Our First Zone Conference

This was our email to our family and friends on March 11th:  (pictures updated on 3//18/24)

One of the highlights of this week was attending our first Zone Conference.  Favorite parts were:

*  All the Elders and Sisters (young and senior) singing the opening song, "We'll Bring the World His Truth/Armies of Helaman).  Between the message of the song and the strength of their voices, we couldn't sing through the lump in our throats.  Where else can you find 18-26 year olds leaving everyone and everything behind and devoting their lives to serving God to bring His children to Christ?  Sure gives us hope for our world.

* Feeling the joy and energy of Elders and Sisters (maybe not so much from the seniors, LOL.)

* Being taught by the Mission Presidency First Counselor, President Gentile.  What a powerhouse and dynamic teacher.  He started by telling the true story of two Delta Force soldiers (Gordon and Sanderson) who risked (and one gave) their lives to rescue fellow soldiers on the ground...another group of people who care about the one and leaving no one behind.  And he tied it beautifully into the way missionaries commit to do whatever it takes to help others.  We know our mission and we will do it.

*Meeting Elder Plowman, from Gilbert, Arizona (whose family we know)

*).

                          

This is our district.  We all dressed in blue.  LOL.

Elder and Sister Gibbons, Sister Radmall, Sister Froelich and Sister and Elder Rollins

                                                                                                The entire Zone with President and Sister Peckham, second row and the fourth and fifth from the left.                                                                      

                            

The Awesome Elders! 

The Amazing Sisters!

At every Zone Conference the Elders and Sisters must bring their cars cleaned and maintained and they are inspected.  Elder Gibbons (in spite of it being windy and cold asked to help with the process.  You know how he is 💙  Its a cool sight to see all their "chariots" lined up (and this picture doesn't show them all)

 

We have settled into our morning routine of personal and companion        scripture study, prayers and planning for the day.  Elder Gibbons didn't

know I was taking this picture, but I wanted to capture the snow outside.  

We are still learning all the technology and resources.  We have iPhones, but had to purchase an inexpensive Android to download the "Preach My Gospel" app which was developed to keep track of people we meet, what and when they've been taught, and invitations, commitments, follow up.  We won't bore you anymore with the details.  Just suffice it to say we continue to be amazed at how much the Church has developed for the sole purpose of helping find any and all of God's children who want to learn about the Savior, Jesus Christ and His gospel of peace.  It's kind of like President Gentile's teaching at Zone Conference.  We can more effectively find the "one" who is waiting to hear these truths through dedication, sincere love and effective habits and use of resources.

Friday night we went to our Branch President and his wife's house for dinner.  He lives 45 miles away and the drive took us along Lake Huron.  It was cloudy on the way, but by the time we headed home in the dark, it was snowing.  (This refers to the subject line of my email.  We have had sunny days with highs in the low 50's and next thing you know there is 3 inches of snow on the ground which melts the next day.  Love it!)  

As a result, yesterday there were 13 people attending Sacrament Meeting.  Many of the members live miles away, some down dirt roads so it is safer for them to stay home.  Elder Gibbons blessed the Sacrament and I led the music.  I never got a chance to do that in Arizona, but here they need me!  

Last evening we had our new friends, Arthur and Sheree, over to our home for dinner.  They are the friends who we met while he was in the hospital.  They are asking many great questions.  They have tender, truth-seeking hearts.  It's kinda fun cooking in a kitchen with limited gadgets, pans and tools, but everything turned out edible.  I'm glad I bought my recipes.

I will attach a few pictures to this email and then update the blog with more.  Thank you to those of you who take time to email us back to say hello.  We miss you and love you!  

We hope you each know how much God loves you.  We invite you to read, 2 Nephi 26:24 in the Book of Mormon.  "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him..."  Our testimony is that we (you and me) are His world.