Surviving and Thriving
We brought in 21 missionaries 1 1/2 weeks ago, and 13 more this past week. . Things went pretty smoothly. These missionaries bring our total force up to about 130 missionaries! Missionary work is basically back to normal here in New Zealand, as we no longer have Covid restrictions. All of our new incoming missionaries are New Zealand citizens.
We've just officially hit the beginning of winter here. We get lots of rain, but there are nice sunny days as well. Bike rides and walks help us avoid cabin fever. We are very blessed to have fairly mild winters compared to what we're used to in Utah.
Our work days are consumed with phone calls, answering texts and emails, ordering supplies, maintaining flats with all their essential needs, mentoring missionaries, paper work for missionaries, and etc. Thursday, we drove to Tauranga to help missionaries clean all the walls in their home, and to help them with some other
Jobs. We also had the office elders help. They transported some chairs and couches to trade out. Friday we did another trip to Otorohanga to help with elders moving into a home we just started leasing. We were very happy to get this place, as it was the only home available in that town.
President and Sister Erekson invited the office staff over for pizza, salad, and banana splits Wednesday. It was such a great opportunity to visit and relax after a very busy month. Senior missionaries enjoy fun times just as the young missionaries do!
Some of the missionaries who have recently arrived served previously in a country known as Papua New Guinea. It is known for lawlessness. But the missionaries report that many people are joining the Church and they are getting a temple built there. One of the missionaries told of his experience traveling to one of the neighboring islands. He and other missionaries needed to travel by boat to the island. Enroute, their boat was damaged in a severe storm. Another boat would not arrive for six weeks. A family took them in and gave them food, and luckily a boat arrived four weeks later. They arrived back to the main island, and found their mission president had been very worried about their whereabouts. While they were gone, Covid-19 became a problem, and these missionaries had been scheduled on a flight to return to New Zealand the next day. Wow! What an experience!
A talk that I read this past week has given me a motto to live by in these unsettling times. It is entitled "Surviving and Thriving like the Pioneers". It was delivered by Elder Lawrence E Corbridge in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square July 24, 2019. Elder Corbridge taught that one characteristic of those who not only survive but also thirve is adaptability, or coming to terms with a new reality. We are most rattled when our lives suddenly change, especially by events outside our control. Those who fare best are the most flexible and less dependent on their environment and the normal routines of life for stability. This is more than optimism or a positive attitude. It is faith, which is different. Survivors and thrivers see things for what they are--good and bad--and they deal with them. So the motto I have chosen to live by is: I will thrive --not just survive. I will adapt with faith to whatever my circumstance may be, knowing that all things will work together for my good if I endure them well. Like Elder Corbridge, I pray that we will not only survive the adversities of life but also thrive because of them. (I recommend reading this article in its entirety. It can be found on churchofjesuschrist.org in the Ensign magazine, July 2020)
Here's to THRIVING, NOT JUST SURVIVING! We hope your week is filled with hope, peace, and love!
Elder and Sister Folland
We've just officially hit the beginning of winter here. We get lots of rain, but there are nice sunny days as well. Bike rides and walks help us avoid cabin fever. We are very blessed to have fairly mild winters compared to what we're used to in Utah.
Our work days are consumed with phone calls, answering texts and emails, ordering supplies, maintaining flats with all their essential needs, mentoring missionaries, paper work for missionaries, and etc. Thursday, we drove to Tauranga to help missionaries clean all the walls in their home, and to help them with some other
Jobs. We also had the office elders help. They transported some chairs and couches to trade out. Friday we did another trip to Otorohanga to help with elders moving into a home we just started leasing. We were very happy to get this place, as it was the only home available in that town.
President and Sister Erekson invited the office staff over for pizza, salad, and banana splits Wednesday. It was such a great opportunity to visit and relax after a very busy month. Senior missionaries enjoy fun times just as the young missionaries do!
Some of the missionaries who have recently arrived served previously in a country known as Papua New Guinea. It is known for lawlessness. But the missionaries report that many people are joining the Church and they are getting a temple built there. One of the missionaries told of his experience traveling to one of the neighboring islands. He and other missionaries needed to travel by boat to the island. Enroute, their boat was damaged in a severe storm. Another boat would not arrive for six weeks. A family took them in and gave them food, and luckily a boat arrived four weeks later. They arrived back to the main island, and found their mission president had been very worried about their whereabouts. While they were gone, Covid-19 became a problem, and these missionaries had been scheduled on a flight to return to New Zealand the next day. Wow! What an experience!
A talk that I read this past week has given me a motto to live by in these unsettling times. It is entitled "Surviving and Thriving like the Pioneers". It was delivered by Elder Lawrence E Corbridge in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square July 24, 2019. Elder Corbridge taught that one characteristic of those who not only survive but also thirve is adaptability, or coming to terms with a new reality. We are most rattled when our lives suddenly change, especially by events outside our control. Those who fare best are the most flexible and less dependent on their environment and the normal routines of life for stability. This is more than optimism or a positive attitude. It is faith, which is different. Survivors and thrivers see things for what they are--good and bad--and they deal with them. So the motto I have chosen to live by is: I will thrive --not just survive. I will adapt with faith to whatever my circumstance may be, knowing that all things will work together for my good if I endure them well. Like Elder Corbridge, I pray that we will not only survive the adversities of life but also thrive because of them. (I recommend reading this article in its entirety. It can be found on churchofjesuschrist.org in the Ensign magazine, July 2020)
Here's to THRIVING, NOT JUST SURVIVING! We hope your week is filled with hope, peace, and love!
Elder and Sister Folland
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