Happenings of the last month and random thoughts

Wow, another month has passed! For a couple of weeks in Oct. things seemed to slow down a little, but just about the time I was starting to relax I got very busy. Last week I was in the office until 8-9 PM twice and until 7PM twice. Monday was the only night I got home at a reasonable hour, but I went back to the office after grabbing a bite to eat so I could quickly do a couple of things and say "Hi" to Abby and Aydree before going to family home evening at 7PM. By Saturday I was in need of some diversion, but discovered I was too tired to go anywhere or do much of any thing. So, I stayed in the apartment cooking and cleaning and went out for about an hour to do grocery shopping which was all very therapeutic! However, the day was not a complete diversion. Early in the morning, I spent time on the phone and e-mail with a mission president finishing up arrangements to find an escort for a missionary who has become psychotic and needs to go home to the US. Then about 7PM a mission president's wife called about a missionary who is falling apart. I ended up on the phone ect. for about two hours with that situation. I see a fair number of missionaries who are good people with strong testimonies who try to be absolutely perfect in every way and then become overwhelmed with discouragement and exhaustion from the strain of it all. At times I suspect Satan's best tool against them is to make them feel they are failures and have no chance of being a successful missionary because they can't figure out how to be perfect and feel the presence of the Spirit with them every minute of every day. Many of that type of missionary, especially if they tend to have a lot of anxiety, can not be convinced that giving the best we know how to give is all the Lord expects. They also have a hard time accepting the fact investigators have chosen not to be baptized not because the missionary did something wrong, but because the investigator used his/her agency.

Elder Quinton L. Cook, Elder Snow of the Seventy and one of the counselors in the Presiding Bishopric is here touring the Chile area. As of August 2012 this area will be consolidated with the area that is now Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. I think the new area will be the South America South Area. I suspect the visit is in part to gather information needed for the change. Saturday, November 5th Elder Cook spoke to the missionaries of the North and East Santiago missions in a morning devotional. We senior missionaries who work out of the area offices were invited to go to that devotional. Elder Cook gave a wonderful talk and emphasized two thoughts that have come to my mind many times. One statement he made to the missionaries was, "Know that you are good enough". I just hope some of the missionaries who are such perfectionists will believe him.

I had an interesting experience this week. For a couple of months I have seen an Elder off and on because of a strange sleep disturbance that he has. He is a leader in his mission and a great person. Whenever he comes in he brightens my day by his humor and happy disposition. However, he is exhausting himself and everyone else in the house with his vivid dreams, talking, shouting and acting out his dreams, all in his sleep. The mission president had decided he needed to send the elder to a sleep clinic for a work-up, but wanted him to come in one last time to see what I could do. I had a very busy day Wednesday with just a 30 minute slot of open time in which I decided to get on line and do some research. Within 20 minutes I had found the name of a disorder that described his symptoms, a review of all the research that has been done up to last year and the newly published guidelines for treatment of the disorder. Later that day I talked to Dr. Doty, head of missionary medical, who is going to get me the name of one of the heads of the sleep disorder center in Salt Lake who will consult with me on how to treat the missionary. This is the kind of thing that happens over and over again as I work with the missionaries. Not once have I ever gotten on line to find research on something, not alone something I didn't even have a name for, and come up with that kind of information in that amount of time. I have a firm testimony the Lord knows each of these missionaries personally and watches over them.

We are coming into summer here. The blossoms on the bougainvilla are amazing as well as the many flowering trees that line the streets. One of the trees that has a fern-like leaf has the most beautiful shade of lavender blossom I think I have ever seen. I go walking each morning with one of the senior sisters whose husband likes to walk by himself because he can walk faster and get a better workout. We go to the park which is only about a block west of my apartment and has a dirt walking path. There is also some exercise equipment which is for stretching and weight lifting. We spend about fifteen minutes on the equipment after we walk. Both of us feel stronger and more flexible from the walking and exercising, but don't look any different. I guess that is to be expected when you get past sixty.

A couple of thoughts before I close. As of October 25th I have been on my mission for six months, which means from now on I will be having some one time experiences. For example, I will only spend one Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year in Chile. It makes me sad when I think about that, which tells me that I am adjusting to being here. Even though I still miss my family very much, I can tell when the time comes to leave Chile it is going to be hard. Well, I think this is enough for one entry.