Monday, January 12, 2015
RE: Letter 6 of 3
Dear Riley:
It’s early Monday morning and I’ve been awake for awhile. I feel energized and there’s a touch of excitement in the air, like something great is just around the corner It’s a good life and a great time to be alive! Last Thursday evening I ran into the B's in the Temple. We chatted for quite awhile. They’ve been to Thailand and I’m sure you’re going to love it. I was also listening to the Travel Show on the radio as I went about my business on Saturday. One of the hosts couldn’t say enough about Thailand. Favorite place in the world! (And he travels all over the world) Some people call it the Venice of Aisia. With over 300 canals big enough for small boats crisscrossing the country, you’re going to either spend a lot of time on the water, or crossing bridges.
It’s hard to believe this phase of your mission is drawing to a close and that you’ll be Thailand bound in one week. I’m not sure yet how I’ll feel when you’re half a world away. It’s been nice knowing you’re close, even if we can’t see you. We enjoy hearing about you from ward members in the MTC. We are grateful when they tell us you look radiant and extremely happy. We look forward to your weekly letters and devour their contents. But, this is what you’ve been preparing for isn’t it? There’s nothing like getting out, stretching your wings, and really flying.
Your mother was just looking up your mission president you’ll be getting in July. They seem like wonderful people and I’m sure you’ll be in good hands when they come to your mission. I just feel a little sad that your current mission president will be moving on in about 6 months. I know this happens all the time, but I had the same mission President my entire mission and you start to consider your President and his wife your parents away from home. What’s to be done? Change is a dynamic which often brings an exciting dimension to life. This too will be a blessing.
I’ve had an interesting week in the Spirit. I’m not sure if it’s been more active, or if I’m just getting more finely tuned, or a little of both. Whatever the reason, I’ve gained a lot of confidence in its promptings and have seen the whisperings of the Spirit confirmed through physical manifestations a short time after I knew what I knew through the spirit. It’s fascinating, and I start to feel like an observer in an amazing journey playing out before me. I start out each day with a plan and expectation of how my day will play out, but commit to my Heavenly Father to go wherever the spirit guides, and to do whatever it prompts me to do, then I go to work and watch how the day unfolds. I suspect this just comes with the mantel of the calling. Being Bishop has already been such a blessing in my life. Lots and lots of work, but the blessings are beyond anything I imagined. Time takes on an interesting aspect. It’s kind of like what they say about the MTC or the mission: “The days are long, but the weeks fly…” Over a year and it was over in a flash. I know this season too will come to a close and if this level of spiritual awareness goes with it, I’ll miss it terribly. Speaking of seasons coming to a close, Bishop F from the 2nd Ward was released yesterday. The new bishop is TC. He’s a great man and I’m certain he’ll do a wonderful job.
Something funny happened yesterday morning. I got up and went about the business of getting ready for the Sabbath. I was anticipating going in early and taking care of some items before bishopric meeting. I was about 5 minutes away from ready and my home phone rang. I wondered who would be calling at such an early hour. It was BC asking if everything was okay and wondering if I was coming... I looked over at the clock and realized they had been waiting for me for 20 minutes!! I was embarrassed and we had a good laugh over the whole thing while I apologized profusely for disrespecting their time. I still can’t figure out what I was thinking initially, but I had completely miscalculated the time and felt like I had all the time in the world. What added to the humor of situation was that we had a pretty efficient bishopric meeting and accomplished in 40 minutes what we usually take 60 minutes to do. Elder L. Tom Perry counseled us recently to push ourselves to do more in a shorter period of time by allowing less time in which to accomplish a given task. He said there is a law about time and work similar to the law of gasses. Just as a gas will expand to fill the allotted space, a given task will expand to fill the allotted time slot.
Well, time to sign off and get going with the day. The gospel is true. There is no happiness like clean and no misery like unclean. The Lord guides this great work and the Spirit is an indispensable gift if we learn to understand and follow its promptings. We love you and pray for you several times daily. Even Josie prays for you to be blessed with the gift of tongues. Now how could God refuse that! Shoulders back, keep your chin up!
Love,
Dad
P.S. From sacrament meeting yesterday: Brother McQ told us his mother often said, "Everything works if you do."
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