General Missionary Fund

We have only been in South Africa a little over a month and have lost two dear friends. The first was my friend Vonnie who has been like a sister to me. We lived as neighbors for many years and helped raise each others children. I don't think the Calls and the Davie kids knew half the time whose mother was really theirs. Vonnie was a dedicated seminary teacher for years and I remember her as I work here to strengthen that program. Now this week, we have heard of the passing of another dear friend Linn Mills. Linn was an award winning master gardener, horticulturalist, author and TV personality in Las Vegas where we lived. But even more important, he was a bishop in our ward, an agent bishop for the past number of years and a friend to all of us.

The reason I am writing about Bishop Mills on our missionary blog is that he has asked that in lieu of flowers or other remembrances, people donate money to the general missionary program of the church. The dollars from that fund help pay for young people throughout the world who would have no other way of serving a mission if it weren't for this fund. We are now living in one of those areas of the world where the general missionary fund is so vital it helping young church members fulfill their goal of serving missions. Of course those two years are important in their lives, but in these kinds of areas, serving a mission is about changing an entire life, not just those two years. I heard a young man talk about his experience--he said that he was only able to serve a mission because people he didn't even know paid for it. He loved serving, but he said that his mission also taught him how to interact with people, how to dress, how to set goals and how to achieve them. When he came home, he applied for an received funding from another church program--the Perpetual Education Fund. I will write about that in another post. He was able to get an education and eventually a job working in the IT department at a hospital, a job he said he never would have dared dream about before his mission. He is now a successful young husband and father and that success began with general missionary funds. The three members of the CES presidency here are amazing men--now highly educated and highly successful. They contribute not only to the church, but to South Africa itself. Their missions were possible because of help from the general missionary fund. We have met several other great young men and women who are working hard to prepare themselves to serve missions--completing their seminary classes, even though they may walk long distances to attend. In order to serve, they have to save part of the money on their own, to show their commitment. This is a huge challenge for them, especially for the many without parents, but it is a small part that they can manage if they work hard. The large part can only come from donated funds like the ones that we will give in remembrance of this great man.