Catania/Malta Specialized Training

March 7, 2014

Specialized Training conferences allow each zone to concentrate on the things their individual zone needs help with.  Once again I felt the hand of the Lord guiding and directing the work as I sat and listened to the adestramenti of the Catania/Malta Zone.  They talked about how to commit to baptism and using time wisely.  It was almost like sitting in the Palermo Zone the day before as I listened to the missionaries teach the same concepts I heard in Palermo--only this was the Catania/Malta Zone.  They used the same stories and examples from Preach My Gospel.  It was another testimony to me that the Lord is in charge of this work.  We don't give the missionaries any guidance as to what they should discuss.  They teach what they are inspired to teach.  Both the Catania/Malta Zone and the Palermo Zone are on the island of Sicily and are part of the Palermo Stake.  Obviously they need to learn the same things.  I asked the zone leader if he had conferred with the Palermo zone leader about what he was teaching and he said he hadn't.  These young men and women are the future leaders of the church.  We will be in good hands.

The elders had two people come to the front of the room and had each one cut out a star from a piece of paper.  One star looked really good the other one not so good.  Then they showed the lines on the back of the good star.  That piece of paper had the outline of a star already on it.  The plan to create a perfect star had already been put in place.  It's the same with missionary work.  Everyday missionaries are to make a plan and write it down in their daily planner--and then follow the plan.

President Waddoups concluded the meeting by talking about making commitments and finding tools.  It's the same thing he has talked about in every conference this transfer cycle.  Using the example he learned from Elder Allen in Rome, he likened doing finding to playing golf.  If you are a professional golfer, you are allowed to use 13 golf clubs.  Each club has a specific use--some hit the ball great distances; some have more loft and hit the ball higher; and the putter is used for short, straight shots.  If you only use two or three clubs, your ability to compete is extremely limited.  Sometimes you need to use all the clubs to get the ball in the hole.  Sometimes you only need to use a couple of clubs.  The object is that if you only use a couple of finding techniques, you are extremely limited in the number of people you can interest in the church.  There are many different finding techniques available and sometimes we need to use all of them instead of just using the same two or three every time.

Can you do it in Italian? . . .

. . . Yes, I can.

Beginning Testimony

Beginning Testimony

Sicilian Blood Orange

Happy Birthday

Young man from Catania Ward who dropped by the church.  He's planning to go on a mission next year.  He practiced doing role plays with the missionaries.

Sorelle in the Catania Zone