Received Monday, Jan 28, 2013

Zak tells some funny stories in this letter. He tells of being so cold; and if he can fit in a dryer. I looked for pictures that might add to his stories, but I found none! So, just enjoy Zak being a missionary where it looks like he is at a missionary conference. He is enjoying the work.

QUESTIONS:

Did you shovel snow in the church parking lot?

sort of. We just had to shovel the snow off the walkways into the building and put some salt down. The guy didn't really need too much of our help, it was quick and easy. and not too overly freezing cold.

Did you get your new ward mission leader yet?

no, I think the bishop was not able to contact the person he wanted to ask. I think I know who it is (really just a guess), a younger RM who is pretty quiet. He was not at church yesterday. I guess we get to wander in the wilderness a little longer.

What mail did you get this week?

umm its hard to remember. My friend Janna was home for break and she wrote. I should put this stuff in my journal, but I never think about it at night. oh, I got the letter about the brownies! I had 2 thoughts when I saw the picture, first: DAD! second: I remembered doing that one time, but I thought I was about griffin's age, not something he should remember. I probably did it more than once. Good remembering for him!

NOTE FROM MOM/Julie: Here is the picture on the right that I sent to Zak. Griffin took that piece out of the pan of brownies. He said he saw Zak do it, so he thought it was ok...

FROM GRIFFIN: What do you and other missionaries do for fun?

I think you asked this before! after the questions I'll put in a story of something I did for fun yesterday

How is your health?

fully back to normal

Have you used her little hand warmers yet that you got for Christmas?

yes!

If yes; how did they work?

well, it was when we were doing service for a redcross food bank, carrying food out to people's cars. I put them in my gloves. When I got home I put them under my earmuffs to warm my face and it felt really good.

Have you used your golf ball yet?

no, I can knock on doors ok with the gloves I have. It'll be if I have to go and buy big poofy winter-snow gloves that i'll need them. my current gloves are only slightly poofy but have been sufficient thus far.

Talk about your weather last week and the upcoming week!!

it stinks. is getting better

Sunday morning we woke up and it was really cold in the house. like 62 degrees, even though we had the heat on, but it was clearly broken. it felt much colder (our house is very drafty) and stayed that way all day. when we got home at night and planned then changed I put on a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and my trench coat and beanie. I said it was way too cold and told Elder Beck I should get in the dryer and have him turn it on for a few minutes (joking). He said I couldn't fit in the dryer anyway. I said I could and bet 5 pushups on it. he accepted. when we went over to the dryer it was much smaller than I remembered, but after peeling off a few layers and about a half hour of contorting and squishing I fit myself entirely inside. pictures with proof will come on a later date.   That's what missionaries do for fun.

the weather this week was pretty cold, I don't know if it was ever single digits during the day though. I wore basically all my winter stuff (thermals, trench coat, scarf, etc) I think everyday. We got by ok though. It's when it's windy that it feels super freezing.

a few days ago I realized something. My entire life I would sometimes say something about how it's freezing outside, but I would be exaggerating. Now when I say that it's literal. An understatement even; I don't like that,
There's snow everywhere. It's supposed to get pretty warm this week though. Even hit 50's on wednesday! Maybe the weather is trying to convince all the Provo people they should leave on a mission because it'll be so much warmer wherever they go.

last monday we finally went to building 19. It was mad ghetto, but Elder Beck found the only cool thing. It was a book called "The Beck diet solution". He couldn't resist buying it (remember he's lost about 60 lb's on his mission). very funny. Later that day we were invited to help out/support at our wards first (not young) Single Adult Home Evening. There was lots of personality there, very funny, even if not everyone always meant to be. Sort of weird/awkward for us to be there but the person in charge really appreciated it. Mostly we just said the opening/closing prayers and gave the spiritual message and told her good job whenever she started getting really stressed. They all seemed to like having a group which was good. Maria, who was recently baptized was there and liked it, it was actually at her house. We might get to go again next month.

