December 10, 2012---Las Vegas West Mission

Dang, I don't hear anything.  I didn't know that my father had anything wrong with him besides his head.   hhaha :)  Man, I hope he is high when I get to talk to him on Christmas.  That would be most excellent, haha.  I would get a good laugh at that.

 

So, I found out a few weeks ago I will be coming home a week earlier than the 3 week extension, but it will still be a 2 week extension.  So, that is good.  It will give me just the right amount of time to get home and do all I need to do, then go to college.  I guess it is about time to start looking back at college.  I don't know.  I am going to talk to Pres. this next month.  See what he thinks, but I will let you know when it comes about that time.

 

So, I am getting transfured to the Lakes Stake.  My new comp is Mouser.  It was awesome.

December 3, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey hey hey, so this week has been great.  We are doing really good together.  I make fun of him (Elder Lopez) all the time.  Sometimes I feel bad, but most of the time I laugh, haha.  I just mess around about him going home soon, haha.  It makes me laugh.  He got a email from his dad telling him that he had found a really good deal on a ring for his girlfriend and wanted to know if he wanted his dad to buy it for him.  That is the most trunky thing that I have ever heard, haha.  That is messed up in the head, haha.

 

So I just found out that Megan may be getting married before I get home.  She kinda talked like it was for sure.  I am so happy for her if that happens, haha.  It would be awesome.

 

So yeah, I don't want anything for Christmas really.  Haha, I don't need anything.  I am set on everything and as far as ties go I have gotten really particular on ties, haha, so I should be good there, haha.  Unless you want to go to Burlington Coat Factory and buy some Donald Trump's. They are my favorites.  They cost a ton usually, but at Ross or Burlington you can get them kinda cheep, so that is all I could see.  I don't wear any other ties now.  I am just trading the other ties for Trump's, haha.  

 

Next week I will know if I am getting transferred, but we shall see.

 

My socks are doing great, haha.  Just there is nothing that I can use out here, and I go home relativity soon, so just wait till I get home. 

 

Love you, Mom.

 

Hey, could you get on my Facebook and accept all my friends?  Love you, thanks.  

November 28, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Dear family,

 

This week has been good.  Our biggest problem has been just getting people to go to church.  I don't know why that is so hard, but we are having to push everyone back with baptisimal dates because they are not going to church.  It is kinda wierd and little dumb, but nothing I can do about it.  It is frustrating.

 

But, we are really happy.  There is a lady that we have been working with that has been inactive for 11 or so years.  She was just kinda complacent and just didn't really care at all.  It was really annoying, but we asked her what it meant for her to be in the temple.  She has not been in a long time, just got a divorce from her husband, and she cried and said it was heaven.  Since then she has been on fire--going back to church and loving the gospel, again.  She says now that she knows why her marriage didn't work out.  It is because she took her eye away from the gospel, and she is telling everyone that in one year she will be in the temple.  It has just been awesome.  I know that her life has been changed.  She just wants her husband to forgive her now.  She is awesome.

 

We ate with the Rosequist and it was awesome.  She is a really good cook.

Well, we had a temple trip this morning, so we had no pday on Monday.  Just today.

Oh, for Christmas, I don't want anything now.  Haha, just wait till I get back.  I want a iPad mini, haha!

November 19, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

So, this week has been good, a hard week, but really good.  We are having to deal with some stuff in the zone now.  It is kinda weird, but I hope everything works out well.  We are really praying it is not too bad.  I really can't give very many details, yet because I don't know very many and I couldn't anyway.  So we will see what's up.  It has been good.  We had the 7 set (for baptism), but they all needed to come to church this week and they didn't, so we now have to push it back a little.  But we did set another person this week and he is set for the 15th, so we will se what happens there.  It should be good.  He is 6'  8".  He is huge.  He played basketball for Michigan State.  He is massive.  Way cool guy.

 

Then, we also were able to talk to a some kids that are friends with some one of the Rosequiste kids that seem like they are going to be really good.  It seems that the work is really moving forward.  It has been really good.  I love it here.  I hope I don't have to leave after this transfur.  It is good to see all the people that are prepared.  We are really feeling good about the area and how we are working.  We are also working with a lot of less-actives.  It is just a really great experience.

 

Hey mom, I remembered your birthday.  I even told Sister Rosequist.  Haha, happy birthday.  I will try and send something.

November 12, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Dear Family

Y'all are the best.  I love y'all so much.  This week was a little slow.  We are doing a lot lately, though.  Having to go to the office all the time.  It is weird.   We went on exchanges almost all week.  It has been a weird week, though.  

It should be a good week, this week.  We are having Larry Echo Hawk come to the mission this week.  So it should be really cool.  On Friday we meet with him from 8:15 to 4:00, so it will be way cool.  He was just called to the Seventy last April and gave a talk this past conference.  He is really good.  He is the one who is an Native American http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/come-unto-me-o-ye-house-of-israel?lang=eng&query=hawk

This is his talk that he gave.

I am glad everything is going good for y'all.

I love my mission!

Hey, Mom, so it got really cold today.  We are headed to Ross and Burlington Coat Factory today, and I was wondering if I could get a sweater to wear, today?  I don't know how much money I have in the account though.  Way colder.  Haha all of  a sudden.  It is crazy.  I just have like a huge jacket.  Hahha, a little over-kill.

Thanks, mom.  I love you.  You are the best.

Hahha, yeah, that is our name and we are suppose to be in one, but the guy who took it was not too good and we were on the end.  So to make a long story short, we got cut out, haha.

November 5, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

So this week has been good.  We started a new transfer and it has been good so far.  We are excited about the work.  We have 7 people set for baptism in December and it has been a good thing.  We were struggling to get people to church, but it has been a blessing this week to see those people come to church and see the difference it has brought to their lives.  It is really awesome.  They are some great people.

I love my mission.  I won't be too sad when it is over, but I love it.  I would never be in any other place right now.  This is where I need to be, and I know the Lord has great things in mind for me.  It is really all about living the law, and becoming the law, and allowing the law to change us an make us into who the Lord would have us be.  Just as Esther 12:27 says, we just must humble ourselves before him and allow him to work miracles in our lives.  He stands at the door knocking.  We must open the door by living the law and becoming the law.

We are playing football today to get ready for the Turkey Bowl, which we are going to win, haha.  I hope!  It should be a lot of fun.  It is really great fun to be around other missionaries and to be able to serve them, haha, and love them.  

Well, I am glad y'all are having fun.  I love y'all, and pray for y,all.  

October 29, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey, so this week is going good.  We are teaching more people.  It is good.  A lot of really cool people.  We are teaching a family of 5 right now!  I hope we can get them.  I think we should be able to.  They are an awesome family.  Really good people and love the church.  It would be my first family to be able to baptize.

 

It sounds like everyone is having a good time at home and taking care.  I love the mission.  Sorry, I don't have much time left.  We have to go.

Me and my companion are staying together for another six weeks.  It will be good.  We are getting more used to each other.  It is going good.  We work hard every day and get good results.  But yeah, love y'all.  Hope everything is going good.

