We Surrender & Enduring to the End

Halo Grandkids, Kids, Family and dear friends!

Has it actually been 7 days since our last update? The weeks just seem to fly by here in Vanuatu. Well, let’s get you updated on our week. I will begin by saying we finally surrendered! Mark and I can take just about anything and be cheerful about it. We are not quitters, but enough is enough. We put up the white flag! Who can sleep on a full-size bed? Well, we did it for a year! Let me just say I am glad it’s’ over! Last Monday after attending our weekly S&I team meeting we ran a few errands and ended up buying ourselves a Queens size bed! We thought we could hang in another 6 months and decided why are we doing this? Mark hadn’t slept great and my hips could feel the springs of the mattress. There are just some things you should not suffer through. I can’t believe we hung in for a year on that bed. Surrendering is not a failure; It’s an epiphany of a better way. It takes humility and while some of you may be laughing your heads off, we have learned a lesson.

Our Sunday meeting in Eton. The primary class posing with us
after coloring a booklet on the teachings of Isaiah

We will be having a 2-day training for the Seminary & Institute Supervisors in early October. We have 5 supervisors who will attend along with our Coordinator and his Administrative Assistant and 2 sets of Senior missionaries, which includes us. I have been working with some of the supervisors on their presentations at the training. Last year was very informative and spiritual. We have accomplished a lot this past year and look forward to a review and to further instructions in moving forward this amazing program for the youth of our church.

Just this week we received news of the splitting of one of our local wards. The youth in this particular ward meet at 4:30am Monday through Friday to study the Old Testament. When they were asked if they wanted to change the time they met, they answered no we like it at that time. I have to say Mark Lovelace is ready to visit this class. I have offered to make some Cinnamon rolls and come for a visit. I said I could come home and take a nap afterwards. This type of dedication is beautiful. After studying Isaiah in our Sunday School lessons and reading about Israel and how they turned away from the God of Israel my heart has been replenished with the hope of Israel today. This class is dedicated and their actions demonstrate a great love for the Lord and his teachings. I wish all of God’s children could taste the rewards of such a daily experience. Let’s not forget the teacher and her willingness to show up and teach each morning. Her example demonstrates a love to stand with Jesus Christ and help others come unto him.

Have I shared how much I love being a part of this great work!

Our neighbors who live above us are here working for 2 years. Raj works for Coke and his wife Salochni also works from home. They have a 5-month-old baby and asked if I knew anyone who might be able to be a nanny for them. I arranged for them to interview Tania’s Mom for the position. Unfortunately, she has another position and cannot take it on but agreed to help them for a week until we could find them help. I have 2 others coming to interview this week.

Our Succeed in School program in Etas is being totally supported by the ward which allows Mark and I time to assist the other 2 units as we only have 1 teacher at each of those units. I am so grateful for these dedicated women!

Mark checked on Rachel’s status to see if she had received her mission call. Rachel received her call -- after a year of preparing and the dental work! Rachel has been called to serve in the Philippians, Cebu mission and will be speaking Cebuano. I have never heard of this language. Rachel read her call in church today and was so emotional. I told her grandmother that I had never met someone with such a beautiful strong heart as Rachel. Rachel never gave up; she never surrendered even through the pain of that horrible dental work. She is just so happy to be able to now serve as a missionary for our Lord, Jesus Christ. I am so amazed at her determination to become what she has had the desire to become. I love the whole process of watching a caterpillar become a butterfly. I feel like I have been on the front row watching something even more magnificent take place as I have seen a heart choose to serve Jesus Christ no matter the obstacles.

Me and Rachel after the Sunday meetings.

Mark and I visited the Erakor seminary class this week. It was amazing to watch how organized they were. A youth conducted the meeting which meant they welcomed everyone announced prayers and who would give the spiritual thought and then turn time to the teacher. Impressive leadership. I was also amazed at the participation of the students and how engaged they were in the lesson being given. The teacher has given the learners an invitation to be diligent learners. To take responsibility for their learning. To ask questions, share thoughts and understanding with one another and to testify of things they know to be true. This was a model class.

Erakor Branch seminary class just beginning. A few had yet
to arrive.

On Wednesday Mark got a call from our mission President inviting us to teach at the Zone Conference Friday. For those of you who don’t know what a zone conference is I’ll explain. About every 6 weeks the Elder and Sister Missionaries come together and meet with their Mission President and Wife and have Interviews and training. Here in Efate (Port Vila) we have two Zones (East & West). We have about 32 Missionaries in each Zone. Our Mission President and his wife travel from Island to Island holding these Conferences. This mission is different from other missions as it covers Santo, Tanna, Malakula, and New Caledonia. We have missionaries serving in Gaua who will come in to join those conferences. With that bit of information, you see a very small portion of the work of our Mission President and his wife have responsibility of. When the invitation came, we were happy to accept any assignment given. We were asked to teach the doctrine of Jesus Christ of Enduring to the End. Mark and I both took the opportunity to share some instruction on Enduring to the End. I spoke more about the importance of keeping our promises to follow Jesus Christ after baptism. I also shared the following 2 quotes about the decisions we make and their importance:

President Monson: “Each day is a day of decision, and our decisions determine our destiny.”

