SRS, just another acronym, or is it?

As we serve on our mission, many people ask us what Self-Reliance Service (SRS) missionaries do and what is the Self-Reliance thing all about.  Of course we can talk on and on with our thoughts about this and the joy we have being involved with this great work. This morning I had the opportunity to speak in a devotional to the employees and missionaries in the Area Office.  I shared with them the following:

I would like to explain why it is so important to become self-reliant.  In Handbook 2, section 6.1.1 it says:

Self-reliance is the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family. As members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others.

These are inspired words that were in the Handbook of the Church before the Self-Reliance initiative as we know it began.  I believe the purpose is clearly stated in the last sentence of the first paragraph where it says "As members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others."

In 2012, President Monson assigned President Eyring to initiate a study of how the Perpetual Education Fund should expand to meet the needs of the Church.  In the years that followed, President Eyring has had a significant impact on this initiative. I just want to share two comments that I heard about that have helped shape my thinking:

• President Eyring shared some concern about the words "self-reliance" because he never wanted the members of the Church to feel that they do not need to rely on the Lord.   Someone that is truly self-reliant learns to rely on the Lord.
• Once President Eyring was asked about the concept of identifying how many members needed self-reliance help in the Church.  He stated that he really would like to know how many members of the Church were "helping" others.

I have pondered these concepts many times, but this past Sunday as I was pondering and praying about what I would share this morning, I once again felt the importance of emphasizing the purpose of self-reliance, in its role of enabling our members to help others, not only temporally, but more importantly spiritually. So the process must include temporal and spiritual together.  If not, we are only helping people to get more money and too often that will divert their attention from the Lord to material things.

1. Temporal Self-Reliance helps us to develop personal resources, talents and time, all the things that we should be consecrating to the kingdom of God.  Our purpose must be to help others as stated in Jacob 2:18-19:

'But before ye seek for riches,seek ye for the kingdom of God.  And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted."

2. Spiritual Self-Reliance - Trust in the Lord, become clean, receive promptings and then hearken to the Holy Ghost.  We then should do as God directs as noted in revelation to William McLellin in D&C 66:3-5:

"Verily I say unto you, my servant William, that you are clean, but not all; repent, therefore, of those things which are not pleasing in my sight, saith the Lord, for the Lord will show them unto you. Andrew, verily,  I, the Lord will show unto you what I will concerning you, or what is my will concerning you.  Behold, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should proclaim my gospel from land to land, and from city to city . . ."  

The Lord will show us our sins and also will show us His will concerning us.  Hence, the goal is on again to learn to understand His voice and to follow it.

I believe this was exemplified with a few examples from our recent visit to Cape Verde.  

• We met a young man who was off of his mission for more than 4 months and unemployed.  A few days later, he was asked by the stake president to be the stake self-reliance specialist.  He mentioned that he was unemployed.  The stake president promised him that if he would accept the calling he would find work.  That was on Wednesday, on Thursday he received a job offer.  On Sunday he told us all about it, with a large smile on his face.  He also was already working hard in his new role and he will bless the lives of many.
• That same Sunday, we once again met a wonderful lady who is a hair dresser.  We had first met her last August as she was facilitating a Self-Reliance Group of Starting and Growing My Own Business.  She was an amazing facilitator.  On Sunday she was beaming as she saw her third group receive their graduation certificates.  In this group there were five non members also participating and graduating.  She has now spent 9 months in a row facilitating these groups and blessing the lives of so many.

These two are examples of how we are to become self-reliant so that we can help others to be self-reliant.  To me it exemplifies the process that is clearly stated in Moses 7:18 which states:

"And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwell in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."

This great work is about helping to build Zion. As we help each other in this process, we become of "one heart and one mind" and we eliminate poverty and dwell in righteousness by including our focus on spiritual self-reliance.

