We are en route to France, and. If the flight tracker is correct, we just flew over Idaho Falls. During the last week in the MTC, we covered the humanitarian and self reliance programs in the church, and the software programs they have developed to track them. It reminded me of books I read on the subject during my doctorate program, describing why almost all humanitarian projects in other countries fail. For the most part, governments and non-profit organizations come into a country, assess the needs they perceive and then implement projects to fill those needs. The problem is, they do not stop to ask local leaders and local people in general what their true problems are, and what they need and can sustain.
One of the videos shown. During the week was of a TED talk outlining a project done by the Italian government to teach farming practices to the people of Zambia. The climate was exceptional, the soil fertile and their crops of Italian tomatoes and squash flourished. The tomatoes were huge and ripening when a herd of hippos came out of the river and destroyed the crops. The Italians were devastated and demanded of the locals why they didn’t tell them of this problem. “You never asked. That is why we don’t grow crops”. The Italians felt bad until they looked around at the projects done by the américains and other European countries, and realized that at least they fed the Hippos.
The church is learning, and learning well how to taylor projects to local needs by working with the locals and then designing projects that utilize local resources. Rather than purchasing goods and services to be brought in, they work with locals suppliers to vitalize the local economy and teach them to be self sufficient. Projects are measured by how they reach and sustain the local people. If the church doesn’t have local resources or local knowledge, they reach out and work with organizations that do.
For Sunday, we were the last senior missionaries in the MTC. The rest had departed for their field of service on Friday or Saturday. For church, we met with the senior couples branch Presidency for Sacrament Meeting. There were five couples there: The president, his counselors and their wives, plus one other couple that headed out just after sacrament meeting. We had second hour with just the eight of us. Powerful testimonies of missionary work and His place in the last days. Sunday night, we attended our last formal function of the MTC, the decipleship devotional. The subject was compelling, testimony vs. conversion. Testimony is a gift. Many missionaries who render powerful testimony on their mission indeed have a testimony, but they are not truly converted. Conversion is a choice. Peter, even with his immense faith of Jesus Christ and His mission, was told “When thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren”. Those who are converted make the choice to follow Him. President Caulderwood of the MTC stressed the point that many of the missionaries who served with him when he was a mission president have fallen away and that this plague will continue as long as missionaries and members refuse to seek personal, on going revelation as President Nelson implores.
We will soon be in France. We were told that we would not have an apartment when we arrived in Lyon, but that we would have to stay in an Air-B&B until one could be found. Just a few days ago, we got word that a Sr couple in the mission had to return early due to medical reasons and we would have their apartment. I would have much rather had a different answer to our prayer. The area Humanitarian and self-reliance director will pick us up at the airport when we arrive in Lyon tomorrow and take us to our apartment. We have an appointment with the mission president the next morning, so it appears we hit the ground running.
Tim and Catherine Frodsham
Latter-Day Saints 