Anyway this last week has been a really quite amazing one. I think it marks the week that will really change my life forever. We are in full mode of zone conference and they are so good. We have finally got the hang of things and we are all doing and giving great presentations. After our first one went not so good, we sat down and changed everything so that we all could present better. President gave us some great tips on how we can do out part better and everyone loves it. We have everyone laughing, crying, angry, and almost dying, ha just kidding, but really I am quite impressed with how well we teach it. Elder Walker and I are in charge of teaching the missionaries how to have lessons where you teach the people and not the lessons so much. So what we do is teach them the doctrine, and then we recorded a lesson of us teaching a family in our area. We just did everything wrong in that lesson and it is pretty funny. Then we show them a Jeffrey R. Holland video, and then we have them do a practice. We just mainly have them focus on listening to the Spirit more and focusing on having a true love of Christ. When we develop that love, we are able to help the investigators so much more. We talk a little about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how because of that, how Jesus knows who we are and how to help us. I then taught how we are not too different. We have all sinned in a similar way, but we know how we can become happy. We always say it is the gospel that makes us happy and that it is the church that makes us even happier. I firmly believe though that it is the atonement of Jesus Christ. When we repent of our sins we can feel a peaceful feeling come back into our lives, and there are no secrets. Secrets truly do not make friends and they keep us from progressing here on this earth. Going to church just gives us the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and be forgiven of our sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ. A lot of the time we focus on the other things that give the people happiness but that is what it is. People don’t feel worthy to be in the church that is why they don’t come. So helping people come unto Christ and realizing what He truly has done for them, we can really help them. I have a firm testimony of this mom. I have felt His atoning sacrifice a lot these past 2 years in the mission, and especially this last week. To close the zone conference President gives a presentation on 'will a man rob God?' It was an amazing presentation and impossible to sit through there if someone is impure of the heart, and unclean in the hands. He started by putting up the scripture from Doctrine and Covenants section 4 and he talked about how we are to serve with all our heart might mind and strength. Then he says if we do that we will appear without guilt before God in the last days. Then he put up the scripture in malachais. Then he said, "how is it that missionaries can rob God?" So he began to teach us how it is so, he went through each of those 4 categories, and explained in detail. At the end he explained his function as a mission president and what he is there for. Then he told us how he was set apart by Elder Christofferson as a judge in Israel. He then called every missionary to repentance and ended the meeting and went outside in a room and waited for missionaries to come and talk to him. I will not disclose how many are going to go and talk to him, but it is a good majority. It is amazing. People are going in there and coming out with just such a light on their faces. I went and talked to him about some things as well and we were talking and he told me something that was really neat. It is too personal to share though but all I can say is that I felt like a 50 pound weight that was on my back was just removed. The atonement is so amazing and we should all constantly apply it to our lives. We must pray day and night for forgiveness from our Lord. We must use it always and strive to be worthy to one day return to our Master, and give Him our account and have Him tell us, “well done thou good and faithful servant, thou may enter into My kingdom and partake of thy blessings.” That is what I desire so much.
Anyway other than that we have not had time for our own area, and we are missing it so much. We have been so busy, from the moment we wake up, we shower and then we leave the house by 7 to get to the church at 8. Then we start the conference at about 9 am and finish around 3 pm. We then go and do the things we need to do to prepare for the next day, go to the next church that night to prepare it, and then we get home around 10. Once home we go and do the work we need to do for the rest of the mission, make calls, and usually go to bed by about 11. It is exhausting, but we are halfway through it. We only have this week left. After this week of conference though I will be visiting my last areas to say good bye one last time, and then it will be time to start preparing the house for Eric to come. I am so excited for him to come down here and be with us for a couple days. Then after that I will be home once again. So weird. Well, I sure do love you mom. I hope you are having a good time and doing well in everything. Promise to have some better stories for you next week. With love, Elder Shipley
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