Monday, January 14, 2013

So it sounds like it's really cold up there in Utah, and snowing a lot. Down here it's really, really hot and humid! I haven´t felt this type of humidity and heat in a long time!  Dad, I feel like it's the same weather when we went to Boston and New York that one summer for those football camps.  But, it's all good; I'm loving it! I´m super, super sad that my Fighting Irish lost.  Last Monday night I wore the Notre Dame shirt that you sent me as I went to bed hoping it would bring some good luck. I guess not!  Next year they´ll take the championship! 

It's crazy that Alex will be reporting to the Argentina MTC this Wednesday!  You need to send me his address so I can write him a letter.  And tell him not to worry about the cold.  I've heard it's been really hot in Argentina.  Anyway, it's crazy that the whole "Ruckus Crew" is splitting up! 

Monday, January 7, 2013

It was great to hear from you! I can´t believe it's super cold in Utah right now!  Just the other day it was about 110 degrees here in Uruguay!  I´m always sweating here, even if it's not that hot.  The humidity is ridiculous, so I end up sweating a ton anyway!  I´ve been drinking a ton of water.

But anyway, it has been another great week here in Canelones.  On New Year's Eve the people lit off a bunch of fireworks.  At midnight I woke up to the sound of the explosions, but I was so tired that I went back to bed and slept through all of it. 

Today I got a letter from Perry. It was awesome to hear from him and hear how he's doing.  He sounds like he´s doing great and he told me many times that he loves the mission!  Tell Murphy and Alex that I love them and miss them. They´re going to be great missionaries!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas was awesome!  It was super hot, but it rained a ton so it felt a lot better. On Christmas day we had a district meeting in San Jose (1 hour away).  Because it rained so much in the morning the bridge back to our city was flooded and the buses couldn´t pass.  So, we ended up doing a lot of contacting in San Jose and also helped the missionaries there with their lessons that they had to do. Finally, the flood passed and we were able to catch a bus back to Canelones.  From there we went straight to a member's house (Hermana Amparo) to use her computer to talk to you guys by Skype! That was my Christmas day! It was crazy and definitely a Christmas I won't forget.

Monday, December 24, 2012

¡Feliz Navidad! I´m super excited to talk to you guys tomorrow! It's going to be awesome.  This evening Elder Aguirre and I are going to an investigator's house for a little dinner and to share a message.  After that, there are two member families that have invited us to their houses for Christmas Eve, so we´re going to visit them and then head back home for bed!  I'm excited to spend some time with the members. It won´t be the same without you guys, but I know what I´m doing is right and that Heavenly Father will look after you.  Tomorrow you will have to let me know how Outback Steakhouse was!

This last Friday we had a Christmas Devotional for all the missionaries here in my mission.  It was AWESOME!  Each zone sang a Christmas song and then we got to hear from President Armstrong. 

Monday, December 17, 2012

I love hearing about all the things that are going on with you guys and, of course, hearing about the sports.  It sounds like all is well back at home with a lot of laughs.  It sounds like all is the same!  It was also interesting to hear about all the mission dates getting moved back.  I know that the missionaries here in Uruguay that go home in January leave a week or two earlier than planned because of all the new missionaries that are coming in.

Anyway, this week was a good week!  I gave a talk yesterday in church about setting goals for the next year. It was awesome and I had people laughing!  I don't think I've really explained much about the people of Uruguay to you guys.  I honestly think they are the laziest people I've ever met!  They are awesome and I love them to death, but I think if Dad was here he would go crazy!  People don't

Monday, December 10, 2012

Well we found out a little bit more about Christmas this year.  Christmas is on a Tuesday, so we´ll have our normal P-Day on Monday and I'll be able to write you that you day.  Then the next day (Christmas), I'll be able to use Skype and talk to you!  I'm super excited to talk to you guys (talking in English is going to be really weird) and see you!  As of right now we're not really sure what time we will have access to Skype.  We need to plan it with the family in the ward who has a computer.  I'll let you know this next P-Day what's going to happen.

We received change calls yesterday and found out that Elder Aguirre and I are going to stay here in Canelones together for another change. We´re super excited and can´t wait to keep working here in Canelones.  The ward here is AWESOME and the members are always helping us with the work.

Monday, December 3, 2012

I received the photo of Perry [good friend serving a mission in Tallahasse, Florida] and thought it was awesome.  I think it would be cool if you sent him my emails.  I would love to hear from him.  I sent him a letter a couple of weeks ago.  I hope he got it.  It's also good to hear Tanner [good friend at the MTC and serving a mission to Korea] is doing great.  I sent him a letter, too.  I can´t believe Michael [Zach's cousin] got his mission call [Roseville, California]!  I´m pumped for him.  Tell him he´s going to be a great missionary. We´re offically going to have 2 Elder Gardaniers in the mission field.  Vamo Arriba Gardanier family!

Well, the ward is awesome.  The branch president is now the bishop with the same couselors and all the other callings are basically the same.  The ward had its first ward baptism this last Thursday with

Monday, November 26, 2012

My Thanksgiving was a good day here in Uruguay!  We found many people to teach and taught many lessons. We ended up not eating any chicken (let alone turkey), but it's all good. 

Our baptism for Silvana is this coming Thursday! This last week was crazy in the branch because we officially became a ward yesterday! There were a lot of parties and meetings this last week with the ward, so we didn´t have much time to do a baptism. The bishop told us this Thursday would be best, so that´s when we are going to do it. 

Monday, November 19, 2012

It was awesome to hear from you and know that you are all doing well!  I received an email from Aunt Tammy and she was saying how excited she is to go up to Utah for Thanksgiving.  I have also received a couple of emails from Lindsay Gardanier.  Make sure to tell her hi for me and that I'm doing awesome and that it was great to hear from her!

Well, Thanksgiving is coming up and it will just be another day in the mission here in Uruguay. We're going to work and I think we might buy a chicken for lunch.  Does that count as a turkey dinner?  People here in Uruguay (of course) don't celebrate Thanksgiving and no one sells turkey here in Canelones.

Monday, November 12, 2012

It was awesome to hear from everyone!  I can't believe it's snowing in Utah.  Here in Uruguay it is nice and warm! That's awesome that Jake got his mission call to Sweden.  He's going to be a great missionary.

Mom, the package with chocolate was perfect!  Nothing was melted and it all turned out great.  So, chocolate is fine to send!  In answer to your question, anything you send for Christmas I will be happy with!  Peanut butter would be nice, too!

Anyway, something interesting from this past week was that Nacional and Peñarol played against each other in soccer.  It's basically like the Super Bowl here in Uruguay.  It's a big rivalry game and

Monday, November 5, 2012

It was awesome to get your emails!  I received a ton from family and friends wishing me a happy birthday.  Make sure to tell everyone thanks for me!  I´m super excited that Elder Burnett and Hermana Muir went to your house!  They are awesome and helped me a ton in the mission.  Elder Burnett is one of the nicest kids I know and hopefully you had fun talking with him.  [Zach's dad: Two returned missionaries, Elder Burnett and Sister Muir, unexpectedly stopped by our house last night to introduce themselves and tell us hello from Zach.  Elder Burnett returned home to Springville just three days ago and brought us a package from Zach.  Sr. Muir returned home to Springville about six weeks ago.  It is crazy how many missionaries from little ol' Springville are in Zach's mission (5).  Elder Burnett and Sr. Muir both knew Zach well in the mission field and say he's doing great. They said he always has a big smile on his face and has such a positive attitude about missionary work and life.  It was very comforting to hear directly from someone that has been with Zach that he is healthy and doing well.  Elder Burnett will be speaking in church next Sunday and Tori and the kids plan on attending to hear more about missionary work in Uruguay].  

Monday, October 29, 2012

It was awesome to hear from you guys!  I also received an email from Grandma and Grandpa White Truck and Tammy.  Tell them I love them tons!  I have to also say that I can't believe Notre Dame is third in the country right now!  The one year I leave and they finally do good!  Anyway, it's all good.  The mission is the best!

This week was AWESOME!  Hermana and Elder Oaks came to Uruguay to speak to us and the other mission this last Saturday.  [Zach's dad: Elder Oaks is a church leader from Salt Lake City].  It was a great experience!  I sat with Elder Barlow and Elder Hicks [Zach's old MTC companions] during the conference and had a good time. Elder Oaks talked to us about repentance and how to better teach are

Monday, October 22, 2012

It's been a crazy week, but I've loved every second of it!  Canelones is a lot different than Noblia and San Francisco. It's a lot bigger and there are a ton more people, but surprisingly only 40 active members in the church.  As of right now the church is a branch but should change to a ward here soon because we have enough priesthood to qualify.  Elder Aguirre is my companion and he's a stud!  He's from Chile just like Elder Peña!  He loves music and plays the piano really, really well. We get a long great and are excited to work here!  He knows a little bit of English, but we ultimately just talk in Spanish. He had some problems with his last companion, but as of right now we're working hard and just basically talking to everyone about the gospel.  It's the best!  The branch seems to like me so that's good, too!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Crazy news! I'm leaving my area right after this email to a city called Canelones.  It's about 30 minutes from my area of San Francisco.  I'm leaving because of a special change.  A missionary in that area had to go home early so I'm going in to take his spot.  I don't know much about the area or my companion, but I'm super excited to work there!  It's a big city and will be my first area where I'm actually in a downtown area - I'm pumped!  President Armstrong called me and told me about the situation and how he never worries about me and told me to get to work and keep doing what I'm doing.  I'm excited that he trusts me that much.  It will be a great experience and I'll make sure to tell you all about Canelones next Monday!

