Learning from unexpected places

So through a series of events I had this brought to my attention this week. So let's start with the quote. It is from Elder Andersons talk from this conference. 

When my wife, Kathy, and I were in Africa a few weeks ago, we visited Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Because the chapel was not large enough for the 2,000 members, we met out of doors under large plastic coverings supported by bamboo poles. As the meeting began, we could see dozens of children watching us, clinging to the bars on the outside of the wrought-iron fence that surrounded the property. Kathy quietly whispered, “Neil, do you think that you might want to invite the children to come in?” I approached District President Kalonji at the podium and asked him if he would welcome the children outside the fence to come join us inside.

It is interesting how much I learned from this, that was not related to his talk at all. So I learned a few things, or at least reinforced things I have known. 

1. Notice how it was his wife who reviewed this revelation and not the apostle sitting there. That regardless of calling all can participate equally and everyone has something to contribute. 

2. All activity is best handled through the proper use of keys. She did not invite them in, but she gave counsel to the one holding keys and let them act upon it. 

3. It is so wise to listen to the counsel you receive. Many have input that they are genuinely interesting in providing to make things better. And you are not so cool that others cannot have really great ideas that can make you better too. 

All these are things I would not have pulled from this story if I had not been reviewing conference talks and also counseling with others who shared this and started me down a path of pondering. 

I had a great week. I was in China and had productive meetings and time spent. I wish I could beam myself back and forth, but at least it was useful time there. Most days I went until around 9 or 10 PM. Then back at it around 7:00 the next morning. One day we did not leave the office until 9:30 then had a further discussion around diner until about 11:30. I am so sleep deprived :). I had an aggressive agenda and we did many of the items, but we also missed about 1/3 of them that we just ran out of time. For that late dinner we went to a less than fancy, but still great restaurant. A nice change for me and much more comfortable for me. It was a Chinese hot pot style you can see in the picture. You cook the food right there in the broth of your choosing. I spent my time in the highest level spicy pot. It was great. 

My return trip took over 36 hours from office to home. It was grueling. But I wanted to get home earlier rather than spend another day there. Everything went according to plan except the final flight had three mechanical issues so we spent an extra hour plus in the plane until we could leave. 

I learned how to tally counts in Chinese. I showed those at home but in the picture you can see the way they tally. It goes from 1 to 5 and they would do that over and over as needed. Interesting how different it is from how we make our 4 marks the. A crossover for the fifth. 

You can just enjoy Lys crazy hair!

Love you forever,

Dad

3 John 1:4