Our Los Gatos Ward Sacrament Meeting yesterday was about as good as it gets! You can't go wrong when one Hermana is reporting on her missionary service and another Hermana is departing for her missionary service! Hermana Sally Stanton was back from her spanish speaking, Independence Missouri Mission and Hermana Rachael Holland enters the MTC in 2 days for her spanish speaking, Albuquerque New Mexico Mission. They were both looking radiant on the stand!
Sally gave a great mission report and it was fun to see how much even a Harvard graduate can learn from serving a mission! There are things we learn in school and other things we only learn when our focus is on others.
Sally talked about how important it is to do the little things, especially praying and reading our scriptures. Sally noted how it is interesting that the Lord will often require us to do difficult things as a means to learning something basic and simple (ie. Nephi returning to get the brass plates helped him learn the importance of scriptures).
Rachael spoke about how being in Jerusalem at the BYU center strengthened her desire to share her faith with others. It was a special experience to be with the Hollands for Rachael's setting apart in the afternoon. President Hodgman gave Rachael some great advice and counsel and after Bishop and Parent comments he proceeded to set Rachael apart as a full time sister missionary. The spirit was really strong; Julie wasn't the only one who needed Kleenex!
Something Sally said in her talk really left an impression on me. She mentioned how it never worked to knock on doors and ask people if they ever wondered about the meaning of life because all too often people would just say "no" to that question. Sally quickly saw that approach wasn't a successful tactic! But it seems really sad to me that so many people are willing to plug along in their lives and not really care that much what it all means.
To realize that many people don't really pursue finding meaning and purpose in their lives just feels a little tragic! It does make me feel grateful to have answers; even if some people aren't that interested in the questions! Oh, well!
