Monday, September 25, 2017

Transfer Week in the Mission

This afternoon we took Elder Kaufusi and Elder Contreras to the airport.  Elder Contreras will return to Elder Salvador to continue working in that part of the mission, while Elder Kaufusi is returning home after serving honorably his two-year mission, five months in Belize City.  We serve with great, dedicated, hardworking missionaries. The young missionaries get transferred to different areas in the mission and to different companions, every twelve to eighteen weeks.  Fortunately, as senior missionaries, we get to keep our same companion...forever!
Sunday there was a  presentation of the SOY program to the youth in Belize.  SOY, which stands for Strength of Youth, is a week-long camp held in nearby Guatemala in December for youth to learn and grow spiritually.  They attend classes and devotionals, mixed with dances, music, games, service projects, good food, and all the while strengthening their relationship with Jesus Christ. Making new friends and building wonderful memories are cherished benefits of SOY.
 What is this?  A phone booth in the park-- haven't seen one of these in a long time!
Sunday night we attended the General Women's Session of Conference via satellite with the sisters from the Belize City Branches.   Since it was a world wide meeting, I was happy to think of my own daughters attending the same meeting in the different cities where they live.  That night I was pleased to receive this picture of my Utah daughters and was happy to see that my new baby grandson also enjoyed listening to the session with his Mom and Aunts.
As I listened to the talks,  I especially enjoyed Sis. Eubank's:  "Turn On Your Light".  She taught that "righteous women have a a significant part to play in building the kingdom in the latter-days." She referred to a talk given by President Kimball given back in 1979 where he taught us to be a "significant force" in the last days.  Deseret News summarized her talk:

Sister Eubank pointed out three important parts of President Kimball’s charge to be a “significant force” in the last days. First, that it will be the good relationships of women that will trigger much of the major growth coming to the Church in the years ahead.

Second, the friendships that Relief Society women, young women and primary girls build with sincere, faithful godly women and girls of other faiths and beliefs will be a significant force in how the Church grows in the last days.

Third, President Kimball called the women from other backgrounds “heroines” who will be "more concerned with being righteous than selfish," and who will show that integrity is more valuable than visibility.

From the third point, Sister Eubank gave the example of  how complete strangers banded together to form a human chain  to rescue a family caught in a Florida riptide.
You can also see the video by clicking here and going to 6:17

I was so intrigued by the story,  I looked it up on youtube and found this news report about it.  
You can also see the news report by clicking here.

It's hard to believe that we've been out on our mission for almost 3 months.  We have especially enjoyed getting to know and work with the wonderful Belizean people.


3 comments:

  1. The Women's Broadcast was wonderful - and the human chain story is amazing - thanks for sharing.

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  2. I, too, loved the Women's General Broadcast and the Eubank's talk. I found it even more interesting to learn that Sister Eubank had been very involved in the Church's Humanitarian Center before her calling to the Relief Society Presidency.....how did I learn that? Last night one of our other wards in our Stake invited all to join them for a service project at the Humanitarian Center which is across the street from the Church's Distribution Center in downtown Salt Lake City. 5 of us from the Forestview Ward climbed into a car and buzzed down, arriving about 6:25. We began working around 6:45 and filled 5 gallon pails with cleaning supplies that will be sent to one of several places that are needing help cleaning up after some natural disasters including: Texas, Florida, Mexico City, some islands in the Caribbean. In an hour and half we had put together almost 1,000 buckets! We then went into a large room and watched a 20 minute video about the church's Humanitarian efforts around the world. It was emphasized that NO TITHING moneys are spent in these efforts....this service is all because of donations made on the tithing slips of members and non-members and donations of materials from businesses. Sister Eubank was the host for the video we watched. Thanks for posting the videos. I think you will find that watching General Conference from Belize is actually pretty easy because Belize and Salt Lake City are on the same time. CARRY ON!!!

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