Christmas Zone Conferences

On Thursday afternoon we drove out to BC to begin our Christmas zone conferences and to do their interviews. We've been having really great weather lately and it was nice to NOT drive in snow and ice like we usually do when we go out there. But the weather is changing and snow has come and freezing temps are on the way! Have to admit I was enjoying the unusually warmer weather.
The zone conference in BC is always a small, intimate one, with only 10 elders serving there, and 2 senior couples...but, it is always a great conference and the spirit was really strong. Our zone conference today had 3 zones, the Calgary Zone, Calgary West, and Calgary North. We made these zone conferences a little different in that we spent quite a bit of time focusing on the birth of the Savior and watching Christmas Mormon Messages that were very powerful. We had some wonderful musical numbers in the one today--our Mandarin missionaries sang a beautiful rendition of 'Away in a Manger', and our Spanish missionaries sang 'Oh Come All ye Faithful'. Then 4 of our sisters sang, 'Mary did you Know?' We also spent time talking about finding and teaching through our service and sharing experiences as we have been doing the #LighttheWorld initiative. After lunch we had a fun white elephant exchange in the cultural hall, where we had a lot of laughs as we passed gifts right, left, right, right, left and so on! We closed each conference with a testimony meeting--which in both instances was very touching. As I've said before, we wish everyone could listen in on a missionary testimony meeting and hear them share their feelings about the Savior. The spirit is so strong!
We love these missionaries and are so grateful for their testimonies and faith. We know it is hard work, and they face a lot of rejection--but they keep going and are so resilient. We are so grateful for their decision to serve and cherish our time to be involved in this great work with them.
Sunday evening we were able to attend the baptism of Sara Gundowry, who Elders Wolfe and Grinwis taught. It was such a sweet baptism. There is nothing more special than a baptism, especially of a new convert who is embracing the gospel for the first time. We really love it when we are able to attend these baptisms--we can't get to all of them, and many times our schedule doesn't allow us to go, but we love it when we can.