Let me include the parable of the cows:

The son of the vice chair of the Self-Reliance Committee decided to invest his life savings into raising cows.  It became a family business that brought him joy and satisfaction.  The cows grazed on a hillside near the city.  What happened next is best described by the actual text messages between the son and the father:

Son: Sorry for calling you earlier. I went to the west pasture to get the cows and they were all gone and it was pure panic. I knelt and said a prayer out loud and then started running. They ended up being all the way by the apartments miles away. 

A few other texts . . . then . . .

Dad: how many cows do you have? After you prayed and started running, how did you know what direction to go?

Son: 90 cows and I literally looked up in a direction and started running.

The true spiritual self-reliance question is:  When the cows are gone, what will you do?

When you hear that your child has a health issue? When your marriage is not working? When you lose your job? When you're living all the commandments and life is not going the way you think it should?

Do you instinctively turn toe the Lord? In troubled times, in good times, in free times, in humble times.

Will we prepare and serve as directed by our Heavenly Father, to be instruments in his hand?

Back to our week, 

We spent the first two days of last week in Portugal.  The first was with our Operations Team on Monday, planning our April  PEF Loan Seminar.  Then on Tuesday we spent the day with Antonio Paulo, our SRS manager in Portugal and two wonderful missionary couples, Elder and Sister Anderton and Neiswender.  Each of these groups are very capable and very kind to be around.  They edify us and strengthen us.  The weather was delightful and everything went as well as it possibly could.

On Wednesday we returned home to Frankfurt after being gone two weeks.  It was good to be home.  As we went to the office, we were met by a special birthday message and photos to me from the senior missionaries.  The following greetings were on the front door of the Area Office, the door on our floor and the door of our office.  They wanted me to feel appreciated, even though we were gone on my birthday.  Very kind and wonderful people!  We were also greeted with our first letters from our grandchildren.  Also a package that arrived for Sister Rueckert, her very own copy of a hiccopotamus book that she fell in love with.

On Thursday morning, we had our monthly Area Self-Reliance Committee meeting, which is chaired by Elder Dyches, of the Europe Area Presidency. The primary focus of the meting was to focus on Cape Verde, including the new Jobs Initiative.  The PSD department was able to get one of the films completed to share with the Committee.  It was the film of Jessyka and it was well received.  

The rest of the week we were able to get caught up in the office, including backed up emails, etc.  On Saturday, we went to visit the Chinese Gardens that have been built in the city of Frankfurt. In 1990,  a Chinese garden, "the Garden of Heavenly Peace" was created in the memory of the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre.  Even though it is a bit cold still in Frankfurt, we were able to enjoy the visit.  We will probably return when the weather is better and the greenery is flourishing more.

Sunday we once again had a great fast and testimony meeting in our ward.  We attend the Frankfurt 2nd Ward, which is an international ward, English based.  The members are from all over Europe, they speak many different languages.  English becomes the common bond for each of them for worship.  We are inspired by their strength and testimony.  It certainly strengthens us as we participate with them.

German specialty of the week:

We went shopping yesterday and I was once again reminded of the unique (to me) way they take care of shopping carts.  When you arrive at a store, all shopping carts appear to be locked up.  However, you can release a shopping cart by putting a coin into the shopping cart.  Then when you lock it back up, you get your coin back.  A good way to encourage people to return their carts to the right place.

                                  

                                               I found my own shopping cart coin, that works just like a coin

The Atlantic Ocean’s best kept secret

What a week!  We are currently sitting in the airport in Praia, Cape Verde, waiting for our flight that leaves at 12:55 a.m. for Lisbon, Portugal.  We have completed our trip to Cape Verde and we are overwhelmed with the blessings of the Lord that we have seen and experienced in this past week. 

Our week in Mindelo was full of many activities.  Primary activities were the Jobs Initiative visits with employers to build preferred partnerships with Church members looking for work.  This was the primary purpose of Brother and Sister Adams involvement.  Brother Adams and James Tavares, our manager, had 13 successful meeting with different employers where preferred relationships were created.   With other commitments we were able to only participate in one of these in MIndelo.

