Hastening the Work of Salvation - June 9, 2014

Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.

- Doctrine & Covenants 88:73 

Hastening the Work of Salvation

The Iowa City Stake Conference took place over the last two days. The Saturday Evening Session and the Sunday Morning General Session both focused on Hastening the Work of Salvation. If you have been familiar with the direction that God is directing His prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, to guide the church to hasten the work of salvation, fulfilling the scripture I opened my email with. President Monson said, "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work."

On Thursday we had President and Sister Jensen attend our Zone Training Meeting and train us. President Jensen also talked of hastening the work. Elder Nathaniel R. Payne, an Area Seventy, attended our Stake Conference. He spoke about hastening the work. He also gave some incredible insights about Children. How we are all children of God, all brothers and sisters, and we should act in that way. We are no better than anyone else, but we should always work to "help and lift another," in this we find strength beyond our own, and the Savior at our side (see Hymn #220). With Him at our side, we become more like Him. Sometimes I think about if the Savior stood beside me, if he was my missionary companion, would I change? How would I act?

An interesting question posed by Sister Jensen to us, that her Stake President years ago posed to her, "If you were to die right now, what would keep you out of the Celestial Kingdom?"

Tim and Steve both passed their baptismal interviews yesterday! We are looking forward to their baptisms on Saturday!

No matter what comes our way, have hope, have faith. God won't delay blessings, unless he sees a better way.

PMG pg 117 says:

"Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement. The scriptures often describe hope in Jesus Christ as the assurance that you will inherit eternal life in the celestial kingdom."

May we hope and move forward!

Wishing will not make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion.

- President Thomas S. Monson

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

  Doubt Not, Fear Not.

The Power of the Priesthood - June 2, 2014

It has been a straining week here in Ottumwa!

Our district is seeing phenomenal success! In our 4 areas we have 12 people set for baptism in the next 6 weeks! When the Lord blesses us, Satan tries ever harder to dampen our spirits.

In the last week, the missionaries in our district have seen great challenges physically. With one trip to the ER, several trips to the doctor, and several priesthood blessings. I have had the opportunity to exercise my priesthood 4 times in the last 7 days for the blessing and healing of my missionary friends. It is a blessed opportunity, but it is also sad that our physical state is weakened.

My mind reflects on the words of the prophet Mormon "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God" (Moroni 9:6).

Know that the Priesthood is real. I know it. I see it bless the lives of me, my companion, members and non-members and my missionary sisters alike. The Spirit is real and talks through worthy vessels. May we be led and guided as in D&C 68:4. We can be pure.

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

  Doubt Not, Fear Not.

Ottumwa, the Land of the Mustang - May 27, 2014

Good things come in twos! 

(And probably lots of other combinations, but we'll go with twos for my purposes here. :) )

The first two: it was another incredible week! Every week being a missionary, every day being a missionary is a miracle. It is fantastic. Never have I experienced so many highs and lows in my life. We come to appreciate the good as opposition comes. This week was pretty much all amazing though!

The second two: our district had two baptisms this week! One of them was the first baptism that branch had seen in years! Needless to say that miracles are happening here in Southeast Iowa!

The third two: Missionary companionships, they are the best, enough said. "And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God" (Doctrine & Covenants 42:6).

I don't know that I have many more twos, but I have some other great experiences to share! :)

We found the Frazier Family by going through our old potential investigator records in the area book. They are very awesome and are desirous to come to church because the church they attend now has gone from 85 members to 5 members in the last 2 years. We taught them and they both said they would be baptized! :)

We also taught Trish, the woman who I talked about last week. We taught her twice actually, so I guess there is another two. We invited her to be baptized on July 19th and she said she would work towards it!

We taught Tim twice this week too! (Maybe I shouldn't have ended with the two's so soon...) We reset his baptismal date for June 14th and now he is working towards that. He shared a deeper concern with us on Friday so now we are working to help him with that!

Steve Graham is now 2 weeks smoke free! It's a miracle! (Still with the twos? Come on Elder McKenzie!) He is super solid and we are excited for him to be baptized as well!

We had Zone Conference last Thursday. I gave my departing testimony. My two words of advice were: Stay Hydrated, and be loyal to your leaders. I have seen a huge part of both of these in my mission. Serving as a district leader it has been a blessing to serve around missionaries who support me. It is truly a strength to see them trust me. Two quotes another missionary shared: "Use the handbook, they'll call you innovative" and "A mission is a preschool for eternity."

Create Success in your lives! Elder M. Russell Ballard tells us how in the talk I have attached. You don't have to be a full-time missionary for this to apply to you!

My companion saw Jim Carrey on exchanges (he gave the commencement address at Maharishi University in Fairfield.) When he saw that, our other zone leader and I went to set a date with one investigator, but ended up with one new investigator and two baptismal dates.

Two words to close: Charity, Joy.

