April 20, 2015

 Inspirational Stories 

I asked Zach a few questions...

hey momma!

okay to answer your questions.

1. no i did not get the package yet, but its here in portugal. i talked with someone from the office today, the package is being held hostage in the post office because of what is written on the box, so the office has to go down to the place and pay a tax on it. but hopefully they will let the office have it, cuz one lady (an american missionary couple lady) said that she had her family send her some Benedryl, and the Portugues wouldnt let her have it cause it was medicine, so they sent it back to america. when you go to put whats on the box, just put like socks or something haha. and they say dont ever put "shoes", "food", or "electronic items" or "ipods" or anything like that, cuz it will for sure get taxed, and the food and medicine may get sent back. so hopefully here in a couple days i will be able to get it! haha

2. The 10 year old son was baptised on Friday, and so hopefully the rest of the family will follow his example, we're still working with all of them. but the baptism was awesome cuz they have a ton of family here and most of them are members, so his uncle baptised him, and he was totally smiling ear to ear when he came out of the water. and then as we were ending the baptismal service, after the closing prayer he went and gave his mom a big hug and they both started crying, it was so awesome! then we went to their house after for a party, but i have a ton of pictures so i'll send those!

3. Elder Bednar was awesome! so Saturday night they had a conference thingy in our chapel with all the youth in three different stakes, and Bednar did like a question and answer with them, it was super sick. he had some cool stuff to say about success that i took notes on, he said "True success is when we are going through difficult times, and we keep going. Success is not measured by the material things around a person, but on what is inside the person. And the key to understanding success is understanding our dependence on the Atonement. the source of power does not come from within us, but from our dependence on the Atonement." 

And then someone asked what he thought were some of the most important things in the eyes of Jesus, and how do we fulfill the measure of our creation, and he ansered it way cool, he said "well lets look at the scriptures..." and then went on to explain how in the Bible, when Jesus says to His disciples "My time is at hand", from that point until his crucifiction is when he taught the most crucial things, because he had little time and it was the last thing he would teach them. and the first thing that Jesus does is institute the Sacrament, Bednar explained that the importance of this is the ordinance. then he said "In the ordinances of the Priesthood, Godliness is made manifest to men and women in the flesh; and without ordinances Godliness is NOT made manifest to men and women in the flesh." then in the Book of Mormon, when Jesus visits, Bednar again explained how He knew that He had very little time, so obviously He would teach the most important things. the first thing He does is give the Priesthood, and the second thing He does is institute the right way of baptism(AN ORDINANCE!). Elder Bednar explain to us that ordinances are soooo important because without ordinances we dont have access to blessings, ordinances are the key. and then he answered how do we fulfill the measure of our creation(kind of a big question), he said "We fulfill the measure of our creation when we RECIEVE ordinances, REMEMBER them, and HONOR them. We dont have to be perfect, but we have to keep pressing forward." it was just super awesome to hear how deep of an understanding he has of the gospel! and he gave tips on how to study, he said what he does after every general Conference, is he takes the talks of all 15 of the prophets, seers, and revelators (the 1st Presidency and the Quorum of the 12) and takes a sheet of paper for each and makes the three following columns: 

1. What doctrine or principles are taught in this message?

2. What are we invited to do?

3. What blessings will come if we do those things?

and thats how he studies, i thought that was sweet, but a ton of work! haha

4. today is supposed to be 2 Nephi chapter 1, but im on verse 20 too haha, cuz our weekend has been crazy, but im gonna catch up!

