February 9, 2015

This Letter is Short and Sweet...

Hey Momma!

haha, yea like, for portugal my area is kinda dangerous... but like in America its about the same as Provo on a Sunday afternoon haha, its Portugal mom, dont worry, nothing happens here haha(; and no last week the pictures didnt work. now we do them in this little internet cafe thing, and i cant send pictures from here. so here in a sec we're gonna go over to our chapel so that i can send some, and i've got a ton to send(:

and what the heck?!?! that truck is sooo sick! WHO exactly does that truck belong to now? haha, see if you can get one of those for me for when i get home!!(; hahaha, or at least keep an eye out on craigslist, cuz i think the first thing im buying is a truck. dont worry, ive gained a little bit of common sense here on the mish, at least enough to push a motorcycle down the list a little bit haha(; im thinking about a Dodge V8 like the one that Gavin has. the jeep was awesome, but after the mish im gonna want something that actually has some guts and can pull stuff... and go more than 45mph up a hill hahaha(; but the jeep is perfect for a teenager in high school! haha sure kept me out of any speeding tickets!(; and also what is the new shop that Arizona Autoparts opened up?? Emily sent me some pics, it looks sweet? do they need any whiteguys down there?? haha(;

and hey quick thought, when exactly are you guys thinking about coming back to portugal as a family? like after the boys get off school in December? and could Brandon come with us? he would buy his own ticket. but i flippin miss that guy, plus maybe it could be a cool missionary expirience for him... plus i fricken miss that guy haha(:

and i will for sure pray for Grandma(: and speaking of prayers yea im feeling perfectly fine again(: thank you haha(: what ever it was passed and i didnt even barf!(:

well i love you a ton, and i'll send those pictures here soon!!(: talk to ya next week!!(:

sorry, no time for more than these... Gonçalos baptism and my new comp elder André and i workin hard!  

February 2, 2015

New Area = New Computers = No Pictures:(

Zach moved to a new area this week and he didn't figure out how to send pictures, even though he says he's going to. And I shared with him the testimony I bore in church on Sunday, so that is what he's talking about at the beginning of the letter.

Hey Momma!!

 

well jeez, you done made me cry a little bit right here at the computer! haha, have you ever realized how strong your testimony is?? i think you and dad must have passed it down to me in my genes or something haha(:

 

and yes i am in a new area with a new comp! My new comps name is Elder André from Angola, me and him lived in the same house while i was in Montijo, he's the one who cut my hair and did a terrible job!! haha, but him and I are pretty good friends, so this transfer i feel will be a really good one! my new area is called Amadora, and its like the ghetto gangster town of portugal haha, its like the Bronx or Compton here haha, but its pretty sweet and i hear that it is an awesome area for getting down to work! and yes Elder André and I are zone leaders, now i am the ZL of a zone called the Oeiras, im only about 30min from my last area, its just a little bit northern than where i was, but it's still right in the heart of Lisbon, i guess the Lord wants me to learn how to work in they city haha.

 

I only have 20 minutes left on the computer, so i'm gonna have to give kind of short responses so that i can still have time to send pictures, because i have a lot this week! but Hélio is 22 from Angola, he's studying to a some kind of tech-mechanic, and we get to pass by and teach him about 2 times a week, and no i didnt hack his phone but i did ask him if i could do it! haha

 

and yes, Gonçalo was baptised on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! and it was awesome!! teaching him was a little tricky because he is soooooooooo hyper all the time, but he really has such a pure little heart, and he knows that these things are true, and he's really good at reminding his mom to say prayers haha. and church on Sunday's are good, we have sacrament meeting last, but at least in the last ward i never talked. here in Amadora this coming Sunday i'm posotive that i will bare my testimony cuz they always ask the new elders to do that when they show up haha. and hey! i lost my voice like 3 days ago and i still can barely talk haha, its really funny, but kind of frustrating at the same time, because i cant get louder than like a decent whisper, so i would appreciate some prayers in that area haha(;

 

i love you so much, but im gonna get on sending some pictures!! have an awesome week, and i'll talk to you guys again next monday!(: i love you momma(: thank you for all that you have taught me(: just really quick, today we were leaving a big shopping center where we had lunch, and i was really really hungry so i bought two burritos, well for whatever reason just one filled me up so i put the other in a bag and was gonna take it home. well on the way home on the side of the road was a homeless man with i sign that said nothing more than "i am hungry", and i just got this overwhelming feeling that Heavenly Father had used me to take care of one of His children who was in need. so i walked over and pulled it out of the bag and asked him if he would like it, and he just put his two hands out, palm-up like a little child asking for help. and i just about broke down crying because it just broke my heart and i just wanted to give him everything that i had, but then i felt that Heavenly Father was happy with just the food, and that He would take care of the man. Heavenly Father seriously loves each and every one of us so much we cant even understand, and i had the opportunity today to witness of that love the He has for us. There is so much service for us to do and so many that are needing of us, and we've got to get out there and do it(: I'm so grateful for the family and country and situation that i was born into and raised. i love you so much(:

Zachary is a ROCK STAR!!

