Zone Conferences brought a smile to our faces and a desire to go out and be better consecrated missionaries. We began the day with three words:
Reinforce, re-educate and re-enthrone.
In life, the more we study things the better we learn and apply. President Clark offered an analogy to begin with. While traveling to the conference, we saw rice fields that was so tall and wet that the grain stalks started to lie down. The rice was ready to be harvested and it could be lost if it was not taken care of in a timely manner. The success of harvesting the rice depends on the wise and diligent harvester. That is true in missionary work as well. The mission field in the Philippines is indeed white and ready to harvest.
The Whiting's did a great presentation on fitness. Our missionaries are required to do 30 minutes of exercise every day but Sunday. They have always had the opportunity to exercise but it wasn't mandatory. This is a real shock to some of the missionaries who simply view walking during the day their form of exercise. The Whiting's gave them great encouragement, ideas and doctrine to motivate them to "MOVE YOUR BODY!"
Elder and Sister Dansie did a workshop on the trials and travails of missionary housing. It was creative as the Cleaning Fairy Godmother came in to remind the missionaries the importance of keeping a clean apartment. Elder Dansie focused on critical information needed to keep a house clean and in good repair. Landlord relations were emphasized. The landlords are responsible for repairs and they need be asked to made more responsible. The Newlywed game was a great part of the instruction.
The Assistants to the President gave a fabulous workshop on "Fight or Flight." They reminded our missionaries that it is worth the battle to help investigators who might have some tough problems. Missionaries need to fight for their investigator's success, not take flight at the first sign of difficulty. We can't be too quick to drop them. It is our purpose as missionaries to "invite" and "help!" They talked about the difference between a "good fisherman" and a "great fisherman." The good fisherman fishes anywhere. The great fisherman fishes where the fish are. Our missionaries really related to this analogy.
Sister and President Clark taught about an age group emphasis introduced by the Missionary Department. People in the mid-teens to mid-twenties are a new focus group for missionaries. They have been found to be prime candidates for conversion and more likely to be successfully retained and form multi-generational LDS families. They also discussed changes to the missionary schedule and how to build an effective daily plan that helps the missionary be more productive, healthy and happy. President talked about using the proper tools for a job. He spoke about our 4 tools.
Before we knew it, the time was over and we bid our missionaries good-bye with a cookie and sticker to remind them of our theme.
CLS Test Takers
Birthday Missionaries
SOE (Standard of Excellence) missionaries
Baptize Weekly Missionaries
7 Minute Workout Masters!
Missionary moms from America were asked to make Plan of Salvation packets for all of the missionaries in the Philippines. We received ours in January so we gave them out during Zone Conference. The missionaries held them up. Our missionaries LOVED them!
Tool Time!
