So, Zone Conference was in Atascocita so our cars could get their new monitoring devices. Which is all good and dandy except that it's a 5.5 hour round trip for us (6 for the Elders in Welsh). And I know that's probably nothing compared to other missions, but that's the longest I've ever driven in one day. It was worth it though, the conference was great. We talked a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and about applying it in our lives as missionaries as well as in our teaching. We also got early Christmas gifts which was an ornament, sticky notepad (that has the mission's name on it), and a Book of Mormon with a cool cover on it. And I got to see Elder Frogley, Nelson, Simpson, Paulsen, and a bunch of other missionaries I love. I'm in the same District as Elder Frogley, so I guess it's not as special seeing him at Zone Conference. I'm literally sitting next to him right now. He says hi.
We also stopped by Buc-ee's on the way home along with all those other guys.
On Saturday a family in the ward invited us over to make candy (along with many other members). It was really cool, they have super old candy molds that have been passed down in their family since the 1800s (maybe longer). I got to make a whole batch myself which was cool. I kept one of the bicycle riding frog suckers.
Yesterday the whole Zone went to a meeting called "Break the Fast" where the stake president, President Harris, takes reports from all the mission leaders in the Zone and then answers any doctrinal questions we have. We also eat food. One thing he mentioned, that I found very interesting, pertains to Sacrament Meeting. He said (that the leading Bretheren have said) that there should not be any kind of joking during the meeting. I find it very interesting because many members that give talks or bear testimony like to start with some kind of funny comment. This is very inappropriate for the meeting though. Which makes sense when you think about it. General Conference and Stake Conference are different, but Sacrament meeting is centered on the Ordinance of the Sacrament, which is a very sacred thing. He said "can you imagine if at the beginning of an endowment session someone made a joke eliciting laughter? This would be very disresctful and highly inappropriate." We should have the same attitude of respect in Sacrament meeting as we do in the Temple preforming other ordinances.
Something for all of us to consider.
On the way home we stopped by Kevin's house for our lesson and he wasn't home. Rude. So we instead went to the home of a guy we haven't been able to get in contact with. He ended up being home and we ended up having a super cool discussion with him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he agreed to read and pray about it. He said that if we have something he's missing, he'd expect us to share it with him. Which is why he's willing to try. I thought that was a cool thing for him to realize, cause it's true. I just pray that he (Leland) will actually read and pray.
It's been a good week, but still no sign of our trainee... we'll see.
Have a good week!
-Elder Peterson
That Joker blanket thing was made by a member of this ward. Super cool.
