Zak has Left the Building!

Zak is now at the airport waiting for his flight to Boston!!
He's feeling good!

UPDATE: I've just talked to Zak! He is standing at his gate, ready to go. Excited and happy and feeling very prepared. For those of you that sent items to him in the last few days, he got them! Thank you! For those of us that sent a Dear Elder this morning, (Monday), he did NOT get those. We'll see what happens with those letters.

So, Zak saw the MTC doctor this morning; he told the doctor he felt great. They called Zak's mission president and the said to send Elder Cole right out to the mission. Zak was told he had 2 hours to pack and then they would take him to the airport.

Hopefully, Zak's p-day will be Wednesday; he needs to do laundry. And he will let us know if there is a better address to write him than the mission office in Boston. I will keep you posted.

So far, so good!

Handwritten letter Received July 14, 2012

Written July 11, 2012
Received July 14, 2012

Dear Family,

I didn’t get to mention I got big and great Dear Elder updates from both Heather and Chase. It sounds like things are going really well for the Young Cole Family, especially since Heather has finally converted to the Lakers.   Chase sounded busy, but still having fun. Some of my favorite moments in class/what I think is super useful are when a teacher says something like “and finally 6 months into my mission I learned that...” so any good RM insights/stories are much appreciated.

When I first heard Nash came to the Lakers it made my day. I think that is amazing. Definitely keep sending me big sports updates; one of my teachers was just stressing how having common interest like sports can help a lot with investigators. Also I just talked to a missionary from Boston (going...I don’t remember) and he specifically told us we should try to talk sports with the people there. He also said to never mention that I was a Laker fan.  So Boston sports stuff would be especially good. I heard from someone that Ray Allen went to the Heat. I’m highly disappointed. Jason Terry is now a Celtic now, right? 

I have no amazing Elder Bednar talks to talk about but I found/someone showed me 2 scriptures which are now 2 of my favorite. They are John 4:14 and Romans 8: 38-39. I especially like to share the Romans one with my “investigators” a lot.

I just looked up and the elder across from me is named “Elder Humble”. My two favorite names are still “Elder Funk” and “Elder Beebe” though.

My Mono being a Yankee fan (referring to a joke that Zak made in his last letter) was just because of the Boston Red Sox vs. Yankee rivalry. I hope too many people didn’t think that was too much of a stretch.

No, I am not a district leader anymore. I enjoyed my time being one though, so I do have to get it (my mail) from my DL instead of already checking it myself. That is not a deal at all though.

I have not seen the facebook post about where everyone in the dorm is going. I’ve heard about it though from BYU friends who are newly arrived and would like to see it.

Doing laundry is not a huge hassle. We check our e-mail/write letters while we wait for it.

I will ask about the tailor to see if they can fix my button situation.

Glad to hear Quinn’s project got approved. He’ll be really happy when that is all finally done.

I don’t really know how long I’m going to be in the MTC. I meet with the doctor on Friday so if things are ok then I would guess I might even get to leave Monday. I think later in that week is more likely, with longer delays also possible. I already have a calling card so unless I’m in a huge rush or something, I’ll call when I’m in the airport.

There is no one in my district or zone going to Boston. Everyone is staying in the States though.

I’ll keep working hard and resting hard too. (Is it better to rest soft? Hmm...not sure). I haven’t felt very sick today at all plus I’m allowed to take a nap whenever I want, so I’m doing well and expect a quick recovery.

Love,

Zak

P.S. Don’t jump in elevators. It’s probably karma for back when we did that so I got sick.

Received Wednesday, July 11, 2012

what has 4 letters and clearly is a fan of the Yankee's?

Mono

I assume mom passed the stuff I said to her on the phone. I meet with the Doctor again on friday so I can tell him how I'm doing. I was a little worried yesterday because for parts of it my headache seemed a little worse, and even my ears started to hurt (probably from pressure because I'm always blowing my nose). But today I woke up and feel much better. Normally I wake up with this awful, indescribablly gross morning mouth but today I didn't at all! I even had a pretty good appetite and even though I can still feel a bit of a headache and sore throat, it's not bad at all. Hopefully I just keep getting better.

1 really important thing about my address. Because I'm in a different district my mtc address is different. the box number is now 196 (not 197). I've been told if you just do that, everything should work out.

I've been moved down to the district in our zone that got here 1 week after us. I'm in a trio now, so I have 2 companions. I moved into there room and everything already (same building, same floor, not a big transition. being in the same zone makes everything easy). Being in class with them and stuff will be interesting, especially because every teachers does things differently.

