Zach's Letter to Parents June 9, 2008

Its weather season in the midwest! HA! Bend is SO gorgeous, and I never have to worry about overly powerful thunderstorms or tornadoes... just volcanic explosions... which arent as predictable as the weather... or predictable at all... but... im just going to be optimistic and assume Bend wont go Pompeii on us.

I know all about loving new wards. The High Desert Ward, where I'm serving, is AMAZING!! These people are so great! Elder Coffey has served here a total of 9 months, and he said its the best area he knows, and everybody loves it. I hope President leaves me here forever.
Its weird to hear you talking about being socially outgoing, I'll be honest. But I'm super happy for you. I've realized that I'm actually NOT socially outgoing. You know how when you make eye contact with people you both look away quickly? I dont have that ability. I cant look away, so I fill the awkwardness with a "Hi" or I point at them. The High Desert Elders Quorum president noticed that and he pokes fun at me for it. But hey, it helps me out as a missionary.

That ward sounds nuts! With all the moving in and out! Hey, I'm proud to report that I've moved three, count them: THREE pianos since getting out here! The first one was totally random too. I was tracting with one of the zone leaders (oh my goodness Scott Longs twin just walked into the library.) and we asked a woman if there was anything we could help her out with and Elder Dickison, as a RANDOM EXAMPLE said "like moving a piano or something" and he kinda laughed. And she said, well... as a matter of fact... and we ended up moving a piano out to a truck and putting it in the back! What the heck.

About that member family... FELLOWSHIP FELLOWSHIP FELLOWSHIP!! The guy we're teaching, the one who invented the snowboard, whose wife is a less-active member, etc... Their fellowshippers are on FIRE! Its amazing! They got them to church, and even got the sister to some ward activities for RF and such. so FELLOWSHIP! Plus you'll have some friends nearby.

Make sure to tell scoutie I miss her. cuz i do!

Ok so let me spin you a twisted tale. This is so bizarre you'll never believe it! It was my pleasure and privilege to be in the passenger seat of this wild ride.

So Elder Coffey dated this girl, back in high school right? Wrong! Ok no its true, he did. Anywho... so she moved to Vancouver, WA a couple years ago, and he was called to serve.
His first area was Bend, OR, much like me! Back then the ward mission leader was Brother H, who signed up to have us over for dinner on 6-8-08 back in May. Anywho... he was here for SIX MONTHS! holy crap right? But then he got transferred.

So then against all odds, he got transferred back to Bend at the end of his mission. He's been kinda letting me in on how things have been going in the letters between him the girl. Let me tell ya... its gonna happen. Anywho... He gets a letter from her that says something to the effect of "My friend is moving to Sisters (the town next to Bend), and we're all coming with her to help her move, we're staying with my other friends uncle in Bend. I need to know what ward you're serving in so we can avoid it". He responded and told her so there would be no awkward run-ins.
Fast forward to yesterday... the eighth of June. We were talking to a less active member who came to church, and Elder Coffey said "Elder this is bad..." I look up... there she is! FRICK, right?? Fast forward to dinner... We go to the H's house... there's the girl!! FRICK, right??? I had a great time at dinner, I love that family. They're a ton of fun and they make me feel completely at home. Its amazing. Elder Coffey... I'm not sure how that visit was for him. They introduced the girl and her friends, and he just said "We've met...." it was just... wow. So after dinner the girl hand delivered her latest letter. We read it later... it included something along the lines of "I dont know where the High Desert ward is, all I know is we're staying with my friends uncle, Brother H. We're going to church with him."

What are the frickin odds of that!!!!! It was so amazing! Poor Elder Coffey has been in complete shock over this! The odds of all of these factors coming together! The girl he liked moved to Washington... he went to Bend Oregon. Of all the people she made friends with, she made friends with the niece of the ward mission leader in the town--the very WARD where he was serving. Then for him to get transferred BACK to Bend, against ALL ODDS!! Oh my goodness I'm going to explode just thinking about it! You know how much I LOVE a good awkward situation, and this is the KING of awkward and random unlikeliness.

Anywho thats my story for the week. And in case you dont recall... Brother H is my image consultant. He tells me how I look every Sunday. He's rarely too nice about it either. His son is the super cool priest in our ward. Sister H flies an AirLife helicoptor for the hospital, and their daughter is the little redhead I accidentally played footsie with at the table a few weeks ago. They're a great family. Possibly my favorite? We'll see.

We've been working with a less active member who wants to quit smoking and get back on track. I think i've mentioned her before. Well her room-mate has a 15 year old daughter, who has shown mild interest in what we teach. Whenever we come over, she comes in and sits in on the lessons. We're hoping to get her to church. I mentioned how we want her to go to church with us sometime, but they said that the daughter would never go to church. Now... one thing about me... when people say "you cant", "you wont", and especially "never"... It becomes my priority to accomplish it. Not only will we get her to church but I'm gonna baptize her. Ok maybe not that much all at once, but we'll get her to church.

Anywho... As you can tell things have been wonderful. The work is progressing well and life is just all around good. (I'll be sending my journal pages as soon as i can.) I'm healthy and happy and doing well. Thanks for everything! Be good and play nice, LOVE YOU!!