Tag Archive for: Learning

Everyday Items

As we began our Social Media Leadership Council (SMLC) yesterday, we did a fun learning activity to start our session.

In keeping with a message, I heard yesterday from my friends at the We Believe App, “How can you see more of the Saviour in the world around you today?” – we engaged in our activity together.

I invited everyone in the meeting to wander around the mission office for a couple of minutes, select a random article and return.

Items

Each of them duly returned with their objects in hand as follows:

A Lint Remover (Defuzzer)
An empty metal container
A wheel of fortune
A can of Mexican beans
An umbrella
A bright floral lei
A magnifying glass
A plastic toy gun
A statue

I gave them a couple of minutes to think about how they could see things from a different perspective and use the object to teach a gospel principle – admittedly some objects were easier than others!

Lessons

What followed were some amazing object lessons on principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here are a few examples I can remember from memory.

A lint remover is like the atonement of Jesus Christ by removing spots and blemishes from our lives.

In order to benefit from the nourishment in the can of beans, we need to open it up, just like we need to open up the scriptures to benefit from the spiritual nutrition found therein.

A magnifying glass – God magnifies all of our efforts as we focus on Him.

An umbrella can protect us on rainy days, just like the holy ghost who protects us from many things.

The wheel of fortune – sometimes we don’t know what will happen next, we have a limited view, but as we move forward with small steps, trusting in God, things are better.

And so it went on…

Let everyday items bring to mind the wonderful promises of Jesus Christ.

Take time today to notice Him in the small moments of life, which you may not have seen before.

His creations are all around us and everything can be connected to Him.

How do you find Jesus Christ in the everyday things that you do?

Mission Leadership Council

Every six weeks, the leaders of the mission gather together to counsel about the relevant matters of the day.
Our topics yesterday included:
– Study Your Language (SYL) – daily!
– Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ
– Drawing on the Powers of Heaven
– Being united, knit together as one
– Dealing with constant Change
– Hot Chocolate and Sifting – see Luke 22:31-32
– To the Rescue – Ministering to the one.
– Christlike attributes
– Team work
– Communication Skills
– Social Media and Content Updates…
These are very special days, never to be forgotten.
As missionaries come and go in the mission, gaining an understanding of leadership and counselling together, is such an important part of their growth and development.
Oh – and we also like to have a little bit of fun too!
The pictures capture just one of our lively learning activities of the day!

Groundhog Day

Every six weeks, Monic and I return to Schiphol Airport.
In the beginning of our mission, the pattern was arrivals on a Tuesday and departures on a Thursday.
Now, departures and arrivals all happen on the same day, a Friday.
We’re often there in between, for many other reasons too.
Regardless, we have a deep familiarity with Schiphol and our 42 day, six-week cycle.
Over these last 2 ½ years of consistent practice, we have learned many lessons.
Do you remember the 1993 movie Groundhog Day?
In the movie Bill Murray’s plays a cynical weatherman, who for some reason gets stuck in a repetitive time loop.
Repeating the same cycle over and over again (that was our 23rd last week) reminds me of the story line of the movie.
In the movie, through consistent practice, Bill Murray’s character Phil Connors, learns how to be remarkably resourceful by turning a challenging day into a great day.

Changes

During the course of the movie, he 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔.
The lesson?
The more you focus on others by serving, being grateful and appreciative, the happier you will be.
In real life, through consistent practice, each missionary learns how to be remarkably resourceful by turning many challenging days into many great days.
Each missionary 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔.
Likewise, their final day, is also a challenging one.
Transformed, these young men and women depart for home having become some of our dearest friends.
We all struggle to say farewell.
Departures are emotion filled, with tears of sadness and hugs aplenty.
In between their arrival and departure, we’ve experienced so much together – we’ve all 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝.
Moments later, the arrivals are also emotion filled, but this time the tears are filled with joy, wonder, excitement, and hugs aplenty.
The journey ahead will transform them too.
Every time is the same, but different.
What am I learning over and over again?
We create our own reality, by living to learn and learning to live.
Over and over again, we have the choice to make today, and every day, either sad or happy, dull or inspiring, meaningless or fulfilling.
What will you choose today to make it great?

Maturity

I am a witness to the power of missionary service.
Serving in a foreign land, learning a new language and adjusting to a different culture makes a tremendous difference in the life of every young missionary.
Departing from home, they arrive in the mission with many childish characteristics and behaviours.
It’s time to grow up!
Time passes.
Change happens.
Far from home, they become adults.
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became an adult, I put away childish things ” (1 Cor. 13:11).
Unlike childlike, childish suggests irresponsibility, being self-centred and immature.
Each of us will not mature spiritually until we choose, as the Apostle Paul phrased it, to “put away childish things.”
Missionary service is intense, demanding and frequently filled with hardship.
Yet, filled with a new purpose, each young man or woman, learns about being credible, reliable, accountable, disciplined and builds relationships of trust with God and others.
They develop their faith in God, they acquire wisdom through experience, they understand how to serve and love others.
They work hard, recognising that obedience, consistency, and endurance are all keys to success.
As they also learn to lead others, they must first master themselves and be steadfast in their service.
They choose to become Christlike and follow in His ways.
Over and over again, I watch each of them mature into adulthood.
How have you chosen to “put away childish things”?

