Received Monday, February 25, 2013

Three things to know before you read Zak's latest letter:

1. Steven, Zak's brother, who is a CPA, working for a Deloitte in Los Angles, grew a beard during his VERY busy work season. He vowed not to shave until "busy season" was over.

2. Quinn will be attending BYU - Idaho in the Fall!

3. CTR = Choose The Right

QUESTIONS:

Have you ever got your Valentine yet??

yes, I got it earlier this week. Very funny to see the pig-latin valentine I made a few years ago; how many of those do you still have? The balloon thing was very entertaining, where did you find it? I did not know what to expect, but faithfully pounded. It filled up very quickly and popped wildly out of the package. Very funny to me and elder Holt

How is the driving going?

As the designated driver, do you driver everywhere, to appoints and to the Laundromat, to the grocery store?

going just like regular driving, expect with a backer all the time. I'm always the one driving

Other elders were sick last week; you STILL healthy??

yup I've been good the whole time. Everyone has been back up to 100% for almost the whole week

from the mom: That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. We are all just moving forward and doing what we Cole’s do. You too. Keep up all your good work. Stay warm, enjoy the law of Consecration.

will do!

wow, you guys had some interesting things going on. That is shocking about quinn. I've only ever heard good things about BYU-I (except for the weird stories about how quickly people get married). There's a real chance there'll be no need or desire to transfer to provo later either. what was his final GPA and ACT score?

about kylie, a little bit of fear can be a good thing, but don't be too worried about it. I have no connections or real inside knowledge on byu admissions, but I can give my thoughts. I got into provo with 0 AP's or honors. I might be the only person who i've heard admit that though. I do think an A is a CP (regular class) is better than a B in an AP class. I really think honors doesn't help at all. the only thing an honors class will do is put you on the path to taking (and doing well in) an AP class which can help. I did know lots of people in provo who really benefited for their AP's because there's many classes they don't have to take that I do. saved them some time and money. My biggest reasons against AP's were I was afraid I wouldn't get an A and I didn't want extra homework. I never really was too burdened down with way too much work or anything in highschool though, an AP or 2 wouldn't have killed me. I would not have taken any honors or ap english classes though, I feel like those have a tough reputation (ask christopher). I would think about an AP history or maybe biology or chemistry, those are classes I tended to like and didn't find too difficult. I don't think taking all regular classes like I did is a bad thing at all either. The biggest changes I would make if I went back would be to study a little harder on my spanish vocab so I could have gotten A's in those classes, not to slack off every year in the 2nd semester and to not take that dang graphic design class that turned out not to be an easy A.

strange to see steven's thick beard pictures. reminds me of when Josh Shapiro had a big beard like that. What did Heather think?

I forgot Griffin still did baseball. Tell him to hit a home run.

that reminds me of another thing about BYU-I, they have amazing intrumural sports programs, much bigger and better than at provo. Take advantage of those.

about the basketball, was the tournament smaller this year? I feel like it used to be much more than just a 1 day event. sounded very fun though. a week or so ago I played basketball while on splits and was slightly disappointed in a regression in some of my skills. not too, too bad though.

we got to do lots of good things this week. The people we're teaching seem to be progressing well for the most part.

we had a good follow up meeting with the YM president about some things we talked about last week. He mentioned we might want to drop by one guy was up to teach in priests class

he also happens to be our missionary prep "class leader" so we talked to him about the class and helped him prepare a little bit for his lesson.

we were able to have a good mission prep class sunday morning. we set up a contest with them to get them inviting their friends to church activities (mutual, church, whatever). The contest goes untill the sunday after march 9th because that's when they have some fun fireside/youth conference thing that ends in a dance that they all could invite people too. They also had a dance last saturday that some of them already invited people too, so they already have a bit of a lead. Every invite counts, whether it's accepted or not. Winner gets homemade cookies. mostly we taught on receiving revelation through the book of mormon, and it went well.

We had our Zone Conference on thursday which was really good, and in our chapel so we didn't have to drive far at all. President Clayton Christensen wasn't able to make it, which was too bad because it would have been nice to hear him talk about his book.

We've been able to meet with more members about their experiences sharing the gospel. A lot of times just talking and asking questions just makes people realize the chances they do have. Also often it is just a good reminder of the ideas they already had, but haven't acted on yet.

Also we met with 2 people members who worked at ESPN, which was fun. Neither of them would admit to reenacting the "This is Sportcenter" commercials at work. I don't think I would be able to resist falling over and clutching my leg like a soccer player every time someone brushed my shoulder. One of them might have mentioned watching Dwayne Wade edit in extra defenders into his highlight reels though.

On sunday we had a great meeting with the Bishop. We talked very highly of the work Elder Holt and his last companion had done here, especially working with the less actives and really opened up about what he's stressed about in the ward and how we could possibly help.

We also got another baptisimal date this week, which was exciting. a part-member family husband. He still has to come to church more consistently and he's not sure he's sure the book of mormon is true yet, but he is determined to find out. which is exciting.

I almost forgot, I also got Christophers "package" with the conference Ensign, which was great. I like having it a lot. it was stuffed and securely duct taped into a milk carton. I really wish I could see the mailman's reaction as he had to stuff that into our mailbox

Things are still going busy and good here. Do you think President Packard would mind if we didn't shave until our busy season was over?

And I just remembered there was someone I talked to who had a relative who was in a Pasadena ward for a long time and was a bishop and maybe a stake president. Maybe Bumpa would know him. I don't have the paper with me that has his name though. I'll bring it next time.

That's all for now. CTR!