SUMMER IN THE CITY

When I submitted my mission papers...I never thought that I would be called to serve in my home state of Utah  but here I am, and Summer in the City is actually not too bad. My original call isn't to Salt Lake City, but I was reassigned here while waiting for my Visa. I have now been out almost 5 Months and I am ending my 2nd transfer this Wednesday. It has had it's Ups' and Downs' just like any mission experience, but the Up's have definitely outnumbered the Downs'. 

MY COMPANIONS

I am currently serving with Elder Revoir and Elder Maldonado as a Trio. Unfortunately Elder Potts received his Visa and left earlier this morning for Argentina, changing us from 2 companion-ships to 1 trio. Actually, it is far from unfortunate! Elder Potts was an awesome missionary here in SLC and is going to be even greater down in South America. I learned a lot from him and it was a pleasure being with him for the last 2 transfers. Elder Revoir is so awesome! He is from Florida and adds that southern flavor to the mission life. Which which is then Spiced up even more by Elder Maldonado who is from Pachuca, Mexico. We get along really well and I am excited for this next transfer. We will find out on Tuesday whether or not any of us are getting transfered, so I am excited to see what happens and I hope I am able to stay with them. Who knows? Also, there are 45 new missionaries coming into this mission on wednesday! 13 of them are new "Visa Waiters" The mission is splitting in Half on the 1st of July, so some of those missionaries are going to go to the "Salt Lake City East" Mission. That is why the number of new missionaries is so big.

THE WORK

We currently have a pretty good group of investigators that we are working with and a whole lot of Less-Active people that we are working with as well. Now that Elder Potts is gone, we are going to be half as effective because we are in a trio instead of 2 companion-ships, but that is not going to slow us down too much. Yesterday at church we had 77 people in our Branch which is awesome! A couple weeks ago we only had about 20...so we have been doing really well at helping people come back to church and re-kindling that spirit that they felt when they were baptized. We haven't had any baptisms lately (we have been working on building up our branch again) but I have faith that in the next few weeks we will have some. Besides, seeing a less-active come back to church is just as rewarding as seeing an investigator be baptized. We are helping them get back on the path of following Christ! 

Everyone always asks, "Is there a lot of work to do in SLC?" Which is something that I kinda asked myself as-well when I was re-assigned here, but it wasn't long before I realized just how much there is to do here! There are so many people here to teach, the only hard part is that we have to find them amongst the "Members" and the "Anti's" We don't do any tracting (knocking on random doors) because most the time it is either a member that invites us in for some food or something (which is awesome and we love members that help the missionaries out) but it takes a lot of time away from us that we could be using to teach people. Or on the other hand it is someone who just wants to Argue with the missionaries....so we get a lot of refferals and work as much as we can with those.

WEATHER

Man...I didn't realize how hot it is in Utah until I walk around in a shirt, tie, and long pants all day. It is a little different lifestyle than my usual Utah Summer on the river, but it has been nice! I am getting that super awesome "Missionary Tan" that everyone is jealous of. On P-days when we get to wear a t-shirt to play basketball or something, it looks like I am still wearing a collared shirt because my neck is so white. It is pretty funny but it is all worth it! And the best part is that by the time I get to Argentina  It will be about spring time there and be perfect weather. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

So the last couple weeks were a little bit frustrating for me because 1 by 1 the other Visa-Waiters received their Visa's. I kept thinking that I would be the next person to get a call from the mission office but it never happened. This morning, about half of the Visa Waiters that received their Visa's headed off to Argentina (Including Elder Potts). I thought for sure that I was gonna be on a flight to Argentina right now....that isn't the case. Instead I am still here in Utah. Anyway, I am getting to the thought I promise. Yesterday during my studying, I came across the word "Adversity" and it really stuck out to me. The definition of adversity in the dictionary is : a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune. "As part of Heavenly Father's plan of redemption, all people experience adversity during their lifetime. Trials, disappointments, sadness, sickness, and heartache are a difficult part of life, but with the help of the Lord they can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and progress." There have been a lot of experiences in my life where I have felt a little disappointed or frustrated, and sometimes it was very hard to find the positive in those situations...But, one thing that I have learned on my mission is that it is impossible to teach people about the "Plan of Happiness" when you yourself are not happy. For example, there is a family that we are teaching who loves when the missionaries come over because we are always so happy and it makes them happy. But one day when we went over to talk to them (the day Elder Potts got his Visa and I didn't) I was feeling a little bit down. After only a few minutes, one of them asked, "Why aren't you smiling? You are always smiling!" I told them why, and they said, "Oh don't worry, it will come soon enough." I tried my best to smile but it was difficult. Shortly after we left, I was thinking about what she had asked me and the reason I told her and it hit me. I am called by an Apostle of the Lord to be a missionary and a Disciple of Jesus Christ and it doesn't matter where I am, it only matters what I am doing! That was when I realized that I am here for a reason. And that the best way to enjoy it, was to be happy and help others be happy! That choice has helped me so much  and it helped me to know that My Purpose as a missionary is to Help Others come unto Christ and Find Happiness, and that can be done from ANYWHERE! :)  In this life, it is all about making choices.Choices that will bring you more happiness. I challenge everyone that reads this to make a choice right now about how you are going to respond to Adversity. "Each person's success and happiness, both now and in the eternities, depend largely on his or her responses to the difficulties of life." We are all going to have difficulties and we are all going to have to choose how we respond to it!  I know that we will be blessed as we remain faithful through our trials and choose to rely on the Lord :)

I hope the best for everyone of my friends and family! And remember, "When things get too hard to stand....Kneel" Heavenly Father hears and will answer your prayers! I hope all of you are having an awesome summer!

Con Mucho Amor,

~Elder Zakariah Hazlett