 

I have been thinking a lot about a talk called, Eternal Law.  It is really good.  I will have to see if i can send it to you some how.  We will see.

October 22, 2012

Taylor and Ivy and Rhett at church together!  SO fun!

October 22, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Dear Mom,

You rock.

Hey so, this week has been good.  We are working on working better together and I started making fun of him like I do everyone else and it has gotten better.   Haha.  Who knew?  Maybe that is the key.... make fun of the other person.  I think so.  It is.  Man, how could I be so blind?  haha.

 

The work is going good.  We are working in our new ward.  We took half of the ward that Ivy was in, so we were at their sacrament meeting, and that is where I saw her.  It was funny.  But yeah, she is staying in the old ward, so it should be cool.  Where we are now we have an awesome missionary minded bishiop.  That is the best.  When your bishop wants to help you, then so does the rest of the ward.  It is really just down hill, spill.  It is cool.

 

Yeah, we had a baptism this week.  We took if from another set of missionaries.  But we are working hard now to get one for ourselves. 

 

I am kinda depressed.  For the first time on my mission someone told me that I am getting old, and then it happened again on the next day.  It is ridiculous.  I don't understand it, haha.  It is no fun.  But, I guess I will get over it, haha.  Maybe.

 

The mission is awesome.........so I think MC needs to go now!  Stop waiting, haha. Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo now

October 15, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey, family.  How is everything?

 

This week has been a little hard.  It has been a good week for teaching, but has been hard with my comp.  He is just kinda mean to everyone, and kinda has a feeling of hollier than thou.  It is a little frustrating but we found some new people, and had a ward split this week.  So, we are now covering two wards again, which could be a little difficult, but it seems that it will be way better.  We have an aweosme new bishopric, and we are really excited.  It should be really good. 

 

The work is progressing, and it seems to be an exciting time.

 

We are looking forward to being able to work in our new bigger area.  It seems like it is going to go pretty good.

 

We are getting a baptism from another set of missionaries, haha.  It is kind of funny, but stinks for them, ha.  Oh well, we are doing good though.  Sister Rosequist is still awesome, haha.  We had a lady run into some anti stuff, but it is just a bunch of lies.  So we have to deal with that now.  I hate that stuff.  But yeah, everything is going good.
 

Thanks so much for the prayers.

October 8, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey, so, this week has been good.  I love this area and where I live.  My comp is a little hard.  I like doing work with him, I just am struggling with the way he wants to deal with problems in the zone.  He wants to just lay into them with very little love toward them.  I am kinda struggling with that.  I don't like that at all.  I don't mind getting on to them for something, but I don't want to just yell at them ever.  But, besides that it has been good.  I really do love the work.  It is awesome.

 

Conference was awesome.  It was amazing.  Every talk was just spot on, but I think my favorite talk was by Elder Holland.  It brought me to tears.  It is always so sad when you see returned missionaries that have just fallen.  It is bad.  I loved that talk.  I will be better than that.  I have to be.

 

That announcement was crazy.  It was awesome.  I am kinda worried about there being young, good looking sisters in the mission.  It spells more problems haha, but I think it will be a real strength to the work and really expand the possibilities.

 

We are struggling to find (investigators) right now in this area.  We have some that are alright but no one super solid.

 

It has been a good week.

What truck?  I have not seen it.  What is it??????????????? (Zack's new Old truck--1969 Ford)

I know I want to, but yeah, the truck is awesome.  Is it 4x4? (no)  Awesome.  Then he can give this one to me, and it will be my baby, haha.  If it is 4x4! 

 

October 1, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey,hey, hey

 

So, this week has been good.  I am enjoying only having one ward.  So we will see how it goes.  My ward mission leader is really wierd, i am not going to lie.  He is from Alamo, which was part of my area up in Panaca.  It was awesome up there, it really was great, but he is really wierd.  He just yelled at us because we suggested that we change a few things and I think it made him feel less than perfect, even though I think we did it in a nice way.  But, we shall see in a few weeks.  There will be a ward split which will allow us to be able to get a new ward mission leader, which will be nice.

 

But, this ward is good.  I really love the people here.  We are trying to work as hard as we can, but we are finding that this is such a huge ward that it makes it hard to get people to fellowship very well.  But, it is also really, really young which is awesome.  I think people just don't see the new people.  Now that I am on my mission I appreciate how Pops always would go up to people and say hi to them.  It really does make a difference. 

 

Well, we are teaching some people, but we are really struggling to find new people to teach, which we really need.   

September 24, 2012, Las Vegas West Mission

I only need like one more (shirt) now.  I can go get that.  Maybe you should just buy the missionaries there some new shirts instead.  That would be good, haha.  That is a big deal to missionaries.  Oh, one thing about my card.  Could you go and tell them i am in Nevada and to make it work here, haha.  I have to put in my pin, no matter what, or it won't work.  So if you could go and see about that that would be awesome.  Because it stinks to get denied because some place doesn't have a key pad.  Thanks, love you, Mom.

 

Yeah, those packages got here.  I love them, thanks.  I don't need a letter every week, just once in a while, haha.  Every now and then it is nice to get some physical mail, haha.  Yeah, I used to get more mail.  I was looking at my mail the other day and I realized that more than like 70 percent was from the first 6 months, haha.  It makes me laugh.  It is nice to get it every once in a while. But yeah, the package was awesome.  I can now make some gumbo for some people that want it.  Yeah, sausage would be awesome if you would not mind.  If you sent it with her, just have her bring it to the mission office.  I can't accept visits in this mission like I could in the other mission.  Kinda sucks, haha, but, oh well.

 

Yeah so, Elder Lopez has been good.  I really enjoy him.  We have been working hard.  It is fun.  No, it is pretty easy to wake up now.  We have been going to the gym every morning, so it makes it easy to get up and stuff.  So, it is not too bad anymore.  When you have a comp that is willing to get up on time, it makes it easier, haha. But yeah, Elder Lopez is doing good.  He is from Mexico, but grew up mostly in Utah, so he has perfect English, haha.  It is really cool.  I really do like him.  He has opened up more and it has been good.

 

Yeah, the zone is really good.  We are having a lot of fun.  We are about to start practice on p-day for football on Thanksgiving, haha.  It is going to be awesome, haha.  

 

So, are y'all going to bring in MC and Alex for Lil's b-day?  That would be really cool.  I love y'all, but I don't know what else to say.  

 

Love, Elder Zachary

September 17, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

So, this week has been a lot of fun.  I found out that my companion is going to be leaving to go to the Mesquite Zone serving in Logandale.  So I am kinda sad about that.  He was a really good comp to have.... just a really good guy and really a hard worker.  He will be a trainer now.  He is dropping from zone leader which is kinda weird for him, but that's alright.  

 

My new comp is Elder Lopez.  I will go pick him up tonight.  So that should be good and a lot of fun, but I kinda already know him because he is a zone leader now.  I am kinda nervous about that but it should be good.  I think.........I hope.  But, he is really intense, haha.  I am not too happy about that, but it will be good for me.

 

Well, it has been a lot of fun serving in Vegas, but I am ready to go back to the country.  The lights hurt my head.  It is never dark.  You can't see any stars.  I just want to go back, but I don't want to leave the area.  Look at the dilemma that I have.  It is terrible, but yeah.

