Goint back to the Bronx!!! ......

I'm not in the bronx yet! haha i'm in bethel still.. transfers are today! but no, i won't be in the same building. before

my area was on the east border of the bronx.. now i'll be covering the area that is on the west border.. it's a

i'm going to be Jr companion again... and i will be with Elder Vasquez! he's like 26... i actually had to leave some 

candy and some ties because i couldn't fit it all in my luggage.. but it's okay! and yeah, i think i will be buying a 

suit pretty soon! we'll see if i can find a good deal. i'm super excited to go back down to the city tho! and speak

 spanish.. there are a lot of dominicans there.. so it won't be a problem finding people that speak my assigned 

language. and i knew that i was leaving because Elder Potter got a call from president telling him that he will be

 training a new missionary in portuguese, and he told him that i was getting transferred but not to tell me anything..

 but president talks really loud so i heard him say it haha so i know i was getting transferred since last thursday. 

but i didn't find out where until sunday night, which is when they call everyone and tell them where they'll be going/

staying.. i hope that made sense! i actually dont know if i have the book... i'll have to look again once i go down to

 the city. yes, hopefully i can do more exercise! i hope someone in my new apartment will be willing to go with me..

 in the city there is a gym called "planet fitness" and its only 10 dollars a month for a membership, and we're allowed 

to get one as long as we promise to be at our study desk by 8 ... so if there is one close, i'm definitely going to be 

getting a membership! but yeah, if you can find those videos of the military, send it this way haha i need it! dad 

that's so awesome that you've been going out with the missionaries.. i don't know if they've told you, but i'm sure

 they are super grateful that you are willing to do that with them!

Ma

I'm doing so good! very excited.. i knew you guys would be happy that i'm going to speak spanish again haha 

i am too... Elder Potter is doing good! he was really sick yesterday.. he stayed home all day! but he's doing a

 little better today.. but yes, i will miss him! hopefully my new companion is cool and we get along.. that's awesome

 that sammy is gonna be going out with the missionaries! i wish i would've done that more before i came out so 

that i could have more experience..  

 Ha ha! Beto told me he made regionals, alexia told me about her contacts, and karla told me she went over to the house 

haha and i'm happy for all of them :) and yes, i got both packages! you guys are the best.. i'm gonna try to 

write back to all the letters i got, but i don't know if i will have time! don't worry, i don't feel pressured with you 

telling me that.. i just hope all my cousins and family members will also make the decision to serve a mission 

when it's time, because it truly has been a blessing for me.. and really there's nothing else i would rather be 

doing than this!

 

soooo yeah.. this past week was a little hectic. since i'm leaving i wanted to say bye to all of my favorite people 

in our branch, but elder potter was sick yesterday so we couldn't go out.. but it's okay! the senior missionaries in 

our district took me out for lunch yesterday to the cheesecake factory as a way of saying goodbye.. it was very 

nice of them! i have so much stuff haha my suitcases look like they're going to explode! so yeah, right now i'm 

still in bethel, and transfers are at 1.. so we have transfer meeting at a chapel that is about an hour away (which 

is where all of the upstate missionaries go) and then they will drive me down to a chapel in the bronx (which is 

where all the missionaries in the city go for transfers) and then they will give me my metro card and i will take the 

bus/train to my new apartment.. and then i'm settled haha our mission president called me on sunday night to 

tell me i was getting transferred, and then he told me to prepare because he wants me to train after this next 

cycle.. so i'm excited! and a little nervous. but it's all gravy, i'm super excited to be down in the city where its 

busy and noisy and dirty and just NEW YORK haha ya tu sabe! i don't have much else.. sorry! but next email 

i'll for sure update you guys with my new address and all the details about my area and stuff.. cool? i love 

you guys so much! cuidense por favor :)

Wise, wise advice to Brother Zazueta ...

HEY!

can i just say how happy it makes me to get all of your emails every week? i love you guys 

so much!

Papai

I'll be sure to cover up! it's been in the 10's lately.. not my favorite type of weather haha i'm a fair-weather-fellow! 

and this weather ain't fair! i'm sad to say i don't have the book "a marvelous work and a wonder" ..... i need to 

get it! that would be great to have.. and what are the scriptures that talk about Jesus/Jehovah being seperate 

from God? those would be helpful too. don't worry about not writing a long letter! your first responsibility is 

your wife.. who is my mom.. who is very important haha so thanks for helping her. Just seeing that you wrote 

me is enough :)

Mamae

I'm glad it's warm over there, i know you don't like the cold! especially when you have to work outside.. good 

thing you're not where i am haha it's freezing! yesterday the low was like 7 degrees and we were outside for 

like half an hour and i forgot my beanie so my ears were freeeeeeezzzzinnnnggg! seriously haha i'll never 

make that mistake again. so yeah. safe to say i don't like the cold. i'm glad you guys liked the pictures and 

videos :) not a whole lot happens out here, so i have to try really hard to find things worth taking pictures of.. 

