Week 53 General Authorities Preaching the Word

So this week was pretty awesome. We got to spend a lot of our time with General Authorities so that was sweet!! We were the bag boys for the trip but hey, it could be worse.  They were both great and I'll tell you a little bit more about it:  

Tuesday 

We drove out to Harrisburg (215 miles or so) to begin our zone conferences with Elder Perkins from the 70! It was a long trek but we made the best of it! That night we met with the Perkins and the Johnsons at their hotel! That was a little intimidating. Here we have a member of the 70 and our mission president and they're asking us questions... I just didn't want to put my foot in my mouth! Elder Perkins is super kind and it went really well! 

Wednesday 

We began day one of our zone conferences in Harrisburg with the three eastern zones of the mission! It was awesome! We had Elder Meurs who is also from the 70 give great trainings along with President and Elder Perkins. Elder Meurs was just barely called to the 70 and he's from Australia! That accent is the best! Everything taught  was just solid. No other way to put it! A lot of questions were answered and we really focused on how we can be better at finding people to teach! We have struggled with that as a mission and it was awesome to review it! I think we all left that meeting inspired and ready to go! 

Thursday 

Round 2 of zone conferences and it was super different than Wednesday! They told some amazing faith building stories and I loved it! I feel like every general authority has amazing stories about the Apostles and their testimonies! There is just no doubt as they speak that they are servants of the Lord! It was one of those days where I just feel like I need to go knock every door! It was the equivalent of just getting pumped UP for a big game. Pretty sweet. I love how simple they are as well. They just say it how it is! Kind of like if you want to stay active you need to read, pray, and go to church! All the stuff we teach investigators we need to be doing ourselves! 

Friday

This was the last day of meetings! We had MLC with the same crew and it was fantastic. We really got down to what we can do to make the mission better! We got some solid action plans in place and I think we are going to be better moving forward! The highlight of the day for me was getting interviewed by Elder Perkins. He gave some solid counsel and advice and he's an amazing guy! We even talked a little golf so that was sweet. The leaders of the church are inspired men! 

Saturday 

Went to a baptism for the ward and it was great! Lots of little kids and ward members there to support! We had invited a few part member families to come and no one showed...  We met a new less active guy named Bro. Skaggs and he's pretty awesome! Doesn't see a need for church but we can change that! He reads the Book of Mormon so we need to capitalize on that for sure! 

Sunday 

Good day at church with maybe my favorite Elders quorum meeting of all time. Everyone was in a good mood and it all went well! We sat by a Spanish speaking couple at church and I got to talk to them for a bit! She said that she has a hard time coming to church because she doesn't really understand much. She felt the spirit telling her to come and she decided to do so! She sat by us and felt the spirit telling her to ask if I spoke Spanish! She never did and so after the meeting I found her and started talking! She was grateful to have someone to talk to and it was sweeet! Helps me know that we always have to follow those promptings! 

Random thoughts 

• I almost called one of Pennsylvania's many hills a mountain. Coming from Utah that's almost blasphemy. 
• Elder Bednar plays golf every Monday morning at 8:00. Talk about a man who knows what's going on. 
• Elder Liston is selling everything short of his kidney before he goes home. Gotta make some money I guess. 

Well, the year mark has come and gone and college football is around the corner. It's been crazy to reflect on how far I've come and how much I still need to improve. I hope to make this next year one of increased hard work and dedication! Big thanks to all of you who support me in this great work! Also want to thank all those who took pictures with that half way paper! I could sense that Momma had a big part in that so thanks for doing what she said.  

Take care everybody! 

The honorary bag boy, 

Elder Halls
Pictures: Half the mission; Elder and Sister Perkins and Elder and Sister Meurs; The other half of the mission; MLC in Pittsburgh with the General Authorities; Dylan from my last area (Williamsport) was baptized on Saturday!