 

Oh, so I found out that the Beale's are in the stake right next to the one that I am in.  He is a bishop there, so that is kinda cool.  Maybe we will see each other one day.  That is really cool that Ivy is in the stake.  

 

So, there is a family that we are teaching.  His name is Art and we have just started teaching him.  He is such a good guy.  Just really funny and was so prepared because of a friend that he has that has just showed him that example. It is shocking the difference that it can make in someone's life when they just have someone in their life that lives the gospel.  They notice the difference.

I need some new shirts, so I was going to go get some.  If you could make sure there is enough money in the account for like 3 or 4 new shirts that would be awesome.  I would appreciate that alot.  I am kinda tired of wearing yellow shirts, haha.  It is kinda gross, but I guess it is ok.

September 10, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey, so this week has been good.  Transfers are coming up, again.  I think we will stay together again, which is fine with me.  I love Elder Jones.  We are working hard together.  I really enjoy it.  It has been fun.  I guess he could leave, but we shall see what happens.  Well, love y'all.  We had a baptism this past week.  Awesome!  She was so happy!  She gave us hugs afterward and was just so happy.  She is a sweet lady.  Really glad for her.  Her name is Sister Pierce.  Well, love y'all.  Hope everything is going good.

Mom, I really appreciate all that you have done over the years to make my life so comfortable.  It really has been hard for you at times, I know, but I have really been blessed to have you as a mom. Love you and hope you are doing good.

P.S.  Hey, hey, mom, I am here.  So I have not gotten any mail in 2 months almost.  It is kinda depressing to open the mail box.  I need more roux.  We had to use some. 

September 4, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Well, since yesterday was Labor Day, we could not get to the library to email.  Sorry about that, Mom.  

 

And well, when there is a hurricane in the Gulf I want to know details.  Y'all did not say anything to me.  I have no way of knowing if it is headed to hit y'all or what is expected, and well, it makes me nervous when everyone here is asking how home is with the storm, and i have no idea.  And y'all don't even tell me about it.  So please tell me about it whenever there is a storm in the Gulf.  Thanks.  

 

So yeah, this week was fun.  We had a BBQ for p-day and for Labor Day.  It was fun.  So yeah.  So this transfer we are going to loss one of our wards that we cover and the other one is going to split.  So we will cover those two after that.  So it should be weird, haha

 

I am ok.  Doing good.  I don't know what else to say really.  

 

Sean emailed me.  Said he is doing good and wants to go on a mission.  That would be awesome.  Well thanks so much for all that y'all do for me, and I love y'all so much!

August 29, 2012--Las Vegas West Mission

Hey family.  So we had a little change in schedule this week.  We had a pday move from Monday to Wednesday so that we could go to the temple this morning.

It was really cool to be there with another 100 something missionaries in the temple at once.  We broke it up though.  We had a meeting with 3 zones at a time where we would go and have a meeting with some talks from President Black and Sister Black.  They are really awesome.  I love talking to them and just enjoying them.  It really does bring peace in my life to be able to go to the temple.  Then we sat in the Celestial room for like an hour with the members we live with.  They are really one of the best families I have ever met.  They are fun, funny, and so nice.  There house is the house where everyone wants to be.  It is just one of those places where you just feel welcome.  Today we had some gumbo that I cooked.   (oh i need more roux) thanks and had another 2 sets of missionaries over and some of their family over.  We had two amazing piano players over.  One is a missionary and the other is in our ward.  The missionary is the best I have ever seen and he taught himself.  He is amazing. But anyway the family that I live with gets mad if we buy our own food.  We just have to tell her what we want and she will make it or buy it or what ever.  I almost feel bad, but then i get over it, haha.  Y'all should have the missionaries move in once we are gone and buy all their food and cook for them all the time.  Y'all would be the favorite house in the mission.  Kinda like the people that we live with are now.  It is really cool.  Their names are the Rosequiste.  They are awesome.

 

Yeah, so we just have to conduct district meetings, and once a month give trainings, and every once in a while do some more trainings and go on exchanges and take care of the problems that come up in the zones.  It is really fun some times.  Once a week we go to the mission office and go do some paper work.  Yeah, it is a blast.

 

The Rosequiste' are keeping me up on what is going on with the storm.  Oh and I love she is so anti-Obama.  I don't even have to worry about what I say in politics because we always agreee, haha.  It is really kinda cool.

The work is going good.  Loving it.  It is fun

August 20, 2012---Las Vegas West Mission

Dear family and others.....haha.

So this has been a lot of fun, but really stressful.  Me and Elder Jones have a new quote that we live by..............Don't sweat the small things and everything is a small thing............haha.  It has helped a lot.  It is weird, but yeah.  This week we were able to give two trainings that were a little stressful.  We went out and taught and tracted with President Black which was really cool.  He is a great guy and really has the Spirit with him.  But, he is still a guy and didn't see much more success than we usually see, which makes me think of the best missionary, Jesus Christ.  He was perfect, but many still didn't believe the things that he taught.  Then to cap off the week, we had a baptism on Saturday that we didn't know was going to happen till Monday, but it was quite a wonderful thing to see some one make those sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.  It really brings the Spirit.  He was about to cry when I gave him the Gift of the Holy Ghost.  He was converted when he read the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon is really that evidence of the things we teach and the restoration of the priesthood....which is a real power.

Yeah, it is Ezra Taft Bensen's great-grandson and he is one of the most Christlike people I have ever meet.  Just super humble and a great guy.  A little quiet and shy but really brings the Spirit with him.  It is great to have a companion that I don't have to do everything with.  It was really hard for the past 6 months, but it is awesome.  We have been setting people for baptism.  It has been a lot of fun.  You can just see the change.

Well, I am so glad MC is doing good.  I would hate to have to kill a fool.  Have her tell him anything he does to her I do to him.  So if he shakes her hand....I shake his hand; if he hugs her....I hug him; if he kisses her....I kiss him, so on and so on.

Love y'all

August 13, 2012----Las Vegas West Mission

Well yeah, it was good we are back for like 2 minutes to read your email.  Thanks for sending it.  I love hearing from y'all.

Well, we are really excited about the zone.  We have some really good missionaries.  My new companion goes home with me and he is just a really good missionary.  It is really nice to have such a strong companion in comparison to the past ones, haha. Cool face!  He is actually the great-grandson of Ezra Taft Benson and you can tell.  He is a little quite, but just really spiritual and humble.  I really like him.  We get along great and are having a lot of fun together.

Well, got to go.  The area is part getto, part really really nice.  Yeah, the family we live with gets mad if we buy food that they would have.  We just open the fridge and go to town, haha.  It is really cool.  They are named the Rosequest.  They are mission legends.  And about the bikes......we don't ride them as zone leaders.  We always have a car.  There are not any zone leaders that don't have one because of some of the stuff we have to do.

Love to y'all
Bye.