kinda wack! but we have fun with it haha beto sent me the video of the backflips.. that's so cool! he's like me 

now haha and if alexia does cheerleading she'll have to learn how to do that too! I'm glad to hear that karla 

and aaron are doing good! i hope the headaches aren't serious either.. maybe she's pregnant haha okay 

maybe not. but what do i know... i'm also glad to hear sammy is doing good! do him and beto hang out a lot? 

and okay i will not buy another watch! but tell tio chico thank you in advance for me okay? i'll be waiting for 

the packages! you guys are the best :)

other happenings.

nothing. other than that it's supppperrrrr cold! not my favorite thing in the world. this past week has been 

kinda boring- nothing has happened! except for that a small plane crashed into some trees in the little town

 that i live in.. crazy right? other than that, things are boring... the work is still slow, we still have trouble f

inding anyone who speaks portuguese... so things are just blahh right now.. but we will not give up.

well you know me, i love basketball.. so the other day we drove past this building that is on campus at 

western connecticut state university.. and as we drove by i looked through the window and saw people

 playing basketball.. so yesterday i talked my companion into coming with me into the building to see 

what's up, and i asked around and figured out that we're allowed to play there! in a nice gym, for free. 

so yeah. that's the best news i received all week haha transfers are next wednesday. i have no idea 

what's gonna happen, but i'll be sure to let you guys know whatever happens as soon as i can! i kinda 

wanna leave, i kinda wanna stay... every area has it's ups and downs, so it's whatever! we'll just have 

to wait and see. I love you guys, let me know if there's anything you want me to do for you! Se Cuida viu!!!!

The Juan and only, elder Zazueta

Thanks so much for ....

thank you so much for the emails! my turn to write haha soooooooo 
last wednesday, we went to the temple. it was AWESOME. 
i've been before, but our whole day turned out to be awesome. 
we had to take the train down to the bronx, and right when 
we walked in some lady said "THE LATTER DAY SAINTS!" and she 
called us over and we talked to her and she said she wanted 
a book of mormon and the missionaries to go over to her house. 
so that was awesome. then we went to the temple and i saw 
one of the elders who lived in my last apartment and that made 
me so happy because he is like my best friend out here. 
then our temple session went awesome of course. afterwards 
we went to this place called steak and shake in manhattan.. 
it was DELICIOUS. after that we had to go home, so we rode the 
train back and we saw these mexicans playing music on the 
subway. i recorded them. ThEn we got on the Other train to take 
us back to connecticut and while we were on there 
(to make a long story short) i made friends with the train conducter 
and he let me go into the front of the train and blow the 
horn and talk over the intercom to everyone that was on the train 
haha my companion has it on video, so i'm gonna try to get 
it from him! but it was so cool. it was just an awesome day. other 
than that, nothing else has really happened.. but uh.. let 
me explain the money in my account. Up here, we pick up donated 
coats from burlington coat factory and we take them to a 
hispanic center where they give them to their clients.. it's a service 
we do for them. but anyway, when we arrived at burlington
 coat factory this homeless lady came up to us and begged us to 
buy her some pants and a shirt so she could get out of her old 
wet clothes.. she said she had it all picked out already and that it 
would only be 10 dollars total.. so i felt super bad and i 
agreed.. so she went and got the clothes and met me at the front 
and the clothes she picked ended up being 23 dollars.. and 
i couldn't tell her to take them back if she'll cut it for free.. i know, 
it's not me to do that, but now i have to.uhmm as for 
transfers, i still have no idea whats gonna happen.. i kinda wanna 
stay, i kinda wanna leave.. either way, i'll be happy. and 
either way, i'll still wait to get transferred to buy another suit. 
i just think it'll be easier that way! so don't worry, no rush in 
getting me the money.so how is Sammy doing? tell him i said 
what's good!!! i want to know how he's doing, i wish i was there
 so i could kick it with him haha and show him around..but yeah, 
things are going good i suppose. the work is still super slow 
here, but we still work hard and try to find. hopefully soon we 
can get things picked up. I love you guys so much. i hope 
everything is going well! Tell Karla and Aaron i said hello, and 
that i want to have a nephew when i come home. cool beans? 
haha you are all in my prayers, have a good week :)

Ghost town?

