I'm e-mailing today because yesterday was zone conference and
President Pilkington told us that we need to e-mail our families and
him to share our experience and feelings about it. So here ya go! And
extra hour of e-mail yay.
So yesterday, I woke up
at 630, showered, ate breakfast and got dressed for the day. At about
730 I walked out the door with Elder's Jaeger, Wright and Diaz, to go
catch the Metro from the North Shields station. We took the Metro into
Newcastle, transferring at South Gosforth Station to get to the Fawdon
station, where the chapel is. Elder Jaeger, Diaz and I got a ride in
the zone leader's (Elder's Sommers and Mullen) car all the way down to
Billingham, where zone conference was held. It took forever because
traffic was bad.
At zone conference 8 people were
chosen at random, like really at random, to give 3 minute talks about a
christlike attribute of their choice. Everybody had to have at least 2,
3 minute talks prepared (mine were on humility and diligence, but i
wasnt chosen yay). And by 3 minute talks President really means 3 minute
talks. He times them and if you pass 3 minutes he cuts you off. No one
has ever gone over the 3 minute mark yet ever though. The longest of the
talks yesterday was exactly 2 minutes 59 seconds. They were all great.
Here in the mission field your trainer is called your daddy, and if you
train someone they are your son, so Elder Jaeger is my dad, but hes
trained before, so my ''Brother'' Elder Schwartskopf (I'm not sure how
you spell it) had to give a talk.
Anyways it was
also Remembrance day, and we had a two minutes of silence as well as
Sister Pilkington got us to sing this song called Smile, smile, smile.
The song is an old soldiers tune from the first world war and President
Pilkington couldnt sing it because he got too choked up. The chorus goes
''so pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile,
smile''. It was a very powerful meeting.
In North
Shield we havent been having much success with finding new
investigators. Most people just dont want to hear about God. last night
we had tea with This old couple in the Ward called the Spedding's.
Brother Spedding was a mission President in South Africa 15 years ago
and he told us full on his conversion story and his testimony for about
45 minutes. He was a man who had been, through various experiences,
prepared perfectly to recieve the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The
missionaries found him when he was 29, married with two kids, and
depressed to the point of attempting suicide. He told us about him
reading Moroni's promise and recieving an overpowering witness from the
Spirit that it was true, and he joined and was never depressed since.
I
feel strongly that there is somebody in the North Shields area who is
ready for Elder Jaeger and I to find and teach them. We are fasting
today to know where to go to find that person on Saturday.
Another
powerful part of zone conference. President told us about a missioanry
who came out three months ago into the mission. A perfectly healthy,
athletic young man who loved to wakeboard and snowboard and play
basketball. He was from Utah. The missionary came out, and after his
first few weeks was hospitalized for a dissease that had started eating
away at his legs. He had to go home and is now doing intense physical
therapy after being cured from this mysterious dissease. He is trying
his hardest to be ready to come back out into the field. When I have
days of discouragement. I need to remember this missionary, and remember
that I dont have it that bad.
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