An update - finally!

Yes. I am a slacker. I know it's because I sit around and eat bon-bons all day. :o)

So, anyhow...the summer went so quickly:

Parker got his braces off
Parker went to EFY
Parker, John and I went on Pioneer Trek
Kailen and I went to Girls Camp
Kam worked
John travelled some
Took Kam to BYU-Idaho
And I had a 1" nodule and 1/2 my thyroid removed. Thankfully, no cancer! And so far, no medicine needed to regulate the remaining 1/2.

So, that's the last few months in a nutshell.

I'm teaching seminary again - I have my class from last year (now juniors) and 4 seniors. A fantastic group of kids.

I decided to go back to school. I'm doing BYU-Idaho's online degree program. I sometimes wonder if I've absolutely lost my mind. But I'm excited. Finishing my degree is something I've always wanted to do, and when there were days when I very possibly could have cancer, I'd think of all the things I still wanted to accomplish in this life. Finishing my degree was way up on the list.

Zach gets home in TWO weeks! The last two years have literally flown by. It's been such a blessing to have a missionary serving from our family and I'll miss that aspect. But I'm excited to have him home. He's flying to Rexburg on the 26th to see Kam, find housing for next semester, and meet with his advisor since he's changing his major. Then he goes back to school in January.

It's very strange having only two kids at home. Very strange. People always told me when they were little to enjoy that time because they grow up so fast. Totally didn't believe them. I do now. Parker goes to college in 3 years, then Kailen 3 years after that. After we take her to school we've decided we're going on a long vacation. It will be hard to come home to a home with no children....

And I get my braces off in 3-4 weeks! Yippeeee! Can't wait to eat popcorn, chew gum, and eat the chocolate covered macadamia nuts I brought from Hawaii back in April.

Last Day of Seminary.....tomorrow

So, our last day of seminary is tomorrow. The year has gone by soooo fast, although for a couple of weeks in February it felt like the year would never end. The hardest part about teaching seminary has been when the alarm goes off at 4:30 am and I think, "What was I thinking?" because I am NOT a morning person. But then I get showered and dressed and everything is okay. It's been an awesome year! I've loved - 99% of the time - preparing lessons and have learned so much. I've loved my class - they are amazing and we've had fun times and spiritual times. I'll miss seeing them every morning during the summer.

It feels soooo strange to not have a lesson to prepare. Some days I wasn't preparing for "tomorrow", but there was always a lesson in the near future. So this is weird. We received our Book of Mormon teacher manuals and student manuals this morning, which was exciting - I'm so excited to teach Book of Mormon next year! It's the only standard work I didn't get to teach as Gospel Doctrine Teacher, so I'm excited to be able to study and teach from this awesome book. To fill that "need to prepare a lesson" feeling today I've been organizing and filing and boxing up all my New Testament stuff, organizing stuff for next year, took my new manuals to OfficeMax to be spiral bound and am getting ready for our "feast" at seminary in the morning. The kids have been "feasting" spiritually in the scriptures the past 5 weeks so we could have a food-type "feast" on the last day of seminary. Some kids have been reading extra (they get to put a star on the chart for every 15 minutes of reading they do) so we can all enjoy our feast. I've even had some who weren't really regular readers reading! Peer pressure can be a wonderful thing. :o) There were 584 squares on our chart and I think they're all going to be filled tomorrow.

Kam's last day of high school EVER was today (they only have graduation practice in the morning). That is sooo weird. She's feeling similar feelings to mine today - she's so used to having homework and projects to work on that she's kind of wandering around a bit lost. She's also been working on re-organizing her room -- getting rid of high school stuff she doesn't want anymore, re-organizing her other stuff, etc. Maybe that need to "organize when feeling lost" thing is genetic? :o)

Mission Update x 3 and other stuff

So, I'm behind again in posting. It's been a crazy month! On April 6 John was awarded a new contract in......Hawaii......and had to make a trip there, so we left on April 20. We had an awesome time, although it was a bit stressful for John because he wasn't able to get his subcontractor nailed down until the day before we were leaving to come home. We ended up getting to spend an extra day on Maui because our plane's AC broke. It was rough. US Airways put us up at the Maui Hyatt Regency Resort on the beach. The kids did great at home and it was good to get away. And we love going to Hawaii!! :o)

Here's what Zach's sent the past few weeks since he's been transferred to Cyprus (which he calls the "Promised Land"):

April 20, 2009:

So, I love Cyprus...but of course the Chinese are trying to make me fat...and now my stomach hates me and I really just feel like crap...but I still love it here.

I actually got an earlier flight so I left Thursday evening. Because of the holidays Elder Amunson (Norway) couldn't leave until Friday so I was once again in a 3-man for a day. We went knocking Friday morning. We did one building and got let in 2 times! Cyprus is way different than Athens.
Elder Amundson got in Friday afternoon right before we had like 2 or 3 lessons. One was with a Chinese girl, Laura (they all use English names here) who we baptized yesterday. I don't remember the other lesson at all but I've had like 5 or 6 lessons in 3 days so it is hard to keep everything straight (I'm starting to understand how important all the paperwork is! Before it wasn't that hard to keep everything straight).

On Friday we had outreach, or the center for YSAs. A short lesson in the beginning and then games afterwards. The cool thing here is that most of our investigators are friends of other investigators. Everyone always brings friends! Its definitely the best way to do things. We set up in church, teach lessons and the investigators come to us! We also have English and Greek lessons to draw in new people. Saturday was good as well. We went to the Agio Fos again this year but this time with a bunch of the members...and the friends they brought. It was fun. I guess the Chinese girls are going to paste the pics on Facebook so you can probably see them there, I'll get those pics sometime this week.

Mmmm....so much has happened that it's weird. I feel like I served my mission backwards. I started in Kavala, one of the harder areas and then gradually worked my way up until I'm in the 'best' area in the mission. I feel like being in Kavala stole my 'greenness' away very quickly and gave me an outlook on the mission that might have been better. Now that I'm here I can see what "Preach My Gospel" meant when it talks about how a mission should be. I still have trouble loving the Greeks as a people but my love for the Chinese and Nepalese came almost instantly. I guess it's ALOT easier when they love you back. When I say Chinese I'm usually talking about the Chinese girls which make up a large portion of the branch. They are anywhere from 19-30 and most of them are here going to school. There are boys of course but not nearly as many. The branch is great. There is one embassy family (I think he is CIA or something) and the husband, Pres. Howe, is the District President. The Branch President is a Portuguese man that works for the UN and is here with his family. He is about as steadfast as they come, a real rock. There are a few other retired couples from England and such, some Phillipinoes, and another American from Snowflake here on work. I would think that he should be retired already but he's here alone doing some contracting work. Umm...I know there's a lot more but I can't remember.

