the temple Friday evening or Saturday.