Zone Conference, Live and in Person

We were excited this week to be able to have Zone Conferences in person again.  We look forward to Zone Conference every 6 weeks as it is an opportunity to be trained and edified.   Because of Covid restrictions it has been a few months since we have been able to gather in our tiny zones of about 20 missionaries each.  Current regulations now allow for a gathering of 30% capacity of the venue, so our small numbers are well below that percentage.  We used to have 10 Zones, and would have 3 or 4 Zones gather together at 3 different locations over 3 days, with 60-70 in attendance at each.  We still hold them over 3 days, but now we only have 3 Zones in total and only include one Zone of about 16-20 missionaries in each conference.  Even with the smaller numbers, it is a lot of work to put it all together, but we were able to get everything ready.  We used to rely heavily on the Senior Couples to help with the physical set up and details, but now we and the Assistants and Office Elders look after everything, so we are often scrambling at the last minute as we remember something we forgot.

You know how sometimes you have a bad dream that you show up at an important event and have forgotten to wear your pants? My real-life experience wasn't near as dramatic as that, but I was embarrassed just the same to arrive at Zone Conference this week in Santiago, only to discover that I was still wearing my croc slippers.  I forgot to put on shoes!  As embarrassing as it was, I had no option to return for my shoes.  Years ago, I might have tried to slip in and cover my feet, hoping no one would notice, but this was not going to be possible, so I walked in and owned it, telling everyone of my mistake, and laughing about it.  With that over with, I could go about the rest of the day and not worry about my improper footwear.  I have to admit, they were much more comfortable than any of my shoes!  After lunch, I was visiting with our caterer about my interesting footwear, and she told me she had also had that experience as a Mission Leader, and after that she always kept a pair of shoes under the seat of the van for that reason...

The last conference was on Friday.  We planned to gather in Ilagan.  We have not had a Zone Conference in Ilagan since March of 2020.  We tried once since the pandemic began, but they implemented a strict lockdown the day before our conference, so we had to cancel it and the others and held a virtual Zone Conference instead.  We arrived early and got everything set up while we waited for the missionaries coming from the Tuguegarao areas.  About 5 minutes before we were to start, they called.  They were at the checkpoint coming into Ilagan, and they wouldn't let them come in.  What would we do?  None of our ideas were accepted, so we decided that we would gather everything up and head to Tumauini (our closest city north of Ilagan) and hold the conference there.  They turned around and went back to Tumauini.  We called the Stake President to make sure it would be ok, and the caterer, who graciously was willing to come further with the food.  The 6 missionaries who were already there found a jeepney to take them, as we did not have room in our van for them and all the stuff.  We started nearly 2 hours late, but it was still a great conference.  We all tightened our time for our parts in the program, and we dropped one thing, and we actually finished in the same time frame as the other conferences.  It felt like time had stood still for us.

We talked about joy and being converted, and we had a lot of training on media referrals and how to work virtually.  We feel that it was a successful week, and we hope that the training and practice will help the mission to continue to be successful.

We continue to see miracles.  We are finally considered to by fully vaccinated, having passed the 14 days after our second dose this past Wednesday.  We also have 98% of the missionaries vaccinated with at least their first dose.  I would not have thought that possible a few months ago.  

We are now a small army of 51 missionaries.  4 of our missionaries, serving here in their home mission, left on Thursday to their original assignments.  We will lose 4 more in a couple of weeks.  We will receive 5 that have been patiently serving in their home missions waiting for the time they could come here.  The first arrived yesterday. This coming week we will have 12 new, fresh-out-of-online-MTC missionaries.  This is our largest incoming group in over a year.  We are excited and also a little stressed about getting them all oriented and to their areas, and having enough missionaries to train them.  They all must also quarantine, so that adds to the complexity of our plans.  Since the Trainers will have to quarantine with them, we will have a large part of the mission in quarantine.  It is a good thing we have been working on our virtual work!

At times we get a bit overwhelmed, but I keep remembering my now favorite Covid scripture: "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

This is His work. And we can do all things with His help.