The baptism was great - Me and Amundson had 2 baptisms this week, Laura (Chinese) and Godwin (Nigerian). I've never actually taught hm before but he brought a friend to his baptism and so we're teaching the friend, Moses, together with Godwin tonight. That is the first of the 3 lessons we have planned and then it's Family Home Evening. It seems like we have some activity planned for everyday, it is really unbelievable. But it works since all the young adults have ridiculous amounts of free time (school is not rigorous) and they always bring their friends, so it's actually more effective to find good new investigators from FHE than to knock doors. So wierd. Um...i think I'll take better notes this week so my email can be more structured but oh well.

We are on bikes here which is both nice and bad. We can go anywhere very quickly but I'm getting sore from the bike and its scary to ride on the roads here. But since we usually just go from home to church and back it's not that bad. I will seriously send pictures soon, I've got a ton...oh I need to tell you about the Turkish side. You know that Cyprus is divided between the 'greeks' and the 'turks'. Well, we can come and go between the two sides as we please. On the Turkish side you can find ridiculous deals on clothes, and I mean nice clothes, so nice you can't tell if they're fake or not. Elder Amundson brought a suitcase full of shirts to Athens to leave at the office. I'm looking forward to buying some nice stuff for home.

Well, I've got to go.
Love you,
Zach

April 27, 2009:

Sounds like Hawaii was good. My week was busy. We had 17 lessons, 9 investigators at church and 2 confirmations...good week. We have been teaching a few people that are just amazing. Godwin, from Nigeria was baptized last week and confirmed yesterday. He is so friendly to everyone and wants to learn everything he can. Yesterday we showed him a movie about temples and now he is counting down the days to when he can go back to Nigeria and do the work for his deceased father. Mahesh is a kid my age from Nigeria and he is great as well. We've had 2 lessons with him and will have one more tonight. He came to church yesterday and stayed all 3 hours because he didn't want to miss a class, he is starving to learn. It is amazing to teach someone with no background knowledge about God or prayer or anything. It makes it really easy to focus all teaching on Christ. We had a great lesson with Max from Cameroon, an African giant! He's huge! We also have Moses, a friend of Godwin's from Nigeria who is also progressing very well. There are others that we teach from China and Nepal and Africa but those are the stars for right now.

I'm getting used to the bike and I'm so glad we spend most of our time at church teaching because it is starting to get really HOT! And it will only get worse! I think it starts to cool down again in October...hmmm...but I won't be here for that.

The flight was only like 2 hours but the food was a joke. About 5 pieces of Macaroni and some cold veggy-patty thing. GROSS!!

Anyway, I'm loving it here and I think we'll go on a bike ride in a little bit to a national park or something...if we can fix my bike. Yesterday we were hurrying to church to set everything up and a few minutes into the ride I got a flat!. So I had to half-carry, half-roll my bike all the way to church and then back again. I changed out the tube and everything and it worked fine but then this morning I got on and it was flat again. Bikes are annoying.

So that was my week, I love you.

Zach

May 4, 2009:

(To me): Yes I got the package and thank you very much. The jelly beans are REALLY good and the pretzels were genious. The granola bars came in really handy since we had 12 elders staying in our apartment for 2 days and I can tell you that they ate EVERYTHING! The granola bars have kept me alive the last few days. The Nigerians are doing ok. Moses will be baptized on Saturday and our Nepolese star Mahesh will be baptized as well on Saturday. We may have 2 or 3 others as well. With the call I'm not sure yet when I'll call... It may be at like Monday 6am my time which is 8pm your time right? If that changes I'll text Dad to let him know (his is the only number I can remember)...yes, as Zone Leader in Cyprus I have a cool phone that can call anywhere.

Am I enjoying my area? Let's see...we had 6 investigators at church, 21 lessons and 4 new investigators...yes, I enjoy the area. Our investigators are all amazing and a few of them are as golden as they come. Mahesh wanted to pay tithing on his savings since he doesn't have a job and he was so excited to pay his fast offering yesterday. Moses says his life has changed and he has recognized how God brought him here to Cyprus in a horrible situation just so that he could meet us and the church.

The park was nice last week. We just went for a ride and then to IKEA...which turns out to be a Swedish store with really good, cheap food in their cafeteria...and since there are so many Scandanavians in the mission IKEA is one of the missionary hot spots...and the Swedish candy is really good too..

My apartment is the nicest one in the mssion. A family had lived there before and then they just left...leaving everything behind, so we have a very nicely furnished apartment, lots of room, huge kitchen, anything a missionary could want. Oh yeah, I have a king-sized bed to myself...not normal for missionaries.

Today we're going to the Turkish side and I'm going to buy some clothes...I might end up spending 100 dollars or more...The clothes are either really good fakes or genuine for really cheap. All these name brands I hear about and just really good quality for really cheap so I will be stocking up for school.

Ummm...yeah. So it was a good week. I'll tell you more about what is happening on Sunday ok?
Love you,
Zach

(To John): The only thing that is new in my world is the numbers for this week; 21 lessons, 5 at church, 4 new investigators and 2, maybe 4 baptisms scheduled for Saturday! I love it here. The foreign students are so willing to learn and be obedient. When the church opens in Nepal and China the work will explode faster than anyone can imagine.

Deals? Let me tell you about deals... On the Turkish side there are ridiculous deals...we're going today! Ok, so either the clothes are ridiculous good fakes or ridiculously cheap originals...either way no one can tell and the prices are amazing. I'm going to buy some nice polo, burrberry, la costle shirts and some nice jeans today. We will definitely be on the lookout for everything else as well. Billfolds are easy to come by anywhere because the Africans are selling them on every street corner, belts are the same. I'm excited...I'm also on the lookout for shoes and a suit. I'm not planning on taking any of my current clothes home...especially since they are all pretty trashed anyways.

We actually don't have time to do service here...we're too busy teaching!

Well, I'll call probably around 8pm your time on Sunday night...if something changes my phone can call anywhere so I'll send you a text to let you know...

Love you,
Zach

Doesn't he sound great? :o) It's sooo hard to believe he'll be home in about 5 1/2 months. His mission has literally flown by.

Kam graduates on the 19th - only two weeks away. She is very ready to graduate. She's babysitting for a couple in our ward who are in school Mondays-Wednesdays until she goes to school and I think she's going to be working for John doing office-type stuff on Thursdays and Fridays. She's excited about the whole working thing.

She was backed-into in the school parking lot yesterday. Minor damage. Thank heavens!

Parker pole vaults at the Regional Meet tomorrow.

Kailen is busy making a solar cooker. (Can I tell you how excited I am for school to be out and for there to be no more school projects for awhile?!)

Kailen and Parker have been swimming in the pool. Still way too cold for me!

Only 8 more days of seminary. Happy and sad about that one. Happy to be able to run with the ladies again and get some sleep, but sad because I'll miss seeing my seminary kids every morning.

Well, that's life for the past month in a nutshell......

