Gladys Knight hits NJ! 270+ referrals!

Hey Mom!
Sister Drinkwater called you! I saw the Drinkwaters at the Gladys Knight fireside. She told me that she was going to Utah, so I told her to call you and I gave her your phone number. I love the Drinkwater family. They're so nice and they have a good sense of humor. I think I laughed every time I went over to their house. They live in Pitman, in the Sewell ward. I served there last summer.

I think Elder Okamoto is done with school. He already got his bachelors in Business Economics. He said that he's going to Israel to paint some pictures about their history. He needs to find a wife soon too. He's 28. He has a job as a professional painter for different magazines in Japan.

Something that I've learned on my mission is that goals are important. If you don't have goals, then you won't know where to go or what to do. There was a member that was going through the motions in the cherry hill ward. He doesn't have any goals and it's sad because all he does is work and sleep. He's not active. After you set some goals, then you gotta calculate the cost which means to figure what you have to do to reach the goal. Then follow through.

Is Kyle's Birthday today? I thought he said it was the 27th of March? At least I'm pretty sure that's what he said. He reminded me in his last letter. I sent him a card and a letter.

Last Thursday we had a Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices Choir Fireside at the Cherry Hill Stake center. There where two sessions. We went to the earlier session. The chapel was full and most of the overflow was full. It was a different experience. It felt weird to clap in the church. They sang a few songs at first and then Sis. Knight bore her testimony/conversion story. Then more singing, then I guess it was her seminary teacher(?) who talked about the church and about some points that are usually misunderstood. Then more singing. They sang I Am A Child of God, Gladys style. Some people were really getting into it. Waving their hands in the air. Some people were singing along. There was one or two that stood up to clap. There were a lot of "AMEN!"s during the talking. Afterwords the mission received 270 referrals from both sessions and later a few more came in through the mail. Sis. Knight offered a copy of the Book of Mormon and a Restoration DVD, and a Sampler CD of the music that was played that evening. We spent most of the week trying to deliver these things and trying to get in to teach. I was there for one of the referrals, Doris, We taught her about the restoration. She was baptist, but she had never heard about the LDS Church. She was very interested in learning more. We set up a return appointment for next Monday.

That's it for this week. Stay warm!

Love,
Zack

Just so you know, those that haven't heard yet, Zack doesn't come home until August! At first I was a little disappointed, but I think it will work out for the best. He is planning to go right into college to finish his degree. Hopefully we will have 3 in college this August!