Yesterday was kind of sad because it was the last day with our whole district. The 4 sisters are also in the MTC another week because they have to learn stuff specific to their missions (temple square/San Diego Mormon Battalion). They aren't in our zone anymore and will spend a lot of time in Salt Lake, but I'll still be able to see them around. They were especially super bummed about everyone leaving. I guess being around the same people 24/7 for 3 weeks does that. They each made us all cards and stuff. They secretly wrote this song, and sang it to us yesterday that is the tune to 2 songs (not hymns) we sing all the time but with lyrics about our inside jokes and stuff, it was very funny. they (and me) woke up early this morning when all the other guys in the district got up to go. The sisters keep telling me that they're sad I have mono, but they're glad that at least I get to be around for another week instead of everyone leaving at once.

My two new companions are Elder Rotterback and Elder Jester. I already knew them and everything, so It'll all go great. The friday before you leave you do this things called In-field orientation. it takes all of the day (you get a 2 hour lunch and 2 hour dinner though). I liked doing mine a lot, they teach you a lot of stuff you haven't talked about yet, especially about finding and key indicators. They stress baptisms a lot. You spend half the time in a big room with everyone who's at the orientation learning and half the time split up into smaller groups. One interesting thing I've learned about missionary work so far, is that there's a lot of things are kind of a paradox, you have to find a good balance. They preach to you the importance of the PMG how, it was an inspired work and so important, but then the next day they drill you about teaching people, not lessons and not being to much of a stickler. Also they teach you not to get hung up on the numbers and to just focus on working your hardest and thats what matters, and then during in field orientation they pound you about needing to get as many baptisms as possible and you shouldn't spend time doing anything unless it directly helps increase your key indicator numbers (lessons taught, baptisms, new investigators, etc).

I feel like I learned a lot from it, but It'll be wierd to do the same thing again with the new district.

Other than somehow getting the "kissing disease" while in the mtc nothing huge has happened. I still really like it here, and know There must be a reason I'm going to be here a while longer (probably a week, possibly longer if I don't get better). It was funny to get all these letters about how exciting it must be to finally be going to Boston though.

times up. I'll try to send a letter today. I don't know If i'll get to email or anything again before I leave

Love Zak

My companions are still going so I thought I'd throw in a few things I forgot while I wait. One of the buttons popped off my blue suit! i can't find it! I don't think I brought a spare :( if somehow you find it send it. what am I supposed to do about that?

also about my Boston companion, what the MTC presidency guy said happed is that the guys who was supposed to be my trainer was put into a trio, so it will be an easy transition for when I do get there for him to shift over to be my companion. Also, something they said at In-Field was that they have this new 12 week program for new missionarys when they get to there area. I'm not sure much about it, but they said that you have the same trainer for 12 weeks, and you have a double length companion study with them every day and you do more role play stuff with them to help get more practice. The real truth is that no one likes doing that role play stuff, but It must be good if there really going to make us practice it more for 3 months. We don't know much about the whole 12 weeks program thing, or whether it's actually a big deal, but I guess I'll know more about it when I get there

Other interesting things I just remembered. Elder Orgill had a small brown dog at home named Coco. true story.

Also in the district that left a week ago was an Elder BeeBee (spelled Beebe though) I could hardly talk to him with a straight face. I told him that's what I called my Sister.

Mono at the MTC!

phone rings
Mom: Hello!
caller: Mom?
Mom: um, what child is this?
caller: guess
Mom: um, um, (it sounded like Zak, but obviously, it wasn't/couldn/t be him) did you say Mom?
caller: yes
Mom: um, um, is this Zak?
Caller: YES!

He called because he is NOT going to Boston tomorrow, Wednesday, July 11th.  He was feeling sick last Thursday. He would have gone to the doctor on Saturday, but he doesn't work on Saturday OR Sunday. He went on Monday.

They checked him out, took some blood. He came back on Tuesday and he was told he has Mononucleosis! He has had a headache for several days, sore throat, a little tired, terrible head draining (read mucus related issues). The doctor wants Zak to stay at the MTC for AT LEAST one more week. He wants to see how Zak is doing/feeling. If he goes now to Boston and gets worse, he will just ground his companion. IF Zak does not get any sicker, he may be able to go to Boston next week. They expect Zak to have this for 2 to 3 weeks.

Zak sounded very happy, chipper, just like Zak; but VERY congested. He has a nice, positive attitude.

