... not a whole lot has happened this week..
we did get to go down to queens again to help, but this time we didn't
do any of the heavy stuff. we helped a lady who was a hoarder.. she had
SO MUCH STUFF and like 20 cats and it was just unbelievable.. we emptied
out her garage and there was a HUGE pile of stuff and as we emptied it
out and took stuff from the pile we found out there was a CAR under all
of the stuff.. it was crazy! but it was fun.. she was very nice and very
grateful for our service.. we had interviews this week in our zone, but
since i had mine right before i got transferred i didn't get to have
another one. but after all the interviews were done we were going to end
and eat lunch, and one of the AP's asked me to do the prayer, and then
President Morgan told me i had to do it in portuguese.. i'd never been
so nervous in my life haha but i did it and he was super impressed, even
though i slipped some spanish into it- i don't think he noticed. but
yeah, life is good, and the language is coming along. We were going to
skype at brother whitmore's house on christmas- he is super rich, he's
the CEO of IBM and he's our ward mission leader..- but it turns out we
can't. so i think we're going to end up skyping at the Eberhards. and i
think we're gonna have a limit of 45 minutes.. lame, that's not long
enough! but i hope you guys have some cool stories for me haha i can't
wait to see and talk to everyone! and yes, i still try super hard to not
get fat. i think i'm getting a little stronger because i do pull ups
and push ups all the time.. literally if i have a minute to spare
anywhere in the day i get down and do push ups haha i think its working.
but yeah everything is good here, i love my companion and we get along
so good! his mom sent me a tie for christmas, so mom if you can just get
him a little something too, that would be great! I love you guys so
much and i miss you. Remember to say your prayers and to look for
missionary opportunities throughout your day. I promise that you will be
blessed! take care, be safe, look both ways before you cross to make
sure you don't hit any deer, and wait for your hot chocolate to cool
down so you don't burn your turn. Eu amo a voces, ciao!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Portugues is coming ....
... a little slow. it's frustrating when i
don't speak the language because there are so many things i want to say
but i don't know how to say them.. and i don't really feel like a
missionary because my purpose is to teach and invite, but since i don't
speak the language very well, i feel like i cant fulfill my purpose, and
that's really frustrating! so hopefully soon i can pick it up so that
my companion doesn't have to do everything by himself. Dad, we haven't
found out who we're gonna go to to skype, but we have a few people in
mind, so dont worry, i'm pretty sure we will figure it out! and i have a
crazy story to tell you guys, but it'll be lame if i write it out, so
remind me when we skype to tell you guys so i can tell it.. you will
laugh! anyway what else.. uhmm I don't know if i told you this last
time, but i live with my companion and 2 other elders who are our zone
leaders. so it's Me, Elder Potter- from idaho, elder bartleson- from
utah, and elder Irizarry- from puerto rico! and we actually all get
along really well, so we have a lot of fun in the apartment. since i
haven't been able to run, i've put a little bit more focused on working
out.. so instead of burning all the calories and running the fat off,
i'm gonna try to turn all the stuff we eat into muscle. hopefully it
works out, i just don't wanna be fat! haha
OH. so this past weekend our stake organized a service event which
was so awesome. we took a bus from our church and all went down to long
island to help the people who were affected by the storm. we went to
queens and everyone split off from there. on saturday, me and my
companion tore out the floor boards from some guys house.. it took us
like 4 hours! it was so hard, he had just done the floor and remodeled
his kitchen and everything when the storm hit. he told us his basement
was completely under water and that the first floor (which was 4 ft
above ground) was about 8 inches underwater.. but yeah, i was so sore
from that and got some nasty blisters on my hands, but to be able to
help this man and talk to him made it completely worth it. then on
sunday we had church at 8:30 and it lasted 30 minutes, then we all took
another bus back to queens to help clean up again. sunday me and my
companion went and helped a lady whose house was 6 feet underwater.. 6
FEET! could you imagine seeing the whole neighborhood under 6 feet of
water? all of the sheetrock from her walls had been completely destroyed
and fallen down, so when we walked into her house all of the sheetrock
was on the ground and you could see the wooden boards (the frame of the
house) where the wall was supposed to be. so we cleaned the sheet rock
from her house and afterward helped some guy do the exact same thing in
an apartment complex around the corner. i'm not kidding when i say that
me and my companion and one other guy literally cleaned up thousands of
pounds worth of this stuff. it was so hard! but so worth it. it really
was unbelievable to see the damage the storm caused and to see
everything that these people have to go through. it was definitely a
very humbling experience and i'm grateful that nothing happened to me
and that you guys aren't in danger of anything like that happening to
you guys. So please in your prayers include all of the people that were
hurt by the storm and all of the missionaries and other people who are
dedicating their time to help all of those who are in need, they need
the blessings more than we do! I hope we get to go again soon, the
missionaries in the New york new york south mission have been cleaning
nonstop since the storm hit, and there is still a ton of stuff to do.
