Monday, December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas! This week will be a cool week!  I'm excited to celebrate Christmas here in Uruguay.  What a blessing!  This last week has been crazy!  It's been a lot different here in the mission house.  I've been exhausted!  We have been running all over the place.  I had to help take all the missionaries that were leaving to the airport.  I got a little taste of what is going to happen to me and Elder Hicks.  It was a sad but cool experience at the same time!  Me and Elder Hatch (the other assistant) traveled to go work with some other zone leaders in "Durazno" and in "Florida."  We also had a very cool Christmas activity at the temple on Saturday and Sunday night. We had a choir of missionaries sing Christmas songs on the temple grounds.  We had about 300 members and other interested people come and listen!  It was awesome!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hola! It was great to hear from you. I can't believe how cold it is for you and that you were in the negatives! That is so crazy!  Over here I'm dying from the heat. It has been so hot and humid. I feel like I've been sweating all day every day for the last month!  I´m going to have the worst tan line ever when I get back.  You guys are going to make fun of me like crazy.  I know Dad will show no mercy!

Well, yesterday we found out about changes and I got a very interesting phone call from my amigo fiel Elder Barlow (he´s the assistant to President Newsome).  He told me that Elder Hicks and I will come to the mission offices and work with the assistants for our last two weeks.  Elder Barlow was

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Sorry I didn´t give you a warning about not writing you until today (Thursday).  I'm up here in Minas to visit some old friends. I just got here and don´t have any photos quite yet.  I´ll send them this coming Tuesday (which will be my P-day next week)! 

This last week has been CRAZY!  We have been flying all over the place in our zone and in our area. We've had several conferences, ward activities, as well as taking care of sick missionaries. We also found out that we have to plan a lunch for 50 missionaries this Friday. We've been pretty stressed.  But we've now got everything under control, so we're good to go!

Monday, December 9, 2013

[Zach's dad:  No email from Zach today.  His P-day will be on Thursday (12/12) this week.]

Monday, December 2, 2013

I loved hearing about all the cool stuff you did this last week in Arizona.  It sounded like a lot of fun! To be honest, I forgot it was even Thanksgiving until you told me last week.  We didn´t have anything planned - it was just a normal day in the mission.  Our mission president is planning a fun Christmas dinner for all of us on the 18th of this month.  It should be really nice and fun to see all the missionaries together. Also, I should be able to Skype on Christmas, but I'll need to get back to you about that.

Well, this last week Elder Arnett and I went to a home and helped do some service!  We painted their house! It was a lot of fun. I'll send a photo.

Monday, November 25, 2013

It was awesome to hear from you!  I got the email from Cade. It sounds like he´s plugging away with everything and staying really busy. I loved the photos. He looks like a pro basketball player! Way to represent Cado-Potato!  Well Tyler, it's on!  [Zach's dad: This is Zach's response when Tyler mentioned that he is taller than Zach as well as four pounds heavier and that he plans on a big wrestling match when Zach gets home.]  You may be bigger than me and you may be taller than me; but I will always be your older "big" brother!  I´ll take you down and I´ll be talking trash in Spanish while I'm doing it.  I'll be playing "mind games" with you! ¡Te mostraré quien es el capo de los Gardanier!

Monday, November 18, 2013

It was cool to hear from you guys and see how big Cade is getting.  It's super weird!  I remember that bike ride up to Mapleton to see if I made the 9th grade basketball team.  I was so nervous.  Cade, who are your 9th grade coaches at Mapleton?  I had Coach Jex and Coach Rowley.  I think your new basketball shoes are pretty sick! 

Well, as you guys know I'm trying to gain weight!  I´ve been eating a lot more and have been exercising a ton, but I haven´t gained a thing.  I weighed myself the other day and weighed 149 pounds! I´ve been getting up at 6:00 every morning and doing workouts for awhile now, and I can't even tell a difference!  One of my goals when I get back will be to go to the gym EVERYDAY!  I also want to get my right shoulder stronger.  I don´t know what happened but it's kind of bugging me a little bit where I had the surgery.

