Some new photos from a hectic couple of weeks!

Zone Conference for San Diego East

August 25, 2011

Zone Conferences

On Thursday, the day after transfers we started zone conferences! This was our first round of zone conferences for our time in the mission field. We neglected to take photos at our first zone conference in the San Diego North Zone, but we did get a few of the San Diego Zone on Friday. Here they singing to the great relief society ladies that fed us so well!

On Tuesday morning, we met our departing missionaries at the airport to give them a final goodbye and to send them on their way home. It was a bitter-sweet moment. Then, a few minutes later, we welcomed in our 17 new missionaries! They looked so great! We are excited to serve with them!

Here they are:

Elder Christensen

Elder Morgan

Elder Berrett

Elder Reynolds

Sister Rudd

Elder Jones

Elder Martin

Elder Farr

Elder Blackmon

Elder Stringham

Sister Edgerly

Sister Johnson

Sister Hudson

Sister Gillett

Elder Beazer

Sister Ortez

Elder Wallentine

Well this week has been SO busy! On Friday morning, the 12th, we spent the morning in the San Diego Temple with our departing missionaries. We then came back to the mission home and fed them lunch. Afterward, President Clayton gave each of them a final interview and they relaxed on the back porch enjoying each other as each one took their turn with President. We fed them again at dinnertime and then had a few moments to share our advise and counsel with them. Finally, each bore a beautiful, sweet testimony. It was a tender time. These missionaries are so amazing! It was so hard to say goodbye to this group of incredible young men and women. We love them and will miss them so much!

Here they are (left to right and back to front)

Back: Elders Rodriguez, Morris, Valikoula, Rougeau, Cubit, Larsen,

Middle: Elders Meyers, Crapo, Gregory, Allen, Powell

Front: President and Sister Clayton & Sisters Seguin and Nielsen.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Leadership training happens every three months.  We gather together our missionary leaders - assistants, zone leaders, district leaders and sister leaders for some instruction and leadership training.  Here are some of the fabulous leaders we have in our mission!

 

Pictures of Kelsey the day she left for her mini mission!

 Kelsey with Sister Clayton (Mom)

 President, Kelsey, and Sister Clayton

 Kelsey and Sister Evans

Kelsey with President (Dad) and Sister Evans

Zone Leader Council - August 01, 2011

Zone Leader council takes place once a month.  It is our opportunity to bring the zone leaders in and council together with them about how things are going in the mission.  We are grateful for their input and their wonderful suggestions!

 Here is our sweet Sister Gunther, one of our office missionaries, helping us feed our hungry missionaries!  We LOVE our senior missionaries so much!

 Here we have (from left to right) Elders Jensen and Pearson (San Diego East Zone), Elders Little & Clement (San Diego Zone), and Elders Araujo and Burnell (Sweetwater Zone).

 Elders Fisher and Jibson (Santee Zone) and Elders Larsen and Belt (Poway Zone)

 The elders standing are our assistants!  They are Elders McManus (left) and Gadbury (right).  We love them and are so grateful for all they have done to help us get started here.  At the table with them are Elders Young and Call (Imperial Valley Zone) and Sister Lewis and Sister Christensen (Mormon Battalion Visitors Center and San Diego East Zone) and Sister Park (San Diego North Zone) and Sister Petty (Santee Zone).

 Elders Gabury and McManus again, with President Clayton in the background!

 Elders Rougeau and Hernandez (Peñasquitos Zone), Elders Vaughn and Hill (El Cajon Zone), and Elder Henrichsen (also Peñasquitos Zone).

 Sisters Lewis, Christensen, Park and Petty again, with Elders Young and Call.

 Elders Davis and Ordono (San Diego East Zone)

 Elders McManus, Gadbury, Davis and Ordono

The entire zone council.  We have managed to catch Elders Clay and Broadhead (Chula Vista Zone), who were somehow missing from the lunch tables!    I think we could have some fun playing "where are the elders" in this picture!  We will get better pictures of them next time!   We are so blessed to have such fabulous missionary leaders here in the California San Diego Mission!  We love them all!