August 6, 2012----Las Vegas West Mission

So, things are great here.  So far it is going awesome, so I will just start with transfers.  So, I am leaving.  I am really sad to be leaving, but excited about the new opportunity to go somewhere else.  It should be good. So, I will be serving in the Spring Mountain Stake in Las Vegas as a Zone Leader, which is a little scary but pretty exciting.  I am with my new comp right now.  His name is Elder Jones.  He will go home with me next August, so should be pretty fun.  He has been a Zone Leader for about six weeks now.  The members that I live with are awesome.  They have queen size beds that we get to use with a real nice place.  It is awesome. From what I hear they buy a lot of groceries and stuff like that.  It sounds like an awesome time.  So I am excited. 

 

My last comp, Elder Craft, had is surgery on Thursday.  It went pretty well.  It was good.  So yeah, I am sad to leave him.  He was a lot of fun once I realized I just had to take control and president made me senior again.  I was just not humble enough to accept that, haha.  But it was alright.  We got along great for awhile at the end.  It was a good transfer, but I will be replaced by a brand new greenie, hahha.  So that will be fun. But yeah, there are only 4 companionships that will not be training or zone leaders or APs(Assistant to the President) this transfer.  This mission is super young, but it is a good thing.

 

Yeah, me staying there for that long is a little bit long and two areas for that long is too.  So we shall see how this area goes.  I think it will be good.

 

Yeah, my scriptures are lost in the other mission.  I tried to find them, but no one knew where they were and they looked and could not find them.  But, I bought a little cheap BOM and D&C for cheap, and I found an old Bible in the apartment.  So they will work.  I don't know how long they will hold up for, though.  But I am using a marking system for the lessons divided by the lessons of PMG, and by each principal in the lessons.  It is pretty cool, and it has helped me use different scriptures.  They have been just the right ones at the time.  It is pretty cool.  Jody is doing awesome.  We have her and 4 other people set in that area that I will turn over to the new missionaries.

 

Ok so, about coming home.  I think I am going to extend for the three weeks, so that I can serve 2 years.  I only have one concern, and that is getting a truck and all that kinda stuff.  So, I was just wondering if you and dad could take care of all that before I get home.  If y'all could do that for me then that would make it much easier to stay longer.  It will be the 20th that I will be headed home on, so it would be like 20 days.  Which I think would be alright, I guess, but just let me know if y'all can take care of the truck and other things like that that I will need.

 

I hope Alex is engaged when I get home.  That would be awesome.

 

Well, I don't have anything else to add, so love you and have a good one.

July 30, 2012--West Las Vegas Mission

hey hey hey

So, it has been great.  We are in Vegas today.  It is awesome.  We are staying with the assistants.  It is good.  Yeah, the doctor appoitments are a lot, but he will have surgery on Thursday this week or next. We don't know yet but he is doing fine.  He is really a great guy.  I like him as a person.  He is not my favorite missionary, but as a person he is really great.  I really like him a lot.  Yeah his name is Elder Craft.

 

Jody is doing great.  This week has been a little crazy and stuff, but we are still working hard.  We have put almost 3000 miles on the car this month.  It has been crazy, but really cool.  

 

I am glad that guy is leaving.  If MC thinks she will wait she has got some screws lose up there some where, haha.  That won't happen.  I give her a month before she moves on, haha.  I will email him and let him know about that, haha.

 

Studying has been great, really good.  I lost my small quad in the other mission, so I am working on marking some scriptures that I  found.  It is not a quad, but it is still good.  It will be really cool when I get done with it .

 

Well got to run. 

Love y'all

July 23, 2012---LasVegas West Mission

That sounds like a lot of fun, the whole youth conference.  Y'all have done a great job with all the youth conferences that I have been a part of.  I have been impressed with it, Mom.  So, were there many non-members at the pageant?  That would be an awesome missionary tool.

 

Man, so this week we had a lesson with this new lady.  Her name is Jody.  She has been prepared.  It was amazing.  I think it was the most spirital lesson I have been in on my mission, so far.  It was awesome from the first question I asked her to the very end of the lesson.  The spirit was just overwhelming.  It was awesome.  She was crying the whole time and we were able to set her for baptism.  She could not say yes fast enough.  It was a great experience.  At the end we had her pray and in the prayer she asked that everyone could feel the same way she did at the time.  It was one of the best things so far.  It was awesome.

 

Oh yeah, that package was awesome.  It was so cool.  It made me laugh.  I took it out in my apartment and just kicked it until it busted, haha.  It was a lot of fun.  Thank you so much for all y'all do for me.

 

Sister Avery remembered my birthday from before and she wished me happy birthday.  But besides that I did say it in a lesson to show how much we cared about him, but that is it, haha.

 

Oh, don't worry about anything else for my birthday.  That was more than enough.

 

Transfers are on the 6th of August.  So I won't know until the Thursday before that.  So we shall see then.

But my comp will be getting surgery this coming up week or the next, so I may get another comp because of that.  So we will see how it goes.  He broke his arm in a bike crash 4 months ago, so it never healed.  So now he has to get surgery on it.  We don't know what will happen then.

 

I want to go to Yellowstone when I am up at college.  Me and Elder Driggs (from the MTC and now in my zone) have already planned a few trips that we will not be able to afford, haha.  So we shall see what goes on.

 

July 16, 2012---LasVegas West Mission

Hey, hey, sorry, Mom, about the video.  I have been so busy.  It has been crazy.  I have had no time to do anything, but I will ge that video to you today, I promise.  But yeah, so my birthday was awesome.  We had one of the best days on my mission so far.  We had like 9 lessons in one day, which is a freak ton.  That is a good week of lessons some times, so it was nice to get that for my birthday.  But besides that, I threatened my comp not to say anything about my birthday, or I would beat him, haha jk.  But, I asked him not to tell anyone, but we set up breakfast and lunch and dinner.  So I was full, but no one knew about it being my birthday, haha.

 

How sick was I when I was born?  That would explain why I am not as good with book smarts, haha, because I am dain bramaged. haha jk 

 

Yeah, thanks for all y'all do, Mom.  I am learning so much I can bash with the middle crowd now, haha.  It is really funny, but yeah.  

 

Oh yeah, I get questions all the time that I have no idea about, but I just open my mouth and they are like awesome, and I am like, "Cool, I didn't know that." Haha, I mean I did, but I didn't, at the same time.  It is really cool.  It is those times that you know the Spirit works, haha, because I am learning about what I teach in the lessons.

 

That is sad that you where released.  You were put in when I was like 14 or 15.  That is crazy.  The whole time I was going to stuff you were there to keep me in line.  Then once I left you got to too.  Or it was MC, or both of us, haha!

 

Well, love y'all.  Hope everything is good.

July 9, 2012---LasVegas West Mission

hey hey hey love yall yall are the best 

Hey, so the new address for the new mission is 4455 Allen Lane, North Las Vegas.  So put that on FaceBook, please, and hey, in the new mission we can play Magic so have Alex send me that deck, please.  For my bday!

Nope I am in the same area.  It is awesome to be in the same area.  This past month has been crazy.  We have been in Mesquite like every week this transfer, but one.  It has been crazy.  The area is still doing awesome, but Elder Craft is doing nothing, and he is the senior and does absolutely nothing.  It is driving me crazy.  He follows me around like a lost puppy.  I thought it was just at first when he got to know the area, but it has been five weeks and he knows nothing, but we are still doing ok i guess.  But, we shall see.