Elder Robert D. Wirthlin: “Sometimes we might think that enduring to the end is one big test that happens at the end of our lives. But perhaps it is actually thousands of small decisions made throughout our lives. Enduring to the end means making the gospel part of our daily lives and remaining faithful to Jesus Christ throughout our lives.”

I also shared this scripture from the Book of Mormon which I love as it teaches us what we must do after baptism. “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” (2 Nephi 31:20)

Remaining steadfast in Christ is continuing to live his teachings joyfully. Enduring to the end should be a joyous quest of a lifetime. I also shared a picture of all 12 of our grandkids. I shared that we have more reasons to remain steadfast in Christ as we want our grandchildren to experience the Joy of a Life of following Jesus Christ. My Joy comes from doing just that and there is no greater Joy. I am so happy when these opportunities come as I always have such a personal spiritual experience even before I share what I am led to share, seeming to get more from the experience than anyone else.

Mark & I teaching at the Zone Conference on
Enduring to the End

[And this is Mark’s comments in blue] Darleen asked me to share a little about my portion of the "Enduring to the End" lesson we taught on Friday. I used an experience from my high school days when I ran track and competed in 300-meter hurdles. One race, as I came around the final corner and headed toward the finish line, I was ahead of everyone else. Feeling confident, I started looking behind me to see how much I was leading by. Unfortunately, I took my eyes off the track and failed to notice the final hurdle until it was almost too late. I had to stop abruptly to avoid crashing into it, costing me valuable time and momentum, allowing the other runners to pass me by.

As I reflected on that experience, I realized how much it parallels the principle of enduring to the end.

I shared four lessons I learned from that race:

Know where you want to go. Begin with the end in mind.
Stay focused on what matters most.
Keep your head up and look where you are going.
Expect hurdles along the way, but don't let them stop you from moving forward.

When you run hurdles, your focus has to stay on the finish line. The goal is to finish strong and perform at your best. Life is much the same way. If you do not know where you want to go, it is easy to wander without direction.

I referenced the familiar conversation from Alice in Wonderland, where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which road she should take. When Alice says she doesn't much care where she goes, the Cat replies, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." There is a lot of wisdom in that simple statement. We need to have a vision of where we want to go and who we want to become.

I then shared personal experiences that helped illustrate the other principles. Overall, we felt the discussion and presentation went well. Time will tell. It may be the last time the Mission President asks us to speak! 😊

Thank-you Boyfriend! After Zone Conference, we had an hour to purchase the food we would need to prepare for our In-service meeting the following day.

After completing that task Mark dropped me off at the Stake center to teach my Foundational Math class and he headed to Etas to deliver the snacks to those classes. In my class we worked on changing improper fractions to mixed numbers. I had 3 of my regular students with 2 younger kids begging to join us. This is the 3^rd week of review as we had finished book 1 and I wanted to see how much they actually retained, I can totally relate to this group and I pushed the repeat button over and over again to help them understand, the problem is not knowing the steps to change the fraction into the mixed number it is multiplication. I have discovered multiplication holds them back. This week we will have some fun reviewing multiplication facts.

I spent the evening preparing lunch for our Seminary & Institute teachers for the following day while Mark worked on our study session for the Fiji pre-exam that would also take place at the same time. I made cupcakes and chocolate cream cheese frosting from scratch. I prepared all the items for a toss salad and boiled my macaroni noodles 5 minutes in preparation for crock pot Mac N Cheese with Ham. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, and I think I drove them crazy as the Crock Pots were in the same room as the meeting and the smell of the food cooking made them so hungry.

Meal for In-Service

Seminary & Institute In-Service meeting attendees.
Our "boss" Katimal leading the discussion.

Our study session went well and Mark and I both feel like those who attended will truly enhance their scores in October. I appreciate all the work Mark puts in preparing for these study sessions. On the ride home Mark said he was just going to put some things away and take a nap. When we arrived home, we washed the dishes. Mark discovered a BYU women’s volleyball game and while he watched that I fell asleep. When I woke up, he had washed the clothes, put gas in the car, put away all the bags that had all the testing items in them, along with a few other things. It felt so good to get a nap.

Fiji practice study session - Mark helping them
understand some of the potential test problems

That night Mark prepared a game I had suggested we play with the kids for Primary for singing time. He also helped me put together a little coloring booklet on our lesson from Isaiah on how the Lord would perform a marvelous work and wonder.

Punch out game for singing time

Primary coloring booklets that
taught lesson on a Marvelous Work & Wonder

On Sunday, we attended our Eton group thinking that it might possibly become a Branch. Meaning that it would no longer fall under the Etas Ward leadership. Unfortunately, it did not take place on Sunday. We love attending church in Eton and pray that the unit will continue to increase in numbers and in strength. We also found out that Rachel is the 1^st to be serving a mission from that Unit. I wonder if Rachel realizes what an example, she is to the youth of that unit? We will continue to love, serve and strengthen our Eton church family. Can I ask you to remember our Eton Unit in your Prayers?

That’s our update, we pray that you’ll all have a spectacular week and that you’ll see the Lord’s hand in your life daily. Consider yourselves HUGGED!

Love you all!

Nana & Popa, Mom & Dad, Darleen & Mark, Sista & Elda Lovelace

Additional Pictures for the week: