Week 47: Adventures of the Italian and the drunk

ALO!!!

Well Zach is in his new area of Gorbea. It is a tiny little town, like I said, in the southern most part of his mission area. His Italian cohort is Elder Giner, who is originally from Argentina, but has been living in Italy. From the sounds of it, they are both hard working and getting along great! Zach described him as his best friend, and every night they end up laughing themselves to sleep (sounds like a slumber party). The lord blessed him with what he needed and he needed an obedient, happy Italian. Gorbea is a rainy cold town, so basically Zach won't see the sun for a while, and he will always have an umbrella in his hand. There are only 30 members,  and the elders teach priesthood, Sunday school classes and give talks in sacrament every Sunday. He has his work cut out for him, but I think this is just what he has been waiting for.

Well there wasn't much in the letter this week, but there was one kind of funny story that he wrote about. Elder Giner and Zach were walking down a street when a drunk man yelled at them. He said, "HEY! I am gay.", he then looked Zach in the eyes and said that he had beautiful eyes. Well then... Instead of being freaked out, Elder Giner said sarcastically "Yes, he is very beautiful!". They both laughed and went on their way after giving him a tarjeta and an invitation to church.

Thats all for this week, just a little update. Anyways, keep them in your prayers as they have a lot of ground to cover in Gorbea.

HASTA LUEGO!

Week 46: Adventures of the salty mouth empenada lady

ALO 'erbody!

Here we go with another week come and gone. Zach will be heading to Gorbea on his transfer this week, which is a super tiny town on the southern tip of his mission area. It is winter right now in Chile, so it is even colder and even wetter. Zach will finally be a proud daddy... To a baby missionary from Italy. He will be the senior companion, so you know he is going to work this kid to the bone, in a loving way :). Gorbea is a lot smaller than Lagunillas, and they will be serving in a little branch of 45 active members, so they have a lot of work to do.



But we are getting too far ahead of ourselves here.

Lets talk about this last week with Zach and Elder Hill.They contacted one house this week that was pretty interesting.  They knocked on the door of a house and a lady (who was apparently of larger stature, because Zach said she needed to lay off of the empenadas) and she opened her kitchen window and said "yes?". Zach asked her what she was cooking  because of course, Zach is obsessed with food and wanted some, she replied with "leave!". At this point Elder Hill was behind Zach on the street contacting another lady, so he isn't in the picture yet. Zach told the empenada lady that he had come to give her an awesome picture of Jesus Christ, to which she told him (rudely) to leave. Well when food is involved, Zach is never going to leave, he is like a stray cat. Apparently she went off on him and started saying some words that are inappropriate for your innocent ears. Zach, doing what he does best, pulled out a guilt trip for her. Those of you who know him, he is very understanding, but he can totally make you feel sooooo bad if he decides to :). Now close your eyes. Just imagine this in your head, cause this was hilarious to me: He put his frowny face on and said "I don't know what you are saying. I am here in Chile alone and you dont want my photo?". Well finally while this is happening, Elder Hill has showed up behind Zach and just was staring at this lady, she told Zach "I dont think your friend back there can understand me." Bahahaha. I seriously cracked up with this story.

Zach gave a talk this last Sunday and was able to deliver a very powerful message after praying for help with the spirit. God and the spirit were such helpful tools to teach the members. There was even a guy who never wanted to listen to their message came up to him after sacrament and asked if he and Elder Hill could start teaching him.

Gloria, Zach and Maria. They are Jehovahs Witnesses, which is nearly unheard of to have a friendship with a Mormon missionary. So cool! They had a great little relationship.

Zach decided to send us a picture of his pee in a bottle. Soooo, I am going to embarass him and post it up here.