We were in Niigata this morning for our third zone conference in four days. It was awesome, as usual. Unlike the two previous conferences, the majority of the missionaries in the Niigata Zone are English speakers, so the entire tone of the conference was different. Japanese elders are much more business-like and official, so the training has been very crisp and precise. Today's was noticeably different. It felt good to do my part in English. I trained on the purpose of meetings as found in D&C 43:8-10; also on the power of a second witness in teaching situations and referenced Alma following Amulek's witness in Alma 12; talked about the importance of working closely with local leaders and respecting their office and responsibility at the same time getting to know them in a personal way so that they know we care about them and their families; finally, talked about how we must be "finders" wherever we go, anytime, anyplace. Related a couple of stories I heard in the MTC or experienced myself back in the day. Pam again sang "I Am A Child of God" with the two sister missionaries in attendance. She was more confident singing in Japanese, and with only two others, everyone could hear her lovely voice. She felt a lot better about today's Zone Conference because it was virtually all done in English--she was able to visit openly with the missionaries and get to know them more personally than the past two days. Tomorrow is our final Zone Conference here in Sendai, and then our new missionaries arrive and transfers begin. We are losing 7 very good missionaries and replacing them with three gung-ho missionaries, so we are consolidating our missionary efforts a bit.
I am really tired tonight. Driving the 3.5 hours from Niigata to Sendai tonight in the pouring rain on narrow highways with lots of traffic was especially stressful. I will be in bed earlier tonight!
Sydnie was born today to Matt and Amy. We are so happy for them. Although it is the 4th of July here, she was born on July 3 in Mesa. What a great blessing!
gr
No comments:
Post a Comment