Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: TURNING THE CORNER

At this time of the year we have traditionally gone to nursery/garden stores, picked out some flowers and other plants. Russell has then planted those flowers in our garden while I have admired the beauty of his efforts. That personal effort was part of what made our house our home. Although there is an abundance of beautiful foliage where we live we did not have any in our apartment. I didn’t realize how much I (Eileen) missed some of the personal touches from home in our living accommodations. Our apartment is well furnished and decorated in modern décor. It just isn’t our décor. Yesterday Russell and I went out to a local nursery and bought some plants and flowers for the balcony of our apartment. It is amazing how such a small thing has made our apartment seem more like home.

Last night I called home to wish my father Happy Birthday for his 88^th birthday and he asked if we celebrated Memorial Day here. I had completely forgotten about the holiday as it is not celebrated here - the days just seem to run together. This morning before we left for church I enjoyed the peace of sitting on our balcony amidst “my garden” looking over the cemetery below and thinking about my sister Julie. Julie passed away unexpectedly last October while scuba diving. I know that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that she and all mankind will be resurrected. I felt a peaceful assurance that Julie was aware of where I was and was proud of me for what I was doing. Perhaps I need to take the time to ponder and meditate more often.

Today marks the seventh week we have been here. It has been a whirlwind of events and change in our life. We have both had our challenges with this change. It is probably a combination of culture shock, adjusting on both our parts to recently leaving our former professions and being together 24/7. For a variety of reasons it has not been easy for us. The words of the hymn I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go, to "go" and "do" and "say," are easier to sing than to live.

While we report to our mission president, President Groberg, on ecclesiastical matters, unlike the other senior couple missionaries we report to the country (Indonesia and Malaysia) manager (Subandriyo) for our daily welfare/humanitarian duties. This past week we talked with him about our feelings and challenges. In addition to his day job as the country manager, Elder Subandriyo is also an Area Seventy, a position he has held for approximately 10 years. In our church being an Area Seventy is a position above a stake president, covering a specific geographic area, and below a world-wide General Authority. We both have a great deal of admiration for Elder Subandriyo. Sister Healy refers to him as a modern day Job. He has had a great deal of adversity in his life and yet continues to smile, serve others, and never complain. Despite his busy schedule Elder Subandriyo listened attentively to what we had to say. Although empathetic to our situation, he didn’t just say that he would lighten our load by taking away certain of our duties. Rather, he said that the Lord had called us here and that our previous life experiences had prepared us for the duties which have been assigned to us. We then had a very sacred conversation after which he gave us both priesthood blessings. A priesthood blessing can be given for the healing of the sick or also in times of challenge. It is given as the word of God and is dependent on the worthiness and the faith of the person receiving the blessing. At that point in time we desperately needed to find peace. The blessing was a great source of power and healing from God. We both left that day with a renewed ability to perform our mission duties in the way that the Lord would have us do it.

In the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 24:14-15), our Lord said to his people "I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs . . . that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter . . . And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon (them) were made light; yea the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

Our hope is that we can cheerfully submit to the will of the Lord. We know that everything will not always be perfect or fun, but we can and will have a positive attitude and find joy in our mission work.

Today we had the opportunity to witness the baptism of Tony. He is the second baptism this week in our ward. Tony found our church while surfing the internet. He found www.mormon.org and made contact with the church and started visiting with the missionaries. We were happy to see the new start he has made in his life.