Email Home April 18th 2011

Q & A style:

Elder Eddy's Mom- Good Morning Zac!
Hey, I tried to send a Easter Book Mark to you so you would get it before Sunday, but I don't think it got there, so here is what is on it:

Sunday -Triumphal entry into Jerusalem Matt. 21:1-11

Monday - Clearing the temple

Matt. 21:12-15

Tuesday - Scribes questioned the authority of Jesus and asked about paying tribute money Matt. 21; Matt. 22

Wednesday - Discuss the Parable of the 10 virgins Matt. 25

Thursday - The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane Matt. 26

Friday - Trial, Crucifixion and burial of Jesus Matt. 27

Saturday -Discuss missionary work in the spirit world 1 Pet. 3:18-20; 1 Pet. 4:6

Easter Sunday - The empty tomb and Resurrection Matt. 28

Elder Eddy- cool. cant wait to get it. it might take a while because transfers are today and they dont start sending things out until tuesday or wednesday. but its alright. thanks

Elder Eddy's Mom- So I keep hearing of Elder Eddy spottings. It's kind of fun! I hope its not to distracting to you or your companion. But there is a reason the Lord has put you back home. I am sure you will find it

Elder Eddy- seeing people isnt a distraction at all for me. it really focuses me and make me want to work harder with the people around me. did you hear tyler zulauf got to baptize a person into the church?! awesome huh? its amazing to see what people do with their lives and to see how much the lord blesses lives.

Elder Eddy's Mom- Be patient with yourself on the language. It took you a while to learn English..... I am sure spanish will come much quicker!

Elder Eddy- Im not worried about the language. my companion after lessons will look at me and say "wow! elder eddy, your spanish is coming so fast!" so then i tell him "no, whatever i have is from the spirit." haha so yeah. spanish is really fun though.

Elder Eddy's Mom- If you get this message early today, Sister Westover from Norco is here in Idaho Falls and asked if I want to send anything home. So let me know if there is anything you need.

We love you Zac and hope all is going well. Just keep focused and obey the mission rules. We love you much, Love Mom

Elder Eddy-um...i have a few things i can send home...or do you mean home as in norco? im confused which home your talking about.

im doing my best to be focused and obey every rule. sometimes it is really hard though because to obey one, you are required to break another, there are so many. but i remember a talk by someone. rules arent to restrict you, they are to protect you and guide you. he said to also remember the principle behind the rule. that is the important part. it makes me sad that so many things that could help the mission have been banned because they have been abused. for example. facebook would be a great way to share little testimonies of missionaries. but it was abused one too many times, so it is gone for all. (not that we have facebook, that is the only example i could think of on the top of my head). but yeah. i might sound like im unfocused sometimes. but the mission is my life, im not going to let anything take my mind from it. and believe me, there are dozens that could!

anyway. i have written lots so ill let you go now. thanks again for everything! love you all, have a great week. be safe.

elder zachary clay eddy

Letter From Elder Eddy's Sister and Elder Eddy's Response:

Elder Eddy's Sister- Zacky bo Wacky Fe Fi Fo Facky, Zacky!

Yes I sang that as I typed it.

Elder Eddy- wow... guess some things never change, haha! but thats a good thing.

Elder Eddy's Sister- I loved the talk with the enamel on the fridge too, it made me cry. Well most of conference made me cry...hormones.

Elder Eddy- also my hormones didnt make me cry, sorry to say. must be a pregnancy thing.

Elder Eddy's Sister- I set up your missionary blog. Woot!

Elder Eddy- also, make sure you add some spice to my blog. like the time i fought off a fire breathing dragon while riding my trusty scooter named hop scotch.

also, thanks for the descripton of the food. now im starving! and i just ate.

also, that reminds me. all the weight i gained the 3 almost 4 months ive been out, i lost this last week to a super awesome 6 almost 8 pack! and also i got sick. but thats another story for another day.

also, dont let people know i like to use the word "also".

anyway...i mean also, i should wite mom so if i have extra time ill add more to this letter after, but yeah. remember to not read the book of mormon.... study it!

love you all! take care

-elder zachary wackery eddy

Email Home April 11th 2011

wow, grandma eddy. that has to be hard. i had no clue she had lung issues. is this new news? let her know im praying for her.

its good to hear there is good news too. the bezzants are great friends

also, that would be hard to wait to open a call. let me know where it is when he gets it.