January 22, 2015

Zach's on the Move

A lot of Splits this week!

this is me and Elder Beckstrand on our division! he's Assistant to the Pres. so he's a driver! (that's a rare thing in these darn foreign missions!)

Hey momma!(:

im super sorry, but im pretty short on time today! but everything is still going good here! and yea i bought a ukulele today! haha, but im done buying stuff for a while! and only 28 bucks, what happened to all the money from selling my bike? haha are you guys hiding that so that i cant use it?(:

And gosh dang i love to see those pictures of Ammon playing! and im super sorry, but i havent been feeling super good lately, and right now im having a hard time focusing. plus this week flew by because i spent like 4 days out of my area so i cant really remember all that we did this passed week, but next week is transfers! im pretty sure that i will be staying here, i just hope i have plenty of time to write you guys to make up for this cruddy email! i'll be praying hard for you guys, pray hard for me too that me and my comp can get along a little bit better! i guess just African and American cultures are way different or whatever because there has been some friction between us, but ill trade you guys some prayers(: haha. 

But all of our recent converts here are doing awesome, and this weekend coming up the son of Sofia will be getting baptized! his name is Gonçalo and he's a tank haha, so hopefully i'll be sending some pictures in white next week!(:

well i have to run, and im sorry this letter is so lame, but i love you guys so much and i'll write you more next week!(:

this is elder Morse... Morse the Horse!! haha he played lacrosse before this mish, and his nickname was morse the horse cuz his thighs are fricken huge!! haha, he's a way cool guy, but he goes home in a week with transfers

so we had this meeting with quite a few missionaries, and we had a BEJA reunion!! my son Elder Roberts and awesome elder Beckstrand, me and him are always running into each other in the mission haha, i love these two goons

 then right after that meeting elder Beckstrand and i went on a division (its our 3rd together, which is unusual in such a big mission, but some how we keep running into each other) and we went to this part of town that is like fricken africa! hah then we got lost in the amazon, but it was way fun!

and my main man Hélio!!! he came to church yesterday in a fricken stud suit!! haha, this guy is so much fun to hang out with haha, i wanna take him back to 'Murica Land with me

January 19, 2015

I forgot a couple great PICS!!!

we finally went to the AMERICAN STORE!!!!!!!!!!! haha right now im eating beef jerky, brown sugar and cinammon poptarts, and drinking an Arizona Kiwi-Strawberry!..... holy crap its been way too long haha....... we're going back next week with more money haha(:

He is the CUTEST MISSIONARY!!

January 19, 2015

Dedicated Investigators in Lisbon!!

so this is Geovani (the little kid) and Luisa (his grandma) and they are pretty much the biggest studs ever! haha, Geovani will walk by himself to church on sundays even when his grandma cant go! plus we have play fights all the time... some how he always wins....

Hey Momma!!

yea haha my week flew by super fast too!! i feel like it was just yesterday that i was sittin here! and no we still havent got ipads:/ i dont know why its taking so long. The Church sent out that letter saying that by the end of March all of western europe should have iPads, so i guess we'll wait and see(: but you'll be hearing from me as soon as i get one!

and im sorry, i dont have a ton of time today, but of the maaaaaaaany cool things that happened this week haha, one of them is this: that picture of Geovani and Luisa... Luisa still isnt baptized because she needs to get married first, but she comes to church every flippin sunday and is living just like a member. she's been looking for work forever, and a little bit ago finally got an offer for a job! but that job included working on sundays... well this NON-MEMBER(Luisa) tells them that she cant accept the offer cuz Sunday is the Sabbath and she needs to go to church that day!!!!!! she seriously has so much faith!! well she did her part, and then the following day the Lord did His (obviously), she got a call from the same people saying that a new spot opened up, which doesnt require working on sundays!!! it was so cool to then hear her bear her testimony about it!!! and her grandson Geovani is just as big of a stud! sometimes his granmda cant come to church with him, well he gets up early on his own, and walks 30 min to church BY HIM SELF and will stay for all three hours, just because he "loves the feeling of being there"!! like seriously?!?! haha, some of the converts here are really such examples to me! especially Geovani who's only 10!!

and thank you for your comments on the whole "wifey" thing haha, i actually feel a lot better after hearing what you and dad had to say about it haha(: i'd like to think that there is someone out there that i still have to find(: haha, but who is this "one girl" from the ward?!?! haha, and about the sisters here in this mission: no, no, no no, noooooo, nonononono, newh newh, noh ho ho way!!! haha, sorry, just take my word for it(; hahaha(:

and oh my heck i love those pictures of ammon!! tell brig and mace that they need to start sending my some of the pics that they are taking during their daily lives and whatnot haha! 

