Faith

January 23, 2012…Dear Family,

Last week flew by faster than ever! There is a good reason for it too. I went on three trade-offs with other missionaries. For two of them I went to their area and the other one we were in my area. For the one in my area I was with Elder Allen, one of my former companions. It went really well. It's incredible to see the growth that can happen. He has really changed and is an even better missionary.
The other two were pretty good. They were all very different from one another.
For one of them I was in a little town named Interlachen. It reminded me a lot of Lake City, only it was more country. Just about every road we went on was dirt.
 I learned a lot from the trade-offs.
One thing that stands out is the importance of virtue. It is such an essential Christlike attribute! I would recommend each of you to study it, and then set a goal to improve. Good things will come!
Other than the trade-offs Elder Mecham and I saw great things in our area. We have some really wonderful investigators. I don't know if I've mentioned Zay, but he is a young man we're teaching. He has been practically adopted by one of the active families in the ward. They treat him as one of their own kids. It's a great environment for him. We've invited him to be baptized a few times and he is praying about it. Whenever we talk about baptism he is all ears!
Another wonderful investigator is Paul. He is the non-member husband to a less-active sister. We've been teaching them for a little over a week now. All of the lessons have gone really well. We've also invited him to be baptized, but he feels he needs to learn more. We think he knows the Church is true. He just needs that extra nudge from the Spirit. Last Thursday we taught him and his wife. We had a member with us. Actually, we had the first counselor in the bishopric with us. It was a really wonderful lesson. We talked about baptism and the member likened it to joining a gym. We can't expect to be able to use all the equipment and get the help from trainers and such without first joining the gym. It's the same way with the gospel. We can't expect all the great blessings that come from living the gospel unless we are baptized and then continue going. At one point the member said, "You've gotta join the gym. I need you to spot me." It was great!
In my studies I've been studying about faith. I was reading in the Bible Dictionary and this is something it says,"All true faith
must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel and is more than belief, since true faith always moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for. A lack of faith leads one to despair, which comes because of iniquity." I know that we can obtain the correct knowledge necessary to have true faith as we read the Book of Mormon, pray, and go to church. As each of you do this you will see great changes in your lives, wonderful blessings, and the strength to endure all things.

 
Love Always, Zach