March 23, 2015

Proclaiming the Gospel brings forth Miracles!

This dude is named Alberto, me and my comp Elder André found him in my old area on the street, but he lived in a different town, so we passed his info over to the other elders. well then i moved areas, but just this past weekend we had to go to another area so that i could do a baptismal interview, and i was super stoked to see that it was Alberto! haha, we were totally suprised to see each other haha. 

Hey momma!

holy crud, i cant believe that Max gave his fairwell haha, i bet it was waaaay better than mine hahaha, i still laugh really hard that i just winged mine haha. but dont worry, im actually gonna plan out my homecoming talk haha, there may be a few ladies i gotta impress(; haha. and hey!! like 2 months ago or something you were saying that there is a girl in our ward that you want me to date when i get back home, who the dump is it?? 

haha and dont worry, about the whole future thing, i didnt roll my eyes. it actually means alot to me that you would pray about it(: i guess maybe its something important to you or something haha(; but i did laugh throughout the paragraph cuz it reminds me exactly of how you used to try to reason with me haha. i know its wierd, but i really cant remember what you or dad or any of the boys sound like, or how you even talk. so it was super funny to read that email. but apply for July?!?! thats summer break!! thats blasphemy! haha. honestly the only thoughts i've really been having on "the future" go kinda like this: get home and stuff my face on thanksgiving. then buy a truck and a boxer puppy. then get a job until Holden gets back off his mission. then go visit some friends from the mish. then go to college (not collage, haha i love you i promise!) for about a year or so until i feel ready to go to the Rangers. and i would be totally okay with doing what Brandon is doing and going through school, but i would much rather prefer going to a school in AZ so that i can be close to all my friends and family, because when i bounce to the military i'll be gone for a while again, and i dont really wanna go mission - college in Utah - military - and not see anybody until im like 28. and then come home from the millitary and get married and become some kind of mechanic or something that works with cars and machines and NOT computers and secretaries! Those are pretty much all the plans i have for now haha. but this Wednesday we have a conference with Pres Fluckiger, and ill ask him about an endorsment, because it definitely doesnt hurt to have options. And maybe being a counselor at H.E.F.Y. would be pretty sick, it'd be awesome if i could do it with Holden or the boys. more than anything i wanna spend some time with family and friends. but i'll start asking around. my comp goes home in August and is already enrolled for BYU so ill start asking him how to get on that process. 

So last week was a good week. it was pretty nuts cuz we were helping with all the new missionaries arriving in the country cuz with a car we could give rides and stuff. and speaking of the car for now we dont have it. a new missionary couple is now serving here in portugal, and they need the car more than us haha, so we're back to our feet! blasted! but this coming up week will be good. we hopefully will have 2 baptisms this week, so that will be sick. we're teaching some really cool people right now, and the members in this ward are super sick. 

i know that im a difficult child to deal with about planning for the future and stuff, but i do appreciate you caring so much(: so dont give up on me! cuz we all know i need as much help as i can get! haha.

i love you so much momma, ill talk to you next week(:

this is my comp Elder Phillips and the mother and one of the sons of this sick family from Ecuador. the whole family is gonna be bapised next weekend!

 cleaning Bessy!! these funky spaceship doors are really dumb, haha they're not very practical 















super bowling crew! district pday

went bowling again today for Pday... i totally bowl like a champ haha, but you better believe i won!! and the sisters wanted to take a pictures with the shoes... but they really just wanted a pic of my sick socks!

we went to a mall after bowling to get lunch, and the fricken sisters just HAD to buy crap, even on the mission all guys are good for is carrying a chicks stuff while she shops haha. my comp took a picture right as i was mimicking the sisters and making some comment or somthing haha, can you just see the happiness on my face?? haha

March 16, 2015

Another successful week in Portugal

Zach didn't send any pictures this week, but Sis Fluckiger did! This is from a dinner Zach got to go to at the Mission Home.

We think Zach has gotten taller!!

