SURPRISE and W. MARICOPA ZONE CONFERENCE 5/13

 PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!

We went into our second week of ZONE CONFERENCES.
What is a Zone Conference?  It is a meeting under the direction of the Priesthood keys of President Taylor, held to teach, uplift, unify and train missionaries in a geographical area of the mission.
It is a day packed with instruction and learning.

 Today we met with 2 zones: Surprise/Surprise N and W Maricopa.
You can see that this was about 42 missionaries along with President, the Assistants and myself.

Music is a part of these meetings and we love it!  Elders A Jensen and Burgoyne shared their musical talents on piano and guitar. So Beautiful!

 The Assistants humor me by doing a skit to introduce one of the many health lessons I get to teach to the missionaries during these conferences.  Yes, it was on Skin Disorders...thrilling. (But necessary)

 I mentioned that unity was one of the purposes of a Zone Conference...can you see that there is unity in abundance already?  Zone Leaders Doolhoff and D. Gerber realized that they had matching ties WAY BACK in the MTC.  Now they are companions so that is pretty cool!

 Lunchtime is social time...and time to eat like crazy.  Elder Sutcliffe takes stacking food to new heights!

 Check out the link at the top to see your missionary in these zones...the tables are all there, I hope...

 After lunch, we sing a thank you song to the ward or stake that provided our meal, then we sing our MISSION FIGHT SONG that is the love of the missionaries!

 Finally got my 2 Elder Weeks together for a shot!  Don't they look great?  And how cool is it that both their first names start with J...not confusing or anything...

 We celebrated birthdays...we had missed doing some March and April ones in Interviews for one zone and we were celebrating May and June for the rest.  Hence, a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
Elders Sutcliffe, Linkogle, Griffin, Stevens, Whipple, Robinson, Shin, Hancock, Barlow, Wade and Sister and President Taylor.

 We have a tradition of singing Happy Birthday in whatever languages of missionaries we have there.  Today was English, Portuguese by Elder Cardoso...

 Samoan by Elder Laititi...

 ...and French by Hermana Mejia.

 Back to the chapel for the afternoon session of conference.  The musical number was so inspiring: "I Will" was the name, and all members sang it from the heart.

 From here, zones split off for instruction from their own leaders.
In the W Maricopa Zone, Elder Jo. Weeks began by sharing ideas on how he uses his planner effectively.
Leaders D Gerber and Doolhoff conducted this training.

 This is the W Maricopa Zone.

The Surprise Zone met with their leaders, Elders Robinson and Peterson.
Part of each training involved exchanging planners and seeing what ideas you could learn from another.  It was really great.

We finished the day with discussion and really learning about REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS.  We went to the scriptures to define these great and basic principles.  We learned that they are principles that bring JOY.  They are principles of ACTION and require effort...but the power of the ATONEMENT makes it possible to LET GO of sin and turn back to God.  We can be healed.
I love the Doctrine of Christ.  My desire to have a happy family (obedient kids/missionary kids) is dependent upon OBEDIENCE to the beautiful commandments and upon following the example of Jesus Christ in having FAITH...in having a change of heart REPENTANCE and in then COVENANTING WITH GOD through baptism, the sacrament and the Temple, and relying on the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST to guide me to continue choosing to follow Jesus Christ as I enjoy to the end!