Zone conference

October 29, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,
Well hello!! I hope that you are all doing wonderful. Today we were able to go to the temple, and so our Pday was today.

I don't how to explain what has been happening here since last Monday, but I will try to help you get a little bit of a feel for what has been going on. 

So on Tuesday last week, we had our first zone conference, with the Atsubetsu Zone. (One of the two Sapporo zone's, Toyohira is in that zone which is where worked for 9 months.) It was cool to see all that we had really planned and worked on come together and happen. President McClure is having us do quite a bit during this round of Zone Conferences, and so there was a lot of pressure, but I do well with pressure, and so despite the stress it was really fun.

Rundown of Zone Conference:                                                                                                                        

1. New Culture of Obedience. (President McClure) All mission rules went away, and we just need to rely on the Spirit, follow the Missionary handbook, and desire to do the right thing. In the church we gain obedience by teaching freedom. We are now giving Freedom to missionaries, and they can choose to be obedient and to follow God, and to what degree, on their own. I have learned a lot from President McClure about this, and I have really gained a testimony of the importance of honoring people's agency. But of course missionaries can also use their agency in a way that will wind up in them also having made the decision to go home. But it will have been them that chose it. President McClure does not send missionaries home. Missionaries send themselves home. 

2. New Chapter for PMG with a new Planning process. (Elder Takamasa and I were in charge of this part.) 

This new chapter of Preach my Gospel has a truly inspired process that has changed the way that I will plan and approach problems and solutions for the rest of my life. 

Planning process: (The beauty of this planning process is that it is carried out for each individual, one person at a time.)

1 Pray for and seek inspiration

Brigham Young taught, "Your spiritual life can never exceed the strength of your prayer life." This principle has proven true to me time and time again. I have decided that a companionship's ability to receive revelation, work in unity, and have the spirit, can also be very reliant upon how they are praying. Prayers should be focused on something, specific, and answerable. We can recognize if our prayers are effective if we can see how a prayer was answered. So in the planning process our prayers are directed towards receiving inspiration about an individual, and about what they need, these prayers are probably not very long. 

2 Review Progress

In this new chapter it has example questions that serve as a guide for us in directing out we would review progress, set goals, and make plans. 

Review Progress:

◦How has this investigator’s faith in the Savior grown this week? Is he or she developing “faith unto repentance” (Alma 34:15)? If not, why? 

◦Is [name] preparing for baptism and confirmation on a specific date? Is there anything keeping him or her from progressing toward that goal? 

◦How are members, including the ward council, helping? If they are not, how can we encourage them to help? 

◦Did [name] attend church this week? If not, why? 

◦Is he or she praying daily? If not, why? 

◦Is he or she reading the Book of Mormon every day? If not, why? 

◦Is [name] keeping other commitments we have invited him or her to keep? If not, why? ◦Did we ask [name] about friends or family who might be interested in and benefit from our message? If not, when will we do that?

As we talk about some of these questions as a companionship will find a need and then we can make a goal that will meet the need that has been given to us through inspired conversation. 

Then you work through these next 3 steps and that is how you can plan in a way that you will receive inspiration, and really help people to progress and come unto Christ. 

3 Set Goals

4 Make Plans

5 Pray Again

^^see "how do I fulfill my purpose" a new planning chapter for PMG, replacing the old chapter 8. 

President McClure prophesied that this new way of planning if carried out diligently, will change our mission, and will bring the blessings and miracles that are promised, to Hokkaido. 

3. The first vision- in a contact being able to share Joseph smiths experience and a tiny bit of background, and your testimony in 1-2 minutes. We gave demonstrations of these, and asked them to prepare, and then had 2 of them share what kind of thing they had come up with to share. It was so powerful. Every time it came to Joseph Smith's words, the spirit really became so strong, and every time you could feel the power in what was being shared. I know that Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration. When Joseph Smith went into the Sacred Grove, I know that he really did meet Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

4. Online Proselyting. We gave everyone in the mission permission to start using Facebook and line. We talked about some of the precautions, passed out the new pages to the missionary handbook regarding social media and technology use, answered some questions and testified of the trust that God has in us, and of the importance that we honor that trust. 

5. President's closing thoughts. 

It has been such a wonderful experience to be doing these Zone conferences. It is also a really fun challenge for Elder Takamasa and I, and usually someone in the zone, for when we are presenting, to translate these meetings from English to Japanese for the Japanese Elders and Sisters. I am convinced that there is nothing that takes more brainpower/mental capacity than translating in live time. 

So that is is the rundown for Zone conference. Now I am going to send another email about what has happened in between and throughout these two weeks as zone conference has taken place. 

Thank you for reading my long letter, and if you didn't that is totally okay too!!!! I love you! 

コノバー長老
Elder Conover