August 24, 2015

3 Month's to Go!!

Zone Conference

Hey Momma!

haha yea i was thinking, its kinda nice that ill be getting home in like late november haha, right into hoody and sweatpants weather! but i was also remembering that it will probably be pretty cold and rainy when we come to visit in December! so get ready for that haha. 

hey speaking about that package, i just read the letters from you guys a couple days ago (i put them in my bag and forgot i had them haha), and will you please have dad give that guy a huge thanks, the guy who felt that he should give me some money. it actually really helped, cuz i had to take out personal money so i could recharge my metro pass, so that was super cool for me to get to read that letter! and i havent got the hair gel one yet, but ill probably be getting it next week. also TRANSFERS IS NEXT WEEK, although im almost positive that all 4 of us in this house with be staying, which is alright cuz our house is pretty sweet. 

yea when i spoke to Pres Tavares he said that he had already finished it, but i'll call the office elders and try to figure out whats up.(BYU application) yea im doing alright haha, me and my comp get along pretty great, he's just suuuuuuuuuch a goody-two-shoes haha, is that bad for me to say? haha, its just that our personalities are super different haha, for example he doesnt really like the words "suck", "crap", or (personally my favorite) "shiz", but those are probably the three most used words in my vocab haha. but other than the weird little discrepancies we get along pretty well, a heck of a lot better than my last comp haha. No, transfers are still the exact same, i just had one comp for the first half of the transfer, and am now finishing out the second half of the transfer with my new comp. trasnfers are next week, but i garuntee we'll all be staying together, which is alright by me haha, we had a really fun pday today hanging out with some other elders just goofing around at a park, i split a watermelon with my head today hahaha, it was pretty sweet. we got it on video, but it sucks cuz i cant send videos:/ and we didnt take any pics, so i guess you'll just have to wait 3 months to see it haha. 

i think that the only thing i'll ask you guys to pray for is that Namy (a lady we're teaching) has the strength to quit drinking and doing drugs, she really wants to but its really hard, and she relapsed yesterday and is pretty down. but she's super awesome and is gonna bounce back! 

okay, i gotta run, but i love you guys! ill talk you yall next week!!(:

big ole zone meeting, ran into Elder leung again. and this other guy is Elder Casey, we're brothers in the mish, cuz we we're trained by the same guy haha. i had my lightsaber just in case, you never know when you're gonna need it,but its okay, you dont need a permit to carry one in portugal

Here's me and Pres. Tavares

...and this is good ole Elder Riggs rockin the Camo ties! haha 'MuricaLand!!

 this was at the baptisms on saturday..... too many people to name, just a lot of friends haha(:

this is Mike! haha, he's from New York, but lives in Scottsdale AZ. but he works with Domino's Pizza. they just barely opened up Domino's here in Portugal, so they sent Mike over to help them get started and teach them the ropes i guess, but it was super fun talking to an American again haha, i really miss Americans... and America... but the pizza was suuuuuuuuuuper good

August 17, 2015

Zachary Turns 20!!

Happy Birthday!!

she said i could cut myself whatever piece of the cake i wanted, so i cut the smiley face right out of the middle haha





birthday dinner at Sofia's house, and this is the cake she made! haha, it was a pretty fun night!

Hey Momma!

i know haha, i cant believe how fricken old i am, it really actually freaks me out that now when people ask how old i am, i have to say im 20 haha, i cant say im a teenager anymore! :( 

1. What did you do for you bday besides church?

1. thats really all we did for my birthday haha. we helped a family get to church and get back after. they have a member of their family who is disabled and in a wheel chair so we helped with that, it was pretty fun, i got to hang out with some cool little kids for a while haha. then i worked on college crap (i must be a responsible non-teenager or something), then we went to dinner at Sofia's.

