Excel and Jedi Council

 3/2/17

Not a ton happened last week so I am honestly a little bit at a loss of what to write about this last week. We went on exchanges with the Assistants to the President, had Jedi Council (Missionary Leadership Council with the President, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders to discuss the needs of the mission), and then got an online copy of our ward list that we got permission to access because it is through our mission emails. The last one is so dope! I can't tell you how excited I was to get on a google spreadsheet and see all of the less actives right there where we could take them and organize them by address or name! Technology is incredible! 

    The funniest part of last week was definitely April 1. We had completely forgotten it was April Fools until a a Taiwanese Sister called us in the morning and told us that her also Taiwanese (rare companionship) companion had ran off and she couldn't find her. She asked if we could call President Jergensen for her, but by then we had realized it was April Fools. Not to be deterred, she called President Jergensen herself and told him her companion had gone home. Now, her companion has actually been struggling with homesickness and a lack of desire to do missionary work, so you can imagine President Jergensen's reaction. After leading him on for a few minutes she finally told him it was April Fools and he just thought it was hilarious, especially because she had done the exact same thing to him last year.

    Here is the best part. She then tried to recruit him to help her trick a companionship in her district that was already on to her and knew she was going to trick them on April Fools. President Jergensen declined, but then guess who got involved? Yep. Yours truly. So we send a referral to the Elders with a home phone number of the Sisters so they wouldn't recognize it, and then tell them to call it that morning. They did, and then Sister Lin set up with them for that night. Boy were they surprised when the Sisters walked up to the chapel that night and said, "Hi! I'm Mrs. Chen and this is my husband Mr. Chen." They never saw it coming. 

   I'd like to just quickly finish with a quote from a talk by Dallin H. Oaks I read this last week: "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming. To achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being." I love that idea. What do we truly want in life? D&C 137:9 says that we will be judged according to works, and our works are according to our desire. I know that by a careful evaluation of what we really desire in life, we can find what we still need to change to be in line with God's will. Have a wonderful week!!