Taught

You cannot teach without learning.
One day in every 6-week period, missionaries gather together to be taught at zone conference.
My experience is that these are times of great learning and understanding for everyone.
The ultimate purpose of everything in zone conference, every question, every scripture, every activity, everything taught, is to invite the Spirit to build faith and to strengthen the testimonies of each missionary as they come to know Jesus Christ even more.

In the scriptures we read, “The Holy Ghost … shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

It is only through the Holy Ghost that we can accomplish the ultimate goal of gospel teaching, which is to build faith in Jesus Christ and to help others become more like Him.

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓻𝓸𝔀 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to the earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong
That it can follow the flight of a song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
– 𝓗𝓮𝓷𝓻𝔂 𝓦𝓪𝓭𝓼𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓱 𝓛𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓯𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀.

Hopes and Dreams

For me, these words beautifully express the hopes and dreams of every teacher who has ever taught.
This is however especially true in zone conferences.
Every missionary comes prepared to learn and to be taught.
Each session is filled with such a tender spirit, as learning comes from on High.
All those who teach in such settings provide such sweet, delicate, yet powerful messages that penetrate the hearts of all attending.
My hope, like any other teacher is that the eternal principles taught, will live, not just for a day or two, but just as their own souls, will live forever.
Ultimately my experience is always this – their hearts are filled, and their notepads too.
How was your experience of being taught at a zone conference?

Notetaking

It is an interesting little four-letter word “note.”
There are all kinds of notes, including bank notes, musical notes, people of note, promissory notes to pay a debt, or a brief record/memorandum used to assist our memories.
In my lifetime, I have sat through all kinds of meetings, thousands of them.
Note taking has frequently been part of my routine.
I know that by listening to and then summarising what you hear can help you understand and remember the information later.
I have probably filled up 100’s if not 1000’s of notebooks too.
Some of which I treasure to this day.
I’ve gathered action points and insights galore.
Taking notes can help you to concentrate and listen more effectively.
In fact, notetaking can also help keep you awake at times and even forces you to pay attention!

Paying attention

Growing older however, I’ve recognised that the most thoughts, impressions and feelings come gently, very softly even.
Last week whilst in a zoom call with Elder David Bednar, with other European mission leaders, he encouraged us to do something different.
Previously, sat in these kinds of meetings my experience is that there is an in initial rush to capture what an Apostle is saying, and like many others I found myself trying to keep up.
This time however, he invited us not to take dictation style notes, but rather to record personal impressions, as President Russell M. Nelson has challenged, so that “I know for myself”.

Knowing

I started to look for and listen for those customised messages, specially crafted so that I could “know for myself” what I needed to learn in that very moment.
As I listened to learn, my note taking changed from words he stated, to personal meaningful impressions that came.
I recognised that there is a space between the words that someone uses to the feelings of the spirit that can stir our souls into action.
Still, small, whisperings of the spirit came.
Why not consider your note taking in your next meeting, seminar or class, consider not recording the words said, but rather the feelings or impressions that come.
Listen to learn and learn to listen.

Walk and Talk

Never before have we lived so close to a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In Scotland, it is a 4 ½ hour drive to the temple in Chorley, Lancashire.

Today, we live only a short distance away in Leidschendam, a 20-minute drive from the temple in Zoetermeer.

Temples are different from the thousands of Church meetinghouses located around the world.

Meetinghouses are where Sunday worship services, youth gatherings, service projects, and other community events take place.

Temples have a more specific purpose.

They are places specially set apart for sacred service and ceremonies.

They are the House of The Lord.

The House of the Lord is the most sacred place of worship in the world — a place where heaven touches the earth, a place where marvellous blessings are bestowed, and a place where we can feel closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as we strive to become more like Them.

Temple Grounds

In recent weeks the temple grounds have become a favourite place to walk and talk.

The grounds are a place of beauty, serenity, and reverence.

The grounds attract many local visitors.

They have become a sanctuary to rest, to contemplate and to consider the deeper purpose and meaning of life.

The grounds have also become for me, a place to listen to, meet with, talk with, read with, laugh with, study with, walk with, pray with, reflect with, ponder with and counsel with our missionaries.

Learning

As we walk and talk, we learn together as our thoughts are elevated heavenward.

In my professional coaching career, I have also found that breakthroughs occur in our thinking more easily when surrounded by nature, open space, and a tranquil environment.

Walking and talking just make good sense!

My wife and I take time to walk and talk every day.

We take in the surroundings and breathe in fresh air. By so doing, we are using all our senses to be in the present and soak up the natural world.

“The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.”- Charles Dickens

Imagine for a moment your favourite walking spot.

How does it make you feel when you walk there?

Dialogue

It was an afterthought.
Leaving for the office yesterday afternoon, I nipped back upstairs and picked up my box of CCS cards.