It was a good week. 2 different people we met with have friends who they've been talking to who might become new investigators this week, which would be awesome. Also a couple members we've been working with just reached out to innactive friends who want to get back into the church, but are having a hard time doing it on there own and would like to meet with us, which is also super good.

I ate an intersting thing this week at lunch. We've had a can of chili (con carne) (with meat) for a while, and every time I see it I want to make a chili dog, but don't want to buy a thing of hot-dogs because I don't know if i'll want the rest. This week someone gave us a free bag of hot dog buns (which are cut across the top, not the side, which is a weird NE thing) so I felt like I had to make use of the chili. I cooked some chicken and put it on the buns like a hot dog and enjoyed my chili-chicken dog very much.

a few different families in the ward have had bad occurrences at their homes this week. One was a fire and the other had to do something with pipes bursting and soaking/ruining most of their stuff and wrecking the house. It's sad, but the cool thing to see was how quickly the ward could help them out. Both got places to stay and everything they needed to get by and be relatively comfortable. We were able to help bring them some things and I just enjoyed seeing the true christian spirit about it.

That's everything from me. It was fun to read all the fun things going on at home (in the warmth!) It was good to read the Rams have had such good coaches/scouts lately they are able to be a factory for pro-bowl players and are charitable enough to share the wealth. I forgot to bring the list with me, but I remember thinking Chase had the best Fantasy [in our family fantasy football] name. Heather and Steven get bonus points for good comp unity though. Quinn will probably get admitted to BYU for his service and basketball sacrifice. and good job to Christopher for taking the classic first day of school picture.

Love you all!

Received Monday, January 21, 2013

Zak, enjoying a Nectarine...

QUESTIONS:

Did you get my hand-sanitizer package?

yes! i think i got it 1 day after going to the store and buying hand sanitizer though. I was just coming out of the depths of my sickness

Feeling all the way better?

probably 85-90%. I still have a gross sounding cough and am a little congested. it's not a huge deal. My voice finally started sounding normal a day or 2 ago. We're scheduling a full regular day though, not taking it easy anymore.

Worn your new ear muffs yet?

yes, they worked great. I've worn them a few times with my scarf. We're not ever outside that long, but it was nice to have them, especially when not feeling 100%.

Do you think you got anyone sick??

well Elder Beck and Lopes both got sick too, and it very well could have been through me. Also one day when Elder Beck and I just went to like 2 appointments because I was recovering we decided not to go to a dinner appointment because 2 small babies would be there and I didn't want to infect them. When we didn't show up she was a little upset and had the other guys call and demand we come. She makes good food and I was feeling ok'ish so we dashed over. She has since gotten sick. We tried!

What about a flu shot...was it ever offered...I guess it is too late now.

yea, if we want to fork over like 30$. Sister Packard texted us encouraging us to think about it/look for places to get it for free.

Are you eating the same, old stuff?

I've eaten a lot of chicken noodle soup in the past week. I also open a can of chicken and put that in. I've eaten a little bit of ramen noodles too, which I had been trying not to do. I'm kind of getting tired of oatmeal in the morning, but I'm not sure what else to eat. I was craving grapes while sick and have been eating those a lot too.

What are you doing today?

feeling tired. our dinner appointment today was at 5, we were able to push it back to 5:30 though, but it still cuts things a little short. After that we were asked to go to this Single Adult (as in, not young) Home Evening thing.

There's a lady that works at a breakfast place who was friends with the Staples (senior couple) that we've been needing to follow up on so we went to her place for breakfast. We didn't get an appointment or anything, but it was good to make contact again and it was a yummy brexfix.

Hear any talk about the Inauguration?

This email if the first I've heard of it. I can't believe how extreme the opinions are of the president. 

I did hear about "the game" though.

 I was sad to hear The Pats lost. I didn't know Pitta caught the TD though, I had completely forgotten about him. Elder Simpson pointed out this morning that it's the brothers coaching against each other. The Harbowl should make the NFL people happy. I also think Matt Ryan vs Joe Flacco would have been interesting because they were drafted together. I wanted the patriots though.

btw, did any Rams make the probowl? Is there anyone besides the Rams starting on the NFC roster?