well i gotta run, but i love you so much!! tell dad that im praying super hard for him!(:

love you guys!!(:

GEOVANI!!!!!!!!!!! this kid is an überstud and we always kick it together during church haha(:

This is Hélio!! he's a 22 from Angola, 

and speaks English and Russian fluently haha, 

and he finally started wearing a tie to church! 

i think he actually likes it haha

so on one of our splits, i found this über sick aquaduct thingy and had to run across it obviously....

then running across it turned into hand stands..... put that one up on the BuildUp CrossFit website!! haha(;

longest fricken escalator in the world..... its worth it to sit down haha #metrolife

you wouldnt believe how much tea we drink here... it all just tastes like dirty plant water, so you have to put a crapton of sugar in it to be able to drink it, then you just walk away with like 4,000 cavaties haha

CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!!! first truck i've since like this i've been in Europe!! haha

January 12, 2015

Miracles in Portugal

here's a panoramic of a part of our area in Lisbon!

Hey Momma!!

January's going great!(: its actually been a little bit warmer these past couple of days, which has been super nice! earlier today we were out playing basketball and we were all in shorts and t-shirts, so its not too cold(: and i've got that jacket that the member gave to me, so when it gets pretty cold i just put that on, then a sweater over it cuz its not really "missionary type clothing", and i just look a little chunky haha, but that's okay cuz it keeps me super warm(: and i took $185 out to buy some stuff cuz right after Christmas everything goes on like über sale here haha, I bought a new suit for €60!! haha, i just took out a bunch at one because every time i take some out it charges me a bit, so instead of taking out little by little with a lot of fees, i just take out chunks at a time, i've only spent those €60 on the suit, so it will probably be a while before i take out more(: yea haha everything is okay(: but i had an idea, just for like the next package so that i dont forget, could you put in some beef jerky?? haha, i did a split last week and the elder had a ton of homemade elk jerky and holy crap.... it was soooo good haha, its been forever(: but i dont need anything right now! just for future reference!(:

haha yea i love those big bugaloos, Elder Horne goes home February 1st, so i hope i get to see him again before he bounces! All of the missionaries that im really good friends with, i leave our house address with them and our home phone number haha, and i tell them that if they are ever in Arizona and need anything to just show up at our house haha, so if in the next like 10 months before i get home you get any unexpected visits.... treat 'em good, cuz they're my buds!! haha(: 

AND OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! i stinkin love all those pictures of the boys playing sports!!!!! gosh i cant wait to watch all those punks play!!! haha its so awesome to see them tearing it up! and dang, just during this past week i was thinking that here soon they'd all be going to supercross haha, i had a dream like a week or so ago that i was walking through the pits and drinking a ton of free monster hahahaha. and thank you for the pictures of the desert!!! hahaha yes i have been missing the desert! im almost positive that Mesa is where i want to raise my kids(: its like the perfect blend of having a big city, but being right on the edge so that you can high tail it out to the desert anytime, plus a ton of members, and on top of all that i really dont like the cold hahaha(; and i guess its where my family is too...(;

and thank you so much for all you said about my blessing!! i printed off your's and dad's responses and im gonna keep them with my PB to study with(: everytime i read it i just have more and more questions haha, there's just so much i want to know, and we all know how good i am at being patient! haha(; oh, and one thing i thought you might like, my PB says about my wife "I bless you that you will recognize at the proper time....." and well the definition of recognize is "to realize something or someone already known", so its gotta be someone that i already know hahaha.......... its a really weird concept to think about haha, but i thought you might like it cuz you could go through all the girls i know and give me a list of your favorites down to your not-so-favorites haha, cuz you know, i've never been married before, so i may need some help picking out the right one(; hahaha gosh dang im so funny haha(: just kidding im a goober, but its all good!!

and one spiritual thing that happened this week that was super awesome: Sofia was doubting that there are like real miracles in these days. not that the church wasn't true or nothing, just that she had never seen "miracles" happen and so wasnt sure if they even existed. so we talked for a little bit about the way that the Lord works and how we need to pay attention with our spiritual eyes, not just our wordly eyes, and we left some scriptures with her to study and personal stories and then asked her to pray about it, then said goodbye. well we went back by the following night, and when she opened the door the first thing she said was "my life is full of miracles!" haha. she had read some accounts from the Book of Mormon and then prayed and examined her life, and she said "i guess just at the time to me it didn't seem like a miracle, so its not God's fault for not helping me, its my fault for not recognizing and not thanking Him"....... yea she pretty much just blew our minds haha!(: she is so awesome! and now she is bringing her 10 year old son to church (he went yesterday for the 2nd time) and he loves it! hopefully soon he will be able to be baptised, we are just a little worried about what his father will say, because he is a very difficult and disrespectful man. Sofia and him have been seperated for a long time, but he still has a little bit of custody over their son, and lets just say he's not exactly a saint. But maybe if you guys could, keep them in your prayers so that the father will let Gonçalo be baptised! because he wants it!(: 

well i gotta run! im sorry that i didnt take many pictures this past week, you totally beat me in that category haha, i'll try to take a lot more next week!(: I love you guys so much!(: have and awesome week, talk to y'all soon!(:

 haha, this is Elder Fox, him and I did the split in Lapa together, he's from Canada, ey! and he's a pretty cool moose, ey..

