Tag Archive for: fun

Tuesday Mornings…

Tuesday mornings aren’t going to be quite the same anymore!
For the last 3 years, Jurgen, Chris and I would spend an hour online together as a Mission Presidency, counselling about all of the important matters of running the Belgium Netherlands Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Counsellors

Whilst the missionaries were starting their Preparation Day (P-Day) we’d be counselling together to address the salient challenges of the week.
And there was always lots to talk about.
Although we met weekly, I think hardly one day has passed by that I haven’t spoken with either Jurgen or Chris.
The wise writer of Proverbs tells us that “in … counsellors there is safety.” (Prov. 11:14.)
Counselling together with one another was a constant.
We’d counsel together in order to reach a united conclusion, to help us know the direction we intended to pursue was in harmony with the Lord’s will.

Volunteers

The three of us never sought out these assignments, we were simply asked by a church leader to serve, giving many hours voluntarily every week.
It’s been a labour of love for all of us.
Over the last 3 years we have developed a strong bond of friendship too.
On Sunday evening, I took a trip up to Zwolle, with the Assistants, to spend some final moments with Jurgen, Analía, and Christel.
I took some time to release Jurgen from his responsibilities in the Mission Presidency and we enjoyed the opportunity to reminisce for a while too.
One of our sweetest memories was when we set up an experimental “Social Media District” for a few months. Lots of lessons were learned together as Jurgen, Analia and Christel spent many long hours working with many missionaries in the office together in Gouda.
For several months, Christel was travelling almost daily between Zwolle and Gouda, as we built some momentum in our social media efforts.
Days never to be forgotten, for sure!
Helen Keller said “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.”
As I recall the sweet memories made with my dear friends, I know that it is all about what we have all felt in our hearts together.
Thank you for all the memories.
Until we meet again dear friends.

FSY

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend FSY Nederland-Vlaanderen in De Beukenhof, Biezenmortel.
For the Strength of Youth (𝐅𝐒𝐘) conferences are five-day events that include activities, devotionals, and classes designed to help strengthen faith in Jesus Christ and provide opportunities for youth to grow spiritually, socially, physically, and intellectually.
My co-facilitators were 5 of our missionaries, Libby Wilcox, Averi Hanny, Christian Adams, Luk Vanderlinden and Dallin Doxford.

Workshops

We had the opportunity to run 4 workshops, attended by in total, 100+ Gen Z participants, aged between 13 – 18 years old.
Our topics –
– Preach My Gospel – 2nd Edition.
– The Benefits of Serving a Mission.
To begin, we ran some fun icebreakers on communication, change and observation.
I retired the first edition of Preach My Gospel, and everyone received a hard copy of the second edition.
We used it to teach some key principles about technology and sharing the gospel via social media.
Technology allowed us to connect to the Missionary Training Centres (MTC’s) in Preston England and Provo, Utah.
We were joined by former missionaries Joey de Sousa and Nathanael Strickler who teach at the MTC’s.
They facilitated a discussion with missionaries who were enjoying the first few days of their MTC experiences, and fielded questions from our participants in the room.
Four of the missionaries online, will be arriving in the Belgium Netherlands Mission in 5 weeks’ time.

Expert Panel

We followed up with an expert panel of our own missionaries, who have served from 13 – 22 months in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Questions came freely from the workshop participants.
They listened intently to the answers from our missionaries.
What’s been the most difficult thing in the mission field? Do you have any fun? What do you do all day? How long do you serve in an area? Is it hard work? What is it like to be with your companion 24/7?
It was fun to be with everyone.
Somehow, we managed to engage with our Gen Z digital native friends for around 50 minutes at a time!
And we even managed to share a fun Instagram post together!
Please invite us again! 😊

To the Rescue

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐱…
He is an energetic 2-year-old Jack Russell Terrier that belongs to my Dutch in laws – Simone & Guus.
Every now and again, I get to spend some time with Dex.
Yesterday was one of those days. 🙂
Gleefully, we went on a little walk together.
After a few minutes on our walk, although I wanted to go in one direction, it was clear he wanted to go in another!
I relented, and off we went the way he wanted to go.
It turned out to be one of his favourite little fenced parks, dedicated to dogs, so that they can run freely.
Ball and thrower in hand, we commenced our afternoon of activity.
I was happy throwing, and he was very happy chasing.
Enthusiastically, this activity continued for around half an hour.
Then the fun really began!
Putting the ball and thrower away, it was time to depart for home.
He knew exactly what was happening, and certainly did not want to return home.
Off he raced, to hide in the woods!
For the next 45 minutes I tried every single trick in the book to entice him on to his lead.
Little treats, throwing the ball again, ignoring him, patiently trying to corner him near the fence, following him into the woods, then back to laying a trail of treats on the ground….
The Result – Nothing! 𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 success!
My patience was wearing very thin!
“Time to call Simone” I thought…
“𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩!” I declared.
She smiled and laughed.
10 minutes later, as Simone and Monic arrived in the park together, Dex ran to Simone!  Job done!
Moral of the story – sometimes you just have to admit defeat, call for help, have a little laugh and wait on others to come to the rescue!
Have you rescued anyone recently?

Is it for real?

