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 

The Ghetto is a Paradise for a Missionary

It's about time that he got back out in the field he has been home for to long now. Mother being in the Ghetto is a paradise for a missionary but it is nice to be in nice areas not going to lie. So we helped our Land Lord put up her Christmas tree and we decorated it. We did it as a service for he because she was having a hard time with it. It's just a little one but still I love it. We do live in an elderly sisters basement and it is just the two of us down there. Yeah that is one of the things I think is a little annoying about being in one of the Salt Lake Missions is that we all have our mail sent to the mission office and the Zone Leaders go and pick it up. My companion is from North Carolina and mother let me tell you being with him my Southern accent is finally coming out and it's not on purpose either haha the sad thing is that we know for a fact that one of us is being transferred in a couple days.  President is putting all of the Zone leaders back together this next transfer and he said he is going to have me lead an area and put me with an Elder that is struggling. SO this should be a different transfer. I haven't been to Temple Square yet you have to bring an investigator to go. That would have been great if I ran into Aunt Adie and her crew though. It did snow yesterday but it has all melted and it's bare again. Kind of sad really in my opinion. I am being fed well no need to worry about me mother I won't turn into Austin. Um it has happened to me but not in the street more like in Restaurants and stores does that happen but it doesn't happen all that often. Mother I will be sending a letter out today I promise and It will be two pages long at least so don't worry. Excellent win for Utah. That's great to hear that both sports teams are doing well. So what's going on right now hmmm well transfers are this Wed. We had interviews with president this last Thursday and they went well. I enjoyed it. Um we bike a lot and I love it and I don't because of the wind mainly. We don't have a mission Christmas party we are going to have a devotional though. U'm I don't speak to them very often at all but I email President every week. Well I found out Elder Maruyama is literally in the zone right next to mine. He's in the west and I'm right next to him and I ran into missionary's that know him so that's COOL. Have a good week I'll right you a spiritual message in the letter I send you. Love you

Elder Montgomery 

I love riding my bike

Sounds good it's about time that he got back out but Austin is still way to skinny in my opinion.So how is Miss Terri and Mr. Rick. Are they doing well? You were offered a full time job where the same place that you are working at or what? Yeah bills are no fun to pay mother I just haven't payed any yet. 
 So this past week we had quite a few miracles. We found 4 new investigators and put them all on date for the 28th of December so it looks like it is going to be a white Christmas haha. The work is good in the "Ghetto" (they don't know what the hood is) I'm not even in Kearns I am in Taylorsville so yeah. It's the nicest part of the Kearns zone's. A lot of people feed me but we get a lot of tacos and rice and beans no surprise there. I am losing weight right now too. 
The weather is in the 60s and 50s right now is it's pretty nice but I hope it snow's soon. I love riding my bike. I went from covering 8 stakes to 1 so it's fun my area is pretty small now. 
You should leave all of the Christmas stuff up until I get home.  
Nothing much going on but transfers are next week. every mission has to have a 4 week transfer now because of the age change so that is this week and the transfer after is an 8 week one now. 
So what days are you going to be working now and how long. Mother you really shouldn't try and catch a hot pan that doesn't work out very well. You should use oven mitts next time. How is the Lakeview basketball team doing?
Love you too,

Elder Montgomery 

A Home that is Centered on Christ will Never Fail.

DID I GET FED MOTHER? Of course I did we had THREE DINNER'S on Thanksgiving. I just felt like I was going to blow up and die because of all the food we were fed haha. I missed going to Uncle Ray's house as well I love the food there and getting to talk to the family. Father's family sure is funny. So Thanksgiving day we were told that we could not proselyte so we went out and stayed with members or at least that is what we planned on doing. Instead we stayed at a members house for quite some time helping keep their marriage together(I'll tell you more later in the letter). That's going to be great going back to the old ward building it's not that much farther and I like it there more the only sad thing is a lot of my friends go to that building. Are you serious we still haven't heard anything from SLC and about Austin oh well. Is Alabama really good at Volleyball or something Mother I don't really know where are they ranked in the nation? We know UCLA is for sure.The Old Navy stuff is doing great especially since we are only on bike's and walking. The wind here is brutal but other than that I think Georgia is colder feeling. 

 The new area is good I really enjoy it here and I get to use Spanish more here than I did in Riverton. We actually get fed with the other Elder's so no need to worry about that. We live with Sister K she is 80 yrs old and has a chocolate lab named Hershey who is 15.There is no need to shovel her side walk because there is now snow here right now at all. It really is kind of sad. We right now are teaching M and K he is 13 and she is 14. We also have a potential family we are hoping to catch this week because they seemed really interested when we talked about the plan of Salvation to them. He doesn't really like to exercise that much. So going back to that thing that happened on Thanksgiving. We got a call from one of our families and 11:30 in the morning on Thanksgiving day and told us there were some issues. so we told them to hold on. So we hopped on our bikes and got over there as fast as we could. When they let us in the place was just trashed he wife was throwing a fit and he was packing up his stuff and about to leave. So we get them into the living room and we just sat down and listened to everything. Not going to lie it was a little scary but Elder B and I listened and when the time came we talked to them. The Spirit just confirmed all of the things that we were telling them. And a huge peace just came down over the room and all the tension just left right there. We got down to the the point and found out they hadn't been doing their scripture study or their prayer as a family or by themselves. I cannot stress the importance of how it important it is to do these thing's as a family. A home that is centered on Christ will never fail. So that is what we taught them. So I promise that if we do these thing pray read and go to church with earnest intent and as a family we do these things your lives will be more peaceful and your home will become a house of refuge. The home should be the next closest thing to the Temple and if you don't have the spirit in it, it will be much harder to keep a family together. I love you guys have a great week

Con amor,
Elder Montgomery