December 8, 2014

New Comp and 3 Baptisms!

This is the baptisms of Sofia and Geováni! hahaha Sofia is 32!! She's super cool and funny and always laughing. and Geováni is 10 and just a straight up boss haha, then our best friend Minerva in the middle haha

Hey Momma!!

I LOVE YOU!!! hahaha(: im super sorry, but im already running out of time, but dont worry im still in the same spot(: i have a new comp Elder Da Veiga from Cape Verde, and our house went from a 6 elder house to a 4 elder house, but its still way better than a 2 elder house for christmas haha(: but maybe could you start sending packages to the mission office instead? cuz im super close and its way easy to get them(: also, just as a note, when you put the list of things on the box of whats inside, dont put the price, cuz if its over a certain amount, then we have to pay to pick it up also haha, its really tricky! they make us double pay for it!

the baptisms went great!(: Hélio, Sofia, and Geováni were all baptized, and they're all super sweet(: and actually i already did all my christmas shopping earlier today haha so ill do my best to send it this week!!

im super sorry that i dont have tmore time! but im still in the same place and im doing great! i love you all so much!! ill do better next week!!

this is Hélio!! he's a 22 year old stud from Angola whose here studying for a few years. he's hilarious and awesome and baptized!! haha, and he's gonna try to get me a traditional african dress for men haha

this is Geováni! haha in this picture he wasnt even a member of the church yet, this was at our christmas party saturday night, and he was Santa Claus haha

my "now old" comp elder huntington, and a member named Minerva from Spain haha, she understands portugues but speaks spanish, so im learning some espanhol for when i come home haha

I found Isabel!! haha, my missionary mom from my first area in Tomar!! she was at church on sunday in our ward cuz she was in town, that was a sweet reunion haha

oh ya know, just chillin with my homies and singing our hearts out. this is Paulo Jorge from angola, he's a boss at basketball and its super fricken funny

And this is literally right now haha, this is my new comp Elder Da Veiga from Cape Verde! he doesn't speak english, like at all! haha, but he's teaching me Creole which is super sick and sounds like african clicks haha. this is us sittin here doing emails(: he's a thug

December 1, 2014

Working Hard!

this is Giovani!!!!! he's a little stud haha, he's 10 years old, and he and some other family members are gonna be baptized soon!! 

Hey Momma!! 

yea actually the sun has come out the past two days, which is sooooo nice haha(: its just colder than cold!! haha, which i guess isnt to bad, but this Arizona skin dont help me too much haha(; and yea, i cant believe how fast time is flying!! its freaks the crap out of me haha! yea, i believe that November 24th of 2015 is a tuesday, which is the day that i will be getting on a plane to fly home!! and i dont know why we lose a few weeks, i guess its just the way it works out!

Oh man that turkey looks sooo good haha, and man to see you guys in short sleeves tshirts and shorts haha, im like freezing my butt of here!! haha, but at least the sun has come out lately!(: and i was wondering, if you guys come and get me, ill miss thanksgiving with the family, so maybe we'll have to think a little bit about a trip! haha, its just now that i realized it, so ill have to put more thought into it later! and that's awesome!! ive been telling brandon to go visit forever! haha, im glad he finally went, he actually had been saying that he missed being at our house haha. but yea i talk with brandon every week about all kinds of different stuff, but yea mostly about what he's doing at asu and what im doing here, yea it seems like he's loving ASU. 

and no haha, Elder Eyring and Elder Perry went to the Vatican in Italy to give a big ol speech on marrige, its all over church news on lds.org so i didnt see them haha(: I saw Elder Cook the other week with their Stake President haha(: 

Thanksgiving was pretty sweet, we just had a big ol' lunch and stuff, which was suuuuuuuuper good cuz Elder Williams in our house cooks soo good, it was awesome haha(: and we were gonna wake up early and go play football, but then it was cold and we were to tired and lazy haha. but we play catch in the house all the time haha, i love being in a 6 elder house! and no, the portugues dont celebrate Thanksgiving at all, but yea there's already been Christmas stuff out for like a month in the stores haha(: 

That's sweet! haha i totally thought Ammon was 10 and gonna turn 11 hahahahahahahahaha|!!!!! thats what ive been telling people for like 2 months hahahahhahaha!!!!(: i just bought his b-day present today, so ill send it either today or tomorrow!! and im gonna start putting together a christmas package, its a little bit easier to do shopping here cuz im so close to the ginormous mall hahaha(: is there anything in specific that anyone wants from Portugal? haha(: 

well our week has been awesome, we're getting a ton of work done here, there are so many awesome people here! this coming up week, its looking like we're gonna have a few baptisms!! so keep us and them in your prayers so that it all goes well!!(: there are a ton of people here that are just super ready for the gospel! 