Please be careful and take care of yourselves. and let the family know
that i love everyone! Eu amo a todos voces!
Happy Thanksgiving :)
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Oi !
Como estao voces? Eu esto muito bem, o idioma e poco difizil, mas esto apredendo muito!
I'll answer the questions first.
Dad i got to bethel on wednesday! and no i didn't travel by myself,
my companion picked me up and drove me back up here. my address is
Elder Zazueta
67 Hoyts Hill Road
Bethel, CT 06801
and no we don't need to buy a bike, we drive cars here!
Alright now for my life. things are completely different up here.
My apartment is way smaller than the last one i used to live in. and CT
is so different. so quiet compared to the bronx.. My companion is way
cool tho, we get along a lot better than i did with my old companion.
this one actually talks to me! haha the work is a lot different too.. we
drive around, pick a neighborhood, and then start knocking doors.
people are a lot nicer up here, but still not interested. and it sucks
because the sun sets at like 5, so when we knock doors around 5:30,
people get mad and say "shouldn't you guys be doing this during the day
time!?" or something along those lines.. I had to give a talk on
sunday.. it was weird because it felt like the chapel was empty. we are a
branch.. and at church were about 40 people.. and my ward technically
is only like 5 people, because we only have a few people that speak
portuguese, everyone else speaks spanish. so when we sing hymns, we sing
portuguese and spanish at the same time and that makes things
interesting. Portuguese is so similar to spanish! it's so similar that
it makes it hard to learn.. because it's hard to break habits that i'm
used to when i'm speaking spanish.. and some things are pronounced
differently. i can understand a lot of it, but i can hardly speak it..
and its frustrating because i can never say what i want to say.. i just
have to sit there and hope that my companion has things to say. we're
learning together. hopefully i can catch on a lot faster so that he
isn't the only one that teaches .. i feel bad because i feel like i'm
learning slow. i know i've only been here a week, but going from being
the guy who people ask for help in the language (spanish) to the guy who
always asks for help is frustrating. i hate not being able to teach and
fully understand what people are saying. especially being a missionary
because it's our job to listen to people and clear up their concerns..
so its just super frustrating that as of right now, i can't really
fulfill my calling as a missionary. and it's a struggle because i used
to be able to just focus on learning the scriptures since i already
spoke the language.. now that i'm trying to learn a new one, i have to
focus more on learning the language and less on learning the scriptures
and doctrine. it's just hard. hopefully i can figure it out soon so that
i can start being an effective missionary again. and i'm totally gonna
get fat up here. we drive, so that takes a lot of walking out of the
picture, and then nobody in my apartment wants to run with me.. so i do
what i can in the morning, but i don't think it's enough to keep me in
shape.. and we eat a lot more up here too. its just not looking good for
my figure in the near future haha man.. life is so different right now.
and i hope the mail isn't always that slow. just gotta stay positive!
oh, in case you were wondering. when i first got here, me and my
companion drove a 2011 ford fusion, but they just traded us cars to fix
the bumper on ours.. now we drive a 2010 toyota corolla.. hopefully we
get the ford fusion back soon because we don't like the car they gave us
haha but yeah.. things are a little hard right now, but i know if i
dedicate myself to learn and get better, then everything will fall into
place. the church is still true in portuguese. I Love you guys so much,
and miss you guys too.. especially now! i hope everything is going well,
let me know if there's anything i can do for you okay? be safe, and
love one another.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
First Transfer
HEY!
