Week 6 - December 19, 2011

Hi everyone!

I still can't believe it's December, and it's even weirder that it's almost Christmas! I get to talk to you guys next week! So weird. 

Well, my first transfer is over here in the field. It's been a pretty fast six weeks, and everyone says it only moves faster. I would have found out if I was leaving the area on Saturday. The President, Assistants, or Zone Leaders let everyone know if they're leaving or staying the Saturday before transfer meetings. This way we don't have to drive all the way to Louisville just to not get reassigned. The Elders did play a good joke on me though. We have a specific ringtone for the President, and we heard it go off. So Elder S ran and answered it. I didn't hear much of what he said, but he came back and said, "You're going to Louisville on Tuesday -- you're going to be training a greenie." Naturally, I started freaking out about it all, wondering why President Woodbury would trust me to train someone when I still have a hard time navigating our area! They told me like, an hour and a half later that it was a joke. Elder S changed the ringtone on the phone so that I thought the President was calling, but it was just the Frankfort Elders who were in on the joke. It was mean, but it was pretty good. Thank goodness I'm not training though! Haha.

The work has been slower this week. We did a lot of service with members this week since we didn't have many teaching appointments. I love the members in the ward, and the amount that they feed us is just nuts. All day Christmas Eve and Christmas we have families scheduled to go play games and eat food. We really won't spend much time in the apartment those days, which is kind of cool, but it also kind of wears you out a little bit too! Haha. 

My District

The Zone Leaders (Elders C and D) live in Lexington and serve in a Singles Branch. Well, since school is out, they are really bored and have nothing to do. They came down and we went on a "blitz" where we trade companions for the day. Elder C and I went tracting, and we were invited into a couple of Spanish homes. He doesn't speak Spanish, so it was all on me. It went pretty well and one of them, Victor, is super promising. He didn't make it to church, but we'll follow up with him soon, because he really seemed interested, and doesn't have any religion in his life. We also were welcomed into a home of this guy and his son. They had tons of questions and seemed cool, but then the Dad said that he's going to school to be a pastor or whatever, and then he's going back to Mexico to devote his life to helping young people see the light. I tried to tell him that we have the truth. He said he accepts lots of things, and that he believed the Book of Mormon was something totally possible. Well, if it's true then we have the one true way! But I had a hard time spitting that out and explaining it to him. But anyway, the Spanish all worked out okay, so that was good. 

Spanish speakers

The other thing we had was a Christmas Devotional in Lexington that President and Sister Woodbury put on. It was just the two zones in Lexington that met up -- I guess President is going around slowly but surely to all the zones that way. Anyway, they put on a really nice devotional. It was cool to go and see lots and lots of other missionaries. I still don't know many people, so going to that kind of stuff is weird, but it was lots of fun. I met the other Spanish speakers. They are way cool, so that was fun. After the devotional we played a game called "Who Wants to Be a Preach My Gospel Missionary?" I was selected to play as a contestant in front of the live studio audience. I only answered a few right, because they asked questions that are super specific, like, "which chapter and section is this tiny quotation from?" But it was tons of fun anyway. 

Things are going well. I'm excited to talk to you guys soon, so I can show you guys that I do speak a little Spanish, and I can talk a little more about everything we do and how awesome this place is. It just isn't the same in letters.

Think about the true meaning of Christmas this week. I know I'm a preachy missionary, but I wish we had "Joy to the World" in our apartment so we could watch it. We live for church videos we can share with people, partly because it's the only media we're exposed to, but also because they can be really powerful. Watch it this weekend and remember that, yes, gathering the family together is great, but celebrating the birth of the Savior is our true purpose.

I love you guys! Talk to you soon! :)

Love,
Zac

Week 5 - December 12, 2011

Hey there,

Well, it cooled down a lot here this week! The grass is always super icy every morning, and our cars are covered in it all the time. Puddles and really small ponds are freezing over pretty regularly, so it seems like winter is here. The coldest I've seen it is 22F, I think. But we were inside, so it wasn't a big deal. Seeing your breath in the middle of the day is pretty normal now, so I guess I'll be bundled up until March or so. Haha. Someone told us last night that this winter isn't supposed to be too terribly cold though. so that's good. Hahaha.