Monday, November 11, 2013

It sounds like you guys had a fun week!  I'm bummed that I missed out on the ASU v. Utah game.  It sounds like a lot of fun!  I'm glad that ASU took it to them.  I live in a house of four Elders.  Two of them like Utah and then my companion and I like ASU!  Vamo arriba! 

Well, this last week was a lot of fun!  Elder Arnett and I went to a special meeting with all the zone leaders in our mission.  We didn't get to go to the temple this time, but it was still pretty fun and cool.  Elder Barlow, Elder Hicks, and I are now considered to be super old in the mission.  It's really weird.  A lot of the younger missionaries in the mission consider us "old and grumpy" missionaries which I don't understand because all three of us smile all the time. 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

I had a really cool birthday this last Halloween!  My zone did a surprise party for me.  I don't have a photo of it but my companion and I got up at 6:00 in the morning to go clean out our "old" house.  We had a couple of things we needed to do for the owner of the house before we gave him the key back.  Anyway, when we got to the old house, my whole zone was there with a birthday cake and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It was really cool and they totally got me! I jumped pretty high when I walked into the house!  I was really impressed to see the whole zone get up super early just for my birthday. I have the best zone!

Monday, October 28, 2013

It sounds like you guys are doing great!  I can't believe that Tyler had his "senior football game."  Time flies so fast.  I wish I was there to see him play.  I'm bummed out that I missed his senior year.  I´ll just have to watch his film when I get back!  Tyler and Cade have had quite the fun football seasons.  It's pretty fun when you are winning.

Well, this last week has been crazy.  With our move, one of the things we have been doing is cleaning the house and organizing everything. The house looks great!  We are definitely spoiled out here in Maldonado!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Sorry I´m so late with this letter! Yesterday we moved into our new house and it took all day to do it.  Our new house is LEGIT!  It's officially the nicest house in the mission!  I´ll have to send you some photos next time.  I don't have any today and my time today is really short.  I´m living in this house with two other missionaries. 

We had our baptisms this last Saturday and it was amazing!  We baptized Farid (14 years old) and Gianna (11 years old).  It was great and the Spirit was super strong.  The mom was already a member, but she stopped coming to church after husband left her ten years ago.  Recently, her kids started asking her more about God and religion and that made her realize that she wanted to come back to church and raise her kids in the gospel.  One day, out of the blue, she showed up to church

Monday, October 14, 2013

Well, this last week was awesome!  We had a lot of fun and cool experiences. Yesterday we did an open house at one of the churches here in Maldonado with our zone and the ward from the church. We started at 4:00 in the afternoon and didn't end until about 9:00 pm!  The senior couple missionaries were in charge of this activity and they went full out and had the church look amazing with a lot of little activities and food.  We had 42 random people come inside the church and take a tour.  It was the coolest thing ever!  The church is trying out new finding techniques and this is one of them -- a church open house!  The idea was that the members of the ward would invite friends and people that are on the streets to come in and take a little tour of the church.  As the people come in we break them up in groups and show them the different rooms of the church and explain what we believe.  I and another elder were assigned to be in the room with the baptismal font and talk about baptism.  It was legit!  We dressed up in white and many people called us "angels"!  It was a lot of fun. I'll make sure to send some photos.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Mom, I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I was thinking about you on Saturday! 

Dad, you asked for a list of where I've served on my mission.  Here's the list:

1. Noblia, Melo (3 changes)

2. San Francisco, Las Piedras (1.5 Changes)
3. Canelones, Canelones (4.5 Changes)
4. Minas, Lavalleja (2 Changes)
5. Camino Carrasco, Montevideo (2 changes)
6. Maldonado, Maldonado (currently here in my first change!)
 
I have loved all my areas and hope I will get the chance to visit Noblia again before I go home!
 

Monday, September 30, 2013

I loved the photo of Tyler's football game.  It looks like it's starting to get pretty cold up there.  It's been getting pretty warm down here in Uruguay! Finally!

