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