Have you used your dart guns again?

we've shot them at each other just a few times, but that's it.. I think the betting line how many more times i'll really use it would be 2.5.

[I wrote in my letter to him:] Ok, I am pooped! Must go to bed. Nice chatting with you. Hope you feel good and able to do the work you want to do. Let us all press on!!

[his response:] I am pooped too! I feel extra tired today for some reason.

Someone just called and told us it is supposed to snow a lot tomorrow and asked if we would help shovel out the church parking lot. That should be interesting. I've never had to do that before.

Right now I feel like it's pretty cold. It hasn't been terrible the past week but it just got a bit colder; but I think what i've been complaining about has been around 30! not the single digits of provo. Sounds like the Jimmer Generation at BYU has to suffer more for to make up for their previous blessings.

Someone told us yesterday at church that in about a week it's supposed to dive down to single digits though. I hope it doesn't really happen.

I think the biggest accomplishment of the week has been getting healthier. I hoped after I got antibiotics I would get better quick, but it's still been slow. I finished that book by Clayton Christensen I talked about last time. We got to talk to a few families about the things we learned from it. I like it a ton, I wish we had a bunch to give out to all the members. We've committed a few people to look at the website too (everydaymissionaries.org). One of those people was the Elders Quorum secretary and vented on us for a while about people not doing their home teaching/especially not reporting it. There's not a ton we can do about that as missionaries, and it's always kind of weird when people vent on us, but at least I vowed to him I'd do it when I got home. I guess we didn't do a great job with him making doing missionary work sound less intimidating or impossible, because he didn't really want to talk about doing that so much, but he did say he'd continue to introduce himself to someone he doesn't know every sunday, which is also a very good thing.

I lost my daily planner, which was a bit of a bother. I don't know where it could have fallen out of my pocket or something. I have an extra one luckily. We were able to set up a lot of things for this week too, which is really great. A lot of people around here have been/are sick. Maria (who was baptized about a month ago) spoke last that Sunday we were home sick. It was good for her, and we heard she did a great job, we were bummed we missed it.

Also there is a youth temple trip for baptisms early in February we're going to try and get her and Chris and a few other people ready for. The less active people who we were expecting came to church yesterday which was exciting. Some of them have come a few weeks in a row now.

Our ward mission leader was just released and pulled into the Elders quorum presidency, which is too bad because he was really enthusiastic We're not sure who is the new one yet. It will be a good chance to start fresh with no precedence and do things better.

I'm excited for an appointment this week with an older sister who asked us for a book of mormon to give to her friend. She said she also has many friends who have wanted to come to church with her. we gave her an extra BoM, but we're going to see how we can help her help her friends. Also she let us know she just ordered a new book all about member missionary book, and it happened to be The Power of Everyday Missionaries! (we call it PEM for short), so we'll talk about that and study it a little together.

Good job to Quinn for teaching a lesson. In a year he'll probably be called to be a teacher in his singles ward, and now he'll be very prepared. It gets easier the more you do it. and good luck to Beebachu [Kylie] in 2 weeks. Did kylie get a letter from a pen-pal person here? someone told me they wrote a letter? it was a few weeks ago, she should have gotten it by now.

Also, on LDS.org they have stuff about helping youth in the new curriculum all the time.

does anyone use my ipod? is there a spare one in the house? I just had a thought, if i got an ipod I could download the music they give for free at lds.org/youth and listen to it in the car and stuff. I may request that in the future, if it is available.

I think that's about everything. I'm going to keep complaining about the cold even though I'm the warmest person in the family outside CA. I'll keep doing some happy things as well. I hope people aren't too depressed to meet with us after their patriots lost.

Keep doing good things!

Love Zak

P.S. also I forgot to ask, what color are Griffin's hands? back to normal yet? they should have him teach primary, just like his siblings teaching classes


P.P.S.also one last thing. I really liked the email we all got today from President Packard. I'll copy/paste it here incase you're curious to see what kind of stuff he sends us.

