Self-Check

This week has been crazy weather week from freezing cold to the second rain since we’ve been here to almost balmy.

Elder Davis standing on a pile of snow as we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day of 67° weather! There were a couple geese in the church parking lot that I bet were confused trying to figure out where the snow had gone and why they were flying south for the winter!🤣

Clouds rolled in and tonight there was tornado warnings in some of our southern mission areas causing the president to ask those Missionaries to stay inside.

Tornados are new for us. Back home it is wind storms and earthquakes we prepare for. With no basement or cellar we had to ask what to do! We learned it is best to be in a room with no windows so either a bathroom or the hall. Luckily we did not need to practice that new bit of information we learned! It’s supposed to be in the 20’s by this weekend.

This week Elder Davis has been busy making sure that all of the files match the data in the computer and it is accurate and correct concerning the vehicles he has stewardship over.

This includes finding missing receipts and verifying mileage. He had a set of Missionaries get pulled over for a tail light out and when the registration was checked, it had the wrong color car on it so the policeman told them they needed to get it fixed. We didn’t even know that was possible!

The longest stretch of non vehicle issues this week has been three days. He has had lost car keys, flat tires, and another accident. Car still drivable but in line for future auto bodywork.

With another piece of information to verify on his long list of to-dos he solicited some of our wonderful Senior Sister Missionaries Sister Tuckett and Sister Shawcroft to help💗 Paperwork is not Elder David’s thing but they were more than willing to pitch in. After the audit it was discovered 3 cars in the files with spare keys that are not in our fleet🤔. Thats a puzzle for another day.

I have been working on finishing the Mission history for 2025 that needs to be submitted next month to the church department. It involves labeling pictures gathering documents, organizing and checking off the list.

We were told recently that we will be training the office staff for the new Fort Wayne Indiana mission that will be opening up July 1. That feels daunting as we are still learning our roles here. It does motivate  us to want to get things organized so that we can speak intelligently and teach effectively what we have learned. 

As we have been working on gathering and organizing information it has causes us to reflect on our own lives and an audit and self check there too. Life can get so busy that it is easy to fill it with good things, but are we doing the important things?

Some of the questions in our personal audit might include…

Where are we in relationship to our Heavenly Father? Where are we in relationship to our spouse? Where are we in our relationship with our kids? Every now and then it’s a good idea to do a self check and if needed a course correction.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in May of 2008 gave a talk titled “A Matter of a Few Degrees”. In there he related this story.

In 1979 a large passenger jet with 257 people on board left New Zealand for a sightseeing flight to Antarctica and back. Unknown to the pilots, however, someone had modified the flight coordinates by a mere two degrees. This error placed the aircraft 28 miles (45 km) to the east of where the pilots assumed they were. As they approached Antarctica, the pilots descended to a lower altitude to give the passengers a better look at the landscape. Although both were experienced pilots, neither had made this particular flight before, and they had no way of knowing that the incorrect coordinates had placed them directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano that rises from the frozen landscape to a height of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m).

As the pilots flew onward, the white of the snow and ice covering the volcano blended with the white of the clouds above, making it appear as though they were flying over flat ground. By the time the instruments sounded the warning that the ground was rising fast toward them, it was too late. The airplane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board.

It was a terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error—a matter of only a few degrees.

Through years of serving the Lord and in countless interviews, I have learned that the difference between happiness and misery in individuals, in marriages, and families often comes down to an error of only a few degrees.

The longer we delay corrective action, the larger the needed changes become, and the longer it takes to get back on the correct course

Remember: the heavens will not be filled with those who never made mistakes but with those who recognized that they were off course and who corrected their ways to get back in the light of gospel truth.”

Sister Mary Ellen W. Smoot Relief Society General President in February 2002 said

“Sometimes we become convinced that our perceptions are correct, that we are doing all we can do, or that if we simply run faster or longer our problems will be solved. But nothing will get better if we are going the wrong way. I have discovered a valuable exercise.

Occasionally I take a good look at my life, my daily habits, my thoughts, and certainly my actions. Then I ask myself: “Am I headed in the right direction? Will my actions today lead to greater peace and happiness tomorrow?” If not, I must be humble enough to realize that I may need to change direction…There is no sin that is worth the price you have to pay for it.

I realize that many of your challenges may not be of your own making. You may have inherent disadvantages; you may have been treated badly; you may have been wronged. But no matter what your problem, you can take charge of your life and go forward with faith. You may not be able to change other people—most likely you will not. You may not be able to change everything about your circumstances, but the power is in you to determine how you will respond and what kind of a person you will be.”

Our Mission President, President Matheson recently said at our weekly devotional on zoom. “Good revelation starts with good information.”

As we gather good information may we self-check our lives often and be humble enough to make a course correction if needed that when it comes our turn to stand before the Lord we will be excited to live with Him and our loved ones forever 💗 That will be Heaven for us💕

We love and miss you dear family and friends, forward with Faith.

❣️Skittles ❣️ Elder Scott and Sister Kristy Davis