We've been visiting with a man named Carlos this week. He's so cool. He really wants to change his life, and he's had some rough times lately. He came to church with a recent convert, Irma, and he really likes it. It's been fun to get to know him and talk to him. He's kind of the first person that Elder S and I have started working with together. Basically everyone else has been meeting with the Elders for a while, so this was way cool to really start working with someone from the beginning. He has tons of potential, and really wants to do good. I'm super excited to help him out.

We had the Frankfort Ward Christmas Party this week, and that was great! It didn't have the visual pizazz of a Bear Canyon Christmas party, but everything here is done on a way smaller scale since this is the only ward in the whole city of Frankfort, and covers the surrounding towns that are 10 to 12 miles away. But there were tons of Hispanic people that showed up, and it was so cool to see the Spanish speaking members (mostly former missionaries and a few Hispanic members) talk to them and be their friends. Santa made a run through while we were eating dinner, then the primary sang, YW sang, YM sang, Melchizedek Priesthood sang, RS sang, etc. I really love this ward a lot. They are so cool. I know you guys would have lots of friends here.

Church was good. We had Gospel Principles in Spanish again, and it's still my favorite part of the three hour block. The Hispanic/Spanish speaking members that attend are all so solid and have great imput. We have members that served in Venezuela, Omaha Nebraska (even more random than Spanish in Kentucky to me, haha), Columbia, Argentina, etc. There are several really great speakers here that help us out a lot.

We also gave a training on Mormon.org for the third hour of church. Everyone should have a mormon.org profile they can share with people! Do it! If nothing else, just watch all of the super cool videos on there. They are awesome, and my testimony has grown as I've watched all of those videos of people sharing their stories.

This week was just better than some previous weeks. I always have lots of good stuff to write, because there's a lot of good stuff that's happening, but I feel like I had less sad or frustrating stuff happen. Yay for progress! 

Splits with Elder L and Yunior (15 yrs old)

We watched Irma's son, Agustin, be ordained a Deacon yesterday. It made me think a lot about the ways that these people are moving forward to have the same happiness that we have. We're so fortunate to have the church. I thought about how tough retention of new converts is, and it made me happy that Dad had the strength to stick with it and/or the support to help him. I feel so optimistic for Irma and her family, and it makes me excited to do more work.

Things are good. Yeah, it's rough sometimes, but I'm learning a lot, and really enjoying Kentucky!

Thanks for everything!

Much love from the South,

Zac

Week 4 - December 5, 2011

Hi family --

Another week down here in Versailles. This week seemed to go by really really quickly, which is weird because we were kind of slow. We aren't allowed to knock doors after dark (which happens so early! like 5.45ish), because it's super creepy for strangers to be at your door at night. So if we don't have appointments with investigators or members, we really struggle with things to do.

We spent some more time in the hospital this week. Manuel, the one who had that hernia fixed a few weeks ago, was back in the hospital this week. He was in real pain, and it was uncomfortable to be in the ER with him because you could tell how bad he felt. Turns out he needed to have his appendix taken out. Tough luck, right? Two surgeries in about two weeks.

President and Sister Woodbury came out on Tuesday for interviews. Our district is pretty spread out, so we all have to drive to the most central church building to meet up with him. It was really great to see them. They are so excited about the work and the missionaries, so even though I hardly know them, I am excited to talk to them whenever they're around. Sister Woodbury and I chatted for a while. She is so fun. She brings her sewing machine to every district they visit so she can mend clothes for us. Haha. I don't have any to fix yet, thank goodness. After she and I chatted, I saw President. The meeting was pretty short, since I haven't been out very long. But he did tell me something that was cool. He said that he is so excited for missionaries that come out here speaking a different language because it's possible that they will experience something the other missionaries will never understand -- he said to pay special attention to moments when I'm feeling the Spirit in Spanish. It could very well be the gift of tongues that is helping me understand or speak, and that those experiences are real blessings that others won't get to have. Kinda cool, eh? I don't know if that's happened just yet, but I'm on the lookout for it!