The new mission is awesome.  I met Pres Black, and he is so cool.  I really like him a lot.  I think I am here for that reason.  He is perfect for me.  No, we go through there(St. George) to get to Mesquite all the time, so we are there quite a bit.  But not for very long at a time.

I don't want to talk about the birthday thing, haha jk.  No it is cool.  It is what ever....you know.  It is kinda cool to have but it means that I am getting old in the mission.  I am no longer a teenager, haha.  That is weird, so I have some stuff to talk to you about.  I will be coming home 3 weeks early or 3 weeks late depending on what we decide because of the mission split.  Their transfers are different from ours, so it is going to be weird.   need to know what you think, because it is a kinda big deal.  If I go home 3 weeks late then that means that I will only be home for about 2 weeks before school starts.  So that means that we could not come to the mission before school starts.  So tell me what you think.  Oh, and i am going to be working on my birthday, so yeah.

I am so jealous about the weather there.  It is not hot in Panaca, but we had a little drizzle that they call rain a few days ago.  Yeah that's it.  So thanks, haha

Yeah, it is going good besides my crappy comp.

Elder Zachary's answers to several questions I had:

no. good. nothing. on the way. no. no. good. no. idk. no. no.

Wow!

July 2, 2012-----Las Vegas West Mission

Hey, so sorry it took me so long.  We went off-roading with some guy in Overton.  It was a lot of fun.   Got some cool pics with my new camera.  Yeah mom, that money was the camera, but I didn't get the questions until today, so I will have to send it to you next week.  Sorry about that, but yeah.  So Friday we went and said bye to President Nieder, and then on Tuesday or tomorrow we are going to meet President Black.  So it should be good.  Yeah, we are kinda excited about the change.  We have no idea what is going to happen.  I could get transferred out immediately, which would be crazy, but fun.  So I don't know.  We shall see what happens.

The gumbo was good.  I loved it and my companion ate every bit that he could get his hands on.  I think he wishes he was cajun after trying that and  everything you sent me, haha.  So yeah, it is good.  We had one family that we visit.  They are not really investigating right now, so you know how that goes.

Yeah so, i got my camera.  It is a Sony Cyber Shot.  Really small one, but it is an awesome camera.  So it is cool.   16 mega pixels, so realy nice and gives good pictures..........if I can figure it out I will send you some, too. But yeah yeah, the mission is way fun.  I am down here with Elder Driggs.  I dont know if you remember me talking about him at all from the MTC, but he is now in Overton.  We are having a good time...... just good clean fun........until tomorrow.

That is crazy!  I hope MC makes good decisions, because it would be a shame to be put in jail for killing some little boy, haha.   jk.  I know MC is a great girl.

Well, I love y'all and I will get that video for you next week.

Hey tell Megan that I will beat her like a red-headed stepchild if she doesn't email me next week in the most loving way, haha

June 25, 2012

Oh man, I thought I wrote back about the temple thing.  That is the coolest thing.  When I reading that and the conversion story of his friend, I might have shed a few tears.  That is the coolest thing.  I was just in St. Goerge this past week.  I went to the temple there, and I will be traveling through again on Friday.  That would be so cool if I could meet the guy that went to school with the old man.  That was crazy to me, haha.  Sorry for not saying anything about that.

I email the little sisters all the time.   I don't know if they check it or not, but i do most weeks.  Just saying.

Well this week has been good.  We found some new people to teach and are really excited about the prospect of teaching them.  They seem pretty interested.  I never thought I would see the day when Jenny went on a mission, hahaha.  No offense to her, haha, but that is so cool.  She will have a blast.  Did I tell you that Meredith Miller is going to France on July 11th?  So, that is more cool news.

I hope to out do dad one of these days.(driving)  I will do 32 straight hours by myself, haha.  I highly doubt that, but hey, it is a good goal.

Yeah, thanks for the package.  I got everything great.  Thanks for the ipod.  That will help me be able to get a bunch of talks and stuff from other missionaries, so it should be good.  Thanks for thinking of me on that one. Yeah, I got the stuff from the Avery's.  They are an awesome family.  When I needed to get a break from my comp that is where I went because they are awesome and Elders Arnold and Coulter both loved them so I could just enjoy for an hour, haha.  it is a blast.  We are cooking gumbo tonight.  We invited some people to come eat gumbo and so we should have some investigators there.  I hope at least.

Hey dad!  I have a favor to ask.  Could you type out your whole conversion story and email it to me?  I would love to have that to read and to think about.  So I will look forward to that.  Thanks dad.  

 Elder Zachary on top of a mountain

 

Elder Zachary and Jack, who he baptized

 Elder Zachary, Jack, and Brother Rask...both from Lake Havasu City, Arizona

 Dorothy Roberts, baptized at 88

Not sure? 

 St. George Temple

Dakota Hampton

I can't think of anything that really happened lately.  Love you.  Thanks for everything that you do for me, mom and dad.

June 18, 2012

Hey, so no, we didn't have a baptism this week.  We had the last one on the 9th.  So yeah, but we had a good run there for a bit, but we did set another one for a long term goal.  He is set for 3 months from now, so we are excited about that.  He has a lot of work to do to get ready, but he has come a long way since the time when I started teaching him when I was first in the area.  So that was the excitement of this week.  But yeah, the work is still moving forward and progressing.

Still don't know anything about President Black.  It should be weird.  We will go down to Mesquite to meet him on the 3rd, so that should be cool.  And we will go down on the 26th of June to meet with President Nieder to say bye to him. 

That is really weird that they are engaged, haha.  I don't know who she is.(Lindy Welch and Nate Jarrell)  I need a picture to see if it is a good move.  So if you would get one on facebook then that would be good.  Tell MC that she better write me with the names of every boy she goes on dates with or even talks to.  I have companions that will be there soon and he will take care of those little punks for me!!!! He is joining the army, haha.

Yeah, I thought that i was senior, but no.  But, I am doing the job of senior, haha.  I don't know why, haha, but  I like it.  I hate to follow, haha.  It was really strange.

I have not checked the mail yet, so we will go check after I leave here.  

Thank you for sending it to me.

The Avery's leave on next Saturday so y'all have to go visit them on Friday when you get back and let Preston, their son, drive the Shelby.  They won't ask, so tell dad to offer.

June 11, 2012

Hey, so this week has been good, haha.  It was really funny.  I really like my new comp.  He is really wierd, but really cool.  We are having a good time so far, just strugling making it to bed on time because we talk too much, haha.  He is pretty quite, but that's all good.  But yeah, we had to give a talk this week in the wards as a suprise.  It was really funny because we get there and Elder Craft is speaking first and we each have about 20 mins to speak.  He gets up and uses about 5-10......really short, haha.  So, I am like "holy crap, this could be really bad." haha  So, I grab another talk that I had in my scriptures and I get up there and I put them together to make one talk and about 35 mins later I sit down, haha.  The whole time I had to look at the time to see how much more I had to talk about, haha.  I think it went alright.  The first counsler in the bishopric came up and was like "thank you, so much, Bishop....I mean...Elder Zachary" haha.  I was like "you know that is not going to happen haha.  So that is the funny story of the week.  Made me laugh haha.  Fun stuff.  Well, we had another baptisim this week.  The 5th in 6 weeks.  So that has been good, but now we have a lot more work to do to find more.  It is crazy.  Love y'all.  Need that iPod, please. 