Mission Update

Here's what we received from Zach this morning:

So, you know how when Dad was a Bishop and he would prepare his 5th Sunday lessons months ahead of time? And it would change a week out, a few days out, the night of and then that morning and he would end up with something totally different? Well...you can say the same thing about transfers. Remember when I told you President said I was staying in Athens? Well he told me again Thursday...But when Friday night calls came all the transfers had been changed and...I'm going to be a Zone Leader in Cyprus! Let's say a death sentence to the promised land! (Death sentence because most Cyprus zone leaders stay for 6 months so I will finish or "die" there and promised land because it is an entirely different mission. Let's just say that in the district I'm going to they had 10 baptisms in one transfer from 3 companionships). SO, I am a little bit excited. I don't leave until Saturday because of Paska (Easter is celebrated this week in Greece) and I have zone council as well. I'll be with Elder Amundson (he was with Elder Petion in Kavala when I was with Elder Ruckauer) and I am way excited to be with him and to finally feel some love from "elect" chinese people (there are a lot of Chinese immigrants on Cyprus)! Elder Anderson is staying in Sepolia (Central Athens) and Elder Theodosis is going to Agia Paraskevy (my old area).

I might get your package before I leave but if not Zone Conference is coming up pretty quick so I'll get it with the mail run.

Easter for us is this week and Elder Astle will most likely not be coming back to Greece since we just found out he has a serious case of Crones Disease....in other words not very much fun. It will be rough for him.

Yes, Sister Monsen had her Mars Hill yesterday and she is probably already on her plane home...weird (Sister Monson was in Zach's district at the MTC and went to Greece the same day he did). The next time I'm on Mars Hill will probably my own (since I'll be in Cyprus).

Umm, Central Athens was nice but I'm glad I won't be spending too much more time here. The Branch is not like in the North and I'm just glad to be on my way to Cyprus.

Yeah, so that is this week. I will let you know how Cyprus is next week! I guess we might have 3 baptisms this week?!

Love you,
Zach

--Note: Zach hits the 18 month mark on Friday. It's sooo hard to believe he's been gone so long and will be home in 6 months. Time has sure flown! :o)

Mission Update

So, Zach had quite the week last week. Here's what he sent this week, with some questions for his dad at the end:

So...this week was interesting...I need to start from the beginning...

When Elder Astle was first here in Greece almost a year ago he had to go into an emergency surgery to remove a cyst from his...behind part...and the Greek Doctors didn't do a very good job and cut some things that they shouldn't have cut. So, it has been a very slow and uncomfortable recovery for Elder Astle especially since he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do to help it out. So he had been in contact with the regional mission doctor in Frankfurt but nothing was really happening. Everyone assumed that he would just get better, and he was, only very slowly. So, Wednesday night we got a call from the new doctor in Frankfurt and he asked a lot of questions about other things that Elder Astle may have experienced and it turns out that this cyst may be a result of some other problem. So, this doctor said that there might be a chance that he may go home since no missionary should have to put up with what he's been through for that long. So, we had an appointment to go see another doctor on Friday. Well, Thursday morning this doctor calls again and this time there is more likelihood of him going home. We went to the Mission Office to get money for the doctor and to talk to President but as far as we knew if he was going home it wasn't going to be an immediate thing. Thursday afternoon, another call from the doctor, Elder Astle will be going home to see American Doctors. We get a call from President and we go back to the office where Elder Astle talks with his parents and stake president on the phone with President. The Assistants took us home and we both packed, with the help of most of the missionaries in our zone who came over to say goodbye to Elder Astle. Friday morning at 10:05 Elder Astle got on a plane and was gone. 24 hours and he was gone! It changed so fast! It wasn't like he was in any more pain or anything it was just this new doctor came in and it was over. BIG SURPRISE!!!! Now, I mentioned that I packed as well, I am now in Sepolia, in the center of Athens in a 3-man with Elders Anderson (8 months out from Ogden) and Theodosis (6months out from Texas). Big change, new branch, new investigators, new apartment new everything, and only for 3 weeks! (transfers are in 3 weeks). Sepolia is in what most people call the ghetto...which is true. But I like it a lot. We get to do more street contacting here and I'm enjoying my new companions and I kind of consider it a vacation in a sense; I'm not district leader anymore, I'm not even senior, or even junior companion, and it's only 3 weeks until transfers...I can just enjoy the work with no stress at all! Of course I still work hard but I don't have the leadership responsibility, and I get to serve in the center like I have always wanted to try! But I still wish Elder Astle was here and hadn't left but, it was time for him to get his problem looked at by someone who actually knows and cares. We aren't even sure yet what he has. So, that was the news for the week.

Whew, I'm dead tired. I've been fighting off something for weeks now and since I haven't been getting my normal sleeping time and because of all the changes it finally caught up with me. I woke up yesterday with a cold, not too bad but definitely annoying. And to top it all off we got up early today after a rough night's sleep and we went to Delphi! It was pretty cool. I don't know the historical significance but it was your usual ancient Greek ruins. On the way back we stopped by a small monastery and checked that out, very interesting. It had a little bit of a crypt and a few (not-as-friendly as you would think monks) and yeah. I have a ton of pics so I'll probably burn a cd soon.

That is the news for this week.

How's this economic crisis going right now? It is hitting Greece REALLY hard. Most people think that something drastic will happen soon if the government can't take control and do something.
It's starting to hit me that my time here is coming to a close. Sister Monsen goes home in 3 weeks (Sister Monsen was in Zach's MTC group) and then I only have 6 months left! Ahh! Dad, how was it like for you getting close to the end?

Well, I'm in a pretty thick fog right now so I Love you and will talk to you next week.

Zach

Mission Update x 2. Again.

Okay. I know I haven't posted Zach's emails in a few weeks. We were in Kentucky for 6 days (later post) and then Kam and I went to BYU-Idaho the day after we got back from Kentucky to find her housing for next year (another post to come.....I bet you can't wait!). And we got home Sunday night and then "real life" started again the minute we got home. This past week was spent trying to get caught up after being gone for 11 days.....I think we should always have a vacation to get over our vacation. :o)

Here's what Zach wrote March 9:

Sounds like you're having a fun trip...wish I could be there. If you want, you could send me a UK tshirt, medium, and nothing flashy...white maybe? I don't need anything from BYUI except for maybe letters! But you probably can't do anything about that. I got Grandma and Grandpa's package! So much candy! I'm trying to make it stretch as much as possible and I'm also going to send them a large envelope with a few trinkets inside and yes, I am still working on the package I will send home! I need to do it pretty quick since there is a chance that I'll be in Cyprus in April so we'll see (I don't want to end my mission in Cyprus!).

Oh, Elder Astle and I had an epiphany (greek word), we saw that jump drives are ridiculously cheap so...I bought one. Now I'm putting music and pics and all sorts of stuff on it! So easy! I got a 4gb for 9 euro! But I will still send picture cds home...probably one more in the next few weeks.

