Our quarterly Zone Conferences began this week and our first adventure with car inspections. Even though it is now considered to be autumn, the heat was in full force and we found that we are not accustomed to spending several hours in the sun, even with our hats on. There were three this week and the remaining two will be next week. Each zone is comprised of two stakes.
Checking the engine fluids under the bonnet. How is the air pressure and general shapes of the tyres? Is the car spic and span, inside and out (some didn't seem to care that their car was being checked!), is there a bike rack, bike support bar and a bike plate? If a vehicle has a bike rack attached to the bumper and the license plate is covered, by law we are required to add a bike plate with the same number as the larger plate. There is a fine of $91 should a police officer decide to enforce the law.
After finishing the car inspections, Sister Henderson asked us to run a Preach My Gospel Jeopardy game with the missionaries at lunch. In order to determine which Zone would begin, Arlo starts reading in the Book of Mormon and the first to find and begin reading along gets first crack at the categories. It is amazing that at least a handful were able to find the spot. Since Arlo uses the I-Pad and not the physical scriptures, they can't even get a feel for what part he might be reading by looking at where the book was opened (a little, part way or closer to the end)!
One missionary from each zone competed in the tiebreaker question. First one to get to the front of the room and ring the bell, plus answer correctly was the winner. Really we were trying to get them to jump up and stretch - get the blood moving, before beginning the afternoon trainings.
Brisbane (our zone) and Cleveland Zones at the start of inspiring and invigorating training in the Camp Hill ward building. For the first quarter Zone Conferences, the missionaries are being able to view the Meet the Mormons movie, which we have so enjoyed. The tallest elder (dark suit) is from Johannesburg, South Africa and he was thrilled to see his home area (Johannesburg Missionary Training Center) on the big screen.
Friday morning, we drove down to the Gold Coast (about an hours drive) and met Elder Low and his companions at the Police Station where he had his fingerprints taken, we paid and then took the prints back with us to the office. This was the last piece required to send off to Singapore, by the way of UPS OverNight, for the police clearance needed for the Australian visa extension. Our camera battery died before we could snap a picture of the three Mandarin Chinese speaking, bike riding companions, but we did get one of a police car sitting in the parking lot.
Late Friday afternoon, we went to the Brisbane Temple with Sisters Arseneau and Parsons, plus Elder and Sister Hansen to participate in a sealing session for family members of Sister Arseneau. The temple was a beehive of activity that night and later we learned that 268 sealing ordinances had been completed, which was a record for one evening. It was lovely to be in the temple with missionaries we have come to know well. As we walked past the baptistry, our thoughts went back to St. George and our service there.
Our mission is bringing us great joy and blessings, that hopefully are extending to our family and friends. The gospel is true and we love to share.
Our mission is bringing us great joy and blessings, that hopefully are extending to our family and friends. The gospel is true and we love to share.
Glad to see that Arlo is earning his keep by inspecting the mission cars…hope he had some help and did not do it all by himself. It is not hard but it is boring. I agree about how some missionaries just do not care if their cars are a mess - inside and out - even when they know they will be inspected. I always want to say OK fine - then you can spend the rest of the transfer on bikes or walking. Then maybe you will have some respect for your car.
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