Escalated cases

Hey everyone!

First off, I should talk a bit about the temple open house which happened soon after I had finished my last E-mail to you. The trip was very nice, a good little change from the ordinary. As I may have already mentioned, the temple we visited was the Jordan River temple. You may not know this, but this is actually the fourth largest temple in the world, and the second largest in Utah. Of course, attending a dedicated temple is an experience like none other, but this trip was nice in it's own way - people from all walks of life can come in and see what the interior of a temple looks like firsthand, and learn more about what we believe. Such an experience does not happen every day, even in Utah, so this was pretty special.

Anyway, for the rest of the week, training has continued for the pilot project I mentioned last week. They had anticipated having us begin actually working on the cases, but we have finished the training earlier than that - we will begin the project next Monday. We have learned quite quickly, and this is due to a couple of reasons. First of all, we already knew how to use customer support software, so working with that which is used for this was a cinch, and learning to do the work itself wasn't a huge deal. We have also had more focus on this sort of stuff than other people would, due to the nature of missionary service. However, I think that the biggest help here was the hand of the Lord - I am convinced that he opened our understanding so that we could serve His servants in the field, and ultimately further the work along. I know for a fact that the Lord's hand is in every aspect of this work, and it is with His help that we succeed out here.

Anyway, as previously mentioned, we will begin the project on Monday. Now, those of us involved in the project will not be working in the same area where we trained to do this work. Rather, we will be working in the Family History Library along with the rest of the zone. However, we have been moved to a different location in the library, in the staff area of B1, the floor above where we previously worked. Some of you may remember that B1 is the shorthand name for the floor with records from non-English speaking countries, or the "International" floor - the floor where I spent the first three months of my mission. In other words, after having served for a year in the mission, I am back where I started, in a sense. So, the latter part of yesterday was spent moving computers, cables, chairs, and other things necessary for our work from our workstations on B2 up the B1. (The freight elevators in the back really helped with this)

This month, rather than get a mission conference specifically for us, the young elders of the mission were invited to attend the senior mission conference earlier this week. Of course, as I am in the choir (as well as my companion, for the first time in my mission), I would have been able to go to this conference both days. However, I did not want those of us in the pilot (who were all in the choir) to miss any training, so we all attended on Thursday, the day when there was no training scheduled. The messages shared were great, as always - the subject was the last week of the Savior's life. The organization was a bit unique - as usual, we had both President and Sister Fenn address us, but this time, it was President Fenn who spoke first, then Sister Fenn who concluded. The choir also got to sing two musical numbers - one before each speaker. After their remarks, we closed with a video clip of Bruce R. McConkie's (Sister Fenn's father) last General Conference address. Overall, the conference was great, and I was glad to have been able to attend.

My companion had a doctor's appointment yesterday, so we had to leave our training early to go there. Unlike most appointments which young elders in the mission have, this one did not take place at church headquarters - rather, we had to borrow a mission vehicle and go on a nice little drive to get to the hospital. I had anticipated taking about an hour or two to finish up that which needed to be taken care of, but it ended up being three hours before we returned. But, my companion did need it, so I am glad to have been able to go. Unfortunately, we were not able to return to the training though - it had wrapped up for good by the time we had returned. Oh well, it was nice to have been able to take part in this training. We will be keeping in touch with our trainers through the magic of instant messaging anyway - that's just one of the tools we use to seek more information in working web cases. (young elders have been using Skype for this purpose in this zone for a while now.)

Well, it has been a pretty good week, if you ask me. Then again, it is always a decent week - it's all about attitude! I look forward to starting the pilot project, and I hope that everything goes well. Have a good one, everyone!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



Challenge: The Lord, on the last day of his public ministry, was asked a profound question by a certain lawyer - "What is the great commandment of the law?" He was, in essence, asking which of all of God's commandments was the most important to know, and to apply to our lives. Undoubtedly, this was a serious subject of debate, so the answer to such an inquiry would be impactful. The Savior, as most of us know, replied "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart ... And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (See Matthew 22 37:40) What exactly is it that makes these two commandments so important? Why would it be more important to love God and one's neighbor than to not kill or take the Lord's name in vain? Let me answer with a question: would you misuse the name of, or take the life of, one whom you truly love? Is it easier to serve our neighbor, or our enemy? As we find ourselves learning to love God and our fellow man, we will find that all other commandments become much easier to obey. Servitude to those we love is not a burden or annoyance, but rather a privilege. Of course, there is still purpose behind the other commandments God has given us - they teach us how to obey these two great commandments. How can we learn to love God if we do not pray; how can we learn to love our fellow men if we do not visit them in their trials? My challenge to you this week is to more fully obey the two great commandments of the law. This is done through other commandments. As you do this, you will find that your spirituality will increase based on your investment of effort into this, and your love for God and man will come more naturally.