it was weird going to the hunsakers house. but i heard something cool when i was there. their oldest daughter. her boyfriend is going to the same mission as wade lenon. crazy. if you still have his number in my contacts, let him know that i know of somebody going to his mission. i think at the same time he is too. they might be companions in the mtc???

ive ran into tons of old faces. cody harrington, tyler zulauf, justin curtis, the fishbacks, sister pochlag (sorry, i dont know how to spell her name, buts its ok, she didnt recognize me, haha), um... i had dinner with some people who know the clarks (did you hear they moved?). i also heard the langs moved as well. is that true? anyway, so many people. i also drive by the house on the way to baptismal interview. so crazy. i love norco. especially now with all the greenery. its been really cold here. like 50. i also found out i serve over half of norco. from hamner, all the way to lake matthews, to the santa ana river, to ...oh i cant remember the sreet. but it connects to te rode that goes up to lake matthews somewhere. so im exactly in the area that covers all the old sights i would see daily. but i dont see them much. most of the spanish population is in the riverside area.

spanish is coming good. i was feeling like it was slowing down, but then the next day, i was understanding so much more of what people were saying. and i am beginning to understand things i havent studied yet, which is so cool! but i wont say anything more because i need to stay humble.

the mission definately is a distance race. now when i read about alma and the sons of mosiah, i am put into even more amazement how they were so dilligent (even though they had slumps too) after they so soonly changed their lives for the better. im hoping by the halfway point i can work 100% without being burnt out before p-day. right now i can make it 3 or 4 doing pretty good. so if you pray for anything, pray for that. if i can work as much as i can, i know that the blessing that come from that will be even greater for those i come into contact with.

anyway i love you all, take care. dont get sick, and be safe.

elder zachary clay eddy

ps- we are allowed to listen to taylor swift so if you want to send that, i would be in heaven. maybe some josh groban and michel buble as well. oh and i found some amazing speakers.

Email Home April 4th 2011

its alright, long letters are hard to respond to sometimes, and i tend to ramble.

sorry about your shoulder, use ice, elevation, exercise it once the pain dims a bit, and if you want you can inject it with liquid ibupro-fun! not really that last thing inst very good to do have a smile though, that is the best medicine for any illness.

wow, she is 12? have i been out for 3 years already? i thought she was 9?...im so lost, must be the sun here, it was 97 a few days ago! so hot.....

he did! i didnt see him. i watched all the sessions...bummer. but i was thinking while watching, it would be so cool to sing in that choir, now i need to learn how to sing.

we'll anyway, the exciting stuff. so for we have 2 people on date to be baptized, but they might be delayed because we cant teach them everything nessesary but their baptizm date. haha, so busy!

then we also have a family who came to general conference with us and really liked it. they love that we are really strong family oriented. they have a family of 4. they really like the lessons we teach to them.

we finally broke the ice with one family one, haha "eternal investigators" and they the mom is one of those 2 who have a baptism date. her husband is already a member and she has 2 young kids who have a while until baptism, so its all great so far.

this past week slowed down a bit, but i say good, itll humble me more and make me work harder so then when things do pick up again, we will hit the ground running.

anyway, i think im out of time so i should wrap this up. just know im obsessed with this work, the bad and the good... and the great.., amazing..., awesome.., etc haha

my favorite thing to see is when walls fall down and something taught finally clicks and the people (or even myself) are just like... "wow it makes sense, its real"

i love you all and hope life is going great, dont forget. every member a missionary! lets get the kingdom of God to 15 million persons by the end of 2011!

your crazy (almost too much) excited son- elder zachary clay eddy

Email Home March 28th 2011

i got my card finally, the first time i emailed you in the mission was when i got it.

is brayden going to the same mission as chase howell? i think charlotte? and ive known about jons call since december. he put in his papers 4 months early. haha. its like arizona or nevada or something.itll be great for both of them.

we had so much rain! it was the best! so green! and perfect here. i actually didnt wear the coat though. it was too hot. elder mena gave me a super cool sweater to have and it worked perfect.

hey! we had to paint here too! for service one day (before all the rains came) we painted a house... it made me really grateful i had you and dad to teach me how to properly do a job. for all but one of the other missionaries it was thier first time painting an outside wall, so i gave some tips around, just of the little bits ive learned... like the first thing you should do is dig around the house a little so the paint can go to the ground level, and to power wash the dirt off, hahahha! it was really fun.