Church yesterday was good. We had lots of Spanish people there, so we had Gospel Principles in Spanish again! A Spanish speaker in the ward, Hermano Gonzalez, teaches it for us, and he does a great job. It's so fun to see these new members and investigators soaking up everything and watch them use it and answer questions! Ahhh, it's so fun. Plus, we have several Spanish speaking members that attend that with us, and so they're a great help.

We're seeing lots more Christmas trees in windows of the houses we drive past (and ones we visit). I can't believe that it's December, and that I'll talk to you guys soon. There are a few families that have briefly mentioned having us over that day, so I know we'll be taken care of. It's funny the stuff you take for granted while you have it, and then realize you miss it when you're gone. I miss putting up lights in the yard. People in our apartment complex line their windows and string them on the railings, but it isn't quite as cool as wrapping a tree. Also, the trees here are either too bush and full, or way too tall to wrap them the way we wrap mesquite trees in AZ. Haha. I'm so not in the desert anymore. 

At our correlation meeting we have every Wednesday with the ward mission leader, Elder A shared a scripture from Isaiah 41:13 that says: "For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." For a second I thought it was funny. We always joke about holding peoples' hands through stuff when they can't do it themselves. But then I thought about how much I'd like God to hold my hand through all of this -- and He is. He did it before I came out here when I was willing to take the help, He pulled me through the MTC by the hand, and now He's doing the same here in Kentucky. It's not always easy, but there's always help from above.

Things are good. I'm learning so much everyday -- especially about myself. You all are the best, and I appreciate everything you do for me!

Love,
Zac

Week 3 - November 28, 2011

Hi everyone,

Well, last week was Thanksgiving, and let me tell you, I'm surprised I don't weight 500 pounds. The member here are so nice to us, and we ended up seeing four different families that day! It was lots of fun. First we visited Renee and her family around noon. She married the guy she was living with (who was an inactive member) and got baptized when Elder S first got to the area about 7 or 8 months ago. Well, it turns out they're getting a divorce. Which is sad, right? But listen to how cool she is. They had been taking temple prep classes to go be sealed. Well, just because she isn't going to be sealed, doesn't mean she can't go through the temple! So she's still taking the classes to go through in a few months. She's way excited about the church, and won't let a divorce shake her up. You go, Renee!

Us with Renee. She's so cool!

We were so stuffed with food already (and leftovers in the car), and went on over to the Johnson's. They have a beautiful big lot on the outskirts of Frankfort. The food wasn't ready, so we jumped on the trampoline and ran around with their kids in their big old field out their back door. We had another appointment to go to, so we ended up not eating there because they were really behind. But Sister Johnson had made us each an individual pie, so we told them we'd come back later.

Then we went over to the Christenson's house. They are so cool. They are both in their early 30s, both had previous marriages. But they found each other, live way out in the middle of no where in a really pretty house, and are always managing the chaos of the 6 kids that they have (blended family, of course). I want to be them someday, because all they do is laugh and smile, even when the kids are screaming or stealing food, etc. We played Thanksgiving Bingo with them, and when you won, you got a homemade hotpad -- you know, one of those bags of rice you microwave and then throw in your bed or on your back. I haven't used mine yet, but I'm so excited about it!

The Christenson's. They rock.

My awesome hotpad from Sister Christenson. I haven't used it yet, but I'm way excited!

Then we went to the Lilly's. We were so stuffed with food that we just packed up some plates for leftovers. We hung out a little bit, and then went back to the Johnson's for our pies. We chatted with them for a while and then went home. It was a good day. President called it a "non-proselyting day," which basically means hang out. So we did.

