Ahhhghgh… (that was the noise you make when you wake up in the morning and stretch with all of your might) That’s how I feel all of the time… today. It’s kinda great. Anyways… what even happened this week..
Well I know one thing that happened, that wasn’t all that cool… my comp was sick all week. What a bum thing to do to my dear friend, Satan! Man… so that was nuts. We luckily only had one day that we had to bum it in the apartment. We got ready and were in pros (missionary clothing) the whole day… even though he was asleep on the couch for sixteen hours. We were ready in case he all of the sudden felt better. He didn’t. I read all of the ensign, Alma, and the Old Testament (not really on the last one though). I danced like a goob in front of the mirro,r to the beautiful sound of silence, for a good hour and a half. Boredom drives you to do some interesting things. I learned some cool moves though… I’ll have to show you later.
On to the more serious things of life, we had Mission Leader Council this week. It was a good one. We trained on using members effectively in teaching. Something we haven’t been very good at lately. So my comp and I did some training and then (big move) had members come in the meeting from our ward to help with the role plays. I don’t know if that’s been done before so we felt pretty good about it. We had everyone role play the first time without using the things we trained them on, like preparing the member and telling them the lesson plan and all that kind of stuff. They all kind of tanked when they did it that way… which is typically how we use members. We just ask them random questions and they don’t really know what we expect of them or what they should say. So then we had them role play again, but this time they were to tell the member what their role will be. Have them teach a small principle, testify of it, and even invite the investigators to do things. Like come to church. It’s a lot more effective that way. So… it was a good meeting. I conducted and had Sister Bonham’s laptop and took “minutes” which is basically a play by play of what was going on. Stenographer Merrill is what they call me. Or at least that’s what I call myself. Possible career avenue? Only time will tell…
Last night we had cottage meeting. I didn’t get to hear the speakers because it was so packed and I was by the door greeting people so… I can’t really say if it was good or bad. From what I hear, it was fantastic. So… good for them. Also, we’re on day 36 of insanity… and our WWU investigator is still being baptized next Sunday after church. Good times.
I’ve had a lot of thoughts. One of them has been about motives and priorities. I have come to some form of a conclusion that our motives and priorities need to be centered on one thing, if we are to not feel inadequate in all other areas. I don’t think we can accomplish everything we need to. For example, let’s say Dad was torn between going to my baseball game as a kid and helping someone out in the ward when he was Bishop. Both of those options are good things.. But he still can’t accomplish both. So depending on where he views his priorities he might feel like a failure for choosing one over the other, no matter how it turned out. So that’s a problem. Or at least I think it could be. So what if his priority was to love God. That’s his number one priority. Well… then whatever he chooses, he succeeds. He doesn’t have to feel guilty. He fulfilled his purpose. And he can feel good about it and the next time he can serve God a different way and do another option. I just feel like if we center everything on Christ and serving Him, then everything else can fall into place. We don’t have to feel guilty for choosing one good thing over another. It almost makes sense in my head and I might have even shared something similar to this before. I just had it come into my mind. Maybe someone is having conflicting priorities out there. I do realize the theory is still in the abstract. I’m not sure how to bring it down to universal application. I’m working on it. I still do think it’s a true principle. God first (serving people, keeping those little commandments)… things fall into place. Anything else first (pleasure, fun, convenience.) … things tend to fall apart. I like to ask myself which of all of my options is putting God first… because sometimes it’s hard to tell. That appealing natural man tends to blind our vision. If I still have more than one option of “God firsts” then prioritize it in order of urgency and time restraint… but whatever it is you accomplish from those “God first” selections.. You can feel good and satisfied. I like feeling good.
Oh, thanks. I like you too.
Elder Trent Jay Merrill
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