Transfers

Sometimes transfers can be hard when you can't say "good-bye". Today at the zone conference we saw some of the people who got transferred. We went to the Thursday conference, even though we were assigned to the Friday conference because we have people we visit with every Friday. It's easier for us to change than it is for them. I'm sure the messages are similar in the three days it takes for the whole mission to have conferences.

We are meeting with a wonderful family who lost a two-year-old son a few months ago. The parents quit going to church in their early teens and their children have never been. Early this week we were thinking of asking them if we could start teaching family home evening. Well, we didn't even have to ask. At the next appointment, as we were setting another time to come, they said they didn't want to cause a problem for us but if possible, Monday nights would be much better for them. How about that! Do you think we were guided to think that? Now we are preparing a lesson for next Monday night and they are excited.

It is really the Lord's work and He is in charge and guiding us at all time. He loves all his children and everyone we see in the world is a child of God. Look in the face of the begger or of the criminal and think what his father thinks of him. He was created in the image of his father.

The work is true. We just have to run harder to keep up.

What we learn as children stays with us for life. Church leaders have long said that the first years of a child's life are vital in who they will become. It is very hard to go against those early lessons whether those lessons are positive or negative.

A child abandoned young will feel unloved for life no matter what happens later. Unless he sees a strong reason to change that belief it remains part of who he is. Even then, the basic belief will color all future views of life and human interaction. A person raised with particular beliefs, even though the person later turns their back on those beliefs, is still of a mind-set that is very difficult to break.

The influence of parents on young children remains in some form for life. Whether those early effects are good or bad is the choice of the parent. The child has a very hard time changing those early values. Thinking our actions do not affect others is a lie Satan would like us to believe.