Zone Conference: Uniting with Leaders and Members

Last week was zone conference week! It’s alway a great week as we get to see every missionary in the mission. We gather from 10am to 3pm to provide training and to role play in building skills.

It’s been inspiring to watch these missionaries since last zone conference build their commitment to talk with everyone. As they talk with everyone, missionaries actually face more rejection because they are talking to more people. But even as they face more rejection, I’ve observed how they are happier because they are focused on their missionary purpose of inviting all to come unto Christ. This takes a lot of faith. It’s usually uncomfortable. It requires a lot of determination and effort. But we are seeing these wonderful missionaries lean into it with faith, and miracles are happening.

Here is an example of the determination of the missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. We could share dozens of examples of this kind of effort:

We continue to be inspired by these amazing missionaries.

The focus of this zone conference was “Unite with Members” and expanding our efforts to find. We love how the title of chapter 13 of Preach My Gospel changed from “How Do I Work with Stake and Ward Leaders?” to “Unite with Leaders and Members to Establish the Church.” That’s the goal…to UNITE! Preach My Gospel teaches us the following about “Unite with Members”:

“You are united with leaders and members by your love for God and His children.”

“Regularly ask yourself, ‘Am I a blessing to local leaders?’ Develop an attitude of ‘How can I help?'”

“Work with members of the church to find people to teach.”

“Like Ammon in the Book of Mormon, approach local leaders with an attitude of service.”

“Help members understand the remarkable blessings for sharing the gospel.”

“Relationships with members can bless you for the rest of your life.”

“You build trust with members as they feel the Spirit with you.”

“He will magnify your efforts to the degree you work in unity with local leaders and members.”

Sister Barlow used a powerful object lesson to teach about uniting with members. She had a sister come up and put on an orange University of Tennessee shirt and hat symbolizing the love we have for members. She then pinned different cards representing how we unite with them, including “Great people with enthusiasm!” “Pray for them in their homes.” “Be on time.” “Express thanks!” “Follow through.” “How can I help?” Here she is with Sister Jensen at the zone conference for Cumberland and Knoxville Zones:

We also did training and role plays focus on finding using Facebook, and are excited to learn to use this as another way to meet new people.

With each meeting, we had missionaries who shared some wonderful musical numbers.

We closed each meeting with singing “Love One Another”.

We also enjoyed time to have lunch together, and greatly appreciate the members who are always so generous to serve the missionaries by providing these lunches.

At the end, the Elders surprised President Barlow with a group hug. Not sure who organized all of that, but it was much appreciated.

As part of these meetings, we also held training for District Leaders. The focus of this training was how leaders can minister to the people they lead. Sister Chan and Sister Cunningham taught about the tools we have to help us understand the needs of missionaries. Elder Johnson taught about speaking directly, but with kindness and support. And Elder Criddle took us through some scenarios to discuss what to do.

Lastly, over the last two weeks, we’ve had the opportunity to participate in two “Zone Blitz”. We do these on Monday nights after preparation day where the missionaries in a zone all join together to find more people to teach in one area in the zone. These help jump start the teaching pools and build really strong camaraderie amongst the missionaries.

For the zone blitz in the Cleveland Zone, we met up in Hixson. What was powerful about this zone blitz is members of the Hixson Ward joined us to go out finding. I loved being out with Elder Clark that night and learned a lot from this great missionary.

This last Monday night we did a zone blitz with the Knoxville Zone. I had the opportunity to go out with Elder Buchholz and Elder Escobar, two really great Elders. We went to a park and literally talked with everyone!

#WhatsUpInTKM