Salutations!
Another week in the books. 7 months out! I can hardly believe it.
Yesterday, there was a regional conference that covered parts of 9 states! North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy, Linds S. Reeves Second Counselor in the General Relief Society, Elder Larry Echo Hawk of the Seventy, and Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke. It was a broadcast and it was amazing! All their talks seemed to magnify my studies from the morning of, it was really cool. Sadly, I don't remember all of the talks and the details, but I will include those in my email next week as I will bring my notes with me to the library.
Lots of room for improvement. That is one thing my mission has taught me. All of your weaknesses are magnified and brought out, it is up to us to solve them. That should be no reason to be scared of a mission. Missions are sacred times to do the Lord's work the Lord's way. On a mission, we have no worries about what is going on back home, how we are going to pay for housing/cars/food, where we are going to live, or what we are going to do. All of those things are taken care of for us, either before our mission by ourselves or loved ones, or on our mission by senior couples in the office. It is a time where we are able to just worry about others and their spiritual progression and a time for us to lean on the Lord and either come closer to Him or wallow in ourselves letting the devil win. It may seem that I have presented two extremes and I have. Either we work to live with God forever, or we consign ourselves to a life and eternity of endless wo (see Hel. 7:16; Hel. 12:26;Alma 9:11; Mosiah 3:25). Either you face your problems and correct them through the Atonement, or you don't.
I am striving to choose the higher path to live with God forever and to apply the Atonement in my life. I don't know about you, but I don't like misery. At all.
Words from the October 2012 General Conference:
"Do we want to be quitters, or do we want to be valiant servants in spite of all the opposition and evil in the world? Let us have the courage to stand up and be counted as true, devoted followers of Christ.”
"Will we “shrink” or “finish” the call upon our soul to do the will of the Father?"
I stand with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland when I say that "I’ve tried to speak of the redeeming manifestation of love, charity personified, which comes to us through the grace of Christ Himself. I have of necessity also spoken of el diablo, the diabolical one, ... And I have spoken of his desire to destroy us if he can."
But I love you all, and want you to become better because of Christ and the opportunity he has given us to repent and to change for the better. I hope we all take this opportunity.
Love, Your Missionary Friend,
Elder Zachary R McKenzie
Iowa Des Moines Mission
D&C 6:34, 36
Doubt Not, Fear Not.
Nothing Less than 550
Nothing Less than 550
No comments:
Post a Comment