Zone Conference January 2024

We held another wonderful round of zone conferences the week of January 22nd. There were a few important areas of focus for this zone conference:

• Get passionate about our Missionary Purpose
• Unite with members to find people to teach
• How to build trust with members

Sister Barlow shared a great message about our missionary purpose and encouraged all of us to think about this purpose more and connect everything we do back to our purpose.

She gave us each a little clip to put somewhere on our clothes each day so when we see it, we focus our missionary purpose and that influences more of our thoughts and actions.

We also memorized 3 Nephi 5:13, with some personalized modifications:

Missionaries were invited to begin every meeting with reciting their missionary purpose together, and to say it together as a companionship, along with 3 Nephi 5:13, as they head out the door each morning.

We talked about how Preach My Gospel teaches us that in order to find through members, we have to work hard to earn their trust, and reviewed the different ways Preach My Gospel teaches us to build trust with others:

• “As you live with integrity, you will have inner peace and self-respect. The Lord and others will trust you.”
• “One of the greatest things you can do to gain people’s trust and love is to respect and embrace their culture in appropriate ways.”
• “Strengthening members’ understanding of the gospel will increase their trust in you and build their excitement to share it.”
• “One way to earn trust is when people feel the Spirit with you.”
• “Create a relationship of trust by being honest with them, maintaining an appropriate missionary relationship, and showing respect.”
• “Build trust and genuine friendships with local leaders and members…When you visit, do so with a purpose. Show that you are anxiously engaged in the work of finding and teaching. Respect their time and schedule.”

To further build trust with members, all missionaries accepted the assignment to be sacrament meeting greeters. The committed to learn member’s names and greet them by name, greet them with enthusiasm, and to extend a warm welcome to everyone who enters the building for sacrament meeting.

In the afternoon, we had three workshops to build our skills:

• Creating M&M Moments: improving lessons with members
• Ministering assignments for all missionaries
• Improving weekly missionary coordination meeting

We concluded with thinking about planning and our desires to set goals and make plans, but also to be more willing to do the things we have committed to do, and to be disciplined about doing them consistently. “Will you be disciplined enough to follow through even when you don’t feel like it? What will you stick with even on your worst days?” We are striving as a mission to increase our diligence as an expression of our love for the Lord.

January 23rd: Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Cookeville Zones in Hixson

January 24th: Cumberland and Knoxville Zones in Lakeway

January 25th: Asheville and Kingsport Zones in Arden

It was a cold and very wet week for zone conferences. Want yet another example of our mission focusing on being GRITTY?! Check out Elder Jentzsch ready to go with vehicle inspections out in Arden, North Carolina. We love Elder Jentzsch!