SISTER ZACKRISON: Round two :)

Hey Y’all!!

To make y’all laugh, my companion caught a picture of my face after they called to tell me I was training. I sat dazed for literally ten minutes. Then I cried and had a mini freak out, but hey. That is okay. Ha ha. Enjoy it. :

So I am going to try to be a bit more calm. Truth is, I am terrified that in two days I will be training a new missionary. I was thinking back to my trainer, and what helped me and what I wish she would have done. I have been out a year, and I hope that I can be sensitive to how she feels. I am feeling very nervous because I don’t really know the area. I don’t know how to train someone, and I don’t feel very prepared. But a friend said to me, that this is the Lord’s work. We don’t need to worry simply because this is His. He is in charge, and He will help us. I know that the Lord needs me to be a trainer, I just wonder why. Ha. I am very scared, but I know that this will be a good experience for us all. I know that the Lord will help me, and I only hope I can train this sister in the right way. Talk about pressure! I would really appreciate it if you could keep me in your prayers!

The coolest experience I had this week was while we were meeting with Elder Zwick, a member of the 70. He came to our mission, and he talked with us. He is one powerful man. During his time here, I had many many prayers answered! It was neat, he went around and shook each of our hands. When he got to mine, he asked me if I had an Uncle named John. He then told me that he lived in my Grandma’s ward and he remembered the passing of my Grandpa. He was able to tell me so much about my grandma, and it meant a lot to me that he was able to talk very highly of her. He also sat by me at lunch, which was really cool! We got to talk more about his personal life. He talked about a lot of important things. His wife was also there, and that was really neat too. She told us a story about when Elder Zwick was called to be a mission president. It was her first day there, and she had to deal with a missionary who was held at gunpoint and the church they were at was on fire. She thought to herself, “I can’t do this.” And then her son walked in and said, “Mom, don’t worry, the Lord will help you do it.” And that hit me like a ton of bricks. It brought the deepest peace to my soul, and I felt like the Lord was saying to me, “Sister Zackrison, don’t worry, the Lord will help you do it.” Little did I know he was preparing me for the new calling of trainer. During that moment I knew that the Lord was aware of me. I knew that He had heard the pleadings of my heart the night before, and I know that He is there with me. She also told us a story about a man who spent months and months building a tree house with his kids. Once it was completed, he expected to find them busy in there playing. But, it was silent. He then realized that the joy was in the journey. That they had fun working together, and that it was being with one another that made the difference. We need to find joy in our own journeys. We need to enjoy what is happening right now. Elder Zwick talked a lot about progression, and paying the price for spirituality. He urged us that we must sanctify ourselves, and we must be willing to sacrifice so much to have the spirit with us always. We need to continually be looking at what we are becoming, and how we are doing spiritually. What we do, and who we want to be. I think that was something else I needed to hear. I want my spiritual strength to continue to increase, and to keep me strong all the way to the end of my life, not just my journey as a missionary. He taught us a lot more, but this email would go on for years if I kept telling y’all about them.

Another miracle we saw this week was a man named Chris Burcham. He is a member of our ward, but he hasn’t been in years. His parents and siblings are really active though, so we heard about his story. He was driving down the road, and he was texting. (This is a story for all those who text and drive!) And he swerved off the road. As he was trying to correct himself, he swerved too far the other way. He kept trying to correct the alignment of the car and began fishtailing. Then his car rolled off the road…and rolled right into a gas pump. He took the gas pump off, and his car wrapped around the poles. He had to be pulled out of the car, and his car was torn in two. It was an awful accident. As people drove up, they expected him to be dead. He should be but, all he suffered was a fractured vertebrae. This man’s life was saved by God. He took this as a sign that God has a plan for him. He has this new desire to come back to church and make himself right with God. It was just amazing. The spirit in the room when we were visiting with him was wonderful. We are hoping to do a lot of good with his story, and we are going to help build his testimony again. I feel honored to be in this man’s life.

This week I have really been thinking about progression, due to Elder Zwick, and our mission president talked about it too. I need to take the time to sit down and think about my own progression. I haven’t done it in a long time. That brings me to my quote of the week. It is this, “Our Heavenly Father did not put us on the earth to fail, but to succeed gloriously.” That was by Richard G. Scott. And I really needed that in my current state of training a missionary. The Lord will not, and does not want us to fail. He will be here with us every step of the way. We must go to him daily in faith, and ask Him for help with our progression. Another quote I loved, y’all get two, was from Gordon B. Hinckley. He said, “None of us will become perfect in a day or a month or a year. We will not accomplish it in a life time, but we can begin now starting with our more obvious weaknesses and gradually convert them into strengths.” Life is a journey. Life is a progression. We need to do it one step at a time. I hope those quotes help y’all as much as they helped me.

It was cold enough to wear a sweater. So we had to take pictures to celebrate it. :)

Well, lots of things happened this week, but those are the highlights. I am going to need your prayers more than ever this week, and I just hope and pray I have the Lord with me this week. Training will be amazing, and I know the Lord trusts me. I am just a bit scared. That’s all. )

Love y’all. Have a good week!