Don't let the bed bugs bite...

Hey family!

It's so good to hear from all of you! I'm glad that everything at home is going well, and I just want you to know that everything is going well over here, too. This week has been fairly slow, and we haven't been able to do much because there have been tons of meetings and trainings that our zone has had to take part in. Add that to the fact that my companion, my roommates, and I have been quarantined in our apartment over the last 2 or 3 days due to an infestation of "bed bugs" :\ that has gone around the mission. I'm pretty sure we don't have them, but we can't leave our apartment complex until the mission checks our room.

Last week we had the opportunity to go to Zone Conference. That was so awesome (if you want the pictures from that, look on the Las Vegas West Mission blog under the photo album that says "meadows zone conference"). I learned so much. The topic of the day was obedience, and so President Ahlander gave us a training on why we should be obedient. The most powerful training of the day probably was Sister Ahlander's when she asked us who the Savior really was to us. The most crazy thing happened; the first thought that popped into my head was "friend". I wasn't planning on sharing, but as I listened to the other Elders and Sisters responses, I felt like I needed to share it. My heart was pounding; I stood up and said that the Savior was my friend, and how he has helped me through my biggest challenges in life. The feeling in the room completely changed, and the Elder right next to me's first reaction was, "What the..." It was just amazing how sincere I felt at that moment. I really believe that we are entitled to short, powerful, spiritual statements all the time, and most definitely as we share the Gospel with people.

As far as some of those people that we've been teaching, this area is a little slow. We don't have very many investigators. The 12 year old girls that we were teaching were set for baptism, but one of them ended up moving to Boston so now we're down to one. We've been struggling in finding a time in which she is actually home so that we can teach her all the lessons before school starts, but we're still working at it. The Hispanic man we met last week lives in North Las Vegas so we referred him to the East Mission.

I'm glad that Wilkin is having a good time in marching band. That was my favorite activity in high school and it helped me have instant friends when I went into high school who were my friends all the way through graduation.

Anyways, I love you all! This mission is something that I am currently growing to love. I certainly want to feel that way when I get on the plane home in 2 years.

Tell people to write! I love reading emails; it's one of the things I look forward to every week. Also, send pictures if you can. It would be great to see how you all are doing.

Love,

Zach