**this is about the man in the picture above:)

i also wanted to share something about another man who was finally baptised, his name is António José and he's 57, and his story is just awesome. about 4 years ago he started investigating the church. he was married (for the second time) to a brazilian who was already a member. well he was really liking the church and almost got to the point of getting baptised, but then one night him and his wife were out driving and it was raining really badly. He lost control of the car and they got into a wreck, and his wife died in the crash. he was badly injured, and now his right arm doesnt not function at all, its just stuck at his side, and his right leg hardly moves at all either. his brain was badly damaged too and is still is. he can talk just fine and can have conversations with people like normal, but he cant write and has difficulty reading, and remembering things is hard for him. but after the crash he lost contact with the church and everyone that was helping him to progress. then about 2 months ago we had stake conference, and a member(an old chinese lady) told us that she has a neighbor who sits in his home all day and is semi-paralyzed, who lost his wife, and he needs to hear the gospel and she invited him to come to the conference and he said yes. so we thought awesome! haha, and he came and really liked it, and so we started to teach him. he came also the following week to church, and a member walked up and told us pretty much the whole story of this man, and how 4 years ago they had been pretty good friends in the church, and then one day all of a sudden he stopped coming. so this member helped us a ton to teach and prepare this man. Finally yesterday, Antonio was baptised by his friend the member who had been helping us, and it was just incredible. my comp got in the water too to help because he's really disabled, and so we put a little chair in the water for him to sit in, the member said the prayer, and they both gently lowered him into the water. well he hadnt even finished coming up out of the water and he just started saying how happy he felt and how incredible it was and what a beautiful day it was and how much he loved us, and i just started crying haha, it was so awesome to see him so happy. well his brain works a little bit more simply, and so a lot of the time he just says what hes thinking, and after when we were sitting down to finish the baptismal service, he turned to his friend that baptised him and said "i feel as if i were a child, and i feel as if you were my father", and we explained to him that he feels that way because he was completey pure and innocent, just like a child, and his face just lit up.  Antonio is an awesome example to me, he has had a horrible trial in his life, but he hasnt let it make him bitter, it has really humbled him, and he is so grateful for every little thing in his life. so that was pretty much the biggest highlight of the last few weeks or so for me haha(:

well i hope i answered all your questions! haha, i love you guys so much, and ill write you again next week!(:

and here's everyone who showed up to his baptism, small group, but more people showed up later, we ended up with about 30 people by the time we had to leave, it was way sick

this is António José(the taller one with the cane) he was baptised yesterday by his really good friend! it was super awesome!

**Zach catches up with friends from around his mission while at the Conference with Elder Bednar

 and i even saw Simon! my crazy old ward mission leader from Beja! haha

another good friend from Tejo, who when i went to take a picture like a normal person, he said "no no no, we have to do the pose-thingy you always do" haha, so thats what we did

we had a huge conference on sunday with Elder Bednar, and so i got to see a ton of old friends from all over portugal! this guy is from a few areas ago, and this is Isabel, my mission mom from Tomar! haha

this is Hélio from Tejo!!! it was so good to see him again! we goofed around so much together haha until some official looking people had to come tell us to calm down haha

Zach was one of the missionaries that taught and baptized Helio last November!!

 once again, my main dawg Fossati, always keeping it cool and serious together, never once gettin yelled at for being too loud.... 

 the baptism of this awesome 10 year old kid from Ecuador, and his huge Ecuadorian family haha. they're all so tiny!! im down there on one knee and im almost as tall as them!

some more of the people. they are all super cool and funny, but they dont speak portugues, just spanish. buts its okay cuz portugues and spanish are the same fricken thing, so we can understand everything that the other one says haha

 

 after the baptism we went to a party back at their house, and in Ecuador the tradition is when some is baptized, the family of the person baptized gives a crapton of fruit to the person who has baptized him haha, there was soooooo much fruit! 

















here's me and my comp at this sick chapel in a city called Cascais, the chapel is an old mansion that the church bought, and its sick!

Here is my AMAZING missionary!! I can't wait for Mother's Day!!

April 13, 2015

Time Flies When Your Having Fun

Zach visits the Zoo

Hey Momma!!

haha, i feel like this week flew by!! i cant believe its already monday again!

President Fluckiger can give an Ecclesiastical Endorsment whenever, but first the other stuff needs to be done, then you just send it to him. and he's always making a big deal to make sure that you send it to the Lisbon Portugal Mission, not the Lisbon Portugal Stake. and i cant believe how fast time is flying by! Fluckiger takes off in like a month and a half! 