well i got to the computer this week and realized that i didnt have to many pictures, so ill try to take more during this week to send!(: oh and yea, the package came by the house, but i wasnt home, so im gonna go pick it up from the mail office soon!! thank you so much!!(: i love you all, talk to you next week!!(:

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!! well we didnt get turkey, but in our 6 elder house, one cooks suuuuuuper good, and he made duck, mashed potatoes, some other awesome kind of potatoes, and a ton of other stuff that i cant remember haha, but it was soooo good, its so awesome to be in a 6 elder house, cuz when we all eat its like a big family hahaha

this is Mwamba!! its the traditional Angolan dish haha, Paulo Jorge made it for us, it was very..... african hahaha, but it wasnt too bad haha(:


Zach is learning a lot about the African Culture!! 

this is at an investigators house named Paulo Jorge, he's from Angola (like deep south africa haha) and he's sooo funny, hes like 6'3" and speaks english perfectly, and is a HUGE basket ball stud and NBA fan, which is funny cuz the NBA basically doesnt exist here haha, but every time we go in his house he's watching basketball

so this is my area!! i literally live in the heart  of Lisbon, like 10 minutes on foot from the big international airport and the ginormous mall Colombo haha, its sweet


we went for a little adventure in the city haha, it was just weird to be walking along a dirt trail while being surrounded by huge buildings hahaha #citylife

November 24, 2014

Zach in the Big City

and this was just some random guy who happened to have a scottsdale shirt, but he had no idea where arizona was, it was just a shirt he bought from some gypsies hahaha 

Hey momma!!

first off to answer questions(:

the Markhams aren't like a missionary couple, but they work for the chruch's self reliance program or something... im not quite sure, but yea they are here until january when they go home(: and Elder Huntington goes home on Dec 7th, so in like 2 weeks haha. and it weirds him out a bunch, but he still works hard as ever. and most likely yea, i mean you never know for sure, but  most likely i will stay zone leader here, haha our area is right where the big international lisbon airport is, which is super weird, cuz i used to think of Lisbon as the big brain of the mission, and now all of a sudden im right in the middle of it haha. 

and yea, im starting to get into the groove of city life, but today is actually the first time ive seen sunshine since i got here haha, its just been raining nonstop, so it was so nice to walk in the sun for a bit today, i hope it continues haha(: but i cant wait for you guys to come back here to see all of this cuz its so cool here! 

haha and i have no idea what i want for a christmas(: i also have no idea how this whole ipad thing is gonna go down, but im pretty sure that the church will order them, and then we pay the church, and all i know is that they're gonna be ipad minis. but yea i would totally love a batman case haha(: but we wont get them until january, so it would have to be a late christmas present haha(: but as soon as i know more about that ill be sure to let you guys know haha(:

and no i dont work in the office haha, thankfully! all the office elders are just so stressed and always doing like business work on the computer, i hope that i never have to work in there haha, i love being outside too much(; and yea we have a ton of new investigators, and the people here are sweet, i'm in my first ward! haha, with an average of about 120 in sacrament every week, which is awesome! 

and i know that you're not gonna like this, but im not sure if we'll be able to skype on christmas, or if it will be limited to just phone calls:/ but we dont know anything for sure about it yet, so ill have to get back to you on that one too(; and im not sure if we're gonna do anything special on thanksgiving, im in a 6 elder house and all the elders here are super awesome, but my comp is like a nazi with the rules, so im not sure if he's gonna want to do anything at all, but i wanna at least go play catch with the football for a while haha. AND GUESS WHAT?! i realized a couple days ago that starting officially today i am on the COUNTDOWN CLOCK...... as in i have less than one year left on my mission..... which blows my mind haha. and i will get home the tuesday or wendesday before thanksgiving haha! just in time for the turkey bowl!! but seriously the fact that i already have less than a year left scares the crap out of me, cuz i feel like i just got here!

haha and we went bowling today!! we live right by this huge mall called Colombo, its the biggest mall in europe apparently haha, so all 6 of us in our house went bowling, ill send some pics in a sec!!

well i love you guys so much!! have a good thanksgiving and ill talk to you next week!!

