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It takes an army of senior missionaries to feed an army of young appetites!
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What is a Zone Conference? It's a chance for missionaries to plug into the energy and love of God and re-charge their spiritual batteries. Two weeks after transfers, when missionaries possibly got a new companion, they sit at the feet of their mission president and other leaders and learn how to work with other missionaries in their zone. They also enjoy a good meal and connecting with former companions and other friends. Missionaries face lots of rejection and work hard to be obedient: you might say that zone conference is where the Army of Israel gets its marching orders. I didn't take pictures because their meetings are spiritual and it wouldn't have been reverent. Also, I was busy elsewhere.
Senior missionaries play big roles in the background: at the Washington DC North Mission conferences this past week, senior elders inspected cars to ensure the safety of young missionaries and to help them learn how to care for vehicles, and senior sisters made a delicious meal celebrating a "Chinese New Year" theme. We also had a senior zone conference where we heard inspiring messages, with an excellent potluck meal afterward.
Sister Young Irvine has been cooking missionary meals for four and a half years as a service missionary. For this zone conference, Sister Irvine made chicken teriyaki, sushi, curry, fried and sticky rice, and other Oriental dishes for three days' worth of meals, feeding 155 people. She has gotten up between 1 and 3 a.m. on zone conference days, all these years, to make sure the food is fresh and delicious. The missionaries gave her a well-deserved standing ovation!
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| Fantastic senior elders, from a team of 12, who did 80 car inspections over three days. |
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| Sister Clarke hugs Sister Irvine, our meal-making service missionary. |
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| The kitchen is the funnest place for young and senior missionaries. |
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| US! |
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| Debbie and two office sidekicks, Sisters Workman and Connell. |
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| Senior potluck at Annapolis. |
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| On the way home, the Washington DC Temple shines above the 495 Beltway, a reminder that our goal is to eventually "go home to God." |
In other news. . . . something strange is going on. . .
It’s not difficult to take our trash out—we walk to a large trash compacting shed, use our Super Strength to open the door, toss the bag in, push it down a conveyor belt with a plastic pole, hold our noses, and push a button. But when—in the midst of this work—you hear barking, womanish shrieks in nearby trees, lasting thirty seconds, it’s unsettling.
I was pretty sure it was a fox—we’ve seen lone foxes several times. Another of our blog posts shows a video of deer in the belt of trees by our parking lot, and we’d seen a herd of six just the day before. I assumed that hungry foxes were chasing deer, but it turns out that January is fox mating season. Garbage duty won’t be as fun when we go home to Nampa in March.
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