Also about kylie, what math is she in? I thought she got an A every time in every class

From Julie/Mom: The letter Zak refers to from President Packard is excellent reading! I was grateful to have read it and enjoyed his perspective on MLK. In his letter, he also includes MLK's "I have a Dream" speech  So, where to put all that so you can enjoy it?? I have put it on another "page" on this blog, you can get to it by clicking the link below. Here's hoping it really works. It is worth your time to read it!
http://elderzak.blogspot.com/p/dear-elders-and-sisters-today-is-martin.html

Received Monday, Jan 14, 2013

I've been sick and haven't shaved since Friday morning. I thought I looked too  miserable, when I'm really doing ok now, so I took one while I was smiling. You might be able to see an ailing Elder Beck in the background of one.

Zak, as usual, started by answering my never ending questions:

Did you get the ear muffs I sent?

yes! they were good. Elder Beck has some just like them

Did you get the New Years Eve questions; the knit hat?

I did and I did

Did you try to answer any of those questions? (NYeve)

yes is not a homophone, but it is the answer to the question. I went through them all, I think with elder Wilding. There were 2-3 that I didn't know that didn't have it written down, I should have brought them with me. I was glad to see my own Q's in there

Did you buy anything in Building 19 last week?

We didn't end up going. I don't remember why. I think there was no time.

Did you do any home teaching from the ward last week?

well missionary work IS home teaching, it just is usually to non-members; so yes I did LOTS of home teaching. Also, we always record and report to the ward mission leader all the members we meet with (active or not, if we had any sort of meeting, dinner appointment or anything) and they put that down as home teaching. We were not assigned any families or anything though.

When do transfers come again?

sometime in the first week of February.

I am just about an hour away from when Tom [from mom/julie: for you non-football people, Tom is Tom Brady, quarterback of the Patriots] and his buddies play ball, so those games were pretty close to me. It sounds to me like they're going to win the Superbowl  Joe Flacco isn't really strong enough to hit clay pigeons [search for this on Youtube...it is great] with a football, so they won't win. I'm still mad at the Falcons for stealing that receiver that I wanted the Rams to get so they will be cursed and nobody liked the 49ers.

I didn't know there was an official state of emergency or anything, [state of emergency in Boston because of the flu...and apparently Zak had it!] but I have heard a lot about how bad it is. and I've felt it too. 

Elder Wilding was sick like 2 weeks ago, we don't know if it was "the bug" (that's what everyone says) or something a little different. He mostly just had to make very frequent trips to the bathroom. I started to feel sick Tuesday night. It was while we were at a lesson with Maria. I just got really cold and my head was tired and I felt sick. Wednesday i felt mostly better, we didn't cancel any plans, I mostly slept and moved slowly instead of morning studies, but the rest of the day was regular and I felt ok. but it kicked in around 7:00 PM again with me suddenly feeling extra cold and tired and a little miserable.Thursday was basically the exact same as Wednesday but a little worse. Friday was a bit worse too. We did cancel somebody late at night because I knew (correctly) that's when it would be the worst. That night it was really hard to sleep. that was the worst part of the whole thing. Saturday morning was not fun either. I knew I wasn't going out at all. My voice was totally weird, very deep and funny. made it entertaining to sing "down down down in a burning right of fire". After that morning I never felt too too miserable though. When I called the doctor he said to take 3 ibuprofen 3 times a day and some sudafed. About the ibuprofen, he felt he needed to give me a quick spiel about how if he were to prescribe it to me it would be an even big dose than that, so don't be worried about taking so much, but I had already heard mom say that sort of thing 999 times so I wasn't bothered.

 Elders Beck and Lopes got sick Saturday as well. It hit us all differently. Lots of sneezing and coughing. Nobody threw up. I've gone through 2 big boxes of tissues. there were no elders at church on Sunday  I'll be well enough to go out tomorrow though and I really think Elder Beck will too.

 We went out and bought soup, Gatorade  and pudding today to facilitate the process. The other lame thing that happened it that today our water suddenly got shut off. The plumbers said it should be about 4 hours, so hopefully it's back when we get home. we went over with a few jugs to the Simpsons and got them filled up with water.