The Task

Later, as I started the meeting, I asked each participant to consider a question and then select three cards they regarded to be an answer to the question I posed.
Each participant was holding an identical pack of cards, with the same photographs, illustrations, and words.
Attentively, I watched as each member of the council started to thumb through the deck and select some images that captured their personal point of view.
I smiled, as I watched their faces light up, obviously amused as they shared and compared images with one another, they’d found interesting.
I was struck by their concentration, and evident delight in finding suitable cards that meant something to them in answer to the question I’d asked.

Sharing

Then, after some time, in our safe space, it was time to share.
I explained a little and observed again.
Quietly, deeply, respectfully, each person asked themselves “what is it that I most want to communicate”?
Randomly, one by one, each person articulated their thoughts with great depth of clarity and understanding, allowing them to speak about what was in their hearts and minds.
The personal insights shared were powerful and thought provoking.
Each participant said something that was true for them and everyone else respectfully listened.
It was clear as participants felt safe to share their half-formed ideas, and discover new meanings in a simple image, the energy in the room began to gather, and the atmosphere started to deepen for the dialogue that followed.

Outcomes

The purpose of the simple activity was to help participants to uncover and talk about their thoughts on the given subject.
Instead of getting down to business straight away as normal, it was just really nice to pause, talk and meet together as fellow human beings, by engaging in a meaningful conversation in a fun way.
It has been my experience as a facilitator, that saying something in a friendly, respectful, and informal way, early in a gathering, can set a pattern of full participation that can help maintain energy levels throughout any meeting.
Setting the scene yesterday, opened up a new way to ensure authentic dialogue throughout our meeting together, where crucially we really listened to one another.
How do you ensure authentic dialogue in your meetings?

United we stand, divided we fall

“𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥”
It is a familiar phrase, used to express unity and collaboration.
Meaning – if we don’t stand together, ultimately, we will not succeed.
It is a phrase that has been used throughout history to inspire and lift couples, groups, teams, political parties, countries and many more.
Biblically, in Matthew 12:25 and also in Luke 11:17, the scriptures convey the common message that a house divided against itself will not stand.
In modern culture, J.K. Rowling uses a variation of the phrase in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Albus Dumbledore says, “We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”
The Bundle of Sticks
I love the moral of this story.
“AN OLD man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a bundle of sticks and said to his eldest son: “Break it.” The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. “Untie the bundle,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he called out to them: “Now, break it,” and each stick was easily broken. “You see my meaning,” said their father.”
𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍.
Recently D. Todd Christofferson said regarding unity, that “…we cannot be one unless we all bend our efforts to the common cause.”
The common cause could be in the home, in our marriages, in our missionary companionships, in our workplaces, or in our teams.
He went on to say that “… unity does not require sameness, but it does require harmony.”
David O. McKay taught “Unity, harmony, goodwill are virtues to be fostered and cherished in every home.”
I accept that unity of ideals and purpose is often hard to achieve.
So how do we build that unity, that harmony with one another?
My favourite piece of counsel and direction comes from Gordon B. Hinckley, he said “somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.”
For all of us in life, there comes a time to confront ourselves with ourselves – it is a compulsory part of learning and growing.
A time when each of us may have to concede the error of our ways and pride gives ways to humility.
We move forward by standing together, talking together, listening together, working together, serving together, sharing together and by doing good together.
Amid all the hardships of human life, if we can understand a little more of the principle of unity and establish it in our hearts… then our homes, our marriages, our communities and our workplaces, will be much more harmonious.
If you were to explain unity to someone, what would you say?

Counselling Together

“In the abundance of council, there is wisdom” – Dallin H. Oaks.
Yesterday, we met in our mission leadership council. It was a wonderful opportunity to discuss and counsel together.
Not everyone gets the chance to lead in the mission, so it is a privilege for each of the young missionaries assigned, to serve in a leadership role.
We discussed behaviours of a good leader, including self-awareness, collaboration, respect and influence.
Then, we posed the question…”𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮?”
With a leadership role there is a responsibility, to come prepared and be ready to share.
“When we can work together cooperatively…, we can accomplish anything. When we do so, we eliminate the weakness of one person standing alone and substitute the strength of many serving together.” – Thomas S. Monson
In our counselling together we discussed objectives and concerns of the mission, with mutual understanding and a shared vision being the ultimate goal.
Encouraging everyone to express their feelings was key.
It was clear that counselling together required everyone to listen as much as they spoke.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

We introduced everyone in the council session to a SWOT analysis and we used the model to address some of the challenges we face.
In essence, we are the problem-solving team of the mission.
The active participation of missionary zone leaders and sister trainer leaders, broadens the base of their leadership experience and understanding, which in turn leads to better solutions and improves communication throughout the mission.
As Russell M. Ballard said; “People who feel ownership of a problem are more willing to help find a solution, greatly improving the possibility of success.”
He also taught that it was important to “Lean upon them. Learn from them. Love them. Listen to them.”
In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah said; “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). And in our day, we read in Doctrine & Covenants 50:10; “Let us reason together, that ye may understand.”
Ultimately, we came to some conclusions that everyone agreed with, and then noted some appropriate actions that they had to follow through on.
Russell M Ballard said that he has maintained all his adult life, (stemming from his background in business,) that “if you want to improve something, you’ve got to counsel about it.”
What do you counsel about?