One week of solid Miracles! - April 15, 2012

The only sure things in life are birth, death, and taxes!

 

Thought I would commemorate tax day with a quote from one of the founding fathers. :) It is tax day right? I know it has always been April 15th, up until last year at least, who knows what is going to happen in this crazy changing world we live in.

 

But anyway, Life is wonderful here in Des Moines! The Law of the Harvest is incredible! The Corn Row parable:

As you are going along a cornrow, there are seedling stalks, small stalks, tall green stalks, white stalks, and brown stalks. These stalks represent people. Seedling stalks have had a seed planted, but their progress is just beginning. Small stalks have been planted and are experiencing growth. Tall green stalks have experienced quite a lot of growth, but they are not quite ready to pluck. White stalks, the corn has arrived and is ready for picking! Brown stalks have died and have gone the way of the world.

As members of the church, we are the farmers planting and growing the corn. We plant seeds in the hearts of people and these people make progress and growth in the gospel (see Alma 32). There are two different roles that members of the Church take in this parable: The members cultivate the land and tend to the growing corn; The missionaries are the harvesters of the ready-to-harvest corn.

 

The members have a much wider reach than the guys-in-suits do. The members have friends that are not members of the church that they know from work, school, sports, and everyday life. The missionaries go around every day, all the time, talking about Jesus Christ. The members, if they are keeping the commandments of God, have the unique ability to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into every aspect of their lives. As they meet others and cultivate friendships, their friends and acquaintances will naturally ask them what makes them different or what makes them do what they do. This is a natural entrance into sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They love their friends, watch them grow, and alert the missionaries when they are ripe for the picking. We have to be patient with this process, for we cannot force the seeds of faith to grow any faster than the person will let them.

Missionaries on the other hand, wear suits all the time, usually ride bikes or busses or walk, and they always have a Book of Mormon or a card to hand out. They are seasonal workers that don't stick around for extended periods of time. Therefore, the missionaries must focus their work on the elect (see D&C 29:7). These pairs of people are intimitading to the typical passerby. These passerby "are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it" (D&C 123:12). They are not keen to talk to these people as they often think, "I am not ready for this," or "I am good where I'm at."

When missionaries and members are able to work together, the members are able to help the corn grow and watch after it, and the missionaries are able to spend their precious time in the gathering of souls. They have been specially called and set apart to gather. They have been special tools to be of an asset to the "marvelous work" of the Lord.

I hope you are all able to help cultivate those around whom you live and live a Christ-centered, Gospel-centered life, "be[ing ...] an example of the believers" (1 Tim 4:12). I love you all and know that you will and are doing these things!

 

This is the center of the work of Elder Hess and myself in the Des Moines area. We have been leaving record of those who weren't ready to bloom yet, and we have focused our efforts on gathering those whom the Lord has prepared by means (seeAlma 37:7).

We had a man by the name of Tayo, and his 5 children (one is not of baptismal age), come to church, attend a baptism, and accept an invitation to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized on April 27th. They were a referral from some missionaries on the west side of Des Moines. Tayo and his youngest child came to the closing session of General Conference last week. He enjoyed the words of the apostles and prophets and took notes to apply them in his life. His children love church and enjoy the teachings of Jesus Christ we have shared with them. It is truly a miracle from heaven that they are ready-to-harvest and that their hearts are true. In their desires to follow their Savior Jesus Christ.

A member from our ward told us on March 1st that he has some friends that were almost ready to harvest. He told us on April 6th, that they were ready to be taught, and he had invited them over to his home. They are very religious people and they "do what God tells us to do." We invited them to be baptized on May 18th and they said that they would if that was what God tells them to do. They were prepared by experiences in their life such as bad health, and that his father got cancer and that he passed away on April 1st.

Even with Elder Hess being sick through Wednesday of this week, the Lord blessed us with miracles as members in our area are preparing and cultivating the corn and as we are doing our best to live this Law. After all, the Laws of God are commandments we have to follow with divine obedience.

 

One quote that the Spirit blessed me with on Saturday was "the Gospel applied changes lives. I know it will change your life as it has changed mine." Since I was prompted to say that, I have thought a lot about it and have been thinking, 'has the gospel really changed my life?' I know it has made a huge difference in my life. I have been thinking though, has it changed me? Has my nature been changed through the merits of Christ and His Atonement? I feel I am letting it change me a little bit more each day and I am recognizing growth and recognizing specific places where I can do better, and where I am doing better. I have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost more in my day and felt impressions more as I have been doing my best to follow them. I truly enjoy the blessing in my life that this is!

By faith, diligence, humble prayers, and giving thanks unto God, we truly invite the Holy Spirit of Promise into our lives, to guide and direct us in all that we do (see 1 Ne 16:29, 32). To also receive confirming witnesses when we are doing the Will of God. Follow the example of Nephi; "thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey" (2 Nephi 33:15).

 

That is my invitation to you all.

 

Your Brother in the Lord,
Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

    D&C 6:34, 36

Doubt Not, Fear Not.
Nothing Less than 550

General Conference - April 8, 2013

Treat others like you want to be treated!