𝐃𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮?
100 missionaries.
2 days of multi-zone conferences in Antwerp and Utrecht.
Inspiration galore.
Remarkable experiences.
Real joy.
Each afternoon, role play, after role play, after role play, after role play, with 4 different scenarios to consider.
The cheering each other on, the laughter, the glee and camaraderie was a joy to behold.
It had been a while since I’d been so involved, but once I dived in, I loved it!
So why spend so much time in role plays?
– It develops communication and language skills
– It creates opportunities to explore, scrutinize and experiment
– It allows everyone to act and make sense of real-life scenarios.
– It encourages creativity and imagination
– It motivates and engages everyone
– It inspires greater confidence
– It advances listening skills
– It promotes in the moment creative problem solving.
– It builds empathy by experiencing new perspectives
– It provides opportunities for feedback through critical observation from peers.
And above all – many new friendships were formed.
Yes – roleplay is more than just make believe.
Creating a safe space to explore scenarios together was a wonderful experience.
My personal learning takeaway was – through acting out a variety of situations, role-playing teaches that we can be 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞.
Yes, they always smile back at you!
Do you?
#learning

Tips!

The problem with the word “tip” is that it has many definitions.

At a recent CIPD event, we had a few moments of miscommunication and hilarity, as we tried to contextualise a three-letter word into a definitive description!

For example, consider the following…..

– Leaving a tip for the waiter is good practice.
– Fly tipping is a problem around the country.
– It was on the tip of my tongue to say exactly what I thought.
– Tipping the glass of water over wasn’t what I’d planned.
– The tip of the pencil needs to be sharpened.
– The goalkeeper tipped the ball over the crossbar.
– A good tip for the Grand National is Tiger Roll.

We were trying to get to a succinct definition of the word “tip”! In our case it was about a good idea or more specifically a “helpful hint”.

And so, my tip (oops) helpful hint for today is simply this one life saving daily habit – have a talk with yourself and don’t take life so seriously! “In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured” said Gordon B. Hinckley.

A little craziness once in a while perpetuates sanity! Learn to laugh at the little things, and life will be easier. Laughter is the best form of therapy.

Remember, life isn’t all business, it can be mixed with fun & laughter too.

Look out for some laughter today!

Pranks!

Siblings can be annoying at times, right? (I guess I can be too sometimes – LOL!) Challenging behaviour isn’t only limited to siblings, but work colleagues and others too. Here’s one solution that worked for me!
Visiting the beach in summertime was a regular occurrence in our family. It was a short train ride to the beach at Kinghorn. Arriving at the station, we’d walk down the steep slope and then create many fond childhood memories on the beach together, sandcastles, swimming, ice cream, games – the whole shebang.
I recall one particular trip, my big brother was even more annoying than usual with his pranks. As time passed by that day, in a moment of playfulness, I hatched a master-plan. Along the beachfront, I went hunting for a starfish (he didn’t like them). After finding one, I searched for my brother. I managed to sneak up on him, starfish in hand, yet at the last moment, he saw me coming and he took off! I took aim and threw the starfish at my brother. And then, the moment of real joy, with its strong glue like suction pads it fastened itself to my brothers back! The terror on my brothers face was a delight to behold!!
The moral of the story, well that’s debatable! I’m sure you’ll find your own. For me, sometimes its best to reprove with sharpness and show an increase of love afterwards! 😍
What is your favourite prank?

Its time to laugh!

Sometimes when it gets really tough, perhaps in a challenging situation or conversation, the best remedy is simply to add in a touch of humour and laugh!

A guest speaker at a Yale University devotional took as his text the four letters ‘Y-A-L-E.’

“Y” he said “means youth” and he talked about that for 15 minutes.

“A” he continued, “stands for ambition” and that took another 15 minutes.

“L is for life,” another 15 minutes.

“E is for enthusiasm”… another 15 minutes to fill the hour.

As soon as the lecture was finished the students rushed to their classes as fast as they could go, all except one.

She knelt, apparently in prayer.

The speaker was deeply touched that he had so influenced at least one listener. He went down into the seats, touched the student on the shoulder and enquired why she was praying so earnestly. She lifted her face and said “I’m giving thanks that this is not the Massachusetts Institute of Technology!” 😅

If it’s a tough day ahead don’t forget to stop and have some fun too! 😊

Under pressure?

When under 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞, I think I am a little strange, I seem to actually enjoy it! Is there something weird going on in my head?

Everyone has to deal with pressure, personally and professionally. Recently I have witnessed a surge in my workload. New clients bring their hopes, expectations and demands all at the same time! And yet, I actually love it! Maybe I am just downright weird?! Admittedly, as the years are passing by, I do get a little more tired and I am prone to nod off every now and again!

Over the years, I’ve learned a few lessons about dealing with pressure. I’d like to share my top tips.

– Have fun, be creative and take control.
– The imagined catastrophe in your head – never happens!
– Break tasks down and focus on one thing at a time.
– Slow down.
– Simplify, simplify, oh and yes – simplify!

Lastly, look after yourself. Spend time with family and friends, eat fresh healthy food (most of the time!), drink lots of water, sleep, take breaks, set aside time for exercise, go for walks and breathe the fresh air. Be spontaneous!

Like you, I am still learning, the key is to enjoy the journey and find happiness along the way.

Look out for the pressure rising again, just remember who you are and take control!