The fourth Monday morning mission devotional features a different zone each month and April was our month. The purpose of the devotional is to introduce the rest of the mission to the work/service which your zone members are involved in and how they feel the spirit as they serve. We are very proud of our devotional in March of 2021 and weren't sure how we were going to "top" it. Last time, we had about 20 of our missionaries give a short statement about who they were and what they did. It lasted about 7 minutes but gave a great overview of the work we did. Then we had some great speakers share their experiences. This was before the library had opened so we gathered in a large conference room with only the mission presidency, us and the speakers. The hymns were videos from the Tabernacle Choir and everyone watched from home.
On the way to the Devotional Monday morning---spring flowers by the Beehive House--
This time was totally different and our devotionals are held in the beautiful chapel of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. There are about 150 people there in person and others watching the Zoom broadcast. Here is our program:
I had a few remarks after sharing a video introducing everyone to the Church History Library. Here is the video if you would like to watch it.
Our speakers were from different parts of our zone--Sister Kirk from the "Sacred, Private, and Confidential Lab", Elder Dinger from Asia/Pacific; Sister Forman from US/Canada; and Sister Joan Elder from Latin American/Caribbean team. They all did a great job and there were lots of tears shed during the meeting. It was a very sweeet experience. Sister Elder pointed out later that she was amazed how the talks not only spanned the world but also touched on different parts of Church History. Elder Dinger's stories focused on an early pioneer who served in Tahiti as well as other missions; Sister Forman shared a family story found in the Ward Minutes of her childhood ward in a small ward in Nevada 80 years ago; Sister Kirk told stories from the late 1890s, and Sister Elder shared stories from mission presidents who have served in Latin America in that past ten years.
We also had Sister Lee on the Asia/Pacific team (who is from Korea) sing "How Great Thou Art" in Korean. It was amazing!!
A personal highlight for us was that Jena had agreed to lead the music. As you know, she leads for our zone devotionals. However, it was a big step to a mission devotional. She told me a few times she was very nervous but happy to do it. She did great and it was a perfect addition to the meeting.
Tosha had asked me if we would take a picture to send to her of Jena, but I said that probably would not be appropriate during a mission devotional. So we decided to do a staged one before the meeting started.
A quick look of our four speakers before the meeting started.A group shot after the meeting-- |
Back row: me, Gary, Sister Suzann Kirk, Elder Steve Dinger
Middle row: Sister Patricia Olsen (organist for Sister Lee), Sister Sukja Lee,
Sister Joyce Forman, Elder Mike Elder
Front Row: Jena, Sister Joan Elder |
After the meeting, another missionary sent us this photo which we then shared with our kids and with family:
Fortunately some missionaries weren't worried about taking photos during the mission devotional...and we are so glad. This is from Sister Jennifer Robison from St. George now but South Africa originally. She is a big Jena fan! She told us she worked hard to get a photo with both Jena and the screen with Jena on it to be in focus. You can also see the beautiful chapel we meet in. This was during the closing song "As I Have Loved You."
Another fun moment that I didn't see but Gary and several other missionaries was that our mission president, President Steve Randall turned around in his seat and took a picture of Jena as well. You can't see him in this photo because he is behind the pulpit. He told us he took a picture and he will send it to us.
All in all, a great start to the week and a successful devotional!
Here is another shot from that date with Elder Bae joining his wife and Sister Olsen stepping away. She is not technically part of our zone but was qualified on the organ. Love these missionaries...
PS. And because our zone's devotional was done within the hour as requested, our whole zone got a bag of candy to share:
Sometimes sweet missionary moments are VERY sweet!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment