Zach's Words from the Mission Field of Dreams: It's May Already?!

The end is near.

I can hardly believe it is already May. Writing the month of May in my journal and study journal just does not feel right. This last Thursday marked 21 months of me being a full-time missionary and 13 weeks left as a full-time missionary. Last Friday was international Tuba day, and yesterday was international Star Wars day (May the Fourth be with you). 13 years ago today I was baptized. Last week Marinda got to Oklahoma for her mission. So last week was a week of landmarks.

We did some missionary work this week. We were fed much more this week than we usually are, so that was nice.

Our ward's family history fair was on Saturday. It was incredibly well attended. 58+ members and 43 nonmembers. It helped a lot of the nonmembers to realize we are Christian and to know what is in our building. It was a fantastic opportunity.

Yesterday during 3rd hour, Hermana Law, Hermana Loureiro, Elder Schwendiman, and I were able to teach the youth "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" (Preach My Gospel, Chapter 3: Lesson 3). They will be teaching members posing as investigators on Wednesday for mutual. It took a few minutes for them to warm up and to become engaged in the teaching experience, but they will hopefully study and learn and prepare well for Wednesday, remembering to bear testimony.

We had a some fun times this week. both as our companionship and then with our Zone Leaders on exchanges. The field is white, already to harvest. Read the Book of Mormon daily.

Tim, one of our investigators, will be baptized in a few weeks. He was interviewed and passed, but he doesn't feel quite ready. He is an incredibly intelligent man and wants to know more before he is baptized, so we will continue to work with him. He is so close! We are so excited for him to continue to progress.

Steve, the man that read the Book of Mormon all the way through, will also be baptized soon. He even called the ward his family. He wants to integrate better and have them know him better before he gets baptized. He comes to church every week now though!

Something that has struck me this week is how simple everything actually is. The gospel is so simple. Missionary life is so simple. I love simplicity. So does Alma. He said, "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls" (Alma 37:6-7). Enjoy the simplicity and commit to live better today!

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

Doubt Not, Fear Not.

Pictures:

- 2 awesome pictures of lightning I got from a storm about a month ago

- Me looking through my water bottle. I look pretty goofy.

- This robin looked at the camera right as I took the picture!

- Our wonderful district!