The other big news this week is that on Saturday, Jubileo was baptized! Shalonda was supposed to be baptized too, but we found out she smokes, so we set a date for her in December so she has time to quit. But Jubileo was so excited to get baptized and become an official member of the ward. Elder S told me I was going to baptize him. I didn't ask or anything, he just wanted me to have the experience early on, so I said okay! Haha. The water in the font was cold, but that's okay. It was funny. I had to say the words three times, because it was in Spanish, but I only had to dunk him once, and I think that's better. Haha. It was good to see how excited he was for this, and he really is excited about being a member. 

Us with Jubileo! The other kid's name is Yunior.

Church was good yesterday. I really love this ward, and it's kind of sad to think that at some point I'll leave. The church just came out with at 12 week training program in August, so I'm probably going to be here until I'm done with that, but after the training is over, it's possible I'll move. President said most newbies don't get moved for the first two or three transfers, but you never know. Elder S will probably be here with me at least until the training is over. He'd like to stay here until he finishes in April, but he thinks he'll move, since he's been here so long. But the members love him, and I think they can really see how hard he works.

This week we spent the night in Frankfort with the Elders there for 3 or 4 nights, because we can't waste miles driving from Versailles to Frankfort everyday. It was fun to hang out with other Elders, but at the same time, it was really nice to get back to our apartment. It's cleaner, nicer, etc. We had been up there partly because of baptism preparations for Jubileo, but also because one Elder, I'll just call him Elder X, has been having a rough time. He came out with me, and hasn't adjusted to everything just yet, so we went on splits with them, and the Zone Leaders came down because they're in a Singles Branch in Lexington that's dead right now. I don't know if the crazy day of new Elders and knocking doors helped Elder X, but I sure learned a lot. I like the Zone Leaders a lot, so I had fun knocking doors in a trailer park. I made a contact with a Hispanic lady we're going to visit tomorrow, so that's exciting! Haha. 

A member gave us a Christmas tree! Yay!

Things here are good. I got Tanner's letters in the mail this week, and he sounds good. He's super inspirational in his, so I'll try to lift y'all up a little more in mine. Just know that I'm out here because I have a testimony. I was long past the questions from other people about "are you going on a mission?" I was old enough that they had mostly stopped asking. But I got it all figured out, and realized that this was something good. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm willing to go out and do things that are uncomfortable, far away, soon to be cold and snowy. Because it's good and right, and there's no going back.

It's hard sometimes, but more often than not, God fills in all of the things I can't do when I turn and ask Him for help. You feel kind of selfish when you realize how much you're changing on a mission, not just helping other people change. But it's good that way, because you need to be lifted up sometimes too. We're the rock for investigators, but we need a rock too, and that's what emails are for! Hearing from everyone is really great.

Keep on doing good everyone. Thanks for everything you do for me!

Much love,  

Zac

I found this fortune in the pocket of the gray suit y'all sent me. I might have gotten it after a Priesthood session of Conference of something, but I'm not sure. I put all sorts of fun stuff like that in the journal.

Week 2 - November 21, 2011

Hi family,
 

Another week in Kentucky already over. Everyday here is an adventure. For example, last night we spent the night in the hospital. Before you freak out, we were there with a recent convert, Manuel. We had called him on Saturday to see how he was. He said he had a hernia that was bothering him. Well, we went to see him after church and it was a really big bump on his lower abdomen. So we insisted that he went to the hospital so we took him to the ER in Frankfort. They admitted him and performed surgery. We spent the night in his room, sleeping on the couches they had pulled in for us. We're still in Frankfort wearing the suits we wore to church yesterday. The Elders that live in Frankfort picked us up. Crazy, huh? At first I didn't think we needed to be there and I was not looking forward to spending the night there. But Elder S loves the people so much, and really wanted to help him. I think that's the thing he's teaching me the most -- loving the people. It was a kind thing for us to do to stay and translate for him, and I'm learning that that's what we do as missionaries! Once I stopped being a brat about it, it was a good experience.

Our setup in the room with Manuel. I took my journal and letter writing stuff so I would have something to do. We also watched a ton of cartoons. Manuel said he likes them since he never had any TV growing up.

