Week 69: Sacrifice Saturday Part 2

10/26/15

Hey everyone,

I hope y'all are having a great week and that you are gearing up well for Halloween!

I just got done with one of the most physically exhausting weeks of my whole mission. We had to help out a crazy woman with a move. We helped her out on Thursday and Friday for 4 hours each day. She seemed nice

the first day, but the second day, she wigged out on us because we accidentally cracked a glass pane on her $800 glass-paned cabinet. Not to mention, we had moved her piano and other really heavy objects down

the stairs. The problem was that she lived on the second floor of her apartment complex, and she recruited a bunch of free labor from four young men. Later the day on Friday, she called us to tell us we hadn't

put her bed frame together and that we needed to come back. We weren't too happy about that. We had appointments to get to, so we couldn't do that for her. Even though it didn't seem like a very rewarding service project, I was glad that we had been able to serve her some way.

On a Saturday a few weeks ago, our zone fasted and tracted all day to find new investigators. A couple weeks after, Elder Palmer and I took that idea to our mission leadership council and requested that we implement that as a mission. That came to fruition yesterday. Our whole mission of 180 or so missionaries fasted and tracted that we might find new investigators. We haven't heard the mission wide results, but I'm sure the impact was crazy. One zone we heard about found 53 new investigators! I will let you know the mission stats

later!

On Saturday night, I was tracting with a priest for an hour before we had to head in. I felt like we needed to be on a certain street, but we were having no luck. We knocked pretty much all the doors. About 15 minutes before me and this priest went home for the night, we said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help us find someone. I felt prompted to just continue walking forward from where we were. We

walked a few steps and saw one of the doors that we had already knocked on with no answer was wide open. I got super excited and walked to the door. We rang the bell, talked with the couple living

there and set up an appointment. That just goes to show that we need to be where the Lord needs us when we need to be there.

Andy surprised us by coming to church yesterday. He said he had other commitments, but then came! He also came to a fireside that our stake president here in Lakes put on about Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon! That was so good to see him there!

The Anjos kids from my past area got baptized this past weekend! I baptized the 10 year old boy! That was a very spiritual experience.

We are doing great overall!  It feels so good to be rewarded for our efforts!

Hope to hear from you guys!

Have an awesome week!

Zach

Week 68: #Lakesonfire

10/19/15

Hey everyone!

The Lakes zone is such an amazing place. The work here is exploding, and the missionaries are awesome. We even created a hashtag! One problem: half our zone is being transferred today with transfers going on. Elder Palmer and I will be staying, and another companionship, but we will have to deal with the change .

Our week was pretty miraculous!! New and potential investigators seem to be popping out of the woodwork right now. We were referred to a woman named Nancy  by her brother who is a member of the church from St. George because she is going through some really difficult trials right now. We knocked on her door, she opened up, saw us, and then broke down sobbing. We offered her a blessing, and gave that to her right on the doorstep. She ended up coming to church yesterday.

We ended up having a ton of our investigators make it to church, as well as several people who just walked into church for the first time. That was pretty crazy.

Andy came to church again this week, but began having some health problems during sacrament meeting. We were afraid that he was going to pass out because of low blood sugar or something. We have him some candy and told him to go home. He insisted on pushing through because he really wanted to come and learn. After Gospel principles, we also offered him a blessing. That was a very spiritual experience because Andy mentioned before hand how he believed that he would be healed. Talk about having faith sufficient! He left after the 2nd hour and went home. Turns out that he had passed out in his car the moment he parked when he got home! A woman noticed that he hadn't been moving for a while, and came up to tap on the glass. He called us sometime after to let us know that he made it home safely. It really was a miracle from God that he didn't pass out while he was driving. Priesthood blessings really work.

I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Jones

Week 67: Really Awesome Investigators!

10/12/15

Red Rock Pictures:

Zach and Elder Palmer

Hey Dad!

It sounds like you had an eventful week! I'm so glad that you're doing so well dad! And don't surprise the missionaries by asking them to speak last minute ;) I'm just kidding.

We have some really awesome investigators. Andy, and another investigator that we are meeting with named Donna, both made it to church this past Sunday and had an amazing experience. In our Gospel Principles class, both of them had really awesome questions and comments. Donna recounted her story of how Elder Palmer and I ended up in her life. She said that the night we came by, she had been praying that someone would bring her the word of God. Shortly after, we knocked on her door. It really is amazing how much Heavenly Father loves his children, that he would answer prayer just like that.

We also had a pretty spiritual lesson with Andy. We met him at the church, showed him around, and then taught him a lesson in the chapel. That was when he committed to come to church. He also mentioned that he feels the Spirit very strongly every time we come by! 

Things are going really well for me Dad. I mentioned to mom that I probably need just some garments! Other than that I'm doing great. Let me know if there is anything else I can do!

Love,

Zach

Week 66 Conference was Great!

10/5/15

Hey mom and dad,

Just want you to know that things are going well for me and that I'm so glad that you all had such a fun week! I love when things get busy because that gives me no time to think about myself; we are always on the move, whether that's in our area or hoping our zone.