There was one other fun thing that happened this week before we started our impression of the pirates who don't do anything.  On Wednesday I think this lady we've been trying to help [stop] smoke called and said her friend gave her some cigarettes and she still had them, but she didn't want to smoke them. I think it's kind of strange people don't just throw them away in this situation  but I'm also glad people call us about this stuff. I told her not to throw them away and wait till our lesson later that day. We brought our blender with us. we put her cigarettes in it with some water and blended it all together and poured it into a cup. It was a very gross grey chunky mixture. The point was to help her realize even more she does not want those in her body, plus it would probably healthier to drink the brew than it would have been for her to smoke it. It was a good lesson. I've heard a few times of missionaries doing things similar.

One other fun thing was a lady we're helping get back to church gave each of us (the Simpsons also always come with us) a card saying thanks and some nice things. I wonder if she still would have done that if she knew we were going to talk about tithing that day (just kidding).

To answer griffin's question I beat all my companions at Pokemon  many times. Also I beat them twice in a row at risk while sick.

That's everything. You all try to stay healthy, and stop copying our weather, since you're in California, it might as well be warm. You can always wear knee high pink socks if it gets cold though. go pats!

Love you all!

Received Monday, January 7, 2013

This picture was sent to me on Sunday night, January 6th.
He ate dinner at the home of the Mello's. 

That mother takes the picture and then sends it to me. SO NICE!

                Elder Wilding          Elder Beck         Elder Cole          Elder Lopes

 QUESTIONS:

Who are the other two elders in the picture? I am sure you have talked about them, but I just don’t remember, sorry.

There is me, my companion Elder Beck and Elders Wilding and Lopes. Wilding was Elder Concha's companion, he got here the same time as Elder Beck. Elder Wilding is Elder Lopes' (pronounced Lopez) trainer. (now in his 2nd transfer). Everyone but me is from Utah (Elder Lopes was born in Brazil though and has spent a lot of time there. Still has lots of family living there). Elder Wilding was the biggest pusher for us living the law of consecration (which I like a lot). Elder Lopes has spent the most money on pokemon cards. Wilding was called to speak portugues.

What did Sis. Mello serve for dinner?

They always serve a soup and a meal. We had french onion soup. Both of their kids at home were shocked to hear none of us missionaries had any recollection of eating it before. They don't realize growing up 90% of the time for dinner I just had food, not fancy french soups. for the main meal there were green beans, mashed potatoes and meatloaf which I really enjoyed. It was a very good meal. They are a great and strong family. their kids all play musical instruments, are all in the ward choir, sister Mello plays the organ at church and their daughter does the hand wagging. Also she gets to be the person who does the "stand up" hand signal during the rest hymns, which I think would be fun. I don't know if Sister Mello works. I would guess no. She has a calling in primary.

What fun are you doing today?

I think we're going to go to this store called Building 19 because people always talk about how ghetto it is. It has all the reject stuff from other stores. I went there in my first transfer and resisted an unexpected urge to spend like 12$ for a toaster that would (supposedly) toast a patriots logo into the toast.

What is the best thing you ate this week?What is the worst thing you ate this week?

The Mello meal was quite delicious. Also last night at the Campbell's house we had a scrumptious chicken and spaghetti meal. It seems we've been getting fed a little less lately and I'm unfortunately beginning to get tired of making the same stuff all the time. Just a few hours ago I microwaved an egg and ate it on a bagel someone gave us yesterday and that was good though. It seems somehow wrong to me to microwave an egg, but I've seen others do it enough it did anyway.

Have you heard much talk about the new Sunday school/priesthood class lessons that will be taught this year...they way they will be taught?

I was going to email about that last week, but forgot. The answer is a yes! a week from yesterday's church (the same one that had very few people because it was so snowy) had a combined 2nd hour all about the new youth program. I think it sounds great. I'm sad I missed out on it by just a few years. I bet it'll be kind of tough at first but after not to long it'll be working really well. It's not a coincidence it's being implemented right after the age drop for missionaries. It will be an amazing mission prep. There's not time anymore for kids to be too cool/too busy/too complacent to gain a personal testimony. It'll make youth spend time during the week to get ready for Sunday, which will be an adjustment, but again, I do really wish I had grown up with that.