Elder S loves to exercise. We went on an early morning bike ride last week, and the temperature was 28F (according to the fancy clock Kyle gave me. Thanks!). What?! That's just crazy! But it actually wasn't too bad. My butt hurt really bad the next day, but I'm glad I'm getting some practice now before I'm in a bike area. Also, I bought a bike from an Elder that is about to leave. I bought it after the transfer meeting that first day when everyone told me it was a bargain -- $30. I spent $100 to get it fixed, so for $130 I should be squared away for a while.

It's been rainy and misty the last few days. I like it, since we don't have much continual rain in Arizona, but I don't like walking through it in nice clothes. I'm just happy we have a car right now. Haha

Gorgeous fields

Things with the people were really interesting this week. The people I like the most are the ones I understand the best, so naturally they're white inactive people. Haha. Kidding. But we are talking to an inactive family, the Petersons. They live out on a horsefarm, and it is so amazing out there. I guess Brother Peterson manages the labor for the whole farm or something. Anyway, we got in contact with Sister Peterson when we went to visit a member, Sister Hatchett. Sister Peterson and Sister Hatchett have lunch or something once a week, and we didn't know that. We were excited when Sister Peterson was there, so we talked with her about her family. She said we were an answer to her prayers -- her son had just told her the day before that he wants to go on a mission! They haven't been active in a while, but we're meeting with them once a week, just talking to them about how to get going on that whole process. We really think we can get Sister Peterson and her son Traven back to church full time, so we're excited about that.

We have two baptisms on Saturday -- Shalonda and Jubileo. For whatever reason, the church lost her records somewhere, so she needs to be rebaptized. Elder S said I'll do that one, so after less than three weeks I'll be in the font with someone! Cool, huh? Also, Jubileo speaks Spanish, and I basically understand nothing. But he was at church yesterday, and I sat next to him in Gospel Principles. We have a few bilingual ward members, so we have the class in Spanish! Irma, the recent convert, brought a cousin or something, so that was great! We read the talk from the last Conference about the Book of Mormon, and it was really cool to watch all of them answer questions and better understand the book's importance. I understood almost everything, too, so that was exciting! There is real potential to build a branch here in this area. There's only one ward in all of Frankfort, but soon enough it could be one ward and one Spanish branch! :)

We see the capitol quite a bit from the freeway, and a few times we've drive right by it.

I had a dream last night, and Max was in it. It made me miss him a lot. Hahah. Sometimes I see a truck like Dad's or something and think of home, but most of the time things really are going well. I'm not very outgoing in Spanish yet, but I am building relationships with people with the broken Spanish I do have. They're so kind and humble. Why isn't everyone that way?

Anyway, thanks for everything y'all do for me! Mondays are so fun because I get to hear how everyone is doing. Keep attaching pictures -- they're so fun!

Much love, 

Zac

Week 1 in the mission field

Hi everyone!

I survived my first week here in Kentucky! I'll start from the beginning and tell you all about what's happened in my first week here. Hold on, because this is going to be a long email!

We got up nice and early, made it to the SLC airport, Atlanta airport, and finally the Louisville airport. The President and his wife were eagerly awaiting us with the three very excited AP's by his side. I love President and Sister Woodbury already. The first thing out of their mouths after I told them who I was was, "Oh! Some Baxter lady called about you! She said something about your dad's conversion way back when!" I was so impressed they remembered something like that when meeting nine new missionaries. They have tons of faces to remember, but knowing at least a little something like that was so nice. I was also impressed with Sister Baxter, but I later told Pres and Sister Woodbury that I actually don't know her at all, but that you guys do.

Anyway, we loaded all of our stuff up into the trailer and piled into the van. The APs drove us to the mission home. After the sister in my district in the MTC told me that the mission home in Houston is gigantic and brand new, I was kind of expecting a lot. We pulled up to a house clearly built in the 1960s. As Sister Woodbury put it, the home is a little "Brady Bunch" in style. Even though it looks old and small, once you're inside it's a whole different story. It's very nice, recently remodeled, and has a huge basement. They could easily sleep 12 or more missionaries in the basement alone.

