Momentous Mission Memories

Tuesday, June 2nd and Wednesday, June 3rd we attended our final two Zone Conferences. These meetings every 6 weeks are a "shot in the arm," providing just what missionaries need to fulfill their quest. For President and Sister Bennion it was "close to their 100th conference" as they end their 3 years of service. Each meeting begins as we sing the New York New York Mission Song. We will always think of these great missionaries when we hear it.

Verse 1

From many states and nations,

From cities large and small,

We serve the New York mission here in

answer to our call.

Verse 2

For here we find our calling,

We labor and proclaim,

The message of the Master and bear witness

to His name.

Verse 3

So many here are waiting,

They hunger for the word,

Oh, bless our hearts and voices, that our

message may be heard.

Verse 4

Then guide us on our journey,

And may the road be straight,

That we may bring the message to the

humble souls who wait.

Chorus

With courage, obedience and love,

With faith and humility,

We'll serve Him by sharing the gospel plan.

Conference highlights for us were:

Sister Bennion taught from Luke. Jesus Christ cautions us with the statement, "Remember Lot's wife." She shared many of the things she has learned from 500+ missionaries. She admonished us to learn from the past, don't dwell on past mistakes. Instead, focus on what we've learned, and follow our Savior. She gave each of us a little reminder for our wallets,

"Which way are YOU facing?"

Our inspired President Bennion told the remarkable story of Vincencia Defranchesca, a faithful man from Italy. He was training for the ministry in a Protestant church early in the 1900's. One day he found a Book of Mormon on the ground. The front cover and title page had been removed so it was not possible to identify the title of the book or its church sponsor. With keen interest he read and reread the book. It had a magnetic effect on him. The book changed his life forever. (We'll add here that so many of the young missionaries and saints here have not seen, "How Rare a Possession.") President Bennion urged us to testify of the Book of Mormon in our work, "Indeed, The Book of Mormon is our most powerful source of conversion."

Elder Salazar challenged us to unite our efforts in one great cause. Our efforts as companionships, districts, zones, and as a mission need to focus on planning activities that will remind people of their cause. He spoke of Moroni, a great Book of Mormon prophet, who reminded the people of the cause they were fighting for. Moroni knew that a memory, a constant thought of the righteous cause, would kindle an unquenchable fire of faith within each individual. He likened our zone and district leaders to, "modern day captain Moroni's." We surely must be the stripling warriors that knew their cause and were willing to stake their lives for it. He continued by asking us to understand our priorities and state them, be examples of hard work, Fear not, be an example of faith and press on with faith.

Sister Bennion and I agreed that Elder McLean gave one of the best talks we'd ever heard. He talked about his frustration as an AP, duties include dealing with faulty Internet connections, fax connections, and the complicated process of turning these devices back on. His talk was titled, "Keeping the Switch Turned On." He has been challenged, "a constant battle," during his mission to always stay connected to his purpose. Three things affect how he connects to his purpose and affect the work greatly, his thoughts, actions and attitude. He has found that when he is connected to his purpose he corrects things more often and everything he does is more effective. He taught us to plan our time, plan effectively, and then follow our plans. He gave us a great plan of action, taught from Preach My Gospel, and then this humble, sweet missionary shared a beautiful testimony. He told us the Lord sets many of our goals for us. We know these goals and we can set the Lord's goals and plan to fulfill them, or we can turn the switch off and not participate. We each came away switched on and prepared to better fulfill our purposes here in the New York New York South Mission.

Elder Salazar has served most of his mission in Brooklyn, and we are so thankful for the chance to learn from him during the last three months of our mission. We have served with Elder McLean our entire mission and know and love him. He taught us to be fearless on the streets of NYC! Both are Spanish speaking, powerful servants of the Lord. They have both done so much to serve and further the work of this mission.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday we served pulled-pork sandwiches on Perisi Bakery buns! We have given the two Perisi brothers and their Astoria bakery much business during the last 18 months and they have done an outstanding job.

Our elders from Flushing, (where one feels they are in China) speak Mandarin, Korean, and Chinese. One of our favorite things about Zone Conferences is hearing all of the elders and sisters share, MY PURPOSE, in their languages. At our conference, it is given in six languages!

Thanks for the smiles, elders!

It's a treat to relax and visit together.

President Bangerter had just returned from China. Welcome home!

We appreciate all the help that is offered from all of the elders and sisters who are so appreciative. We will miss this opportunity every 6 weeks...we know we will!

Mostly we will miss all of these incredible missionaries we have grown to love so much.