Dad
I wasn't getting revenge by not
sending you a letter haha i just had nothing to write back to! We
actually haven't had the opportunity to help with recovering for the
storm. but those efforts will begin soon and some of the missionaries in
our mission will have the opportunity to go to long island to help
clean up and stuff! I have not bought anything yet! but i probably will
be soon, seeing as how it's snowing right now! crazy right? wait so how
did you fall?? i hope you're okay, remember to ice! and our building
actually never lost power during the storm, we were very blessed, just
very bored because we weren't allowed out of our apartment for two days
haha
Mom
Mom
I'm not dying from the cold! i'm
actually doing pretty okay! and the storm is happening right now,
there's snow everywhere! that makes me happy that you get to go to sleep
early haha but i'm sorry that it's so differen't with the house being
so empty.. you guys will get used to it tho..
Alright now for how things are
going. well. everything is okay. and wayyyy different. my companion went
home today! well tomorrow, but his mission is officially over today.
crazy right? so we were waiting on sunday night for our zone leaders to
call us to let us know what was going to happen at transfers... i was
especially anxious/nervous because i knew i was gonna get a new
companion for sure! so sunday night we finally get the call. and we
found out that instead of just four elders living in our apartment, they
were going to bring two more to make it a total of six. They told
everyone who their companion was going to be, and then they told me that
my area was going to be split in half, and then going to be taken over
by 2 sister companionships.. meaning that i was leaving. What the heck!
at my interview president morgan told me that i was definitely going to
be staying in the area, so i thought they were just going to bring my
new companion in. but nope. i got transferred! any guesses where? i'll
just tell you. I am sitting in a library in bethel, Connecticut. but my
area is "danbury" ahhhhh seriously?! haha when i found out i was leaving
new york city to come to connecticut i freaked out and was soooo mad..
no more new york, no more NY pizza, no more manhattan, central park,
times square.. nothing! and i love the people in my zone, i made some
really good friends and i was so upset that i had to leave. but after
lots of thought and sleep and reasoning, i realized that i'm here for a
reason.. the Lord needs me here, so i need to keep a good attitude and
work hard while i'm here. but wait, there's a little twist. after i
found out i was coming to connecticut, and after i found out i was going
to be companions with elder potter, who was in the mtc at the same time
i was.. well.. they told me that i will be speaking portuguese.
PORTUGUESE. so as of right now i'm a portuguese elder haha CRAZY! i have
to learn so fast because i have no previous training.. but it's crazy
right? i know you guys probably like that. but it still hasn't really
sunk in. i guess if i can do this right, i'll end up being trilingual.
can't complain there! so yeah.. other than that, nothing has really
happened.
my interview with president was
really good, but really short. we didn't get to talk a whole lot, we
just talked about how i was doing and how i was getting along with my
companion. and i also found out that we WILL be able to skype for
christmas, that is if we can find somewhere to skype! so that will be
awesome, i can't wait!
but yeah mom it's good you
haven't sent the package, because i don't live at the same apartment
anymore. here is my new address, please get this out asap so that people
can mail to my new address and not the old one so i can actually get
the mail!
Elder Zazueta
67 hoyts hill road
bethel, connecticut 06801
I'm so glad Karla's wedding went
well. send me some food! haha i hope she has a kid by the time i get
back.. that'd be wayyyy cool! ahh man i don't know what else to write..
this past week has just been full of surprises. the storm, the new
storm, connecticut, and portuguese. i'm so nervous, we have an
appointment tonight with someone who only speaks portuguese.. i'm not
going to understand anything at all. things just got real haha I Love
you guys and miss you all so much.. i can't wait to talk to you guys on
christmas. Please take care, and pray that i'll be able to learn the
language fast so that i can actually do missionary work haha Los quiero
mucho!
Ciao!
Ciao!
-Elder Zazueta
Dad
Has it really already
been 91 days? thats crazy.. time is flying by. That's cool that you
downloaded a scripture mastery app onto your phone! you will probably be
better than me when i get home! It's been hard to memorize a scripture
each day.. we knock doors all day, and between knocking doors and going
to appointments, i don't really have time to memorize anything! I would
do it during my personal study, but i'm trying to learn about things
that i don't really know about, and i study to answer questions that
people have asked me and that i have no idea how to answer.. so the
memorizing is going kind of slow, but it will come! Wait so you finished
translating that book finally? good work! are they paying you a lot for
it? i'll be waiting for the money! haha and to let you know, yes we are
allowed to wear beanies and earmuffs and scarfs and all that.. we gotta
stay warm! the weather is actually really nice over here still.. in the
60's for the most part. i still haven't had to use a sweater or
anything. but it will get cold soon, so i will need to start buying my
winter gear in the next few weeks. That is awesome what Karla and Aaron
are doing at the temple! that's a good idea for when I get married haha
i'm happy for them.. It sounds like it's gonna be a full house! where
are you guys gonna put everyone?! is everyone gonna fit..?
