Ticket to Ride

March 20, 2017

Last Week

Once a month we travel to Kumasi, like last week, to take care of leadership responsibilities. It takes 3 days; we leave on Wednesday, have meetings on Thursday, and come back on Friday. It’s 7 hours one-way and very bumpy. There isn’t much I can do during the trip because I get carsick. We ride, stop and eat, and continue. Most days I wish I had more time to work in my own area.

In addition, I watched “The Other Side of Heaven” with my district for an activity and it makes me super excited to get to work.

Next Week

So this coming week should be great! We’ve got a lot of time to work and I want to keep busy! I feel like I’m making tons of progress personally, so I will keep doing the little things that help me grow stronger, and will continue doing the work I’ve been entrusted with. I know this is the truth, and as I help others find it, I also find my true self, which is sometimes the greatest discovery of all.

One Week Later

This week was pretty good. Things are going okay with the area, and I’m trying my best. With all the new techniques in human relations that I’ve been learning, I’ve been trying to get the perfect balance of things. As a leader it’s really hard to know when you’re pressing hard enough to help motivate people to do the right without nagging them, or when you’re pressing too hard. It’s the closest thing to raising a child I can imagine while here on a mission. I’m just trying to figure it all out. Hopefully with time I’ll get it all down.

One of the things that I’m figuring out is how to get along with children. First off, I’ve learned that I should treat them with as much respect as an adult: respect for their agency as well as their wellbeing. Secondly, I do everything in my power to earn their trust: with small children between the ages of 2-8 it’s somewhat easy, depending on the child. Then, after I’ve gained their trust, I see how open they are to learning new things. Most of the time, they seem to listen to me a lot. Especially when I’m not pushing them around, treating them as objects to be controlled. It’s made quite a difference. I’ve learned to appreciate and respect children more.

That’s the main thing for this week.

Ben