Well, let me tell you about a beautiful place called Maldonado ... I feel like I'm in heaven!  I love this area so much! As the zone leaders here in Maldonado we have the area of Punta del Este, La Brava, José Ignacio, and a lot of other areas that are really pretty here.  The people here are super cool and really want to talk to us.  We work off of a lot of referrals here, so that's nice.  Our ward is small; we have about 40 people in church every week and no one can place the piano.  However, Elder Farsworth and I are pumped to go at it and baptize!  This last week we went to an area called José Ignacio which is really pretty and is right on the beach.  It's about an hour away from the church, but

Monday, September 23, 2013

Well, this last week was another great week!  I had a blast in our ward and with the members.  I also had a lot of fun teaching our investigators and helping them come unto Christ.  It's been kind of tough here in Camino Carrasco.  But it's been great at the same time!  I've learned a lot about "patience," an attribute of Christ that I'm trying to learn (I personally think it's one of the hardest attributes to learn!).

Our ward mission leader is a huge STUD!  I´ve learned so much from him and he's been a father figure for me in the mission.  Tonight we are going to go visit him and his family and talk about some plans for the ward.  It should be great and help the missionary work progress!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Well, these last couple days we got hit by the Santa Rosa!  Every year there's a storm that comes in for a couple days and it just rains, and rains, and rains all day for two or three days.  It's the best!  Elder Teran and I are soaked, but it's been fun.  We laugh about it in the streets and with the members.  The members joke with us that we need to go proselyte with a canoe!
 
This last week we had a sweet zone conference meeting at the mission home! It was the best experience ever!  I got to chill with Elder Hicks and Elder Barlow all day for two days. We had each other laughing as we talked about the good ol' MTC days.  We say that we are "brothers from another mother!"  Anyway, we got to go to the temple and it was AWESOME!  It was interesting because it's been about a year since the last time I went and this time I understood everything in Spanish.  I love

Monday, September 9, 2013

Elder Teran and I got up at 5:00 this morning so that we could go play basketball with some of the guys in the zone and with the assistants.  It was a ton of fun! We had each other laughing and showing off our nice "streetball" moves.  It's pretty tough getting up at 5:00, but in the end it's totally worth it.  It helps us relieve a little bit of stress!

Well, this last week we had a conference with Elder Zeballos of the Seventy, along with several of the other zones here in Uruguay.  It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot from him, including the importance of finding families to teach. When we teach one or two people in a family, it may often mean the whole family is ready to hear the gospel. He taught us that we need to make sure that we try

Monday, September 2, 2013

So the conference that we had with our mission president turned out great! To be honest, Elder Teran and I didn´t do much. We helped out with the food, which was homemade by the Hill Family and the Pugmire Family. We made sloppy joes (mmmmm)!  We also helped President Newsome set up a room to do interviews. That´s all we did.  It was a great time and it was nice to talk to President Newsome. He was super busy and so we ended up doing interviews as a companionship. He knows I'll be leaving a little early to get back for school. I also saw Hermana Elmont at the conference. We talked about everyone that we knew that was on a mission right now from Springville and Mapleton.  It's crazy to hear how many girls have left on missions.

Monday, August 26, 2013

This last week was a great week! Our zone here in Montevideo is doing awesome! We are super happy with the efforts that we are seeing by the missionaries and the miracles that we see and hear about each and every day.

Elder Teran and I had a blast this past p-day.  We played catch with the football for over an hour in front of our apartment complex.  Elder Teran actually throws the ball really well.  I was impressed.  I ran routes and we had a blast.  As we played, a ton of people started watching us.  Kind of awkward, but it was fun!  And yes, Dad, in answer to your question, I do understand him.  He has a different accent being from Mexico, but it's all the same to me.  He does use some words that I don´t understand, but I´m learning.  It's interesting because some of the people here in Uruguay don´t understand his words either, so that makes me feel better about my Spanish.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Well, my new companion, Elder Teran, is a stud! He´s super tall and is from Mexico. He loves sports and actually played American football in high school as a quarterback. Crazy stuff!  We get along great and we both really miss Mexican food, or better said "spicy things!" We´re going to make some Mexican food here one day, and he´s going to teach me.  This morning at 5 a.m. we got up early to play against the elders in the offices in a basketball game at the church.  It was loads of fun!  We were all talking trash (in English and in Spanish!) the whole time. We had a blast and it was definitely worth getting up early. I haven´t played basketball since the MTC days. That was like 19 months ago!  I played horrible!