Zach is LOVING it!!
So we finally found out that Zach's P-day is on Tuesdays! And we finally got a letter, an amazing letter!! Enjoy:
FAZHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
tuesdays are my p-days, so im just reading all these emails from all of you
guys and its wicked awesome! (; haha, i also sent my letters in the mail today,
so hopefully you'll be getting them all really soon! My companions name is
Elder Landon Arnold, and hes pretty freakin sweet. he loves basketball and
soccer and being active, so we have no problem waking up at 5:30 every morning
and working out together! he's from salt lake city and has an older sister and
a younger brother and sister. hes got a killer testimony, and even though
Portuguese is coming somewhat slow to him, hes putting in an incredible amount
of effort. i see elder riggs every now and then, but we dont really talk. in my
district there are 7 other guys (8 including me) and two sisters. theyre all so
freakin awesome, by friday (our second full day) everyone was saying how we all
feel like weve all been best friends our whole life! the best way to describe
this place is either "the days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like
days" or "an eternity in the blink of an eye".
our
entire district gets along so well that you would swear we all grew up together.
yesterday our district did an "English Fast" where we didnt speak in
english for a whole hour, only portuguese, and it was so cool! its amazing how
much ive learned in such a short amount of time, i have the missionary purpose
memorized in english and portuguese, i can carry on a basic conversation enough
survive if i got dropped off, i can say a prayer (and not a crappy one, like a
thought out prayer thats different every time!) and i can bare my testimony in
portuguese too! ill do it at the end of this email, but i cant use certain
letters so it may look funny and not translate correctly.
yesterday
our district was reading scriptures together from the portuguese book of
Mormon, and for some reason i got the giggles and was laughing so hard i
couldnt breath, and it went on for like a solid 15 minutes, and it didnt help
that another Elder would laugh everytime he looked at me, which would only make
me laugh harder, haha. i am having so much fun here its insane, like this is
literally the coolest thing ive ever done! and pretty soon ill be able to do
the whole thing in portuguese!
im
at the normal MTC campus, but Bronson went over to the West Wing, so i dont see
him and probably wont, but theres a slight chance i will on christmas, so pray
for me!
Sunday
night we usually have a big devotional as an entire MTC, and then break off to
differently places of our own choice to watch different videos or here
different talks, but this time instead of a devotional, the BYU Men's choir
came and sang to us, and i was doing a pretty good job of holding it together,
until they placed a song called "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and
then i just lost it, they played a slide show of different pictures such as a
little boy carrying his baby brother on his back to a marine carrying a wounded
brother on his shoulders to safety, and as you can imagine thats what got to
me. MAKE SURE THE BOYS ALL WANT TO SERVE MISSIONS!!!!!! they need to do it, but
more importantly they need to want to do it for themselves!! well after that
song i started to recollect my self, then they sang an ancient holy latin song
a bout Christ and that didnt help, and right after they sang "Lift Me
Up" which started the whole crying process over again. and after they were
done singing we watched a video of elder bednar's talk given to the MTC a
couple of years ago called "Characters of Christ" and if you are able
to watch it please please PLEASE watch it. it was so good, it was actually the
first TALK to ever make me cry.
well
anyways im loving every second of being here and i have to get back to doing my
own laundry now (arent you so proud of me?!) but i will try to maybe send one
more today with some pictures on it if i can figure out how to work this
camera. by the way, is it water proof? i cant remember and i dont want to test
it out until i know for sure haha.
i
love you guys all so much, and if anyone asks for my address give it to them,
because i dont know what it is haha (:
Heres
my portugues testimony: Eu sei que Jesus Cristo esta O Filho de Deus, e eu sei
que o evangelho restaurado es no esta terra, por tudos pessoas no terra e no
ceu. Gracas que testimunho eu sei que eu tenho vide eterna com meu Pai
Celestial e com Esta Filho Jesus Cristo, e vide eterna com minha familia. O
Senhor ajudanda-me aprender portugues muito bom, e eu sou grato for Sua
Expiacao. Digo estas coisas en nome de Jesus Cristo, Amem.
good
luck with that on google translate! or maybe ask gavin or david, or even trevor
nichols!
i
love you all so much, gotta run!
Elder
Dayton
We are thrilled to hear how much Zach is loving it!!!
Here are a few more pictures - ENJOY
Zach with his comp Elder Arnold and Zach being Zach!
