HEELLLLOO
This week was pretty fun! Tuesday, we had a really bad snowstorm that came outta NOWHERE. I was on exchanges that day with Elder Kohler. I was the designated driver for the day, so we tried getting to our appointments on roads I had driven on plenty of times before. It was a different story for the rest of Jonesboro, though. I have never seen traffic so clogged so fast. Everyone booked it to the nearest grocery store and stocked up on their year's food storage, it seemed. It took us 45 minutes to get from one end of town to another since the traffic was so bad. Schools got out early. Car wheels were shredding up the snow at top speeds as the hunks of metal sluggishly slithered up icy slopes. It was a pathetic state of disarray that Elder Kohler and I viewed from the comfort of our Corolla. I'm so glad I'm from Utah.
Institute starts this week for the college students, and we're really excited about that, because our investigators are excited about it. Emuobor's been looking forward to it, and Michael is interested to attend. We've got awesome singles in our ward, and the Institute group will be fun for all of us.
We were driving down the northern part of town on Friday trying to get to an appointment. Elder Carter missed a turn. We had to "pull a U-y", as Freddie says, and get back around. As we drove back to the turn, I noticed a particular character strolling down the sidewalk on the left side of the street. This guy had a limp to him. A limp I had seen before. I said, "Elder Carter. Look," and pointed to the man. We flipped. It was Troy Jones. He was back. All we could do was zoom by and say "Call us!" since we were in a hurry, but it is SUCH a comfort to know he's back. We'll try to see him as soon as we can, and he'll be baptized in a week or so.
We had a member of the Quorum of the Seventy come to our mission this past week, Elder Kopischke. He was a wonderful person and I learned a lot from him.
One of the coolest things he said really changed me. He asked, "How many of you had a dream to serve a mission?" I raised my hand. Then he said, "How many of you have goals of what to accomplish on your missions?" We didn't have to raise our hands, but I really reflected and thought, "Man, I honestly don't have mission goals. I'm here, but... now that I am, I don't have an agenda at all."
Elder Kopischke had us all go into separate rooms and pray for our goals. When I had the chance to really think about what I wanted to do here, Heavenly Father gave me my agenda. He gave me a finish line to run to. My mission has now been given purpose, and I am set on finding those people I'm meant to teach.
My goal before my mission was to serve a mission. On the mission, my goal had been to take the things I learned on my mission and take them home with me. Now I have goals to accomplish for the next 9 months.
So here's what I learned for everyone else. It's good to set goals. But sometimes we set goals that don't have a set amount of time. Like me. I wanted to take the things I learned from my mission home. That applies to...the rest of my life. Years and years. That's a big window to fulfill goals in! But once we set goals within a certain time frame, the goals become a lot more real, and all of our efforts are focused into a crunch time. Every day we're driven by purpose! So what are our goals for this next month? This next week? Set goals for a space of time, and you'll find a lot more of your goals accomplished.
Elder Kopischke read a cool verse in the Book of Mormon about goals. Basically, it said that when we achieve our dreams, we're happy. Happiness come from fulfilling wishes, goals and dreams. I know that to be very true. So let's set goals to be happy from!
I'm excited for the work we have ahead. Elder Carter and I have made it a goal to find many more investigators this week. I now have goals to drive me to work. I love my mission. I love those I work around. And I love you guys. :3
-Elder Staib
No comments:
Post a Comment