Bloemfontein Zone Conference

One of our Assistants to the President teaching our missionary purpose!

Powerful!

 Lunch! Always a hit with missionaries!

 Great smiles!

 Watermelon! Nice for a hot day, especially when the air conditioning at the church isn't working!

However, a breeze came by and a thunderstorm! We got a couple of very close lightning strikes that woke us all up just before lunch!

 I've been told that Elder Jewkes writes amazing letters to the Mission President!

 Elder Weiler is a star!

 Getting ready for our second half of Zone Conference!

 Prelude music helps us get back into the spirit felt in the morning session!

 Birthday recognition! These four have birthdays in January!

 I had the privilege to teach from Preach My Gospel - Using Time Wisely, setting goals and plans.

After explaining WHY this is so important, I taught them HOW by using the thirteen weekly planning suggestions from the book. They were divided into thirteen groups where they discussed the importance of these planning guides, and ways to improve by being more specific, detailed, and focused with their plans for things like helping baptismal candidates, investigators, referrals, and even companionship inventory. They did a great job!

 The groups are reporting on HOW to improve their weekly planning with the topics found in Preach My Gospel

 The groups did a great job with each topic, and created discussions for the larger group in ways they can improve.

 Time to stretch a little after sitting for along time!

 President Thompson asked all the missionaries to write down the numbers 1, 2, 3. He then asked them to write down three of their gifts (talents, spiritual gifts, capabilities).  After a couple of minutes he asked if this was hard. The missionaries agreed that is was difficult to think of good things about yourself and many admitted that they couldn't think of three!

He called on a few missionaries to stand and choose another missionary that they knew well. They were instructed to stand in front of that person, look directly at them, and tell them a gift they see in them.

The missionary receiving the compliment (in every case) did not have that gift written on their list of three. President told them to add it to their list!

This was a powerful exercise! It helped our missionaries realize the good that others see in them. It helped them recognize that they DO have gifts, and that they are noticed by others! It helped them put something on their list, if they couldn't think of something previously. All of them said it motivated them to live up to what someone saw in them.

When I talked about missionary inventory, I told them it isn't just about telling a companion about the ways they can improve, but it is essential to offer positive feedback, and to see the gifts and goodness in your companion. 

They witnessed the importance of positive feedback - they discovered that it is very motivating!

This exercise was done in all thee conferences! It was powerful!