Reflection

These past three weeks have been a whirl-wind. There has been much to absorb and much to ponder. This morning, as I am waiting to go to our daughter's ward (LDS term- "congregation"), I am looking back further than these past three weeks to these past six or seven months.


Is there a certain time in your life when you should decide to serve a mission for the Lord? I guess the real question is- Does the Lord consider your convenience when He decides to give you the urge or prompting to  begin thinking about serving for Him full time? Perhaps what He is actually seeing is the people that you will impact as you serve Him. We are not the only couple or family serving a mission from the Miles side of the family. Marcia has a cousin who, with his family, is serving on a mission in Spain. For those in the family who may be reading this blog this family is Aunt Betty Johnson's grandson, Jared Stayton with his wife Lora and two daughters- Jara and Laila. As I read their blog this morning I recognized that some of the things that they went through prior to leaving for Spain were similar to what we experienced. There were some differences but because of how well it was written I wanted to share their thoughts here:

                 Three and a half years ago, we began feeling the call on our lives for mission work, but we were unsure what that work would look like. About six months ago, God started burdening our hearts for the people of sourthern Spain. Over time the confirmation of our call to this area became evident through our prayer and devo time and confirmation through others around us. We pray that this blog, StaytonServingSpain, will glorfy God, proclaim His grace, mercy, and love and share the testimony of HIs work in our lives.

Current Prophet- Thomas S Monson

Marcia and I have had similar feelings- we call them promptings- from the Holy Ghost. We had previously served two local missions in the Indiana area and felt that we should again serve the Lord where He would have us be. As Marcia, a therapist (LCSW- Licensed Clinical Social Worker), had a thriving family practice her initial desire was to serve again locally. Just as the Staytons prayed for confirmation regarding their desire to serve in Spain, we prayed to our Father in heaven whether or not we should submit paperwork to serve a full-time mission away from our home in Fishers, Indiana. The process is a little different in our faith as we submit paperwork to our church leaders indicating our desire to serve. That paper work is then sent to Salt Lake City where the mission work for the church is coordinated as it is a world wide effort. There was a good possibility that we would be serving a mission using the talents that Marcia has as a therapist. In fact we were told that she was an answer to prayers as the Philippine area presidency had been praying for someone to replace their existing therapist who was in the last months of her mission their. The end result, though, is we will be sent to where the Lord needs us. Even though their is a need in the Philippine area for someone of Marcia's skills the final determination would come through a living prophet- Thomas S Monson. (Our faith believes in Prophets in a similar manner in which ancient Israel did. We believe that they receive revelation from God to direct the Lord's church in these modern days.) Through revelation he would know where we were to go and what we would be doing. It was possible that we would end up somewhere else in the world in a proselyting mission- and some day we may. This time prayers were answered for the people of the Philippines and the Lord responded in directing His prophet to issue a "call" to us to serve in the Philippine's area.

After a week of additional training in Salt Lake City, Marcia and I will be leaving a week from today for the Philippines to continue our adventure! Excited times ahead.....

jsf