I’m currently writing this email from El Dorado, Arkansas because I’m on exchanges with Elder Hallam. But, I’ve been having a great time in Farmerville the past two weeks.
It’s been interesting with only Elder Sanders because what we’ve mostly been doing is long knocking sessions along highways but it has been pretty successful in this area.
I got to celebrate my 21st birthday with some members on the sixth and they made me a cookie dough cake! It was six pounds of chocolate chip cookie dough shaped into a cake. It was very dense and all of us together could only eat one slice so I got to take the rest of it home and now there is only two pounds left!
I can definitely tell that Spring is here because Louisiana can’t decide if it wants to be winter or summer! We’ve had days where it is 80° followed by days where it is 32° then back to 80°. It just won’t give us a nice low 70s day.
Until next time and may the wind be in your Sails!
It’s already transfer time and I realized the last email I sent was when I got here to Farmerville around 6 weeks ago! So it’s about time for an update and to make sure that you all know that I haven’t died a horrible death from any sort of the wildlife down here.
Farmerville…
Farmerville is a fun place and the members are amazing, they are very missionary minded. We fared pretty well in the ice storm we had at the beginning of the transfer. But there was still patches of ice on the road for about a week and a half after. Now the thing about Farmerville is that it’s very back country and the largest town in our area is Farmerville. So we get to drive along back roads and basically get to go off-roading to go find our teaching friends. It’s really fun!
Holidays…
Valentine’s Day was pretty fun. We got to share Christ’s love with everyone and in District Council the awesome senior couple, the Stumpfs, brought everyone Valentine’s and treats and then after Mardi Gras they brought everyone Mardi Gras souvenirs. Now Mardi Gras is a pretty big deal here in Louisiana; they basically shut down the entire town for the day and have big parties and parades. So not much missionary work happens on Mardi Gras because we’re not allowed to proselyte at those parties or parades.
Exchanges…
Both of my exchanges this transfer have been with Elder Hallam, a missionary who is just finishing his training this transfer. He is so awesome! He has so much faith and even though he’s still in training he knows a lot and can really teach by the Spirit. I served with him in Farmerville and his area, El Dorado, which is the only area in our mission that is completely in Arkansas. That means I have now been to every single state in my mission: Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Free time…
Elder Sanders along with Elder Marsh have been getting me into Magic the Gathering. It’s been pretty fun to play with them and I’ve been trying to collect all of the knowledge on how to play every nerd game on the mission. We’ve also been playing Dungeons & Dragons almost every other night which has been really fun to DM them both.
Lastly, for my spiritual thought… Something that I have learned over this last transfer is the power of faith and how God has sent us here at this time, at this moment of Earth’s history, because we are the best of the best for this time. The fact that you and I are here right now means that the Lord has something very special in store for each and every single one of us. Quoting President Nelson in his worldwide devotional. “Our Heavenly Father has reserved many of His most noble spirits—perhaps, I might say, His finest team—for this final phase. Those noble spirits—those finest players, those heroes—are you!” Now the fact that each of us are heroes, with the coolest magic system in existence (the priesthood) is so cool. So what will you do as a jewel of the Lord?
Alright, sorry for no email last week. But I do have some exciting news! I’ve been transferred to Farmerville! I’m also in a trio, my companions are Elder Sanders and I’ve once again become companions with Elder Marsh.
My travel to Farmerville was interesting because we first drove up to Hazelhurst to stay the night and then in the morning we drove down to the mission office and packed all of our trios stuff into our Rav and then drove to Farmerville for a grand total of about 8ish hours of driving.
The day after we got to Farmerville there was a huge ice storm for Louisiana and we got about an inch of snow/ice which basically shut down the entire state because fun fact the State of Louisiana has no snow plows so we have been stuck inside since Saturday and we’re hoping we can get out by Wednesday.
To keep ourselves entertained during these past few days, we’ve been calling people, sleeping, and playing games. I even made some bread and put blue food coloring in the dough which made it look like it had mold.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! 2026, wow! So on your mission, there is this thing called your blackout year. Which is your first year on the mission, from January first to December 31st. It is called that because for some people it goes by so fast it seems as if you’ve blacked out and you’re already done with the year.
