OEM Zone Conference and Two Wards (06/30/2014)

Hello Mumzy!
So, on to the week of Zone Conference, and a bunch of other exciting things last week.
The week started out with Sister West and I getting news that we are now in charge of two wards! In addition to the Eugene 3rd Ward, we now take care of the Eugene 1st Ward. It's definitely been an exciting (and tiring) experience. Our first Sunday with both wards was a crazy, hectic day. We got up at 5:45/6'ish in the morning to go to Eugene 1st's ward council, then to Eugene 1st's Sacrament meeting at 9am, then Eugene 3rd's ward council at 10am, then Eugene 3rd's Sacrament meeting at 11:30am, missionary correlation for Eugene 1st at 12pm, and then back to the end of classes in Eugene 3rd Ward :)   Yep, that's our Sundays when ward councils overlap :)   Eugene 1st Ward has a new Bishopric, so we are all learning how to make the ward better together :)
Yep, the Eugene 1st Ward is the ward that the Mission President and the AP's are in, so we now get to see them every Sunday. The Eugene 1st Ward is much smaller than the Eugene 3rd Ward. We've still been trying to get the balance right between both of the wards. We have separate records/books for each ward, so it's pretty easy keeping track.
Zone Conference that next Tuesday was pretty great, No, it was awesome! Seriously the best ever, and rightly so, since it was President and Sister Young's last. They will be leaving June 28th and President Russell will be coming in. He'll do a quick 1 hour meeting with President Young and then he will completely step in as the new Mission President. Today we all wrote letters to President Young (as we do every P-Day). They are going to print them and put them in a journal to keep because they want to remember every one of their "Youngsters"

Oregon Eugene Mission Zone Conference - Eugene Zone - June 17, 2014

At Zone Conference, we learned how to make use of the Family Proclamation at doorsteps. I love the Family Proclamation! It is seriously a wealth of spiritual knowledge and standards. If anyone wanted to know about our church they could read the family Proclamation and it'd be almost all they'd need to know. Then you just add in the 3 lesson pamphlets and the For Strength of Youth and their knowledge would be perfect...well, you'd also have to add in the Book of Mormon of course, but only if they want extra credit since not many people immediately understand the language of the Book of Mormon. We learned some other things too, but mainly the rest of the conference was to say good-bye to President and Sister Young.
Things I find awesome about the family Proclamation: I love how it says "male" and "female", "man" and "woman", "husband" and "wife", and "mothers" and "fathers" all throughout the proclamation. It shows that we don't value one gender over the other and that we are truly equal partners. The Family Proclamation addresses chastity, homemaking, abortion, gender identity, responsibilities of both fathers and mothers, stresses how important the unity and strength of the family is. And best of all, it tells us exactly how to do it (a strong, united family that is). It outlines why we've come down to earth (from heaven), organized in families, what we're supposed to do and how we can most successfully achieve it.
I'll probably get to go to the temple in the next month or two. It's supposed to be every three months, but I've been here 8 months now and have only gone once. Oh how I miss the temple. I'm pretty sure  that missionaries who are more north get to go to the Portland Temple, but with the new mission president I'm not quite sure. We'll just have to wait and see.

Medford, OR Temple

So, Sister Miller, yes she is awesome! Pretty quirky sometimes and an awesome planner :) She has trained other Sister Missionaries nearly her whole mission. Yep, she's that good, the Lord trusts her to train many in His army. STL's (Sister Training Leaders) are basically female DL's (District Leaders).  Though they don't have to deal with the Elders in their area at all whereas the DLs deal with each missionary in their district. STLs actually work with their zone and possibly other people's zones if that other area doesn't have an STL. For example, in my zone right now we have 3 STLs and they take care of this zone and another zone next to ours since that zone doesn't have any STLs.
I'll be sure to answer your other bazillion questions in another letter :)
Love you Mom!
Pooks