This week was better, not sure why but it was. Elder Astle is great and we're working hard. We have zone conference tommorrow and I'm really excited to see what president has to say. And we also have 2 dinner appointments withe American families and one other with another member! We will eat well this week and will probably find a way to get by without cooking again! Although, I bought this pesto sauce and made an ok pasta salad last night. Oh, there's something interesting. Do you know where "o.k." comes from? So the Greeks tell me that in the US when there were many Greek immigrants, many worked in shipping, and many still do today. So, when the greeks would do their reports and all that they would write o.k. on the sheet if everything was good. Well, if you want to say all is well in Greek you say üëá êáëÜ ...so...an abbreviation would naturally be o.k.! Wierd huh?

The weather is warming up (I'm kind of sad about for 3 reasons: one, it is so much easier to put a jacket on, two, it is easy to warm up in the winter but hard to cool off in the summer (especially with no ac), and 3, when it gets hot Greek girls stop wearing clothes.

In case you didn't notice I'm in a better mood this week and I hope it continues.

So...I still have not met 3 of my uncles...how are they? I've also been wondering about Samuel, what is he up to?

Umm...I don't remember what else I wanted to tell you...umm...Church was good. One Greek less-active member that we have been working with, Mike, came to church for the 5th time since I've been here. That is really something considering that before I came he hadn't been for months. (not that it's any of my doing, it being Christmas time helped to get him out the first time).

Well, If I think of anything else I'll just send another email.

Love, Zach

And here's what he sent us Monday, March 16:

I had a good week. The top floor of Kam's building was actually in my ward at school (we found Kam's housing on our trip)...

We went to Chalkida this morning with our investigator who is the baker. It's a nice little village and the weird thing is that it's actually an island with bridges to the mainland. The tide there goes one direction for 6 hours and then switches for another six hours and no one knows why. It was nice to go on a little bit of a drive through the countryside.

The rest of the week was nice. At zone conference they set a new standard for the mission, 6 new GOOD investigators every week = 1 baptism every 7-8 weeks....This is HUGE! At first it seemed impossible. We havn't had a new investigator this entire transfer, much less 6 every week! But it makes sense and the first part of zone conference was about not fearing or doubting...so we are trying not to. We have made some big changes in how we do the work and we worked hard this week and...let's just say we're still in the trial of our faith...I'm really interested to see when it ends and when we will start seeing those new investigators...

Umm...we had 2 dinner appointments with American Families this week and that was kind of nice.

I'm really tired right now and I can't think of anything else to tell you...so...I love you

Zach

Happy Birthday to Parker!

Parker turned 15 today. It's hard to believe our boy is that old! In seven short months he can get his driver's permit (yikes!!!). He chose the cheesecake sampler from Sams Club for his cake. Tasty and no work for me! :o) He's getting soooo tall - he's 5'10". His newest endeavour is the pole vault on the track team. Not sure how I feel about my boy flying through the air and hopefully landing on a big pillow..... :o) But I'm sure he'll do great, and it will be fun to watch him fly through the air!

Cash is always a fabulous gift for a 15 year-old!

Parker's birthday celebration actually started on the 14th when he and John went to the NBA Jam Session that was held here with the NBA All-Star Game. Parker wore his new Steve Nash/Phoenix Suns jersey (also an early birthday present) and they had a great time!

The picture below is of Tim Duncan. They saw other NBA players but couldn't get close enough to get a picture. They also saw some "old timer" NBA players and got their autographs. They had an awesome time!

Mission Update

I know I haven't done a mission update in a couple of weeks, but Zach also hasn't had much to say. But today we received a long email! Very exciting:

We made a lucky find at a street market on friday. We found a guy selling very nice ties (probably around 20-30 euro before?) for 5 euro a piece...I got 2 and will probably get more if we see him again. Very nice ties.

This week flew by but I'm not sure why. We weren't busy with lessons or anything like that but it still flew. We did a lot more knocking than usual which is good and bad. Bad because I'd rather be teaching, good because we don't have many people to teach so we need to find more! Our entire zone is suffering right now. Elder Astle and I could have a lot more lessons during the week if we wanted to but the people aren't progressing so it is kind of a waste of time. So this week and next week we're searching.

I'm not nearly as tired as I was. For some reason I'm sleeping a lot better. I'm still hitting the wall of exhaustion at around 4:00 in the afternoon but I can usually put my head on my desk and pass out for 10 minutes which makes it possible to walk out the door again that afternoon. I feel generally better than I did before but I'm still wishing the work was going better.

In my next package? Well, some jerky would be nice or maybe some jelly beans. I still want that cd I told you about in my last email but besides all that I don't need anything else.

We have an interesting situation here in Greece right now...we have almost enough spanish speakers to create a spanish speaking branch! And it would be bigger than the branch I was in in Faliro! I'm toying with the idea of picking up a little spanish since some of members don't have good greek or english and hey, Spanish is easy! I should be fluent in a month or so! :) ( we give spanish speaking elders a hard time here). Seriously though, I figure that if I can at least learn a little spanish through the Greek it should help my Greek out a lot.

Have I told you about Basileios? Let me tell you about Basileios...He is a member of 2 years, 80 years old and still works as a Physical Therapist (I would have guessed he was 6o or 65 when I first met him). He is VERY well educated and VERY Greek. He has been known to regularly shout out comments in sacrament meetings (not jeering or anything, just commenting on what the speaker says and adding a little of his own). Every week before district meeting we meet him at church and we have a "Greek" lesson with him. Or in other words we read from a grade-school reader with him and he corrects us and generally just talks a lot. We endure and I've actually learned to enjoy it (it used to annoy me). We continue to do these lessons because when we have them he is one of the most active members. When the missionaries stopped the lessons for a time he rarely came to church...Thus we see how a friend and a responsibility really can help someone stay in church. And we as missionaries are happy to fill both of those roles and he thrives off of it. I'll get a picture with him so that you can see him.

That's all that happened this week, tonight we have 2 options for possible lessons and if those fall through it's off to door knocking. Love you,

Zach

Our Newest NJHS Member

Kailen was selected to join the National Junior Honor Society at her school. She was very excited! Her induction ceremony included a dinner at Kam and Parker's high school which was prepared and served by the Culinary Arts Club at the school. John and Parker really hit the jackpot when the shrimp appetizers were served because they're the only ones in our family who like shrimp. As they finished a plate we'd pass them another one and take the empty one -- we didn't want it to look like they were actually eating all the shrimp! :o)

Here's Kailen taking her NJHS pledge. She looks sooooo grown up. (Notice the straightened hair. It takes almost forever to straighten her hair, but she sure does like it!)

Kailen with her official NJHS membership card. We're very proud of her and her accomplishments!