I got that email last week.  I just now forwarded it to you.  I thought you would like to see it though.  Yeah, I am district leader and he is senior, but I do all the stuff that the senior should do, because I know the area and he is shy. 

Call the mission home and see if you can take me out to dinner, haha.  Yeah, I have not heard much, but we have leadership conference this week so we are heading to Vegas for two days.  Well, I am and my comp is staying in Mesquite.   Well ok, I have had my comp since Tuseday, but I knew who it was going to be last Monday, and so I just sent that to you so you could see what the mission pres was saying.  This meeting is only for the district leaders and zone leaders and ap's. 

June 4, 2012

Hey hey, I am staying in this area! My comp is leaving and I am going to be comps with Elder Craft. He has been out 2 transfers longer than me, but I am senior and district leader still. But yeah, so my goal is to teach him to relax and still do good work. He is a very uptight missionary, so we will break him like a stallion,haha! jk but I will be in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission on July 1st. So it will be really cool to see the differernce between the two missions. But I will be in the same mission as Ivy.  Yeah, the more I think about being a teacher the more I get excited about it and a principal is fun too. I think I don't know what I would want to teach. I think PE would be a blast, haha. But I don't really know yet. I mean elementary teaches a little of everything, but if I was in like one class it would be history. That would be a blast.......or science.   Mom, I heard about your ride in the Shelby,haha! I bet that was fun, haha. It is so wierd how small the world is in the church, haha.    

May 28, 2012

This week was a lot of fun.  We are still finding new people to teach.  Last Sunday, I don't remember if I told you, but we had a lady walk up to us and say, "who do I have to talk to to get baptized?"  We where like ........................................................ um "oh yeah! Uhh, that would be us! haha.  It was cool, but she is really nervous about letting people know about it because last time she had a date, a year ago, she got really nervous.  So, I don't know.  She is an awesome lady, so we are hoping that she will make the date of the 9th of June.  So, I don't know.  And then on last Friday we got another investigator and last Sunday we set her for June 16th.  So, I don't know.

I am really, really nervous about transfurs, because I don't really trust my comp to take up after me.  I feel like I do all the lagistics and the 2 appoitments he has taken care of have fallen through.  So I am nervous about how it will be if I am not here.  So, I don't know.  It is stressing me out for the first time on my mission.  I have not been stressed out at all besides now, and I dont know why.  I could hardly sleep last night.  This area is doing so good, but it could turn around in a heart beat so i am so nervous to think about what could happen.

No, there are no BBQs today that i am aware of.  Just go out and work.  I didn't even know that today was a holiday.  So we shall see what goes on today.  I am stressed.  Hopefully we can go and play volleyball today, so that would be fun.  But I don't know what else we will do.

Hey, I didn't turn in my Eagle the day before my b-day.  I did it the day of...... duhhhhh.  Get it right. I am amazed how fast this 10 months have gone.  It is crazy to think about.  It blows my mind. Sister Nieder set me down at interviews and was like, "you are coming up on a year and you are doing really good, but I have seen a lot of missionaires turn for the worst and get complacent at this time.  So don't let that happen to you."  I was like "I am not coming up on a year.  Oh wait, I am.  No!  Don't tell me that.  You are messing with my mind.  It is weird."

Oh no, we didn't have one this week, but we have one on Saturday for the next 3 weeks.  So, that is good.

Love y'all.  I just am holding on till transfurs this week.  I do like my comp but he has a lot of wierd things about him.  He is either really excited and gets a high pitch voice, or he is depressed.  So, it is really hard.  When he gets depressed he doesn't want to teach, but when he is excited he gets mad because i don't let him teach enough, haha.  Oh well, then he comes back and tells all the members that I am some, like, awesome missionary.  And it drives me crazy.

May 21, 2012

This week has been great.  We had a baptism of the lady that is 88.  She is awesome, haha.  It was so cute.  She leaned over to me and said, "you are not going to forget about me now are you?"  She was very concerned, haha.  It was awesome.  Because she is so old I went into the water to help bishop do the baptism.  So it was really neat.  But yeah, and then at church we found two new people that wanted to be baptized so we are still trucking along, haha.  It has been a great time this week.

My comp is still with me.  We have been having long talks and he is struggling with wanting to follow the rules.  He knows they are important, but he wants to do the things that are fun.  Like on Saturday we couldn't find anyone that was home and so he wanted to go to bishops house and listen to music with the bishop.  And it was not MoTab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir), haha.  But I didn't know that was the reason he wanted to go there so we went, but bishop was thankfully not home, haha. But yeah so I don't know what will happen.  I think he will leave because I don't think he can handle being here anymore.  It is kinda sad.  But, I don't know.  We will see in two weeks.  I will know more about what is happening.

I bet Mom with all your kids leaving that makes Pops look kinda old, haha.  Not you though, haha.  I am glad to know that you cried, though.  That is a good thing.  I am messed up in the head, haha.

At Marshall's.  They have the socks on sale there, sometimes.  Just look there and when ever you find them buy them.  I am in no rush so just whatever.

It has been crazy to see what, with a little dedication and hard work, the miricals that you can see in an area.  When I got here there was only 2 investigators.  One was baptized, but we dropped the other.  Now we have had 3 baptisms with 3 more coming up soon and it is amazing how the Lord has blessed the work in this area.

May 14, 2012

Yeah, I won't remember to send them out (birthday cards for family members).  I will be honest, haha.  But thanks!  Yeah, I got the package.  Thanks for the jersey.  It made my day.

This was the email after Mother's Day.  So it was short, but we had talked to him for a couple of hours the day before, so I guess I forgive him!

Sarah-Beth Zachary

SKYPING MY BIG BRO!! I love him sooo much! He's the best missionary ever!! :)) — with Elder Taylor Zachary.

Sarah-Beth Zachary

I get to Skype Taylor today:))
We love our missionary!

May 7, 2012

Um yeah, we are Skyping at the Avery's house and she has to talk to her missionary and see when he can Skype.  Then they will give us a call some time today and let us know when he is going to Skype.  Then we will be able to do it some other time that day.  So I don't know when and don't worry about the time, haha. It will be ok, haha.  I only get to talk to you 2 days a year so we will talk for a little while!!  I will call that morning and let you know.  It will be some time that night.

 

As far as stuff that I need.......the sausage would be nice, but it is not a huge deal.  But last time y'all sent it like that there was no melt at all.  It was all still solid.  So just mail it in like 2 or 3 days instead of over night and it would be fine in that ice chest.  Um ok, roux and crawfish boil.  Yes I would like some of that.  Send that separate from the sausage so it is not an arm and a leg.  My waterproof camera works fine and so does the other one, but it is kinda old.  But it is fine.  I don't need a new one.  I put my memory card in my phone and been using it as a camera.  So I do have pictures, but I can't send them to you.  Sorry.  But the waterproof one is a Fiji film water proof camera, and it needs a charger that the battery comes out of the camera and then plugs into the charger.  The other one I know Dad has gotten off Ebay before so he can get another one.  Ok, then I want a pair of my BKE Jeans or both of them and my polo with the Shelby GT500 on it, and maybe one more nice shirt.  

