We said goodbye to these dear missionaries--Front: with Pres. & Sis. Eaton; Middle: Sisters Loeak, Ketchum, Davis, and Frischknecht; Back: Elders Clawson and Hisita. We welcomed Elder Clayburn and Sister Wilkinson!
Our theme for zone conference this month was Repent, and Teach Repentance, or “Bringing our lives in line with God’s will through repentance is a central purpose of our lives” (Preach My Gospel, 62).
During the morning we talked about the doctrine of repentance and in the afternoon we practiced how we could better teach it. Missionaries were asked to prepare a 3-minute talk on one of the following aspects of repentance:
Ø The role of the sacrament in repenting
Ø The role of repentance in developing Christ-like attributes
Ø Recognizing the need to repent more fully and regularly without getting overwhelmed
One of my favorite explanations of the role of repentance comes from Elder Oaks' talk at the January broadcast to all missionaries worldwide. He explained that there is more to dwelling in God's presence than simply being clean.
“When a person has gone through the repentance process, the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He also gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential for us to realize the purpose of the cleansing, which is to return to our Heavenly Father. To be admitted to His presence, we must be more than clean. We must also be changed from a morally weak person who has sinned into a strong person with the strength to resist sin and the spiritual stature to dwell in the presence of God. That is what it means to be saved.” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts)
1) Auburn Zone--Front: Sisters Whitney, Skousen, & Hammond, Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sisters Huhem, Souza, and Lucky; Back: Pres. Layman, Elders Richards, Beaudette, Willardsen, Chappell, Gonzalez, Brice, Miller, Mousser, Jiao, Capener, Riley & Pres. McKinney
2) Enumclaw Zone--Front: Pres. Layman, Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sisters Palmer, McGarity, and Lewis; Back: Elders Kidwell, Chance, Lloyd, Cabrera, Perkins, Odell, Noh, Kofford, Latimer, Payne, Cook, Elzey, & Pres. McKinney
3) Graham Zone--Front: Sisters Hunt, Parsons, Beazer, Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sisters Woolsey and Zavala; Back: Elders Hunt, Lee-Wen, Snook, Samuels, Downs, Oliva, Sirrine, McDowell, and Scheidell
4) Puyallup South Zone--Front: Pres. Layman, Sisters Heiner & Pope, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Sisters Lyman & Linker; Back: Elders Caputo, Samuelson, Jackson, Lappalainen, Miner, Pinckney, Willoughby, Jones, Allen, Cook, & Pres. McKinney
5) Puyallup Zone--Front: Pres. Layman, Sisters Westover & Cauley, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Sisters Gafa & Hollingsworth, and Pres. McKinney; Back:Elders Nelson, Anderton, Tripp, Wagstaff, Jensen, Czarnecki, Oliphant, Fenton, Anderson, & Kelley
6) Federal Way Zone--Front: Sisters Webb, Orr, & Northrup, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Sisters Erickson, Young, and Jorgensen; Middle: Elders Drake, Chugg, Wingle, Lowry, Sullivan, Rodarte, Jeong, Li, Moon, Snyder, and Pres. McKinney
7) Kent Zone--Back: Elders Draney, Ovard, Bakes, White, Nelson, Steiner, Knight, Thurgood, and Pres. Layman; Middle: Sisters Draney & Durham, Pres. McKinney, Elder Lewis, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Elders Clayburn, Palmer, and Zamora; Seated: Sisters Stewart, Eldridge, Herlin, Thurman, Peterson, Giles, Richardson, and Wright; Front: Elders Graham, Nelson, and Anderson
8)Renton Zone--Back: Elders Knowles, Mitton, Northrup, John, Rex, Boyack, Covington, Pres. Layman, and Elder Sanders; Middle: Pres. McKinney, Elder Sumsion, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Elders Williams and Hunter; Seated: Sisters Knowles, Chamberlain, Beck, Livingstone, McClellan, Bailey, Wilkinson, Pineda, and Yost; Front: Elders Christiansen, Richards, and Stucki
