July 4, 2011

I got up around 6am and got ready for zone conference and then called the assistants to let them know that I thought I had figured out how to get them electronic results for the zones. They met me over at the office around 8am and after a few false starts, we got the data they needed in the format they needed by around 9am. We left for the zone conference around 9:15. Jan had made chocolate chip cookies for all the missionaries. We anticipated around 65 young missionaries and about a dozen senior missionaries. The zone conference went quite well. It was a bit confusing at first since they conducted the first 1/3rd of the conference in Fijian. They did have many of the talks and presentations in English, however. Jan gave excellent messages on reading the Book of Mormon and the importance of Knowledge as a Christ-like attribute, how to avoid boils, and gave an introduction to our family. She told me later this evening that she was quite taken aback about how she felt prompted in a very distinct way once she began her talk on Knowledge to significantly change it and focus on reading the Book of Mormon. She commented that it was a very good experience. I taught about the 3 lessons of life to be learned quicker on a mission than anywhere else. I also lead a discussion about the many facets of Preach My Gospel and then told them about the 5 characteristics of a Preach My Gospel Missionary as related by Elder Bednar at the Mission President’s Training Seminar. Following the meeting, the missionaries hung around the chapel and were taking many pictures of various groups of missionaries. It was apparent that they hadn’t had very many occasions when virtually all the Fijian Missionaries were all in one spot. We got home after 5pm and I went into the office to try to determine how I was to process temple recommends so that they would be activated. An elder came in to get a temple recommend and I spent about 1 and ½ hours trying to figure out what I needed to do. I finally went home and began packing since we have to leave the house tomorrow morning around 4:45 am for our trip to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.