Awesome to hear from you guys, I hope Cole and Ike had a great first week back to school. It's weird this is gonna be the first fall in like 15 years not going to school. Crazy!
We had a super good week last week. We found one awesome guy and actually had some follow up appointments happen which is super rare here. Two of the newish people that we have are awesome and one of them has a family that's pretty close so maybe if we can get them really moving or I stick around another transfer we might see some baptisms.
Yesterday we had Zone Conference which is basically a huge training meeting with all three of the Manhattan zones. We had it in the cultural hall in the temple building which is always awesome. The first part of the Conference was pretty much a devotional centered around a topic. Every zone gets a topic and all the missionaries have to prepare a talk because when the conductor stands up and says the program, he says an elder and a sister from every zone that the president picked and that's when and how you find out you're speaking. I had a feeling, ever since I heard that they did that, that I would be speaking, so I spent some serious time studying for it and getting some ideas down. And I was right, they called on me so, yeah I gave a talk on "How is the Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, your most powerful resource in conversion?" In my first zone conference, I was the 2nd to last speaker and the last elder speaking. I had a pretty strong talk that wasn't even really close to what I had prepared, but from what I've heard, it was still good. The rest of the conference was some random training stuff and then President talked for awhile about doctrine and principles. He used one of Dad's favorite quotes, "True doctrine understood changes attitudes and behaviors". It was a really good topic. All in all it was 8 hours long, but it was a pretty sweet meeting.
Yesterday we had Zone Conference which is basically a huge training meeting with all three of the Manhattan zones. We had it in the cultural hall in the temple building which is always awesome. The first part of the Conference was pretty much a devotional centered around a topic. Every zone gets a topic and all the missionaries have to prepare a talk because when the conductor stands up and says the program, he says an elder and a sister from every zone that the president picked and that's when and how you find out you're speaking. I had a feeling, ever since I heard that they did that, that I would be speaking, so I spent some serious time studying for it and getting some ideas down. And I was right, they called on me so, yeah I gave a talk on "How is the Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, your most powerful resource in conversion?" In my first zone conference, I was the 2nd to last speaker and the last elder speaking. I had a pretty strong talk that wasn't even really close to what I had prepared, but from what I've heard, it was still good. The rest of the conference was some random training stuff and then President talked for awhile about doctrine and principles. He used one of Dad's favorite quotes, "True doctrine understood changes attitudes and behaviors". It was a really good topic. All in all it was 8 hours long, but it was a pretty sweet meeting.
Today we're going back down to the temple to actually go to the temple. We get to go once a transfer. Our entire district is going so it'll be interesting to see how the House of the Lord calms Elder Gallego. It's always awesome going to the temple because when you're down in the city, there's really not ever a break from all the random junk, but once you're in the temple you wouldn't even know that it's in the middle of Manhattan. It's a great break and the last time we went I left feeling so refreshed and ready to go for another 6 weeks.
Thanks for the box. It was really sweet. My companion hates the hex bug. He thinks it's super creepy haha. And the first thing Elder Gallego did when he saw the whoopie cushions was play with one for a half an hour. The children's piano book gave us a good laugh. Thanks, I'm seriously gonna try to learn at least 1 hymn before I get transferred.
I love you guys so much. The question and answer thing that we did a few weeks ago was awesome, so feel free to ask questions. It makes it a lot easier to think of things to write. Have a great week and if you get a chance watch "Safety for the Soul" by Holland from the October 2009 conference. I love that talk, my quote of the week is what I hope to be able to say someday, "I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world … that the Book of Mormon is true." Straight chills every single time. It might be kinda hard to find the video because it weirdly doesn't work on Gospel Library, but I know that you can watch it here on your phones http://media2.ldscdn.org/assets/general-conference/october-2009-general-conference/2009-10-5010-elder-jeffrey-r-holland-360p-eng.mp4?download=true
Les Amo Mucho,
Con Amor,
Elder Sam McBride
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