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 :(

July 13, 2015

Still Surviving 

Hey Momma!!(:

yes im still surviving! haha, im flippen good as ever(: haha i especially like crazy, stubborn, handsome, rule bending, and dangerous..... okay and i guess spiritual is pretty good too... but you forgot to include MOSTAWESOMEEVERANDFORSURETHEMOSTHANDSOMESTAND100%BUYINGASWEETMOTORCYCLEASSOONASHEGETSHOMECUZHE'SCOOLLIKETHAT son....... (I addressed his letter to: Dear Zachary, my most crazy, stubborn, smart, handsome, rule bending, spiritual, dangerous, thoughtful SON,)

lemme answer the questions first so i dont forget to do that!:

--prequestion-- yes actually we were wearing our seatbelts... probably the greatest miracle of them all of that day.... haha just kidding #dontstrikemewithlighting

1. meeting the new pres was cool. he's a brazilian and doesnt speak hardly anything of english, but he's a super powerful teacher. and he's pretty animated and funny too (most brazilians are like that).

2. yea, unfortunately i dont have driving privileges anymore:/ which kinda makes me wonder if i will stay here in this area haha, cuz this area NEEDS a car to function... tansfers are next week, i guess we'll see how it goes! i would like to stay though, and i think i will

3. haha yes he still likes me! he actually said that he is a little worried for the rest of his mission, cuz he feels like its gonna be boring compared to our "adventurous" companionship hahaha. and right now he just asked me to say "Hi momma dayton" haha, so theeeeeere's your sign..... im kinda hyper right now i dont know why haha. ANYWAYS it's true! i lost control! the stupid thing is front wheel drive! if it had been a back wheel (or even better a 4 wheel drive) we would've been 100% under control! but since i didnt grow up driving gay old honda prius's, i have no idea how to go offroading in one of these stupid european hybrids! haha(: 

4. i'm not 100% sure of my exact release date, but according to the calender that transfer ends on the 23rd, which means i SHOULD be getting on a plane the 24th. but this week i will call the office and try to find out. we usually get our "trunky call" in our 14th transfer (which for me is next transfer) which is when they call us and ask us which airport we will be flying home to, and make the travel plans. so i should be getting that call here in about 3 weeks or so, but i will try and find out this week just cuz i love you so much(: and all i really care about is being home for Thanksgiving so that i can be around all the family with a ton of down time..... and try some of dad's smoked turkey(: haha and to get released! i dont care that it'll be winter, im getting in the ocean here!! 2 years staring at this sucker without being able to get in is lame sauce!

haha well good thing i answered those questions, cuz i gotta go now! i love you a ton, talk to y'all next week!!(:

zone meeting!! this is my son's (elder Roberts) comp from the mtc

oh yea, and they asked me to be in the new Mad Max movie....... haha. you can't really tell but it's a trike, notta bike. just a sweet giant metal sculpture by the beach. it definitely said NÃO SUBIR E NÃO SENTAR.... but hey, who speaks portuguese anways??

June 3 & 6, 2015

This was an unexpected letter from Zach and bad news too...

hey momma(:

so i just wanted to be the first to let you know that we got in a car accident, but we're okay! we were driving from one city to another and our GPS took us down this weird backwoods dirt road that was super crappy, and i was driving to fast and lost control. well we slid off the road into this ditch on the side. we're both fine, just a little sore, but the car is kinda banged up. so i dont know if the mission office will contact you about it or what, but it was comletely my fault so im gonna have to pay to fix it... good thing i was getting paid good at the scrap yard haha. i dont think it'll cost more than what i have in my account, so if they ask you guys to do some transaction use that. but they will probably contact you guys once we get it figured out. but we're okay, my neck is a little sore, kinda feels like i spent all night at a rock concert head banging haha. sorry to have you wake up to this email, but i didnt want the mission office to tell you first and freak you out, cuz we're both fine!!(: love you a ton, and we'll probably talk again soon haha(:

Jared's letter to Zach...

Zach,

I’m going to keep this very short. 

If EVER you needed to WRITE YOUR MOM A LONG LETTER now is the time. She is quite worried about you since the accident. I really think you need to write a detailed letter about the accident, and especially let her know you are ok – back to teaching and being a regular missionary etc. 

Love, 

Dad

His follow up letter explains it all...

Hey Momma!! 