My joy is full as I serve others and I see the differences made in their lives. The reassurances that tell us we are doing the right thing often don't come until much later, and almost always unexpectedly. I had my life touched and my value to God manifested through small things that I did that others shared with me have made a big difference in their lives. Live to be the person God wants you to be. It will always be better than the person you can be without Him. Two is better than one.

This is God's work, let Him do it.

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

  Doubt Not, Fear Not.

 

 

A Closer Walk with God - May 19, 2014

"The healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ—whether it removes our burdens or strengthens us to endure and live with them like the Apostle Paul—is available for every affliction in mortality."

- Dallin H. Oaks, "He Heals the Heavy Laden," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 5–6

This week has been an incredible experience. It has been one of the hardest weeks of my mission, but it has also been very rewarding. This week we did a lot of service, and we did a lot of looking for members on the rolls that we don't know about. We have found a lot out and did some great work with that!

This week we had the opportunity to go to the temple on Saturday! It was a great experience. I love the teachings of the holy endowment and the reminder of the covenants that I have entered into.

The mantle and burden we are called to carry as the Lord's Anointed Missionaries can be very heavy. This week I felt overwhelmed by the call and all that is our responsibility to do. Things weren't working out in my time, but the Lord worked them out and everything fell together beautifully. Sometimes it is the load that brings us to Christ. Elder Bednar spoke so magnificently on this subject at the most recent General Conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/bear-up-their-burdens-with-ease?lang=eng

Along with Elder Bednar, "I invite you to study, pray, ponder, and strive to learn more about the Savior’s Atonement as you assess your individual load." "Two guiding questions can be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load: “Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck? Is the load I am carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction so I ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?” "

As the saying goes, every storm cloud has a silver lining. Here are some that we experienced just yesterday, as we did about 8 miles of walking to contact our investigators and these lost members. All these happened in the span of 5 hours!

• We saw a beaver run across the road. I think that is the first time in my life that I saw a wild beaver!
• A few minutes after that, we knocked on a door and the man answering was an older man. He said very kindly that he had company and that he was trying to sell his house, so his life was pretty crazy at the moment. "But I have something to tell you," he said. "One time one of the Cardinals (a high-up leader in the Catholic church) went to the Pope and said 'I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?' The Pope responded 'the good news.' So the Cardinal said, 'Jesus is on the phone.' The Pope said, 'Ok, now what's the bad news?' The Cardinal responds, 'He's calling from Salt Lake.' " How great is that? A random man whose door we knocked on told us a joke, without us introducing that we were even from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Needless to say, it made our day!
• We found out where the Christian Africans live in Ottumwa. We met some Muslim Africans yesterday and when we asked them if anyone they knew would like to talk about Jesus Christ, they told us where "many people who would be willing to talk about Jesus and they are kind" were. People from Africa are very humble and kind people! So we are excited.
• We knocked on this door, and a 9-year-old kid answered it. We asked if his parents were home, he said no. So we gave him a card and asked him to have his parents give us a call. Well, about 20 minutes later, we get a call from an unknown number. A lady named Trish called, telling us we just talked to her son and left this number. We asked if she would want to learn more about Jesus Christ. She said yes! We have an appointment with her today at 5! The Lord works in mysterious ways!

I love you all and I want to leave you with this thought from Elder Nelson, in addition to my testimony that God loves us and we experience trials and doubts to grow our faith.

 

 

"I recognize that, on occasion, some of our most fervent prayers may seem to go unanswered. We wonder, ‘Why?’ I know that feeling! I know the fears and tears of such moments. But I also know that our prayers are never ignored. Our faith is never unappreciated. I know that an all-wise Heavenly Father’s perspective is much broader than is ours. While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential. If we pray to know His will and submit ourselves to it with patience and courage, heavenly healing can take place in His own way and time."

- Russell M. Nelson, “Jesus Christ—the Master Healer,” Ensign, Nov. 2005, 86

Love,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

  Doubt Not, Fear Not.

 

Transfer #16 - May 12, 2014

Same Area, New Companion

I am delighted to still be serving in Ottumwa! My new companion is Elder Epperson. He is 5' 10-11" and 165 lbs. He grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada and went to high school in Bountiful, Utah. He has been out for 17.5 months. He served with Elder Fiso and Elder Peterson, two of my companions. So we have some common links in our missions.

Elder Schwendiman left me to go to West Des Moines. The members we Skyped with yesterday actually saw him with his new companion when they were in Des Moines Saturday.

This week was great! We were able to meet with Tim twice and address some of his concerns. On Thursday, he shared with us he was hesitant to be baptized and he wasn't sure what that reason was. We asked him to think about what it was. Yesterday after church, he shared with us why he thinks he is hesitating. A good portion of his extended family are members of another church. They were teaching him and trying to get him to believe what they believe and join their church. He felt that they were too aggressive and he said the experience was negative overall. So we committed him to read only the Book of Mormon (we have given him quite a few materials to read to answer his other questions) and to pray about it to receive a witness. We will follow up with him tomorrow!

