Zone Conference with Elder Young

It has been way too long since we last emailed, but we did enjoy the birthday calls to Carol (and Al), Janet (and David), and Angela (and Scott). We watch your blogs constantly and love reading about what’s happening in your families.

The work here continues to be busy. We just get one matter taken care of and another comes along, but that’s what keeps the work going forward, it seems. Last week we had a member of the Third Quorum of Seventy, Elder Allen P. Young, attend our Zone Conference. He has been released as a counselor in the Area Presidency so he and his wife are touring the mission prior to returning home. They are white Africans who live in Johannesburg. Their messages were especially inspiring and provided an extra portion of the spirit to the meetings. Sister Young taught the elders how they could become more than just good or even great or successful missionaries, but powerful missionaries by using 3 tools: (1)the Atonement with the accompanying repentance and forgiveness of sins; (2)their covenants—baptism, being washed clean and the Holy Ghost to be with them , priesthood through which they have their power and authority, temple with its greater understanding, vision, and power; (3)increased knowledge through scripture study. Elder Young talked about the importance of having vision—seeing the big picture. He said that where there is no vision, people perish. LDS people are a people with a vision, and people with a vision have a mission. God’s vision is to “bring about the immortality and eternal life of man”. Joseph Smith’s vision was to spread the gospel throughout the world until the “work is accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done”.. Both of these visions are being fulfilled by missionary work. After the Zone Conference meetings, it is the responsibility of the senior couple to prepare a luncheon. This is always stressful for us, but even more so because of our special guests. Instead of styrofoam and plastic, we decided to use china plates, glass glasses, and silverware which had to be hauled to the church from our apartment along with table cloths and table decorations, thermos coolers for the punch, jello salad, rolls, donuts for the mid-morning snack, etc. We had arranged for the main course, green salad, and dessert to be catered by a branch member so we could stay in the meetings and not be in the kitchen. We have done the food ourselves but the worries were still there—will there be enough food, will it taste good, will it be ready and served in a timely manner. The lunch was a great hit and the Youngs as well as our Mission President/Sister Probst were very gracious in their compliments. So that matter is over until the next Zone Conference in 6 weeks.

A new project we have taken on is to help a sister in the Katutura Branch get ready for her mission. She has been called to the Uganda Kampala Mission and enters the Joburg MTC in November. She is the only member of the church in her family and has absolutely no support from them. She actually was called to serve in Nigeria about 3 years ago, but her father was furious and did not want her to go. He said that he would find her wherever she was, go get her and bring her home. Even though she could not go then, she never lost her desire to go on a mission. She applied again and has received another call. Her father now lives away from here and she feels she is independent of him and can go. We encourage her to get things done and not wait till the last minute, and have helped her with immunizations and passport pictures, and will do some shopping next week. She is a young woman of 28 years and has done a lot of teaching in the branch. She will make a good missionary.

As usual, we could go on and on, but that is enough for now. We are healthy and happy, as are our elders, for which we feel blessed. We think about you and miss you, and appreciate your love and support. Stay close to the Lord and to each other.