Press Forward!

February 20, 2012…Hello Family,


Many blessings are coming to us here in St. Augustine. There are so many things I could write about, but time is so limited! The whole week went well. One very satisfying thing is that we were able to teach many lessons to members and investigators. The week goes so much better when we teach a lot of lessons.
    After all, that's what I have been called to do!

We were blessed to find some more new investigators. We also started teaching Zay again. This time we're going to do a better job teaching to his understanding and at his pace. Repentance is such a wonderful blessing...

The new investigators are really great. One is Tessa and she is the non-member wife to a less-active member. They have three kids. One of them is eight and will be getting baptized within the next month. Hopefully Tessa will be able to get baptized with him. They're a great family. We had two lessons with them. After the first lesson they committed to reading the Book of Mormon as a family daily and praying together. That was on Monday. We then taught them again on Friday and followed up with their reading. They had already seen blessings coming from daily family scripture study and prayer. Both the member, Doug, and Tessa mentioned that their kids had been getting along better and that there was more peace in the home. We then shared a short lesson about the many blessings that come to families as they study and live the gospel together. It was a short yet powerful lesson.

The other new investigator is Chris. He is a single man that is trying to completely change his life. He's very different than our other investigators. He will have a lot more temporal struggles to overcome, but is so sincere and has pure intentions. He is another good person that went down the wrong path and is now fighting an uphill battle to get on the right path. I know he will be able to do it as he relies upon the Lord.

That's the beauty of the gospel. No matter what we've done or where we are there is always hope. There is always a way to get back on the right path. We can take comfort in knowing that we are not alone in that quest. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are there to help us. To lift us when we are feeling weak. They are there to strengthen us when we feel we no longer have the strength to press forward. I've felt that lift and strength so many times, and I pray that each of you may feel it as you go throughout your daily lives, especially in these trying times.

With the deaths of Grandma Davis and Grandpa Snow some of your heads may be hanging low. But be of good cheer, and take comfort in the knowledge that we can be with them again. Until that time let us, "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." -2Nephi 31:20


Love Always, Zach