Christmas, New Years, and their eves were all very interesting since we didn’t go out to knock on people’s doors. We were encouraged to do missionary work in other ways such as visiting members and contacting people we’ve already been in contact with and wishing them Merry Christmas and happy new years as well as leaving them with the Spirit. So, it has been a very interesting past few weeks in this holiday season, where we didn’t do normal door-to-door contacting.
So the Ward Christmas party was way back during my last email. I didn’t put it in because I wanted to do it for my Christmas email. But it was really fun, we recreated Jerusalem in the church’s gym and had an amazing recreation of the nativity story. I loved how Christ-centered it was.
The weather here is weird. The day after Christmas it was 76° and new years eve it was 27° then today was back to 70° so it really doesn’t feel like winter here and everything is still green.
New Years was crazy! Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you think, I am not in an area where gunfire is the main firework during new years. However when midnight hit it sounded as if thousands of cannons were being fired continuously. The fireworks continued until the third too!
Jeffery R. Holland was an amazing Apostle and I loved his last talk during the Christmas devotional. I know that God has a great work for him on the other side of the veil.
Til next time May the Light of Christ be in your heart
Well, It’s been a bit since I last emailed. Sorry about that, that’s on me. I’ll try to be better. However, a lot has happened, it’s been almost a full month. A whole month since I’ve last emailed, such a tragedy.
In that space of time. I have had some fun experiences. I have to start with Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it’s Christmas this week, but I have to first talk about Thanksgiving. It’s actually one of my favorite holidays! It is where we actually get to be thankful for everything around us rather than just wanting everything around us; I really enjoyed it! We got to go over to a member in the Covington Ward and have a wonderful meal. They cooked the turkey with the dark and light meat separately and used a cool cooking method that made it very tender and juicy. I loved it. The food down here in Louisiana is some of the best stuff I’ve ever had, and it’s probably the reason I’ve gained 30 pounds on the mission!
We also had stake conference, which had some amazing messages. They talked a lot about missionary work, it was really awesome.
We’ve met with Shane again and its been really awesome because he’s become more interested in coming to church again. And it was really cool to see him get through that anti church literature stuff that he ran into.
We then had transfers! This transfer was longer than a typical transfer because they tried it make it so we don’t have a transfer during the holidays, but it just flew by! Elder Marsh has taken his passage to Farmerville, where many of my previous companions have now gone to, which was funny. My new companion is Elder Stewart, and he’s a pretty cool guy.
Also, that cool family that came to church, they have had us over a few more times and they’re really awesome. They gave me a new bread recipe too! It was delicious, and I plan on making more!
On an additional note, I also hit my year mark on the mission a week ago today! It was honestly very surprising. It has only felt like a few months have really passed to me, but it’s been a whole year! Looking back, I have grown so much. I have met so many new people and I’ve had a new companion basically every transfer! I’ve learned so much from each and every single one of them. It’s been a blast and I can’t wait for the next year.
We also had our zone conference and that was really fun. It was our Christmas zone conference and during the last half we got to do bonding activities. Those bonding activities were very fun. I learned how to brush my teeth properly because President Smuin is a dentist. He took some time to discuss how we should brush our teeth, because during those bonding activities, we got a lot of candy, and he gave us toothbrushes for Christmas. Now, I’ll probably never have cavities again, as long as I follow his instructions.
Zone conference with earlier this transfer due to Christmas happening. But this Monday, we had our zone council and zone P-Day where we got to meet up in Slidell with the entire zone and it was really fun. We played a lot of volleyball and pickleball.
Well, since I suppose Christmas is this week. I should leave you with a spiritual thought. Now many people enjoy reading the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew, it’s a wonderful story, but one thing that was introduced to me on the mission, and that I have really loved this Christmas season was reading the nativity story with the inclusion Samuel the Lamanite and from his prophecies, I’ve loved the perspective it’s given me. So I would urge you all to read the prophecies of Samuel.
This week had some interesting experiences – most of it was pretty good though.
