What a week!

What a great week it was, as our mission gathered for zone conferences at the Sacred Grove in Palmyra.

Within the shady stillness, our hearts are filled with peace, joy, and gratitude for all our many blessings, and especially for the knowledge that the Father and his Son appeared in this place to usher in the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days.

Each morning, zone conferences began within the Grove. On Saturday, the final day of zone conference, we were joined by Alex Boye, an LDS recording artist and singer in the Tabernacle Choir. He bore powerful  testimony of  Jesus Christ, the restoration, and of the joy it has brought to his life.

He was in town for a young single adult conference. On Friday night, he sang, following a presentation by our mission president about the powerful influence of music in our lives.

Alex Boye and his amazing pianist

For an hour each morning, President Christianson sent his missionaries out into the Grove, where we were encouraged to have our own sacred grove experience. What a sweet thing it was, as I was walking along the path (to find my own bench), to pass by young missionaries, with  heads bowed in meditation and prayer.

For the  remainder of the day (spent in the basement of the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center )we were  taught by zone leaders, the assistants to the President, President Christianson, and by Elder Duncan of the Seventy (he was the general authority who spoke to us when we were in the MTC in January).

Elder Duncan greeting all the missionaries in one of our zones

On Sunday evening, we finished an amazing week with a "fireside" at which Alex Boye told his inspiring conversion story and powerfully sang gospel songs, with a lot of heart and soul.