What a week it has been. This week we had interviews, zone conference, and of course general conference. First off in interviews president gave me some direction on how I can improve as a trainer and in general and he also cleared up a lot a few doctrinal questions I had. That's one of the things I love about President Bekker, he is able to be so spiritual and profound in only teaching the pure and simple doctrine of the gospel but at the same time if you have a legitimate concern about deep doctrine of the church he knows everything about that too. I see some missionaries that spend way too much time trying to learn the deep and confusing aspects of the gospel and in doing so lose sight of the simplicity of Christ's teachings. I have had to learn in my mission to not get distracted by the crazy stuff and while I have learned A TON on my mission compared to what I knew before I have more importantly learned the importance of plain and simple teachings.
Zone conference was also awesome, the theme this time was strengthening our own faith. I was one of the missionaries assigned to randomly give a talk and it went alright all things considered. I have come to realize that faith really is the basis of all that we do. It is the first point in the gospel of Jesus Christ and without it nothing else can be fully realized. Our prayers and sacrifices don't really mean much if we don't have the faith to know that they do what God says they will. Like Elder Hales's unread talk said yesterday "faith is what prepares us to meet God". We all start somewhere and that is faith.
Speaking of yesterday, we had an amazing General conference this time around. As usual it was incredibly early (Morning session at 6am, afternoon at 10am, priesthood at 2pm) but it was one of the best one's I can remember. Of course it was sad to not see President Monson there and pretty crazy timing for Elder Hales to have passed away but I know that this work is God's work and will go on regardless of the condition of His servants. Some talks that stuck out to me were President Henry B. Eyring's priesthood address on sustaining leaders in the church (even though we all have human weaknesses), Elder Tad R. Callister's talk on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon (there's a more detailed version of that given as a BYU devotional called The Book of Mormon: Man Made or God Given. Highly recommend) and Elder Anderson's talk on general conference as a whole and how it's counsel will lead and guide us. I feel so blessed to be lead today by real prophets who have the inspiration to know what the world does need and will need in the future. With everything going on in the world today (I saw a news broadcast this morning at the gym about the shooting in Las Vegas) it is beyond comfortable to know that we have people that make God's will and plan made known to us. I am even more grateful to know that God is infinite and has provided a perfect plan that allows us eternal happiness even if life takes an unexpected turn.
All in all things are going well in the Waipiolani ward. As far as the Elzinga's go we are planning to start only teaching the 9 year old son and less active father since they are the only ones actually showing the desire to act on what we tell them. Hopefully their example will allow their mother to better feel the spirit in the future but for now she is just holding back their progression. We did have another meeting with our 15 year old investigator Ikaika yesterday and we set him with a baptismal date of October 29th! He seemed game for it now we just have to hold him to his commitments to get there. Keep praying for them and for Francis, Felicia, Jenna, and the Davis Ohana. We are so close with these people we just need a little help from on high.
Love you all and remember to always heed the words of the prophets
Elder Smith
1. Extended version of the family pic. My dad Elder Zollinger with both of his sons (me and Elder Cabrito) and both of his grandsons (Elder Hayes and Elder Anderson)
2. Hon-West reunion, Elder Siaosi, Elder McOmber, Sister Kwak, Elder Campbell, and me
3. Elder Zollinger with 4 of his companions (Elder VanShaar, Elder Klaassen, me, and Elder Wood)
4. Ballin'
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