 

I don't have a lot of time this week to write, but I do love you all.

 

If any of you were expecting the awesome summary of General Conference I delivered six months ago, I am sorry to disappoint, but I forgot my notebook at the apartment this morning. I would like to say I loved it! It was incredible. I received some very specific revelation as to what I need to be changing in my life and how to change it and what to do next. I hope you all were able to have your questions answered and to receive your very own personal revelation. Please visit gc.lds.org to catch up on the incredible messages you missed!

 

I am going to start, within the next few weeks, a study of the most recent words of living prophets as outlined in this article from the April 2013 Ensign. I am going to pick one or two conference talks to study that week, then study them for the next week. I invite you to join me in my studies with studies of your own. The next week, I will share some of the insights that I was blessed to receive and I would love if you were to share yours with me as well. You can accumulate a few weeks of these then send a letter to me if you don't want to use postage up every week. As a reminder, my address is:

Elder Zachary R. McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

8515 Douglas Ave Ste. 19

Urbandale, IA 50322

I have been sick, but I am getting better. Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes!

 

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

    D&C 6:34, 36

Doubt Not, Fear Not.
Nothing Less than 550

Forming a Fresh View - April 2, 2013

If they are not willing to act, move on!

 

This last week has been great! Hope your Easter was great! Time to jump in to the nitty gritty.

 

We were asked to meet with our Bishop and coordinate what is happening in our area. Bishop Dyer is incredible! He is 29, a lawyer, and blessed his 5th child in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. He is very simple, direct, and to the point, he loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he is the perfect Bishop for a ward as diverse as ours. We had a report with information about the Recent Converts, Less-Actives, and Investigators we are working with. Of our dozen or so investigators, only 4 or 5 are progressing. Generally this coordination is supposed to focus on Recent Converts. Immediately, he started teaching us by the Spirit about how we were working. He talked about an experience he had early on as a lawyer where his clients had not been paying what they were supposed to, so he was working many hours for free. At this time, he was miserable going to work each day. He described that he let one person into his client base that didn't pay the amount needed up front. After that, it was much easier to let others like that into his clientele. One rotten apple spoiled the bunch. He then related this perfectly to our teaching pool (the investigators that are currently being taught). He told us that we can't let our teaching pool be a public pool. It needs to only be a place for the elect. Doctrine and Covenants Section 29 verse 7 states "And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts." The elect are ready for the Gospel. The elect are those that receive the Gospel and the ordinances of Baptism and Receiving the Holy Ghost willingly. He told us to change our teaching pool from a "public pool" to a "Teaching Kingdom." Only can the clean be received into the Kingdom of God (see Alma 7:21, Book of Mormon).

 

Lately we have been bogged down in our area by those non-progressing investigators. We implemented this in our area the following day and since last Wednesday we have dropped a two families that weren't progressing. We love them and we want to see them succeed, but you can't force anyone to do anything. It was sad to drop them, but we both feel that it was definitely the right thing to do. We feel a lot more freed up and now have the opportunity to harvest. "The field is white already to harvest," we cannot spend our time watching plants grow. We should stop in and check on them, but only when they are ripe should we spend our time harvesting. For you can't really call it harvesting unless you have something to show for your work. 

We had Easter dinner with a less-active member who is coming back to activity and her nonmember extended family. We shared the video "Come See the Light" (watch it on reflectionsofchrist.org) with her nonmember brother and sister-in-law. We preceded it by giving an brief overview of the Book of Mormon and talked about Christ's resurrection and Easter. It is incredible the Spirit this video brings normally, but especially in reflection to the Savior and His Atonement. They felt the Spirit and both requested copies of the Book of Mormon. They both read the bible very regularly and were open to listening. We hope to see them at General Conference this weekend! We taught her brother Jay when I first got to the area 3 months ago, he was not very willing to listen about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration then. It is a miracle! The Spirit is wonderful thing and God will prepare the hearts of His children to be ready, we have to move along and help them when they are!

 

Easter Sunday was wonderful! Fast and Testimony meeting was particularly full of the Spirit. I felt impressed to share my testimony about something I learned earlier in the week. In Preach My Gospel, Chapter 3, Lesson 3, it says "Repentance includes forming a fresh view of God, ourselves, and the world." This has stuck with me. I am constantly thinking of forming a fresh view. If I am not, I am complacent. I have need to repent daily, as we all do. But it is in daily repentance, turning our will to God, and consecration that the work of God progresses.

This is my invitation to you all: to pray and ask God, and seek answers through the Book of Mormon, about how you can "form a fresh view" of yourselves. It is tough, it takes humility, but it is possible. After all, if I can do it, you can do it. God loves you and wants you to succeed! I promise you that if you watch and listen and ponder over General Conference this weekend, your answer, specific to your individual needs, will come. I love you all so much and I hope you enjoy General Conference!

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

    D&C 6:34, 36

Doubt Not, Fear Not.
Nothing Less than 550