ZONE CONFERENCE: Glendale/Glendale North 5/14

 PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR ALL PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT
ZONE CONFERENCES are usually held quarterly.  They are an all day meeting with training from Mission President, his wife, the Assistants, and sometimes, the Zone Leaders.
Today we started off with a doctrinal discussion about THE HOLY GHOST that set the tone for the whole day.
Next I had some mission business, and then my HEALTH PRESENTATION.  My little tradition has been to have the Assistants do a little skit to introduce the topics.

Todays lesson was on neck, back, ankle and knee injuries.  Fairly common occurrence when you have 250 children on bikes and playing sports on Preparation Day, but really, a very small number compared to what it could be.  The missionaries work really hard to exercise and so they are less prone to injury.  We appreciate them so much for their obedience!
Elders "Macho Grande" and "Diehard" really worked it making fun of themselves...and President Taylor got in on the action..."He's got a hacksaw and he's not afraid to use it!"  He knows how to take care of injury!

 We had a beautiful musical number today, one of my alltime favorites, the Army of Helaman/Sisters in Zion medly!
It really brought the Spirit!

 We had time to talk more about using FAMILY HISTORY as a tool in missionary work.  There are some great videos online through lds.org that you can watch to see how missionaries use Family History to teach the Gospel to all people.

We did some role playing with them about talking with non-members about Family History.

 And as usual, LUNCH is a favorite time to get together to eat and more importantly, to VISIT!

 The wards and stakes that host these meals are our angels!  If I had to prepare and serve all these luncheons, I would not have time to teach and train.

 After lunch, we sing a thank you song to the Sisters who provided the meal, then we celebrate our unity with a rousing rendition of the MISSION FIGHT SONG!
WE LOVE IT!

 We have a new Assistant, Tory Bryant, who I need to introduce in a blog post one of these days!  He and Elder Weiler did a great job leading out!

 We celebrate the month's BIRTHDAYS!

HAPPY MAY BIRTHDAYS TO:
Sisters Taylor, Polander and Welch
Elders Clay, Wrigley, Unasa and Stevens

 We sing in English...then have as many foreign language missionaries also sing in their language.

Here is Elder Stulen getting some fire in the SWEDISH version!



Oh Boy...memory test for Sister Taylor again:
Front: Elder and Sister Elcock, Sisters Seaman, Harris, Hontanosas, Steimle, Matuauto, McAllister, J Taylor, Bailry, McCoard, Welch and Pickett.
Row 2: President and Sister Taylor, Elder Bryant, Sisters Carrigan, Polander, Tolley, Elders Thompson, Schultz, Taylor, Beck, Barley, Pratt, Burgoyne, Dodd, J Cook, Nokes, Goehring, Crane, Weiler, Safford.  Row 3: Elders Mullenix, Christensen, Hunsaker, Lewis, D Jones, Maxey, Stevens, Clay, Wrigley, Unasa, T Jones, Bryson, O Neal, Stulen

 It was a real treat having the ELCOCKS with us for the day.  Our wonderful office couples love being with the missionaries every chance they get, especially when many of our time is coming close to a close.
They shared sweet testimonies of what the Gospel and this Mission means to them.

 We are also blessed to have the Kings with us each conference and love and depend on them to keep us in line!  They are angels behind the scenes to keep President and myself running!  We could not do what we do without their help!!
Plus, we just love them so much!
We spent the afternoon in two WONDERFUL DISCUSSIONS:
SPIRITUAL AWAKENINGS   and
TEACHING PATTERNS.
We looked at Alma the Younger and his conversion...where he was spiritually awakened in a grand way...and then many missionaries related their own spiritual awakenings, which usually happened a bit at a time, but have added up to something just as grand.  We found some commonalities among many of our spiritual awakenings:
They may have involved the scriptures/prayer/someone else/ a struggle or trial/ being humble or teachable/ they required us to ACT/ they caused us to want to serve others/ they ALWAYS involved the Holy Ghost/ and the end result it that we desire to TURN OUTWARD to share what we have learned with others...we see them with SPIRITUAL EYES when we are spiritually awake!
Many missionaries opened up and shared feelings and experiences that allowed us to learn about ourselves, as well as how we can try to create an environment for others to experience their own spiritual awakening.
President Taylor wrapped up the day by training on a TEACHING PATTERN that Elder Bednar taught us in our Seminar in Houston last month.  We have been just so excited to share much of what we learned there.  I had demonstrated how to teach in this pattern the best I could in my portion of the training before President taught it.  It involves asking inspired questions that cause the learner to "jump out of the boat" and take a leap of faith. They end up learning through the Spirit in a very "hands-on" sort of way.  What a powerful discussion and sharing of ideas!  The whole day was just amazing!
Ask your missionary to share with you one of their "SPIRITUAL AWAKENINGS" and something about Elder Bednars TEACHING MODEL!
We pray you can catch even a glimpse of how amazing your missionary son or daughter is.  I stand in front and look at them and just marvel.  I say to myself; "Is it possible that these 18-25 year olds are really sitting here in suits and skirts and enjoying talking about God and Jesus Christ and the Spirit...and that they desire nothing more than to share what they know with other people."  I almost need to pinch myself because it is just so incredible!  We LOVE this Gospel of change and love.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes things possible in a miraculous way.   ONE BY ONE...that is how the Lord taught and how we learn and want to teach.  How grateful we are that we can teach and learn even in a big group as the Spirit is so unique to each one of us!