Mission Update X 2

So, I'm a bit behind in posting Zach's emails. First, here's what he sent last week:

So my week was good. Ify is the lady that lives downstairs and has the daughter Tina...I can't spell her full name in English easily. Transfers are the week after next week. I really hope I stay here and it would be great to still be with Elder Astle. He's been one of the easiest companions I've ever had. SO why do I want to stay? Just as I have always said, all the big stuff happens in the last 3 weeks of the transfer and wouldn't you know that this week was the start of that specific period of time?! So, we got let in twice (not common) and had 2 really good first lessons. The first was on Thursday morning (which we were not in one of the best of moods, it's funny how Heavenly Father reminds us to wake up sometimes), with a lady named Poppy. She was really good but with her situation we probably won't be able to teach her again. The second was on Saturday morning with Dionisios, 46, nice guy, likes Americans, and a NORMAL GUY!!! Oh yeah, and he had real interest! He said so! We're really excited to see how it goes with him. Now Ify, she is the one that had the Alma the younger-like experience. Well, she came to church for the second time in a row and she really enjoyed it. We went to their house (conveniently located downstairs) and made them tacos. Afterwards we were talking about what has been happening at church and how a Hispanic lady is getting baptized on Saturday. She asked why the lady was getting baptized now since the rest of her family was baptized a while ago. We answered that sometimes people need a little bit more preparation than others and she agreed that the preparation is difficult...I then took my cue and asked "How are your preparations going?" She looked at me and smiled...She wants to get baptized! The only thing we need to do is cut a very bad smoking habit and the coffee and get her to the point where she feels worthy to be baptized...3 very large tasks. Those were the highlights of my week. Something that you all will find funny happened yesterday at church...there is a man named Basililios, baptized 2 years ago, and he's 80! But looks and moves like he's 65. So, he adds a little...personality...to church. He will often shout out comments at the end of talks and prayers (not to be funny or anything like that but actual commentary) and this time after the sacrament he got up (with President's permission!?!) and spoke for like 5 minutes on books and Guttenburg and all that and presented a really big book to President Galanos! So awkward! I can imagine a full greek ward looking something like this. It will be interesting to see a Greek church in 10 years or so. That was my week, and I'm looking forward to this one. We are so busy and I love it. We hardly have time to doorknock anymore! Sometimes only a half-hour a day! Well, I think that's it...Love you!

Zach

Here's what we received today:

I'm doing fine, this week was very uneventful. We were robbed of like 5 or 6 lessons so that was a little frustrating but the work goes on. Yesterday we had a baptism in the Branch, the wife of one of the new members was baptized and she is fresh from Venezuela and the entire thing was in Spanish! Most of the embassy families speak spanish so they translated everything into English..but sometimes I had to translate from the English translation to Greek! Not fun or easy! The interesting thing is that this family lives in our area, but unfortunantly we were not involved in the teaching or the baptism...some Elders do not understand that you teach those who are in your own area and that when you leave an area you do not take people with you...I'm a little bitter about this since this isn't the only time it has happened and it is rather ridiculous since some missionaries spend more time outside of their area teaching than they do working in their own areas...

But besides that nothing happened this week. We get transfer calls on Friday so we'll see what happens. Elder Ruckauer (our remaining AP, the other is going home this transfer) hinted to me that I won't be going to Cyprus but that I will be happy with my transfer...whatever that means. I actually have no idea what will happen but I would guess that I'm staying put.

Sorry this is a pretty weak email...nothing happened this week...

But I love you,
Zach

Mission Update. And other stuff....

I know. I didn't update last week. And I'm not being really speedy with this week's "Mission Update". In my defense, I have been trying to save our world (subdivision) from ANOTHER school boundary change for next year. In living here 6 years, 2 months and 23 days (but who's counting?) our kids have gone to 4 different elementary schools (the current one two different times) and 3 high schools. With the new boundaries that were passed last Wednesday - make that 4 high schools. I decided before Christmas that I was really fed up with all these changes and decided to try to make a difference for the kids in our subdivision. I'm not against change, but our current high school is a TWO minute drive from our driveway. The new high school we're being sent to is an 8.2 mile drive, down one of the most dangerous highways in Arizona (I know that's true because I got the crash/death/injury reports from the Arizona Department of Transportation!). I spent several nights walking around our neighborhood getting neighbors to sign a petition. I spoke at a school district meeting (one of the scariest things I've ever done!). Other people spoke who had similar concerns to mine. Sat through a FIVE hour school board meeting last Wednesday. All to no avail. Very frustrated with our school district administration and the members of our school board who weren't willing to even address other options, when there were very obviously other options.

Okay. Enough of that. I seriously could go on for hours.......

Back to the mission update. Here's what Zach wrote this week:

"You all are going to Kentucky! No Fair! (John's littlest sister moved up her wedding date last Tuesday from May 29th to March 6th, and we found some awesome - I mean REALLY awesome - flight deals, so we're spending most of Spring Break in Kentucky! I hope all the spring flowers will be blooming.....)

Ok, the dog thing is like a little key chain that is electronic and it emits a very high pitch sound that keeps angry dogs away. I saw one at the MTC and have regretted not buying it ever since. (He asked for one of these in his next package. Has anyone seen one? Where can I find one?)

This was a good week. Nothing earth shattering happened. Our numbers were pretty good but no where close to our goals.

Ify came to church and it was really nice to be with all the members. When I first came up North I didn't like it that much but now I love it...but I still don't want to stay here for 6 more months...Oh, in missionary lingo, I'm pregnant now...meaning I have 9 months left! Weird!

So...did Parker's team do a lot better than normal, or was the other team really bad? (Parker's team won a game last week by 20 points - it's their second win of the season. They're still trying to get used to playing together.)

Sorry I'm not writing much but I'm exhausted. We just got back from the zoo and we still have to go shopping. The zoo was really nice, not too big but it had a good variety of animals and the weather was very nice.

Let's see...catching the missionary spirit? (I'm teaching our Young Women next Wednesday on this topic and asked for some helpful hints from a full-time missionary).I've heard a few things...some say that if you read either Enos, Jacob 9 or 2 Nephi 2 every day for a month you can catch it very strongly (BYU teachers have done that with students), or I don't know. The new Joseph Smith movie helps me...but I guess the best way is to experience it yourself...

Well, I've got to say hi to everyone else,
Love you,
Zach

Mission Update

Here's what Zach sent us this week:

I had a really good week this week. Once again NOTHING went as planned but it was still ok. I'm going to have to do the week backwards:

Yesterday I and Elder Hanke (Swedish) were on exchange and we went knocking...we only did one buzzer...and he let us in! Weird! That almost always means a Jehovah's Witness or someone who wants the opprotunity to yell at you to your face...not this time! Long robed and bearded was waiting for us on the top floor...or in other words, a Greek Papas! And not just any one, a bishop from the central Church in Athens...high in the food chain! He was very nice and his apartment was very nice and simple, not extravagant at all. It was nice to talk to a Papas who actually seemed to be in it for the right reasons. (Many people don't respect the clergy here because they're usually pretty rich and live very extravagantly). So we were able to get in a good explanation of the restoration and a good explanation of our beliefs. He thinks we're good kids and that we really believe what we believe but we're making a mistake...It was an interesting experience...He was actually kind of paranoid. He wouldn't tell us where he was a bishop and he asked us if we had a microphone hidden...he told us his name and we found out who he really was from our investigators who live below us. So that was last night...church was really good because there were a lot of members and some inactives. On Wednesday (New Year's Eve)we went over to the Hoovenere's house (embassy family) and ate some American burgers and hotdogs with root beer (the embassy has a commissary!) Then we played apples to apples and went home...all 8 of us, to our apartment...a scary idea. It was a ton of fun and we were so tired the next day... As far as I can remeber that was it for this week.