At the same time we had a film crew from Frankfurt in Mindelo filming some success stories of Self-Reliance participants.  In the end, we ended up spending most of two days assisting the film crew.  This included the wonderful stories of Jessyka and Fredson.  The filming involved their lives, recreating past experiences and involving their families.  One of the highlights was recreating Jessyka’s baptism with a reenacted baptism in the ocean.  We also played a major role in helping take care of Fredson’s two year old, Lehi,  while he wasn’t involved in some of the filming scenes..  Overall, we had a wonderful experience with each of these members and a different set of experiences than normal for senior missionary couples.

Elder and Sister Rueckert at the beach where we were filming the baptism

Filming of the Baptism - getting started

Filming Jessica with her sick father

Fredson with wife and son, Lehi

Sister Rueckert with Lehi, two year old son of  Fredson

Add to that multiple videoconferences with our Area managers, full-time missionaries and finance and legal people in the Area office.  We also met individually with one of the bishops and a few visits with the director of the Ashby Foundation, who has been doing wonderful humanitarian work in Cape Verde.

Hotel with over 1,000 rooms in Sal

By Thursday morning we were ready to go the island of Sal to begin working with companies and the leadership of the district there.  We had an amazing visit with one of the largest hotels on the island, visiting with their six-person HR team and receiving a tour of their facilities.  They employ 900 employees and will need an additional 500 as they open a new hotel later in the year.  Unlike the other islands, there are more jobs available than there are employees available.  However, this visit will help us to strategize on how to balance the opportunities with the needs. 

Meeting with HR group of hotel

Another photo from the tour of the hotel facilities 

We also were able to meet with some of the leadership of the district, and although the numbers were not as large, the discussions were still meaningful.

All of this was the way for me to celebrate my birthday.  Since our internet access has been very limited, I have not been able to respond to the many birthday wishes that I received on Facebook, messenger, voice male and email.  It is an amazing world that we live in where well wishes can be shared in so many ways.  To all, I thank you for your love and wishes. 

We did stay at a resort hotel on the beach, as that is what the majority of Sal is made of.  Hence the following two paragraphs.

To begin Friday morning, I went running on the beach for about a mile one way and then back.  The beaches are beautiful and clean, It was soothing to run on the beach and as I saw footprints of others in the sand, my thoughts went to the poem Footprints in the Sand.  I was so thankful that my Savior walks beside me and carries me in times of need.  I came back to our room rejuvenated.

We didn’t get as much scheduled for Friday, so after a meeting with our team, Sister Rueckert and I took a two hour P-Day break on the beach in the morning.  It was beautiful and we had a very relaxing and enjoyable time.  We both went into the water up to our waists and then Sister Rueckert watched as I spent an hour jumping into the waves.  We took some pictures, a few that I am sharing below.

Together on this beautiful beach

Sister Rueckert relaxing on the beach in Sal

Elder Rueckert as he is hit by a wave

On Saturday we returned to the island of Santiago, city of Praia.  After other preparatory meetings we held a leadership training meeting on Saturday evening.  Over 40 leaders were in attendance from the stake and district that are on this island.  One of the highlights was the announcement that a young man names Gerson, who we had met a week earlier, had been called as the stake self-reliance specialist.  Gerson has returned from his mission just 4 months ago and was looking for work.  He will be going back to school in the fall.  As he accepted the call from the stake president on Wednesday of this week, he was promised that he would find work.  The next morning he received a phone call that he had been selected for an IT position, which is consistent with his studies.  He was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to tell us.  We believe that he will serve a wonderful role in helping this stake progress even more with self-reliance and this jobs initiative. 

We had wonderful meetings once again in the Praia 5^th ward. In Sunday School, we had a wonderful lesson on the teachings of Isaiah.  When they were talking about the mountain of the Lord and the temples, we were humbled as he asked by the raise of hands all who had been to the temple once and a few that had been to the temple twice.  He asked those who had been to the temple twice to share what they had learned from hearing the words in the temple a second time.  Both Sister Rueckert and I were overcome with gratitude for the privilege we have had to go to the temple on a regular basis and amazement on the challenges of temple worship for a people who are many hours on an airplane from any other temple.  Later I shared my thoughts with the high priest group, how I prayed that the day would come when they could have a temple in their country, on their islands.  One of the brothers told us that when they live worthy to hold a temple recommend, they feel like the Lord gives them the same blessings that others get from being able to go to the temple.  Once again I was overcome by their simple faith and strength in following our Savior, even with their limited means.

