Meetings and Mother’s Day

THE BLESSING OF TECHNOLOGY:

We were able to have the whole family

 connect from 3 different locations for

 a video call on Mother’s Day

“Aunt Sister Tyler” seeing her 3 week old niece 

This week we really didn't do much besides attend a ton of meetings! On Tuesday we went to a meeting called MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) where all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders come together in Manchester, NH to talk about how the mission is doing and how we can help the work in our mission progress. It was an amazing, uplifting, and inspiring meeting solely because we got to hear a lot from President Stoker on how we can best listen to the spirit and improve ourselves and our areas. The spirit was so strong that we were all exhausted by the end of it. Haha! And, at the end of that meeting we make decisions on what topics we talked about during this meeting should be shared with the other missionaries in our zone interview meetings during the next few weeks. So, we discussed and made assignment on what would be taught by the zone leaders and what would be taught by the sister training leaders. Now here is where the concept of relying on the spirit comes in.

“Me enjoying my 1 year mark birthday cake haha :)”

[Shelli here]: Apparently this is a tradition that

 missionaries who have been out for 1 year do here… ;)

Our zone interviews (for both of the zones we serve over as sister training leaders) were the first zones to have interviews and meetings. This means we had one day to prepare a lesson that needed to take an hour long (approximately) that best fit the needs of our different zones but followed the guidelines of what was talked about at MLC. Talk about last minute planning. We spent a few hours on Wednesday preparing for our first round of meetings on Thursday, but we still didn't finish our plans. Luckily, our ride to the meeting the next morning was going to drop us off early, so we had about half an hour to finish preparations before our first meeting (of four meetings) started. This was all so last minute and we did our best to prepare, but in the end it really was all up to the spirit and how well the missionaries we were teaching prepared for this meeting. And, it all went amazingly. I couldn't have wished for it to be any better. My favorite part was when we decided the day before to do an object/interactive lesson where we gave everyone a balloon and a sharpie, and after they blew up the balloon and tied it, they had to write down everything that stresses them out on the balloon. After a couple of minutes of having everyone write stuff down, we took a needle and popped our balloon (which made a few people scream hehe). But then we had everyone offer up their balloon so that we could pop their stress and help them see that they don't need to make the stress of a mission as big as it sometimes seems. (Plus, the words on a popped balloon look a lot cooler than the words on a blown up balloon :) ) This basic concept was talked about simply because we need to remember as missionaries, and people in general, that life in the mission and outside the mission is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured. So, keep a positive attitude on life! :D

Finally, on Sunday, I got to Skype home for the last time in my mission (that's so crazy). I loved being able to see my family and be able to talk to them about what I've learned from a mission. I am so grateful, above all else, that Heavenly Father is taking care of my family while I'm away :). I love this amazing work! I am so grateful I get to enjoy these 18 months here in New England serving everyone I meet as well as serving my loving Heavenly Father. The gospel is true!

Love, Sister Tyler