Zone conference

Every six weeks we have a zone conference where we receive training on how to be better missionaries.  We are part of the Napoli Zone, and so we meet in the Pozzuoili building. It takes us about 1 1/2 hours to drive there unless it's really bad traffic, and then it takes two hours.   Pozzuoili  is a beautiful seaport city, right next to Napoli (Naples).  The church building has a beautiful view over the bay, as well as it is pretty centrally located for our other districts.  

This picture is of our Battipaglia missionaries from our last zone conference before we switched up missionaries.  I forgot to get a picture today.  Actually I didn't forget, I just chose not to go out in the heat today to take pictures. I stayed in the aircondioned church.  It was a scorcher today, and so humid.

Anyway, we had a great zone conference.  President and Sister Waddoups came, along with a new office couple, the Millets.  We just found out that our past stake president from the 

Valley View Stake, in Salt Lake,  President Stephens and his wife will be arriving in the next few weeks to take the Steuers place  in the office.  So that will be fun to see them again.  Eric Mica, from the BYU basketball team, will also be arriving in our mission, within the month.

There is another new couple in our zone, who are serving in Casserta, as military liaison missionaries.  Their names are the Sessions.  It was fun to discover that they are very good friends with Linda and Greg Scadden from when they both lived in Fredricksburg Virginia, before we knew the Scaddens in North Carolina.  They are a delightful couple and we will really enjoy getting to know them.  They introduced themselves to all the missionaries.  Brother Sessions said this was his fourth mission.  He said that when he was young, he was going off the deep end, away from the church, when he was in a very bad automobile accident.  As he was pinned under the car, he said he prayed real hard and promised that he would straighten up and serve The Lord the best he could, if his life was spared. At that moment he said, is when he "came to Jesus", as they say.  He has tried to do what Christ would have him do ever since then.  He is a few years older than Paul.

                They will be a wonderful addition to the work here in Southern Italy.  

At the end of every conference, we sing our mission song.  Everyone has arms around each other and they sing with all their might.  I videoed them today.  I don't know how to post a video on my blog, but  I did get a small blurb on my Instagram, which is under... geriwith8kuds.  (I did a typo when I set up my Instagram, so it has stayed geriwith8kuds.  I laugh every time I see that!)

We had a good lunch all together.  Usually we have pizza, but we had American sub sandwhiches today, which were tasty.  One of the sister missionaries made a really good chocolate cake with a peanut butter, cream cheese frosting on top, that was really good.  There are far too many good things to eat here.

We made it home safe and sound in time to go teach English at 7.