COTTONWOOD/FLAGSTAFF INTERVIEWS Jan 2014

 PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT!  There are a lot more photos!

It was up to the northernmost parts of the mission for Interviews with both Flagstaff and Cottonwood Zones.

It was another great day with these two zones!  The day was started with a doctrinal discussion about the DOCTRINE OF CHRIST.  I first asked each missionary to draw me the Doctrine however they wanted to.  I LOVE this activity!  It makes us think.  It helps us remember how we were taught the Doctrine.  I always see it drawn different ways and they are ALL GOOD!  A couple years ago we were taught by Tracy Watson of the Missionary Dept. how to draw it in a circle: the center of the circle is THE ATONEMENT.  This is encircled by the 4 First Principles of the Gospel: FAITH, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM/COVENANTS and THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.    Those four complete what it takes to live the Doctrine of Christ...and then as we continue around and around that circle we are ENDURING TO THE END!

Above, Elder Rodgers poses with a companionship with the CLEAN CAR AWARDS he hands out after car inspections.  Elder Rodgers takes care of vehicles and safety...he is awesome!  Our incredible Office missionaries love your children so much!  There is nothing that gives them more pleasure than working with the missionaries!

 My health lesson was about MISSIONARY FITNESS!  We re-learned the guidelines for our exercise:

• at least 20 minutes of a cardio that involved large hip flexors
• 10 minutes of flexibility
• 10 minutes of strength training

I love that we have this in place for missionaries!  It is so important that they are allowed time to exercise.  We made our own TITLE OF FITNESS LIBERTY!!!  FOR OUR PHYSICAL STRENGTH, EMOTIONAL STRENGTH, MENTAL FOCUS, SPIRITUAL STRENGTH THROUGH OBEDIENCE and FOR OUR FUTURE SPOUSE AND FAMILY!!!

We have many reasons to put out an effort in our morning exercise!

Our Olympic theme carried out into my activity today.  I divided them into 5 teams who each made up a country and decorated a flag and marched into the gym before participating in our 7 events.

The flags and countries were very creative and fun!




Our 7 events consisted of:  WINDS OF ADVERSITY: Blowing cups off the table with blowing up a balloon as many as you could do in 1 minute.

ETERNAL PROGRESSION:  where you jump from hoop to hoop as you move them down the line...as far as you can go in 30 seconds...notice all the things that fall out of missionary pockets!!!

 HOLD TO HTE ROD:  trying to see how many chopsticks you could flip from the back of your hand into one hand.  I think Elder Munoz got all 40 of them!

 THE FIERY DARTS:  trying to toss little velcro balls onto the targets of adversity.  Harder than it looks!

 HTE GADIANTON KNOCK-DOWN: wearing a pantyhose on your head with tennis ball inside the leg, used to knock over as many water bottles as possible in one minute using no hands.  Lets just say they got really creative with this one!

THE LIAHONA LAUNCH:  tossing a styrofoam liahona as far as you could shotput style.

THE BARGE BLAST: throwing a paper plate Jaredite Barge as far as possible discus style.

They all did GREAT and had a lot of fun!

Yes, we added up scores and yes, we had a gold medal team, but I don't remember who it was.  All in good fun!

We celebrated our JANUARY BIRTHDAYS:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO:
Elder Canny
Elder Blackhurst
Elder Cardoso

Front:  Sisters Seaman and Coleman, Elders Barlow and T Peterson and President Taylor.  Sitting/Leaning on Stage: Sisters Magee, McAllister, Elders Hamilton, Zayas, Rigby, Munoz, Sisters Manwill, Muhlestein, McDaniel, Elders McDaniel, Blackburn, Taylor, Starr and Rushton.  Standing: Elders Scott, Salas, Graybill, Lovstedt, A Hall, Thompson, Bunnage, Cardoso, Bryant, C Johnson and Canny.

Zone Leaders Barlow and Zayas taught a great lesson on ACCOUNTABILITY.
Got to get that water to the end of the row and report back!!

Zone Leaders Bryant and Cardoso led us in an activity GATHERING INFORMATION...so many times it is about the questions we ask, that give us the info we need to really be able to be effective in our stewardships.

We invite you to join with us in reading the Book of Mormon, highlighting the Doctrine of Christ.  This is something we are doing as a mission over the next few months.
The Basic Principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ make all the difference in how happy our lives are.  This is what we want for ourselves, for our families and for those that we are teaching here on our missions and back home in our home wards.  LIVE IT, LOVE IT, SHARE IT!