We had a wonderful exchange with our Zone Leaders. I got to go to Covington and be with Elder Fisk. And we got to knock some pretty rich areas. Which is something that our mission is trying to focus more on now and using to find those good Christian families who are ready to hear the Gospel.
We had a very interesting interaction over WhatsApp with a lady who was trying to find a previous missionary and who thought we were that missionary.
Met with our amazing friend Shane again and found out that he had found some anti church literature and doesn’t want to be baptized anymore. However, he still wants to understand more and continue meeting with us so that’s a relief.
We had a wonderful meal with the family that came to church last Sunday and taught them about the Plan of Salvation which they really enjoyed. Then we invited them to come to church again, and they came and loved it!
Don’t worry, guys, I’m alive. I haven’t emailed since Halloween and now its almost Thanksgiving. In the past three weeks a lot has happened! In chronological order I:
Got sick
A minor cold and headache
Put two people on date for baptism
An amazing miracle, we invited them to church on a weekday to give them a small tour and a lesson and they brought up baptism themselves
Dug out weeds and roots with an axe
Had Elder Marsh’s alter ego Elder Rage show up
Had some members dress us up as 6 and 7 for Halloween
They really wanted to embarrass their kids!
had a wonderful trunk or treat with the other Ward that shares our building
We gave out little cards that said Jesus loves you and came home with an entire box of candy Elder Marsh said he didn’t like any of the candy so I ate it all
hit a car breaking my phone
Elder Marsh was driving and I acted like he hit me by laying on the hood but my pants were tight so when I laid on the hood my phone crunched. The screen cracked but not the screen protector!
Had zone P-day
We played ultimate Frisbee and I got a concussion because I ran into my teammate. I was also kneed in the shin by another teammate.
Recovered from my concussion
We called the mission nurse and she diagnosed me with a minor concussion and told me to rest for a day
Barely got a lesson with a teaching friend
An amazing miracle where we parked far away from our teaching friends house and when we knocked he wasn’t there but as we were walking to our car he pulled up and told us he could have a lesson
Had an awesome time at Bishops Storehouse
I was assigned to see if any of the potatoes were bad. They said if they smell like dirt they’re good and I’ll know if I smell a bad one. The bad one would destroy my nose and sense of smell. I didn’t get any bad potatoes.
Had an awesome lesson with a guy that is a 45 minute drive away
He had already read the Book of Mormon but had lost his previous one so we gave him a new one
Returned to my baby area
Had an exchange with Amite when we had some good lessons
Had Zone Conference with Elder Cavalcante (pronounced kava-conch-ay)
I went on throughout the week through Zoom but the biggest thing I learned was that God doesn’t follow your rules He follows His and by study and prayer we can start to understand those rules.
Got a new phone
Since I broke my old one the office gave me a new one after Zone Conference but I’ve forgotten my password that I used for messenger and Facebook so I haven’t been able to communicate with other missionaries very easily.
I did Spanish work
Me and Elder Marsh knocked on a door and a lady answered the door and said she only understood a little English so we asked he if she knew Spanish and if she wanted to grow closer to God. She said yes so we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon that I had carried in my bag for three transfers and connected her with the Spanish sisters.
Lost contact with our two friends on date
Their number stopped working and their address didn’t exist so pray for them please!
Put another teaching friend on date
We’ve been teaching Shane ever since I got here and he really wants to know everything so we invited him to come to church and he came and saw our primary program. He really likes our beliefs and has committed to come to church every Sunday before his baptism.
Had a family just show up to church
At church a family who just likes to visit different churches each week stopped by and came to ours and really enjoyed it and we connected over homeschooling
So, overall a pretty fun filled 3 weeks oh, I almost forgot! Nevermind, I’ll tell y’all next month it’ll be more exciting then.
Well ladies and gents, exciting news! I’ve been transferred once again! Slightly sad to leave Elder Witbeck and New Iberia, but Elder Witbeck is training so that’s exciting. I have been moved to Mandeville to greenie break Elder Marsh.
