I live right next to the Oqurirrh Mountain Temple

 My new area is Daybreak. It is one of the nicest areas I have ever
seen in Utah. I live right next to the Oqurirrh Mountain Temple. I
literally live on the street going to it I live maybe 50 yards from
it. My new companion is Elder G. He was born in Mexico but has
lived in Oregon for most of his life. He lives right next to the UOO.
I am still the DL. And I will send you a picture of what I cover and
yeah everything. I am in the daybreak stake and I am doing English and
Spanish now... Spanish is better mother that is for sure. I am fed
there is no need to worry about that.  Also yesterday while I was in
the Spanish ward a lady came right up to us and said I want to take
the lessons and be baptized!!! I already like this ward haha. Also my
bishop is Elder A. He was a former 70 and also there is another 70
that lives in my area. Last night I met a former MLB player and he's a
member so this area has got some cool things in it.
Yeah I heard all bout the Utes the area I am in has quite a bit of
Utah fans.
Te quiero mucho

Messages from Elder Zach Montgomery from Jan. to now..

"The temple was nice because I needed some peace and quiet and just a place to think. So it helped clear up my head a lot on things that I was thinking about. I have definatly learned that agency really is a blessing and without it the plan of God would not exist. So basically other people's agency affect you even when you don't want it to sometimes haha but it is a part of life's trials. Te quiero mucho"

"We are all brother's and sister's. As you said that I began to feel the spirit telling me that it is true. I thought of my own brother's and sister's and how much I love them and then applied it to the audience. As I looked at different faces and then compared them to the love that I have for my siblings I began to feel something for those people that I hadn't felt before. Right there I knew that each person on this Earth is my sibling. Of course our older brother is the perfect example for all of us but the words that you spoke changed the way that I view everyone now. I had a similar experience earlier this week when we were talking to a young man that was not a member of the church and didn't want to change but I felt that same love for him there as well. So what I learned is that everyone of us is a loved child of God and as humans we tend to put people under us. I a guilty of it as well at times but I am changing everyday and seeing the divine potential that we all have as sons and daughters of our beloved Heavenly Father"

"this past Friday we crossing the bridge over bangeter and we saw this lady crying and we said hi and she just ignored us so we kept riding but when we got to the church house we both were like we need to go back and talk to her. It turns out that she was just having a really bad day and needed someone to talk to. She was homeless and was pretty cold so elder Gee gave her his scarf and I gave her my hat and we gave her some gift cards to get food. It was a great experience getting to meet her."

"Well it is hard to keep doing missionary work because it is the Natural man inside of you not wanting to. We must constantly be putting down our Natural man to become disciples of Christ. I have been studying that recently so that I may learn how to be more humble because we all know that I could use some of that just got to keep working and the Lord will bless us."

"What I have learned this week is patience. One of the greatest examples of a person having patience is Joseph Smith when he was in Liberty Jail and was there for 6 months(I think that's right) but the Lord gives us all of the trials for us specifically because the specific trials we get are there to help us become like Christ. So as we learn patience we shall learn to endure all things and we must remember that this life is just a short time here on this Earth."

I'm kind of bike less right now..

Jan 12th 2015 letter

New year's is good didn't do much but had a zone meeting for 3 hours. Wow mother it sounds like you are going to be working a lot soon. So what is going on with me right now hmm... Our area is doing good we don't have anyone that we are specifically teaching but it's good um I'm kind of bike less right now it got stolen from the church house yesterday but I'm okay because there is opposition in all things so something good is going to come out of it I have no doubt about that. Transfers are mid February.. Elder G is good nothing much going on right now. There really isn't any snow here it has all melted the cold isn't that bad right now so it's going to be a hot summer. The leather gloves are great but I have to double up on gloves when I am riding a bike because of the wind. father's Navy P-coat is AMAZING it really keeps me warm. Mother I love you just wanted to tell you that. 
I haven't but oh well. Mother don't let peeps die before I get home if you can help it. The bike I am riding from the office is a good one no need to worry about that. I am staying warm no need to worry about that. My week was okay not to much going on right now in the work so we are really trying hard to get the members to work with us. I do miss the Leon's and she really does like to bake and she's really good at it too. I haven't ran into Elder Bowcutt's family recently because my area is tiny so I don't get to leave to often. But what I have learned this week is patience. One of the greatest examples of a person having patience is Joseph Smith when he was in Liberty Jail and was there for 6 months(I think that's right) but the Lord gives us all of the trials for us specifically because the specific trials we get are there to help us become like Christ. So as we learn patiene we shall learn to endure all things and we must remember that this life is just a short time here on this Earth. 
I love you and hope you have a good week emailing is being cut short for me this week so it's all good. 