So, we all have ONE MORE WEEK to use Dear Elder and write  to Zak at the MTC for FREE! Remember, you can write to him in the morning before noon Utah time and he will read it THAT night!
(And you know you can use Dear Elder even after he is gone from the MTC. You will have to pay some postage, though. I don't know how much. Just so you know...)

He will also send an e-mail tomorrow.
He does not know anything about his new companion, or district. We'll all find out more tomorrow!

Handwritten letter RECEIVED July10, 2012

July 4, 2012

Dear Familia,

         

          I just realized I forgot to say happy Independence Day in the email! Oh well. Feel happy and Patriotic when you get this anyway. Some questions I forgot to answer: Normally we go to the temple of out P-day (Wednesday), but bow it’s shut down for cleaningL.Today we just walked to the grounds and wrote letters and stuff. We got to go last week which was great, though. We also do a temple walk every Sunday.

          Heather was very upset I never mentioned that I shower everyday and told me I need to go take a shower. The truth is that I shower every day after gym, so I hope that calms any worries.

          I have seen friends from BYU here. It is always very exciting (and funny when you call them Elder).

          We are pretty good in class (not rowdy), but during “study time” people lose focus and goof around a little more. Everyone likes our teachers.

          I have not every “worked the phones” where people ask about the church and I gave not heard anything about it.

          It seems like our entire zone has the cold right now (including me). It’s not that bad, but the congestion/sore throat are irritating. I just started taking the allergy stuff again.

          I’m happy with everything I packed. I will probably buy a few more hangers here. There are 4 elders total in my sleeping room. Unpacking was not a big deal (I feel like that was months ago). No one has said anything about hair styles/getting a part. I’ll get my hair cut (for free) here before I leave. (What instructions should I give?)

          Dad mentioned that I haven’t written about my companion so I must hate his guts. This is not the case. Elder Orgill is great. Very easy to get along with and laid back. He’s from Bluffdale (spelling?), Utah. He went to Snow College for a year. Also he isn’t someone who often starts being a distraction during study time, which is nice. I think that answers all the questions. I remember Christopher asked some questions about my first days here, but I can’t find the exact letter so I hope I answered everything.

          My flight to Boston is July 11^th (Wednesday) at 9:50 Utah time a.m. I should be able to use a calling card to call home sometime before that. I hope someone is awake. I should get to Boston at 4:30. I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to email, but I will have a 6 hour flight to write letters.

          Later today we get out of class early to see the fireworks at the Stadium of Fire thing. I’m not sure exactly why/where we’ll be watching from, but it should be cool.

          The district that just left our zone (we get 1 and lose 1 every week) went to South Salt Lake and there mission home is in Sandy, so if any Utah relatives see an Elder Mutton, he’ll probably remember me. He’s from Australia and has an accent. I wasn’t really super close to any of the other people though.

          Random interesting thing: people here are always singing regular songs, but “mormonizing” the lyrics. It was kind of funny at first, but now might be somewhat excessive. I mentally give people minus 3 clever points every time they sing this* just because I’ve heard it so much:

*Hey, I just  met you,        (I’ll let you guess what the tune is)

 And this is crazy,

But here’s some scriptures,

So read them maybe.

          Today I couldn’t help myself from singing this though:

It’s P-day, P-day,

Get to write home on P-day

 

(Inspired by Rebecca Black)

          Every Monday we do “service,” basically cleaning or something for the MTC for an hour. It’s actually pretty nice, since it’s more physical and not in a classroom. Last Monday I vacuumed chalkboard erasers. I got to do it by myself and I was using a loud vacuum (with ear muff things), so at times I found myself singing. At one point I caught myself singing:

         

“forest of feelings, care-lot and Earth aren’t far apart”

Even though I haven’t seen/discussed the carebears movie in years. Very strange. also I have I am a Child of God stuck in my head and a few of the other hymns like every day. That’s about everything. I’m surprised at the struggle to find Quinn an Eagle project. I have no ideas. I can’t believe so many people are rejecting 100 free service hours. Also Christopher’s root canal sounds very not fun but hopefully it solves his problems. Good luck with everything!

                                                Love,

E.     Z.P.C.

P.S. I’m getting my hair cut on Tuesday, what instructions should I give?

Received Wednesday, July 4, 2012

First I'll answer Dad's email questions. You can keep sending me major sports news. Not necessarily the rumors, but if big names get sent around you can let me know. Let me know about the Dodgers when playoff time comes around. Let me know how the Rams are doing when the seasons starts/if they make any big moves.

