This Issue:

-          Dr. Glen Morrell – 2008 Collegium President

-          Spotlight:  Elder David and Sister Suzanne Limburg

-          Welfare Opportunities – Dr. Susan Puls

-          A Senior Missionary perspective from Guatemala

             By Elder (Dr.) and Sister Limburg

The newsletter contains news, information, member profiles and interesting articles and publications read or submitted by members.

 Member news submissions and nominations for spotlight/profiles are encouraged.  Sent them  to newsletter@collegiumaesculapium.org

NEXT ISSUE (DECEMBER):   

-          Another membership profile

-          Collegium Aesculapium Chapters

-          A Humanitarian example – Helping Hands for Haiti

Don’t forget to provide your 2009 CONFERENCE SURVEY opinion

Which Church History Location would you prefer for the 2009 Conference? 

Respond at www.collegiumaesculapium.org

Employment Connection

This summer Collegium Aesculapium introduced an employment connection program to connect individuals seeking employment and employers seeking individuals.  We post all available individuals and positions.  Review at www.collegiumaesculapium.org/networking.html.

If you would like to include a posting, send an email to

employment@collegiumaesculapium.org

Events:

December 13, 2008 - Presentation to the Latter-day Saint Health Sciences Student Association (LDSHSSA) at the University of Utah. 

2009 Spring Meeting  Thurs-Fri. April 2-3

University Park Marriott Salt Lake City, Utah

Fireside Speaker:  Pres. Henry B. Eyring

More details on the final page of this newsletter

Letter from Collegium Aesculapium President:

 D. Glen Morrell, MD

A dear friend and I visited recently about the current, uncertain and difficult economic times.  We spoke of the impact with loss of jobs and homes and of the fear and gloom that such times often bring.  What my friend then said has caused me serious reflection, “We still live in a wonderful time.” 

We enjoy great truths and knowledge.  Current technology is wonderful.  Our ability to communicate and associate on a global basis is without comparison in this world’s history.  Truly, we live in the best of times even though they are at times most challenging.

The Christmas season is upon us.  I well remember the Christmas season of 1994.  Nancy and I had a young family of four boys ages 1-6 with number five on the way.  Times were busy as we worked to complete general surgery residency.  Budgets were very tight and resources for Christmas gifts most lean.  President Howard W. Hunter’s counsel in the Christmas devotional that year gave us great hope.  Said he: “Never did the Savior give an expectation of receiving.  He gave freely and lovingly, and his gifts were of inestimable value. He gave eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame, cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing, and light in the darkness. He gave us his love, his service, his life. And most important, he gave us and all mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life.”

President Hunter shared a story of a man who couldn’t think of any gifts to give for Christmas. The next day he received an anonymous list in the mail.

 Give to your enemy forgiveness,
To your opponent tolerance.
To your friend your heart,
To all men charity,
for the hands that help are holier than lips that pray,
To every child a good example,
and to yourself—respect.

 “This Christmas, mend a quarrel,” President Hunter suggested. “Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again. Christmas is a celebration, and there is no celebration that compares with the realization of its true meaning—with the sudden stirring of the heart that has extended itself unselfishly in the things that matter most (see McCall’s Magazine, Dec. 1959, pp. 82–83).

“A life filled with unselfish service will also be filled with peace that surpasses understanding,” President Hunter continued. “This peace can come only through living the principles of the gospel. These principles constitute the program of the Prince of Peace, who is also the Prince of Glory and the Prince of Eternal Progress,” he said.

“May we find our spiritual thirst quenched by the living water of the Savior,” President Hunter concluded. “May he become our focal point at this Christmas season, and always in the future. I testify that he lives today, the Babe of Bethlehem—now the risen Lord. He and his Eternal Father love and care for each of us in a sacred and personal way.”

This is great counsel for each of us this year as well.  Merry Christmas!

Best Wishes for 2009!                                         Glen Morrell

Member Spotlight:

 Elder David and Sister Suzanne Limburg

         We were married in 1968, the same year that I started medical school at the University of Utah.  Following a rotating internship at Walter Reed Hospital and two years of Pathology residency at the U. of U, we moved to Fillmore, Utah, and I started the practice of Family Medicine in 1975.   

          Suzanne is a registered nurse, a graduate of St. Mark's / Westminster School of Nursing.  She has worked as a hospital staff nurse, but didn't work while the children were being raised.  Later she worked as a home care nurse, and retired from the position of manager of IHC's Home Care of Fillmore. 

           We have raised three sons and three daughters, none of whom have followed us into careers in the health care field.  They are all married, and have given us much joy and twenty-one grandchildren, so far. 

          Suzanne and I have always enjoyed adventure and new challenges, and we have enjoyed church and community service all of our lives, as well.  In 1999 we began going on expeditions with CHOICE Humanitarian.

          Three of those trips took us to Guatemala, where we found what a great unmet need exists among the poor.  We had always planned on serving missions after our retirement, and we hoped to be able to serve a mission in Guatemala, but didn't express that when we applied.  We were pleasantly surprised that this opportunity developed, and we feel it has been the perfect mission for us.   