I'm totally fine!(: before anything you gotta know that im 100% okay. i'm gonna give you the whole run down of what happened, but no freaking out!!(;

so elder mcgraw and i were in one city, then our zone leaders called and asked us to go to this other city to pick them up and take them somewhere else cuz they missed the bus. so we punched in the coordinates into our GPS, and the dumb thing took us completely past the city, then wanted us to come back on some funky little backwoods dirt road. so we had been on the dirt road for a little bit and it was taking way longer than we thought and we were late to pick up the ZLs, so we hit this straight away and i sped up. well its a cruddy european car with front wheel drive, and we lost traction somewhere on the road. we're kinda in the middle of nowhere and there's no one else around. and this dirt road has rain ditches on either side that are about 8 feet deep, and on both sides were just fields of weeds and stuff. so our car veered off to the left and we shot off the road at about a 45º angle, the front on the driver side hit this dirt burm and took the brunt of the impact, then the back end kinda swung around and we hit some other dirt mound on the passenger side. well hitting on the side made us roll. but like we didnt just roll, cuz the roof of the car doesnt have a scratch on it, the antenna is perfectly fine and none of the windows are busted, so we more flipped in the air than rolled across the ground haha, kinda like a kick flip on a skate board. then we landed perfectly right side up on some other dirt mounds, with the car pointing downward a little cuz the back end of the car landed about half way up the ditch hill. well i got out of the car really fast cuz i wasnt about to wait around and see if it was gonna catch on fire (DONT WORRY IT DIDNT haha), but my door was kinda stuck so i kicked it open (it made me feel really tough). then i ran around to the other side of the car where McGraw was to help him get out. he was totally fine too, he just didnt react as fast as me i guess. but his door was completely stuck so he climbed out the window which luckily was already down. then we both climbed up onto the road and kinda stared at each other for a sec, then did a self evalutaion. both of us were amazed, and we still are, to see that neither of us had any injures. no broken bones, no blood, no scratches, not even a bumped head or a chipped nail. then we called the mission office and told them, and we called our Stake President cuz he's a great guy, and he came out and helped us. he used to work as a car tower, so he had a friend come pull it out and take it back to his house, then our Stake Pres took us to the hospital. the mission office wanted us to go get checked out just in case. the hospital CT scanned Mcgraw and i and we were and are both completely fine. we we're a little sore for a day or two in the neck and the back, but not as sore as i've been after some lacrosse games. and not nearly as sore as my neck was after that Social Distortion concert haha. we went right back to working the next day. the only difference is that now we dont have a car haha, but the mission is trying to figure something out. so the crash was on Thursday, on Saturday we took a bus to another city to watch a baptism of some other elders in our District and to have a little 4th of July party, then after went out and found these sick pedal carts for adults. it was 5 bucks for half an hour! haha so we rode those around for a while which was super fun....... so that was my 4th of July weekend!! hahaha how was yours??(;

this might be a little frowned upon in the mission, but i know you're worried about me, which makes me worry about you cuz i dont like to see you worry. i cant call you, but the best way i can think of to prove to you that im perfectly okay is this: i didnt take any pictures of us playing around in the carts, but i did take a pretty flippin' sweet video, but i cant send the video to you cuz these emails suck. so what im gonna do is get on facebook for a sec and post the video to your facebook page (if i can figure out how haha, if not i'll post it on my page, but it'll be up on facebook!!). it's the best way i can think of to prove that im okay(:

and i would definitely say that my spiritual expirience that i had this week was after the crash while we were waiting for the towtruck. i had a little bit of time to sit down and think to myself, and it really is incredible that we walked out of there without a single scratch or bruise. i fricken rolled a car into a ditch!! haha, im just amazed at how much the Lord blessed elder McGraw and i. especially McGraw who gets concussions really easily because of some weird migrain thingy that he has, didnt even have anything wrong, not even a bump. probably the worst thing that happened was since we crashed into a bunch of weeds, once we climbed out, McGraw realized that he had a tick crawling on him, and he freaked out cuz he's terrified of bugs hahahaha, but that gave us both a good laugh cuz he was jumping and squeeling like a little girl haha. but that night i said probably one of the longest prayers i've said my whole mission, just reflecting on what happened and saying thankyou about 2.8 trillion times. i remember thinking throughout the whole expirience hearing modern prophets and apostles say how Heavenly Father never lets anything happen to us that isnt for our eternal well-being, so obviously it was for my learning and growing benefit, but im really grateful that he kept in consideration my mortal well-being too haha, cuz if you were to have seen us right after the crash, you would have never thought that we were the ones who had wrecked, you would've thought that we had just seen it happen and had ran over to help or something, because we literally walked away without a scratch. I just feel so grateful that he would protect us that much... its pretty humbling. 

