The Zachtastic Movie Blog

Hi everybody! This week has been ok; Elder Hooser and I have had some struggles. One being that Sabrina, Jeremy and Aaron have all dropped us. They all seemed like very solid investigators, but for one reason after another they decided to not meet with us anymore. We are now hoping that the future elders that will be serving in Davenport 1st Ward South will pick up where we left off. It was also difficult because we tried stopping by literally every less active member in our ward, and we only met with maybe a couple this week.  When Elder Hooser and I went to the New Trainers Meeting in Iowa City , he showed me this park really briefly. Iowa City is where most of the handcart companies started their long jo urneys out west. Both sicknesses and the horrible weather have been putting a serious damper on missionary work not just in our area, but the entire mission as well. Oh, and one other thing: we were trying to meet with one potential investigator until he asked us ou...

Hello all! This week was tough since Elder Hooser and I did not have the car; we share a 2012 Corolla with the Davenport 2nd Ward sister missionaries. But even so, we did well! Our mission's Standard of Excellence for lessons taught is 15, and we somehow taught 16. The zone leaders who also serve in our ward taught a staggering 26, so our combined efforts resulted in 42 total lessons! And with that it was so fun to see all of the progress we had.  A couple of our investigators are very excited to learn more about the Gospel; we have not heard from Kevin and Sabrina since our first lessons with them, but Jeremy and Aaron enjoyed our second appointment   on Saturday   afternoon. They even came to church! While they may not have understood or enjoyed everything, they seemed to like our meetings.  Also, an elderly investigator named Shirley was touched by a Priesthood blessing we gave her so she wants us to come back.  I also had my first exchange this week! I ...

It is the beginning of my second full week here in Davenport (technically week 3 of my training), and things have been going pretty well! There was some truly nasty weather on Monday and Tuesday, but it has warmed up significantly since then. The temperature has been in the 40's range for the past two days, so a lot of the snow here is melting. Even then, I am adjusting pretty well to the cold. It's not the worst thing to happen to me, even if it is a definite challenge for the desert rat that I am, haha!  Having P-day (preparation day) was nice, especially since we got to play a lot of basketball.  Me planking at our ward building. Elder Nichols with an awesome shirt. Since P-day, it has been tough. We called pretty much every one of our former investigators and we had no luck there. One current investigator even dropped us. But we continued on, especially since Elder Hooser said things like that happen on an "average week" anyway. So mos...

I am finally here! And I am proud to announce that Davenport, Iowa is my first area.  It is a quaint little city right near the Mississippi River, so I live very close to the Iowa-Illinois border. I am serving in the Davenport 1st Ward, but the Zone Leaders are in my ward as well since they split the ward in half. My trainer, Elder Hooser (pronounced "Hoosier") and I, have the south half.  Our apartment is pretty nice, so no need to worry about bedbugs. It has also helped to keep me safe from the nasty cold weather too. Elder Hooser and me this morning. Yes, it is bitterly cold up here. Everyone back home who is complaining about the cold right now, I am just going to be frank: you have no reason to complain. Today the temperature is -10 degrees Fahrenheit when not factoring in the wind, so we are not allowed to walk around. We can only leave the apartment by car (which we luckily have this week since we are sharing week by week with the sisters). Cap everything o...