1/20/10 Letter

Mom!

...I've only heard of a few people in the mission whose significant other waited the full two years. Few being like 1. Elder Packer is the only one I can think of where his girlfriend waited for him. Even now I don't know if he's going to marry her. There might be another one, but I can't remember. 2 years is a long time. Enough time to change. I felt bad for asking Erika to wait because she could have been looking for someone else during that time. I've changed a lot since I left. I think...

WHOA! Jake is going to YOUNG WOMENS!?!?!?!?!? That seems a little bit suspicious to me... Keep an eye one him! Don't let him buy any make up or dresses!

I want to get registered for school, but I don't know where yet. Do you know anywhere that has a good Computer Science program? I'm kind of leaning towards BYU cuz they're cheap, but I don't know. I might just stay at UVU since I already have credits there. I'm pretty sure I can register for classes. Elder Packer did it while I was with him. I think I just have to let Prez know that I need to register for classes. Also, GO AUSTIN! What field of edumacation is he going into?

On Monday we helped the Nelsons, the new Senior missionary couple teaching Institute in the East Brunswick Stake, move into their new apartment. They live up in New Brunswick. We had to make 2 trips because of all the furniture. I found out that they live SUPER close to Cassandra. Like within jogging distance. I thought about stopping in to say hello, but then I thought, whoa! that's kind of stalker-ish myself. And we didn't have any time, so meh. What ever. If I meet her, cool, but if not, its ok. What ever happens happens.

Speaking of free stuff..... you'll never believe what happened yesterday (Even now I find it hard to believe myself). Elder Howard and I were at Bro. Kitler's house. Bro. Kitler is 28 and kind of less-active/becoming active. I really like him. He has a good personality. He said that he needed to get rid of his old XBOX and some games. I volunteered to "get rid of it" for him. So he gave it to me and I thanked him kindly. I have an XBOX now. I will ship it home as soon as I can get a box to put it in. Hopefully it will all fit. It came with the XBOX, 3 controllers, the cords, and like 17 games. Hopefully it all works. If not, maybe I can sell it to Gamestop for a few moneys.

This week it slowed down a little bit because we've had people ditch our appointments. We've been getting in to see a lot of less-actives and we're teaching them the lessons in hopes that they will feel of the truth of the gospel once more. But other than that, not too much is going on.

I liked JC's letter. I think it's great that he's enjoying his first area. Hopefully he can baptize hundreds. And RETAIN hundreds. I wrote letters to both JC and Kyle, but they went to the MTC address. I hope they get to them.

Well, time to go play sports!

Love,

Zack

Interesting letter from Elder Z.

Hey Mom!

Hey sorry about yesterday. The system... was down. Some missionaries had to do emails today.

So how do you like the carpet? It looks kind of like the carpet that is in John's room. Is it soft enough to sleep on? or is it kind of rough?

I found out that Chad Lewis (Eagles Tight-end) used to live in the Moorestown ward, but he moved a couple years back. Also, Donavan McNabb(sp?) (Eagles Quarterback) lives in Mullica Hill which is in Woodstown. I didn't think Bro. Sikahema had family in our ward. All his relatives are Polynesian or Tongan, so I would have assumed they would have a unique family name.

This week we found a new person to teach while we were tracting (which rarely happens). His name is Daryl. He seems very open and he accepted everything that we taught. He loves the bible and he loves to talk about god. I hope he will pray about the BOM before Sunday when we have our next appointment with him.

Staying busy isn't hard. There's always something to do. Whether it's investigators to see or less-actives, we always have appointments. It's awesome!

Update on Cassandra Gorcsos: I replied to her letter and I waited a while to receive one back from her. She's the type that responds really quick. Well I hadn't heard from her in a while so I decided to send the missionaries to her house for 2 reasons.

#1: to see if they could get some more information about her.

#2: I thought it would be a good missionary opportunity since she knows a lot about the church.

So the missionaries (who were Zone Leaders) went there and they taught a lesson and apparently they set up a baptismal date for February 21st! Then yesterday we had a get together for Joe Donahue, a not so recent convert, for his birthday. Elder Gleed (AP), who lived with me last transfer, knew about her from when I got her first 3 letters. He went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders who happened to be planning on seeing Cassandra that same day of the exchange. So Elder Gleed met her and she gave him a small package that she was going to send me. It had her letter in it long with some candy and a hand warmer and a pocket version of the New Testament and a mesh bag for clutter. From her letter and from what Elder Gleed said, She's super short. 4'11" is what she said. She said that she was 72 lbs., but Elder Gleed said that she weighs a bit more than that, though she's still skinny. I don't think she's 72 lbs. Thats almost deathly thin. She's got to be closer to 100 lbs. But anyways, I thought it was cool that she has a baptismal date.

I'm doing this all from memory, so I'll try to get all the details.

My dream about GIWjk: Me and Elder Haslam were on an exchange. We were invited to eat with GIWjk's family. They were very nice and cordial. GIWjk wasn't there. She was at work when we began eating. We were having a lovely conversation when GIWjk got home. She seemed upset and she vented to her family for a long time. She ignored me and my companion the whole time even though we tried to engage her in conversation. Then after dinner we helped GIWjk's dad with a service project. President Winegar was there helping, but he wasn't there for dinner.

How did you win free stuff at the fitness fair? did Spencer enter a push-up contest? did you do a sit-up contest? where there any contests? or was it all just luck o' the draw?

I didn't know that you were going to institute! Since when? That's awesome that Gene R Cook came to speak though. Did you get to shake his hand or anything like that?

I think I'll need to get glasses when I get home so I can drive. I've noticed that it's difficult to read signs that are kind of far away when driving. It's most difficult at night.