        Our specific calling has been to teach English to the medical students at CUNORI in Chiquimula.  That has been very fulfilling. 

        What we hadn't anticipated is that our mission has been so much more:  Part music teacher, medical advisor, mental health advisor, fellowshipping, activation and leadership, humanitarian and welfare services, community service, and most enjoyable of all, proselyting.  The opportunities in the mission field are abundant.  We can make use of what talents and knowledge we might have, and be challenged and stretched into new areas that may be a little out of our comfort zone.  It's whatever we want to make of it.  We came here without much facility in Spanish, but that has improved, out of necessity.  Now that we are looking at returning home in the near future we have better use of the language than when we came.  We're hoping for another opportunity to use this again in missionary service in the future.        

          If you are hesitant about serving a full-time mission in your retirement, I can only say that the need for senior missionaries is great.  You will make a big difference in people's lives.  You will be rewarded for your efforts far more than you might expect.  It is a perfect finale to a career in the 'helping professions'. 

The Limburg’s - Guatemala City South Mission

Nominate a profile by emailing  newsletter@collegiumaesculapium.org

Senior Missionary Service – Journal Entry

         I have felt for awhile, that toward the end of this mission I wanted to summarize the tremendous variety and richness of the experiences we’ve had, to give my observations on what other senior missionaries are called upon to do in Central America, and to try to make the case for the importance of senior missionaries.

          Our missionary experience has been unique.  So far as we’ve been able to tell there have not been other LDS missionaries called for the purpose of teaching English to medical students anywhere in the world.  We have been the first ones in this capacity, and so we have tried to develop the program as we’ve gone along.  We’ve greatly enjoyed the students and the faculty members, in our capacities as ‘profesores.’  This project has allowed for some extra time to devote to other types of service and our mission presidents have granted us great latitude in determining how to best spend our time. 

           With that freedom we’ve taught music, both keyboard and conducting, over a two-hundred mile corridor of our mission that includes two districts and a stake.  We’ve taught evening English classes to non-LDS and we’ve given private English lessons in our apartment.   Next week we will begin a six-week ‘vacation English’ course for children at an evangelical Protestant school.  At the request of the area leadership I’ve done mental health counseling to missionaries who are dealing with problems.  Suzanne has taught cooking and sewing to Relief Society sisters and Young Women, and also, in a one-on-one basis, to several member and non-member women in the area.  I have advised a number of missionaries, serving in our area, with their medical problems, saving them an all-day trip into the capital to visit the area medical advisor. 

          We have been able to do some humanitarian service, both through the Church’s Benson Institute and on our own, using donated funds from family organizations and private individuals.  One of these projects was the children’s lending library.  Another was helping to arrange for Church Humanitarian funds to purchase medications for a free public clinic the medical school is running at refugee shelters in a few nearby municipalities, treating people who have been displaced from their homes by this season’s mudslides.  As we’ve worked on these projects we’ve been able to come into contact with elected officials and other community leaders.  This has given us an opportunity to show that our church is interested in helping all people to have better lives, and we hope that we’ve helped to break down prejudice.  On our own, we’ve also given counsel and assistance to several families who are attempting to become self-sufficient economically.  We've also tried to assist families dealing with difficult social problems, such as finding care for people who are mentally incompetent.  We were able to place one of the Church's wheelchairs with a person who was very much in need of it.  We have not always been successful in these endeavors, but we have helped to make a difference for some.  We've also learned some lessons from these experiences.

          Within the two Chiquimula wards we've tried to model Home Teaching, Visiting Teaching, and Family Home Evening.  We've done fellowshipping and reactivation, which has been most rewarding, as we've visited in the homes of less active members and have become friends with them.  Two families that we've worked with are preparing for their sealing in the temple.  Almost every Monday night, and sometimes on other nights of the week, we either have a family here for Noche de Hogar (FHE), or we take it to them.  There are several families that we've been meeting with in this way.

          Before our mission we were afraid that we wouldn't have much opportunity to do proselyting work.  That has turned out not to be the case.  Throughout our time here we've had people into our apartment to receive discussions from the 'younger' missionaries.  Sometimes we've led discussions about the Restored Gospel by ourselves, and we have a library of Spanish Church DVD's that we show to anyone we can.  These people are drawn from various friendships that we've formed in our neighborhood, or at the university, in our business contacts, or our community work.  There have always been people that we've been able to do proselyting with, right here in our home.  Some of these people have become baptized members of the Church.  In the rest of our free time we've studied Spanish on a daily basis.

          My intent in writing this has been to show what a great variety of activities we've been able to be involved in that allow us to make a difference in people's lives.  We've had the freedom to make what we've wanted of our mission, within some broad guidelines, possibly because we were in a unique situation and starting something brand new.  I think, however, that most senior missionaries are able to be involved in many activities outside of their primary calling. As we contemplated serving, we knew that we would likely be involved in some form of health-related work, or possibly Welfare and Humanitarian Services.  We thought that we would probably teach music if the opportunity arose, and possibly also teach health and hygiene.  We hoped that, at some point, we would be able to do proselyting work, but realized that a physician / nurse combo would be needed

in types of service where they could use their professional backgrounds.

