Been so busy I haven't gotten around to this yet. Today was supposed to be our preparation day but it was a full day of missionary work.
  In the past week our elders have needed some extra help with transportation because of exchanges.     Things seemed to go well and they were able to help other companionships increase their teaching pools.
   Thursday was our final zone conference. At the beginning of the day the AP conducting asked us to stand and acknowledged that this would be our final zone meeting and we would soon be released. We felt a little funny about the recognition because we don't remember that kind of announcement being made for any of the other couples. The zone meeting was talking about members and missionaries working together to build the kingdom. One example that was used in a talk by Elder Martino was with Alma and Amulek. How Amulek was visited by an angel when Alma returned to Ammoniaha. The people had rejected Alma and his message and Alma left but after receiving instruction from the Lord, returned another way to teach. Amulek became his valiant companion in teaching after Alma had taught the Gospel to Amulek and his family.
  The missionaries were asked to bring their items of distraction (games, music etc) and deposit them in a container provided for that purpose. In each zone there must have been a goodly number of items deposited which were donated to Deseret Industries.
  One exciting teaching appointment was when we met with a sister and gave her a lesson on the restoration. When we arrived a fellow was there hooking up cable tv. He listened from a distance and after he completed his business he had the mother sign an order and as he was leaving, he told the daughter we were teaching, "Listen to these people, they know the truth." This sister is making great progress in her gospel study and testimony.
  We have visited several families we have previously taught and visited to tell them our mission is coming to a close. We have had some wonderful visits and wonder how often we will see these people after our service is complete.
  We had a wonderful baptism on Saturday, our elders have had an average of one baptism for every week they have been in our area. They have worked hard and the Lord has blessed them with success.
  Sunday we attended the 16th ward council meeting. The bishop had asked the ward council to extend their meeting an extra ten minutes so we could make a short presentation. We talked briefly about the importance of the role of the ward council in missionary work and then introduced them to the MY FAMILY booklet.
We then attended two sacrament meetings, the second was actually a ward conference. We were so thrilled to attend the ward conference and see the family we have been meeting with for a few weeks all in attendance. It was wonderful to shake their hands and welcome them to the meeting. The bishop and the stake president both talked with great power and testimony. Our final meeting with that family last night was really a good meeting and we feel they will continue to make progress in becoming an eternal family with temple blessings.