The Zachtastic Movie Blog

The time has come for me to move on to my next area . Who knows whether or not it will be the last place I serve in, but one thing I can definitely say is that I am excited to serve my God no matter what happens. If there is one principle I have truly come to know about for myself, it's that Father in Heaven always has had a hand in this work, and He always will. I know for a fact in each of my areas I have been there for specific people - both companions, investigators and members alike - lessons I needed to learn for myself, among many other things that have helped me understand more of God's purposes for me.  What better P-day activity can there be than LARPing?? I have loved the opportunity I had to serve here in the Fort Madison District as well, for the branch has always been welcoming and supportive, the work has been great, and the area of Nauvoo is one that I will never forget. There is a special spirit here in this zone that I have always been amazed by, and...

While a number of my close and friends and family are completing their full-time missions, I still have a little ways to go. However, this past   Thursday  I hit my 18-month mark - meaning that I have four transfers left after this one ends in a couple of weeks. Some people may consider this as the final downward slump, but I beg to differ. In fact, I can honestly say that this opportunity to grow and inspire others to do good full-time for six more months is a blessing. Others tend to call it the "time to shine," in which the final portion of one's mission is the time in which a seasoned missionary can then use his skills, knowledge and testimony to a degree that he was not capable of working at earlier on. All elders and sisters should strive for perfection the minute they step into the mission field, but even then, it's inevitable that one is much more experienced later on. With that, I am very excited to see where these last six months take me, and also what I ca...

Well, there is a lot that I could potentially talk about from this week, so I will do my best to be succinct with all of the thoughts I will share. I guess to properly separate my thoughts, I'll talk about how important it is to follow three different "P" principles while serving to Lord - perseverance, perspiration (aka, work) and prayer. First of all, as I mentioned last week, when trials come that is   not  an appropriate time to cower back in fear and quit. In fact, we should do our best to keep our chins up and press forward, because we never know what may happen. For us, we needed to persevere in terms of finding new people to teach as well as helping our investigators. Then of course, we needed to work at accomplishing such goals; without prayer, though, the Spirit would never be able to help us as much as we would need Him to. The Lord Himself has said in the scriptures that the Spirit is manifest by the prayer of faith, so we definitely tried to take that princi...

So, story behind this: we were on the way back to Fort Madison after District Meeting, and we had to stop and get gas. As we got back onto the highway though, I realized that I had accidentally left my hardcover copy of The Book of Mormon on the hood of our car, and then it helplessly tumbled onto the road. We went back and grabbed it, but it was sadly too late. Here I am holding the sad remains. I find it funny that even though the mission is the thing that has brought me the greatest joy I have ever felt in my life, it's also interesting that at the same time I have experienced much sorrow and disappointment alongside my companions. There has always been opposition to the truth, and there always will be - there is no gray area as far as that principle is concerned. Even so, that does not mean I am discouraged at all; in fact, this past week the experiences we both had brought us much happiness and hope for the future. We are finding people to teach, we are making steady p...

One could say that this week was difficult on us, and I would be lying if I said that it wasn't. Throughout this entire week Elder Ragozzine and I struggled with finding people to teach, getting into the homes of our investigators, and then of course teaching anyone for that matter.  Elder Ragozzine and I. These past seven days have strangely been more stressful for us both than normal, and all that we went through caused the both of us to reflect upon our situation here. I asked myself some critical questions: are we doing enough? Are we consecrated to the Work? Are we being as obedient as we should be? Is there something(s) we need to follow in Preach My Gospel   more fervently so that we may have success? One thing I can definitely tell you all is that despite how dark and dismal the future almost seemed for our area, we are feeling much more confident now. I am here to testify that God answers prayers, He loves us all, and   will  not leave us alone wh...