Elder Montgomery 

Jan 19th 2015 Letter

I am sure Katie is so over basketball because she tell's me all the time. Wow that sounds pretty interesting. I miss Coach Seay's he is a great man. And he's so funny too. Wow that is great to hear about the Basketball teams doing well. How was Lanier Land? Don't worry mother we don't have any of those here. I know peeps isn't doing well but use your magic skills mother haha. Wow those work hours of yours are pretty early. Utah is doing well i don't mind it here. I called that police number and it didn't work so I don't know what was going on so I went to sister Seastrands and filed a police report with her help. The work is coming a long a lot better. We picked up 3 new investigators this week. It was a pretty good week. We picked up a guy named N and I think he is pretty solid just from the way he payed attention in the lesson yesterday. I am super excited for him and if you remember the kid J I was teaching in Riverton? He got baptized this last Saturday and he asked me to be a witness and speak. So Saturday was really fun. There is no snow on the ground right now. But it is still cold. My favorite thing to eat is Pizza or Pupusas. I do get fed everyday so no need to worry about that. I didn't get to temple square I wanted to just didn't have anybody to teach at that time. My comp hmm.  He's pretty cool. Have fun renovating the house. 

Love you too Elder Montgomery 

I really focused on gratitude

Oh Mother that was so long ago that I told her that like the first 4 weeks ago.  That would be cool if we could skype all at the same time. I haven't been able to talk to him in a while. I have no clue other than the one with the Christmas decorations which I put up by the way. I don't know either what's really going on right now for Christmas. I'm just a little bit in the dark. My Stocking like the one from home? The Spanish ward is coming good. We had a lot of member present lessons this week and if you know anything about the Hispanic community you know that, that can pretty difficult at times. But we had an inactive member come to church yesterday for ALL 3 HOURS which she has never done once as a member of the church. She said she really enjoyed it a lot and want's to keep coming back. We are going to teach her the lessons again. Also we picked up a new investigator. HE'S 12 years old and his name is Gabriel. He came from Mexico for the holidays and we are teaching him now. He didn't come to church yesterday so his baptismal date now is for the forth of January!! But he did read and pray yesterday and is keeping the commitments that we are leaving him so I'm super excited for him. Yeah about that snow it doesn't look like we are going to be getting any at least for Christmas. I would love to go to temple square and we are thinking about taking Gabriel there so we can have a lesson for him. We might try and go this week.  So I was made senor companion and Elder Gee is my new companion. He's from Arlington Texas he's been out for 5 months. So I've noticed already that both of our Spanish is improving greatly and it hasn't even been a week yet. But Elder Gee is great I love him and he is the tallest companion that I have had yet. Mother I hope you aren't too stressed right now I'll definatly be missing your cinnamon rolls this week. 

Love

 Elder Montgomery 

So Father try's to help himself and he ends up hurting himself.  Mother if father isn't in a wheel chair by the time I get back. Do you think that Katie will be able to dunk by her senor year. Can you send me a picture of their ridiculous goal post that would be pretty funny. Nothing new but we ran into a Buddhist and he said was pretty rude to us and we were just asking for referrals but oh well that's just how things go. And we ran into a guy  he was nice but he just wanted to bash. We are still riding bikes but who know's when it will be canceled because it has started to pick up on snowing. Our investigator came to one of the baptisms in the ward yesterday and came to church as well he really enjoyed everything to bad he goes back to Mexico on the 5th. I am doing well right now. At the middle of the week I was a little down on myself because I didn't feel like I was being successful but then I read talk in the Ensign on not comparing your self to others and I also read in Preach My Gospel about how to tell how hard you are working. So after I read those I felt a lot better about how I am doing as a person and as a companionship as well. I also set a goal this week during weekly planning to look for miracle's each day and specifically point them out. And it truly is amazing what the Lord does for us. We may not have taught very much this week but we have a lot of appointments set up for this up coming week. And we have got to do a lot of service recently which has gotten us into doors. During my personal study this week I really focused on gratitude and I studied it as well. As we show our gratitude towards or Heavenly Father and towards our fellow brethren we will be happier in our lives. And because I have been learning this principle I have been applying it in my life and my perspective on a lot of things has changed. I truly am blessed to be here on this Earth and to be a son of God. I have started to count my blessings and they are not countable. It really is important to give the Lord our thanks for everything. 

I love you mother and thank you for the gifts

Elder Montgomery