The Zachtastic Movie Blog

I feel welcomed. So, last week I mentioned that Elder Long and I are opening a new area in the Kirksville 2nd Ward: we are the Green City Elders! The area we cover is the western "half" of the ward boundaries, which is the mission boundaries on two sides and then the Iowa-Missouri border on the northern part. There are a number of things working against us such as the fact that it is a 50 mile round trip from our house in Green City to Kirksville, so since we have to make three trips there each week 600 miles from our monthly allotment will be lost to that.  Heck yeah, missionaries live in houses now! Also, member missionary work will be difficult in our area since we cover almost entirely rural areas (the biggest city in our area is just barely 2,000 people), and only four active households live within our jurisdiction as well. But, I do not want to complain, because I am very excited for the potential for us here. Most of these areas have been untouched...

I am no longer in Iowa, folks! I am now in the great state of Missouri, which I am assuming most of you know has had a lot of history with the Church. Most of it is not so pretty, but on the other hand I am excited to be here because there is much that can be done for the Lord's Kingdom. I feel honored to serve as a missionary here since this was once Joseph Smith's country, so fast forward close to two centuries later and I have been sent here to continue the good fight that was started (and stalled) so long ago. So, you are probably wondering what my area and companion are actually like. My new companion is named Elder Long: he is from the state of Washington and hits his year mark on   July 3   (the same day as my great friend Elder Jared Richardson). He is a great missionary and I am very excited to serve alongside him. Elder Long and I are opening up the Green City area, so we are a brand new set of elders serving in the Kirksville 2nd Ward (as in Kirksville, Missour...

My time in Davenport has come to an end. I am really going to miss this place; despite all of the hard times I have faced in trying to help people actually want to find out the truth for themselves, I have really fallen in love with this great area. The people are wonderful, the work has been great, I've had so many fun times with my fellow companions and other missionaries in my District and Zone, and it has simply been six of the most joyful months of my life here. However, I recognize that now is the time for me to move on to bigger and greater things, especially since Elder Gray is more than worthy to take over the area.   After all, he has been called to be the new District Leader and a trainer!   He has some heavy shoes to fill, but I think he will do a great job. I can't believe I had to wear that thing during a dinner appointment. I've had some fun times in this final week here in Davenport, too. I went on an exchange with Elder Weilenmann, one of my Zon...

This had been a kind of weird week for Elder Gray and I; it was a good one for sure, for we saw some success and also had some experiences that strengthened both of our testimonies. But if I was to say anything about what most stood out to me about this week, it would be that we had a couple of trials all in one day that truly tested us. I am reminded of a letter a good friend of mine sent to me about a month ago, in which she talked about how I was going through my "own Ammonihah" (see Alma 8). From things that happened   on Friday , I know that to be true. There were two back-to-back instances in which men were trying to trip us up in our words, disprove correct doctrine, argue and even accuse us of leading them down paths of darkness, so you could say that we were both backed up to a wall of faith. But we did   not   back down. Trusting that the Lord would be with us, Elder Gray testified more boldly than I had ever seen someone do so before, and that also helped me ...

There haven't been a lot of amazing stories from this past week, but I will say that it was nonetheless a great week for Elder Gray and me in the great city of Davenport. I think the experiences I've had in the past week have shown me how much I have needed to improve in every aspect of the Work, and I'm glad that the Lord has shown me how I can continue to be a better missionary. A statement every missionary can agree upon. I mainly found these ways to improve through working with Taylor Curtis, a returned missionary from Paraguay who married the bishop's daughter last month in Salt Lake. He went out with us for a couple hours two different days last week, and despite the facts that he has a different teaching style and overall experience as a missionary, I learned a lot from him. I almost felt rebuked from the Lord due to how many things I realized that I need to change about my missionary work. I am grateful for that though, for now that we have been out ...