What a week

Monday, September 16, 2013

 

I had a fairly nuts week. We have found our area super prepared for us, and even with no help from the Elder that stayed, we are seeing miracles.

So at the beginning of the week, we had a FHE with a family that is mostly kids...there are 7 of them. And the mom. she can`t get married because her spouse comes and visits once a month from teguc....nuf said. But her kids want to get baptized. And they were given to us by members. pilas (great) members. Their kid is on a mission in Peru, and they love working with us...something about treating the missionaries like she hopes they treat her son. Needless to say, they always feed us. We have the registros ready for the baptisms, and just need to have them come to church again. 

Then on the mundane side, we got a phone call on Wednesday night that Elder Martinez had a plane ticket for Friday, so he had to be in Teguc on Thursday, and we had to take him. So I spent 3.5 hours going, 1.5 hours in Teguc, and 4.5 hours returning to my area. It was HORRIBLE. Worse than the rides to Teguc from Yuscaran. The bus died coming back...and I just said a little silent prayer...God, if this bus dies, you are going to have one unhappy missionary...so don`t let it die. And it started right up.  Such a good result. God really does answer prayers. haha.

and then for two really spiritual experiences....

The first one was with a lady named Ada. She is a married lady that has her and her kids baptized, but her husband is not a member and won`t get baptized. We went to visit her to ask her to help with an investigator...and longer story made less long...she ended sort of spilling to us a lot of stuff that was going on. I could tell that she was going through a really tough time....and then she asked for blessing. I honestly didn`t know what I was going to say, and was just waiting for the spirit to kick in. From what I can remember, it was a super specific blessing. And it was sort of personal for her....when I finished she was crying. The spirit was super strong. I shared with her the story of Carlos and Karla, because she is going through like the same thing. I hope it helped her.

The second one was from yesterday. We were teaching a lesson to two jovenes (youth) that had fecha for this weekend. One of them at least, Wendy, 13. She and her brother go to a baptist church, and they didn`t come to our church yesterday because their pastor came and got them. so it was super like...do or die. So I laid everything out on the table for them. I felt like I was literally having words put in my mouth. And then we tried something I started using in my last area...where they pray to see if its true, and then we just all be silent for like a minute. So she asked if she could say it silently, so I just told her to say amen out loud. She did. And then she started just biting her lip, and looked kind of funny. So I asked her if she could describe what she was feeling. And she broke down sobbing and said that she couldn`t. She just kept sobbing...and had just put make up on, so then she wouldn`t look at me afterwards. But I asked her if she knew it was true, and she said yes. Then I asked her about baptism and she said she was too young. haha. One thing at a time, then. 

But I started thinking about as she had broken down sobbing. It made me think of all the times that I had felt that spirit, and how I had reacted. I cry very rarely now, and I think that it comes from being used to having this kind of spirit with me. It was SO STRONG yesterday in that lesson. I could totally feel it. But how strange it must be for her to be feeling that. She literally couldn`t describe it with words. I am so grateful that the Lord comes through when you need him most. I know that the spirit touches lives. And with force. 

That is sort of all that happened this week. We are working hard, and trying our best to do our best. I can barely wrap my head around 9 more months. Seems like just yesterday I was starting this whole shebang....but whatevs.

I love you all!!!

Zach

So changes. .... at last

Note:  Let me preface this with two things.  He is so happy to be back "home."  He is in the area which he told me last year at this time, was the beginning of his two year camping trip.  Not because it isn't a great area, but because it is pretty much dusty road and camping conditions.   Also, he is almost giddy in this letter and he wrote a few things that don't make sense to me.  I asked him to clarify but he was still so giddy that he didn't help me at all.

Family....

I came home. I am BACK in Choluteca!!!!

I am in Limon B, which is part of Ciudad Nueva, and is in the same stake as Los Llanos, where I started, and I went to a conference last night and saw Everybody!!!! I was so happy!!!! It was fantastic!!!!!!

I am also training again, and I am a DL still, so it's always busy. I am in a trio, and the other elder is a Honduran waiting to go to Mexico. And he is leaving this week, which is great, I can stop sharing a bed. 

I love my area.

I love my area. 

I love my area.

