They are our newest senior missionary couple who will be replacing Don and Barbara Kopenhefer. He will be the vehicle coordinator and she will be the housing coordinator.
I took a few minutes at the beginning to share a little bit about the Wakolos so our newest batch of missionaries would know who we were referring to as we continued on throughout the day.
While serving in the South Pacific, I received a letter from the First Presidency with an assignment to travel to Fiji and deliver a letter to Taniela Wakolo, president of the Nausori Fiji Stake. After I handed the letter to him, he read aloud the call from the First Presidency to serve as an Area Seventy, and tears flowed freely from his cheeks and those of his lovely wife, Anita.
After discussing with him the nature and duties of his new calling, I observed the tattoo on Brother Wakolo’s large right hand. Now, tattoos are very common throughout the South Pacific, and long before he joined the Church, Taniela Wakolo had the back of his hand tattooed with a large, garish design.
I said, “Brother Wakolo, in your new calling as an Area Seventy, you are going to be speaking to the youth on many occasions. I would suggest before such meetings that you put a large Band-Aid on the back of your hand to cover your tattoo. It’s hard to discourage our youth from getting tattoos when the speaker has one himself.”
He smiled a broad smile, and with a radiant expression he said, “I’ll take care of it. I want to be a good example.”
A few weeks passed, and the next time we met, his hand was heavily bandaged as if he were preparing for a boxing match. I asked, “What in the world happened to you?”
He smiled with glistening eyes and said, “I followed your counsel and had the tattoo removed.”
“Was it laser surgery?” I asked.
“No,” he replied with a big smile, “they don’t remove tattoos with lasers in Fiji. I had it surgically cut out.”
A month later Elder Wakolo and I were assigned together to reorganize a stake presidency in American Samoa. As we met at the airport, I immediately noticed an unsightly scar on the back of his hand where the surgeon had removed several square inches of skin and then very crudely sutured the gaping wound closed. This had not been performed by a plastic surgeon.
I apologized for having been the cause of the large scar on the back of his hand. He responded with a radiant Christlike countenance: “Not to worry, President Condie; this is my CTR ring. Now the Lord knows where I stand! I’ll do anything the Lord asks of me.”
Elder Wakolo has become a disciple who keeps his covenants and strives to do good continually.
As we spent several days with Elder and Sister Wakolo, we could feel of their strong dedication and commitment to serving the Lord and doing all they can to magnify their callings as they are out and about ministering to the people they come in contact with each day.
I reminded the missionaries of how Elder Wakolo had ended the mission tour with his strong, fervent testimony as he stood a little taller and spoke with deep conviction when he quoted 3 Nephi 5:13.
"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."
Then he added, "That is what and who I stand for. And that is what makes me be careful for what I do and stand for."
ZONE CONFERENCE - DAY 1 - ESCONDIDO AND DEL MAR ZONES
The rotating training classes were all good, but I think I must say the highlight was the Christmas tree made out of the KFC boxes Elder Radford brought to us for lunch.
Every now and again, we have to provide our own lunch for zone conference. Sister Radford figures it out and then gets Elder Radford to pick it up and deliver it to us. These two Elders were so proud of their holiday display.
ZONE CONFERENCE - DAY 2 - CARLSBAD AND VISTA ZONES
Some more wonderful classes taught by the zone leaders and sister training leaders.
We got to enjoy the leftover decorations from a previous Christmas activity which made the gym very festive for eating our lunch. 
Doctrine is the know; baptismal interview questions are the feel; and keeping commitments is the do. He wrote know, feel and do in three separate circles. As each of those circles come together, the overlapping part of the circles is conversion. The more you know and feel and do, the more the circles intercept and the deeper the conversion.
When all three circles come together, to make one full circle, that is total and complete conversion. Christ lived all three fully. He is our ultimate example in everything.
Thankfully the fire situation did not affect our zone conference schedule. With all the fires in the area, the Church sent a truckload of cleaning buckets that the missionaries helped unload and distribute.
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