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

December 29, 2014

Happy New Year Elder Dayton

Only 11 months to go, and it makes Zach sad...

Christmas Dinner in Portugal

I am eternally grateful for the families around the world that feed, love and include our missionaries in their family traditions!!

Christmas Eve Dinner!!! there's this awesome guy in our ward here who invited a ton of people over to their house to eat dinner(he's the guy on the left with the antlers) and he's suuuuuper funny, well somehow him and I ended up getting into an eating contest of cookie-brownie sanwiches which I won.... and then afterward a cheese eating contest... which I also won hahaha, but it was such a fun night(:

this is us at that members home Christmas Eve playing the piano and singing, haha and we were wearing paper antler things, that with the flash look like photoshop, but they're real!!

 This is a decoration that we made and mailed to Zach to help him celebrate Christmas! I love that he actually hung it up!

and this is me and my comp doing dishes...... its how we pay for the food(; haha

Hey!!(:

haha, where the crud did 2014 go?! haha, i guess it all just blew by in a hurricane called Portugal haha, thats such a weird thought. and holy crud it was so good to see you guys!(: i cant believe how big the boys and all the cousins are getting! haha wanna know something weird, in 5 months we'll be talking on skype again, and then 6 months after that, we'll be talking in person.... thats too weird!! haha like i love you guys and miss you guys a ton, but man i dont think im quite ready to go home yet haha(: 

I JUST FOUND OUT THAT THE PORTUGAL MISSION IS SPLITTING!!! On July 1st our mission is splitting into the Lisbon and Porto missions!! holy crap haha im like freakin out a little bit! well..... haha

well i dont really dont know much of what to say haha, we talked a ton on Christmas(: but dang, that's awesome for Seth!! when does he report to the MTC?? and when does Max report to the MTC?! haha i gotta know when they're going!!(: 

haha thank you for so many pictures!! i love the one with dad in his hat, and Briggy in the background laughing haha, that one reminds of home a ton haha. and the one of the boys sitting on the stairs all together.... holy crap i seriously cannot believe how big they are getting!! 

well im super sorry that this letter is so short, i really dont know what else to say haha(: but i love you guys so much, and it was super good to see you guys! pretty please make sure that you guys are getting a ton of videos of stuff too so that i can see everything when i get home!(: but i love you guys so much! talk to you next week!(:

Zach Makes me Laugh so Hard!!

this is just a metro station..... for some reason they chose to decorate it with giant women statues haha..... portugal

 

December 22, 2014

Christmas Time!

so i was super bored waiting at the train station, and my comp got on the escalator the wrong way to use as a treadmill to keep warm (cuz its fricken cold here haha), so i thought well hey i could take a selfie haha....

Hey Momma!!

haha, i feel the exact same way!! sometimes i feel like i've been out here forever and i cant even remember what life was like before the mission, and then other times i look back at like Tomar or Beja, were i was for almost 6 months in each and how all of a sudden those are just gone haha, or especially Montijo haha, those were probably the fastest 4 weeks of my mission, i can barely remember them now haha. its just weird to think that now im on the "older half" of them mission haha, cuz i remember showing up here and thinking that all the guys with over a year were super old haha. 

probably my favorite day last week was thursday the 18th, because we had our Christmas Party for the mission. it wasnt the whole mission, but about half of us were all together and it was way fun. we had a big story thing that the mission did about the birth of Jesus that was super cool and had a strong spirit, we sang a ton of christmas hymns and had some sweet testimonies too. then we had an awesome lunch and all went outside the chapel to the parking lot and did a huge white elephant gift exchange which was really fun haha. I got to see my son Elder Roberts, and in the white elephant he got a freakin melon!!! hahaha, that was super funny(: but that was an awesome day, its always so sick to hang out with a ton of missionaries and old friends, and at the same time get blasted with the spirit, its soo cool(: and then yesterday in church, Hélio (the 22 year old from Angola) got the Aaronic priesthood! gosh dang i love participating in priesthood ordinances! the priesthood is seriously sooooo cool!!! 

