We have had the opportunity to attend and help at our 3 different Special Training Conferences.  Elder Ellison and I gave driving tests and consulted on Flat Inspections.  I enjoyed the driving tests as most of the young Elders I tested were very competent.  There was one Elder from Texas that kept hugging the left side of the road.  I pointed out 5-6 times he was too close to the left side.  He would politely say "Yes Ma'am", momentarily center the car then be on the left gutter again.  He also drove with one hand and faster than I thought necessary in a neighborhood.  But he wasn't listening.  Sure enough I could see what was coming.  As he sped along zipping up on a round-about he hit the left curb and gave the car a big jolt.  I looked at him and once again told him to keep his eye on the white line out his right window and to stay closer to it than he had been doing.  This is a very unnatural feeling for us American drivers, but I found it to be helpful in my driving in Australia.  Maybe I will have a new career when I get home as a driving instructor?  "NOT".

ZONE CONFERENCE SPECIAL TRAINING

October 5, 6 2017

President Checketts comments:

The Gospel has a plan, it is called “The Plan of Salvation”.  Learn it.  Gain a testimony of it if you don’t have one already.

We can learn how to live life by following Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost can comfort you, he can tell you what to do.

Your Mission is your MTC for LIFE.

The Church is not a Sunday “thing”.  The Church is what we are every Day.  Live the Example.

Forever is comprised of “NOWS”.  The Past is just that…the past.  The Future never comes.  It is just “NOW”.

LDS Charities:  Elder McSweeney

The McSweeneys are a Senior couple on a Family History mission in ASNM. For the past 6 years Elder McSweeney goes on 3 week Missions, several times a year, with his single daughter who is Nurse Practitioner at an Ob/Gyn practice in Provo Utah.  Elder McSweeney makes contact with the different governments in selected countries and arranges for LDS Charities to go in and educate the medical Professionals.  So far 60 locations have been identified as countries that need assistance.  46 of these countries have been cleared to move forward.  32 have been completed.  They need to have at least 100 people in attendance in order to make it cost efficient.

The LDS Charities helps countries with Neonatal problems.  Such as helping babies that aren’t breathing when they are first born.  They teach resuscitation to nurses and doctors that don’t have current information.  When a mother and child have problems during or after delivery the policy is to help the mother first.  They will lay the baby on the floor, because there aren’t little beds for newborns. Elder McSweeney showed pictures of 5-6 babies sharing 1 bed in the hospital.   The policy is that it is more important to save the mother who typically has little children at home that need care.  The government can’t help orphans so they try and save the mother first, thereby loosing babies unnecessarily. 

When a baby is born and having trouble breathing, quite often it is because their airway is blocked.  With a simple device called the “Penguin” they can clear the airway, get the debris out of the air passage and the baby immediately starts breathing again.  This simple fact and device are not had in most 3^rd world countries.  Many babies are lost due to a problem that is so easy to resolve.

Physicians with language skills are desperately needed.  All the Portuguese medical literature has been translated by Elder and Sister McSweeney’s daughter who served a mission in Portugal.  Angola Africa is a large country where they speak Portuguese.   

On one of the trips Elder McSweeney went on with his daughter, before serving a full time mission with his wife, was to Mozambique Africa.  It was NOT well attended or accepted that they needed help with their medical care.  Elder McSweeney felt that they would not be able to return because they had only about 30 people attending.  Just as they were getting ready to leave, a late arriving nurse walked in and saw Sister McSweeney (daughter).  This nurse had been trained earlier by Sister McSweeney in another country.  The nurse was so excited to see her, ran up and gave her a big hug, then asked if the LDS Team could come to her village/city where she had 120+ medical professionals that would willingly take the training.  This same scenario repeated again with another nurse only she said her village would have 150+ people to take the training.   They have gone back to Mozambique for the past 3 years. 

The point being made:  The Lord has his hand in our lives but especially in HIS work.  

We are commanded to “Clothe the naked, relieve the sick, feed the hungry”.  We can ALL do our part.