The Zachtastic Movie Blog

Once again, our area went through some struggles this week in terms of losing investigators. A couple fell through the cracks, while others needed to be transferred to other missionary companionships due to moving or for other random reasons - one of them being Spencer. I must admit, it was difficult for Elder Price and I to have to give him up after having been there for such a long time helping him develop a desire to follow Christ, overcome his vices and enjoy having the Spirit in his life, but it's for the best. He moved into the boundaries of the Iowa City 4th Ward so the missionaries over there will continue to teach him; in the end though, I'm very glad that the Spirit was with us to at least find him and help him progress for as long as we were helping him along.  Me with Spencer. I love this man to death, I sure hope he continues to progress in the Gospel and get baptized. So between that, losing investigators and helping other investigators to progress,...

My fourth transfer in Iowa City has begun, and with that there have been many interesting changes that have taken place not just in the Iowa City Zone, but also the ward. For one thing, Elder Price, myself and the Zone Leaders were the only companionships that did not go through any changes, so we have 7 new missionaries in the Zone. One of these is not particularly new to the area though, for   Elder Roberts has returned to be our District Leader !   That was a pretty funny moment for all of us when President Jensen made that announcement at Transfer Meeting last Thursday. Otherwise, the other big change is that we got a new Ward Mission Leader! Brother Lopez - who strangely knew my brother Ty while he was on his mission - is moving to American Fork, Utah, so his replacement is Brother Nelson. He is the member of the ward who registered Elder Scott and I for a 5k run back in October, so I was pretty stoked when he was called to fill that position in the ward. I am very excit...

Preach My Gospel  talks about how when missionaries extend commitments with their investigators, that is how we invite sincere seekers of truth to repent. Part of this process of repentance and growth is following-up - the act of continually measuring the progress of these people as they read, pray, keep commitments and make necessary changes in their lives ( Preach My Gospel , page 200). The reason why I mention this principle of missionary work is because this week Elder Price realized how much better we need to be at this. While we have been consistently trying to do so, the degree at which we follow-up with others needed to change, and as a result the Lord blessed us in our proselyting efforts. Some of the cool miracles that resulted from this change is that  we got a new investigator named Jordan, we set a baptismal date with Donell, and Spencer is making some great changes in his life!  To comment on that last point, Spencer is doing very well; he came to Ward Conf...

We painted a bathroom in a neighborhood community center on New Year's Eve. It was a most excellent project! ...and we also helped light these up! We also partied "hard" on New Year's Eve. The scriptures, sparkling apple cider, and candy always help. We are now in the year 2015, and suddenly with that came much snow and the bitter Iowan winter temperatures that I remember from last year, along with new challenges. With that in mind, I would be lying if I said that Elder Price and I had a great week these past seven days. I do not mean to sound like I am trying to generate pity or seem like I am murmuring, but recently our area has been going through some struggles. We have lost numerous investigators, many people have rejected us, and yes, the weather is certainly putting a damper on our progress. Certainly what I have noticed this past week is that the more we try to be more like Jesus Christ, the greater our trials become. I imagine that most would ...