I've seen Elder Arnold three times since i've been in portugal haha, but the last two were more recent. i saw him last week cuz we had to do our residency to be legal here, so we got to spend a couple hours together, it was so fun! i miss him so much haha, he's so flippin funny, him and i are just hoping to stay in the same mission when the mish splits, but right now im in the south and he's in the north, so we'll see how it goes!

and i did not get the package yet, but i will keep an eye out for it this week! thank you so much! and not to keep buggin you, but can you please please send me an altitude mask! i want one super super bad!!

and yes, this coming up weekend is the weekend that Elder Bednar comes, and yes i'll take my journal haha. 

unfortunately the family from Ecuador was not baptised, they're gonna get baptised on friday, but right now its looking more like just the younger son and the mom are gonna get baptised, and hopefully the father and older son will ge baptised soon after! 

so our transfer ends not this week but next week, and im hoping that im gonna be free of being zone leader haha, i had a dream a few days ago that im gonna train again, so hopefully that dream will come true! but i want to stay here in Oeiras for a long time cuz this area is super sick. 

well im running out of time, but if this next week flies by as fast as last week did, i'll be writing you again here real soon!! i love you all(:

we went to the ZOO today for Pday!! haha, the reception was so warm-hearted and smiley

haha there were peacocks all over the zoo, so we kept feeding them chips. i played with this one for like 10 minutes, i kept making it jump for the chip and it couldnt jump at all hahahah it was so funny.

 and i brought a bag of carrots with me to the zoo to feed the animals, and when we passed the baboons they went fricken nuts for the carrots haha!! i have a couple videos but i cant send them over email. i would play tug of war with the baboons haha, they're strong little suckers!! 

the zoo has super crappy surveilance, so you can pretty much pick up or play with any animal haha, i mean c'mon, they put the turtles like 6 inches away from the little fence thingy, its just begging to be picked up haha

 SHE TURNED ME INTO A NEWT!! well actually a turtle... BUT I GOT BETTAH!!

Zach quoting Monty Python!! He's so Jared's kid!!

they had this sick cart thingy that took you over the whole zoo to see everything. well its on a giant metal cable that was really really bouncy haha, so we got yelled at a  couple times for bouncing haha

haha, i was the captain of our ship (obviously) with my trusty swashbuckling, poop-deck shining Elder Cervantes riding shotgun!

this is our new pet, his name is Tyrannous and we let him go in our house to eat the bugs haha, my comp was not too happy about it, he kept freaking out all last night thinking that it was in his bed hahahaha

April 7, 2015

Happy Easter!!

My boy makes me LAUGH!!

in this mall by our house there was this huge easter bunny with such a nice smile, and he was so friendly still he started munchin' on my arm 







Hey Momma!!

so first off i'm very sorry, but once again i will have to send pictures later haha, our pdays have been kinda of hectic, so when i finally get a chance to send the pics to you, i have A TON to send haha. 

(He's referring to a college ecclesiastical endorsement)

I talked to Pres Fluckiger about it. he said that its something you have to do, then when its ready you send it to him and then he gives the endorsment?? haha, he didnt know that process very well, but he said to ask our Stake President cuz he should know. Is Pres Whimpey still the pres?? or is everything still the same? haha, and actually of my best buds, 3 of them are from AZ and are going to ASU, 1 of them was the elder that i ran into that wednesday morning in the airport on the way up to the MTC, his name is Elder Riggs and he's from Grand Canyon or something like hahahaha i cant remember what the city is called, hes not from the Grand Canyon, but the name of the city is something like that haha. 

And i still know nothing about skype, im sure that we're gonna do it, but where im gonna do it depends on next transfer, which is the last weekend of April. and yes, you can send it to the mission office, that address will never change(: unless i get transfered this next transfer and go to the north for the mission split... but dont jinx me haha, i wanna stay in the south. 

