Week 9 - Crazy Week

Hey everyone!

It has been one crazy week! We have had so much going on. We've been able to teach several lessons, and even put on an entire ward function with the help of our ward mission leader. Even better, today begins transfer #2!  Needless to say, I am pretty tired.

A few weeks ago, we were out tracting and we met this guy named Dave. He seemed like a really nice guy, and told us that we could come back, but that he was pretty busy at the moment. We have been trying to call him on and off for several weeks to set up an appointment, but for some reason he just kept pushing it off. He finally had some time to meet last week, and so we taught him and his son about the Plan of Salvation. Before we got to the main point of the lesson, that through Christ families can be together forever, he said that he believed that "heaven would only be heaven if he had those that he loved there with him". That part of the lesson was so awesome and powerful that even shared with us that "something had told him to let us into his house." We did not invite him to baptism yet, but we're hoping that we can meet with him sometime this week or next to teach him about the Restoration. (The prayer he said at the end of the lesson was awesome!!)

We also were able to teach an active family and a less-active in our ward about the Plan of Salvation. She joined the church, and then prepared herself to go to the temple to receive her endowments, but got freaked out when she actually received them. So we taught her the Plan of Salvation with a temple spin on the lesson. It was probably the best lesson that Elder Tillotson and I have taught together so far. Everything flowed, and after the lesson, the active member family told us we did a great job. What was even better was that the less-active woman told us that we did a great job as well, and that she believed everything we said. She's still freaked out by the temple, but we just have to remember, baby steps.

Our ward mission leader, Elder Tillotson, and I were also responsible for putting on the ward's annual chili-cookoff. That was tricky because we ordered bounce houses, called to remind almost everyone in the ward the night before, and had to make scones for the chili. Most of Saturday night was spent rolling bread dough and then frying it to make the scones. They were good, but we were at it for almost 2 hours. The event was engineered to invite a non-member family who moved into the area recently to one of our ward functions. Guess where that family is from...Kansas City, MO!! Even more interesting is the fact that they moved into the area about 7 weeks ago, pretty much the same time that I got here. They had a great time, and we will try to follow up with them in the next couple weeks. Ithink that Heavenly Father has something in mind for that family, and I hope that I can be a part of it.

Just a shout-out to all of you thinking about serving missions, make serving a mission a *priority.* The opportunity that all of us have to serve the Lord with all our heart, might, mind, and strength is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Although I still have a *long *way to go, I can already feel some changes in myself. I have found myself *wanting* to be obedient and *wanting *to be humble because I want to become better, and by so doing, maybe I can be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help other people move closer to having eternal life. Even though I still haven't perfected obedience, humility, charity, I believe that the desire to perfect those traits is something that can help anyone improve; and just remember, the Lord blesses us according to our *desires* as well as our needs.

I love all of you! Stay safe, keep in touch, send pictures, and just let me know how you all are doing. I love reading emails and letters, and I am sure that the other 85,000 missionaries in the world do too! I can't wait to hear from any of you!

Love,

Zach

p.s. Good luck to McKinzie, Hannah, and Eliza as you all start the fall semester at BYU and BYU-Hawaii! You all will do great!