Elder Zachary Andrews: Listening to Revelation

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

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Listening to Revelation

Weekly Letter - 21 Jan 2014
Sent Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Author: Andrews, Zachary Jacob
President,
Yikes!!! I am not going to lie I am nervous about getting transferred, but I trust the Lord and I trust you so here we go!!! Anyway for my last report from Algiers, I want you to know what a pleasure it has been to serve these wonderful people and it is something that I will never forget. I think I have learned more in the last 6 months than ever before. And I am ecstatic to learn what I need to learn in my next area.

I have been struggling the last week or so. I really have been missing my aunt and really been worried about her kids. I don't know if I told you this or not but while I was in the MTC my aunt
took her own life. It is really the first experience I have had with death. I am surprised at how hard it has been on me, it has been so hard. But life moves on. The Book of Mormon has been a great help to me. I can read it and most of the time it is not what I am reading that hits me it is just the thoughts that I receive about my life or what I can do to help others.

I have noticed that when I am diligently working, the revelation that comes is so strong in the quiet moments like riding a bike or mowing a lawn or scraping paint of a non-members house. Like Thursday for example...we have been painting a non-member's house as a district and it has been wonderful. Anyway I was scraping paint off the house, prepping it for paint, and I get a prompting to leave. Go home. Stupid Elder Andrews is standing there saying, why, the sun is out I am not going home...Go home...Why?...and this is the literal thought that I had.... The Cops are coming to arrest you, who cares go!!!...then the light clicked, oh crap this is revelation. So we pack up and go home. And on the way we ran into this older man who was trying to change his tire. He was panicking; he was late for work and his jack didn't really work. He couldn't bend down because he had back problems...(i use ellipses a lot sorry) anyway after a big ordeal we got him to work on time. It was a good week. I will continue to work hard so that I can recognize the spirit faster.

Thanks,
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.