Did you ask more people about the Rose parade; if they heard of it?

yes. basically all the youth said no and all the parents are shocked that their kids don't know about it. Sister Mello watches it sometimes and I think sister Cambpell does every year. None of their kids knew about it.

From Griffin: when you are not doing anything, what keeps you entertained?

usually when I get bored I just make some blue slime to entertain myself for a few hours. just kidding. Not doing anything usually means in the car (see below) or asleep. I will admit though that I started doing this thing with our soccer ball in the apartment. I stand like 8 feet from a wall (on my left) and face parallel with it. I drop/toss the ball over my shoulder and use my heal to kick it off the wall and then I catch it. The alternative way it to drop the ball in front of you, but then you have to catch it behind the back. I am quite good. Maybe I'll take a video.

Do you listen to music in the car? What kind? Or do you just talk/discuss....or are you quiet?

yes. most of it is like the cd you sent me with people singing church related/inspiring songs. Also elder beck has lots of MoTab. Also there is some talking/discussing.

It's been a good week. Kind of slow though. Church yesterday was good and we were able to schedule some things for next week which is good. We do have a dinner appointment today and then a lesson with a prospective Elder later. Sometime this week we want to meet with our new Elders Quorum president and see how we can help. we might suggest that he assign some strong members to teach some of the less actives we've been working with who will be receptive; but he can assign us some members to home teach, so those people he assigns less actives to won't have to do any more work than before, it will just be shifted to people who especially need the visits.

We invited a member (RM) in the ward who used to work for Hasbro to visit a less active with us who has a huge action figure/ comics collection. It went pretty well and it was fun/kind of funny to hear them talk comics for a bit. This guy has toys all over his house. in just about every room on every piece of counter space. He'll often show us his latest purchase. Last time it was a 30 inch action figure of a villain I've never heard of who I think fought against the Justice League.

The highlight may have been Friday when we had Zone Meeting. They gave all of us a book, The Power of Everyday Missionaries by Clayton Christiansen (1st councilor to President Packard) that's all about doing member missionary work (written as per request of Elder Ballard). I haven't been able to read a ton of it yet, but from what I have it's really good. Very helpful. President Packard's biggest thing he's always trying to get going is us helping members do missionary work, and actually working towards the members being the finders and missionaries the full time teachers.

no time for sports response. sorry. I don't like Peyton.

Love you all! have a great week!

Received Dec 31, 2012

 It's just nice to see Zak's face; so here he is with another elder...Elder Udy

a picture of Zak's Christmas tree

(It was Zak's 20th birthday on December 30th)

Thank you for the happy birthday!

Did you sing Ring Out Wild Bells in church today?

Yes! I was very excited, even though I don't actually like singing it. It just reminds me of playing Dota and saying the phrase "the year is dying".

Did anyone say “happy birthday”, like ward people?

The missionaries did. I think 1 or 2 other people remembered. I/someone also mentioned it in conversation a few times then they did. Maria said if I told her sooner she would have made a cake. Sister Perry, a really nice person in the ward with a BeeBee aged daughter has a birthday on the same day (or maybe one before or after).

How did you like your presents?

yes, very much. The thermals were great, I wore them on my birthday (they came on christmas).

Sorry about all the MORE sugar items....

its ok. I finished the first box of trix Saturday night. I only ate a few of the chewy cookies though. I also had a few of the butterfingers which were super good. Eating a lot of sugary food makes me feel gross now though. maybe its a good thing.

we have SO much junk food right now. we weighed it and it came out to something like 14 pounds (literally). I took a picture of all of it

SURPRISED about you getting long underwear?? Hmm..was that Christmas or b-day...

not super surprised, but I was happy about it.

