2 Months Out!

Good Morning!

Today marks my 2 month mark on the mission. It is my second 'click day' (because I entered the MTC on the 1st, my click day is the 1st of every month). It also marks the end of my first transfer. I've been in the field for 6 weeks! Life is crazy!

There are two awesome experiences I have had this last week I want to share with you.

First Experience: We went to an appointment for a first lesson with a member with us, she wasn't home, so we knocked on her neighbor's door down the hall in the apartment complex. A girl, about 20 probably going to college, opened the door and I said "We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have a message about Jesus Christ we would like to share with you. Would you be interested?" She said yes and welcomed us in. We talked for about 5-10 minutes about the basic summary of the Book of Mormon and what we believe. She told us that she was expecting a child in 8 months and she was looking for a faith to strengthen her child. She didn't look like she was pregnant at all. The cool part of this experience was that when we opened the door, I had the thought come into my head, "say we have a unique message about families." As I said before, I didn't say that, but God gave us a second chance to talk to her. And see that it was the spirit telling me to say that to her. But I thought twice about it and said what I thought made sense. But we got her number, and although she wasn't there for the return appointment we set up, she seemed genuinely interested and so we are going to try again this week.

Second Experience: A week and a half ago I had the thought to put a copy of the Spanish Book of Mormon into my backpack. I figured, "why not? it's just a little more weight." After I did I didn't really think about it again. When we were heading to an appointment with a Less-Active, I saw a man and had the thought "go talk to him." I ignored it and then we went and knocked on the door of this Less-Active. He wasn't home, so we went to go back to the car and I was backing Elder Flint when this man I saw before came up to us. He told us that he was told in thought "to go and talk to these men about God." So he came up to us. He told us that he was 70, and he was nearing death. He is a Mexican man and he was headed to Mexico the next morning for 15 days. He asked us to come by when he got home. He knew about the devil and that the devil has angels. Because God knew this experience was going to come, he told me days earlier to put the Spanish Book of Mormon in my backpack, I followed the thought, that I didn't realize was the spirit at the time, and was able to place that Book of Mormon. God gave me a second chance in this scenario as well to help one of His children and to show me He is talking to me.

The Lord is Always talking to us. Especially after we have had the opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost. But even before that, we have the opportunity to feel the Light of Christ and to experience "the power of the Holy Ghost" (Moroni 10:5, emphasis added).

What exactly is the "Light of Christ?" Elder David A. Bednar explains it beautifully and simply in a three-part series of Mormon Messages called "Patterns of Light." 

Patterns of Light: The Light of Christ (part one)

http://mormonchannel.org/mormonmessages?v=1737858982001

Patterns of Light: Discerning Light (part two)

http://mormonchannel.org/mormonmessages?v=1737858984001

Patterns of Light: Spirit of Revelation (part three)

http://mormonchannel.org/mormonmessages?v=1737858986001

Preach My Gospel, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' Missionary Training Manual, describes the Light of Christ as thus (pg 90):

   A person is capable of receiving spiritual guidance before being baptized and confirmed. This spiritual influence begins with the Light of Christ, which “is given to every man, that he may know good from evil” (Moroni 7:16; see also verses 14–19).

   “The light of Christ is just what the words imply: enlightenment, knowledge, and an uplifting, ennobling, persevering influence that comes upon mankind because of Jesus Christ. . . .
   “The light of Christ should not be confused with the personage of the Holy Ghost, for the light of Christ is not a personage at all. Its influence is preliminary to and preparatory to one’s receiving the Holy Ghost. The light of Christ will lead the honest soul who ‘hearkeneth to the voice’ to find the true gospel and the true Church and thereby receive the Holy Ghost” (Bible Dictionary, “Light of Christ,” 725; see also D&C 84:46–47).
   President Boyd K. Packer said, “It is important for a . . . missionary . . . to know that the Holy Ghost can work through the Light of Christ. A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or a child. Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. The gospel will have a familiar ‘ring’ to them” (“The Light of Christ,” address delivered at the seminar for new mission presidents, 22 June 2004, 2).

I hope we can all see the Light of Christ at work in our lives, and strive to follow it! Listen to Jacob's advice in the Book of Mormon. Read Jacob chapter 6 verse 12.

Remember to S.M.I.L.E.! (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi chapter 9 verse 39)

I love you all! And God loves you more!

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

    D&C 6:34, 36

Doubt Not, Fear Not.