2. Did Sophia make you dinner? What did you eat?

2. Sofia made carne assada cuz she know's its like one of my favorite things haha, it was super yummy even though its pretty different from Mexican carne assada haha, and her whole family came in for dinner haha, it was pretty fun:)

3. What are you looking forward to eating when you get home?

3. holy crap where does the list begin? mexican food, panda express, fire house subs, mexican food, smoked turkey, mexican food, FRENCH DIP, smash burger, fudruckers, mexican food.... ya know, stuff of that sort 

dang haha, thats really impressive to read it in 3 days, i bet it was almost like watching a movie haha, that would be super cool. i'll admit, i got pretty far behind in my book of mormon reading, but im catching up now. im ready about 3 chapters a day in portuguese, but im still in Mosiah. but you better believe that im gonna catch up and finish before i come home! yea my two favorite people in the book of mormon are Captain Moroni and Teancum. actually the story of Teancum has helped me to find some answers to some questions in my life haha, who'da thunk?? 

4. How is your Book of Mormon reading going in Portuguese? Are you on Alma Ch 46? I have really enjoyed reading this time, thanks for the challenge!

4. so i guess i just gave that answer above haha

5. How are the ward members?

5. the ward members are awesome. a lot are out of town cuz its still summer break here, school doesnt start until september, but its super awesome being with them again. 

6. Are you teaching any new investigators? Or do you have any baptisms scheduled?

6. yea we've got a few new investigators, most are still in the deciding stage if they really want to talk to us or not haha, but we do have 2 baptisms for this weekend. A man who has been less active for a long time has a son, and has been living with a woman (who will soon be his wife) with a daughter, and they all live together as a family. they are not married yet, because the woman is recently divorced, and Portugues law states that a woman has to wait at least 10 months after a divorce before she can marry again, but they are living the law of chastity. Our mission pres interviewed them both and feels that they can be baptised. so the man is already a member, and the woman's daughter was baptised a few weeks ago, this weekend the woman and the man's son will be baptised. kinda complicated, but in the end it comes out as an eternal family, so not much to complain about;) haha

7. How is Elder Condor? Was that his name???

7. hahaha is name is elder C O R D O N, but when my mish pres said he was gonna be my comp, he had trouble saying his name cuz he doesnt speak english, so i though it was Condor like the bird. well on Boomerang on CartoonNetwork channel there was an old cartoon called The Condor Man about some super hero that had condor wings or whatever, so we literally call him Elder "The Condor Man" hahaha. he's a really cool guy, he's really trying to keep me on track these last 3 months of my mission hahaha, holy crap no slack in his chain haha, but its fun.

8. Did Pres get the ecclesiastical endorsement done for BYU?

8. I have no idea about the Ecclesiastical endorsement, but we have a conference with him on Thursday so i can talk to him about it then:)

9. Please share your testimony!!!

9. i know you may not like this answer, but i feel kinda weird just sharing a testimony over email haha, but i can share a really cool expirience if you want!:) so on sunday morning we went to a family's house to help them come to church, not all of them are members. well its a woman who's probably almost 50, then 4 little kids with ages 7, 8, 9, and 11, and then one of the lady's daughters who is disabled and in a wheel chair. Not to mention portuguese cobblestone roads stink and make it really hard to push a wheel chair. anyways we helped the family to and from church, and it was tough, even with us 4 missionaries, it really drove the point home into my head that i should never have an excuse of not going to church, because it is incredible what this woman does every week. she's a very simple woman, but she really understands the importance of the ordinance of the sacrament and of the rest of church. 

10. (im putting my own answer here just cuz i love you) i got the packages today! your's and Grammy and Grandad's package! and oh my heck the t-shirt and tie are soooo freakin cool!! hahahahahaha and i laughed sooooo hard when i opened up that blue bouncy ball thing haha, i was opening it and trying to figure out what it was just like what the heck did they send me, then i saw the handle hahaha, thank you! and oh my lanta the Hot Cheetos get better and better every time i swear, im gonna be an addict when i get home haha.

well i love you guys a ton, i gotta run now, i dont have much time left. cuz you know im not a teenager anymore, so since im so old i dont have much time left hahahaha...... I DONT LIKE BEING 20 haha, 

have a good week! love you guys

so all of Sofia's family came over for the birthday dinner and to hang out for a while, it was fun to see all of them again

treking to church!

 this is me getting my Trunky Call, its when the office elders call us to tell us the exact date that we're going home and to ask us what air port we'll be flying home to and stuff like that.... its one of those days that you never think is actually gonna happen haha

so this is my new comp elder Cordon (we call him elder "The Condor Man" haha).

so we went to the 50s American Diner again....

gotta get that fix!!! this time we went during Happy Hour and got the Suzie Special, with fricken peanut butter M&M's haha, it was so good!