We have this investigator that we are teaching named Andy, and he is super awesome. We met him outside of his house one evening while we were walking. We have taught him numerous lessons so far. He has taken quite an interest in the church over the past couple weeks. He has prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and has had some really cool experiences. He even taped conference this weekend so he could watch. What is even better is that our bishop invited him to come to his house for the Sunday Morning session of conference. We went too, and it was such a spiritual experience, especially when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang "The Spirit of God". He says he is not ready to be baptized yet, but he fits in so well with our ward it's crazy! We are going to keep teaching him, and try to help him see the need to be baptized.

I think that the conference session that I enjoyed the most was the Priesthood Session. Everything in that session was so on point and direct that I just felt good knowing that these men are truly called of God. I think that the talks that I really enjoyed were Elder Renlund's talk and President Eyring's Sunday morning talk. I loved this quote by Elder Renlund, "To effectively serve others, we must see them through a parent’s eyes, through Heavenly Father’s eyes. Only then can we comprehend the true worth of a soul. Only then can we sense the love that Heavenly Father has for all of His children. Only then can we sense the Savior’s caring concern for them. We cannot completely fulfill our covenant obligation to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort unless we see them through God’s eyes. This expanded perspective will open our hearts to disappointments, fears, and heartaches of others. But Heavenly Father will aid and comfort us. … We need to have eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that know and feel if we are to accomplish the rescue so frequently encouraged by President Thomas S. Monson."

Sorry that this letter is a little rushed. We went hiking in Redrock canyon this morning (I will have pictures next week) and there is a significant lack of time! I'm trying though! I love you both a lot!

Love,

Elder Jones

Week 65: More and More Miracles

9/28/15

Hey everyone!

I hope things have been great with all of you! Miracles abounded this past week and I am really excited to share the outcome.

Things are going great on my end! We have had a crazy week. Since I got transferred to this new area, I have had pretty much no time to sit and even think. We haven't been able to spend too much time in our area because we have been helping our zone members by giving them rides or even just spending time with them. That's the idea behind this assignment is that more work gets done when the other members of the zone are able to get out and work. Elder Palmer can do a lot on our own, but it's more important that we have a unified, working zone of 14 missionaries rather than 2 really hard working missionary. Kind of like in 1 Nephi 4, "It's better that [two men] perish than an entire [zone] dwindle in [laziness]."

Elder Palmer and I implemented an idea from one of our zone members this past Saturday. It essentially involved our whole zone fast together and to go out and tract from 10 am to 8 pm, and to just see the miracles that come as a result. We saw tons of miracles as a zone. Investigators were just popping out of the wood work! We ended the day teaching 23 lessons as a zone, finding close to 25 investigators, and committing 3 people to baptism. What is even better is that success came from across the zone, and when the zone is working, the Work is progressing!

It is amazing how revelation works! Although we didn't have that idea, Elder Palmer felt inspired to implement it. That goes to show you that God definitely answers our prayers through other people.

Have a great week!

Elder Jones

Week 64: Lakes!

9/21//15

Hey everyone!

I hope y'all are having a great week! Elder Palmer and I have had almost no opportunity to slow down whatsoever. We have been running nonstop, all while trying to squeeze in proselyting time every now and again! Even so, we have had some interesting things happen.

We've done a lot of exchanges and errands. On Saturday we ended up going 120 miles running people back and forth between activities, music rehearsals, and baptisms. We are just the lucky ones with a car who can do that I guess...

We had a really good week. We set a couple more people for baptism in October, and so the work is definitely progressing. What is even more awesome is how well our zone is doing. It is really exciting to see our zone having 10 to 20 potential baptisms in October. They are working really hard. God is totally helping us out. As a mission, we have a goal of reaching 720 baptisms buy the end of the year. For the most part, we have been behind on reaching that goal, but this month and next month should help us catch up by December.

We had a really awesome experience yesterday. We contacted a guy in his garage who is catholic and started off the conversation by being completely uninterested. As we talked, I was able to ask this guy an inspired question (thank you Heavenly Father) that allowed elder Palmer to start teaching the Restoration. The conversation continued, and the spirit was super strong. We got to the point where I started to share Joseph Smith's first vision, and he didn't want us to stop.

He had a ton of questions. At the end of our lesson with him, he said he wanted more religion in his life and wanted us to come back. I attribute that one to God for giving me that awesome question and to Brother Wofford for beating the importance of inspired questions into me :)

How is everyone doing? I miss hearing and talking with each one of you, whether that's at home or in a previous area. And just so you all know, we are allowed to check email throughout the week since we have iPads. We just can't respond till Monday! I hope y'all have an awesome week! And keep being awesome!

Love,

Elder Jones

Week 63: New Area

Hey everybody!

Since I was transferred to the Lakes stake this past week, I have had to start from scratch again! Learning a new area is always challenging, especially when your companion has been here awhile and thus knows it inside and out. Even so, we have been having an awesome time!

We were able to contact numerous potential investigators who were all interested in learning about the Gospel. We were even to set two of our new investigators with baptismal dates! Those lessons were so fun because the investigators were actually excited to say yes to the baptismal invitation. They are both set for next month, so we will keep working on them. Pretty good start to week one! 

One of those investigators is a single mother with three kids. She is super nice,
but she totally recognizes that her life isn't nearly as happy as it could be. She wants to find peace, and she thinks she has found it in the gospel! Elder Palmer and I are super excited for her.

Lots of good things are happening right now. It's crazy to think that if I hadn't gone on my mission when I did, I might not have met the people who have made my mission awesome! God has a reason and a time for everything!

I hope y'all are having a great week!

Love,

Elder Jones