Mother Dear
I'm doing great! and yes,
thanks again for my sweat pants, i didn't feel right without them..
Don't worry about sending the other ones soon, i know you are really
busy with everything, so do everything you need to do over there, and
when it's all done, then you can worry about me! Don't stress! I can't
believe Karla is thinking about switching jobs! i thought she had a
contract..? where does she want to go? i'm glad beto and alexia are
getting along better now.. they need to! especially since they'll be the
only ones living there soon.. haha you LIKE cooking for more people??
you should be happy that soon enough you'll only have to worry about 4
people instead of 6.. that will make it a lot easier on you! you're
right, Siri has nothing on you! you are definitely way better.. and i do
have some picture of all of the cool things in manhattan, but i don't
have a whole lot.. there is just so much cool stuff that i don't really
know what to take pictures of haha and as missionaries we're not
supposed to look like tourists, which is hard not to sometimes ! I can't
believe i have friends that are already back from their missions.. the
other day i actually had a dream that they were home because Haley told
me in a letter ha it was weird!
Other matters.. things are going good. I DID talk to
my companion haha and it worked. he's been moving faster since i talked
to him about how i felt, and if he slows down, i move faster so that
he'll have to catch up. gotta do what you gotta do! and i'm glad you
guys aren't disappointed you can't come pick me up, it will be better
when we just go after i'm officially released as a missionary so that i
can go dressed like a normal person and do normal person things haha it
will be great, and i'll show you guys around as best as i can! Sooo we
had the coolest thing ever happen. On saturday the entire mission went
to the church in scarsdale where we got to listen to elder D Todd
Christofferson. he is officially one of my favorite apostles! he is so
smart and spiritual and it was just such a great experience to be able
to meet him and shake his hand and listen to him and ask him questions..
and he was funny too! but wow it was amazing to have all the
missionaries in our mission there in the same place listening to an
apostle.. I'm so grateful! last week our ward had 8 baptisms!!! we are
killin it haha not me and my companion, but the other missionaries in
our ward. we are all working hard to fulfill our purpose and calling as
missionaries. I always thought i knew the gospel pretty well before i
got here, even though i didn't have a lot of knowledge of the
scriptures.. but coming out here was a reality check. i don't know a
whole lot right now, but i can tell you that it's a lot more than i knew
3 months ago! i think we are blessed as missionaries when it comes to
gaining knowledge.. we must be! OH. do you guys remember when you wrote
down the blessing president burnham gave me?? is there any way you can
send that to me? i want to read it.. nothing else is really going on
with me.. Today we are going to the world trade center memorial and wall
street and to see the big golden bull that's in the movie hitch.. i'm
super excited. and i think next week i get to play basketball . WOOHOOO.
its been forever. oh, and i'm trying to learn tongan. haha why not,
right?! well, time for me to go, they're kicking me off the computer. I
Love you guys and please take care of yourselves. and be expecting my
letters in the mail sometime this week! hopefully i have time to write
you all back. no' vemo' !
-Elder ZAZueta.
I'm not homesick ... yet!
Today we are going to manhattan to see times square
and then we're gonna go visit central park! I'm super excited! But it IS
really cloudy and was raining earlier this morning so i hope that
doesn't mess anything up. I also wanted to play basketball today but
nobody else wanted to. 3 against 1.. i'm not winning that battle. and i
just want to play basketball all the time, but i never have the chance
to. SO i made a basketball hoop! i used cardboard for the backboard and
melted the bottom of a bucket off and used the top for the rim. and for
the net i cut the sleeve off of an old shirt and cut holes in it so it
would look legit. and i hung it up in our apartment. Success? HECK YEAH.
we play basketball every night now before we go to bed haha it is so
funny and looks really dumb but i actually think its genius, naturally.