Today we had a bunch of missionaries from the Philadelphia Mission here at the office. They were coming to pick up some cars to take back to their mission. It was kind of weird seeing missionaries from another mission. That hasn't happened in almost 18 months. It was cool to talk about the differences and similarities of our missions with the Philly Office Elders. Elder Nelson and Elder McNaughton. Elder Nelson has been in the office for 11 months! I couldn't believe it. I couldn't imagine being in the office for that long. He also said that he doesn't get to proselyte as much. That would suck.

Love ya!

Zack

New pics!

I love this color! Not too dark, not too light. Feels so soft to walk on!

New Carpet!

I just found out my carpet is here. The installer is coming Wednesday to put it in! So excited! Pictures to come on the weekend, after we put everything back together.

Did you ever have one of those days?

Check out the missionary's eyes in the mirror!

Hey mom!

So, Bro. Sikahema is actually the first counselor of the Stake Presidency.

I'll send G-ma Holladay and G-ma Sweet and Aunt Joyce a thank you card this week.

That's great that you got all that work done on the floors. So now all that's left is the carpets right? What color of carpet did you get for downstairs? Is it a similar color as of old or did you get everything tan? No carpet downstairs, just upstairs.

This week, the missionary work has picked up. We've got a lot of appointments now. We've got some investigators now too. Oh, I found someone in the ward named John Sweet. I tried to get in contact with him to see if there was any connection. I heard from Elder Gleed that he left his family there, so I wasn't able to make contact. I'll ask Elder Pfost and Elder Johnson to see if they can find him for me.

For New Years eve we got permission to go up to Camden to watch the fireworks. The New Years firework show is far better than the July 4th firework show. They shot them off from a barge in the middle of the river. It was spectacular, but this time I forgot my camera. There were a lot of drunk people afterward, so we left. We didn't get to bed until like 2:15. Which is the latest I've ever gone to bed on my mission. Since we went to bed so late, we didn't wake up until 9. Which is the latest I've ever woken up on my mission. We didn't proselyte on New years eve or new years day. We were told to stay in on these days. We did have a few appointments with some members though so we still did some teaching.

Well thats all I can think of.

Love,

Zack

Happy 2010 to the Max!

Hey Momly Zomly!

I really enjoyed talking to the everyone! I hardly recognized Mike. Spencer's still pretty much the same. and Jake and John sound the same too. I didn't even realize how long we talked! That really sucks that JC didn't get to talk to his family for Christmas. Will he get to talk to his family when he gets to the mission or will he have to wait until Mother's Day?

Dinner at the Sikahema's was great! Vai wanted us to watch a movie about the life of Martin Luther. (In his mission there were a lot of Lutherans.) It was interesting, but we didn't finish it. We had a classic Thanksgiving dinner for Christmas. Turkey, mashed potatoes, home-made rolls, corn, green beans, and other stuff. During dinner, President Sikahema talked football with the other Elders using football terms that I didn't understand. I had no idea what they were talking about, so I just nodded my head in agreement, making a surprised face and saying something like "Oh wow!" or "That's Amazing!" every once in a while. Brother Sikahema knew a lot of famous players that I recognize. Like Jerry Rice, and McNabb, and others. After dinner we watched The Nativity, which I later found out was not put out by the church. The Sikahema's said that it was out in theaters. It was a pretty good movie. I could feel the spirit of the message. Then right before we left, President Sikahema talked about calling home and how much it means to our families. (His son, Trey, is on a mission in England)

For New Years, we have a dinner appointment with Sister Trout, a member. Other than that we don't have much planned. We're not doing anything for New Years Eve either. No one signed up because the meal calendar was missing for a couple of weeks and then it randomly showed up this week. Oh well. Elder Howard wants us all to buy Nerf guns so we can wage war. We'll see...

Thanks for the pics!

By George! What a fine looking ol' 'chap'! Dad should do his hair like that when he wears his suit. It looks good!

Spencer looks sleepy. He must be a pretty good guitar player if someone gave him a $5!

Did Jake get new pajamas? I think they suit him well. He is kind of an air head. :P (Love ya Jake!) I think it's cute how Jake and John are "helping" Spencer open his present.

The new oven looks high-tech! The floor looks great and so do the cupboards. The house seems a little bit darker.

I'm glad the Missionary Mall is sending me new shoes. I hope I like them. I hope they're comfortable. If I don't like them do you think I could exchange them for something better?

That's great that you got your old class back. You'll have to get creative if you have the same lesson manual. Either way its a good review for the kids.

This week was slow because of the holidays. Hopefully it will pick up next year, if not, sooner. Our teaching pool is pretty much nothing until next year, so we've been visiting members to get to know the ward better.

Elder Johnson bought a rear fender for his bike to keep the water from flinging up his back. The day after he bought it, he tried to do a wheelie and his fender stuck into the ground and broke. It was so funny!

Well I can't think of anything else to report, so I'll close.

Love ya!

Hap----------py New Year!

Zack

Kitchen done!

This was the kitchen June of 2008, just before Zack left.

Trim is all in. I finally found some curtains to match!

Now, just waiting for the carpet! Maybe new counter tops next summer!
We finished the entry way today, now we are going to take the extra flooring back and trade it for a new water heater. I'm really tired of only having hot water for 5 minutes!

Holladay Christmas

Finally a time to breath and update. Dave got a suit for Christmas. Love the morning doo!

Spence got an electric guitar, which all the boys loved! The rest of the boys basically got clothes and phone air time. Not a lot this year, but that's ok.

This is Spence playing his guitar. He's holding some money he got from grandma. Zack laughed at this...see the next post for his comments.