I really like the Captain America shirt I got for Christmas a lot, I almost don't want to use it as a work out shirt, except that's basically the only time I could wear it. the swooshy pants have been very nice as well, I use them every morning.

on friday night we checked the mail and there was a slip saying I had a package in the office, but it was already closed. It was also closed saturday and sunday so I didn't get the package from Dad till today. I had totally forgotten he painted those. I really like it. I wish I had a good way to put it up. An excellent painting on MA and the temple (with a 13 star flag). The football logos were funny too.

I opened my first (of 2) packs of football cards and the very first card I saw was Steven ACTION Jackson! "The lone player to rush for at least 1,000 yards every season since 2005. The consensus MVP of all time"*

*quote only slightly edited.

I was very surprised that I happened to get him. kind of funny.

I also got Jonathon Joseph of the Texans and Jason Babin of The Dream Team.

That reminds me, I happened to talk a little with someone in the ward about the Patriots on the week they played the Texans. He was confident the Pats would win, but mentioned the Texans have a good D because their DE J.J Watt is basically "unstoppable".

The NFL playoff picture is weird to see just because it is so different than what I would remember. I can't believe two dork rookie QB's made it.

Dad should be required to root for whoever picks up his pal Andy.

Talk about New Year’s Eve: rules, any appointments; any plans;

Thats today. No special rules. It's p-day then we're seeing a less active member (wh's trying to quit smoking) then going up to the Spearins. I guess people here like to have Chinese food on New Year's so that's what they're getting. The Rubensteins (at their house on Christmas) told us they had missionaries over till past midnight last year. After we said we couldn't do that she said "the rules sure have changed a lot". Someone else said the same thing a while ago when we said we couldn't go swimming in their pool. I can't believe when I got here it was summer.

what about the Eve and the actual Day? Can you watch the ROSE Parade? It will be like seeing our weather; you can say you drive down that street; you see the lines that the floats have to follow; lots of good conversational points to make.

just a regular day. Can't watch the rose parade. I just asked Elder Beck If he new what it was and he has never heard of it. Neither have the other missionaries in the apartment. I'll ask the Spearins if they've heard of it. The kids will say no (we found out a few weeks ago they had never heard of Michael Jordan) but I bet the parents will say yes.

Do anything fun today?

we pulled out all our money from the new month and put it in our consecration pot. Also we shamelessly played a bunch of Pokemon matches ( if it helps validate me at all my lifetime record is 11-3)

Did you eat somewhere good yesterday?

A member fed us like usual. It was good. Also Chris and the other kids at that house made us lunch which was nice of them.

What did you eat?

food, with a side of comida.

for dinner someone made us potatoes con carne, with meat! (pork). Chris and co. made us some chicken and rice and mashed potatoes (which didn't taste good. but was very nice.)

Saturday night it was snowing a ton. It was kind of scary to be driving in. huge snowflakes. It was the first time it really snowed a lot since I've been here. there was a good chance church was going to be canceled the next day, but it cleared up a little bit, so it was still on. Still lots of snow everywhere though. Very few people at church. We almost had to go and help shovel out the parking lot, but someone get to it first. We helped prepare, pass and clean up the sacrament.

I wore my nice snow boots.

The 2nd hour was combined and all about the new youth curriculum. I thought it sounded really good. I think it'll be great, and not a coincidence its changing right after the missionary age change.

I'm still getting lots of merry christmas cards from the ward which is very nice. Sister Cramer said mom did a good job in relief society.

I would have said the same thing as dad about your song choice at karaoke (very good story). Good sports update. What's new with the Clippers? still Lob city? Still have the dunking guy who would benefit from free throw lessons in-between Counter-Strike games with Griffin?

You can add these questions to the New Years game

which Nephite prophet raised his brother from the dead? A: Nephi

What is Sam Bradford's number? A: 8

Which Chapter in the Book of Mormon has the most verses? A: Jacob 5

can you send my earmuffs and a beanie for my birthday? (unless you can't find any good ones in sunny CA). It might actually get cold from now on.

That's everything! I had a great holdiayful week! make some good new years resolutions (and then keep them!) tell griffin have fun playing baseball, but don't do steroids!

p.s. I just got a text saying president wants us home by 8:00 tonight. Guess we can't take a midnight swim like i was hoping... (just kidding!)