Zone Conference and RS Campout

It never ceases to amaze me how little I know about this mission 4 months into it. I went to my first zone conference last week. Oh wow! What a spiritual feast! I've been told by other "seasoned missionaries" that senior missionaries can go to mission meetings "if you want to, but you don't have to...and no one goes." Well THIS senior missionary is not going to miss another one the rest of my mission! What's good for the goslings is good for the goose. And it's just one more chance for me to be around young missionaries who I love.

These two fabulous people are our mission leaders, President David Harkness and Sister Lisa Harkness. They are both amazing teachers and it was very obvious to me that they had prepared very carefully for zone conference.

Zone conference also allowed me to watch young missionaries practice teaching with each other. It brought back lots of memories from my mission in Hong Kong nearly 40 years ago.

Here's one of my favorite elders reading a printer's copy of the Book of Mormon. He read it in a reverant voice and when he finished, he said, "I testify that that's true." Oh wow. Young missionaries amaze me.

There was an annual stake Relief Society campout last weekend. I got to know these lovely ladies at dinner but wimped out and didn't stay overnight because there was a threat of rain. I felt good about that decision when I heard at church that it had been a cold and miserable night. I became good friends with the woman on the far right when she invited me to eat dinner at her house on Mother's Day. She is a warm and wonderful daughter of God.

I don't know this woman but she was ready for  the mosquito battle! I admire her determination.  Apparently mosquitoes have been an awful annoyance in years past. I killed a few but came away with no bites from the night.

Even senior missionaries have to brave the weather sometimes. . .

Missionary moment: I met a darling dog on the metro platform named Rookie. She was with her mama and we started talking about dogs while I petted Rookie. She mentioned that she'd had a dog that she was so close to. She wondered if it was a favorite uncle reincarnated. I thought, "Well, there's my opening." I asked her if she believed in reincarnation and then if she believed in life after death. I told her that we DO continue to live. I left her with a pass along card that says on the front "Where do I go after I die?" She is a lovely young woman and I'm grateful that she allowed me to drop a little seed with her.

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