Received Monday, October 22, 2012

Here is Zak riding in a car...taken way back in July

QUESTIONS:

I sent pictures this week, get them yet?

nope, not yet. I always really like getting pictures though, so I'll be glad for that. People think it's pretty funny whenever I show them the picture of me/griffin side by side with crazy hair

What was for breakfast today? (I enjoy your recipes)

same peanut-butter oatmeal stuff. I've had that every morning for a long time. I think I might start chopping up and apple and putting that in it too.

something I've been eating for lunch a lot lately is my missionary budget (and cooking effort level) breakfast burrito. I make scrambled eggs with fried turkey spam in a tortilla. It's yummy.

something I just tried today (like an hour ago) was based on a recipe our mission doctor gave out. I mixed greek yogurt, raw oatmeal (with peanut butter), mixed nuts and apple slices. it looked and tasted disgusting. It might have been ok if I used regular yogurt instead, also the recipe didn't call for peanut butter, so maybe that didn't help either. all in all it was a vomitous concoction and I ended up throwing it away and making a sandwich.

You doing much driving?

me personally, no. Elder Beck drives. we are still in the car a fair amount, it's not usually that bad.

Do you have a map in the car if you get lost?

no, we use Elder Becks GPS. We'd always be lost without it. it's pretty much essential that someone in your companionship to have one. depending on when I or he gets transferred and if my next companion eventually I'll probably need a GPS, so if you want you could be on the lookout for a cheap one that would be great.

What’s the type of car you drive?

silver Ford fusion, 2010 I think. I'll send pictures probably next week.

Do you want/need another sweater? Talk about this

no, at least not yet. It got a little warmer. I don't think I've worn my sweater all week, just having a long sleeve shirt has been enough. When the winter comes I'll probably end up buying a bunch of winter/long-john style garments.

When you wash your sweater, REALLY read the washing instructions and follow them!!

okey-dokey

Have you received your Absentee ballot??

yes, I think I got it last monday after emailing. I voted on the presidential race, a few other people, and some of the "props" or whatever those other decisions are. I liked getting to read the little info about them and making a decision. have you guys gotten to see those yet? there was one about the death penalty in CA, labeling genetically enhanced foods and a few other random things. and lots of new taxes.

When convenient, send us your church Sunday Program! I would like to see what you see!!

ok! maybe I'll write notes on it like sister Hagen does for me.

How was your mormon.org referral appointment??

it went well. His name is Bob, he's was in a terrible car accident many years ago but he got out mostly unscathed and he strongly believes God protected him and since then he's been looking for a church he thought was true. He accepted a Book of Mormon and we're meeting again with him soon. He's an interesting guy, he has a big personality and has strong opinions. I'm really excited for him.

Has your ward had their primary program yet?

it's this upcoming week! we're hoping we can get families with kids in it to invite their friends.

One interesting thing just happend (5 seconds ago). This guy who's a fairly recent convert (he had recently converted to Judiasim before that) who the other elders visit sometimes just walked in the building because he had some time to kill and wondered if we had classes at the church. I talked to him for a while, including commenting on the yamaka he was wearing. he wears it for style. He is a very, very interesting guy.

Our Halloween party/trunk-or-treat is this friday. They also have a chili cook off. We're looking forward to that, we know people are definitely inviting friends to that. Also, we have fake mustaches we are allowed to wear.

The Staples, the senior couple are leaving this week, which is sad, but we have a new couple, the Simpsons moving in. They are from Idaho. We were in a lesson with them this week and sister Simpson used the phrase "might-could". I talked about dad being from Preston and Elder Simpson said he went to the highschool that was rivals with them. He then asked if I was related to Kaydawn Cole! I said yes! she works for him (he is a dentist). crazy connection.

One of our investigators, (who has been an investigator a long time) is 45% cherokee so we talked about how she is related to the Lamanites and the Book of Mormon is especially for her. She has been reading every night for a few weeks now, so I hope she will recognize an answer to her prayers about it. She's a teenager and the rest of her family isn't interested in the church, so we're not pushing baptism super hard because she would need a strong testimony on her own to stay in the church.

The baptism we had set up for the 28th got postponed. We don't have a new date set yet. It's kind of sad, but she isn't ready yet. She struggles with same-gender attraction, she basically feels really good about the church, except doesn't get why that's bad. Hopefully things turn out ok.

Tonight we're having dinner at the Bishop's house (I feel like I write that every week). It's his wife's birthday today and she really wants us over. They already told us we also had to come over for Thanksgiving.
After that we're going to visit an inactive family we've seen once before. I'm really hoping they'll come to the halloween party and that will help bring them back. It also would be awesome if they would come to church to see the primary program (they have 2 young boys) but that's a little bit of a long shot at this point.

Right now I'm listening to music on lds.org/youth

Who is beebee's volleyball coach? that is a bit frustrating. that's exciting she got to give a talk and is playing piano though.

That's everything, time to email the president.

Love you all!

P.S.  The website to write the president is down right now, so I'll share one fun thing I learned this week and then try again. In chapter 1 of the book of Mosiah, King Benjamin talkes about how he taught his children the "language of his fathers" and the "language of the egyptians" so they could understand the brass plates and the prophecies of past prophets. The way i understood was that they had to learn a new language just to read the scriptures! It made me very grateful I have the scriptures so easily accessible to me, and want to take advantage of that. Even though they might be confusing, at least it's English.

ok, the site is working again. Have a happy week!