Hey Momma!

oh... my... flippin... heck... i am in love with brigs new truck!! hahaha, i cannot believe how gorgeous that truck is!! holy shnikes i was like freaking out over the pictures!! and that denali!! hahahahahahaha holy crap those are some good looking cars!! We have a word that we use in the mission, its "trunky", we use it for when missionaries are thinking a lot or missing things from home haha, cuz its like you wanna pack your "trunks" haha. well a lot of mission get trunky for girls or watching movies or whatever, but im just so gosh dang trunky for some good sick cars!! holy crap that truck is so gosh dang pretty!! haha, tell Granddad to keep an eye out for a truck like that for me pretty please!!! haha, i'll pay him and work for or or anything! haha. 

im super sorry that this week i didnt take very many pictures, its been kind of a crazy week! but i will do a lot better this next week! and for the next little bit it looks like we're not going to have the car :( we just had transfers today, and the mission had a ton of changes and so they need our car down in the mission office. we're not sure when we'll get it back but hopefully it will be soon! haha. but I am still here with Elder Phillips in Oeiras( aka Santa Barbara, Cali) and we're really looking forward to this next transfer, its gonna be a sick one. Phillips and i are still zone leaders (its my 4th transfer as a ZL and im gosh dang excited to get taken out of it hahaha) but im hoping that at the end of this transfer i can train again or something, i just would love to go back to being a grunt missionary haha. but this transfer will still be way sick. On the 19th of April Elder David A, Bednar is coming to give a big conference, and its just for the members and missionaries within the Lisbon area, so i lucked out with that one haha, so that'll be a sick meeting. 

and yea, its sooo good to spend some time on the beach again!! dont worry, im not getting in the water haha, the Atlantic Ocean is freezing!! plus its like against the rules or something(; haha. and yea i gave a talk on the topic of "Be an Example of the Believers" by Russel M. Nelson. i guess it went pretty well, i got some of the portugues people to laugh (which is a miracle in and of itself haha), and had a few people after tell me that they liked my talk, so that was really cool. 

well this week looks like its gonna be a "hit the dirt and work" kinda week, which im grateful for, cuz the last few weeks have been kinda nuts, so itll be good. ill do my best to take more pictures to send! i love you guys so much, and holy crud enjoy those new cars!! haha, have a good week! i love you all!!(:

March 11, 2014

Zach adjusts well to Beach Weather!

Hey Momma! 

sorry about not writing! monday was crazy and our email time got cut way short, and then we spent all tuesday driving, because we had to take some things to every area in our zone (we were in the car from 9:30am to about 8:30pm) haha, i could've driven from Mesa to flippin San Diego and back!! and so finally today i am writing, dont worry i didnt forget haha(; 

and yes, i am a LEGAL driver haha, i have a portugues drivers lisence, but they took my American one:/ so that means we have a super rad trip to the DMV when i get home haha. they said something about you could email them or something, and they will send it in the mail back to AZ... ill try to look more into that. and portugal is just like America, they drive on the right side of the road with the steering wheel on the left side of the car haha. its just weirdo Brits who drive all backwards. 

haha, and no im not on my toes in that picture!!! im flippin growing!! haha, us four went over to Pres Fluckigers house for dinner and so that an elder could have a special interveiw, and after we all had dinner together. it was kinda cool to get to hang out with them. 

yea last week was a TON of waiting in lines and stuff haha, but it was all totally worth it, cuz now we have a car, and its like the greatest thing ever haha, i forgot how awesome it is to be able to drive!! 

and thank you for the package!! i got it yesterday because we had to go by the mission office (in our spiffy CAR haha) and i ate 1 of the bags of Hot Cheetos right there haha, i couldnt wait(; 

and my new ward is awesome! we have a frequency of about 110 members every week which totally rocks. its also the chapel where the mission always has huge councils and meetings because its ginormous and its modeled very closely to an American chapel. i never thought i would actually serve in it haha, its pretty sick. the area is awesome, its like paradise here. i seriously feel like im in cali sometimes. when we come back to visit, there is a drive along the coast right in our area that has got to be one of the prettiest drives in the world. im gonna video it while we drive it and put it on a thumb drive to send home to you guys(: by the way i will be sending a thumb drive home relatively soon(: and on sunday i didnt bare my testimony because there were a lot of members who were, and its always better to let them do it haha. but this coming up sunday i have a talk to give, so that'll be cool. 

dang lucky dogs! the beaches here are super cool, but they're not as good as San Diego haha. and that day there weren't too many people on the beach, but when we went on monday for pday there were a ton of people just laying around! haha, like nobody was in the water it was super lame! 

