Mission Devotional with Elder and Sister Bednar (June 9)

Here we all are sitting in our seats waiting for the devotional to begin...everyone except for President and Sister Collins who were waiting in the lobby for Elder and Sister Bednar.  We are on the right side in the 2nd to the back row--trust me we were there.

We got an email from President Collins about 3 weeks ago, telling us that we would have this special devotional with Elder and Sister Bednar.  They were coming into town for the special VIP tours of the Bentonville Temple before the Public Open House which starts tomorrow (June 17).  The mission had been given permission to gather all of the missionaries for this devotional--something that almost never happens because of the distances involved in the mission. There are currently around 200 missionaries in our mission.  I was excited, but it was even better to listen to how excited the young missionaries were.  They understand his special role as an Apostle and they were excited to be with him in this type of setting.

It was AMAZING and AWESOME and HEARTWARMING and all of the other superlatives you would want to use for a historic spiritually-led and spiritually-felt experience.  However, as Elder Bednar reminded us many times in the meeting...we must act upon what we felt.  We were assigned to read five different talks that he had given in different settings over the years.  That was a powerful start although he really didn't talk about them directly.  While he, Sister Bednar, and President and Sister Collins all spoke for a few minutes each, most of the meeting was Elder Bednar asking for questions, directing the learning, and modeling a spiritually led experience.  As is typical for him, he told us to not take notes about what he or anyone said, but about how we felt or what the spirit taught us in the middle of the discussions.  The missionaries did a great job in asking meaningful questions when he opened it up for general questions.

But actually the moments that I will always carry with me were not part of the planned or presented materials.  It was the examples of love manifested by the missionaries and later by Elder Bednar.

We needed to be seated by 8:30 so many missionaries started arriving by 8:00.  We got there about 8:15 am.  Everywhere, you could see missionaries greeting former companions and fellow missionaries with hugs and pure joy.  We were thrilled to see our old friends like Elder Phillips and Elder Kutchinsky, but that paled to the joy we saw around us everywhere as missionaries reconnected.  I loved it--watching it and feeling their love for each other.

A similar thing happened after Elder Bednar and Sister Bednar arrived.  Their three children and their wives and almost all of their grandchildren were seated in the back of the chapel.  In addition, there was a couple also sitting with them.  Elder Bednar spotted them from the stand and stood up and walked to the back of the chapel to embrace this old friend (with a security guard following behind.)  Again, that sense of love and friendship that we saw as the missionaries greeted each other, we saw in Elder Bednar's hugging of his old friend. A powerful witness to the value of friendships even if you are an Apostle. 

Later in the meeting in response to a missionary's question, Elder Bednar invited his son, Jeff, to come up and share an experience from his own mission.  As Jeff came to the podium, Elder Bednar embraced him and then commented--"Jeff wanted to be here so bad that he drove 20 hours with 7 kids including 2 year old twins to be here.  They arrived late last night and I haven't seen him yet."  A tiny unplanned moment, but a lesson and an view of an Apostle that will always be there.

And Sister Bednar---she is amazing!  Her simple story of answering questions and talking by the spirit was just right.  I struggle with that.  I expect the spirit to help me in my preparations prior to speaking.  I am trying to make that transition especially in my lesson prep.

Of course, members of the Church in Arkansas LOVE Elder and Sister Bednar.  They lived here for 19 years while he taught at the University of Arkansas in the 1980s and 1990s.  He was the stake president of the Ft. Smith stake and many people served with him and know him. He shared some stories from his experiences in this part of the Church which made the whole meeting even more meaningful especially for these missionaries serving here.

And singing together as a mission was breathtaking and tear-jerking!  I think we sang "Let Us All Press On".  I need to start making notes of hymns that are attached to these sweet memories.

After the meeting, Elder and Sister Bednar and their family had a lunch and then did a private tour of the temple with their friends from their neighborhood so many years ago.  How great is that!

As we left, each of us received a print of a painting of the new Bentonville Temple painted by one of the senior missionaries.

hanging on our fridge at the moment

No pictures of Elder and Sister Bednar though..

A quick look at the Bentonville Temple which shares a parking lot with the Stake Center where we met.  We were heading there for our own tour the next day so only stopped for this quick picture.  (As a side note, aren't the clouds fun?)

That night we attend a baptism of an 11 year old girl in the Ft. Smith ward. Baptisms are also special meetings with a sweet spirit.  On the way home, Jena said, "Today was a perfect day!"  We agreed!  And the weekend was just getting started.