I remember something I want for my package! Otter Pops if you can fit them and A&D ointment...and yeah that's it. I'm not in too big of a hurry.

(I asked John and the kids to each sum up 2008 for our very late Christmas newsletter, this is what Zach sent): My year? Well, I've been here in Greece for all of 2008, that's weird to say. I've seen, heard and experienced a few things that couldn't have happened anywhere else. How do you put a year in a few lines? I've experienced the tender mercies of the Lord and I've seen the atonement at work. What more needs to be said? Oh, I also had a lot of fun..."

Sorry, that's all I can do. Talk to you next week!

A phone call from Zach!

Kam took excellent notes during our call from Zach. We always put him on the speaker phone so everyone can participate in the call. Here's what he told us:

How's the new area?: I haven't seen a lot of it yet.

Were the riots near you?: The riots never affected me, but some missionaries in the center of town got tear gas in their apartments even though their apartments were on the 4th and 6th floors. (He's sending us pictures of the damage)

What did you do for Christmas?: We planned for our week, went carolling to members in Greek, had dinner with an embassy family that's in our branch. We ate ham, salad with ranch dressing (he was really excited about the ranch dressing since they don't usually have that in Greece), funeral potatoes, and a Greek version of cheesecake. (He said that Greek people do have Christmas trees with light like we do.)

What's it like being in one of the main church branches in Greece?: There are too many missionaries which means that I don't have any responsibilities on Sunday like I used to, which I miss. But I do like being in an area with more members. I'm still a District Leader and I'm over 2 senior couples, 1 set of elders and 1 set of sisters. President and Sister Galanos are also in my branch.

We asked about the clothing in Greece: It's really expensive and everything is name-brand.

Do you still cook a lot?: I don't cook a lot anymore. We do service for an investigator at his bakery so we eat a lot of brakery bread.

When I asked him if his suits still fit: "Yes, I'm not fat!" :o)

When we asked him what he'd like in his next package: A high pitched noise thing that will drive away dogs. When we door knock the dogs hear us and alert everyone that we're coming.

We asked him how he does his laundry: We have a washing machine but no dryer. The senior couples have dryers, but when the Greek people hear about a dryer they don't know what it is (interesting!).

We asked him about the housing in Athens - houses or apartments?: Athens is mostly apartment buildings except in the more wealthy areas. We don't door knock much in the wealthy areas because only maids answer the doors and even though we can teach them, we're asked to try and teach mostly Greek people. Most of the maids are from Africa and the Philipines.

We asked him how his Greek is coming along (President Galanos said he's doing really well!): It's coming along okay except when I have to translate in church. It's really hard to translate because they talk really fast. The lady who was supposed to translate for the Christmas program didn't come so I had to translate and they talked too fast. I did okay but eventually the members took out their earpieces and just listened to the music. An old guy didn't like my translation so he took out his earpiece until the lady who was supposed to be translating showed up....

We asked him about the service he does at the bakery: We make pasteries, spinach and meat pizzas, and help make things for other shops. Sometimes we get to take food home.

We asked him about the baptisms in the mission: They're mostly Chinese and other foreigners, not Greek people.

Well, that's pretty much the phone conversation. It was sooo fun to talk to him! He sounds really good and is enjoying his mission. He's really tired but is working hard and has had great companions his entire mission.

A fun week!

My parents arrived late on Saturday, December 20, and left very early this morning. We had such a fun week with them! Unfortunately, I had a brain lapse and didn't take any pictures.

On Monday (12/22) we went to see the Mesa Temple Christmas lights. We went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican Restaurant before going to see the lights. It was yummy - although I can't remember the name of it at the moment. We go to see the Temple lights nearly every year and although there aren't many changes from year to year, I still love going and seeing the beautiful lights. It was raining this year, but that was okay because it wasn't very crowded!

Tuesday and Wednesday we did last minute Christmas stuff and just spent time visiting. And even though my parents are from Idaho, they did think it was cold here! :o)

Thursday was a nice, relaxing Christmas Day. We made Christmas dinner with all our usual traditional foods and played games and took a nap and had a really nice day. I must say, though, that I do miss the Christmases of times past when the kids would wake us up at 4 am to see what Santa had brought them....Zach surprised us and called Thursday afternoon. He was originally supposed to call Friday morning, so when John answered the phone and someone was talking in Greek he almost hung up until he heard, "Dad, it's Zach". It was sooooo good to talk to him - we talked for a little over an hour. I'll follow up on the conversation in another post.

Friday we went to the "big" (Super) Walmart twice - once so Kam and Parker could buy their new MP3 players with some of their Christmas money, and twice so Kailen could buy the same MP3 player as Kam and Parker after she decided it would cost 1/2 as much as the one she originally wanted and was just as nice. Smart economics! I also got one since I use my old one at seminary every morning. We spent Friday night and part of Saturday ripping and syncing music. It was really fun!

Saturday was an easy day at home. Very nice change from the usual. Sunday was church as usual. Kam and I had a break from Ward choir practice due to the holidays, which was nice. We played games Sunday night which was fun! It's nice to have all the kids be old enough to play all our favorite games.

Kailen's First Trip to the Temple

Since Kailen's now 12 years old, she can go to the Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. Today was her very first time doing this. John and I went to help and to be there with her in the Temple for her first time. It was a neat experience to be in the Temple with John, Kailen, Kam, and Parker -- one of those days that Moms wish and dream for.....

Mission Update

I bet some of you were wondering all week, as we were, what was going on with Zach and all the riots in Greece. Well, here's the answer:

"So, the riots are still going on. It pretty much consists of students running around at night throwing molotovs, rocks, and fireworks at the police and the police throwing them back. It was very bad in the beginning of the week but now it's kind of dying down. I don't know what CNN says but this isn't about the kid that got shot. He was only the spark, this is just a manifestation of extreme discontent with the Government and the economic situation. And the government isn't doing to much to stop it all. Every night the rioters go out and break windows to stores and banks and usually set them on fire. Some of the missionaries that live downtown in a few of the cities even got tear gas in their apartments (even though they are 4+ floors up!) But since Thursday we've been going out like normal. Things are really quiet in my area. Now on to the other questions....