Monday, October 8, 2012

This last week was AMAZING!  I had a blast reading your letters. It's awesome to hear that Alex is going to Argentina!  We'll have the same accent when we get home!  Oh, and Mom, ¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS! I love you tons and think of you everyday!  When I was watching conference I felt close to home because I knew you guys were watching the same thing at the same time.  Thanks for being the best Mom in the world!  I was just thinking the other day of those good times we had cleaning my room together.  I miss those days.  I also miss your cooking!  When I get back I can't wait to have a nice home-cooked meal from you!  I love you, Mom!

This week was awesome with conference! Crazy stuff with the whole age difference.  [Zach's dad: in a worldwide church conference this past weekend, the president of the church announced that young

Monday, October 1, 2012

Well, this week has been a crazy and fun week!  I forgot to tell you, but here in the ward that I'm in there are 4 missionaries.  They combined my area together with the other 2 missionaries and their area to form a ward.  This happened about 8 months ago.  Anyway, because of that we have a ton of less active members in the ward that we have been working with the last 7 weeks.  We need to have 21 active priesthood holders to qualify as a ward and we had 18 when I first got here.  As of now, with the help of the other missionaries that I live with and the couple missionaries (Elder Hill and Hermana Hill), we have 22 active priesthood holders in the ward.  So, as of right now, we qualifty as a ward! We're pumped because since we qualify as a ward we are going to combine with 6 other wards close by to form a stake! Vamo Arriba! It's been a lot of hard work and problem solving with the menos activos ["less active"] because a ton of them won't go to church because they are offended by some other member.  It's really frustrating at times because people are holding grudges for lame things.  But anyway, it's all good and we are working hard to bring them all back.

Monday, September 24, 2012

It was awesome to hear from you guys.  I love hearing about everything that is going on back at home.  Thanks for sending me a birthday package!  Tell Tyler to keep working hard and just have fun. You only play high school football once.  Tell Cade to keep working hard and have fun, too! What's going on with BYU?  Crazy stuff.  I can't believe Notre Dame is doing good now!  That would be an awesome trip to go to a game out in South Bend!

I'm sorry to hear that Brother Davis passed away - I love the tradition we do because of him.  Tell Murph and Alex that I'll try and send a letter to them soon.  How is Tanner and Perry doing?

Monday, September 17, 2012

Yesterday we got transfer calls.  I'm going to stay in San Francisco with Elder Peña again. We're pumped! We have a really good relationship and are always laughing.  He's a great missionary and everyday he teaches me something new. So, needless to say, I'm thrilled about staying! 

This last week we also had stake conference. It was a super cool experience because our stake conference was a satellite broadcast of President Thomas S. Monson, Elder Anderson and Sister Reeves. It was cool to listen to as translators translated for President Monson.  Elder Anderson knew Spanish and did his talk in Spanish.  It was a great stake conference and the spirit was definitely there!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Well, it's good to hear that everyone is doing great. The mail strike is officially over and we´re starting to get mail again.  Today I got three letters from Grandma White Truck and a letter from Jordan Gardanier - tell them thanks for me! And thanks Mom, for preparing a package for me! I'm craving American sweets! Sweet Tarts, Reeses, anything really!  I don´t need any medication, and with the water I'm completely fine. The water here is clean and I have a filter bottle that I drink out of, so it's all good!

This last week was a lot of fun! I went to the temple grounds with our recent converts and some investigators. We went with Selva and the other missionaries that live with us.  It was a BLAST!  After we toured the temple grounds we went to the mission home and talked with the mission

Monday, September 3, 2012

All is well here in San Francisco. I´m absolutely loving it here! The members are awesome and we have some great investigators. With Elder Peña we basically speak Spanish the whole time.  He likes to practice his English, so every once in a while we´ll talk in English but mostly we talk in Spanish. I´m learning a lot with him.

Yesterday was Fast Sunday and Elder Peña and I had a really cool experience with our recent converts Flavia, Ana and Luis.  All three bore their testimonies at church and you could feel the spirit so strong as they bore it. Ana was crying at the pulpit saying how greatful she was for the gospel and the plan of salvation. I can´t remember if I told you but two weeks before the baptism of Ana and