I had a lady tell us,....."Hey, this is my neighbor. This is where she lives. Go teach her.¨  Wow....so much time since I heard that last. Our attendance was over 200 this Sunday. I just bore my testimony at the request of the ward. No talk, no leading, no receiving tithing, no teaching classes, no audit....breath of fresh air!!!!!

Knowing that, I was told today that Yuscaran had two members at church yesterday.

My new comp is Elder Smith. He is from Lehi, and played soccer....he beat Cody 7-0, and took state. He is cool beans. He speaks Spanish pretty well.  I had forgotten how working with someone who speaks Spanish is...it's actually great. 

My zone is chill. Elder Clawson is my ZL...and I was his in this MTC. There is an elder who was on the BYU football team. Pau´u. Big Tongan. And it's chill. We played dodgeball this morning for pday. So great. My house is the house where my first Zone leaders lived....and I am in the chapel where we had District meeting and pday for my first four changes. So I am right at home. 

I also know that the US national team lost. So I have been saying I am Canadian. Nobody believes me. Probably because I told them all I am from the states first. But oh well. We will win against Mexico. it's all good. 

And the members already love me. I don`t think they know I love them more. But I am definitely aprovecharing (mix of English and Spanish here and we think he means he is totally loving having member help)  having members. It's great. I think that is many times that I have said that...but I can`t stop!!! It's amazing!!!!

Mas has super games always....super. mas, its super. sorry, drives me nuts.

And mom...I am skinny because I spent 7 months in an area where members voluntarily fed me twice. And because I am walking like crazy. And I will stay this skinny....

Dad, tell Abuela and Tia Lenna I got their stuff.

and Cody and Erin, I hope Homecoming was fun...I am sure it was. Good job in volleyball erin, and congrats on the commercial Cody! That should be good stuff.

I really have nothing else to write. I love my area. 

Here are some pictures with me and my child, and President and Hermana Hernandez. good stuff. 

I caught you a delicious bass....  (Note:  Napoleon Dynamite reference.)

Elder Glassett

 

 

Almost there ..... wow.

Monday, September 2, 2013

So, this is super weird, considering that this is my last email to be sent from Yuscaran. I am pretty positive that I am out this change. My saludos to this area, but I am sort of anxious to see somewhere new.

I had a super good week. I worked my freaking BUTT OFF. We killed it. Needless to say we have no new or progressing investigators, but we taught a buttload. I honestly have never worked and tried so hard in a while. But it will pay off. For somebody else that is not me. but it is okay. ningun esfuerzo es en vano. I have killed my kid, too, I think. He has been so dead, and had so many headaches from speaking Spanish. But its a good thing.

One spiritual experience from the week was a lesson we taught on Friday night. We are teaching a less active couple of girls who are the little sisters of an old branch president from this area. We studied about the whole receiving answers through prayer earlier in the day, and had been trying to apply it all day with little success. Well, we were teaching about the Book of Mormon, and she had read it, but hadn´t prayed about it. So I asked her to pray about it to know right then....and she was very hesitant. (For those of you who have seen the district, it comes right from there.) So I offered to offer a prayer first, and then she would offer another prayer to be able to know if its true or not. She did. And then I asked for silence for a minute so that she could think. When she got done, she started talking about all the doubts she still had. Well, I sort of rudely interrupted her and asked her to just be silent, and focus on what she felt, not what she thought. And she felt something incredible. She believes the Book of Mormon is true, or at least wants to believe it. And we have a cita with her tonight to go back and teach some more. Probably lesson two. But the spirit was so strong, and me and Benning taught the best lesson we have had together. Which is saying a lot. I absolutely loved it. I have a good feeling about them.

And the pictures that I sent this week are from what we do in the branch on Sundays, and then a photo we took of the branch presidency. We modeled it after the first presidency. I am sending some other ones too, but in a different carta.

I love you all, and thanks for writing me!!! I hope you had a bomb time in Payson this last weekend, fam, and I look forward to joining you next year.

Love 

Zach

 

A birthday party at the branch.  They broke and egg and dumped flour on her head.

