Blog Post #3 - Wait...

okay, so-

As of yesterday, Elder Nightingale has flown the coop for his mission assignment. He will be greatly missed, especially from me, but we hope he is doing very well. At lead it was a fun three weeks with him.

Wait a minute.

Have it been 3 WEEKS ALREADY?!? Where on earth did the time go?? The days feel like watching turtles go by, but when you look back, it like someone attached a jet engine on said turtle. Uh-oh... I'm now incredibly afraid that if I blink, my whole mission might zip by and I missed everything, and I've suddenly grown a 2-feet long beard, and absolutely reek of 2 years lack of hygiene.

There I was, having landed at the LAX airpirt, rubbing my hands in anticipation and exclaiming "I'm READY" when suddently the mission president taps my shoulder

"Your mission is finished now. Time to go home", he says.

"Finished? I just arrived here!", I say

"Arrived? HA! You've been here for the last two years! Seriously, go home. you have the rest of your life to look after!" he says

Anyway, a funny thing happened yesterday also. Yesterday morning, most of the class was either still half-asleep or dozing off. then the unexpected happened. Out of the wild blue, a bird decided to dive-bomb right into our class window, making a loud slamming noise. the shock of the impack scared us all wide-awake. I think that God doesn't want us sleeping on His time, so He sent a little surprise along the way to jump-start our day. Yikes.

This week, we got to hear from Sister Lant, of the Primary General Presidency. She spoke about inviting and feeling the spirit, and challenged us to find ways to find the spirit easier and better because on outr missions, we will ABSOLUTELY have to rely on the Holy Ghost to help us succeed, because without the spirit, we will never be able to, no matter how charismatic and well-teaching we are. It was a very marvelous talk, which in fasct beings me to another topic:

Today, we got to go to the Provo Temple again (no temple last week due to thanksgiving). After the endowment and I walked into the Celestial room, I felt very strongly impressed to sit down, close my eyes, and pray, so I did so twice. I prayed about pretty much everything that happened in the past month. Since the computer clock is ticking down, I will not be able to explain everything, but suffice to say, it was a meaningful two prayers. After I closed my prayers, my eyes almost immediately became fixated on a Book Of Mormon lying on one side of a table, never letting it escape my sight for at least a few minutes. It was then that I knew straight away the answer to my prayers was; that I should read the Book of Mormon once more, AND listen to its words more carefully. I really felt the spirit that morning, and as I left the temple, the cloudy dawn became a clear, crisp day, and I felt a lot different than when I entered the temple.

I think, at that point, I really became a missionary.

-Zack


PS: The bird is fine, by the way. It held on to a tree branch for a moment, then flew away as if nothing happened.