We finished our visit to Cape Verde with a devotional held today.  Overall, there was close to 200 members in attendance at the devotional.  This included talks by our manager, our Area SR manager, the stake president and myself and included a graduation for about 30 individuals who had completed the Self-Reliance courses, including several non-members.  After the devotional, many lingered, took pictures, etc.  What a wonderful overwhelming spirit that we felt and joy in seeing the work of the Lord progressing so well in this stake.

Scene on the road on our way to the devotional

Stake president addressing devotional  with nearly 200 participants

Graduated members of one of the Small Business groups.  Half of these are non members.

We leave Cape Verde with great hope for great people that are building up the Lord’s Kingdom in this very remote land.  Missionaries baptize each week in most of the wards, retention is strong and they are all working towards self-reliance in spite of insurmountable challenges.  However, they have been promised that the Lord will provide for his Saints and they believe it, and so do we!

Memorable experiences from this week as noted by Sister Rueckert

1.     On Tuesday we were helping the film crew capture Jessyka’s story for a video.  We were trying to figure out how we could reenact her baptism in the ocean.  We had planned on doing it in the Church baptismal font.  Brian really wanted an ocean baptism.  They were trying to figure out how to maybe do it on Wednesday.  I had the impression that I should suggest that we do it right after filming at the cemetery.  I made that suggestion and Brian got his baptism in the ocean.

2.     We were in a taxi on our way to the leadership meeting in Praia which began at 5:30 pm.  The main roads were closed because the cell phone company was celebrating their first year in business.  We had to take a different route to the chapel.  The traffic was horrible.  At one point we were stopped for several minutes.  We were all getting anxious. I had the feeling that I should say a prayer for Heavenly Father’s help.  I closed my eyes and offered a silent prayer.  I told Heavenly Father that I had the faith and knew that he could solve the traffic jam.  I explained how important it was that we get to the church in time to set up.  I explained the importance of this meeting and what we were trying to accomplish.  Again I declared my faith without doubt that Heavenly Father could solve the problem.  As soon as I opened my eyes cars in front of us started moving.  We were soon out of the traffic jam and arrived with 10 minutes to set up for the meeting.  I silently thanked the Lord for his tender mercies on our behalf.  Later I gave thanks and credit to my Heavenly Father  in my personal prayers before going to bed.

3.     During the Sunday evening devotional I was able to understand much of what Mendonça was saying in Portuguese.

4.     I was overcome with emotion when I realized the people in Cape Verde may only have one opportunity to go to the temple.  In the Sunday School lesson we were talking about the “mountain of the Lord” being the temple.  Some of the members mentioned their one time to the temple.  I never realized before then how many good members of the Church may have only one opportunity to go to the temple.  Tom and I have been able to go to the temple weekly for several years.  How very blessed we are!

5.     It was amazing to witness the strength of the Praia stake in Praia.  The saints are strong and dedicated to being disciples of Jesus Christ.  I was privileged to be able to play the piano for the hymns that were sung on Saturday evening and Sunday evening.  The saints sang with such volume that I could barely hear the piano playing.

6.     I had been pretty negative about this trip to Cape Verde for a number of reasons.  I decided a week before our trip to begin praying that I could have a positive attitude and try to be nice and pleasant to be around  I prayed that I could be calm and have peace in my heart.  Every time I said my prayers this is what I would pray for.  The trip is not yet over but the Cape Verde part is.  I can honestly say that my prayers have been answered.  It has been a wonderful trip.  My anxiety and fears ceased and I was filled with peace, calm and a sense of well being.