this is Elder Cluff! we did a division a couple days ago, and found out that we live like 15 minutes from each other haha, its funny cuz he's the first kid from AZ that I've gotten to talk to in almost a year, so we had some funny stories and what not, cuz he knew all about saguaro lake and stuff. and he went to Mountain View!!! hahaha, but we united in the ASU cause haha(;

hahahaha this is our house! we're the only 6 elder house in the whole mission, and its a fetching party every night haha, and by the way, the batman onezy and the raccoon onezy in the front are both mine haha, i was just the only one with cool costumes so i had to share haha, but our house is a blast haha!

this morning i was in a hurry, and some how ended up knocking our window off its slide doodah or whatever and it fell like 30 feet...... and broke haha, so that's coming out of my paycheck... plus its gonna be freezing tonight without a window haha(:

so we went bowling today and got some dope shoes!!! and i bet you can't get guess who i was just by looking at that name list..... but just in case you need help, yes.... i'm batman

 haha, it was only 5 bucks for two goes, and dang son, check out that form(; hahaha..... i almost won once hahaha

November 17, 2014

Zach says goodbye to old Friends...

and hello to new ones

I LITERALLY JUST GOT DONE TALKING TO ELDER QUENTIN L COOK!!!!! he came and talked to our mission on friday and that was sweet! and while we were in our chapel doing emails he came by with a few others to see the chapel and we got to hang out with him for like 20 minutes!!! 

I GOT JUST TO HANG OUT WITH A LIVING APOSTLE!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha we got to see him and shake his hand on firday when he came to talk to our mission, but holy crud we just gave him a big ole tour of our chapel and hung out for a while! and they were totally asking about Barbara Dayton and stuff, and they were with some other guy, who i guess is Taylor and Molly's stake president, and also knows grandpa and grandma margaret hahaha, we weet took a bunch of pictures, so maybe start asking the utah daytons for some pictures haha(; 

and so yea, i got transfered out of Beja:( that seriously was one of the hardest goodbyes i have ever had to say, but i got to see Elder Roberts at the meeting with Elder Cook on friday, and he said that they are doing really well, which makes me soooo happy, and i cant wait to see them again(: so that's right where we're going when you guys come, because you guys have to meet them!!

and now im in LISBON haha, its just such a drastic change of the way of life haha. but im loving being here and i already love the people so much. And my new comps name is Elder Cedric Huntington, he's from Alaska hahahaha, so at night he has a fan pointed at him, and i have my onezy, like two blankets and a heater hahaha, but its awesome(: he's such and incredible missionary, and he goes home in three weeks. by the way TRANSFERS ARE ON THE 7TH OF DECEMBER becuase the church doesnt do any transportation two weeks before or after christmas cuz its so expensive, so this is a 4 week transfer, and the next one is an 8 week transfer haha. i almost certainly will be staying here, because Elder Huntington is going home, and so ill keep the area and i guess have to teach some one else how to be zone leader of
Lisbon haha, which by the way is gnarly and a ton of work haha. so if you could pretty please include me in your prayers so that somehow i can magnify my calling... i would greatly appreciate it hahahhaha(; 

my address is:

Rua Cidade de Moçamedes

Nº243 R/C DTO

1800 - 104 Lisboa

and you dont really wanna send packages to the mission home, but to the mission office, and the address for that is:

Rua Jorge Barradas

Nº14C

1500 - 370 Lisboa

and i've started a new personal study, im reading the whole Book of Mormon from the start, and im underlining every time there is a testification of Christ or Heavenly Father in blue..... there's already so much blue hahahaha. 

well i love you guys and ill write you again next week!!(: maybe check on lds.org and see if they put up any pictures of ELder Cook visiting portugal!! haha, im sitting in the front on the floor in one of the pictures if it is up there haha

this was me saying goodbye to our Branch President Ruberval Souza and his wife Sheila and sister Rose..... they gave me a really nice Brasil soccer jersey haha

this was me saying good bye to the Jeffers (a missionary couple from my last area) they got me a little batman thing haha

this was by far the hardest goodbye i've ever had to say..... haha i cried worse than Denis and Lucas, but i hear that they're doing great which is awesome. actually their mom had to go to the hospital after i left, because she had been crying so much and couldn't stop that she dehydrated herself and they had to put an IV in her haha...... Beja is the first place im going when i come back here

this is some from the neighborhood called Texas that came out to say goodbye the night i found out i was getting transfered