The family from Ecuador didnt get baptised because they had some family things come up, but we're gonna visit them tomorrow and they're gonna get baptised this coming up weekend!!(:

hahaha, i got on a members phone to add you on facebook so that you can see more pictures (she takes a lot of pictures for the ward and takes pictures of me and my comp alot, her named is Cristina, add here cuz she has a ton of pics haha) and on your front page i saw a video of aunt Delayne dancing, hahahahahaha holy crap i forgot how awesome our family is hahaha, i was laughing so hard. you guys are so lucky to have them all down for the week, im so excited to see everyone again, i cant believe how big everyone looks in the pictures haha. 

and Devin wrote me about her papers, i told her 10 bucks says i bet you come to portugal! haha, but then i thought it would be waaaaaay to weird to have to call her Sister Dayton hahahahaha, its weird enough to call Joseph "Elder Leung" haha, oh and by the way, we did Bowling again today, and out of the missionaries who went Joseph went! it was super fun, and its way funny cuz i kept calling him Joseph haha, i just cant get it into my thick skull that now he's Elder Leung haha. 

and dang holy crap..... that's super weird to think about Jack and Jared going on missions hahaha, but thats so awesome! im probably gonna have like nobody from our priest's quorum home when i get back haha! that sucks! oh well haha, itll be sick. im really gonna have to step it up at the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving haha. 

please be sure to take a ton of pictures with the cousins! im taking pictures too i promise, i just cant send them right now haha, but i will soon!

and when you send the tie could you send some more face wash?? i dont really use the other two bottles of whatever creme they are, but i use the face wash every day in the shower and im running low. and could you please please PLEASE send an altitude mask??? its not gonna distract from the work at all, our mission gets up at 7:00am, but i get up at about 6:45 every morning to about an hour to jump rope and work out before studies, and i would really appreciate having an altitude mask!! i need to get in shape!(:

well i love you all so much and im a little jealous of the cousin love you guys are all getting this week, but dont worry, cuz there will be plenty of time for goofing off with the cousins for the rest of my life after haha(; LOVE YOU GUYS!!(:

service project! we painted this guys house cuz he was to short to reach all the way to the top of his wall hahaha, plus he's pretty old but he's super cool

this is the wife of the dude's house we painted, she's super funny haha, and super buff!!

haha, they have a little grandson staying with them, so i kept playing with him... remind ya of anyone??(;

 even though im in portugal, i've still got the Arizona habit of parking in the shade haha
















BOWLING AGAIN!! haha, its funny cuz im actually getting pretty good now cuz we go so much, i kicked everyone's but yesterday!

then after bowling a member picked us up and took us out to lunch. they're from India, but lived in Utah for like 10 years so they speak english perfectly, and now they've been living here in portugal for like a year or so. this is the 17 year old son Alex, he's super cool and is actually gonna end up going to BYU and rooming with my comp haha. they're a super sick family 

 this is last Pday, we went to the other side of the river out to the beach called Costa da Caparica cuz there was a big surf competition going on so we went to check it out with some other missionaries. well they had a hummer there! its like the first one i've seen since ive been here haha, then we chilled for a while in some cool beanbag chair things just shooting the breeze and reminiscing about Cali hahaha

then we got our 'MuricaLand on and played some football for a few hours, but this time i didnt bust my lip open haha

then to get back to the other side of the river we took this ferry that was pretty sick. its the first time ive been on a boat since i left haha 

so i was doing this salute pose, and his random guy saw me doing it, so he was like "here take this hat, it makes it way better" haha, so he gave me his hat for the picture, and he was right.... the hat makes it so much better(; haha

March 31, 2015

Sharing the Book of Mormon saves Souls!

this is Semedo!! he was baptised on sunday!