My area. super slow. there's been 1 baptism in the past 2 years.. 
and she was deported back to brazil/brasil .. sooo yeah. finding is hard. 
teaching is hard. but we keep on going. things will pick up sometime, 
i know they will. our branch is moving to a new building in march that 
is actually in danbury, so it will be a lot easier for people to get to and 
from church! right now it's hard for people to go all the way out to 
newtown, so we hope that when we get our new building, we'll have 
a lot more church attendance.. cross your fingers.. how is our ward doing?

queens! it was so fun! we got put into groups with the missionaries from 
the south mission and they were so cool! i don't know if you remember 
byron schlecty, but he is in that mission, and the elders i was with knew 
him so they gave me their phone and i got to call him, it was really cool!
 and while we were there working, some guy invited us over for pasta so 
we went to his house and we found out he was a federal agent and we 
asked if he had any guns so he brought all his guns out and let us play 
with them haha it was so cool! then we left his house and another guy 
came up to us and told us he ordered pizza for us.. so we got fed twice 
while we were there! it was so awesome.

sammy is moving in!? that's crazy! but it should be good for him. 
i wish i was there for that, i love that kid. he could teach me how to 
dance haha i know you guys will love having him there and will take 
good care of him. 

my suit. i still don't know what i'm going to do. i think i'm going to 
wait a little bit and maybe wait until i get transferred to buy a new 
one, because suits take up a lot of space in a suit case and i can 
barely fit all my stuff in my luggage as it is! so i think i might wait 
a little bit! but thank you for the money. 

we are going to the temple today! that's why this email isn't very 
good haha we woke up at 5, left our house at 6 to be here in New 
canaan by 7 to email because we probably won't have time later 
in the day. and then we have to leave here very soon to drive to 
stamford so we can take a train down to the bronx, so we can take 
the subway down to manhattan haha it's a long process, that's why 
we had to leave so early! but yeah, i'm excited to go down to the 
city again and go to the temple :) 

well, i gotta go so i can send you some pictures real quick, but i 
love you all so much. be safe, have fun. i know dad's familiar 
with that phrase haha los quiero mucho, adios :)

December 19, 2012

I am staying here! transfers are today, but we got the call on sunday to know where we're going or if we're staying. I'll be here speaking portuguese for another 6 weeks. our zone leader is going down to the bronx, and we are getting a new one from sleepy hollow. His name is Elder Bean haha so yeah, i still get to skype you guys! and the family whose house we're going to hasn't told us how many computers we're going to be able to use, so i still don't know what time for sure.. either 2 or 4 for me. which is 12 or 2 for you... soo just be ready at both times, because i don't know what time it will be yet. I think i will just call you guys on the phone really quick right before it's my turn so you guys can log on! i'm sorry that's the best i can do for the times.. forgive me! and haley does know, but can one of you guys call her and let her know what's gong on? i told her in a letter, but if you guys could let her know just to be sure..

Things are going okay out here. The Newtown shooting has really been the talk of the town and i don't think it will die out soon. The school where the shooting happened is actually in my area.. In my building there are three wards.. Danbury 1st, Danbury 2nd, and Newtown ward. One of the families in newtown ward actually lost their daughter/sister in the shooting.. Emilie Parker. On saturday we had our ward christmas party and while we were there a lot of news teams came to the church building and interviewed Robbie Parker (her dad) so i actually got to meet her two little sisters.. it was so sad. then on sunday during church CNN came to our church building to do another interview. It's been crazy to be so close to where it happened.. On monday me and Elder potter drove down to the school and there was a ton of people there leaving stuff in memory of all the kids.. i have some pictures, i'll send them as soon as i get my other memory card back.. but it's been pretty unreal. Proselyting hasn't really been all that different.. but it is weird because we all have the thought of what happened in the back of our minds.. hopefully people can return to their normal lives as quickly as possible!

That's all for now, we can talk about everything else on tuesday :) sorry again about not knowing what time for sure, if i find out anything i will try to get word to you guys somehow!  I miss you all so much and i'm so excited to see you and talk to you! remember, if you have any questions or anything you want to tell me write it down so you don't forget! I Love you, talk to you soon :) Falo!

One more week in CT

Oi!!

Poppa Bear

I can't believe Joey is in 5 degree weather on a bike.. i would die.. it hasn't really that cold here and everyone says its super weird.. i suppose it is because usually we have snow here by now but there is none.. just a lot of fog! but i'm grateful that it's not too cold.. i'm one to favor the heat ya know! Your mission sounds legit! and HUGE! i vote we go there someday yeah? that would be cool.. i can bring you back to my mission, and you can take me back to yours! can you really notice a change in me? i don't feel like i've changed much.. sometimes i see other missionaries and i wonder why i'm not like them.. then i remember we're not supposed to compare ourselves with others.. so i let it go! at times though i just feel like i don't really know enough to be out here. it's a weird feeling! but i know i've learned a lot since i've left and that i havent been out for too long, so there is a lot more for me to experience and learn before i really can fulfill my potential.. and yes, everyone saw my christmas card and copied it, so i'm proud of my efforts haha the car in the photo is mine and elder potters. it's a 2010 Toyota Corolla. we hate it because it's a girl car. so yeah. it's dumb haha but i suppose it's better than a bike.. and yeah, sadly we didn't have a star for our tree, but the squirrel does just fine. it makes sense since we basically live in the forest..