That night we had a really nice dinner with President and Sister Woodbury and two senior couples in the mission. They went over some rules in the mission with us, and we each had a short interview with the president. He is so cool. He remembered that I studied journalism, and when I briefly mentioned my calling as an FHE coordinator and how that helped impact me he said, "Oh yes, I heard you had done a good job with that!" Apparently Bishop Bell had written about it in his notes on my mission papers. But how cool that he knows me already! Anyway, he showed me my companion on a big wall of pictures and areas he has there in his office. After dinner and interviews we had a testimony meeting and then it was off to bed.

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, and then a demonstration by the APs. They role-played, etc. It was nice. After that we were given our church debit cards, and that was all explained to us. Then we headed off to the mission office for transfer meetings. They actually hold the transfer meeting in a chapel that shares the parking lot with the mission office. The meeting was really really nice, and it was super interesting because I thought it was going to be sort of formal and reverent, but there is a ton of clapping when new companionships and assignments are given out over the pulpit. We also sang "Called to Serve" at about a million beats a minute. Everything here in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission has an addition or something to make it our own (just look at our mission name. Being the "Kentucky Louisville Mission" isn't enough). We throw in "go baptize!" and all sorts of other words into hymns and recited things. Just because we can. It's super fun.

I got my companion. His name is Elder S, and he was born in Mexico, so he's a native speaker. His English is really good, too, but sometimes he says things out of order, or uses words that almost mean the same thing, but aren't quite right. But because he knows Spanish so well it's really helped me out. He is nice. He's great with the people, and he's absolutely fearless. More on that to come.

Message from the outgoing Elder. That was so fun to see on my first night into the apartment.

So we're assigned to Versailles, KY. It's little and it's far away. Our area is gigantic because we're the only Spanish elders out here. We cover Versailles, Lawrenceburg, and Frankfort (and maybe more?). I don't really know how big that is in comparison to the other areas, but we drive a ton of miles. We have a brand new Corolla (we picked it up after transfer meeting and had to stuff two new elders' belongings in it because they had carpooled up to the meeting! it was tight, but we managed it) and have been allotted 1455 miles for the month. And apparently that will be just enough with all of the traveling we do. Versailles is a tiny bit ghetto, but all of the people are super nice, clean cut, etc. You don't see lots of ghetto cars with mismatched body panels everywhere like in Tucson, which is interesting. Most of the trees have dropped all of their leaves, so there are giant piles of brown leaves all along the sides of the roads. Kyle, remember how we've always talked about driving our nice cars down a road where the leaves fly around behind us? Kentucky is the place. After the mission let's bring Rustin and his G8 down here! Haha.

Anyway, it's absolutely gorgeous here. We cover a lot of area that is horse farm, so we drive down tons of little roads in between rolling green fields. Giant trees line the roads and driveways. It's amazing. I'll probably hate it in the wintertime, but right now it's amazing. Also, the weather here is more temperamental than Utah's. Any time there are clouds you have to plan on rain, because you never know what it's going to be like. It can rain here for an hour, and then the storm blows away and the sun is out. Elder S says it's because there aren't any mountains, the clouds can move in and out really really quickly.

We drive roads like this all the time. It's so cool!

It's overwhelming to talk to people in Spanish sometimes. We've mostly gone and visited people that they were working with before I showed up. They are all so nice when I tell them, "Hablo un poco espanol, pero no entiendo mucho" and "mas despacio, por favor." (Translation: I speak a little Spanish, but don't understand much. Slower please.) Hahaha. But I already really love some of the people we are meeting with, and they have been so kind with me being slow and white. Hahaha

One family in particular, the Rojas, are so great. Apparently they have been taking the lessons for months and months and months, and then last night was the breakthrough. We just stopped in to chat, and ended up talking to them about marriage for like an hour. I didn't really say much, because I don't understand their situation completely, but I understood most of what happened. Mayra and Felipe have lived together for a few years. She has five kids, and he treats them all like his own. They are illegal (everyone we talk to is), and don't have enough money to throw a big party. We kept telling them that throwing the party isn't what is important. Getting married to get baptized is what's important. Then, after a year, they can go to the temple! They said if they don't have a big party, lots of their family and friends will get really offended. We told them to think about it and pray about it, and that they should set a date that night. We told them to set the date for sooner, rather than later, and suggested within the next 12 weeks. Elder S was so persistent. I'm still learning how in-you-face we can be, but he knows exactly how to do it in a way that doesn't put them off. We called them back that night and they said they're planning on getting married in the middle of February! That's really far. Really really far. But I think they can do it, and they seem to really want to do it, so we're so excited about it.

