Zone Conferences and Companionship Unity

Another wonderful week in the Misión Chile Rancagua.  Every week is full of activity. We are often gone by 8 AM and return late in the day and have the goal to retire by 11.  Normally the calls end by 11 which is when the missionaries are supposed to be in bed. Today included a final interview of a young man in Peralillo who is preparing to go on a mission and attendance at the branch in Peumo.  The countryside is magnificent and there is an abundance of agricultural activity everywhere. 

We did training for our new missionaries this week and also started our zone conferences.  Each conference includes two to three zones so there are from 30-52 missionaries at each one. We go over training topics to help the missionaries improve their techniques and their knowledge of the gospel.  In many of our meetings we have the missionaries do practical exercises to apply the things that they learn.  This round of conferences included topics on the Book of Mormon, how to teach repentance, dress standards for the summer (yes it is starting to be summer here!!!!), health, language study, working with less active members and other current topics.

After the zone conference we always have a lunch since most are too far from their areas to go back and eat.  This time we had a game after lunch where they were challenged to show their knowledge of Preach My Gospel (our manual for how to do missionary work), the Missionary Handbook (the standards for missionaries and other important topics) and the scriptures. This picture above show the game in progress.

The Elders and Sisters always  go two by two and we emphasize the need for unity in the companionships.  Often the Elders will wear the same color tie to the meetings as a show of unity and sometimes the Sisters wear something the same as well.  Here is a picture of two of the companionships of our wonderful Sisters wearing matching clothing at one of our meetings this week.

We sent four missionaries home this week and had 28 more arrive so we continue to grow.  That puts us at 290 right now but it ends with this transfer as the goal is to get us down to 250 missionaries (which is the ideal maximum size for a mission) by sometime next year so our numbers will slowly decline.

We are focused on three groups of people in our missionary work-those who want to know about the church, those who recently joined and those who aren't currently active.  We are seeing wonderful blessings with increasing numbers in each group every week.  This is bringing strength to the branches and wards and more are receiving the blessings of the temple. More on these three groups later.

Have a wonderful week.  Thanks for your love and prayers.