Ultimate Frisbee, 30 second lesson, Car Inspections, Evening Walk, Zone Conference, Institute/General Conference

Here's a quick update for last week:

FHE - Ultimate Frisbee

Gas - $5.59 a gallon at Costco (around $6.20 + elsewhere), fill up was nearly $85!  Most of the time we             fill up twice a week!

Cooking - Chocolate/Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats for District Council,

         Chicken Noodle Soup and Homemade bread for Institute

         Texas Sheet cake for Break the Fast

        General Conference viewing at Institute - Applesauce muffins, Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip for Apples,         Taco Salad

At District Council we practiced answering a question in 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Oftentimes when a missionary has an opportunity to talk with someone, (at their door, at the park or on the street) they only have about a minute or less to get in a message about the restored Gospel.  To practice, we each chose a slip of paper out of a bag and then went around the room and answered our question.  

The amazing thing about practicing this on Tuesday was that Stan actually put it into practice on Friday at pickleball!  He had three different people ask him questions, and probably only had 30 seconds to a  minute to answer them in between games!  One guy asked Stan his age and how he was able to be so quick and active on the court.  Stan gave him a 30 second lesson on the Word of Wisdom.  Another guy, who told him he was Catholic, asked him what were the major differences between our two churches.  He shared with his friend about Joseph Smith's vision and how we learned from that that the Godhead is three separate beings.  The last friend asked Stan what he was going to be doing over the weekend, and he shared that we would be watching General Conference, so had the chance to quickly explain about having a Prophet and Apostles at the head of our Church.  So, you never know when you might need a 30 second lesson ready to go.

We have a young man in our ward, Chance, that is getting ready to go through the temple for the first time and then be sealed to his fiancé for time and all eternity.  The Bishop asked us to teach him a couple of Temple Preparation classes to prepare him for the temple.  We really enjoyed this blessing of being able to teach and talk about our love for the temple and the importance of the ordinances and covenants we make when we enter the temple.  

This week was Zone Conference.  We were asked to come Wednesday to help with car inspections.  The missionaries drive into the church parking lot and back their cars into a slot.  They raise the hood and the tail gate and leave their keys on the seat.  The idea is to come with a clean car, inside and out, and without clutter.  Our job was to inspect the cars for cleanliness, and make sure everything is in working order.  The Car Tsar told us that it should be absolutely perfect to get a score of 100. The top two scores get a golden license plate cover that announces them as the winners.  All the cars looked really good, but some definitely did a better job of vacuuming and cleaning their wheels.  One sister told us that when her Dad was a missionary, he often won the cleanest car award, so it was her goal to follow in her Dad's footsteps.  We didn't inspect her car, but I'm sure it was spotless!

We decided to take a break from the apartment Wednesday evening and go for a walk.  This area has lots of hills and canyons.  On our way to the church building there is a canyon we cross over and we've wondered if there were any trails.  It's called Rice Canyon, and there is a trail that's just under two miles one way.  We had a nice walk and enjoyed the colors of the sky as the sun went down.  At the trail head there is a cactus garden with some pretty unique and beautiful cactus plants.

Thursday we attended the Zone Conference for our zone.  They had invited a guest speaker, Gerritt Durkmaat from the BYU Church History department.  He has been working with the Joseph Smith Papers project for the last 20 years.  He taught us that Joseph learned how to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ line upon line.  He wasn't given all instruction during the First Vision in the Sacred Grove.  He received instruction as he was ready to receive more.  When we look at Joseph during the Nauvoo period, we see tremendous growth from the earlier years.  Of course, that's the way it is for all of us.  We are all at different stages of learning, and as we progress, we are given more.  His presentation was wonderful!  I love learning about the Prophet Joseph Smith.  

At the end of the Zone Conference, we all gathered into the Chapel to receive final instruction from Pres. Merritt and have opportunity for the missionaries to bear testimony.  The concluding song is a song that the words have been adapted specifically to our mission.  We stood and sang, and the Elders and Sisters were all arm in arm and swaying together.  The spirit is strong.  I love these moments.

We forgot to put it in our blog last week, but we had visitors!  Dixie and Mike (my sister and brother-in-law) came and visited.  We went for a drive to the Julian Pie store (they are pretty famous around here) near Ramona, CA.  We enjoyed seeing the countryside; some areas were kind of desert looking, and other places with green hills.  I had a piece of Apple Mountain Berry pia a la mode.  It was yummy!  Apparently some grocery stores carry their pies, so you don't really have to take the long drive to get a piece of pie.  We just enjoyed being together.  

The Bishop asked us if we would be willing to open up the Institute Building on Saturday and Sunday for General Conference.  He also suggested it we be nice to provide some food for the young adults in between sessions.  So we planned and prepared to feed the young adults, having no idea how many would show up.  We had as many as 13 and as few as 3 (counting ourselves) over the two days.  Here's a picture of some of us listening to conference.

The best part was enjoying the conference messages together.  We were blessed to have two of the Elder's friends, that they invited, show up this  morning.  One of them, Eric, has a baptism scheduled for October 14.  This was a first Conference experience for both of them and I think they had a good experience.

 I think one of my favorite talks was Elder Rasband's.  He spoke to seniors.  He spoke pretty strongly about the need for Senior Missionaries.  I think the reason I liked his talk so much was that I didn't feel guilty. Haha! Seriously, it made me feel gratitude for the opportunity and blessing of serving as a senior missionary.  It is a choice growing experience.  I love being with the younger missionaries the young adults and feeling of their spirits and their desire to serve the Lord.  

My most favorite talk was hearing from our prophet, President Nelson.  I was praying the whole two days in hopes that we would get to hear from him.  I love how he told us that we choose where we will live, the kind of body we will have, and who we will be with in the next life.  I am going to practice putting Jesus first and thinking Celestial.