January Zone Conferences!

Zone conferences are always a wonderful time. I missed the first two this round, however. The first one was held in Chisinau, Moldova, and because Joshua does not have an extended stay visa, and his new Romanian passport had not arrived, we were not able to take him out of the country. President Lundberg said he wished I could have been there, however, for all that happened that weekend. A district was formed in Moldova that included the three branches: Chisinau, Orhei, and Iasi. President Vârlan, former branch president of the Chisinau Branch, was made District President. Elder Wondra, an area seventy from Germany, was there for the wonderful occasion. Zone conference was also held on Saturday, the day before the district formation.

The next zone conference was held in Bucharest. However, Joshua came home from school the night before saying he didn't feel well. The next morning, he had a fairly high fever. We both stayed in that day and spent time together. President Lundberg said the zone conference went well.

I did make it to the third zone conference, which was held in Bucharest as well. Joshua and I both went to the fourth zone conference, traveling through the night by train. We had our first experience on the vagon de dormit (sleeping wagon.) It was lots of fun. Joshua slept on the top bunk, and I was below him. I woke up several times during the night, and could hear the wind outside and see Joshua's blanket slipping further and further off his bed and down towards me. However, he slept great through the night and we were picked up early the next morning by "Dad" and the assistants in Timisoara. We then made the hour drive by car to Arad where the conference was held.

Our final zone conference was held in Brasov, where two zones combined. That will be a later post!

Joshua wakes up on his top bunk on the "sleeper train."

Joshua accompanied Elder Campbell and Elder Frandsen to do some missionary work in Arad. They immediately found a man on the street who took a Book of Mormon and said he would bring his wife to church on Sunday.

Missionaries prepare to head back to work after zone conference in Arad.

L-r: Elder Taylor, Elder Smith, Elder Bailey, Elder Anderson, Elder Platt, Elder Frandsen, Elder Ward, and Elder Jensen, with Joshua in front.

Companions, Sora Kiss-Maxim and Sora Gibbons, pose with Elder Divis.

Elder Cantlon, Sora Hanson, Elder Burrows, Elder Miles, Elder Zemp, and Elder Ellsworth at the completion of a great zone conference.

Elder Nightingale, Elder Richey, and Elder Andersen attend a Bucharest zone conference.

Elder Fromm, Sora Poulsen, and Sora Kimball enjoy time together at zone conference.

Elder Johnson, Elder Morgan, and Elder Burrows are missionaries serving in Piteşti.

Sora Poulsen, Sora Kimball, Elder Nightingale, and Elder Richey presented a beautiful musical number. I didn't know they all had such great voices! It was wonderful.

Elder McBride (center) just said something funny, I'm sure. He always does! Elder Ritz (l) and Elder Woodard (r) listen in! All our missionaries are great!