August Was So Busy

We had a very busy set of Zone Conferences on August 9, 10 and 11.  We had Joe Paul come from Salt Lake City to talk to all of the missionaries.  He is in charge of vehicles for about 27 missions in North America.  He also supervised the installation of new TIWIs in every vehicle.  The TIWI helps the missionaries to drive safe (seat belt, speeding and aggressive driving warnings).  Elder Swendsen and I had dinner with him and President and Sister Shields one night.

I love being at Zone Conferences.  I went to some of the Zone trainings that the Zone Leaders do with their zones after lunch.  It was so inspiring to watch these young men teach their missionaries, show by example (role playing) and then watch them teach as they have all the missionaries in small groups doing role playing.  The APs did similar training in the morning.  The Church is in good hands with the leadership and teaching skills of these young missionaries.

We were very busy for August with comings and goings of missionaries.  Official transfer time was Aug 28-30.  With schools starting at so many different times, we had missionaries going home every week.  We  had one of our super APs go home (Elder Taylor).  We now have Elder Shu (since May) and new AP. Elder McBride.  They are all awesome young men.

The above photo is Elder Shu, Elder Taylor and Elder McBride.

The last Saturday in August our Ward (Heart Lake Ward) had their annual barbecue.  There were lots of games and activities for all ages.  We had a good turn out.  We also had a special guest who was a hit with everyone.

This is Brother Sousa in our ward.  He had the voice and the mannerisms of Jack Sparrow down pat.  He was great.

The last Sunday of August, Elder Swendsen was called to be the High Priest Group Leader for our ward.  He taught them in class the week before about the power of the Book of Mormon.  He issued a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 66 days.  This is the amount of time that it took the Prophet Joseph Smith to translate it.  He gave them book marks with a schedule to help them keep up - 8 pages a day.  I am doing the challenge as well.

Today is Saturday, September 16th.  We are at our 8 month mark.  Time has surely flown.

We love our mission and the opportunity to serve our Father in Heaven.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.
"If ye love Me, keep My commandments."