"Pato" (the duck) and "taller"

The Zone

Zach calls himself "taller" so his description of this photo is "taller de zona"

Zach's post mission list of things to do which include:  meet Oprah, read all of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, build his own house and wear a suit everyday for a year.  Before I understood the list I told him he could cross off wear a suit everyday for a year.  His reply was, "It can be any kind of suit....birthday suit, swim suit, sunday suit, space suit."

Branch Presidency photo taken in the same manner as the First Presidency Photo.  I guess that makes Zach the first counselor.  Yep, I think he is thinner too!!

What they do on Sundays in Yuscaran.  LtoR read the lesson manual, count tithing, study the handbook and study the scriptures.

 

9 days

Monday, August 26, 2013

So, I have received a 90% confirmation that I will be leaving my area in 9 days. I have spent so much time here, and now don´t know what to do anymore. I am positive that this branch will be closed before I get home next June. We were seeing such progress, but it has dipped to where it was when I got here. It just does that and I don´t see much changing. I am sort of at a point with the members where I just sort of tell them what´s on my mind now, and that mostly has to do with them not coming to church. Most of them don´t take it to well. I feel like a parent here. I have tried to be so nice, but if you don´t understand, it´s hard lovin time. I have razurared, or shaved, quite a few members. Not for anything stupid. It's for stuff like, they choose to go to iron clothes for money instead of come to church. Or they say that they don´t want to come anymore to 2nd and 3rd hour because they don´t want their calling and are mad because their daughter got released from being the primary teacher. Or they say they just want to come and sit and listen, but don´t want to take part in anything.

My response is almost always, if you want that, go to any other church.  Here the lord asks of us. And we just give. We just do. Not because we understand it. Or because it makes sense. Or because we want to. We just do. It's just how it works. I haven´t quite lost my patience yet, but I am getting very stern with a few people. I am just fed up. I think I am getting a taste of how God feels when he was to chastise his children. He doesn´t like to, but he does due to their disobedience, and it's to make them depend on him. So it's for a good cause. 

Also, in respect to what I said last week about being a horrible missionary, its not that I was trained bad. I had a great trainer. I am saying horrible because I have been doing things not the Lord's way, and Christ says that he who is not with me is against me. I feel like I had not made good use of the Lord's time. Remember Elder Oaks talk on Good, Better, Best?? I was doing good things. but I couldn´t even see the better things, and I am working towards the best things. 

Speaking of that stuff, my week was hard. We worked Tuesday like normal, and then were told that we had to be in Teguc on Wed for a training. So that ate the whole day. Then Thursday I did divisions with Elder Edwards, one of my good buddies. He left for the temple early Friday morning with Elder Sol, as I stayed in the bathroom throwing up the bad mayonnaise I ate the night before. Then Saturday I finished divisions in the Villa of San Fransisco doing baptismal interviews for half the world.  I did four last week, and I am finding that if I do them right, and try to be the most in tune with the spirit I can, it is a little taxing. But I love it. I don´t know where I will go this change, but I can imagine I will still be a DL. Which is fine with me. 

Yesterday we fasted, and the Lord is seriously trying our faith. Everything we had fell through horribly. None of our citas were there, nobody wanted anything, and I am stressed because other elders in Yuscaran had a baptism that fell. And the ZLs were pressuring me to pressure them. It was a nuts weekend. The whole zone, or at least my district, is really struggling finding people to teach right now. The ZLs are super concerned, and I really don´t know what else to do. But I am sure that God will bless me. I don't understand, I don´t know how, and sometimes I feel like I don´t want to, that it´s easier to not to. 

 

Two quotes that have gotten me through this area have been,

"Do your duty: That is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest."

"It takes maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not."

I feel like here, I have done that.

All I really know right now is that God will bless me, and that after this place, I can do anything. 

Dad, I don´t know if you remember the first time we went on high adventure to the Uintahs, on that hike. I don´t know if you remember what happened as we were leaving. I just remember you and I were in the back of the group, and something happened. I just remember being so tired and sore and sick of all the stinking priests and everything else. I vividly remember crying...and just feeling like it would be easier to just stop and do nothing. You picked me up, looked at me, and said, ¨Then you stand.¨ and you pushed me off to keep walking. That is what this area is. I am at my wall. I don´t know how much more I have to give here. I feel like the next week I would rather sit in my house and study all day. But, I just think of that quote. I think it is from that one Rascal Flats song. 

