What's Up, Doc?

Recently our mission was blessed to have Elder and Sister Hobbs join us, she as Singapore Mission Health Advisor. They made their first Singapore trip during this week of Zone Conference. They are doing a great work in caring for our missionaries and in both continuing and extending the medical process of the mission. Even though our focus is mental health, being with them got me thinking about how many medical interactions Vivian and I have already had in our short six months:

Psychiatry: Three different offices in two countries, plus consultations back in the US.
Urgent Care: Twice
Radiology
Gastroenterology
Podiatry
Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose Throat)

We are learning many things, from how to navigate to the offices, how to deal with differences in scheduling and payment, managing insurance coverage, maintaining records, and more. I guess you can teach old dogs some new tricks!

Zone Conference and Institute: Zone Conferences are one long day after another and the week has been packed with that, while still maintaining a heavy counseling load. Our favorite part of conference is being able to see every missionary in the mission and feeling the excitement of connection, old and new. This conference was squarely focused on our Savior Jesus Christ and was very uplifting in helping all of us turn back to our missionary purpose and theme that we all memorize:

Purpose: "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

Theme: “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.” 3 Nephi 5:13 (This is also the worldwide theme for the youth this year).

Every speaker and session focused on the journey that we are on and that we are on that journey for progress over perfection. There is in fact a concept that exist amongst some missionaries (and others, of course) called "toxic perfectionism". It is related to a tendency we sometimes have to think that we need to 'earn' our way back to God. I was very grateful for our mission leaders working to dispel those myths, while still challenging us to give our very best efforts.

Tuesday evening we had a combined meeting with missionaries and YSA...our two worlds coming together! Wednesday we had a very nice Din Tai Fung dinner out with four other senior missionary couples (I can't believe I forgot to get a picture!), after which I taught my first Institute class: New Testament 212, Acts-Revelations. I really enjoy both the material and the class and am excited for this term.

Temple excitement: Early last year the last missionaries moved out of the old house on the site announced for the Singapore temple. Then in November the Jurong Ward congregation moved out from meeting in the old chapel. Since then the property has not seen much action other than hosting a lot of missionaries for a couple conferences. But this week in the middle of Zone Conference, our mission president received and shared an exciting email. On May 18th they will be changing the locks, turning the property over to the Special Projects department, and requiring missionaries and members to stay away. On a recent trip there I also encountered a subcontractor sizing the site up. So while there is not yet an announcement of groundbreaking, we seem to be heading more quickly in that direction!