And the Devotionals "just keep on coming!"

Each morning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays, we have a zone prayer meeting from 8:40-8:55.  We are so blessed to hear amazing stories and sweet testimonies as members of our zone and others present a short 7-10 minute message.  This past week was no different- Tuesday, Sister Debra Dixon (who is also one of our new assistant zone leaders) spoke about the mission scripture of the month which is Abraham 1:2 and spoke about the blessings of the fathers and the importance of being covenant makers and keepers. Skipping to Thursday, Elder Craig Barrus shared a photo and a story about the old "white house" the first home of Brigham Young in the Salt Lake Valley.  His story illustrated the truth-- to know the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" and talked about how important that was in life and in the history.

On Wednesday, we had a special guest speaker, Matt Heiss, who serves as a manager over the Europe/Middle East/Africa area of the Church.  About 25 missionaries in our zone serve under him in a variety of capacities.  He shared three stories along with photos about miracles which have been recorded in the Church History Library Catalog.  I wish that you could all have seen the photos and heard the stories.  I can't do them justice.  I will give a shorten version:

1.  A photo of a small tailor shop in Congo.  The tailor, David, is totally blind and sews on a treadle sewing machine and makes mostly beautiful women's dresses.  Customers select the design from pictures on his shop wall, choose a fabric from his selection, and he sews it for them.  He and his wife are saving to go to the temple to be sealed together with their children.  Matt has a child's dress made by David hanging in his office.

2.  A photo of a muddy river in Papua New Guinea.

A picture of a river in Papua New Guinea (not his picture)

Picture this:  Far up on the shore are a line of people dressed in their Sunday clothes,  then a long muddy bank, and in the water are two missionaries preparing to baptize two men.  Along the shore at the edge of the water there are several men with long sticks and rakes.  Their job was to beat the alligators and keep them away from the men in the water.  Matt said that they could only baptize in the river at certain times when the river was lower because otherwise it was too fast and too deep to be safe.  As a result, they had to walk through mud up to their knees to get to the water and then back up the bank to be confirmed.  He showed a few other pictures from this moment including one of the men being confirmed in his wet muddy clothes after hiking out of the river.  One photo I loved showed a missionary in a small local canoe in the river in his missionary clothes witnessing and making a record of these baptisms.  The feeling of this sacred event was powerful as Matt told the story even through the setting was like none that we had ever experienced.

3.  A photo of the Kyai Ukraine Temple under construction and then a photo after a micro burst came through and damaged the stake center next door but leaving the temple virtually untouched except a few pieces of scaffolding bent.

These moments in the morning are such a great way to start the day and also helps us get to know and love our missionaries better.  I will truly miss these meetings when our mission comes to an end.