 now im in a 6 elder house (hahahahhaha its a nonstop party) and this is Elder williams, he goes home in a few weeks and he aint my comp, but we're in the same house which is way dope cuz we've been friends for a while in the mission, and now since im in Lisbon i ride the metro like a trillion times a day haha, its suuuuuuch a different lifestyle here haha but its sweet. this is us goinog down into the metro

and this is elder williams again, in our new chapel here in Lisbon.... it used to be an old mansion and they turned it into a church, so it kinda feels like you're in a disney land ride haha its sweet

so this is outside our chapel mansion haha, a big ole thing of Poseidon!! haha

and this is a missionary couple the Markhams, they know Grandpa Lynn Dayton! haha

 so these are two tiny Filipino's hahah (sorry i have no idea how to spell it in English, so there it is in português) the tiny one in yellow is 25!! haha, she just got baptized on saturday hahaha they're soooooo funny!









 and this is 4 of the 6 elders in our house, left to right goes Elder Williams and Bianucci (comps) then me and my compe elder Huntington, who by the way is super dope

and these are some sisters who are trying to flirt to convert people who are already converted hahaha and my new comp elder Huntington

November 10, 2014

Transfer for Zach

Zach has mixed emotions about being transferred. He was rushed with all the changes, and so his letter(s) is short and sweet. No pictures this week :(

Hey momma!! well yea i got transfered, and now im in a place called Tejo, it's right inside Lisbon haha, this is a huuuuge change, now in a big city!! Well today has been crazy, so I'm super sorry but I have like no time to email today, but I love you guys and I'll write you next week!! But I'm safe and doing great(: I'll be able to right next week!!

An hour later Zach found a little more time :)

Hey momma, I've got a little bit more time(: but I'm in the mission office right now, so I can't send pictures this week, but I'll send them next week. I still dont know what my new address is, but could you maybe send a package with all the good stuff? You could send it to the mission office, cuz my new area is right by the mission office, and I'm a zone leader now hahahaha, which I think is proof that president lost his mind, but it'll be a great learning opportunity haha, dad can explain what a zone leader is(: But ya, saying good bye to Beja was by far the hardest goodbye yet. I'm not gonna lie, saying good bye to Denis was so hard, because he didn't fully understand why I had to leave, so when we come back to visit, we have to spend at least a whole day in Beja, because I already miss that place so much haha. But I'm just so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve there, because those people will always have such special place in my heart. But I'm excited for this up coming transfer and what it's got in store for me(: And this coming Friday we have a big ole meeting here in Lisbon, and Elder Quitin L Cook is coming to talk to us, so I'll get to see Elder Roberts again!!(: but now i gotta bounce, so I"ll write more next week!! I love you guys!!(:

LOVE THIS BOY!!

November 3, 2014

Halloween in Portugal

 Zach's Branch Celebrates!

Hey momma!!(:

ill definitely have to check out that talk, i love Pres. Uchtdorf haha. and holy crud, i know i say this about every week, but i cant believe how big the boys are getting!! and man, i feel like its been FOREVER since ive seen that backyard haha.

well this week has been pretty uneventful for me and elder Roberts, mostly cuz we spent a ton of time down in a different city called Faro. we had a zone meeting on wednesday, which means we have to go town tuesday and spend the night cuz we live so far away. so at 6:00pm tuesday we took a 3 hour bus ride down to faro, then the next day at 4:30 a 3 hour bus ride back to Beja to arrive at almost 8pm wednesday night. and wednesday elder Roberts stayed in faro with another elder, and i came back with an Elder Andrade from Cape Verde for divisions. then thursday morning at 10:00am andrade and i caught another 3 hour bus ride back to faro to pick up Elder roberts... then finally elder roberts and i caught one last bus ride back to beja at 4:30 again, to get back to beja around 8:00pm thursday night haha... it was just so much fun.....

but then on friday we had our sweet halloween party, and im gonna have Sheila (our branch pres's wife) accept you guys on facebook for me so that you can see all the stuff that she tags me in, cuz i forgot to take pictures at the party haha sorry. its gonna be hard to eventually leave this place. speaking of which, this coming up sunday is transfers, so this is the last pday of this transfer, so next monday im not positive if im staying here or not, so i guess you'll find out next monday!! but im getting pretty anxious cuz im most likely to be leaving this area and i have no idea whats happening!! haha