I'm not homesick, but lately i've been missing you
guys a lot more! I just want to let you guys know that i'm always
thinking of you and hope you are all doing okay. i can imagine things
might be a little crazy around the house with karla's wedding coming up
so soon! i still expect to see a cut out of me there! Los quiero mucho a
todos y espero que todo les va muy bien! Y 'apa, I hope you have the
best birthday! tell mom to take you somewhere nice haha i would give you
a hug, but i can't reach all the way over there.. Don't worry, i'll be
making a chocolate cake and sharing it with my roommates in honor of
your coming into the world a long time ago ha I love you Dad. and Mom.
and Karla, and Beto, and Alexia. please take care and be wise. and if
you didn't get to watch conference.. WATCH IT.
Con mucho amor,
- Elder Zazueta
Another week come and go
Last week was good. our investigators are still struggling. not
with commandents specifically, but more so just accepting the gospel.
the hardest part is getting them to church! people just don't wanna go.
if they only knew! i also had to speak in church because my companion
didn't want to.. so the three new missionaries ended up speaking. i went
last, but i only had like 5 minutes to talk, which i was actually sad
about. i had to cut my talk in half! but afterwards the bishop
apologized and said he wished he didn't have to cut me off and that he
wanted to hear more.. so i guess that's a good thing! i felt really
comfortable up there speaking in spanish which is definitely a first.
i'm getting a lot more comfortable with spanish, but i still forget some
words sometimes.. but the other day was the first time i forgot how to
say a word in english. what word? i forgot the word "bottle" haha i
could only say it in spanish and my companion had to tell me what it
is.. unbelievable! we've been knocking a lot of doors lately.. and we've
run into some REALLY interesting people.. mostly just crazy people.
they have the craziest theories and blahh blahh blahh its just unreal
how many different beliefs are out there. and yesterday was the first
time we got kicked out of a building! every apartment building around
where we live is usually 6 floors.. so if we manage to get in, we start
at the top and work our way down so that we know the superintendent's
door last, in case they kick us out we didn't miss anything. but
yesterday the superintendent just happened to be on the top floor and we
knocked 2 or 3 doors when he came up to us and told us we can't knock
his building.. and we ended up teaching him haha he wasn't interested,
but after we shared our message with him he was a lot nicer about it..
still kicked us out tho! Mom, i miss your cooking. i still don't even
know what to buy when i go shopping haha but i'm surviving. well, it's
time for me to go, but i want you guys to know that i love you, and that
i worry about all of you! don't worry about me, the big man upstairs
has my back! i hope everything is going well :)
Elder Zazueta
September 26, 2012
Mom, Dad, Everyone,
I'm sorry but this email is going to be short. Let me tell you
about my day. We woke up, me and Elder Pawlowski Ran, and did the jump
work out. My legs are so sore. then we went shopping. afterwards, we had
to head to the transfer meeting! it's weird not being "the new guy"
anymore. it's so funny to see the new missionaries' faces because i know
that's what i looked like six weeks ago. after the meeting (which ended
at twelve) everyone stayed at the church and said bye to the
missonaries that are going home, and those who were getting transferred
said goobye to their companions and their zones. in our zone, we got a
new zone leader, two sisters got transferred out, and one of the elders
from the trio went home, so now there's only two. after the meeting and
everyone's goodbye's a lot of us stayed and played basketball. it was so
fun! we got to play full court.. i haven't played full court basketball
in FOREVER. it felt so good! even tho the court was small.. we played
until three, and then we left and dropped our stuff off at home. then we
went to the barber and it took the guy forever to cut my hair.. (i had
to take money out of my account to pay for my haircut) so we hurried to
the library which closes in like 10 minutes. so i'm writing this super
fast! P-day's are supposed to be our " chill " day but it seems like
they are the ones where we don't have enough time to do what we need!
its nonsense! so yeah. things are going really good, and i've actually
not been very cold. It feels so good! weather reports say its been
around fifty but really i think it hasn't gone below 60.. so i don't
think i'll need to start buying any of my winter stuff for a couple of
weeks! no worries! i'm sorry this is so short but my time is out, i
promise next week i will write back to this weeks email and next weeks!
forgive me. I love you guys. THE CHURCH IS TRUE.
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