          Full-time senior missionaries that we know of here in Guatemala are all in Guatemala City, working either in the area office, the temple or one of the three mission offices.  The breakdown is:  Three or four couples in the temple, four couples in the area office serving as executive secretary to the area presidency and office secretary, area medical advisor and his wife, area Welfare and Humanitarian Services advisers, and, coming next month, area mental health advisers.  We are missing area music advisers right now, but there have been those in the past.  I think that in some areas there are area advisers for Family History, LDS Family Services, Church Education System, and other areas.  The senior missionaries working in mission offices are mission nurses (sometimes single senior sisters) or in clerical positions, handling finances, correspondence, records, etc.

          World-wide, the opportunities for senior missionary service are almost innumerable.  As bishop I used to receive the bi-monthly 'blue sheet' that tells the current opportunities.  In addition to what I've mentioned above, at various times they called for engineers, foresters, farm managers, building contractors, educators, employment specialists, people to serve at historic sites and visitors centers, and many other things, some of which I had never imagined.  Some of these assignments require a background in a specific area, but not all.  Some require ability in a foreign language, but not all. 

          A couple in our home ward served two eighteen month missions as foster 'grandparents' to children of an orphanage in India.  The potential benefit in that kind of service is incalculable.  Another couple just returned from a proselyting mission in rural Kentucky.  Besides proselyting, they spent their time in fellowshipping and activation, and in giving old-fashioned service to people in their area, both members and non-members alike.  Judging from their letters, they must have been a huge help to the Lord's children in Kentucky.

          Many of these assignments are things that most of us could do, with a lifetime of experience in church service and just in life itself.  Many senior callings are for 'leadership' or 'fellowshipping and activation.'  Any and all of us could do those.  We all know much more than we sometimes give ourselves credit for, especially when compared to new members.  Furthermore, "whom the Lord calls, He qualifies." 

          Unfortunately, not every 'senior' member of the Church is able to serve as a full-time missionary.  If married, both husband and wife have to be in a state of health that allows for full-time daily work away from their home.  They must be able to supply their own finances, and must not have obligations for family members such as adult children with severe incapacities.  Men must be married in order to serve as full-time senior missionaries. For those who can't serve in these full-time, away from home capacities, there are almost unlimited opportunities to serve as part-time church service missionaries in various capacities.  Many of these are at Church headquarters in SLC, but there are also opportunities wherever the Church has a Bishop's storehouse, a Deseret Industries, a Family History library, a distribution center or a temple.  Some part-time church service mission callings involve leadership in economically-depressed areas.  This work can be tremendously rewarding.

          For those of us who are able to serve full-time, I think sometimes we put off unnecessarily 'taking the plunge,' thinking that we have to wait until all of the kids are married, or finished with college, or we have to be there for the birth of a grandchild, etc.  We think that we are not financially secure enough, and we should work a few more years beyond normal retirement age.  We may think that our family can't get along without us, or that the kids will ruin the business or the farm won't be run the same way we've always run it.  The fact is, when we die, everyone does get along without us, the business may or may not fail, and the farm may be sold.

          There is a gigantic unmet need for senior missionaries throughout the Church's worldwide system, as any returned senior missionary can tell you.  Almost any mission president could tell you how much better the work in his mission could progress if he had a few more senior couples.  Where we are at, I can see how every stake could benefit from having one full-time senior couple to help with leadership training, teaching, modeling correct use of the inspired programs, and doing fellowshipping and activation work.  The young missionaries are 'God's Army' to be sure, but the seniors fill a niche that the younger ones can't begin to cover; one that can only be met by someone with experience and maturity.

          Our mission has been so much more than we had imagined it would be.  It has been perfect for us, and it's hard to imagine it being anything different, or any better.  We think that we might not have enjoyed so much living in a high rise in Guatemala City and working in an office.  We've enjoyed being out where the people are.  Our days have been full with a variety of things, and we've been very happy.  We've learned much, and   we've drawn closer together and strengthened our marriage.  In fact, we've become better acquainted.  It has been a privilege to serve with each other and to serve the Lord together.  We have been so blessed!  Our family has likewise been blessed in numerous ways for our having been engaged in this service.

          I know that everyone's circumstances are different, and we can't be a judge of anyone other than ourselves.  If you are of, or approaching, the age where you could qualify as a 'senior citizen,' however, please give serious and prayerful consideration to 'enlisting.'  We have an obligation to continue building the Kingdom, and I think that the Lord expects us to make a great effort at that.  The opportunities are limitless and the rewards are eternal.         Elder Limburg

English Class for Medical Students                               Opening Day of the Children's Library                                 Library Donations

Wheelchair provided through Humanitarian Services                Music Class                                  Medicine for Clinics