We met with all the missionaries this week in zone conference. Dad taught with power and clarity about faith in Jesus Christ, and the missionaries hopefully learned a lot. He told the missionaries about his very intelligent brother-in-law (could apply to all, but this time it was Uncle Chris), and how years ago they were discussing Unicity and Dad made the comment that he thought Heavenly Father wanted Unicity to succeed. Christ responded, "I don't think the Lord really cares about Unicity or about what you do for a living." At the time, that kind of disappointed Stewart, but he taught the missionaries that although God doesn't really care that much about businesses or careers, but He does care about His children. They all repeated Moses 1:39 and then Dad testified powerfully about how much God cares about missionary work and how they can draw down the powers of heaven to help them in their work because He really does care about that! There is a different personality to each group, and the one in Tabong was especially good where Stewart encouraged the missionaries to picture the people they teach not just in their white baptism clothes, but in their white temple clothes.
There were more miracles this week -- one American companionship who can both hardly speak Tagalog were "punted" (term for the people not being there when they came to teach) and they were standing on the street trying to decide what to do next when they were approached by someone asking, "Could you teach me please? I want to learn about your church!" We attended a baptism yesterday with three sets of missionaries, all trainer/trainee combinations, where each trainee was experiencing their first baptism. And our Pakastani sister is still here. It's a miracle! We were warned by the MTC she is a "drama queen" and Dad put her with a sister to train her who's also a "drama queen" (so much so that he's been counting the weeks until she goes home!) and they are both doing well. The trainer is suddenly mature, focused and a peacemaker. Her zone leaders are amazed! Also, an American sister who is socially awkward and was ALWAYS crying her first few weeks wrote Stewart that she loved the Philippines and missionary work and although she misses her family, she's never been happier!
The last day of zone conference the area medical advisor, Elder Skinner, came and did a presentation with his wife and answered questions about missionary health. But before and after his presentation, he met with several sick missionaries and viewed photos of others and was so helpful with all our nursing concerns: impetigo, ingrown toenails, cuts, shoulder pain, tumors and back and thigh pain.
I think my mom would be proud of me for my zone conference teaching. Kind of. She always suggested I talk about things that I need help with, and this time I did. I taught about controlling our thoughts to increase our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Have you ever personally been tested on something you spoke about or taught a lesson on? It's been a very difficult week for me--I'm having a very hard time controlling fearful thoughts, so I hope I can learn to focus more and "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
We invited ten elders to Sunday dinner, including one of Dad's assistants who cannot taste. He ate more than anyone and asked for two servings of ice cream -- it's his favorite "texture"!
Love,
Mom
Photos (sorry, my photos this week are mostly swollen eyes, ingrown tonails, scars, stings, growths, and ezcema)
The catholic church in our subdivision is decorated, including umbrellas hanging in the entry.
My two favorite zones - conference in Tabong
Dinner guests
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