 

Please.......it is crawfish boil not crab!

 

Ok, the baptism was great.  It was awesome, haha.  It went well besides the fact that it was an old man baptizing an old man and they could hardly get down or back up.  haha.  It was really funny, but me and my comp held our composure until no one could see us, haha.  It was really funny.   He almost fell.  It was great.  Man, that is a good memory.  And then this next week one(baptism) is going to be moved to the 26th of May, but then the one the next week will go on still, and then we have one on the 2 of June.  So, it is good stuff.  Yeah, I can see my knowledge grow a lot on my mission, but I am still pathetic at the Bible.  But, I am not going to read that all the way through till after the mission.  I might read the New Testament after I read the Book of Mormon again.

 

That is so cool.  I am hoping that I will be able to see a sealing on my mission.  It could happen with this family that I just baptized the husband.  We might be able to go and do that so that would be cool.

 

The weather here has been great.  I am loving it.  It has been from 75 to 80 with no humidity.  So it is perfect.

 

Yeah, I don't want to do the video (something I asked him to do for our church Youth Conference this summer), haha, and right now I can't.  I have nothing to record with, but I will if you need me to.

 

April 30, 2012

Nope I have not heard anything at all.  The zone leaders are right next to me and as far as they know everything is the same, but they go to zlc this week, so they will find out more then. (about talking on Mother's Day)

 

Yeah, Nathan.  I remember him, haha.  That would be funny if I get sent up there and then I am his trainer, haha.  That would be awesome, haha, but I don't think I will get set there.  I think I will go to Vegas this transfur, in 5 weeks, haha, but anything could happen, haha.

 

Aunt Ange is getting old, haha. 45 haha, I just put that in there to annoy her, haha.  I hope it works maybe she will be mad and email me or something!  That would be a tragedy, haha jk.  No, i love them.  That is so awesome that they where able to do the same thing that I wanted to do and everyone thought was a terrible idea.  I am just full of bad ideas, haha :)

 

I am glad that y'all are doing the reading.  I am not going to send my notes anymore.  It takes too long to type and I took a week off to let y'all catch up in the reading, but I studied other things in this past week.  So I got an awesome gift from one of the members here.  They were going through some old bookshelves and they came across a 1914 edition of the Book of Mormon in perfect condition except for one little tear on the cover, but it is not bad.  I picked it up and was like, "Man these things are awesome."   And she was like, "You can have it."  I was like ok!!  I ran before she could change her mind, haha.  JK on the last part but it is awesome haha.  98 years old.

 

Oh yeah, the members fix my clothes whenever i get holes so i dont worry about them.  Every pair of my suit pants has had a hole but they are all fixed but one.  I would love some socks.  I want Under Armor socks so if you can find some black ones get them.  They look good as long as they are black, so just what ever you can find.  And if it is alright I am going to buy a basketball and a scale today with home money.  So let me know, please.  I still have not gotten the camera chargers that I need to be able to take pictures so I can't send them.

 

So, this week we have a baptisim and then next week and then the week after that, haha.  It is going to be awesome.  It is amazing how when people hear the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ they are ready to change their lives to live the gospel because of the power of the Spirit bearing witness to their hearts of the truthfullness of what we are telling them.

 

we had the opportunity to speek to some youth in the Alamo Ward about missions and why we serve missions.  It was an awesome opportunity.  I felt the spirit as I spoke.  I hope the kids were able to feel the same thing.

 

 

 

April 23, 2012

Dear family, sorry about getting frustrated.  I only had 22 emails this week, haha.

Sounds like y'all have had an awesome week, so far.  Man so we have a bunch of poeple that want to go catch some crawfish and have a crawfish boil, so if you could have bishop send me the instructions on how to do it and then y'all send me what ever I need to do it because these are less actives, haha. So yeah, help me out with that please, haha.  Everyone wants to get Cajun food, haha. and this guys name is Beadou.   haha i know that is not spelled right but his family is from down south in LA, but he has never been there.

Oh, so this past Sunday we got a call from this man that said he had been reading the Book of Mormon and was on 3 Nephi and read how if you take the sacrament unworthy then your soul should be damned and so he read that baptism is by immersion and so he decided that it was time to be baptized.  So we will be doing that on the 5th of May.   haha   It is awesome.  The area has picked up so much.  We were at about 3-4 ltms (lesson taught with a member present) a week and now we have gotten 9 in the past two weeks and are hoping for more this week.  So the area is on the upswing.  So hopefully we will be able to keep working hard and have the area improve. ( not to brag but before I got to the area there where 2 investigators we baptized one of those and dropped the other and now we have 9+ investigators and finding more all the time.  It has been a great blessing.)

Oh, that blanket smells like home.  Still, what did you do to it? haha  My comp was like..."is that what your home smells like?"  and I was like, "yeah".  He was like, "wow smells pretty good."  haha.

I don't know what we can do on Mother's Day yet. I will have to ask the zone leaders what is allowed and then i will have to tell you then.  Ok, sounds good?

Georgia Arnold......There you go Mom.  This is Elder Arnold's mother's number.   hahaha 509-929-1111

Oh and that email was still not here. haha  I don't know what happened, but thank you for mailing it to me. And sorry for getting up set last week. I should not have.

April 16, 2012

Hey, I am your son...remember me ?


Ok, look, I know this sounds like I am complaining, and it is because I am.  But missionaries look forward to emailing family and when you get to the computer and there are emails, but they are like a picture and a letter from Micheal, and one from Jenny and that's it, then it is really frustrating.  I care about y'all and I want to know what is going on.  I can't call.  All I have is email and when I can't even get y'all to take 5 mins out of your week and send me an email it is really really frustrating! Sorry for complaining.


Well, I didn't get one from y'all, and I have to go.  I am not going to make my comp sit here all day!!!!

April 9, 2012

Hello, I am your son.  Do you remember me?  My name is Taylor.  I am your second born.  Any recollection?  I am 19.  I am on a mission in Panaca.  Hello.......anyone there?


Yeah, I got it.  Thanks for it (Easter box).  I love the blanket, haha.  It is really cool.  Did you make it or send it off somewhere?

Hey, family.  So this week has been good.  This transfer is flying by.  I like my comp, so it is way easier to deal with, haha.  But, it has been a lot of fun so far.

Mom, the only way that y'all can help them to learn to forgive is if you forgive them for all the work you are having to go through to help them.  All we can do is let them work it out and love them the whole time.  If you can learn to love them, then they will recognize that love and they will come around.  D&C 64 :9-11

We are teaching a bunch of people, but there are some hold ups that we are still working through each and everyday.  It has been good.  This week we had a ton of lessons cancel on us, and it was kinda frustrating, but we are getting over it each day a little at a time.