We were in the apartment from Monday night to Wednesday night (we were able to go shopping and stuff in the mornings but not in proselyting clothes). I probably could have done more with all that time I had but after a while you can't study anymore and you just want to go out...but then when it was time to go out again it felt weird. I never want to stay in for a full day ever again. Elder Astle is a funny kid and we get along really well, no problems so far. My new apartment is really big and a has a fireplace (the fires kept us warm and entertained during that time inside). It is really close to a metro stop which is really convenient. My new area is really big and seems to have a little of everything. One of our eternal investigators is Éùáííçò and he owns a big bakery. We go over fairly often and we help him out baking things for service sometimes! The branch is fairly large, about 20 members every week (including embassy families, other random Americans, and Greek and resident members). It was weird to be there and not have to do anything at all. I'm not sure if I want to stay here for very long. So, when I was coming here I heard about all the people we were teaching in this area...but the Elder that was here went Zone Leader in the next area over and happened to take most of them (the best) with him. So I am pretty much right were I was back when I first went to Öáëçñï. Elder Rice stayed where he was and they actually had a little tear gas get into the apartment...from 6 stories up! Elder Hall is doing fine in Kavala and I guess they had some foolishness going on there as well. I don't know when I will call on Christmas but I will let you know next Monday. Other than that nothing is really happening here."

Love You,
Zach

Did she get in?

I was checking my email one last time tonight and there was an email that BYU-Idaho had decided on Kam's application. I called her into my room and we both sat in my office chair and were soooo nervous we thought we were going to toss cookies. Seriously. She wanted me to do the logging in and my hands were shaking as I did so. When the page came up, this is what we saw:

Woot! Woot! We then proceeded to dance around my room. Parker just rolled his eyes.....

Yes, I'm behind again.....

Last week was quite a busy week. As a result I'm behind on posting. I've realized that there are only soooo many things I can do. :o) So, enjoy!

Mission Update

Here's what we received from Zach this morning:

"Ok, I don't know if you heard but there were some serious riots here in Greece. Here's what President sent us:

Dear Missionaries,
You should all by now have been contacted about the riots in Athens, Thessaloniki, Kavala, Patra, and Crete. Here is what happened (part of a report to church security):
"It appears last night an incident occurred in downtown Athens that has quickly and violently spread throughout the country. A police car with two police officers arrived on the scene of a disturbance and tried to arrest some of the demonstrators. It is reported that the demonstrators then attacked the police who retaliated first with a stun grenade and then one officer drew his firearm and fired two shots in the air and one on the ground. It appears one of the shots struck a 16-year old youth on the chest and he was DOA at the hospital.
From there the word spread like wildfire involving what is believed to be an anarchistic group and university students in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, Kavala, and Crete (all towns or cities with university students). The rampaging mob burnt down a substantial downtown Athens street area not too far from our Acropolis meetinghouse. Many cars, buildings, and public facilities were burnt or destroyed.

Additional information was gleaned from a US embassy official who is a member in Athens and we were able to quickly communicate with all missionaries in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, and Kavala. All missionaries located anywhere near the affected areas were confined to their apartments and told not to emerge until contacted by the mission office. We have no reports of any events affecting any missionaries directly.

A new demonstration started in all the cities at 13:00 Athens time, Sunday, where several thousand demonstrators were expected in Athens. We are monitoring events through TV and radio plus eye witness missionaries and members.

We hope the authorities will be able to bring matters to a safe close. The only complication for us is that it's transfer weekend and we have missionaries moving all over the country and Cyprus - by air and by train. But things are under control.

These demonstrations appear to be general "anti-establishment" by an anarchistic element which seems to be whipping up student involvement. There is no "anti-Mormon" sentiment evident at all."

But life goes on. As soon as we get 9 baptisms last month, the adversary had to come back to us somehow. But we'll come out on top!

Regret no Mars hill for the departing missionaries, but it's better to be safe. Please keep your heads down out of sight till we notify you the all clear.

Cheers,
John Galanos, PresidentGreece Athens Mission

Don't worry, I was nowhere near any of it but many of the missionaries' apartments were in the war zone. Almost all missionaries were confined to their apartments yesterday (except us). We went and saw some of the damage today and it was intense. Now all the kids are out "demonstrating" which pretty much means they're just doing it to miss school.

SO transfers, ELder Hall is going senior in Kavala with another Elder from his group! Intense! I am now in North Athens in Agia Paraskevy. I'm in the 'main' branch of the mission and my area has a lot going on in it right now.

Other than that we taught Kostas again, and our other investigator, Panagiota, read the 3 and 8 witnesses, the prologue, the Joseph Smith history and quite a bit of first Nephi all on her own! It was amazing! And she believes its true! We passed her on to the sisters.

I'm really sad to leave Faliro but I'm kind of glad it happened. I probably would have missed something very important. At the begining of the transfer we had this thing to leave your area better than when you found it...And after a while I was really worried about this because nothing was happening. But this week as I looked back I realized how much success we had seen the last 3 weeks...We really did work our butts off and the success did come. Another witness after the trial of your faith.

I love you,
Zach"

So, it's been an interesting day. This afternoon we received an email from President Galanos updating us on what's going on. All the missionaries in Greece will stay in their apartments tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday. The mission office is in hourly contact with the church security office and local resources. The devastation has been pretty widespread -- so far 6 banks, some businesses and apartment buildings have been burned. I guess this should be a bit scary, but I've felt a great sense of comfort and peace. Zach is in the Lord's hands and the Lord takes care of His missionaries. I am very thankful for that. We know Zach's where he's supposed to be and all will be well.

Yearbook award!

Kam's been on the yearbook staff the past 3 years and the yearbook from last year - which was only the second edition ever since our school is only 3 years old - won a national award in a competition with 2000 other schools! Kam was totally excited! Here's the media report:

Valley Vista High School yearbook wins ASPA award

The Valley Vista High School Yearbook Staff, under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Natasha Gagarin and Adviser Robert Waller, were recently awarded First Place in the American Scholastic Press Association’s (ASPA) Annual Review and Contest for scholastic yearbooks, magazines, and other publications. In their review, The American Scholastic Press Association said the 2007-2008 Valley Vista High School yearbook, “Shows excellence in the fields of writing, photography, and page design. Congratulations to the editors, writers, photographers, layout designers, staff, and adviser who have made this publication possible.” The American Scholastic Press Association, located in College Point, New York, serves over 2,000 public and private schools annually. Robert Waller, Valley Vista teacher and yearbook adviser, said that he was proud of the students’ efforts and work throughout the yearbook process. According to Waller, “These students are the historians for our school. In 20 to 30 years, people will look at the work of the yearbook staff to recall the high school experiences of today.”

Congratulations, Kam! :o)

Young Women in Excellence

Last Wednesday was our ward's "Young Women in Excellence" program. This is a program that's held every year to celebrate all the goals the girls have completed during the year. The theme was an award ceremony-type theme and the girls had fun dresssing up in formals. A huge thank you to our friend, Britney Hilton, for letting Kam and Kailen borrow her formals! I can't believe how grown-up my girls look!