In my daily gym time I usually play either basketball or volleyball in the gym. I'll probably do more volleyball because other people in my district like it a lot and it's fun to do stuff with them and it's hard to play basketball and find a happy medium between playing carefully so no one gets hurt and still actually having fun. Normally in sports, people get injured/hurt every once and a while and that's just part of the game, but in the MTC I feel like it's more important to be safe, and most people sort of play that way, but it's hard. I played 4-square once with random people and it was so boring just because they were so bad. it's like no one told them that you're supposed to try and get the other people out. I played for like 10 mins because I got to server and then finally someone got me out. I might play it with my district sometime though. Also I've gone to the field and played soccer a few times, especially while the gym was closed last week.

Yes, I like the MTC food. Every once and a while I'll eat cereal for breakfast because I don't like the breakfast food. The only problem is they never appease my demands of candy for breksfix. If only Lamar were here.

Part of the reason I say I'm glad I get to leave here after 3 weeks is because that's what's going to happen anyway, so I might as well be glad about it. Also it can get kind of tough to have life just 100% ruled by a piece of paper that has every single second scheduled out. That's kind of a pride thing though. Also sometimes a few things seem a little fake, all the role playing can be a bit bothersome, even when they do a good job. I'll be both nervous and excited when I get to Boston (only a week from now!) It'll be kind of sad to not be around my district anymore, our sisters will be super sad (they have to stay in the mtc and extra week to learn stuff specific to the tours they're giving in temple square/mormon battalion place). Have I talked about appreciating the Sisters? Our district/zone wouldn't be the same without them.

Now you have to play a guessing game

I did one of these 3 silly/foolish things this week, guess which one it is

1. stayed up till 2:00 AM talking to my roommates

2. Jumped in the elevator and got it stuck

3. Lost my backpack with all my stuff in it.

.

.

.

.

Our class that we spend so much time in is on the 4th floor and we always take the elevator. Just yesterday on our way down someone suggested we all start jumping and see what happened. Our whole district but 2 sisters were there. when he said that 1 sister pleaded we didn't, but every other person jumped at least once and suddenly the elevator fell quickly for like 2 feet and just stopped. we laughed for a second and then realized it might actually be stuck. then a robot lady voice came over the intercom and said there were technical difficulties and we needed to press the alarm button. dangit. We pressed all the floor buttons and the open door button, but it didn't work so we had to press the alarm button which just called someone who said they'd send an electrician right over. He got us out in like 45 mins. No one was really panicky or anything, it actually wasn't bad at all. The guy who got us out was really nice. At first he thought we'd get fined 50$ but there isn't any warning sign inside the elevator so we didn't. Very lucky. By the end of the day the elevator was working again, we still use it every time.

Moral of the story: don't jump in the elevator

District Leader stuff: I don't know how they choose/when the branch presidency talked about it because they chose me within like 20 mins of meeting us all. I have extra meetings on Sunday, including running the district meeting. (I had to give a 40 min lesson last time.) also I lead us in a discussion after Tuesday devotional. Our whole district gets mail in the same mailbox, and it's my job to get it every day after lunch and dinner and then distribute it. I'm always glad when i get to keep some of it for myself. also I choose someone to pick a hymn/pray before every class. None of it is really hard or anything, I think it's been good for me.

I'm really glad my letter home helped Mom plan her lesson. I've gotten both emails and dearelders from Heather/steven which has been really fun to hear how they are doing. (even if they still have lots of poopy diapers). The letters from Griffin also were very fun to read, he gave a good description of scout camp. I distinctly remember going to camp trask. He is very smart to know how to use Dearelder. I also got a great Dearelder from Nana. It was one of the very first pieces of mail I got, and I appreciated it a lot. Of course, I still have all the mail I've been sent. In a letter Mom said she was going to send a 2 sentence email, but instead I got a longer email from dad which was good.

I have -7 minutes left (whoops!) left on the computer so I'll hand write a letter and write about my companion/a few other things. Thanks again to everyone for everything, I'm still doing great. I miss you all, but I'm learning a lot here every day. I don't wish I was home, but I wish I could have you up here with me so you could see what it's like.

Love Zak

Handwritten letter Received Monday, July 2, 2012

Handwritten – June 27, 2012

Dear Family,

I tried to quickly skim over my letters before getting this so I could remember the specific questions you had and the only one I could find that I didn’t already answer was if I knew what hives was. (**note from Julie/Mom – I sent Zak a card with a joke about hives; which I can’t even remember anymore. I asked him if he knew what hives were, the joke wouldn’t be funny if he didn’t know about hives.) The answer is yes since I was about 6. Everyone knows what hives is. I thought the joke/pun was funny though, I was glad to get it.

