Missionary Farewell

A few weeks ago, I took a study break and attended the missionary farewell for Elder Moreno and the other missionaries returning home tomorrow. His sweet testimony and kind heart endeared him to my children and I while he was in our ward. We loved having him over for dinner!

There were ten missionaries going home. Several testimonies touched my heart, but one in particular almost had me sobbing. One of the missionaries was talking about how he had prepared his whole life to serve a mission, but at one point in his mission, he said he was hot and the work was hard, and he said in his heart, "This is hard! I want to go home!" I have to say, this resonated for me. Even from the time I was a youth, I realized this life was not going to be easy. Life was hard back then and it still is today. Making good choices is hard. Overcoming my faults is hard. Feeling like I am worth anything is hard. Though it has brought me my most profound joy, finding the gospel only deepened the chasm in some ways because I was (am) always coming up short. Many times in my life and most recently in my marriage, I found myself saying (and praying) the same thing as this sweet elder. I can't do it...I delude myself by thinking that I can. And a part of me knows and remembers Home. I feel deep within me, "I want to go HOME!"

I just keep trying. That's all I can do. Praying, studying, reading, seeking, and trying. Most of all, keeping my heart focused on going HOME!

Leadership Class

A little over a year ago, I decided to take the Leadership Class offered by the Clovis Chamber of Commerce. I thought my skills needed some refining and I have felt a desire to become more active in the community. The class, though small, was excellent. We read and discussed two books: Principle Centered Leadership and the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, both authored by Stephen Covey. At most classes, we either had a field trip or a guest speaker. The speakers were excellent...they discussed their role in the community and what moved them to become leaders. The field trips were also eye-opening...we saw many local businesses, city officials, and places of interest in our community. We had the chance to see leadership in action, and ask questions of people who were very successful in their areas of expertise.

After this classroom experience, each class takes on a project that they agree on and then the challenge is to carry it out, applying the leadership principles that were learned during the previous year. Seeing what some of the classes have tackled has been inspiring. Our class was motivated to look at ways that we could help the Clovis community have more leadership, and decided to work for the year on increasing enrollment in the Leadership Clovis program and setting in place a leadership group that would support the program and the community by fostering leadership.

Ed Flores, our facilitator for the program, was a great teacher. He was very dedicated and ambitious about what could be accomplished by a few determined people. The program is two years long, and my class and I have about 8 more months to work on our project.

Having been involved in this class has made me realize what a gift it is to make connections with people. It has helped me appreciate civic leaders and look at my community beyond my own family and my own business. It has inspired me to be more involved and vocal about what happens here. It has helped me realize that my talents or gifts can be useful in a variety of areas. I've also been re-evaluating how I spend my time and weighing the options for civic involvement more carefully.

Two areas I discovered I have a great interest in is City Planning and Business Development. For some reason, I never really thought much about it before, but since we met with the city of Clovis leadership, and later with the city of Hanford's leaders, I have found that these are almost irresistible subjects for me. If I had all the time in the world, I would love to study the processes in more depth. It's such a fascinating area!

I'm grateful for the opportunities I have been given to develop relationships with people, as well as my own skills. I'm also thankful for the growing understanding I have of how we are all connected. It seems like every day, the Lord helps me comprehend better that our purpose for being here on this earth is not to live solitary lives, but to connect, understand and appreciate others.