Past Zone Conferences

Transfer Cycle #7 took place Monday, March 22 to Sunday May 2.

This transfer was a great blessing to the Chile Santiago East Mission.

We are calling it our "growing" cycle because we learned so much as a mission.

Zone Conferences were held on April 7th and 14th.

We were able to find and teach many people during this six-week cycle because through the earthquakes, the Lord caused many people to soften their hearts and come unto Him. We set many mission records for numbers of people in the chapel and other key indicators. We were able to talk with people who had refused to listen to the message of the restoration until they experienced the devastating effects of the earthquake.

Past Zone Conferences

We have gotten a little behind on posts with the blog because we have had so many wonderful works going on in the Mission that we have scarcely had time to write, but we are going to catch you up now.

Transfer cycle #6 went from Monday February 8 through Sunday, March 21.

We like to call this transfer cycle our "Earthquakes and Miracles" transfer because we experienced one of our greatest trials: the earthquake, and we also experienced some of our greatest miracles: many people coming unto Christ.

Our goals for the transfer cycle included: "Be prepared. Be Obedient. Be Organized." We started (as we always do) with a concilio de cambios (change meeting) where all missionaries who will receive a transfer, meet in a central chapel to receive instruction and learn with whom and in what area they will be serving for the next few weeks and/or months. For me, this was one of our most spiritual meetings ever. President Laycock spoke of our dear Elder McKay Burrows who had died while serving in his mission the week before. We discussed the need for all of us to be prepared in every way and introduced that we would be spending this transfer cycle getting prepared physically and spiritually. It was a very spiritual start to our transfer cycle. Our Zone Conferences focused on the need to be prepared.

After our second Zone Conference, we had all of our Sisters stay for a Sister Conference. We were able to answer their heartfelt questions and testify to them that the Lord cannot accomplish His purposes without the help of His sisters.

Our interviews also focused on being prepared, and President Laycock and I enjoyed visiting every missionary in his or her pension to inspect for physical and spiritual safety, and to share a spiritual message about the need to be prepared. Two days after the earthquake, we enjoyed a pre-scheduled, whole-mission Family Home Evening. We were able to discuss the earthquake and the miracles that we had experienced. On Sunday, March 7 we enjoyed a broadcast from Salt Lake City as our Stake Conference. President Monson and Elder Bednar spoke to us and encouraged us and expressed the Lord's love to us. What a perfect experience for us to receive their counsel right after the devastation of the earthquakes. The Lord knows and loves His Chilean children. We feel His love in all we do. We are hopeful that all of our missionaries wrote about these experiences in their journals. They have probably already shared their experiences with you. We continue to stress to them the importance of recording all of their mission experiences so that they can share them for the rest of their lives with their loved ones.

The many blessings we received during this transfer cycle are just too numerous to recount, but as a mission we know, and we will never forget that the Lord taught us in powerful ways, that "this life is the time to prepare to meet God." We will always remember the life-lessons that we learned during this transfer cycle in the Chile Santiago East Mission. We were blessed abundantly by what we learned, and we will continue throughout eternity to feel the ripples of the wonderful blessings we received.

Past Zone Conferences

We always love to get together to be fed spiritually and physically at Zone Conferences.

Flu Shots in the Mission...What a Blessing!

We are so blessed to have good health care in the Santiago East Mission. At the end of Zone Conference, our health care professionals brought flu shots (from the U.S.) for all who wanted them. Some of us were frightened, but we overcame our fears and received our vaccinations so that we can remain healthy and serve the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength!

Facing our Fears

Elder Sharp and Elder Kemp even administered some of our vaccinations. We are grateful for our health in the mission. Without our health, we cannot accomplish the Lord's work.