And earlier this week i had kind of a cool expirience. i dont remember what i was doing at the time, but i just remember getting distracting by something and my mind starting to wander off, then i swear i heard a voice saying "I need you today" and right away i got back to what i should have been doing. and it was just really cool to have a little help like that, cuz i definitley need it haha!(; its just so cool to be able to be in an enviroment where i can truly get just even a glimpse at how much Heavenly Father does for all of us. theres also a little thing i was thinking of today talking about Heavenly Father, it goes like this. "Of all the titles of respect, honor, praise, and worship associated with Diety, He chose to have us call Him Father." tell me that's not the coolest thing you've every heard! haha, I just am so grateful for the apportunity to serve a mission, and gosh dang i love my Heavenly Father so much(: 

and dont worry, i love you guys so much too(; haha, but now i gotta run, so ill write you guys again next week!! love you all!!

some pictures of our Halloween Party!! that's our Branch Pres and his little son as dracula hahaha

Zach is photo bombing!

so i kept putting the cat on top of the ghost, but apparently thats not where our branch pres's wife wanted it cuz she kept moving it.... but i kept moving it back haha!!

 and this was at a baptism of the other elders on saturday!!

biggest thugs in the mish....... dont mess

this is Bea..... i think that she forgot about this missionary bubble...

I love how uncomfortable Zach looks, hahaha

this was after a meeting down in a city called Faro. its on the southern coast of Portugal and is against the ocean, so we went to take a peak..... i can now say that i got in the ocean on my mish!

AND A BENTLY!!!!! im fetching buying one of these when i get home haha. and this is my new dope headband that i wear when we play basket ball and a pair of fake RayBands i got for 3 bucks haha(:

October 27, 2014

Zach will always be Zach!!

Boy I LOVE HIM!!

Hey Momma!!(:

My week has been pretty sweet! I love being here in Beja so much, Me and the guys in this house have just gotten so close, it'll be tough when the time comes to leave. Transfers are the 9th of November, and im probably going to be leaving Beja, but until then Im still here with Elder Roberts(: Our day to day has been awesome, this last week we just got down and hit the dirt so hard, we worked like dogs this week, and it was honestly so much fun. i can't believe how fast the last two weeks have flown by! like holy crap we're already about into November! what the dump!? im creeping up on a year..... that's just not right haha, it freaks me out if i think too much about it, kind of like trying to comprehend eternity.... so i just kinda shove it off and try not to think about it haha(:

Our ZOne Conference was awesome. Pres talked a bunch on focusing on the Book of Mormon in the conversion of an investigator, because the Book of Mormon is what the Church of Christ is built on, and it's what makes us different from any other Church. Joseph Smith himself said "it is the corner stone of our religion". 

hmm ive never heard of an Elder Yarbrollo haha (dont tell him that!!) but you'll have to ask him where he served and who he served with!! haha, and i guess that's a good thing that he only had good stuff to say haha(:

And has anyone else from our ward or stake gotten their mission calls lately!? what about the mcbride boys?! im dying to hear about them haha(:

haha and dont feel like you failed me!! im honestly stoked cuz you sent me my two favorite ones haha(; 

and i dont really need anything else right now, but maybe in the next package could you send some more face wash and stuff, that stuff you sent last time works really well(: AND HOT CHEETOS!! haha

well i gotta run, but i love you guys so much!! if you're looking for a good scripture check out Mosiah 3 and 4, its King Benjamin talking about the Atonement of Christ, and 2 Nephi 4 is super awesome too, its one of my favorties(:

 So it was like Veterans Day or whatever here in portugal and they had a sweet big ole military thing with a bunch of guns and machines and whatnot... i was just in heaven haha

 I GOT TO GO FOR A RIDE IN A STRYKER!!!!!!!!! (the big tank with 4 wheels on each side) it was sooooooo sick!!!! but it was a ton of little kids who were riding, so i probably looked pretty funny waiting in line hahaha i was like the only one over 10 years old haha. but who cares it was so dope! i got a sick video too, but i cant send that:(

and they had a ton of vehicles that they let us climb all over. and it was funny cuz none of the slides on the guns were blocked, probably cuz no one in portugal has any idea how to work a gun so they didnt think anyone would play with it, but as soon as i got up to the big .50cal i pulled the big slide back and dry fired hahaha and EVERYONE freaked out cuz it was super loud haha. them darn Americans actually know how to work guns.......

 there's soooooooo many pigeons here, so one day we sat down and as one walked through my feet i got that sucker!! haha

Here's me and my son in front of the castle in Beja.... this is where we are planning to go if the Zombie Apocalypse hits while we're here haha