as for the mold in queens, we did see a little bit of mold, but not too much.. and we're for sure not allowed to go anymore, so we don't have to worry about that. luckily none of us are sick, so i don't think there was too much stuff in the air while we were cleaning! and just to let you know, i AM proud of you for inviting that family to join you guys at the missionary activity at the park. we always invite our members to look for missionary opportunities because we know it doesn't just bless the other people, but it blesses you as well.. and it makes me happy that you did that! and it's ironic that the guy's son's name was junior haha tryna be like us! nonsense.. but yeah you never know, it might not seem like much now, but i guarantee that they'll remember the time that guy invited them over for some hot chocolate.. the seed is there, who knows, maybe it will grow soon!

 

Momma Bear

Estou bem! Tudo a passado muito bom esta ultima semana! I'm glad you guys liked the Christmas card, and i'm glad you guys still think i'm pretty haha but yeah, the missionaries in the picture are the ones who live with me! and they are all awesome and we get along really well, so we have a lot of fun together. Plus the other two are zone leaders, so we get to know everything before everyone else in the zone, it's nice! i'm glad karla and aaron go over every other week to eat.. i'm jealous! haha i miss your food. and actually no, i don't know if you'll believe this- but i haven't eaten a tortilla since i left home. besides the cheap ones we used to buy to make quesadillas.. but no homemade ones. weird right? but yes! i got the package and it was so wonderful haha i knew it was on its way, so everyday i would stare out the window until the mailman showed up to see if it came.. it got here on saturday and it made me so happy! and the cd came in good shape, nothing is broken and it IS the right one haha thank you so much mom! and Elder Potter also says thank you for everything you got him. i don't have any mexican candy... but i would love some more, it's been a long time since i've had one!! so that would be lovely.. you gave your hair away? you should've gave it to one of the elders who lives with me cuz he's losing his! hahaha i'm glad to hear Alexia's doing good.. that's always good to hear! shoot, by the sounds of it, beto's gonna be huge by the time i get home! he's gonna show me up haha can't wait..

 

alrighty now for the other stuff.

Skype. I have a skype account! my username is air.force.juan         add me! but yeah it's so nice that we have everything set up! we don't remember if the family has one or two computers.. so we have two possibilities of a time.. if they have one computer, i will be making the call at around 4 pm connecticut time.. which i believe is 2 pm for you guys? but if they have 2 computers i will be making the call at around 2 pm here, so i think that's 12 pm for you.. we're going to try to find out how many computers they have so we can have a set time, so i will let you know in my next email for sure! we get to skype for an hour, so we were advised to use it wisely! if you guys have any questions or anything you want to tell me i suggest you write it down so you don't forget and so we can talk about everything! so i'm gonna be on the projector? jeez.. i gotta make sure i look good then haha and remember that Haley will be there too.. I'm a little scared though.. transfers are a week before christmas.. so i just hope i don't get transferred and end up going somewhere where i can't skype! so pray for me that i won't get transferred haha please!

we're having some rule changes in the mission. we now have to wear our suits everyday.. BOO! i don't like it. but president knows better than us haha so i think the next thing i'll have to buy is a suit because i only have one.. one of the elders i live with says he knows where we can get one for like 100 bucks, so i hope he's right because the one i have was like 300..

another thing we're doing is starting now, we have to choose a day where we don't use our car.. with the missionary age going down, we are getting a TON of new missionaries really soon, and the mission cant buy a lot more cars.. so we think that the car rule is in effect to prepare us to have bikes... we think. so i don't know, we might have to buy bikes soon! crazy..

tell karla she's slackin for forgetting the pictures! haha just kidding. but i hope you guys get it soon so you can send my memory card back because i have more pictures to send home and i want to send them home before christmas, but i cant send them home if i don't have my other memory card!

but yeah.. everything is going well. portuguese is still a struggle, but i guess i can give you guys a sample when we skype if you want! ha it's so close to spanish you'll probably think i'm just making it up.. today we are going to the party barn. i won't explain because i'm gonna make a video of it to send home so you can see how magical it is. hopefully you'll see it before christmas. I have to go, but I love you guys soooo much. and i CANT WAIT to talk to you on christmas! it's so close.. ahhhh! haha i miss you all and love you all. be safe, have fun, and always remember who you are. Zazzy out!

Random things

... 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!