August 10, 2015

More Changes for Zach

me saying goodbye to my old comp

Hey Momma! 

im not gonna lie either, im really excited to see you guys too haha, i feel like i havent seen you guys in forever! holy crap im super excited to show you guys around portugal! i think that hardest part is gonna be to decided which area to go to church in haha, but we've still got time to decide that! oh sweet, do you know where exactly in oeiras? like the exact spot or train station near it? and sweet, im super excited haha ive never driven a minivan before! holy crap im super stoked! AAAHHHH i cant believe how fast time has gone by, i cant believe its almost over haha. 

okay well news from my end: i have a new comp now, and im training!! his name is Elder Cordon, and he's super sick. his dad was a mission pres in brasil a few years back, and so my comp lived in brazil for three years, so he already speaks the language haha, which totally rocks for me(;

okay, on to the questions:

red questions are from mom

1. How is the BYU essay going? Try to finish it today!!!

1. im just about done with the essay, ill be able to finish it tomorrow, but probably wont have time today

2. Did your Pres. submit an ecclesiastical endorsement?

2. i submitted the endorsement thing to Pres but he said he didnt get it, so i gave him my username and password and he's gonna try to figure it out haha

3. Have you witnessed any miracles lately? Our lesson in Sunday school today talked about how we have miracles happen in our lives daily and it made me think of you.

3. I'll be honest, at least lately no not really any miracles, its been pretty stressful with my old comp and an emergency transfer and all that stuff, but ill be able to explain that better in person here in a couple of months haha(;

4. I sent you a package for your birthday last Monday, but I already had it in the mail when you mentioned you need hair gel and deodorant. So I’ll mail that tomorrow, is there anything else you need?

4. THANK YOU for the package haha(: i havent got it yet, but i'll keep my eyes out for it. i think all i really need is hairgel and deodorant haha, and hot cheetos!!(; haha

5. How are your contacts holding out? I was wondering if I need to make you an eye appointment for like the day you get home?

5. i should be perfect on contacts, i think one box should be a little over a transfer, and i have three boxes left, and only 2 1/2 transfers left, so i should be good(: i have no idea about an eye appt, but if i start working i think im gonna start saving up for Lasic, isnt it like a grand or so?

6. Can you believe you are going to be 20 in a week!!!!!!!?????

6. DONT TALK ABOUT THAT haha it freaks me out!

7. What will you do for fun on your birthday? Besides go to church, since it’s a Sunday ;)

7. Sofia invited us all over to her house for some big dinner haha, so besides going to church on my b-day ill probably just be getting fat haha

8. Who are the Elders in the pic with you from the Metro?

8. i cant remember which picture you're talking about haha, but i have some more that i'll send and ill name them all(:

9. Are you riding the metro everyday again?

9. yea we ride the metro at least twice a day haha, but only a few of the stations have those things to send pictures so i cant send them very often :/

i laughed pretty hard at the part about mason punching your board hahaha, holy crap i miss goofing around with those goons! tell them they better be ready cuz im getting in shape and im gonna kick every single one of their butts haha! oh and one more thing for christmas, can i have an altitude training mask pretty please??(:

well i gotta run, but im gonna send some pictures right now, i love you guys!! have a good week, GOOD LUCK STARTING SCHOOL ALREADY holy crap where did the summer go? haha love you guys(:

and i ran into Joseph!! 

 so im training again, and this is my son Elder Cordon! we call him either cordon blue (like that weird food) or we call him The Condor Man haha. he's a really cool guy and is pretty funny. but the cool thing is that he lived in brazil for 3 years, so he already speaks portugues perfectly haha, which totally rocks for me haha. oh and that's my other comp, Marilyn Manroe haha, she does all the cooking and cleaning in our house

we went by the American Diner again... i just had to get my milkshake fix....

so here are some pic of my area, it goes all the way down to the Tejo River, we spend a lot of time working down in the boondocks, but on this day we were a bit aways and it kinda had a cool view i guess haha

 its always good running into old friends haha

Aug 3 & 4, 2015

Zach's a Busy Missionary, With No Time to Write :(

and no pictures this week...

