WEEK 14

I've been writing in my journal everyday on the mission. I've never written so much in my life! You'd think my handwriting would improve with the amount of writing I'm doing now...Instead, I find that my handwriting is getting worse and worse everyday because there is less and less time to write..hehe
I just started a new journal this week. It's the first time I've written in a journal book from cover to cover! It's exciting =) I realize that I write a lot of stuff that wouldn't really matter 2 days from now, but I know that I've occasionally read through some of the pages and I'm glad I wrote those thoughts and feelings and experiences down.
I had a great interview with President Beck on Thursday. He shared with me his study journal from the mission he served in Germany as a youth. In it were precious notes President Beck took from meetings and conferences during his mission. He shared some with me. One that I really liked was about spare time on the mission - "Spare time is study time." In life, when you have spare time, do you sit down and turn the TV on, or do you open a good book to read? Do you surf the net, or do you spend time developing your talents, serve someone, or study the scriptures? I know I definitely want to use my spare time more effectively from now on! Well, usually we don't have much spare time on the mission. But we try our best to fit in 1 hour meal times in our schedule everyday. Sometimes we get done eating meals at home in 30 to 45 minutes. The spare time is used to study =)
Well, I'm grateful that President Beck kept a study journal during his mission. I know years from now I will read through the pages in my own journal and perhaps learn or relearn something from these scribblings. Who knows, maybe I'll be sharing it with other young missionaries too...