One of the best things about Mandeville is that I can finally say that Elder Ward has now served in a ward! It only took 10 months! I thought that I would only be in a ward at the end of my mission. Elder Marsh is awesome! I really think he is a “W” companion in disguise.
It is very interesting to serve in Mandeville since it is in the same District as Amite which is where I started my mission. I went on exchanges here and served around here before, so I sometimes get déjà vu when we’re traveling through the area.
We had an amazing lesson with one of our teaching friends that took almost two hours. He wasn’t ready to come to church yet he said but he believes in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and wants to learn all he can.
Mandeville is very different from New Iberia because in New Iberia we had a ton of referrals who we had to visit so we had to drive a lot. While here in Mandeville we don’t have many referrals and go knocking much more often. One of the silliest things about knocking on doors is that many people ask how old we are. I always ask them to guess how old I am and the guesses have ranged from 12 years old to 19 years old with the most common guess being 16 years old. I must have some very youthful features.
A lot of stuff has happened in the past two weeks, hasn’t there?! We had the passing of of our beloved Prophet, President Nelson, General Conference, I had Zone Conference, and many more stuff!
So, General Conference. It was some busy days for me and Elder Witbeck. We helped a member move in for the Saturday Morning session, we had lunch with the second councilor for the Saturday Afternoon session, and we watched the Saturday evening session with Mama Pat. For Sunday we watched both sessions at the Branch President’s house and had some lessons in between sessions.
Most every missionaries’ favorite talks in this mission were “The Eternal Gift of Testimony” by Kevin G. Brown and “The Good News Recipe” by John D. Amos for a variety of reasons. Elder Amos mentioned that he was from Opelousas which is less than an hour away from where we live in New Iberia and is in my mission. The coolest thing is that he was the last mission president of my mission. One of my favorite parts from Elder Brown’s talk was that he mentioned that a testimony is not temporary. When we have our experiences with God they are added to our testimony and those experiences will always be with us.
The day before Zone Conference me and Elder Witbeck had the opportunity to go through the temple! It was a wonderful experience and it prepared us spiritually for Zone Conference as well.
Zone Conference was awesome, I got to see some familiar faces and catch up a little bit. we had a bunch of good presentations and some missionaries gave their gospel home testimonies to and by the end of it a lot of people were tearing up. The spirit was felt strongly in the chapel that day.
A funny experience from the past week was at the Gumbo festival where as we walked down Main Street to get there at the first stall that we see someone waves us down so we walk over and find out that they are members from Shreveport which is four hours away and one of two places in Louisiana that we don’t cover in my mission. (the other is Lake Charles) They gave us some good Gumbo.
One other thing I did that I thought was funny was that I built a fence by ziptieing it to another fence. It was interesting but it was to make sure that the member’s dogs didn’t go through the fence.
I’ll end with probably my favorite quote from conference from B. Corey Cuvelier. “You can count the number of seeds from one apple, but you can not count the number of apples from one seed.” This quote struck me because you can count how much service you do, the number of times you smile at people, and how often you talk about church. But you can never count the number of lives you change by just being a disciple of Christ. You are literally life-changing.
Alright my friends, family, acquaintances, and others that will read this! I’ve been having a blast with Elder Witbeck. We have been trying to meet with every member in the Branch! Also yes, they pronounce “eaux” as o sound.
last day with Elder Wight
We drove up to this one member’s house way out in the boonies to see if they really existed, because earlier in the day we had tried to visit some inactive members but their houses were abandoned and destroyed, and when we knocked on the day she came out and basically shouted “Elders! It’s been so long, I’ve missed you guys coming to visit me!” It was a fun experience and in a few weeks she said she would be able to come to church.
I suppose I should explain the picture of the microwave from last week. Elder Witbeck found a huge clump of dryer lint and because as missionaries we are warned dryer lint is a fire hazard we decided to set it on fire in the microwave. We also decided to get some mood lighting for the apartment.
I went on exchanges with Elder Thomas and it was really fun, we found some cool signs as well as doing some fun service.
Elder Witbeck got some cool cowboy boots for his birthday and I’ll be sure to add a photo of them next email.
Elder Zachary Ward 