August 18, 2024

Two weeks on the island. We’re still getting our apartment (called here, a “pad”) set up to be our home for the next 18 months. It’s coming along. We still need to get some things for storage and computer function, as well as art stations. Dennis is working on the front porch at this point. Debbi has done very little painting, but used the table provided for office function for that bit, so it’s limited. We can’t have both set up at the same time.

 We’re also learning our “jobs.” In MIS, Dennis has a current project of helping other missionaries get their specified Cultural Center email accounts functioning on their phones. (We all now have our Church emails, our mission emails, and our PCC emails—on top of our personal accounts.) He’s also finding that the young guys in his office need help doing some of the standard stuff (like decommissioning computers) that he’s done for years. On the other side, he’s learning some of the more recent developments from them.

 Debbi is assigned to the Marketing Department, with the current assignment to take over the employee/volunteer newsletter and help with other copy as requested. The newsletter is basically a resurrection of an old format, so there is a lot of work to do.

We’re finding our departments consist of cores of FT employees who are leading tons of PT student employees and a few missionaries. That’s how it works here. As amazing a venue as the Polynesian Cultural Center is, it exists to support the students (who are mostly from these island nations) to work to pay for their educations at BYU Hawaii. They work, and we work to enhance what they can earn in their limited hours. We also try to help them feel a sense of family that they may be missing, as many of them can’t afford to go home for visits. Consequently, while they can talk to their families, they may not see them for 4 to 6 years!

 Fortunately, the entire spirit of the islands is “Ohana.” Everyone is family. They treat everyone with respect and kindness. We’re loving that aspect of this adventure and hoping that it becomes second nature to us, too. 

How Can I Find Peace?

 Our MTC group

It has definitely been a busy week! We arrived in Provo Saturday and took up residence at the Missionary Training Center. The week was full of instruction, discussion, and practice of the principles that will help us relate to the people we will be serving. We met people from all over the world who are going to places new to them. We’re all excited about our assignments and grateful for new friendships.

In one of the seminars, we discussed the challenges of being away from home for an extended period of time. The presenters were a husband and wife who are both counselors. They have worked with many missionaries, young and older, so they knew their stuff. One thing the woman said really hit home with me:

When peace is gone, something in your head is inaccurate.

As we’ve talked about it, we agree that this could also be worded, “If you are unsettled, your head and your heart are not in harmony.”

For me, the heart is the true me, seeking to be heard, and influenced only by the Spirit of Truth. The head is what the world tells me I ought to be or do. It can be confusing, to say the least.

I have been reflecting on times when I have felt anxious, and this concept certainly seems to have been true in many instances. To spare you a novel, I’m going to oversimplify application of this principle to my experience. It has been true that only when I could bring myself around (read as “allowed the Spirit’s voice to be heard, trusted, and acted upon”) that I felt a return of wholeness, stability, and peace. Of course sometimes that took a long time to accomplish—growth is not on a timetable, and some situations are irritants for the long term. But ultimately, the disharmony within has been overcome.

Isn’t that part of being mortal? We are here to learn. To become the best we can become. But when we allow ourselves to be persuaded away from the truth we feel in our hearts, we can lose our ways for a time. That is when anxiety, depression, and their negative companions creep in.

So, since the heart is where my inner truth lies, it follows that any uneasiness would be caused by something in my head that is not accurate. Whether that is a lie I’ve been persuaded to believe about who I am or what I can accomplish, or about the people and communities that surround me, the problem lies in my head, not in reality. Moral of the story: I need to be very careful about making sure my head doesn’t lose sight of who I am in my heart.

Have you experienced this in your life? We'd love to hear about it. You can leave a message here or send an email.

Now we're preparing to leave the MTC. Next stop, Oahu!