Learning Together With The Other Senior Missionaries

There are times in life when you sit in a meeting and look around and say, how do we get invited to be part of such a wonderful group of people.  That is exactly how it felt today as we gathered for a day long session of learning at the Cambodian Service Center with the other Senior Missionaries.

The agenda originally said that we would start at 8:00 a.m., but last night that was changed to 8:30 a.m.  It did not take long for them to say do not worry about the times on the agenda, we will get through what we need to, when we need to.  President Christensen gave us a state of the mission report, sharing baptisms this year compared to previous years.  The peak year for baptism was 2013, but the Church is really focused on retention.  We want to baptize those who are ready, that have faith, that understand repentance and that are willing to make and keep covenants.  There was a period in the past where people were baptized because of what the Church gave them, that day is far gone

We got to learn a little about each couple's current assignment and what they do during the day.  That was intended to be about ten to fifteen minutes per couple but turned into a lot more with questions and comments.  It was good to understand what our fellow Senior Couples are doing.

We went to a wonderful lunch at a near by restaurant that we just walked to.

A favorite part of the conference was reviewing some talks given at the recent Mission President Training by Elder Holland, Elder Oaks, Elder Anderson and Elder Nelson.  They spoke about retention and that one of the problems is that the investigators had fully understood repentance and the true change that it has to be.  This is very profound and important.

We finished the day with dinner at the Titanic Restaurant.  We usually end up with "take away" or leftovers, but we did not tonight.  Now we both feel like we ate to much.  No weight check for a few days or we are sure to be up right now.