Zone conference, day one, was held in Temecula with that zone and the Murrieta zones in attendance. My part of zone conference was teaching about the divine companionship of the Holy Ghost.
It wouldn't be a zone conference without training and doing role plays. Our theme of the conference was resolving concerns. The missionaries ask questions to determine if the investigator's concern is commitment based or testimony based. Then they take turns role playing with each other how to determine the concern which can then lead to helping resolve the concern.
Zone conference always includes car inspections. Elder Kopenhefer asks missionaries from other zones to help with car inspections. This was our group of elders and sisters this day.
I think they are the best car inspectors EVER!!!! (Keep reading and you'll find out why I am gushing...)
We always LOVE our lunch ladies. We especially LOVE these lunch ladies because they always fix us breakfast for lunch. We can smell the bacon as we walk down the hallway. YUM!
Glen ditched me (talking to missionaries who needed him), so I went and sat by these lovely sisters. I did warn them that by doing so they would then experience the MP and MPW curse. It never fails that wherever we sit at zone conference, none of the missionaries choose to come and sit with us. Unless all the other tables are full.
These sisters welcomed me with open arms and said they would love to have us sit at their table. Glen did finish and grabbed his plate of delicious waffle goodness and was able to eat with us before we were finished eating.
The afternoon agenda consisted of three rotating classes. Sister Kopenhefer, who is in charge of housing, began her class by having the new missionaries come to the front and cover their name tags. Then she asked for the older missionaries to see if they could name the missionaries.
She then did a fun, informative instruction on how to clean out a vacuum. She videoed her husband taking a vacuum apart and showing them how to clean the whole thing so it runs better. He even showed how to get the roller brush out of the bottom to clean off all the sisters' long hair. She had other tips as well.
Another class was Cleaning 101 taught by Sister Durfee and Sister Andrew. Great story they tell of how their mission president was so inspired to put them together. Before their missions they both had cleaning jobs and feel it is something they have in common.
Someone had already suggested to us to have Sister Andrew do a class on cleaning at zone conference well before the new missionaries arrived. Then who should be assigned to her but a fellow cleaning wiz by the name of Sister Durfee.
They were so strict and so funny at the same time. They used humor. They used personal examples. They even used scriptural references to get their point across. They did a fabulous job!
Our third rotation was flu vaccinations. This elder appears very excited to get his flu shot.
The Missionary Department would like every missionary to get a flu shot. Last year we told the companionships to go to a pharmacy to get their shots and not very many missionaries actually went.
This year we got a call from Walmart telling us the Church had contracted with them to come to us in the form of a shot clinic. I'm sure they felt that more missionaries would get a flu shot if the clinic came to them.
Sure enough, we did have a lot more missionaries decide to get one this year.
The technicians who worked with us at all the locations commented on what a wonderful group of young people our missionaries are. They felt uplifted being around them.
One commented to one of our senior missionaries about how she had seen no tattoos on any of them. They set themselves apart from the world in more ways than one.
These two elders' moms know each other, so the missionaries wanted a picture together to send to their moms.
After the meeting, the Temecula zone gathered themselves together for a zone photo.
Feast your eyes upon this beauty of a vehicle inspection grade. A TEN!!!! We got a big, fat 10!!!
Last inspection the missionaries inspecting our car checked every single thing off as a "Pass" and then gave us a score of 9.9. WHAT?!?!???
I cornered the two elders at lunch and asked why in the world we didn't get a 10!! They said, "Because there's always room for improvement, Sister Thomas." HA!!
We both got a big chuckle out of the comment this time: "Fantastic Trunk! Very clean!" We enjoyed it all the more when Elder Kopenhefer told us how the missionary car inspector opened up the trunk and exclaimed about how clean the trunk was and called all the other missionary inspectors over to take a look.
I guess the previous missionaries were right. There's always room for improvement and I guess our improvement was made manifest this time. Too funny!!
Zone conference, day two, was held in the Felicita building and consisted of the Escondido and Del Mar zones.
These are the illustrious car inspectors on this day.
Our lunch ladies fixed us chili and cornbread.
The missionaries always sing "Called To Serve" to the ladies as a token of their thanks for the food.
We had three different Walmart technicians with us this day and they helped us the following day as well.
I love this photo of Sister Kopenhefer. She looks like she is glowing. She is definitely angelic in our eyes and worthy of the glow.
She works so hard getting apartments set up and supplied and closed down and stuff put in storage. Every single transfer. The number of missionaries never stays the same. Things are always shifting. Sometimes even week to week or day to day.
Another great day of being with a third of our missionaries.
That evening we went to Riley's baptism. The sisters who worked with her were so impressed with her spirituality and her testimony after only having worked with her for a few days. She wanted to get baptized before she left to go to college so she could "be part of the Mormon community" when she got to college.
Glen had a very spiritual experience as he interviewed her. She is a special woman who has been drawn to people who have high standards her whole life. We were happy to see her parents at the baptism.
Zone conference, day three, was held in the Carlsbad stake center right close to our home.
The same Walmart technicians were helping us again. We had willing missionaries ready to get flu shots.
One of these elders is expressing how lots of the missionaries felt about getting a flu shot.
We had a bit of drama with this particular missionary.
She was fine getting the shot, got up and walked down the hallway to the foyer to be with the rest of her group. She sat down on an end table next to the couch and then fainted and fell on the floor. I wasn't there right when it happened, but Glen saw the whole thing.
The technicians came out to assess the situation. I got back on the scene as she was being questioned. She seemed so distressed and was answering some of the questions in a way that required us to call 911 at the technician's insistence.
The sirens sounded, the paramedics came rushing in, they took all her vitals, checked her heart, poked her finger, talked to her, had her sit up and then stand up. Then they pronounced her just fine and went on their way.
The drama held up classes a little bit, but soon we were in rotation once again.
Here is our darling fainter with her able companion who watched her closely through the rest of the day. She was looking fine when she left zone conference. We saw her a few days later at church and she reported all had been well those days also.
Some missionaries ask to get their picture taken with us. This sister has always loved that she and I have the same shoes.
I think we all agreed that despite the flu shot part of the zone conference, it was a great spiritual shot in the arm for all of the missionaries.