Aug 3

hey momma!! super sorry, im gonna have to write tomorrow! haha sorry to do this again!! love you guys!!(:

Aug 4

Hey Momma!!(:

sorry about yesterday, pday goes by way too fast hahaha. yea its actually super cool being back here in tejo, its a lot better than i was thinking it was gonna be haha, i really love this place. things with my comp are going, im not gonna lie its pretty tough, but holy crap if i can get through this then i am more than ready for having kids hahahahaha. but at least i can smack my kids, i dont think im supposed to do that with my comp haha. holy crap i cant believe you guys are going back to sand diego! lucky dogs! and thats so cool that jared is going to argentina, sometimes i wish i could've gone to south american where its dirty and more dangerous and not so proper, haha, but the Lord knows best, so whatever! 

HEY ABOUT THE PACKAGE, could you put more hair gel in it?? the American Crew: Fiber stuff, the cap is blue. i probably only need one more haha, which is super weird. and maybe one more deoderant pretty please! and yes the same mission office address is still the perfect place to send it(: Rua Jorge Barradas Nº14 C 1500 - 370 Lisboa Portugal. 

and yes, i talked to the office elders, and we will definitely be going home November 24 (unless like the zombie apocalypse starts up or something). they havent made travel plans yet for us, we should be getting that soon, but that is the day that we will be going home fo sho. im really super excited to be able to show you guys everything too, it kinda sucks though thats its gonna be december and we cant go to the beach! i hope its not too cold and rainy haha. 

well i sucked at taking pictures this week too haha, and i have mucho pouco time today, but i'll write better next week haha, i love you guys!! have a good tie in cali!!

Aug 4 - written to his dad :)

hey pop!

haha, well im pretty darn consistent with jumping rope and playing basketball in the morning, so hopefully ill be at least slightly in shape by the time i get home haha, and i'll go riding with you, i actally really miss mountain biking. things are going pretty good on my end. kinda tough with my comp, but the Lord put us together for some reason so im just going with it haha. im super excited to be able to show you guys around over here, and im not gonna lie, im really excited to see you guys again haha, i cant believe its almost over... 2 years has gone by really fast, but at the same time i feel like i havent seen you guys in 10 years haha. im just trying to lose myself in the work, its really the best way ive found to deal with dificult comps haha. love you pop(:

July 27, 2015

Back at Home in Tejo!

so now im back in Lisbon in the same area where i served over Christmas time... its really weird coming back haha, it was almost 9 months ago that i was here and i feel like i never left haha. its super good seeing old friends though. and yea i know that my hair looks butchered.... thats cuz it is hahaha. i was cutting it the other night with some really crappy electric hair clippers (it was pretty much just a weed-wacker) and i was really hyper for some odd unknown... well anyways i was trying to throw something at an elder in our house and i kept messing up hahaha. good thing its hair and not fingers so that it grows back haha

Hey Momma!!

hahaha, why dont you get Briggy to drive?! he should be pretty good at it considering he's been driving around that TANK for who knows how long hahaha (which by the way i would very much like to drive when i get home hahaha). (I had just got home from Utah and that long drive when I wrote him) hahahaha well i laughed pretty hard when i saw how FRICKEN proud of me you are hahaha(: okay, as soon as i get those essays done i'll send them to you(: and when you're doing the UVU and ASU applications could you also look at the ROTC options for the Army pretty please? i was talking to brandon about it a little bit, but he doesnt know too much about it. and sweet, im super excited to see all those pictures!(: 