But im totally fine!! so no more worrying okay?! later this week we get to meet our new Mission Pres... and i think he's pretty anxious to meet me haha, his 1st day as mission pres and he was already having to deal with my crap haha, it's too bad that i go home soon, cuz if we had more time together i think it's something that we'd laugh about pretty hard haha. 

but man it's super awesome to see all you guys in San diego, and those pictures of Ammon are soo sick!! what a stud! haha i cant wait to goof around will all the family again, everyone is gettin so flippin  big i cant believe it haha. and thats super sick that Brig had such a great time, i'll totally have to look into being a counselor, it sounds way rad. i'd love to do it down in brasil or something like that haha. 

well i gotta run now, but please dont worry! we're 100% fine, and 27% smarter now too haha(; but check out that video haha, i hope it proves enough that we're perfectly fine! and still proud Americans too!(; it's taking a while to load, so maybe give it some time!

love you guys! have fun in San Diego!! please take tons of pictures!! im sorry i didnt take any pictures this week, but i will do better this week i promise!!(:

Zach's response to His Dad...

so wrote momma a big letter explaining EVERYTHING haha, but i did lie a little bit. i took some pictures of the car right after the wreck, but i figured it would be a better idea to send them to you first, and let you decide if she should wait a few days before seeing them or whatever, the car looks kinda bad, but we're really totally fine. plus when we got our CT scans in the hospital, they gave us these CTs with the pictures they took of our brains (they're flippin sweet, and yes you can clearly see how much of a genius i am haha), but it all makes no sense to me, so i'll probably put it in the mail and send it home to you so that you can see it haha, but they said that everything is ship shape(: but so im gonna send you the pictures right now(:

love you pop!

The Proof that Heavenly Father watches over Missionaries!!

 flew off the narrow dirt road into a ditch, hit a sand bump, and the car barrel rolled

 some other shots of the Royal Goose in the ditch...... we fricken rolled the sucker, but there was no one around to even tell us how cool it look, no videos no nothing

first time i ever rolled a car...... the Royal Goose has been Royaly Cooked :/

here's me and my comp in the hospital waiting to get our CT scans. not a single scratch, not too shabby for a roll-over wreck haha(:

June 28 & 29, 2015

This is getting too typical!!

Hey Momma!!

im sorry to keep doing this to you, but i dont have any time today, we had to drive all the way up to lisbon today so that i could redo my drivers liscence thingy, and it took FOREVER, so i'll wrtie tomorrow!! haha i love you guys!!

Luckily he always follows up with a real letter!

Hey Momma!!

oh trust me, it aint been no vacation, but it definitely has some perks haha(: and man, i was looking at the condo in the background of Ammon with the bacon, totally makes me wish i was there with you guys!! i cant wait to visit that place again! i cant wait to go to the beach and actually be able to get into the water!! haha, so we count the mission a lot by how many transfers you have. out in the field elders have 16 transfers and sisters have 12. im in my 13th, so all the sisters who came in with me already went home, which is a weird thought. and we call each transfer a generation, so there are only 3 generations older than me (elders with 14, 15, and 16 tansfers). my generation is getting darn old haha. my son elder Roberts, is already in his 8th transfer... he'll hit a year in the mission in about 2 weeks haha, that really blows my mind. our new mission Pres.'s name is Victor Emanuel Engelhardt Tavares, he's from Brasil and im really hoping that he speaks english haha. its kinda a bummer to get a new pres, cuz i've know Pres Fluckiger my whole mish, and now im gonna have 1 normal interview with our new pres, and the next interview after that will be my going home interview, so im pretty much doing it with a stranger. but im excited to meet the guy, he flies in to portugal tomorrow, and then next week we'll have "get to know" conference with him so here in about 2 weeks i'll be able to tell you more about him(: 

haha i laughed pretty hard when you were talking about Brig's "pitifully short" email, and i'll be honest, it's hard for me to write longs letters! its not that i dont love you, i just have no idea what i want to tell you about! it takes me forever to sit here and to try and remember what i did throughout the week haha. so i dont blame Briggy for writing a short letter, but i bet that he'll get better at it in his mission! 

