Sheltons in the Sun

Saturday, January 11, 2015

# 6 Zone Meeting . . . a time to focus

I’ve always heard that Zone Conferences were a special time for missionaries. I know it has certainly been a powerful week for us, the senior missionaries. This time, President Wilson decided to work with one Zone at a time, so we could work with the missionaries in smaller groups. We have seen just under half of the missionaries this week, then, we will work with the others next week. We started in Ridgecrest, then Esperanza, Palmdale, and finally Lancaster and East Lancaster. Each conference we had between 22 and 30 missionaries. Each group seems to have a personality of its own, but all missionaries show evidence of the power they’ve gained from serving the Lord full-time. So many of them reminded me of the wonderful youth I worked with in the school setting all those years. I loved watching them grown in talent and ability then. Now, these young men and women have developed amazing leadership skills, become articulate, and are willing to do whatever it takes to serve the Lord. My heart is so full of love and admiration for them. I know their task is not easy, but their commitment and willingness to work is helping them transform in to amazing servants of the Lord. In some ways, they are still kids, and pretty young, and in other ways they are spiritual giants. It is a wonderful time.

The zone conference consists of talking with the missionaries about issues and concerns with cars, apartments (our particular concern), health, etc. Then, the zone leaders conduct training with the missionaries. And finally, both Sister Wilson and President Wilson give inspirational talks. The meeting is motivating and spiritual; and, it is evident that President and Sister Wilson know and love these young men and young women.

Of course our presentation is on housing issues. Our motto is “ Cleaning is a process, not an event.” We showed the missionaries how to clean their vacuum filter, how to use a Magic Eraser, and we talked about the standards of cleanliness we expect. Of course, this was nothing new, but we tried to present with a different view. And, true to my style, I threw candy to those who answered questions correctly.

In every housing area we have inspectors, who are senior service missionaries, who visit the missionaries about every month to make an apartment check: they inspect, help, teach, and nurture. Then they send the report to us. We take care of the issues that they can't take care of. We are so lucky to have them on our team. These are dedicated people who are wonderful to work with -- so happy to be doing this job and so helpful to us and to the missionaries.

We saw a great quote buy Pres. Ezra Taft Benson on a desk in the MTC, and we use it with our presentation: “When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, at that moment God will endow us with power.” Surprisingly President Wilson also used it in his talk, and so did one Zone Leader.

The holidays are over, and they were most unusual for us. We moved some missionaries on Christmas Eve day, and also on New Years Eve. In fact, after the move on New Years, we stopped and bought some pizza and salad and came home to celebrate, just the two of us. I’m grateful for such a good companion.

Fortunately, this month has been a time of some family. Saturday is our day off, and Mike and I drove on the weekend of Dec. 27th to San Francisco to see Ed and Susan and their family. And we were able to hold Michael and Ceci’s darling baby, Leo. It was a wonderful visit. We stopped Sunday to see Aaron’s family, but at that point the flu was hitting both of us, so we left for home early. Then last Saturday Mike had the opportunity to baptize our cute granddaughter, Reese. Becca, Aaron’s family, Ryan, Liz and Jared were all there. What a special time that was.

As we serve here in Bakersfield, we are grateful for the many blessings we feel. We are doing a work we couldn’t have imagined. Yet our hearts are filled with gratitude and love for the opportunity we have to work with such wonderful people, and to feel the Spirit of the Lord as we stretch ourselves to meet the needs of those around us.

We are grateful for the love and support of you, our family and friends. And we are grateful for the testimonies we have that our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives; and because of Him, we will be able to live with Him and each other again.