A few life lessons

So, this week was full of the usual

My compy wrote a song about Laredo that sums up our life pretty well:

Laredo days, sun rays

The dogs are barking, gotta ride away

the people are humble, willing to listen

their hearts and doors are open

1,2,3,4 knock on one more door

just to find that soul that needs a little bit more of

where we come from, where we're going

and while we're here what we've got to know

I think there's a little more, but that's kind of our life :) It doesn't get much better than this. 

This week I thought I'd share a couple of things I've learned that have changed me a lot while on the mission. 

#1 is called the order of sheep. As missionaries (and this applies in other aspects, like "as mothers/fathers, etc") we have our "sheep" we have care over - be they missionaries, investigators, children, etc. Since the missionary work is so focused on helping the investigators progress, it's really easy to focus on their needs first, but the idea behind the concept of "The Order of Sheep" is that we have to prioritize them, and the one who comes first is our companion (or spouse) - and THEN the other missionaries/children (if in a leadership position), and then the ward/investigators (other responsibilities). At first I wasn't sure if I agreed, but it's cool to see that as I've really tried to follow that, miracles happen and things fall into place. 

The second thing is about making goals. On the mission there's always need to make goals and plans, and it can get a little overwhelming and then NOTHING changes. so, someone came up with a better way to go about making goals and plans, and it's pretty magical.

It looks like this:

VISION

   /   \   

goal goal

action action

measurable measurable 

action action

(I hope the formatting doesn't mes that up, but you should get the idea)

Basically, you start with a vision, and then you pick two different goals that would achieve that vision (IE, vision of being healthier, goal #1 is eat better, #2 is exercise more)

Then you pick an action you want to do to achieve those goals (like only eating sugar 2x a week and eating 5 servings of vegetables, and then working out every morning) and then you pick a measurable action that helps you measure if you're achieving your vision. (like, have I lost weight this week?, and do I crave sugar less often?)

It's made my life a million times easier, and now making goals and plans is fun and doesn't scare me.

I hope it changes your life, too.

we had a conversation on Sunday with one of our investigators who was supposed to come to church that was pretty intense - he thought he needed to stay and clean his house, and we thought he needed the blessings of coming to church. I ended up telling him "When you're in heaven, you're never ever going to look back and regret not cleaning your house, but you WILL look back and regret not setting the example of going to church for your children." And it hit me - it's true! I'm never going to look back and be like "man, if only I had watched that movie, or had stayed home from that service project, etc.," but I would look back and regret not doing the really important things. 

Okay, well enough preaching for today. Be good. Don't forgo decisions you'd regret not making :)

Love you all!

M

--

Hermana Reynolds