Self-starters needed

    We spoke in both wards last Sunday, and it gave us a chance to introduce ourselves and allow the members to get a glimpse into our personalities and unique talents. Cathy said she's been waiting 38 years to serve a mission, and mentioned how she loves to bake cookies as a way to make friends with people. Dan talked about how the loss of his wife and two of their children was a motivating force in his life to serve a mission after he retired, and he doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize his cleanliness before God, because he knows they are waiting for him in the celestial kingdom, and he does not want to fail them.

    We made our first visits with ward members this week, and like most everything we've experienced since we arrived, it's proving to be a challenge. Our apartment is in Kaneohe, and the ward meetinghouse is about 12 miles away in Waimanalo. Consequently, all of the members are at least 10 miles away each time we try to visit them. And if they are not home, it's not easy to return again the same day. To make our travel back and forth to our mission area, we try to plan visits on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the wards are meeting for youth and family history activities. We particularly enjoy sitting down with longtime members who have a long historical background to draw from. They are a wealth of knowledge and experience that is invaluable to us.

    We are starting to have success with our community service volunteer efforts. On Tuesday, Dan cooked up a big pan of spaghetti, along with garlic toast, salad and corn on the cob, and Cathy baked cupcakes, enough to feed a group of 17 parents and children who meet each week for counseling sessions and group activities. We also helped hand out food at the local Salvation Army, and devoted most of the day on Friday to helping at the Honolulu Food Pantry. We had interviews to assist at the State Hospital near where we live, and are scheduled for more interviews with a small public charter school that teaches Hawaiian culture and values. We never realized we'd need to update our resumes as part of serving a senior mission!

    What is crystal clear to us is that, as senior missionaries, we need to be self-starters and create our own opportunities. We don't have a trainer like the young missionaries, and no one is holding our hand telling us what to do. We cannot just sit back and wait for things to happen. We have to be "anxiously engaged" in giving it our very best effort. We are given an assignment, and it is up to us to rely on the Spirit to lead us and guide us in ways that will best serve the Lord in this part of the vineyard and bless His children. It is a steep learning curve, but we feel like we are up to the challenge. Our willingness to serve is probably the most important thing of all right now. God bless all of you!