In the past two weeks, we've been to 5 zone conferences. Last week 2, this week 3. Wednesday morning we drove to Springfield MO for a zone conference that day and another one Thursday. It's a 2 hour drive and we stayed overnight. It's COLD up there in Missouri: some snow and ice and a bitter wind. But all the zone conferences have been so good. We got some good tips from our mission psychologist on how to handle the stresses of life. He works for LDS social services and he's a great resource. We talked about technology and some of the things people do to trap missionaries into doing something dark. It starts out innocently and eventually leads to the dark side. Just follow the rules and it won't happen. We got lots of inspiration and motivation. We evaluated what is holding us back and we wrote it on a paper boat and then burned it up.
I talked for 10 minutes in every zone conference. I told the missionaries that when I prayed for guidance about what to tell them, my mind was filled with memories of all the sacred things that had happened in our apartment. Our apartment is a sacred place where sacred things can happen. So is theirs, if they invite the Spirit to be there. I told them the only reason I make my bed every single morning is for them. I pray by that bed that I make just for them.
Zone conference pictures:
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| Not sure why Elder Johnson is looking at his feet. |
Missionaries
After the conference on Thursday, a missionary sent our president a text with a video of himself taking an unauthorized internet device off his wall and throwing it to the ground and smashing it. Isn't that cute! He decided to be obedient after attending zone conference. And 6 other missionaries asked president if they could trade out their smart phones for a flip phone because their phones are a distraction to them and they want to learn better self control. Done! We have flip phones. One of the missionaries came and asked me if we'd inspect his apartment more often. He really has a hard time to keep it clean and he wants to be more accountable.
I love the cute texts I get. Sometimes the missionaries talk to me like I'm a store owner. "Do you have scrubbing bubbles?" YES I DO!
Experience 1
We found 4 new people to teach this week. One of them we found like this: My companion and I had made a goal to talk to 7 people each day or at least 1 new person to teach NO MATTER WHAT. We would still strive to talk to more, but we would not go home until we had talked to at least 7 or until we found someone new to teach. It was 8:35 and we had been very busy with appointments the whole day. We were stopping by our last appointment with a member family and we realized we had not talked to 7 people that day. So we talked to the member family about our goal and we rescheduled with them and we left to the outdoor mall to find someone to teach. We talked to a few different people but it did not look like we were going to hit out goal. But at 8:59 we met a girl named M. She was open and willing to learn. We were able to teach her and schedule another time to meet up with her and teach her more. I believe the Lord had his hand in our meeting M. The Lord blesses us when we exercise faith.
Experience 2
Neat experience we would like to share with y'all! During Christmas time, a member called us asking us to visit a donut shop in our area and ask the owners if they would donate their leftover donuts at the end of the day. This was so that the seminary students could give them to their teachers at school for #LightTheWorld. It was really cool to see how the owner was very hesitant in the beginning but as the conversation progressed and we showed him the light the world video, his heart softened and he agreed to let us take the donuts. We took them to the high school and didn't think much about it afterwards.
A few weeks ago, the same member called us asking us to meet them at the donut shop before seminary one morning to introduce the seminary students to the owners. That morning we filled the donut shop with seminary students and we all bought donuts. One of the students gave this couple a Book of Mormon that they had passed around in class, highlighted it, and stuck colorful papers in with thank you notes, scriptures, etc. It was beautiful! Well today we went back to follow up with them. They hung up all the notes on the wall of their shop and they have been reading the Book of Mormon!! They agreed to let us come back and talk with them about what they are reading. Such a cool experience!!
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