well sorry for the late letter, but i still love you a ton! haha, and this coming up weekend is transfers, so im almost posotive that i will stay here, but i think that since i can drive and im close to the mission office i will be helping with transfers on monday, so i will do my best to write on monday!! i love you so much, have a good week!!(:

we went to the beach on Pday!! 

this is my comp elder Phillips















thats elder Perreira in the middle, one of my best buds here in portugal. he ends his mission this next week, so we had a killer last pday for him on the beach haha

we found some sick quicksand haha, we played in it for about an hour and a half haha

so down along the coast there was this random jetti thing stickin out and the tide was coming in so the waves were huge, so i ran down to get a majestic mermaid shot haha...

March 2, 2015

New Area!!

Hey Momma!!

I MOVED AREAS AGAIN!! haha there was an Elder in our zone who was have some troubles with obedience and working, so we did an emergency division, and then afterwards our Pres felt that it would be better if we did an "Extended Division".... so now that elder is with my old comp Elder André in Amadora(the ghetto) and i am with that elders old comp Elder Phillips. and my new area is called Oeiras (its pronounced like oh - way - ruz) and its like flippin California! haha we have a ton of beach in our area and its right on the ocean, and is like a rich area haha, which is a huge jump from ghetto Amadora. and the best part?! IM GETTING A CAR!! IM GONNA START DRIVING!! hahahahaha dreams do come true!! i've wanted to drive my whole mission and finally i will haha. in this mission, other than the office elders and the Assistants, there are like 3 areas (out of about 150) that have cars, and i asked president because now that me and Elder André are split up, its harder to do zone stuff together because we're both still zone leaders, so he said yes to a car, and im going to get it either tomorrow or wednesday!! haha, so next week get ready for a ton of pictures!!(:

and dont worry about the package, because it will still go to the mission office, and now i live a little bit farther, but i have a car so i can get there super easy haha(: and thank you for sending the package, even without an altitude mask haha(: okay, ill keep my eyes open for it!!(: 

so this week has been pretty crazy, and it'll still be crazy probably until thrusday, cuz today was pday and also i had to go get a physical and some papers to get my portuguese drivers license, tomorrow morning super early we've got to go get more papers (and sit in the American Embassy for anywhere between 3 to 5 hours) haha, then depending on how that goes, either later that day or wednesday morning go to the DMV for another few hours... but by thrusday we should be back to a normal work schedule, and it'll be with a car which will be sick as heck haha(: 

but all three people were baptised on saturday!! a woman named Joana, and a mother and daughter named Kelly and Amanda! so that was totally awesome, and we had a ton of support from the ward! and even though its not my area anymore, i got permission to go down for the baptisms(:

also today has been pretty crazy, so i dont have much time to write, but next week i will hopefully have much more time haha(: i love you all so much!! have a good week!!(:

so here's like a sneak peak of my new area and my new comp! haha, i saw the beach and was like "dude... its been more than a year since i've gone barefoot in the sand... we gotta spend like 5 minutes here" haha, so we ran around in the sand for a little bit haha. and my comps name is Elder Phillips, he's american, but he was raised in Mexico because of his dad's job, so Spanish is actually his first language haha, but for the last couple years before his mission he was at BYU and living in Logan Utah, so he speaks English haha, and he's way cool

this is Joana, the lady in the middle. she is one of the 3 who were baptised on saturday!! my comp is right by me, and the other guy is named Felisberto, and he baptised Joana, my comp is in white cuz he dunked someone else!

and these are the other 2 who were baptized!! the mother and daughter in white next to my comp. and then the others are the family that brought them into the church!! its like a short brazilian party! haha

this is my zone after our zone meeting!! 

 so today we met up with a ton of other missionaries in a place called Belém (its Bethlehem in portuguese) and we saw some cool stuff and then played some more football later, its was a pretty sick Pday


this is that giant tower haha, the statues of the people are GINORMOUS, so i climed up the wall and got up on one of the big guys lap, then i got yelled at by some security gaurd haha, but i just kept responding in English and pretending that i was a tourist haha, so he let me go hahaha(: (Typical ZACH!!!!)

some random red bulls...