hopefully the renters dont tear the house down. (fingers crossed)

also its funny, but every time i go to the mission office, the elders there are all like' "elder eddy, "i talked to you grandma the other day!"... is she calling them all the time? haha.

wow, im in a laughy mood today, is laughy a word?

that is sad, hopefully coach hagert puts them in shape. that must be dissappointing for him. just be as supportive as possible, and make sure mady does her best. also, make sure will starts training this summer (at the latest). also too, have caroline buy me pokemon black version. she can get white version. or the other way around if she already got the other... sorry i saw a book about it just a few minutes ago in walmart and it made me think about caroline. good times. if will get ankle or knee problems, have him train in a pool...wait no. im focusing on the mission right now. you know what to do with him. good luck with all that.

things are going great. we got 5 new investigators this past week!

sadly its hard trying to get them to church, but were working on that. the people really become your focus and your life out here. its so nice. when you forget about your problems and help others with theirs. not only do you help them so much, but you also help yourself even more then when you do something for yourself. so far the im really looking forward to this new family we are teaching. they have been interseting in the lds church for 2 years but too afraid to do anything about it until we saw the mom a few days ago. since then we have visited twice. its great! oh and we have our first baptism date! i think its for the 17. but its still up in the air, so cross your fingers. and them we have a couple others who are doing really well too. not to mention we are visiting members alot too so we can get referrals which are much more effective.

spanish is coming great. one step at a time.its getting easier to memorize and add words to my vocabulary as the language becomes more familiar and i recognize when somebody says a certain word in spanish. and then other times we will hear a person from the carribean who have accents and its even hard for my companion to understand, haha. but all is well. yesterday elder mena and i tricked a spanish friend that i was fluent in the language. it was hilarious. the best ways to learn anything is to be humble. realize that without God, or help from your companion, you wont learn anything. and just have fun! and work hard of course.

its hard to find sales on the food we eat, especially when we can only shop on monday and we try to be quick because the day goes fast. but ill look more. where is the closest stater bros from the south end of la sierra? wal mart is the cheapest so far and its only 4 miles away. (we really have to watch our miles, they go away fast).
oh, well i need to go! but take care!

se quiero!

-elder zachary clay eddy

ps can you forward this to whoever wants it. elizabeth asked me to farward my letters to the family to her as well, but i dont know how to do that right now. thanks!

Email Home March 21st 2011 -RIVERSIDE CALIFORNIA-

wow...lots of questions. sorry i didn't email last week. hopefully you have received my letter in the mail with the SD card.
im in riverside. on Mumford street, right off of Arizona (a street off of la sierra). its sooo green here! and the weather is perfect. it looks like a foreign country with all the green hills, different languages and nationalities. im loving it.
my companion is elder mena arrello (i think thats how you spell it). he is from mexico city. he learned english out here on the mission, but he still has some to learn. he asks me what things are called or how to say things all the time. and i ask him the same in spanish. he pretty cool, and a good guy.
im in a car. no bike is needed yet.
ive only been out to eat two times. its just too expensive. ive spent $90 in groceries so far and eaten almost all of it. the cheap but filling stuff too!... why do i eat so much?... sorry i had to use the debit card this morning for more groceries, the card they gave me only had $90 for this first month and i also had to get toiletries and laundry deteregent and etc. ive gained 15 pounds now...but i cant find a ounce of fat on me yet, but im getting stronger! oh yeah!...
i heard about the earthquake, sad news. the scriptures warn about it. skin will melt. ive been praying for the people and missionaries there. i only wish i could help more. i also heard we are in a war with another country... what are we coming to?!?
but im trying to stay away from those things, my job is to prepare people spiritually for them, not get distracted that its coming.

wow, itll be the whole family back together, besides me of course, but we have that in two years.

tell mady to just relax, work super hard during practice, stay very humble, and most important have fun! its just a sport, but if she stays positive and helps others, itll teach her lots about life and give her great memories to look back on. when i look back on it, its nice to have been successful, but the things i liked most were just spending tell with the other runners. didnt matter what team they were on.
im not supposed to give my home address partially because im in a homeshare, we move about every 3 months, but also because the mission office wants to know what each of the missionaries are getting in the mail (or ore who is sending them things). if they get a letter from 20 different girls to one missionary, they might be worried, even more if she lives nearby. so yeah, lo siento.
i get plenty of dinner appointments... every night. and i love mexican food, as long as it not the really greasy stuff. so far its all been really good.
congratulations to megan! send me a picture of what the guy looks like, or attach a picture or something, haha.
um, yeah besides that, things are good. i cant wait to use all the cool things my teacher taught me. but i cant yet. i love my companion, but he is set in old ways and doesnt accept new ideas, so ill have to be patient. but im so excited!!!! oh i saw bishop fishback yesterday, he is tall. oh i also have a couple of my own investigators, they talk slowly so i can actually speak to them. haha. well i got to go. take care, love you all!

