Hola todos!
Well, I imagine you´re all a little weirded out to be hearing from me Saturday instead of Monday. Well, that´s because I ended up having a special change yesterday. Let me back up: Yesterday my zone and one other zone had our special conference to get to know President Essig, our new mission president. The zone leaders and my companion and I had planned to do interchanges starting after the conference, and I was going to go to their sector for the day. By the way, President Essig seems really good from what I´ve seen of him so far. He appears to be a very humble and righteous man, and his wife is a lot of fun. Anyway, so we finished the conference and one of the zone leaders and I headed out to go to their sector. We were just getting off the bus in their sector when President Essig called. I was listening to Elder Smith talking to him and I got the drift from hearing his end of the conversation that there were going to be special changes and I was involved. First thing I thought was "I didn´t do it! I´m innocent!" but then I thought, "Oh no, someone did something stupid and now I´m being assigned to help a problem missionary." But then Elder Smith passed me the phone and President Essig told me that I was being reassigned to the mission office as the pensionist. (We think this means Josh is serving as a secretary handling missionary housing/apartments. Hopefully we'll get the translation of this word next week.) He said that President May had already had this change in mind before he left, but that he too had prayed about it and felt it was the right decision. I was stunned/bummed. I had hoped I would never have to have special changes, because by the end of a change one gets himself mentally and emotionally ready for the possibility that he might be changed, but in the middle of the change like this it’s a complete surprise. So I had to return to my sector and pack my bags and be ready for the office to come pick me up late last night. The office has P-day Saturday instead of Monday, so from now on for the next little while I´ll be writing on Saturday.
So now I won´t be going to Ruby Tuesday this Monday... but that´s okay. Here in a little bit we´re going to leave for our P-day, and we´ll be taking with us President Essig´s 18 year old son to see some of Santiago. It should be fun. As I said, I was not thrilled to have special changes, but as far as being in the office goes, it´s something entirely new and different. I originally thought I would never want to go to the office, because of all the junk I had heard other missionaries say about how president only sends missionaries who aren´t capable of baptizing to the office. I realize that that is not necessarily the case. It´s true that the office has less time to work than other missionaries, but that just means we have to be more cautious with our use of time. I´m excited for the new opportunities that this will bring to learn and grow in other aspects. I´ve been thinking a lot about how quickly the mission can change. This time yesterday I had no idea that today I would be in the office. That is one aspect of the mission that is challenging. But then again isn´t the same true of life in general? In one instant our lives can change forever, or they can end and we can pass on to other things. The only constant in life is change. I have heard that someone said once that he who chooses to be discontent with his current circumstances is really choosing to not be happy ever. Yesterday is over and gone and tomorrow is unstable and unsure. The only thing over which we really have any influence at all is now. It is our choice whether we will pass our time pining for a day gone by, or spend our energies wishing and twitching for some future event, but neither of those options brings happiness. Happiness comes from just choosing to enjoy now. Let us give all we can to whatever situation God has placed us in today, and not look back to yesterday. We can and should plan for the future, but that should not prevent us from living in the present. I love the mission and the opportunities the Lord has given me to learn and grow. Every aspect of missionary life is a lesson that will serve for the rest of my life. Every time I start to feel just a little content, just a little like I´m good where I am, something changes. Perhaps it’s a challenging companion, or a challenging season in the work in our sector. Sometimes it’s a change to a new and different place, and other times, like yesterday, it´s something completely new that I had no idea was coming. But it all serves for something; the grand purposes of the Lord to help me to become a little better and be refined just a little more. I don´t know what it is that the Lord has in store for me to learn here in my current assignment, but I have the confidence that I will come out of this assignment a little better, a little more the servant that the Lord wants and needs me to be. My invitation for all of you right now is to ponder on whatever situation in life the Lord has placed you right now. Think about your challenges and problems, and how it is that you can learn and grow from it. In the Spirit of prayer, ask the Lord what it is that you are meant to learn, and in what manner you are to grow. There was an excellent talk in this last general conference, I don´t remember by who, but they said, speaking of adversity, that we should take care to not fight against the very thing that will help us to put on the divine nature. May we all think upon that and allow the Lord to change us, and may we enjoy what is now.
Thank you all for your love. I love you all and pray that you are all well.
Love, Elder Fugal
