Zone meeting

A couple of weeks ago we attended Zone Conference. The mission is divided into 4 zones - Voronezh (the one farthest away), South Zone, and North and East Zones which meet together. We are in the North Zone.
Dave has attended three out of the four conferences and handed out new phones and phone numbers,  HUGE undertaking. It still is not completely done. His own phone is not working! (as of today).
Anyway, the purpose of these conferences is to be spiritually fed and it is wonderful to see many of the missionaries that you don't get to see to often. I love seeing the joy as they see each other, the hugs and back slapping.
It is easy to get attatched to these missionaries. Especially certain ones. One whom I love and was with him from the beginning, Elder R, came up and said Sister Sutton I love you!! The elder behind him said Mama Sutton!
It is true that one of the things we do is become substitute parents on occasion. Remember, these young ones are far from home. It is a joy for Elder Sutton and I, along with other senior couples (who love "their" missionaries as much as we do, to be there for these precious and strong young men and women. One of our sweet Russian sisters, Sister G who has been with us in our district for the past 6 weeks or so, shyly asked us to write her a letter. We hand out letters to our missionaries and she doesn't get as many as some. Dave wrote her a nice letter and I am going to do the same this week.
What a blessing for us to be around these missionaries. How we love them! Sometimes it makes it a bit easier being away from our own children and grandchildren.