Zone Conference with GA

October 24th was Zone Conference in Trinidad. We flew over on the 23rd and had a couples meeting with President Vinas, a member of the first Quorum of Seventy, currently serving as the 1st counselor in our area presidency. His responsibility is to regulate the affairs of the church. He is touring the mission with President Robison to see the status of our preparation for stakehood in Guyana and Trinidad. He serves as a second witness of what is being taught in the 26 stakes in our area, which is the smallest area in the church because the church is so new here. President Vinas has a long history with Elder Holland and Elder Scott. He asked about our concerns as missionaries and about the mission from our point of view. Dad asked about couple getting married the day before their baptism. It happens alot here. Pres. Vinas feels they need to have a period of abstance to show repentance for living together outside the bonds of matromony. It was an interesting discussion and I know all didn't agree with him.

We didn't talk about becoming a stake during the meetings. I suspect President Robison didn't want to appear to be lobbying for it. When Dad made a comment about our concerns in Tobago, Pres Robison quickly stated we weren't part of the proposed stake. Pres. Robison talked to the couples after we left Trindad and told them it would be Feb at the earliest. Recently, President Monson has instructed there be stricter guidelines for a district to become a stake. As a result, our application hasn't been submitted to the committee yet. Pres Vinas will have to put his stamp of approval on it first. He has a good understanding of the process that an area must go through to be ready. We only have a few second generation members here, which is a disadvantage.

President Vinas was in charge of the zone conference. He talked about unity and how the first presidency is united and well as the Quorum of the Twelve. They table decisions when they aren't united in the decision. He talked about the need to repent of the traditions of our fathers for areas like ours who are new to the church. It runs all through the Book of Mormon and is applicable today. We need to keep ourselves in the process of repentance. Quoting Henry B Erying, "Unity comes when what we want is what God wants".
He said that we need to put family first, then work, then church, then ourselves.