and at church on Sunday a member did skype with my old comp elder Huntington! haha, so he got to say hi to everybody again haha, it was cool to see him

so i went on a division to another part of Lisbon called Lapa, and they've got flippin' trollies here hahaha, its like the Portuguese version of San Fransicso! haha

 Look what Zach found...

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so im just walking along one day, then all of a sudden BAM!!! my favorite gosh dang bike in the whole gosh dang world... BMW S1000RR.... oh sweet mercy haha, and then right behind it was a gorgeous GSX-R....

 THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?!?!?!?!?!?! so it's the first time i've seen a BMW S1000RR since ive been in Portugal, and i bust out and fricken see 2 in one day!! holy crud i just about died haha...... gosh dang...... it's so pretty it hurts(:

January 5, 2015

2015-It's a New Year

Hey Momma!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!! haha, i've got a quick video on my camera of what i did on New Years, and im gonna send a thumb drive home soon, so i wont give it away just yet(; but my week was good(: it really doesnt feel like its 2015 though haha, probably just cuz every day here is like the same thing! haha, not like we do the same stuff, but like the routine of missionary life, its makes time fly by and holidays seem like every other day haha(: and hey! i dont know if i already said it but i got the package with the nerf guns!! hahaha thank you so much, you have no idea how much use those bad boys are getting in our house haha(: haha and dont worry about me eating a ton when i get home, cuz my stomach has shrunk a ton on the mish. i know Elder Markham said that he had never seen anyone eat as much (and maybe thats true haha) but i aint the gut i used to be haha, my black hole is all filled with missionary filler(: but thats why im getting home the day before thanksgiving, so i can start right off with stretching the crap out of my stomach haha(: and its getting really cold here! haha its getting into the negatives (in Celsius, i have no idea what it is in Farenheit haha) so i pack on two sweaters and a jacket usually haha(:  and no i didn't get to blow anything up or even see any fire works! so get ready for when i get home cuz i gotta pack three years into one!(;

And tell Brig and Mace that those fools need to send me some pics of what they're doing with their lives too! i wanna see some offroading and bonfires and whatnot!(; haha and im glad you like those statue pictures, you're gonna love this thumb drive with these videos that im gonna send soon(: haha its getting close!! 

and the studying that i've been doing this week has been awesome!! i've been reading my Patriarchal Blessing with my Book of Mormon, Bible, and a Dictionary, which is so cool! like go through and read your blessings with a dictionary and look any words that you arent 100% positive that you know every meaning of, because it will really expand what you thought you knew haha(: 

and some other scriptures that i found this week are Job 23:10 - 12; D&C 19:23 (use a dictionary and look up the definition of meek); and Alma 26 is incredible, so read it all(:

well i've got to run soon, but i love you guys all so much, and im praying for you all nonstop!(: i'll talk to you guys next week!(:

so we had Mission Council last week! i got to see good ole Elder Horne the Giant!! hahaha, elder Horne stayed then night in our house the night before, and we stayed up till almost 3 in the morning talking about guns, trucks, hunting, and everything else manly, then i got up at 5:30am to shower, cuz we had 10 missionaries in our house, and we all had to leave before 8:00am with one bathroom haha(:

I got to see Elder Beckstrand also! if you dont remember him its Becky from Beja, captain of the goon squad haha













and elder Boyd!!!!!! haha, my first comp in Beja!! and its so fricken funny cuz he's from Ireland and used to not like America or guns, but now he loves both haha!!! and if you ask him who broke his hatred of America, he'll give a sly grin and say "that chuffin' elder Dayton" hahahahaha. a group of us were talking about guns at Mission Council, and all of a sudden Boyd walks up and is like "ooh are we talking about guns? i love guns!" hahaha 'MURICA LAND!!!

haha, and another round of Horne and "big dog" Bryan haha, these are some grade A studs right here(:

here's that darn fricken cute puppy again, haha i got its owner to name him Salazar haha(:

 so we were out walking one night and we found this sketchy dock at the bottom of a hill by the big Rio Tejo (for you non-fluent folk, rio means river haha) that cuts Lisbon in half... so i had to shimmy my way out to the edge while singing Shimmy by System of a Down haha




















here's a nice view of a part of our area that looks on down to the Rio Tejo