Steve told us he was going to quit smoking this week! We haven't even talked about the Word of Wisdom yet! He is great! He has been coming to church for about 6 weeks now and he is enjoying it. It is amazing to see the Lord work in the lives of other people completely independent of when we are there with them!

I enjoyed Skyping with my family yesterday, and I was able to call Marinda on her mission in OKC too! It is really a blessing to have such an incredible, missionary-minded, family! My Mom has always been an example of being a missionary. My Dad has always talked about his mission in high regard. Marinda is now serving! Michael is preparing for one! Matthew was a missionary for Halloween last year. And Eve is just adorable. One of the most precious moments of my final call home from the mission field was when Paul (my 7-year-old brother) told me "I am being a mini-missionary. I talked to my friend about church and he is going to come to church." My family is also having the missionaries teach someone in their home. What an incredible blessing to know that my family is doing what I'm doing among their own lives.

Some of my favorite words on the subject are from our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson:

"The holy scriptures contain no proclamation more relevant, no responsibility more binding, no instruction more direct than the injunction given by the resurrected Lord as He appeared in Galilee to the eleven disciples. Said He, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.” Some of you here today will yet remember the words of President David O. McKay, who phrased the familiar “Every member a missionary!”

These quotes decorate the back of my 2nd to last planner:

"We were not placed on this earth to walk alone."

- President Thomas S. Monson

"[Reach] out with love to share the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. ... It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord's errand."

- Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

My solemn testimony that this church is true and that Jesus Christ is at its head, and we must share it with the world I leave with you this day.

Every Member a Missionary,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

  Doubt Not, Fear Not.

Explanations of pictures:

Elder Schwendiman and I, I was only going to send one to you but I sent both.

A John Deere tractor with some equipment to till and plant farmland, right on the highway. Only in Iowa.

A caricature I got at a ward activity. I was told I look like Obama...

It's May Already?! - May 5, 2014

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! 

Top row from left to right: Hermanas Loureiro, Law, Kimzey, and Zamora

Bottom row from left to right: Elders Weilenmann, Kilpatrick, Schwendiman, McKenzie

 - What in the world is a jackfruit?!?

Spiritual Edification - April 28, 2014

Greetings again from Iowa!

That might be getting a little old as I've been writing to you from Iowa for the last 16 months (the others were written in Missouri and the MTC). But, I love it, so you get to hear from me still. In Iowa. :)

This last week was a great one. Elder Schwendiman and I got back a little more in the missionary groove this week. We taught lots of lessons and really worked with our recent converts to make sure they are still solid. Kitt, who was baptized in December, is awesome. He had fallen off track a bit over the last month. We met with him about a week and a half ago and he got right on back, reading and praying every day! Doug, who was baptized conference weekend, got back in town and he will hopefully receive the Aaronic Priesthood next Sunday! Keith, who was baptized and confirmed just after Thanksgiving last year, is going to receive the Aaronic Priesthood too! It's really exciting!

We were able to find a new investigator named Kim last Tuesday. Sadly, she texted us Wednesday saying our church wasn't the church for her. She is going to get back to her old commitment to following Christ though, which is great!

District meetings are one way that kind of reflect where I am at spiritually for the week. I pray to plan them, then give instruction in them, and conduct them. This last week we had an incredible meeting with the feelings described in Doctrine & Covenants 50:22, "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." I love spiritual learning, teaching, and edification.

We had Ward Conference yesterday. We had probably 20 visitors from the Stake including the entire Stake Presidency. It was really neat. Our bishop gave an inspired address on the Prodigal Son. I was able to play a piece I have recently arranged for the special musical number. Brother Topolinski, the recently reactivated member I spoke about a few weeks ago, bore a great testimony. Our Stake President then shared some marvelous council and testimony about anchors. It was really neat because all of the messages shared by stake leaders were based around having an anchor. If you read the First Presidency Home Teaching message for this month, President Uchtdorf talks about having a firm anchor. I'm glad the stake leaders are focusing on what the Prophet and his counselors are focusing on.

Another highlight of the week was I finished the book Jesus The Christ by Elder James E. Talmage yesterday. It is an incredible book! I learned so much since reading it on my mission.

This might come as a surprise to some of you, and it won't come as a surprise to others, but I have a hard time being quiet and allowing myself and others to think. This week I have spent a lot more time in quiet and pondering and reflecting back to my life and my mission and trying to see what God wants me to learn and apply in my life. God has blessed me with many gifts, it is my responsibility to listen to the Spirit and follow it to find out how I can develop these talents and seek more to bless the lives of others. To truly become and stay a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have 3 months of full-time service to the Lord to make patterns to become a disciple and to say "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life" (3 Nephi 5:13).

Love the Lord and serve Him the very best you can,

Elder Zachary R McKenzie

Iowa Des Moines Mission

D&C 6:34, 36

  Doubt Not, Fear Not.