From what I remember the chorus goes something like

Cuz when push comes to shove you learn what you´re made of

you might bend till you break cuz its all you can take.

on your knees you look up, decide you´ve had enough

You get mad, you get strong

wipe your head shake it off.

Then you stand.

that typifies this fifth change here.  I feel like God has pushed me to my breaking point. Last night, I honesty didn´t know how much more of this I could take. but I know that I will stand for one last week, and do everything I can to leave here knowing I did everything I could. 

 

I will survive Yuscaran.

Zach

Monday, August 19, 2013

So, not much has happened. I told you all pretty much how last week went like 4 days ago, and not much has changed....its been a short weekend. We continue to suffer with people at church. I think satan is really working harder with these people than before.

We are working with three different people right now. But one of them is turning into an eternal investigator, and it´s not even really his fault. You remember Roberto?? Well, he has to stay at home with 94 year old dad, and if nobody comes to watch him, he can´t come to church, and I can´t tell him to let his dad alone for hours. And then we are working with another lady named Delmy who is scared of what her husband will say if he finds out she is meeting with us. And a guy named Jorge, who midway through our first lesson with him told us to excuse him, but he had to go get a tooth pulled. So apart from that, pure finding and less actives.

I have been really trying to just focus on what I should have done at the beginning of my mission. My trainer with me never did the 12 week program that you are supposed to do with your trainer. So I started doing it with my ¨Kid¨, ....and I learned that I am a....horrible....missionary. I mean, I have baptized, but I have been so far below where I should have been. And the worst part is, I learned it at almost 14 months. If I would have learned it a month earlier, that would have been better. But now I feel like I have been wasting the Lord's time out here, and haven´t been doing the best with my time. Nothing bad, just good or better. Not best. That really woke me up. Cody, LEARN PREACH MY GOSPEL. See if you can get ahold of the district DVD´s and watch them. Ask any exmissionary, Jordan Widdison, he would know where to get those. anyway, that´s the key to being a good missionary. I know a lot of missionaries who have to work by their ¨method¨. Well, the best method is PMG, because it´s the Lords method. So I am really focusing more on it, to try and take advantage of the little time that I have left, so that I don´t waste more of the Lord's time.

Oh and by the way, I love the books you guys sent me. Elder Talmage is the man...he just threw down in Articles of Faith about infant baptism. Wow.  And I also am addicted to dum dums again. It's horrible but I can´t stop.

That´s pretty much it. I love yall.

Zach

and I only have ten months left....this can´t be happening.

Thursday, August 15, 2013  (Pday was Thursday this week.  Read on and you will know why.)

So this last week was good. Holy crap was it long, but good.We had a whole bunch of stuff happen. Mostly it was people telling us to come back and then ignoring us when we came back. Or pretending like they weren´t home.

There is some horribly depressing news from my area, however. And some other good stuff that happened. And some other news that is more or less important.

Well first to start with the bad news to get it out of the way. Friday I was doing divisions with my district, in Zamorano. It was dope. I felt super uncomfortable, however, because I was going to meet some people that had expressed complete disgust towards the missionaries, and a whole bunch of fechas had fallen, so the zls wanted to know what was going on. I spent three hours in citas with people throwing indirects at us, specifically. There we are, a mexican and gringo, and the people start saying things like...¨so let's say that in America, only an example, there are people there that have a lot of money, so they send people to preach about someone who isn´t god..¨etc. Oh boy. Somebody told this guy that apparently we believe in Joseph Smith. I literally felt like it got hostile at one point...and it was better that we just leave. Then when I got back on Friday morning, I got a terribly rushed phone call from Christian.

And when I heard the name he mentioned, a pit formed in my stomach....

and I broke into a cold sweat.

----------------- was found at approximately 9 in the morning, Friday august 9 2013, hanging from his roof of his room.

He wasn´t found in time, this time.

I had that old familiar feeling of complete desperation come over me, and then was immediately comforted....I knew that whatever had happened, it was according to his own free will, and that God was still in charge. In themidst of the mind swirling that was going on, I recalled the blessing I had given to him at the end of May.

Incredible, how the spirit works.