It's actually really awesome being back here in Tejo. i was sitting in church on sunday, and i felt like i had never left haha. like the past 8 months just feel like it was a dream or something haha, it just blows my mind how fast it's going. My comps name is Elder Oliveira, he's from Brazil and he's very... original haha. it's kinda like one of those "trial by fire" transfers haha, but it's not all that bad cuz im back in a 4 elder house, which totally rocks, and the other two missionaries are awesome. yea i've had some spiritual expiriences, but most of them are kinda personal haha, sorry(: But one thing that happened this week that was cool was when we were talking with one of our friends/investigators. He's like 27 and a really cool guy. he's got some problems in his legs and it's difficult for him to walk, and he also doesn't really have a house or much money cuz he cant work. but he's always positive. But so after we finished our lesson with him, which was just on a park bench, we took him to a little supermarket to buy him some food and water cuz it had been a while since he had eaten. He was super grateful for it, but the coolest part for me was this: while we were in line to buy the food, a really (and i mean REALLY) old, dirty, short, rather unpleasant-to-the-eye looking lady came up and said hi to him. Well it turned out that they are actually kind of good friends. he saw that she was waiting in line also, so he asked the people behind us if it would be alright if she cut us all in line so that she wouldn't have to wait as long. then he told her to wait after so that we could all walk with her and help her with her bags. the man has a pretty harsh limp and can only walk for about 200 yards at a time before having to stop and rest, but he helped us to carry this old woman's bags all the way back to her house. Im gonna be brutally honest, she was really homely and dirty, and a lot of people avoided her because of her appearance. But this man is so humble that that stuff doesnt even matter to him, right in the middle of the store with everyone watching he was having a nice little conversation with her (she cant talk much because she's really old and doesnt have teeth), but i really felt the spirit because of that. so that's one cool story that i guess i'll share this week(;

well i gotta run now, but i love you guys a ton!! haha those pics of Brig chasing that bear are SICK!!! does anyone remember on the 50 mile hike when we saw that bear and chased it off?? hahahaha, way to keep up that family tradition Brig haha(: LOVE YOU GUYS!!(:

no i still have not found out exactly when i will be going home, but on wednesday we have our zone meeting, and since im in lisbon now its right by the mission office, so i can go over and ask the office elders, but we should be getting our "trunky calls" either this or next, but ill still ask(: and im wondering if it would be better to come back and visit during the next summer, just cuz flights are so expensive around christmas? plus it's pretty cold and rainy during the winter here. but i would really like to pass my companions that are still gonna be in the mission field as well and take them out to lunch or something. i've had a few comps who came back to visit do that for me and it's super fun, plus i want you guys to meet them all, so if we wait till the summer most of them will be gone, plus it also gets pretty hot in the summer... haha, i dont know, whatever works best for the family! and i would also be okay with the trip of the 16th to the 23rd, but i know that the church doesnt travel a week before or after christmas cuz its so much more expensive. but i will do my best this week to find out when i get home(: 

this is me saying goodbye to my step-son McGraw. i got transfer-shafted out of Loule back up to Lisbon! haha

sorry about the lack of pictures for a while! i guess i just kept forgetting haha! this is a really cool elder from Cape Verde, he just went home, his name is elder Da Veiga

this is Bruno, while we were talking to him he randomly remembed that he had a tie in his pocket, so he pulled it out and put it on to be like us haha, so i gave him my name tag for a bit haha, he's super cool

so the city of Faro is the motorcycle capital of Europe, and they were having a week long motorcycle festival......... oh my goodness it hurt so good

July 19 & 20, 2015

A Surprise Letter On Sunday July 19th 

Hi momma!