and about my journal.... haha, every now and then i write in it when i have a really cool thing happen, but i should write in it more haha. but yea when awesome stuff happens or a really spiritually building expirience, i write it down(: 

and i got the package with the 4 bags of cheetos, and then the package with the 2 ties and socks!! aaaannndddd, sooooo um, we all know how good i am at waiting to open gifts...... but hey, those ties are super sick!! haha, sorry i couldnt wait to open them(: but thank you so much, there super sweet!! i didnt have time to go through the whole package cuz i just picked it up this morning, but gosh dang i love you guys so much(: haha and i probably wont get the box  thats in the office until next monday, so no worries ill wait(;

haha well dont be too sad about Christmas, its the last one like this haha(; just please please please take a ton of pictures!!! and i will do my best to take a ton here also(: and later in the day here we will be going to the house of the Markhams (missionary couple) to skype, so i dont know what time exactly, but for you guys probably sometime between 9 and 12am, but we always will be able to use email that day to better coordinate(: 

HOORAY FOR MAX!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP THAT'S SICK!!!! hahahaha he's gonna need a heck of a warm coat hahaha! when does he report to the MTC?!?! 

i love you all so much, and i'll see all your faces in 3 days!!!(: love you guys!!

Zach is Zach and I LOVE it and miss my FUNNY BOY!!

oh you know, just me and my super sick rock climbing skills 

check this out!! there's a super market that has blacklights in its bathrooms!! hahahahahahahahahahaha(; i couldnt help but take another selfie, my shirt was glowing!! hahaha

hooray for p-day fun day(:

this member's name is Maria Silvia, and she is just basically super dope. i have never left her house once without eating like a fullblown meal haha, she just wont let us leave without eating. well the other day we passed by and it turned out that no one else was home, so we couldnt go in the house, so she just busts out some chairs and two trays, and we just sat down and ate in her doorway hahaha, she cooks soooo freakin good!! and i was messing around with the spoon and she just thought it was the funniest thing in the whole world haha

December 15, 2014

'Tis the Season

so as you can tell by the sweet photos, im pretty much a master chef now hahaha














Hey Momma!!

oh sweet, im stoked to get that christmas card! and yea i got the first package that came right to the house with the 4 bags of cheetos and other stuff hahaha, thank you so much!!(: and yea, i baptized Sofia, and the other guy is a member, he baptized Geovani, it was awesome(: and yes again, I was here when we found both Geovani and Sofia, so we tought them everything together haha, they're both sooooo awesome! and hey, quick question, how much exactly do i have on my bank account? ive been wondering that for a while but cant check it here haha. and im still not sure when i will be able to skype yet, but the Markhams (the missionary couple that knows the Dayton side) said that we can do it in their house with them, which is totally awesome!! so as soon as i know i will let you know(: 

and holy crap, that HEFY thing sounds pretty sick, i would totally love to do that after the mish! i really wanted to visit Brazil, and i guess theres no better way to do it than with service haha. make sure that Brig takes A TON of pictures haha, that'll be such a cool expirience for him!(: and sick, i really like the sound of having a new trampoline place so close to home, that'll be a sweet job for him too(: holy crud the boys are growing up sooooo fast.... is Brig going with anybody else that he knows?

haha sorry that i don't give a day to day account, i really can't remember everything, cuz all the days blur together, and all of a sudden im sitting here at the computer again haha. but today we went and did bowling again with 10 other missionaries, which was super super fun, i just forgot to bring my stinkin camera!! so i dont have any pictures of it this week, but im sure that we'll do it again soon haha. this transfer doesnt end until the 1st of February, so we've got a while here(: also this coming up Thursday is our mission Christmas doodah, so a few zones around the Lisbon area are all getting together to have like a... i dont even know what haha, its my first one.... and my last hahaha(: its super weird to think about the fact that im more than half way done already... it freaks me out.... haha. 

but i stink pretty bad, and i havent even sent the christmas package yet :( so im gonna do it tomorrow, or wednesday at latest, so im super sorry if it gets there a little late, but i still love you guys the same!! 

well i love you guys so much, and ill talk to you more next week... which is weird cuz it will be the last time talking to you before christmas haha, and then we'll get to skype!!(:

Love you all!!(:

so this is my new comp elder Da Veiga from Cape Verde! He's teaching me Creole haha

 and this is me and Geovani messing around with some sick shades i found in their house haha, we have robo-wars all the time haha

a few days ago we went to a mechanic shop with a member from Russia, and he doesnt speak portuguese, so he took me along to translate haha, cuz he only speaks english. anyways, while i was there i pretty much had some personal revelation that i wanna work with cars and machines when i get back from the rangers or something, cuz holy crap i miss the scrap yard haha

this is at a recent converts house, she was giving a TON fish (which was a little tough for me to put down haha) and i was messing around with someones glasses

here's a pretty sick view of one part of our area in Lisbon

its funny cuz Lisbon is the biggest city in Portugal, but still has a bunch of areas that's almost like trucking through the amazon haha