He was excited to have spoken to us on Christmas, even though he said it was a little weird. I confess it seemed a little strange to me too, to be talking to him for the first time in months, and to actually see him, even though he is halfway around the world. Well, ok, not halfway, maybe a quarter of the way, but you know what I mean.
Because missionaries work so hard, it can be difficult for them when they have little to do. Other than talking to us and spending time with some of the very nice members of the church, it sounds like Eric's Christmas day was pretty quiet. He was happy to get back to work, and is looking forward to the holidays being over so he can get back on a more regular schedule. It definitely sounds like he is strongly motivated to engage in the missionary service for which he is there. I'm grateful for his enthusiasm.
Zone conference was held on Monday, and Eric said President Stock spoke with great urgency and intensity about the need for missionaries to be more diligent, set higher goals, and pray with more faith. He reminded them that miracles can happen and angels can help them in their labors. Eric came away strongly motivated to do better.
President Stock also told them a story about his first trial as a new lawyer (what a great profession he chose!). In Eric's words:
"He said he lost horribly and was completely embarressed. He said he wanted to give up as a lawyer but instead committed to himself that he would never lose another trial. He said in his career that after hundreds of trials he can count the number of trials he lost on one hand."President Stock used this story to make the point that when we feel like giving up, if we commit ourselves to do better, and follow through on that commitment, success can come to us. I felt like this was a great insight, not just for missionaries but for all of us.
Eric told us an interesting story about an experience he had on Sunday morning, when they were walking to church.
"I remembered this address that somebody had given me on the street, so we went and knocked on this guy's door and he decided to walk to church with us. We had never even taught him or anything and just showed up on his door so he came with us to church."Missionaries usually spend more time with people before they decide to join them at church. This was unusual, and it will be interesting to hear if anything comes of it.
In what was perhaps the most introspective part of Eric's e-mail this week, he said he had been searching to determine how to measure success as a missionary. There are many possible measures, but I think Eric hit it on the head when he said:
"The only way to really know whether or not you're doing the Lord's work is by asking him. By asking the Lord where we stand and by feeling the Spirit work through us is really the only indicator in my opinion."Mine too.
Finally, I'll share something I found very humorous in his very serious discussion of success. Hopefully, you will see the humor in it as well. We've been harassing Eric about all the British spellings we've seen in his e-mails, like ending words in "-re" instead of "-er" or putting an "s" where we would put a "z". So this week, he said this:
"I have come to realize (I spelt it American style for ya), during the past two months, that it is hard to define success."
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