  

We had zone conference this week, and it was a lot of fun to be able to go and to be uplifted and taught.  And it was good to see other missionaries, too, haha.  But, I am loving the work here.  We are working hard each and every day.  The ward relations are really improving.  I didn't realize that no one liked my last comp, but there are so many people that talk bad about him now that he is gone.  It kinda makes me laugh, but I try not to let them see, but it is hard, haha.

Well love y'all.  Y'all have a good week.

April 2, 2012

Griffendor

Oh man, conference was awesome.  We were able to watch it with some different families.  We went to one of our investigators house and to a member that we have gotten really close to over the past little while.  So, it has been really fun to be able to get to know the members and our investigators over the past few weeks.  We are having some really good times.  Elder Arnold (who mother should not contact his mother!) is really cool.  I really like him.  We are having a good time.  We are trying to figure out how to teach together better.  I kinda tend to talk too much.  Who would have guessed it?  I know it's crazy, but it happens, haha.  So yeah, that is it though.  So I guess that means the comp is going pretty well, hahha.

Man, I don't think I belong in this family.  They are all so good at music.  What happened to me and I guess the old fart, as in the pops, haha?  That is really funny.  MC is taking up all my time and stuff so I ran out of time.  Oh and Travis, I guess, haha.  Oh, and can you do the highlights, mom?  I can't find the questions fast.  hahha  I am so spoiled haha.

Oh, and so I don't know why, but I have been thinking about becoming a teacher over the past few weeks, and so it is kinda weird.  But, I am kinda thinking it might be a really cool thing to do, so I don't know maybe it will be.

March 26, 2012

Hey, hey, hey, how is it going in Sulphur?

Um.....I don't want you to contact his mother, Mother.  That is weird.  I want you to ask 10 returned missionaries, male, and if you get 6 to say that it is not weird then you can proceed with contacting his parents, but if only 5 or less say it is ok.  Then no, you can't do it haha sorry.  Ms. Gwen can be one of those RMS.

Yeah, I am District Leader.  It sucks. haha (mother will be mad for that word hahahha )

Yeah, at night we had the time to play games and it was not against the rules, but this week we had a leadership meeting down in Vegas.  They had the missionary department come to the mission.  When they came there was all kind of crazy stuff they changed.  How the mission runs, basically, and added to some rules.  One of those rules is that we are now not allowed to play card or board games at all anymore.....not even on p-day. So, it is really weird to see how the mission is changing, but it will be for the best.  The biggest changes in the mission won't effect me because I am out of Vegas.  It was mostly effecting the people in the Las Vegas Valley and I have never served there before, so it is kinda weird.  But, yeah, so that is the big news for the week.

For this weekend we are planning on going to conference, but we shall see what happens because we still have a lot of work to do on Saturday.  We were able to find 5 new investigators this week and maybe a few more so I hope by the end of this week this area will be where it should be.  We are really working with the ward and are seeing the blessings of that.  So, I hope they come to work out and we can see some baptisms this transfer and a lot next transfer........so we shall see.  We used a new finding method that we were taught this week.  On Saturday we found 3 new investigators.  What you do is you offer to leave a blessing on the home of someone that you meet and explain that you are a representative of Jesus Christ and you have been sent to the area to bless them.  Then you go into the house and give the blessing and ask for there names and their needs.  In the blessing you leave the blessing for the things that they need.  Well, in this house we went in and they had a young child with a 104 temp and we asked if we could give him a blessing.  The mother said no, but I felt I should ask again so I did and she said that it would be ok.  As we gave this blessing there was a strong, strong spirit.  We blessed him that he would be made whole and continue to gain strength.  When we were done the father was crying and so was the mom.  By the time we left that house the young son was running around and had no temp anymore.  It was amazing and now we will go back next Saturday and teach them.  The Priesthood has real power to heal.

Yeah, I got your email about Bednar.  That is really cool.  It will give us all a chance to be tested and to grow.

It has been a good week.  We started going to the gym every morning at 6.  

Well, I love y'all and hope y'all are doing good.

March 19, 2012

Haha, so sorry about last week, but I was talking for like 2 hours with him(my old companion)  and I lost track of time and then we had to go to do other things.  Haha, sorry about that.

Haha, so first thing is first I really like my new comp.  He is really cool guy and he is from Washington state.  He went to BYU-I the same time that I was there.  So we didn't know each other, but he had a class with Kelsey Miller so we both know her, haha.  But, yeah, way cool guy.  He is really entergetic and that is a good thing, haha.  We were able to get 22 other lessons this week and we couldn't work on 2 days because of transfers.  So, that was awesome.  We are working hard together.  Right now he is having a hard time adjusting to not having a lot of investigators.  In his last area he was in north Las Vegas, which is on of the most geto places in Las Vegas, so haha, there you can get a lot more investigators but a lot of them are flacky.  So this work is a little different than he is used to, which by a little I mean a lot, hahha.  But it is not bad.  We are getting along great.  We have picked up a game to play together at night after we plan.  So, I am not as stir crazy any more.  Oh, and he has been out for 6 months.  This is his second area, just like mine.  So, it is kinda weird, but I guess that makes me senior comp(anion) and DL(district leader), but I have been telling everyone that he is senior comp, haha.  I don't think he likes it, but I don't want people to know I am senior, haha.  Makes me laugh haha. I only say it if someone asks, haha.

We are teaching this one guy named Dennis.  He is a cool guy that has had a hard life.  In our first appointment there where many times that he was in tears and was crying.  I think he felt the spirit.  This last week we soft set him for baptism (soft set is to say as you pray and come to know of the truth of what we are teaching then will you commit to be baptized).  It was a really cool thing.  At first he said no, but as we kept teaching him we were able to explain the reason and the need to be baptized by someone with the proper authority.  It was a cool lesson, and my first lesson to lead officially.  I had taken lead before many times but not as senior.  Oh, and we have been teaching this one lady in Alamo that has had a really hard life.  She is a great lady and is a student of the Bible and loves to read about church history.  Her husband is a in-active member, alchoholic and his parents are the RSP.  (I have no idea what RSP means.....Andrea.....I will ask him in his next letter!)  Super awesome family.  Well as we have taught the lessons to her, her husband has had a change of heart and dicided to get off alcohol.  So, he did, but he was such a addict he couldn't with out his kidneys shutting down.  So, that is what happened.  So, they have been in the hospital in Vegas for the past few weeks.  It has been a real hard thing for the family.  But he is on dialisys, and it is really hard, but they are growing, i think, this whole time.

Yeah, Aunt Tara is the best of my aunts to write me.  She does, but the rest are not any good at it, haha.  JK.............kinda, haha.

I have the two coolest grandmothers in the world, haha.  One is Southwest Louisiana's biggest Saint's fan and the other is 95 with a new iPad, haha.  That cracks me up, hahah, and GranJan has her iPad.   

Well, I am kinda mad that y'all are going to DC.  That is where I want to go so bad when I get home.  We will have to go again in that month that I will be home, haha, you can't go with out me and not bring me later haha!!!!!

Oh and I got my ballot last Tuesday so I will mail it out today.