Spiritual Feast

Oct 4, 2011

Hey Family,

I'm really happy about this week! What a blessing it's has been for me to grow in the gospel. A major part of that was General Conference, and another was ZLC. It's been a really good week! Time is just going way too fast.

What a powerful weekend it was with conference! We were able to watch it at the stake center in Rochester for all 4 sessions. It was a blessing to say the least. It sure makes a difference when you prepare spiritually for conference. My favorite talk would have to be Richard G Scott. His testimony of the scriptures helped me a lot. I've been able to see the impact of the scriptures and what they can do is remarkable. I’ll never go back to my normal life of lame 10 minute scriptures studies.

Because missionaries are so close with the spirit, we have a unique perspective with the things that our leaders are saying. We can see the blessings clearer than most and that's because we've lived and experienced the gospel challenge for ourselves. Elder Anderson’s talk was a tender mercy. One because it talked about a sensitive subject that our family has been through (having another child), plus it was really appropriate that out of all the general authorities to give the talk, it was Elder Anderson. What a tender mercy!

Some of our investigators came to conference, Amy and Nick. Amy commented at the very end of the session that she felt that Elder Cook’s message was true. Out of all of the messages, she liked Elder Cook’s the best. How cool is that? It's neat to see the Lord prepare the hearts of his investigators. Elder Cook is coming to our stake conference in two weeks and I'm way excited for that spiritual feast. I also loved the Priesthood session. Whoa, talk about super missionary minded! I thought it talked a lot about preparation of the priesthood and becoming more spiritually self reliant.

Zone Leader Conference was really nice. We left Rochester right after conference, and it took us close to 2 hours to get there. Areas that are far from the mission home arrive the night before for convenience. We then had interviews with President Clements. I know this man has been called of God and he truly receives revelation for this mission! We were up late helping the assistants. Other Zone leaders from far areas spent the night as well helping the assistants prepare for ZLC the following morning.

The next morning, we had our usual morning breakfast with the Clements family and they're pretty good at feeding 18 elders! (Every zone leader companionship eats breakfast.) After breakfast was meeting time! We learned a lot about creative finding, social media, Family History, and service. President Clements also told us to have more confidence in our message and be a little more bold in our contacts and extending commitments. I wish i could go more in depth but i don't have a lot of time.

Sorry this is short! We're going to help a less active member milk some cows on his farm, and then the assistants are coming into town tonight to exchange! Love you all!

Elder Browning