Hey Momma!!

hahahaha, im not gonna lie, if i was in shape enough to be a Ranger as soon as i got home i would probably leave a lot sooner haha, but seeing as how a missionary body doesnt cut it, im gonna have some time, so i guess college is a pretty good idea(; and okay, tomorrow we have a big meeting in the Mission Office with all the zone leaders in the mission with Pres Fluckiger, so after the meeting i'll do my best to remember to talk to him about it. i should probably write it down haha. i'll have to remember to do that..... 

haha, okay NOW i know which girl it is haha, and im not gonna lie, she looks really cute in that picture! you guys have no idea.... like the portugues people are awesome... but there a very very few attractive girls here haha. im sure Dad can explain what "mission goggles" are haha, but im suffering here!!! hahaha. and i thought you would like that picture of me carrying the shopping bags haha, and im sure that that sister has a wonderful spirit..... but she aint my type! haha you guys dont have to worry about me falling in love on my mission... you cant light a fire with no firewood!! 

And we had one baptism yesterday, the other man had something come up and was unable to come, so he will be baptised next saturday!! and i have a bunch of pictures, but i'm gonna send them tomorrow, we have very little time today and so we'll get a little bit of time tomorrow(: and ill send some pictures of our Pday today too, we went to this surfing competition on the beach, it was pretty sick, then we played some more football (this American football you guys sent me for my birthday is like famous in the mission because they dont sell them here and im like one of the only missionaries that has one). but dont worry, i didnt bust my lip open this time, but i wish that we got the game on video. cuz i woulda put that game on Youtube and i'd already have a signing contract with every NFL team in America haha. i had a pretty good game today(; but ill send the pics tomorrow!

And the man that was baptised is super sick. his kids are all grown up and moved out of the house, but like 10 years ago or so when they left, his kids left a Book of Mormon in his house. well he started to read it and really liked it, but didnt know which church it belonged to. so then like 2 months ago a member here finally convinced him to come to church with him. he didnt want to because he really wanted to find the church that the Book of Mormon belonged to, but he didnt know that it was the LDS church haha. so when he showed up here and saw Books of Mormons everywhere he got super excited and wanted to be baptised, so we taught him everything, and yesterday his friend that brought him to church in the first place baptised him(:

yea! Joseph Leung (i still dont like calling him Elder Leung haha, thats wierd) got shipped off the island, and now he's in my zone!! So i'll get to see him on wednesday when we have our zone meeting! i wont do a division with him cuz zone leaders only do them with district leaders in their zone, but its cool that we're in the same zone. and you can tell his parents that he's a darn good worker, he's really hittin the dirt out in his area! is in Amadora now, in the area that i was in before coming to where i am now! the place that is like Africa haha!(:

and yes I NEED CONTACTS PRETTY PLEASE!!! haha, i realized a few days ago that i only have enough contacts for like another 3 weeks, so if you could send some i would really appreciate it haha. and yes please send Hot Cheetos, and could you send some hot sauce too please?? something really hot like Tapatio's or something, i miss HOT hot sauce haha. but im good on deoderant. maybe could you send me like an America Flag tie or something?? i would just fricken die to have a tie like that haha. 

and thats cool, i didnt know that about Elder Bednar. but the thing is that he isnt coming for the missionaries. he's coming for the members, he's just doing like a multi-stake conference in lisbon. i talked a little bit with the office elders, and they were saying that as long as Fluckiger is here we wont get ipads (i think its just something he doesnt want to deal with haha). but maybe once he goes home and we have the new mission pres's, Bednar will come back to give us ipads haha. 

and right now we're especially teaching this family from Ecuador. all for of them will get baptised together very soon, maybe this weekend, but more likely next weekend. its a mother and father, with a 14 year old son and a 10 year old son. and they super cool and pretty funny. i really hope that they can all get baptised this weekend, but itll be an awesome baptism! the 10 year old son just showed up one day to the church here and was like "i wanna be baptised" haha. they have family who are members, and the kid has always loved the church, so he's like brought his whole family into the church, its pretty sick. 

well i get to sending those pics tomorrow!(: i love you all so much, and ill talk to you guys next week, love you!!(:

every now and then we get out of this nicer part of our area and hit the hills, nice windy day for a hike out to some investigators!

well we found out that we got lost and ended up in a wrong town after about a 2 hour walk haha, so we made up for it by going to a store and getting some chocolate muffins and Monsters haha

this is my dawg elder fossati...... we're pretty much always serious together