Transitions

August - September 2012 - Newsletter

South Africa

Cape Town Mission

    Our mission newsletter just arrived.  I came to realized that Elder Stokoe and I have been in the mission field for six months now.  One fourth of our mission is behind us.   I’ve been contemplating just how much we have learned from this experience.  Being with the people of South Africa has been a great joy.  The Saints are so committed and obedient.  The  young elders are an inspiration.  They encourage and strengthen us.  It’s a joy to participate with them in their Zone & District Conferences.  We like inspecting their flats and praying with them.  We like collecting their mail and having them call and ask, “Do I have any post?”  It’s a blessing to present firesides, attend classes and help the youth apply and qualify for PEF loans.  Although technology has been a huge problem for us, we are learning.  We are having many wonderful experiences which we would never have had if we’d stayed  home.  This message from President & Sister Wood really impressed me:  

TRANSITIONS

Crest Article 1 Aug 2012

Our mission is in transition. By year’s end over half of our mission will be new and many experienced elders will transition to their post-mission life. Goings and comings. Transition to the mission field. Transition from the mission field. Of course, every six weeks we undergo the transitions occasioned by transfers. Life is all about transitions: pre-mortal existence to birth, birth to death, marriage, childhood to adulthood, pre-mission to mission to post-mission, education. Transition is one of life’s constants. Dealing with change is one of life’s constant challenges.

As I pondered all the transitions occurring in our mission right now, my thoughts rested on the following language from Alma 34:34 where Alma is talking about the transition from physical death to the spirit world: “. . . for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.” In short, we transition from mortality to the spirit world with whom we have become in attitude, desire, motive and purposes. Elder Dallin Oaks tells us that those words are descriptive of what the scripture refers to as our “heart”. Proverbs 4: 23 tells us to “keep our heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” We go into the next phase of life with what we have become in our hearts from the previous phase.

When thinking about the process of becoming it begins with our thoughts and desires (heart). There’s an old saying that goes something like this: thoughts become actions; actions develop into habits; habits form character; character determines destiny. In this life what we have become is determined by what we think and by what we do. Attitude and effort-- just like Elder Renlund taught us last September. The same attitude and effort we possess in one phase of life goes with us into the next phase of life. Or for our departing veteran missionaries: the same attitude and effort you demonstrate in the last weeks of your mission will be with you as you begin your post-mission life. For example, if you lose your diligence in maintaining your personal study habit toward the end of your mission, you will struggle to even have regular daily scripture study after your mission. On the other hand, if you will delight in your scripture studies to the end of your mission, you will make the time in the busy world of post mission life to nourish yourself spiritually by daily scripture study. The same would be true of prayer, living a responsible schedule that enables you to accomplish worthy goals, and magnifying your duties in the priesthood.

Another way of talking about how we approach transitions is to say that how we endure to the end of present circumstances measures what we have become as we enter into our next circumstance. The standard for “enduring to the end” is to model our Savior. Nephi taught that unless “we endure to the end in following the example of Son of the living God,” we cannot be saved. How would the Savior approach the new missionary 12 week training program and adjust to the missionary schedule? How would the Savior love a difficult companion? What would the Savior do in a difficult area where there is seemingly insurmountable opposition? How did the Savior endure to the end of His Mission? (Can we even compare our situation to Gethsemane and Calvary?) He fulfilled every aspect of His mission and purpose to His very last breath and opened up the door for each of us to gain the ultimate transition of a marvelous resurrection and eternal life with God.

Our attitude and effort in our present circumstances define our transition to whatever is next for us. Now determines later. Now we live the mission schedule, obey the mission rules, maintain our studies, preach the word so that later we can we can maintain the spiritual attributes of prayer, scripture study, priesthood duty, and obedience to God’s commandments throughout mortality as we face the challenges of this life. “. . . For that same spirit that doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.” ( Alma 34:34)

Message from President and Sister Wood

The

Vineyard

South Africa Cape Town Mission

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
August 29	30	31 NEW MISSIONARIES ARRIVE	1 TRANSFER DAY	2 VETERANS DEPART	3 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Fowers	4
5	6 Zone Leaders Counsel	7 Zone Leaders Counsel	8 Zone Leaders Counsel “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Magetse	9 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Mholo	10	11 Pres. Sister Wood in Grahamstown
12 Pres. Sister Wood in Grahamstown Fower’s in Knysna	13	14	15 Veterans Interviews “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Stokoe	16 Veterans Interviews 6:00pm Veterans Dinner Veterans Depart	17	18
19 Work on Transfers “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Moangare	20 Work on Transfers	21 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Mkwezalamba	22	23 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Lukoye	24 Pres Fly’s to Namibia “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Andriamanantena	25 Pres & Sister Wood in Namibia
26 Fower’s in Port Alfred	27 NAM Zone Conference	28	29 Queenstown Zone Conference	30 EL/MD Zone Conference “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Sister Van Sickle	31 PE/KwaNo Zone Conference	1 September CT Zone Conference
2	3 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Nance	4 “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Elder Houston	5	6 ZLC Skype Call	7	8