New Opportunity...

February 6, 2012… Dear Family,


I got my new companion on Wednesday. He is Elder Gebhard and he is from Grand Junction, Colorado. He has been out for nine months. We've done really well together so far. I'm excited for the many miracles we're going to see while together.


That's one new opportunity I have. The other one is that I am now an online missionary. Which means I now have a missionary facebook account and will be sharing the gospel on there. I also will be able to start a blog if I decide I want to. I'm not sure if I will do the blog. Now that I'm on facebook I'm going to disable my other profile. I can also add you, family, as friends to my missionary profile. However, I won't be able to interact with you on there. Also please don't say anything about me coming home. I don't want distractions. You can comment on my posts, but again I won't be able to communicate directly with any of you. I'm really excited to be able to share the gospel online. It will be a great opportunity to reach out to people and get them more involved.


With all that being said, the week went well. Paul is doing really well. We taught him and his wife, who is less-active, about the Sabbath day. We invited Olivia, the wife, to pray to be able to get work off on Sunday. At least long enough to come to church. She works and that has been keeping both of them from coming. If they could come on a consistent basis it would be really wonderful. Please keep them in your prayers.


Zay isn't doing as well. We didn't get the chance to see him last week. We tried a few times, but we couldn't catch him. Hopefully we will be able to get back in contact with him and help him get back on track.


Our big focus last week was working with the members more. We were able to help a few of them start their own family mission plans. They were really excited to be able to share the gospel with more focus and to work towards specific goals.


Yesterday, for fast Sunday, the missionaries and members fasted for the opportunity and courage to invite someone to church this upcoming Sunday (the 12th). I'm excited to see how it goes. During fast and testimony meeting I bore my testimony early in the meeting regarding missionary work, the power of fasting, and inviting others to church. It felt good. Then throughout the meeting many other members bore testimony about missionary work and how it has blessed them. The bishop even got up and bore his testimony regarding the opportunity to fast. It was a really powerful meeting. A little later in the meeting a sister bore her testimony and announced that her non-member husband, Andy, had recently decided he wants to get baptized in March. It was really exciting! Later that night we were having a lesson with some members and the meeting came up. They said it was one of the best fast and testimony meetings they had ever been to!


This week while studying I read in True To The Faith under "Scriptures." In there it says this,"Daily, meaningful scripture study helps you be receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. It builds your faith, fortifies you against temptation, and helps you draw near to your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son." I love studying the scriptures and as I read that passage the Spirit bore witness to me once again the importance of reading, pondering, and praying about the scriptures daily.


Another thing I studied was from the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet. It says that God sent Jesus Christ "into the world to show us how to live meaningful and happy lives and experience eternal joy after this life." The term "meaningful" stood out to me. I want to have a meaningful life. A meaningful life is more than going through the motions. It's a life of continual progression. A meaningful life is an abundant life. I know that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to have a meaningful, and abundant, life. That means a happy life here as a family and in the eternities as a family.


Love Always, Zach