Surprise Zone Activity

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We enjoyed taking Braden and President Taylors Mom to the Surprise Zone Activity. Things started with a rousing WHITE ELEPHANT EXCHANGE...with some crazy and some highly desired gifts.

Including the beautiful butterfly stickered toilet seat...

...and the darling potato puppy on a leash.

Then there was the entire box of chocolates that disappeared within the afternoon

...oh the joy!

And Braden scored some really cool products that went home with us!

Then it was basketball all around.

The missionaries love it when President joins them on the court!

Thanks Surprise/ Surprise North for inviting us to your activity!

SANTA CLAUS CAME TO TOWN AGAIN!

IF YOUR MISSIONARY IS IN ONE OF THE DEC. 16 CONFERENCE ZONES...YOU CAN SEE THEM WITH SANTA BY CLICKING ON THIS LINE!!

You -Know-Who came back to visit our Zone Conference again on Friday

and was an immediate hit!...Hugs all around!

All Elders got to sit on Santa's lap and get a gift...

All Sisters got a handshake...and Santa got a Pass-Along card!

Santa even got to sit on a few of the elders laps!

We know that they have all been NICE this year so they will get

lots of gifts in many forms.

THANKS BRADEN FOR BEING THE BEST SON/SANTA EVER!!! We Love You!

CHRISTMAS ZONE CONFERENCE FRIDAY DEC. 16, 2011

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL 300+ PHOTOS OF THIS DAY!!!

We had 6 zones come for our final day of Christmas Zone Conference: Surprise/Surprise N, Buckeye/Goodyear, Phoenix, Phoenix South, West Maricopa and Glendale Zones.

President Taylor had Christmas message and DVD's throughout the day, along with Sister Taylor's Health message and discussion of Isaiah 9:6.

We had about 6 musical numbers including Elder Hafoka and Keele singing in Tongan!

It was beautiful!

Sister Falke played a violin solo that was wonderful!

Music added so much to the spirit of the day. Our mission is incredibly musical!

We had departing testimonies from all our missionaries that will go home in January.

We had a great lunch from the stake we were meeting in. They feed us very well!

We celebrated December birthdays. And we had zone pictures.
PHOENIX

SURPRISE/SURPRISE NORTH

BUCKEYE/GOODYEAR

GLENDALE

PHOENIX SOUTH

WEST MARICOPA

OFFICE AND ASSISTANTS

Braden parked himself outside the temple to take photos of our missionaries as they came. We waited in records to hand out family file names from a woman in our mission and for a temple worker from France. Both said it was the best Christmas gift ever to them

that we did their names!

It was a beautiful day at the Mesa Temple!

And it was even a more beautiful night!

We made ourselves available on the lawn near the temple for whoever wanted pictures taken with us. Please know that all missionaries did not get photos taken with us here. Check the link to see if your missionary has photos...there are over 300 photos of this day!

Just as on Wednesday, the Spirit of this day was incredible. Our missionaries were focused when they needed to be focused. They know when to be serious and when to have fun. Both days we took them to the temple, we had temple workers stop us afterwards to tell us that this was the most reverent group of missionaries they had ever seen in the celestial room. It was literally a PIECE OF HEAVEN ON EARTH. We hope we have many more experiences of going to the temple with our missionaries over the years!

SPECIAL VISITOR at ZC Dec. 14, 2011

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR PICTURES OF EACH MISSIONARY IN THE FIVE ZONES AT WEDNESDAY CONFERENCE WITH SANTA!

You will never guess who visited our Zone Conference this week after lunch...

SANTA!!!!

Santa came to give gifts to all good Sisters and Elders...and we got pictures of each one! Please click on the link above to see pictures of the zones at conference on Wednesday December 14.

Sisters got handshakes and Elders got to sit on Santa's lap.

They are ALL just kids at heart!

1/2 Mission CHRISTMAS ZONE CONFERENCE DECEMBER 14

PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE TO GO TO THE WEB ALBUM WITH ALL 350+ PHOTOS

We were welcomed to this session of ZONE CONFERENCE by a SNOWMAN direct from Prescott via the truck of zone leaders J. Nelson and T. Anderson. It was a fun surprise for us to start a wonderful day.

Our day was FULL OF MUSIC of Christmas...it really set a reverent tone for our meeting and showcased the talents of many of our missionaries

like Jensen and Giles playing "O Holy Night."

We discussed Isaiah 9:6 in depth and the beautiful attributes of Christ that are echoed in Handel's MESSIAH. The Spirit testified to each of us that he lives and loves us. We can become Princes and Princesses of Peace.

After a morning full of discussion, DVD presentations and music, we went into the gym for lunch and PICTURES. This zone went over the top in wearing a variety of matching CHRISTMAS TIES! Definitely a festive spirit!

ZONE PICTURES were on the agenda at lunch time and it was a fight for

the light-up Rudolph noses.

PHOENIX NORTH ZONE

PRESCOTT/PRESCOTT VALLEY ZONE

PEORIA/ PEORIA NORTH ZONE

COTTONWOOD ZONE

DEER VALLEY/GLENDALE NORTH ZONE

After our conference, we loaded up in cars to head to the MESA TEMPLE where we did a session together as a mission. We cannot even describe the joy we felt being in the temple with our missionaries. THIS IS WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO...to bring this joy to others as we lead them to the House of the Lord!

The Mesa Temple has a beautiful outdoor Nativity and light display that thousands of visitors come to see each year. We met our missionaries out on the lawn there and took photos with as many as wanted them. Please see the link at the top of this post to see if your missionary had their picture taken with us or not.

This day was a spiritual feast for us as we renewed sacred covenants together and felt
the true spirit of CHRISTMAS.
 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

WELCOME SISTER JEWKES!

This has been a busy couple of weeks in our mission with missionaries coming and going! We finished it up by adding one more sister to our ranks...Sister Jewkes! She comes to us from the Farmington New Mexico Mission where she served the past 7 months. The cold there does not agree with her, so we WELCOME HER to a warmer climate! Of course, we think it is about time she made it to the #1 Mission on Earth :)

It did not take long to LOVE HER! She is warm and friendly and so READY to continue to do what she loves the most right now...SERVE THE LORD!

Sister Jewkes is paired up with Sister Belnap right now and I got to go out with them this week and got to see them in action on their bikes.

Who would not want to have the Gospel taught by such beautiful daughters of Heavenly Father? WELCOME SISTER JEWKES! You are already a part of our hearts!

ZONE LEADER COUNCIL DEC. 2011

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We started off the month with a great Zone Leader Council at our home. President Morris taught as he usually does; with great power about the Doctrine of Christ.

There was time at lunch to celebrate the December birthdays...

Elders Barrett, Henrie, Wilson and Catlett.

Lunch is always a time to visit and enjoy each other.

We had two topics to teach and role play and they were

wonderful learning and practicing times.

And we all got together for a group shot at the end.

We appreciate and rely on our Zone Leaders to teach and train the rest of the missionaries in the skills that will help them share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. They are exceptional men of faith!