haha it was funny to get on the computer and as soon as i opened up my email i got this letter from you haha(: well im on my email cuz today is transfers day, but we lost our phone... more like i lost it haha, i think i left it on a bus... anyways since they cant call us for transfers they're gonna have to send it to us by email.... so we're just sitting here waiting! but i already know that im getting transfered... our mission pres called me earlier cuz it's a "specific transfer". there's an elder from Brazil who's kind of troublesome in the mish... not like a rule breaker or just a bad missionary or whatever, he just doesnt usually get along with his comps very well cuz i think he's slighty bipolar and kind of childish in the head... like im childish cuz im immature, but he's childish cuz he throws tantrums or stuff like that. i've met him a couple times, but i know more about him cuz my son Roberts served with him and kinda had a rough transfer. well anyways Pres called me today and told me about the situation, and he's putting me with him cuz he feels that i have the personality that could help smooth him out i guess. The weird part is that im going back to serve in Tejo. Which is the area in Lisbon i was in over christmas last year. Like im really excited to see a bunch of old friends again, but im also kinda nervous haha. One thing that i never wanted to do in my mish was return to an area i had already served in, i just think it's super weird, the thought of going back to somewhere i was 8 months ago and starting all over.... but i guess we'll see how it goes!! if anything i'll probably just get buff this transfer, i bought some protein a few weeks ago to try and bulk up a bit before i come home (mason is probably bigger than me, i only weigh about 150 pounds right now if i'm wet haha, i've gotten really skinny out here) and my way of dealing with stress has always been to work out haha. it's just kind of a bummer cuz i really like this area and i was thinking i was gonna finish my mission down here... well i guess not!! haha

Well anyways im super stoked to see this picture of my photoshopped head, on Mason's body hahaha. And no i didnt get a driving ticket for the accident, and i did not lose my license either, just driving privileges in the mission. So yes i will be able to drive when we come as a family. But so could you guys, the passport works like a driver's license for the first 6 months of being in a country or something like that... but i got dibs on driving!(; and THANK YOU for getting a new driver's license haha(: yea i got your email about doing college stuff, what website do i go to to do that BYU stuff? i tried getting on some byu website but i didnt see a log in or anything. so i clicked on the option for missionaries in the mission field appyling but it didnt make any sense to me haha. 

well now you wont have to worry about waiting to see if you can read my letter tomorrow haha. im gonna be on a bus tomorrow for like 6 hours or something going from the southern tip of portugal back up to lisbon, so i dont know how much time i'll have to write tomorrow, but i'll do my best haha. by the way im totally jealous that you guys are going to yellowstone!! that is so sick! please take a ton of pictures AND VIDEOS! im actually really excited to watch home videos of all the stuff ive been missing for the past two years! and im excited to show you guys some videos too!! i cant believe i only have 4 months left, it blows my mind that im that close to coming home.... it freaks me out! haha

well i love you guys!!! hahahahaha i just realized that i have a tendancy to start my paragraphs with "well" haha... 

have a good week in Yellowstone!!(:

P-day Letter on Monday July 20th

haha, man im so jealous of you guys!!! go wrastle a moose for me! haha. and im not down cuz of the comp at all, it's just weird to be going back to somewhere i already served. im afraid it will make me feel like im starting over haha. but im sure once i see all my good friends there it wont matter. i'm mostly bummed about leaving this area, this area is sweet! and i only got to stay here for one transfer! i have this transfer and then two more, so if i end up finishing my mission in Tejo (Lisbon) i'll have a total of 5 transfers in that one area.... thats a ton!! haha, not to mention the city aint exactly my cup of tea... that's okay, cuz if i finish out my mish there, it'll just make seeing the wide open desert and mountain ranges that much better haha. just to let you guys get ready, if y'all are thinking that im gonna wanna sit around and talk about my mish for a couple days you guys got another thing coming! haha, all im gonna wanna do is dirtbike and go cliff jumping and wake boarding (yes i know it will be november but i dont care!) and flippin drive Brigs ginormous truck a little bit and burn some stuff and play the drums and listen to some Social Distortion and AC DC and The Cult and System Of A Down haha. but there will be plenty of time for talking on the drives in between these activities(; hahahaha(: and okay, sometime during this week i'll get on and do the BYU stuff, do i need to write essays for the other schools too? and did you apply me to MCC also? just in case i turn into an introvert hermit when i get home and dont wanna be more than 2 miles from home hahahaha(; but i'll get on it this week, thanks for everything!

I love you so much!(:

No pictures this week :(