Communication changes

As many of you are aware, the church has come out with new changes to how missionaries can communicate with their families! This is big news for missionaries and for those who have missionaries out. Serving here in Utah I have been on the front row to much of the controversy and arguments about whether this is a good idea. Because of this, I wanted to share some of my views on it.

This church is an international church. There are many members whose families are not members and don't understand the significant sacrifice that a mission requires. Having this more open communication policy reduces that burden allowing families to continually be a part of the missionaries life and vice versa. Ontop of that, there are many missionaries who can't go out because of medical reasons that would be helped with weekly communication from home. In my personal opinion, this change has come about so that more members will feel comfortable both sending missionaries out and coming out on missions themselves. These are the great last days and the world needs as many missionaries as possible to help spread the great joy and love that we preach!

Now, being a missionary, I could see some of the down sides, such as feeling more homesick or being distracted from the work. It is situations like this when the spirit is required. The official policy change communication states as such: "In making these decisions, they should be considerate of their companions and keep in mind the purpose of their service. " The spirit is evidently neccessary in discerning how often and when you should call your family. I believe that that will be different for every missionary and that those families involved should discuss that.

In other news, we had a baptism for Ryker this last Saturday! We are so excited for him and his family and are grateful for the opportunity we had to serve them! 

There is not a whole lot of new things going on here in Richfield. Transfers are this Wednesday and we think that there will be some changes. 

I hit my 6 month mark on Friday! It's so crazy how fast time has flown. I feel like I'm still a brand new missionary just fresh out of the MTC. I feel like I have grown so much and learned so much as well! My mission has been the best decision I have made so far in my life.

I hope all of you have a great week!!!

Elder Francis