We found out that he had left a note, saying that he passed away happy because he died in the Mormon Faith. I learned that, like I had suspected, his health problems were worsening, and to top it off, something new I learned....  He had apparently practiced some other habits before his baptism.

I am including a gift that he had made for a bunch of members after a FHE that we did in his house a few weeks after his first attempt.

It will forever be a treasure to me.

On a happier note, we went to the Moncerrat again, and there is a photo included.

and on an increasingly happier note, I realized some stuff in the last week.

Stuff that if I would have realized ten months ago would have been good.

Makes me also realize that I am nowhere close to reaching my potential as a missionary.

I have been trying a lot harder, in these last few weeks. And I see fruits coming. I don´t know if I will see them, but I can imagine them.

Also, yesterday we had zone conference, so instead of going and coming back and going again to Teguc, we stayed over night with the aps...

Elggren is back. and I saw Beesley and my buddy Stone. He left at 10 yesterday morning to go home....he finished!!! I got one last pic with him. Love that kid.

And then I went to work with OVESON....Love that kid. and guess who he took me to see???

LUIS AND SUYAPA

I WAS SO FREAKING HAPPY TO SEE THEM.

Good ol times!!! His teeth look great, dad. They are finally on the up and up! Luis found a job, and everything is good for them. They had two older daughters, the both of which have never wanted anything with the church, but the older one is slowly coming around. And that makes them happy. It was awesome to see them.

And then, this morning, Elder Sol forgot his recommend, so I sacrificed to come back with him. I am going in October with a family I baptized in the south, Carlos and Karla, so that will be sufficient. Plus, with them will be so much more amazing.

And that brings us to today. Just chilling and writing you guys. It is a good day, and I am loving the chill of it.

So, I hope that all of you can take a chill pill...and relax. Enjoy your thursday. I am sure enjoying mine.

Love, Zach...Phantom.....

At the Moncerrat

Elder Stone and Zach

The "treasure" given to Zach at the FHE.

2nd week of changes

Monday, August 5, 2013

So this week has been somewhat normal. I have really had a chance to slow down and work like a normal missionary. We study all the time now. I love my new comp! Benning is awesome. We struggle a little bit with the language with him, but it is coming along. He asked me how long it took me to learn the language....I told him to ask a different gringo...I am not the best one to ask for that. It's weird for me doing language studies. I never had done them before...never had needed them, really. But now, it actually helps me.

We are working with some new people. Jessica and Dennis, a family we started teaching...They are super cool. We were already really good friends with them, and so it was easy to just start teaching them. They own a restaurant thing here in town, so we used to go eat there a few times a week, and we got talking to them. After a while, they closed it because their little daughter and the mom got sick, and couldn´t keep it open. Dennis started working elsewhere, and we lost contact with them. But we found them a little while ago, and are so stoked to be able to work with them. They really got it and we are hopefully going back tonight to be able to teach them more. 

We found another lady name Ofelia who lives in a part of our area that we had hardly ever gone before. She invited us in and we started teaching her. She accepted to be baptized, but we have to find out who her spouse is and get them married before we can really do that. But it can be done. 

Our zone leaders this last week have been really focusing on helping us find new people to be able to teach. They gave us a new formula that the mission has adopted for tracting and contacting. Bbefore I hated contacting, and really didn´t understand why we do it. I honestly would rather go spend time serving the members to be able to get referrals from them. But they gave us a new way to be able to do it. And WOW. It works. We are finding the prepared people in our area through prayer, repentance, and following hunches. Hunches...wow. Those hunches are the most important things we can follow. They are literally what Christ wants us to do when he wants us to do it. Is important stuff. And the more we listen, the better it goes. 

That is really it for this week. I love the pics that you guys sent.....flip, Mason is huge. And I am glad that you got to try some of that stuff. I am sad you couldn´t be here for mango season, or licha season, but you got some good stuff. And that city is just nuts. Completely and totally. Also thank you for all the stuff in that duffel bag. it´s FANTASTIC. My comp loves you all. 

I think I am pretty much done. I will chat next week with you all....

Zach

 

Oops.  Pictures from last week!

 

Zach and Elder Benning

Elder Benning, Zach and Elder Esparza

Good old American treats to keep Zach fed.