Elder Zachary Andrews: Zone Training

THE VISION OF THE SOUTH

"Make no small plans: This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together....We will see the time when we will baptize hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands...In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people." President Spencer W. Kimball

Friday, August 15, 2014

Zone Training

So this week we had ZTM and it was really spiritual. Mostly because the missionaries in the zone really needed some extra spiritual juice. We have a new president and the transition has been really hard for lots of people! They called me Thursday after studies and asked if I could instruct on Friday I said yes. I would like to share with all of you my instruction:

In Moses 1:4 Heavenly father calls Moses "my son." Now for us that is no big deal. We all know that we are sons and daughters of God. But let us look at Moses and his life for a minute. Here is a boy who isn't even supposed to be alive. He is, by necessity abandon by his parents and found by the Pharaoh's daughter floating down the river in a basket. This is where he got his name MOSES means "Son of..." We see this in the name Ramses or Ramoses; it is a root. So here is a boy who has gone his whole life not knowing who he was or why he was here. Whose literal name means Son of None. He is alone and then all of the sudden in Moses 1:4 he knows. He knows who he is and what he has to do! All of the sudden he goes from being a nobody to being so cool. Now do we know who we are and what we have to do. For me, my purpose is easy. It is spelled out for me in Preach my Gospel, but maybe you all have a little different or completely different purpose, but we know who we are. We are children of the most powerful being in the universe! We are heirs to his kingdom! There is power in that! The faith and the confidence that that brings will change your life it you choose to do so.

Before my mission I liked to listen to Ted Talks and there was one that was talking about stress. They did an experiment they asked about 100 people in their mid 50s if stress was good for them or not. If it is going to extend their life or shorten it. The responders were split about 50/50. Then they just watched the obituaries and waited to see. What they found out was amazing. They found out that the responders were right! The people who thought stress was bad for them and that it would shorten their lives were right and they died sooner. The people who thought that stress was good for them, that my racing heart is helping me, lived on average 10 years longer!

Now why does this matter? Who gives a crap? What this means is not only is Agency a gift but it is a power. There is a talk by Richard C. Edgley titled Faith: The Choice Is Yours. In this talk he addresses the power of choice and our ability to choose. That is how awesome you are! You can choose such things!

Lastly, Mom showed me something before my mission that I didn't get the significant of until Thursday. It is an experiment called Emoto's Water Experiment: The Power of Thought. In this Emoto looked at water through a telescope while people prayed, argued, and spoke kindly to one another. The water took notice of them and changed! It cleared and crystalized during the different activities. The point is that the water responded. It is aware of you! Because of your heritage the water is obeying and responding to you. You are so awesome that the very elements are watching you. This is why we need to share the Gospel and share how awesome each and everyone of you are, everyone!!

Anyway, love you all,

Elder Andrews

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Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission

The first branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in New Orleans with 334 members in 1841. The prophet Joseph Smith sent the first missionary to New Orleans in March of that year. After reaching 169 members in 1849, the New Orleans branch disbanded because of the threat of serious disease in the area. The Southern States Mission, which included Louisiana opened in 1878, but the first missionaries were not sent to the state until nearly 20 years later. Missionary work spread throughout the state during the early twentieth century and by 1930, there were 1500 members. The first ward was established in Shreveport in 1953 and the first stake in New Orleans in 1955.In 1975, the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission was created and by 1980, there were over 12,500 members in the state of Louisiana. By 1989, Louisiana had 22,000 members in seven stakes. In 1998, the First Presidency announced the building of a temple in Baton Rouge. That temple was dedicated on 16 July, 2000.The Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission extends from Natchitoches South to the East and West borders through the state including the Gulf of New Orleans. The mission also includes the South West corner of Mississippi including Natchez, Liberty, and Macomb.