A very special training with Elder Lynn G. Robbins

On Tuesday May 26, 2015, we had a special opportunity to spend a few hours with President Lynn G. Robbins from the First Quorum of Seventy. He was visiting Stakes in Africa and we had the unique chance to have him visit our mission and teach our zone leaders.
Every 6 weeks, we have a Missionary Leadership Council and this one started off with Elder and Sister Robbins greeting each of our 20 Zone Leaders. They were also privileged to visit with Elder and Sister Cook from the Area Presidency.  The meeting began with testimonies from Sister Cook and Elder Cook and then Sister Robbins provided a training on "Christlike Attributes. "
She asked the missionaries to identify attributes of their companions. She talked and shared great ideas from her experience as a mission mom and identified that there are 2 missions we serve. 1-to find and work with investigators and members and 2-to serve, live with and love our companions. She said that each and every day we should try to emulate the Savior. She lead a great discussion.

Following Sister Robbins, we were privileged to hear from Elder Lynn G. Robbins. He spoke for 90 minutes and interacted the entire time with our zone leaders. He focused his training on the importance of "Do" and "Be." He reminded us that "doing" without "being" is hypocrisy and "being" without "doing" is "faith without works!
From this start, he reminded missionaries that a mission is an "Advanced Course"..it is a University in every sense of the word. He said, However that you will never learn at a University, what you learn on a mission. He talked extensively about getting along with your companion and told them that the degree to which they love and get along with their mission companion will be directly related to how they will do in marriage. This is like enrolling in an advanced marriage course!
It was such an excellent training and I saw all our Elders taking notes and fully participating. There are zone meetings this week, and much of what was shared, will be taught by our zone leaders in their respective zones.

Each transfer, we print off a roster of our zone leaders in their respective roles. This is such a great group of Elders that lead by example. We appreciate them stepping up to this calling and doing such a wonderful job. Ten countries are represented with the Elders currently in leadership!

Following the training, we took a short break (had some homemade bread:) and then started our regular MLC meeting with our AP's Elder Worton and Elder Koyle running the agenda.

Getting ready!