i wrote dad about me spending money, so hold on, i'll just copy and paste what i sent to dad... here it is:

and my comp and i bought tickets for this aquatic animal show. it was kinda like the zoo i went to in lisbon, but with aquatic animals, seals and dolphins and whatnot. hahaha my comp gets freaked out by large animals, so he was freaking out the whole time while the trainers were swimming and doing the show with the seals and sea lions, and especially when they busted out a walrus hahaha. it was pretty funny. and these past few weeks i've had to take out a lot of personal money to pay for gas. like they give us enough money for the normal amount of driving we do, but in these past 3 weeks we've had to go to lisbon twice, and that's a whole tank of gas in 1 direction so me and mcgraw both have had to dip alot into our personal money. they reimburse us, but it takes a bit, tommorow since its the first of the month we'll get "paid". but could you pretty please make sure that i always have at least 100 bucks on my account? im not blowing it on personal stuff, usually its to save our butt when we need gas. 

and that also explains the ticket i bought haha. no im not going on some cash blowing rampage at the end of my mission haha, there's nothing cool to buy here anyways! but im so excited to show it all to you guys. and the best part is that we can rent a car for our trip, cuz i have my portuguese drivers liscence! haha, and i know my way around portugal pretty well now. driving in lisbon is psychotic haha, people there are the fricken worst drivers in the world!! 

well now i gotta go, but i love you guys a ton!! have a good week in san diego, please take tons of pics!! i did pretty crappy this week on taking pics, so i'll do better this week!! 

love you guys!!!

No Pictures from our Boy this week...

June 22, 2015

Only Five Month's Left!

so this is our friend Gerald from Ireland, he's super sick. there was a baptism on the beach yesterday. good thing i had my harmonica to bust out some hymns hahahaha

Hey Momma!!(:

dang lucky lucky dogs, almost a whole month in San Diego! haha, oh my goodness that arizona heat is gonna kill me when i get home! luckily i get home in the winter and have some time to adjust haha, but i have a feeling im gonna dry out like crazy cuz it's so humid over here. but right now the temperature is about 85 to 90 degrees and always sunny, so its beautiful weather, especially down on the coast. our house is in Loulé, and its about 10km or so from the coast. we can see the ocean from our house, but it's still nicer right at the beach. thats so cool that Brig is down in the Dominican Republic doing HEFY, i fricken wish that they had that back when i was younger! 

so last week was pretty a pretty mellow week. the work here is kinda slow because all three cities are just huge tourist cities, so the people who live here dont have any time (cuz the few months of summer is when they work the most and make their money for the rest of the year), and the people who have time dont live here haha. but i have a feeling that ill be here until the end of my mission in November, so i'll be here when the summer hustle and bustle calms down and the missionary work picks up(: we had a baptism on saturday which was pretty cool, and then another one on sunday that was at the beach, i think i sent some pictures of me and my comp with our nonmember Gerald. im so bad at taking pictures haha, those pictures my comp took. But when we come to visit we have to come down here to the south, cuz i told Gerald when i come to visit we would take him out to dinner or something so that he can meet you guys(: he's a super awesome guy and is really looking for some peace in his life. 

McGraw and I get along great, he's already one of my favorite comps so far. both of us are hoping that we'll stay together for another transfer haha. he's a super funny guy, and he's from Washington state. i've convinced him to get a motorcycle when he gets home, and he says he wants to come live in arizona cuz arizona just looks like so much more fun hahaha. but he said he's gonna come visit after his mish, the problem is that he doesnt get home until flippin spring of 2017 haha, so who knows where i'll be!

well i gotta run, but i love you guys a ton!!

oh by the way, what's granna's address?? i know its like Mohawk something something haha. i have something i wanna send her, but dont tell her! i want it to be a surprise!

love you guys!!! have a good week in San Diego!!

for reals this harmonica is like the best thing i've ever bought

I BOUGHT A HARMONICA!!! and almost better than that, i bought one of those fricken things that holds up my harmonica for me so i can play my ukulele while i play my harmonica, its soooooo sick!!!! and we have a friend who's Irish, and he always says im a confederate because apparently i can only play confederate marching songs on the harmonica haha

 so we have a bunch of friends that are from Equador, and they play traditional equador music and perfom and stuff for work, so all the time they'll let us mess around with their stuff flippin while they're performing haha.

 i was Chief Dayton.... but the headset didnt help me play the panflute at all haha, that sucker is hard to play

car wash day! and they have this sick power-washer that looks like a railgun haha, we named our car The Royal Goose haha, i dont know why but it sounds great so it stuck

so a saw a BMW R1200 earlier this week.... brought back some good memories... oh my lanta i miss bikes