Irma is a recent convert, she got baptized the Saturday before I got here. She lives out in a trailer (a very nice one, actually) on a horse farm a few miles from our apartment. She has a big batch of kids, and she's illegal. Anyway, we visit her a lot to help her and her family stay strong. Her son, Agustin, came tracting with us this week, and he's so cool. He doesn't have a lot to say, but we can tell he likes the church, and has tons of potential. In the week that I've been here I can absolutely tell that my Spanish has advanced. I don't speak much more than I did, but I'm understanding so much more than I was before. I measure it by her, because she speaks really quickly, and she's actually the first Hispanic that I talked to. On Wednesday morning she called us and said she needed our help at the Food Stamp office. We went down there and I had no idea what she was saying, but Elder S translated and helped get everything resolved. Turns out one of her kids said he was hungry to someone at school, so there was some investigation and her Food Stamp card was turned off. It was a misunderstanding, so it was turned back on and she's doing great now.

We visit a man named Manuel a lot. He got baptized two or three weeks before I got here, and he's really cool. We don't talk a lot because I don't understand/can't speak much, but you can tell that he loves the missionaries a lot. We're actually trying to find him an apartment in Shelbyville, because he got a job there. We make tons and tons of phone calls everyday between bishops, ward mission leaders, the district leader, etc, for him and for other people. We text a lot too, and that's good practice for my Spanish. My most frequent is "Cuando podemos visitarle?" (When can we come visit you?)

We were on a farm of a less active family, but their son said he wants to serve a mission. They came to stake conference too!

Yesterday was Stake Conference, up in Lexington. We take for granted how many members we have in Tucson, because it's over a half hour to get to Lexington from here, and that's by freeway! Anyway, the Rojas were there, Jubileo (who has a baptism date for the 27th!), and Manuel were there. We have some super cool translation equipment, so they all were able to wear these headset things while someone in another room translated the talks, and spoke into a microphone for the people that don't know English. Too cool, huh? One of the talks was actually given in Spanish by someone in a Spanish branch in Georgetown. I think all of our investigators thought that was really really cool. President and Sister Woodbury were actually there, too. She is a hoot, and I hope you guys get to meet them someday. She was asking me how Spanish was going and if Elder S is treating me right (playfully). Elder S said they were there because we're trying to build a Spanish branch in the stake. If we work hard, anything is possible!

Things here are going fine. It's hard sometimes. It's overwhelming. But I already love lots of the people (members included. They are sooooo fun!). It was especially fun to hear from you guys today. It was a really long week learning everything, meeting tons of people, etc. There's a lot left to learn. But I'm loving a lot of things about it, and I know it'll be so good. I just have to tell myself that it's kinda like the MTC -- I freaked out really hard in the MTC for like three weeks. Then I got it under my belt and it was smooth sailing. Out here it's a little different, but the application is similar. It'll just take a little bit of time before it's second nature, before I understand all of the Spanish, before I know where to turn when we're going to district meeting in Georgetown (speaking of, I have a wonderful district. I'm excited to work with them.), but afterwards it will be smoother.

The South is a lot like it's perceived to be -- accents, the word y'all, comfort food, black people (not really in Versailles, mostly in Lexington). We've been to the Food Stamp office, we went to Court with Mayra because her baby-daddy isn't paying child support (she won). I love it. I know y'all will love it when I bring you here. Which, might I just say, I want the whole family to come out here because it really is amazing.

I think that's all. Thanks for everything you do for me! I love you all!

Much love,
Zac

Last temple walk at the MTC.