Zone Conferences

We spent all last week traveling around the mission going to four zone conferences for our seven zones in the mission.  The first conference was in Harrisburg, a four hour drive from Pittsburgh.  We stayed in Harrisburg Monday night and had conference with two zones on Tuesday.  Rod and I gave a short presentation at the beginning of the conferences and then spent the rest of the day out side inspecting vehicles.

             

Most of the days were cold and sunny but Thursday it rained all day and we were soaked, especially Rod.  I was in the cars most of the time inspecting the interior and checking all the paper work while Rod checked fluid levels and topping them off.  Then I got really good at checking tire pressure and tread depth while Rod looked over the exterior of the cars and noted all the dings and scratches.

                                         

After Harrisburg we drove three hours to State College.  Most of the entire trip was following the Susquehanna River and was a beautiful drive.  We stayed in State College Tuesday night and had another conference Wednesday with two zones there.  Rod is also in charge of the 60 plus phones in the mission and had to change out new phones for everyone during the conferences.

             

Of course, we had to take a look at Penn State campus before we left State College for the three hour drive back to Pittsburgh.  We finally learned what a Nittany Lion is. Nittany is a Native American term meaning “single mountain.”  Nittany mountain overlooks the Penn State University campus and the community of State College.  A Nittany Lion is a mountain lion, or cougar, that roams the Nittany mountain.  Kind of like BYU cougars.

              

We spent Wednesday night back at our apartment and then got up early Thursday morning and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Butler for another conference for two zones there.  Same routine but with rain this time.

               

Rod spends a lot of time on his mission phone talking to missionaries about their cars.  He could get a lot more work done if he didn’t have to talk on the phone so much. Friday we were back in Pittsburgh for our last Zone Conference.  We gained such an appreciation for the hectic schedule that President and Sister Topham have to keep.  We were exhausted after only one week of following them around the mission.  It made us happy to get back to the office.  It was another great mission adventure we are having together.