Amos 3:7

September, with it’s two trips to the Balkans, has passed by very quickly.  For that matter it hardly seems like almost six months and one-third of our mission has actually already gone by.  As I (Russell) look back at our first mission and compare how we felt about how fast the time was passing there is a great difference.  At this point in Indonesia the time when we would return home seemed an eternity away. It would be easy and inaccurate to say that the difference had to do with how much we were enjoying where we were serving or what we were doing on a daily basis.  With the perspective of having served on two previous 18-month missions, I believe the difference is now I can see from a broader perspective.  This mission will pass and there will likely be more in the future.  Our first mission was a huge change from our prior years of married life together.  Now it seems like a natural part of the next phase of our life together.  Or perhaps time is just passing faster now that I am getting older – I turned 61 this last month.

This week Eileen completed her first week of intensive German lessons.  The class is three and one half hours each weekday morning.  She missed the first of the five-week course due to our trip to Albania.  Fortunately, her prior studying with Rosetta Stone made it so she has been able to keep up.  She is taking the class with Sister Lovell, a single sister missionary serving in the Self-Reliance Department.  There are thirteen students in the class, six of whom are refugees.  The students are from India, Ethiopia, Eretria, Somalia, Turkey, Moldova, Lithuania, Ghana, Iran and Brazil.  Eileen seems to love both learning the German language and having the opportunity to meet other people.  Like a true German she rides her bike to and from class.  If there was ever any doubt in my mind before, it is now crystal clear to me that my wife enjoys being out and meeting people more than she enjoys office work.

On Thursday night we attended an activity at the church building where the Self-Reliance program was being introduced to both members and few non-members of the church.  Elder and Sister Rueckert conducted the evening’s activities.  I wanted to see how the program was being implemented as I worked for seven months in that department in SLC after we returned from Indonesia.  The program is designed to help individuals attain both temporal and spiritual self-reliance.  It is important to note that when we say self-reliant we mean not being dependent upon the world, recognizing that we are very dependent upon God and always will be.  The program starts with a self-assessment of your self-reliance and then setting goals to achieve that which you are lacking.  Over half the Church’s members live outside the U.S. and Canada, and many of those in poverty.  The program has classes on finding better employment, starting and growing your own business, gaining an education, and basic behavioral habits that will help anyone function better in life.  The course materials and related videos can be found on-line at  http://www.lds.org/topics/pef-self-reliance/manuals-and-videos?lang=eng.

Self-Reliance meeting with Sister Rueckert speaking

Yesterday and today we have to great opportunity to listen to living apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ speak to the world.  Every six months in what we call “General Conference,” LDS Church leaders speak on various religious subjects.  It is truly a blessing to live at a time when there is a prophet of God on the earth through which we can hear what God would have us do today.  I remember clearly six months ago when Elder Kearon spoke on the refugee crisis in Europe and said that this moment would not define those people’s lives but that how we react to their plight may well define ours.  Yesterday as I listened to Elder Hales (an apostle) speak he reminded us that we could not pray away another’s free agency to make choices we do not agree with.  It emphasized in my mind the importance to God and His plan for us in this life that we have the right to choose how we react to the challenges and opportunities we face.  It is still amazing to me that I can sit in my apartment in Germany and hear a session of conference live or on taped delay at my convenience.  And it is even more amazing that I can listen to a prohet speak today in fulfillment of Amos' declaration that, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the prophets."