Email Home March 2nd 2011 -MTC-

i got my flight plansssss!!!!!!!!!!!! i leave tuesday the 8th. and i get to call home at the airport. my salt lake flight goes to las vegas for a one hour lay over, then to ontario airport. i think the flight to las vegas leaves at 7:05 and we arrive in las vegas at 7:30 (time change, not really only a 25 minute flight, it was tricking me the first day i got my plans). but since i get to call home ill try to call from slat lake in the morning. i dont know a specific time because i know next to nothing about airports and that stuff. and if worse comes to worse ill call in las vegas during my lay over. but ill try not to call then just in case dad has work or mady is a t school already. im soooooo excited to get out of here and into the field!!!!!....

but im sad again to leave so many people in my zone and district. not only that but i have to go a whole day without my companion. he is the only one not going to california riverside (hes going to orlando florida) and he leaves on monday. so ill be in a trio the whole monday :( who knew you would get so attacted.

the work will go forward though, and more than sad im ready to be a vessel for the holy ghost to bless others lives.

if dad could make sure to have plenty of change on my debit card, that would be great. our mission president said the airports are going psycho and charging weird rates for luggage and lots of added fees. so we need to have at the very least $100 in cash before leaving to the airport. he said the church will reimburse us for any fees, so just be safe.

oh! i got a new president! my branch president served for 4 years and just got released on sunday. but i got his address, so im going to write him at least a few times while im out. and also ask if he could send a picture of his family and presidency to you all.

my district sang señor te necesito for sacrament meeting, it was the best!!! all the speakers cried that day...and dont tell anyone but i did too.

spanish is going good, english not so much. seems the more i learn in spanish, the harder english comes and i realize, english makes absolutely no sense! haha, its all good though.

ummmm, yeah lots going on but i have little time so i gotta go! love you all, wish you the best!

elder zachary clay eddy

Email Home February 23rd 2011 -MTC-

wow, already? that was quick. how are they both doing? both healthy? i thought of her when i was in the temple this morning.

ill remember her and cooper in my prayers.

speaking in church, huh? haha no worries. talks are easy, i had to give one in spanish this past sunday in sacrament meeting. it went pretty well, i was happy. i spoke about the gift of the holy ghost. to have him as our companion we need to be baptized, have faith and be obedient. oh course the holy ghost can be with us temporary before baptism, but if we want him constantly (which everyone should) we need to follow the saviors example and be baptised by immersion. and i also added for the missionaries that if we dont have the holy ghost with us, we will fail. as missionaries we might sometimes think we go out in two sharing the gospel. but we should always be in 3's. and i expounded on all of that, but thats the main part of it. missionaries and anybody is useless without the holyghost there testifying though you and directly to our friends (investigators).

if i could give any adive on your talk, it would be to stress the point of "every member a missionary". i wish i know how important sharing the gospel to everyone you can was before the mission. you dont need a nametag to bear your testimony or invite a person to a ward activity. also think hard on others who you can suggest to the missioaries. people are so much more willing and excited to here this message if they are refered by a friend. even if you dont think theyll like it. the numbers dont lie. the success rate is dramaticly better than converts found through tracting. talk to the ward/stake mission director. he'll give you plenty to talk about! get excited, and get others excited, youre sharing the message of our savior...

i could go on forever about this because i am very passionate about it at the present time, but i think that much will do.

i cant think of anything i need yet... i so distracted by so many things, but ill keep note of what ill need. thanks.

i dont have my date yet, by my latest letters say im leaving a week early, on the 1st...i think thats in 8 days. way excited!!!!!!

and spanish is really coming now, i taught for 20 minutes in spanish the other day. it was so cool! the only slow part is understanding native speakers and their huge vocabulary. but ive been getting lots better through turning to the lord. the gift of tongues is real! and singing in spanish is much more fun too, everything rolls better.

oh gotta go out of time love you all

elder zachary eddy