I know this is a day late, but we had a Zone Conference yesterday that took all day, so our p-day was moved to today (Tuesday) : ) speaking of the Zone Conference - it was awesome! It was held in South Royalton, VT in the chapel at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial, and Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy (he spoke in the last session of the last Gen. Conf.) and his wife came to tour our mission. It was a great day of learning and we spent a lot of time working with Elder Nash on solving/overcoming the issues that impede the progress of the work here in our mission - it was sweet! He even held a leadership meeting with us afterwards to learn how to continues teaching the principles we learned and keep them alive in the mission.
He was tons of help and we all truly appreciated his visit and assistance. As for me, I was blessed with being spontaneously called upon during the opening session of the conference to speak for a few minutes on How to Teach with Power. It was a bit nerve-racking, but I simply drew from the scriptures, Preach My Gospel, my own experience, and anything I felt directed by the Spirit to say. Although I was worried I didn't deliver the best message, the comforting words of a job well done, that came from Elder Nash and President Wilkey, were quite reassuring, and as I realized that this would be my last Zone Conference, I felt pleased that I had done my best to inspire so many missionaries for the last time in such a setting. :)
Well, last week was quite jumbled up with our Zone Meeting, Zone Leader Council, exchanges with the Assistants, painting our apartment, etc., but it was amazing to feel the strength I received, from all those of you who have included me in your fasting and prayers, carrying me through each day. Each day we were still able to find success and progress with lessons and such. Several times I found myself pondering about how it was even possible, and I felt, and sincerely believe, that I was strengthened by the Spirit according to the prayers and faith of each of you supporting me - and that made last week so special to me. Thank you, to each of you who have supported me in such ways.
I am happy to report that we had excellent success, especially in the end of the week with 7 investigators at church! 4 of them were one family that we had been inviting for over a month and a simple stop-by visit the night before with our 1st Counselor made all the difference. And another was one of our new investigators from last week, who had formerly been investigating, and had told us she would not commit to any Sunday because she likes to surprise people, and sure enough we were quite surprised this last week! : ) So it overall was a great week with great work, learning, and success - and it definitely has given me much to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving season : )
From New England with Love,
Elder Dustin Carr