What do you call a fake macaroni?

Answer:  an impasta!

Someone sent me a meme with that, so they get credit for the joke, I just thought it was worth passing on.

I’ve received written mail from Mom and today got something from Amada and have gotten Dear elder stuff from Mom, g-man, Tim Glenn, nana/bumpa and 2 different friends from BYU, so that has been really great for me. My BYU friends said they read my blog to see my mail, so Mom, you’re work has been appreciated by many.

I left off my e-mail trying to explain about progressing the investigator, which I think stuff like that is kind of the focal pint here. We’ve taught each of our 2 teacher’s investigator aliases once.  Also we just started doing TRC. (I don’t know what it is an acronym for). Which is just like progressing the investigator, but the investigators are people we’ve never met, who supposedly are recent converts or actually not members.  Most of them have been working here for a few years though, so it’s still very much role play.  We always have to have the mentality that it’s real though and that they really are learning about the church for the first time.

So like I said, I am liking the MTC a lot (but I am glad I get to leave after 3 weeks). Basically everyday I wish I could share the stuff I learned with home. One of my two favorite lessons was in class; one in the first day or so. Sister Winters (one of Zak’s instructors), talked about how we’ve been set apart as missionaries to do exactly what Christ would be doing if he were here. Also, his name is almost as big as mine on my name tag. It made me feel like I needed to repent for not following some of the missionary rules right when I got set apart. It was a good inspiring start to the mission.

My other favorite lesson was when we had our Sunday devotional. Sunday schedules are different. We watched a video of a talk Elder Bednar gave to the missionaries on Christmas in the MTC one year. It was called The Character of Christ and it was about how Christ always looked outwards, never thought of himself. He even healed one of the soldiers who arrested him. He talked about how we all (obviously) should be that way and not let the natural man affect us. He compared the natural man to the cookie monster “want cookie now!” It was great.  (I have not been gone so long that I don’t remember the difference between affect and effect!)

The last 2 things I have to talk about are meeting the Boston Mission President and our special Tuesday Devotional.

All the mission presidents who are new have been in the MTC last and this week.  Since the Boston Mission is getting a new president he was here too so they let all the missionaries going to Boston meet him. I’m sure all the missionaries loved meeting their president. There were 110 new ones. But President Packard and his wife seem like basically perfect people. They were nice. He gave everyone a hug right when he came in. There were about 30 missionaries there; some speaking Portuguese or Spanish or Cambodian. The Cambodian speaking guy has to be in the MTC for like 13 weeks or something.  His wife would have hugged us, but she isn’t allowed. They actually begin being president on July 1^st. They look like they’re in their 40’s. They have 1 son on his mission, 1 at home and 1 daughter. They talked to us for about 30 – 45 mins.

The other big thing is the Tuesday (yesterday) devotional. Since this was mission president week, the whole first presidency and quorum of the 12 have been at the MTC, so we know someone really important would speak.  In attendance were the whole quorum of the 12 except Elder Packer and Elder Nelson. The first presidency was not there. Elder Perry spoke.  There were 2 big projector boards in the auditorium where the meeting was and he gave an almost power point like fancy presentation. He gave lots of statistics about how the church affects its members. LDS men live 10 years longer than average and women live 5 years longer. Fasting once a month makes you 40% less likely to have clogged arteries. The whole talk was way different than what we expected.

That’s everything for now. My letters won’t usually be this long, so I hope you really liked it.  Also I hope you don’t mind that my hand sometimes randomly writes in cursive, even though it doesn’t look that good. I’ve actually been that way for a while. I’ll write again next week.

Love,

Zak

P.S.  I forgot to say you should keep asking questions if I forgot to answer them if you have new ones.

**EDITOR'S NOTE:

Are you curious to see Zak's mission president?? I was, so I looked them up. Here is the info from the LDS Church News:

Daniel William Packard, 43, and Alison McBride Packard, four children, Heritage Oaks Ward, Los Altos California Stake. Brother Packard serves as a stake seminary teacher and is a former counselor in a stake presidency, stake Young Men president, stake mission president, high councilor, bishop, Young Men president and missionary in the California San Bernardino Mission. Partner/attorney, Packard, Packard & Johnson. Born in Beaumont, Texas, to Bernard E and Sarah Packard.
Sister Packard serves as a secretary in Young Women and is a former stake public affairs director, Young Women president, counselor in a Relief Society presidency, seminary teacher and missionary in the Uruguay Montevideo and Texas Fort Worth missions. Born in Ogden, Utah, to Charles Brent and Jane Ruth McBride.