Zone Conference August 2014

Blessed by the Basics was our theme for Zone Conferences this time. We have felt a real need to refocus on Preach My Gospel and becoming more effective Preach My Gospel missionaries. We loved seeing the whole mission in 3 days. We enjoyed great Role Playing, "Lightening Rounds", where each companionship learned how to teach lesson concepts of the gospel in 3 minutes. The missionaries loved these Lightening Rounds and felt like they helped improve their teaching skills.
We were instructed by President Morgan as he talked about our mission being Blessed by the Basics of focused attention to Preach My Gospel and studying the Book of Mormon every day. We issued a challenge to everyone to read the Book of Mormon in 120 days. We all started on August 25, 2014 and will finish reading on Christmas day this year. We are excited about doing this as a whole mission.
We had wonderful lunches provided by 3 of our Stakes. We had 3 break-out sessions. Elder Bailey taught the missionaries about creating meaningful posts on Facebook and Sisters Baker and Bloxham taught us about planning and organizing. Sisters Morgan and Wilson talked about being a healthy mission. Sister Morgan baked 130 loaves of banana bread and gave each companionship a loaf.
After these meetings, we all felt more "Blessed by the Basics" and have recommitted ourselves to becoming a more focused Preach My Gospel mission. We are so lucky to be an online proselyting mission. Facebook has been a great blessing to our mission, when it is used for the sole purpose of preaching the gospel. We hope that after these great days of training we will all remember our purpose as missionaries. Teaching the Doctrine of Christ on social media is a wonderful way to flood the earth with the truthfulness of the gospel.

Scarsdale Bagels and homemade cream cheese have become a great tradition for breakfast before zone conferences.

Strawberry and Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese! 30 pounds of cream cheese and 23 dozen bagels can almost feed all 250 missionaries!

Blessed by the Basics, August 2014

Sister Wilson did a GREAT job teaching the basics of good health care.

Darling Sisters Baker and Bloxham were very enthusiastic about teaching the basics of planning with a purpose.

Elder Bailey was amazing when he taught the basics of
 Facebook posts for the purpose of teaching the gospel.

Beautiful song by Sister Smith

Elder Coleman talked about Finding people to teach. He said, "The Lord trusts you enough to let you teach His sons and daughters. Preach My Gospel tell us that He will lead you to them and He will lead them to you."

Matchy Matchy Polka Dot Ties

Wonderful men's chorus: Elder Jensen, Elder Durham, Elder Allred, Elder Moss, Elder Kroff and Elder Fronk

Mens quartet: Elder Jessee, Elder Gagnon, Elder Atkinson and Elder Wilkins

Elder Staheli did a great job teaching the basics of studying the gospel. He told the missionaries to study to be a tool in the Lord's hands. Use His words to help you teach and help you learn then live what you learn. Elder Richard G. Scott said, "You can become what you want to be by consistantly being what you want to become each day."

Sister Molina, Sister Orme, Sister Toronto, Sister Holdaway sang a lovely song together

Duet sung by Sister Oluwalana and Sister Larson

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude."  We are so grateful for our missionaries, for the members of the church in the NYNYN Mission, for those who are being taught by our missionaries and for everything that our Father in Heaven has blessed our mission with.