Man, it has been another just super good week! This week is the week of the month that flies the quickest tho because we have several meetings to attend after the first Tuesday of each month. But before I even get to that I should start at the beginning.
Monday was another great p-day. It's so much harder to actually get some letters written when you are serving in a town where there is actually some stuff to do. It's super difficult but I pumped three good letters out. A little above average I would say for the location. We got together with the 3rd and 2nd Ward Elders to play some b-ball. It's a way fun group to get together with. I guess I should put a plug in here for my ankle. It is doing much better now. I have been "weaning" myself from the boot and have been doing my ankle exercises and it's going well. I think I am probably back to as normal as can be but it will never be the same. I have my 3rd appointment with Dr. Groen tomorrow so we will see where things are. My suspicion is that I will be released from his care. I am learning how to trust my ankle again. It's not easy to gain trust in something like that I have learned. For what once was appearing to be inevitably surgically fixed...I would consider it a miracle I am where I am. More to come after the appointment this week.
P-day ended well and Tuesday morning is where things started to get crazy. Every first Tuesday of the month, with minor exceptions, we have zone leader council. This time we all met in Iowa City and had a good meeting. We discussed our zone progress, whether or not we have achieved our three month baptismal goal, and also what our next three month goal will be. In the Des Moines Zone we did not reach our goal but I must say we are on the upward climb. When I was sent here, President told me I needed to fix the zone because it was not doing so well. We had zero people progressing towards baptism and we had just not much happening. It's come a long way. We have now 7 baptisms scheduled for February and March and more are progressing. Even in the area of Waukee, where we were struggling quite a bit for people to teach at one point, we are seeing some miracles happen. For example, we will be taking time out of our p-day today to teach people because we have so many to teach. The work is going great. We have a new family of 7 that has been to church for about 3 weeks straight. And another family of 4 that we are working with. Things are looking up in the Des Moines Zone. I'd love to say it was my influence but there are some great missionaries in this zone. I love them all.
Zone leader Council went until 5 and then we drove home and went to Panda Express for dinner with everyone in the west side of the mission. It was good to be with them. It's always nice to see other missionaries. It kind of boosts your confidence knowing that someone is out there struggling with you in your same efforts. I saw Elder Howard....I love that kid. I love our mission. I am going to miss it so much. On that note....I’m not sure who all is aware of this but with 9 months in Brazil and, as of Saturday this week, 9 months in Iowa....I am in my last quarter. I only have 6 months left. It hit me pretty hard that I have 4 transfers to go and I am home. Wow. That means that as of Saturday I am on the 6 months to sexy diet and exercise plan. =) By the way I am down 12 pounds for the year. Awesome! =)
We had two district meetings this week. Both of which went very well. Like I said before I love the Elders and Sisters that I serve with. Because of our diligence and effort here, president has awarded our zone with a zone p-day this upcoming Monday. We are going to be having a giant capture the flag nerf gun war! It's gonna be epic. I'm very excited for it. But the district meetings were awesome. We have two really good district leaders taking charge of their respective districts and doing really good work. It makes for a busy work tho to still carry a full proselyting week as well as a cumulative 15 hours of meetings. We survived it well tho.
We also had exchanges with the A.P.'s this week. I was with Elder Deaton who goes home this transfer. He's a great guy. We worked in the Waukee area and saw a lot of success. We determined to set some goals before we tracted Summit Street and set a goal with Heavenly Father that we would try to place three Book of Mormons and get two return appointments. The lord blesses his missionaries. We knocked the whole street of about 50 houses and placed 3 books as well as set up 2 return appointments this week and some for the week following. When working with and praying to the Lord...miracles happen. It was fantastic to be a part of.
Friday night and Saturday night we froze our bums off. It was about -20 with the wind chill. Not fun! The best part of it was when we left the house, Elder Fenn saw my boot in the closet and was like, "hey, can I wear this?" I thought he was crazy but he said he wanted to walk a mile in my shoes. Turns out we walked our normal path that night to the other side of town...we do this daily now...but we took Elder Fenn's iPod along that tracts steps and it’s actually 5.34 miles one way and 5.34 miles back. It's over ten miles!! No wonder I am losing weight! =) But now Elder Fenn can say he walked some miles in my shoes. He's a good kid! I love him.
I was asked this week to play a special musical number in church the end of this month....I’m looking forward to that!
Things I learned this week....
-Scarves are not fashion accessories as I once supposed. If I would have worn one, I would not have frozen my face off.
-Valentine's Day brings nearly as many packages into the office as Christmas! Haha
-Valentine's Day is really "National single awareness day" and let's be honest...who wants to be defined by what they lack? Not my favorite holiday!
This week I learned so much about time. It's funny because I have said in nearly every opening paragraph of my letters how crazy fast the time passes and this week I have gained some, but certainly not all, insights on why. Time moves at a fixed rate for us. It never changes. What has to change about time tho is how we view it. We must change the way we see time. We inherit property from Heavenly Father but it is not a physical piece of land... lets be honest...that's still his. What we inherit as property from Heavenly Father is time. Consider this quote from Brigham Young..."With regard to our property, as I have told you many times, the property which we inherit from our Heavenly Father is our time, and the power to choose in the disposition of the same. This is the real capital that is bequeathed unto us by our Heavenly Father; all the rest is what he may be pleased to add unto us." We also inherit the power to choose how we will use the time that has been given us. Now for those of you who may not now...I have always been very interested in investing and money. I started a Roth IRA account at age 14 and learned more regarding the matter in senior year economics. It's always been interesting to me. One thing I have learned, and I believe may be applied to the equity of time, there is a great difference in spending and investing. Time spent is time wasted. Time invested is time well used. The difference between the two is entirely up to us...we may invest and use our time and see it as time of value or we may simply spend our time and let it pass us by.
Let me end with a sobering thought I ran across this week. "There is an urgency in this work that motivates us to extend the blessings of the temple to as many of our Heavenly Father's children as possible. I was impressed with an experience of President Wilford Woodruff when he told of a visitation he received from the Prophet Joseph Smith some time after the Prophet was martyred. According to President Woodruff's own account: "[Joseph Smith] came to me and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with me because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a dozen brethren who had held high positions on earth, and none of them could stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much astonished. By and by I saw the Prophet again and I got the privilege of asking him a question. "'Now,' said I, 'I want to know why you are in a hurry. I have been in a hurry all my life; but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did.' "Joseph said: 'I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every dispensation that has had the priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with the Savior when he goes to reign on the earth. Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done, and we need to be in a hurry to accomplish it.'
There is so much work to be done. There is so little time to do it. The time we have must be invested rather than spent. I have learned through these last months...time that is invested flies because it is something of value to you. Almost like when we were all young and time at a friend's house went so fast because it was so valuable. My mission is like time at my best friend’s house...flying because it is of such value.
I love you all! You're the best!
Hugs and Kisses,
Happy Valentine's Day,
Elder Zachary Excell
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