Kam and Kailen with their awards

First High School Basketball Game

Last Tuesday was Parker's first ever high school basketball game. They lost.....but they played really well for their first outing as a team. It was really fun to watch, and I took lots of pictures, but Parker was moving faster than my continuous shot could keep up with. I might need to adjust my settings somehow.....or maybe I could get him to run in slow-motion once in awhile?

Mission Update

Okay. This is definitely the longest letter Zach's written since he left on his mission. And very possibly since he learned to write. We were very excited to receive it this morning! So, grab a snack and settle in - here it is:

So, this week was intense. I'll go through it day by day.

Monday: we did our normal preparation day routine and went out and found 2 new names, decent night. We have an appointment with one of them tonight.

Tuesday: We got let in by a lady who knew the missionaries a few years ago and who has read the Book of Mormon in more than one language. Her name is Vesna and she is from Mantenegro. That was the first major thing to happen.

Wednesday: We planned for the next week and then went out for the night. We had a lesson with Kostas planned at 7 pm so we had a little time before to knock. We ended up only doing 1 or 2 really big buildings and as we were leaving the last building there were a few doors separated from the main buzzer board. Usually nobody lives in these but as we passed the last one and walked out the gate I had the feeling to knock the last one, so I did…and we got let in! Panayiota is her name and we taught her a very quick lesson on the Restoration since we had an appointment with Kostas in a half hour. We got a return appointment for the next day and left her with a Book of Mormon. We then went to our appointment with Kostas and Demetrius, our star member, came and taught with us. It was awesome! We didn't follow the plan we had at all but it turned out to be what I believe is exactly what he needed. We talked a lot about the spirit and he shared with us an experience he had and we were able to really teach and testify about the spirit and why we need it, what it can do, and how we can get it. So that was that awesome day.

Thursday: Thanksgiving! I have a few pics and videos I took but I will wait until after Sunday to put them all on a cd because of Mars Hill and all that. We went to the Correy's house (a senior missionary couple). My apartment elders were there, the sisters, the Zone leaders, and this random family that the Correy's know from home, …it was interesting. But we had a ton of fun. After we stuffed ourselves we went to Panayiota and were able to teach her an almost complete 1st lesson…we will be going back to her today. It was a good lesson and she believed everything. She hadn't read what we asked her to read but she had read a few other things and had taken notes! It is hard to understand her because she is always wheezing (I think she is a big smoker and has a hole in her throat. That was our intense Thursday.

Friday: We knocked almost all day and I bought pizza for our district meeting. Nothing really special happened.

Saturday: Good Day! In the morning we were able to get a surprise appointment with a contact we found a few weeks ago. Her name is Angela (in English) and she is 20 and works as a secretary. We couldn't find a member to be with us and we couldn't be with her at the church so we ended up teaching her at Starbucks. Not the best atmosphere but it went ok. It turns out that she hadn't been able to meet with us until then because her Dad died 2 weeks ago from cancer. She came with some serious questions. I can't wait to teach her again with Demetrius this week. That was our morning and our night was just as great. I don't know if I told you about the random guy that walked into church after talking to the sisters last transfer but this is about him. His name is Fahhad, he is Persian(?) and about 24. He is amazing…the Zone leaders have been teaching him and he turned from an atheist with a ridiculously horrible life to one of the most prepared and faithful people I have ever seen. And since I am the Zone Leader's District Leader, I gave him his baptismal interview. One of the greatest experiences of my life. I have never really seen or been part of someone's conversion and seen the final fruits of it. This man does not know a lot but his understanding of his role and what he needs to do is greater than any other non-member I have ever met. It was really amazing…which leads me to Sunday.

Sunday: Church as normal. But that night I went to Fahhad's baptism. My first in the field, ever. Not that they haven't happened before; they are happening more often every week, but living in Kavala and in the South I have never had a reason to make the trip to be at one. I took this opportunity. Fahhad and 2 others were baptized and now I can see that it actually happens. People really can make the change and be helped. Another example is Inna, 19, and from Uzbekistan. To make a long story short me and Elder Carlberg (Swedish and my Zone leader) re-found her on our exchange (he had met her once his first transfer). She was at the baptism, and we took the same bus to go home so I was able to talk to her and wow, another example of the spirit touching someone's life and causing real change.

That was my amazing week. Of course, something that happens only at the end of a transfer and right before you leave the area (which is probably what will happen).

Other than that I did get my package, it was perfect! I'm wasted. We played some intense soccer again this morning and I'm ready to sleep for an hour or two. Luckily all I have to do tonight is take a shower. Well, I've got to go.

Love Zach

Mission Update

Yep. I'm slow again this week.....

Here's what Zach sent us this week:

We taught Kostas again yesterday and it went well. We taught the 1st part of the plan of Salvation (for the 3rd time, it stuck this time!) and we taught the Word of Wisdom. He drinks and smokes and it will be really hard to quit. Luckily, he wants to quit and he knows it is bad. I only hope he wants it enough to work at it. Let me see if I can describe Kostas and I will draw on my comp's English Major skills to help me...but he doesn't even want to try...so...Kostas is very animated, enthusiastic, easily distracted...

Don't even get me started on Transfers. I have no idea where I could go and it's not only me. Almost everyone will be moving somewhere so the changes will be insane. It is a regular topic of conversation among the missionaries right now. Only 2 more weeks until we find out!

Weather-wise it finally cooled off (thus my need of a better jacket) and it's been raining a lot more (another reason for one). It gets dark so early here! At 4:30 the sun is on it's way down and at 5:00 it's is totally dark! This creates a small problem with the work since people become more closed and wary when the sun goes down. Nobody opens their doors and everyone is "getting ready for bed," even though they will probably be up for another few hours. Or, they are "on their way out" at 7:30. We started taking our language study at night after we return to the apartment so that we can go out and work earlier when it is more effective.

Other than that nothing new has been going on. Our weekly plan consists of a lot of searching for people to teach. I will also cut my hair today...But other than that it will be a nice relaxing day.

Love, Zach

Pierced!

One of our family traditions is that you can get your ears pierced when a) you turn twelve and b) if you're a girl (of course!). So Kailen and I headed to "Claire's" at the mall Monday after school. I thought she'd be more nervous seeing as she was getting a permanent-can't-be-fixed-once-it's-done hole in each ear. I was definitely more nervous than she was. Here's the before:

Here's the after:

She picked these pretty daisy shaped bling-bling studs. Totally Kailen! I had to discuss the placement with the ear piercer -- her first placement dots were definitely crooked. I think she got a bit annoyed with me, but these holes are permanent! For life! We finally got the dots right and Kailen didn't even flinch for either piercing. I was very impressed.

And since we were already at the mall, and Kailen had birthday money to feed into the struggling economy, we did some shopping. She bought some earrings for when she can change her studs in 6 weeks, a cute skirt for $6 at Mervyn's going out of business sale, and a really handsome monkey, George, at the "Build a Bear Workshop". We had a great time! :o)