Our
amazing district leader, Elder Mancer, is inspired! He asked us to do a 5-minute presentation at
district meeting on stress reduction. Did you know there is an entire booklet for
missionaries titled “Adjusting to Missionary Life” that is all about types of
stress you can feel on a mission and how to manage it? (We didn’t!).
Little did he know how important
this little assignment was for me.
As I studied the
booklet I decided that cooking was my biggest stress (big surprise to no one!)
and that it fell under the category of “intellectual” stress : ) For the missionaries this refers mostly to
the stress of learning a new language. For
me it was needing to learn the language of cooking here in the Netherlands. This included 1) no one-stop shopping…which
store has what; 2) stocking up since most everything is in very small quantities;
3) fresh
food goes bad fast; 4) converting imperial measurements to metric; 5)
figuring out substitutions for our American recipes; 6) the inadequate oven;
and 7) dealing with a refrigerator only big enough to hold the makings of one
large meal…..frequent shopping. I
thought back to the first few months we were here and remembered going to bed
on Sunday nights and lying awake nearly the whole night worrying about the food
we were responsible for in the coming week!
Over the last 11
months I have learned this new language.
Without realizing it I had used the tools in the booklet to adjust to my
missionary life. I use the very
important “weekly planning session” (Preach My Gospel pg. 147). I use
the concept of the “missionary daily planner” in my own way. I don’t go to bed on Sunday night without
writing down all the menus I need for the coming week, along with the necessary
shopping lists. And now I sleep on Sunday nights!
A
few days after our little presentation in District Meeting I stood in the
kitchen, making my own cream of chicken soup so I could then make green chili
chicken enchiladas to take to Den Bosch institute. At that moment, I realized I was feeling
happy, competent, and content.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” I testify that we can “find grace to help”
when we need it. I have.