Week #8

Week #2 in Obligado, Paraguay

September 9, 2013

P-day (Monday) we waited & waited to hear from Elder Thayn. It wasn't until 5pm that he finally emailed. He had been at Zone Conference in Encarnacíon, Paraguay and wasn't sure he'd be able to make it back in time to email. Yay, he was able to make it back in time!!!

First Baptism!

Email

Well as a lot of you guys know I've been having a really hard time here. I think it's just because it´s such a big culture shock and the language of course. It´s hard cause since my companion only knows Spanish  and I can´t really communicate with him that well.  Because of that, I feel so lonely and whenever we have down time I have nothing else to do except think about home and how much I wish I were there. Anyways, I hope everything will get better soon. 

So totally on a different subject guess what? 2 days ago on Saturday I got my first baptism! And I was actually able to baptize her. I had the words memorized but I just needed help with pronouncing her name right. Her first name was Yolanda and she was 13 years old. It was such a neat experience to baptize her. The baptismal font is basically a plastic tub, haha. The water felt great though!

Saturday was the best day here so far, not just because of the baptism but also because our district leaders came down for the baptism and one of them speaks English. So I was able to talk to him for a long time. They actually slept over at our apartment on Saturday night and left early Sunday morning for church. Ah I just wish I had someone to talk to and help me feel better. I mean Elder Aguinaga is a great missionary I just can´t really communicate with him. Anyways its hard to remember all that happened earlier this week. We just have been tracting around Obligado, we haven´t had any luck with new investigators this week so that´s too bad. We are just both trying to get used to the area since both of us are new here. The members are really great, I mean as much as I can understand. haha. Anyways yesterday was church and I had the opportunity to bless the water, so that was really cool. Today we had a zone meeting in Encarnacion. It was awesome because I was able to speak in English and see Elder Averett again! Since he's in my zone. But we were only together for like 3 hours. Well hopefully tomorrow I will start feeling better. I love you all at home and miss you all so much. Have a good week!

Excerpt from my email answering some questions I had asked: 

So yes we're on foot and we actually don't have to walk too far. Like probably 7 miles throughout the day. The food is pretty good, its actually a lot of noodles and rice and meat and stuff. I ate a chicken heart and that was pretty gross just really bloody and it had a weird texture. So that was the crazy food I have eaten so far. And we have one a/c in our room but no heater, it's been hot so we don't need it. Yes we have gone shopping but no they don't have top ramen. Haha I just buy sandwich stuff. I'm starting to get used to the money and stuff. (Laundry) No we have this sister in the branch do it. We pay her 300 mil a month to do our laundry and she provides lunch everyday.

Pictures

A member's home in Obligado

Hermana Presentacion's home, she does our laundry and we eat lunch here every day

My First Baptism

Yolanda and Me by the baptismal font

Elder Alguinaga, Yolanda, me

Elder Alguinaga, Yolanda, district leaders & me

Zone Conference in Encarnacíon, Paraguay

Elder Averett, Sister Wilde & me

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #7

September 1, 2013

Elder Thayn's mission president said Monday was his...

so...we waited...and waited...to hear from him. 

It was the first time we've heard from Elder Thayn since he left the USA. He was able to find a place to use the internet and email. 

Email 

Wow a lot has happened over the last week and a couple of days! So I will try to get everything in. So we left the MTC at 6 in the morning on Tuesday the 27th. We took the Frontrunner, then tracks to the airport. Our plane left at 12:30 PM so we were all able to call home which was awesome! We took off from SLC to Dallas, Miami, then finally Asunción, Paraguay. That last flight was super long but I was able to get some sleep which was good. 

Once we arrived in Paraguay we had some complications so we ended up staying at the airport for like an extra 3 hours until it got all sorted out. After the airport we did some paperwork then we were actually able to go see the Asunción Temple which was sweet! 

We had to take a 6 hour bus ride to Encarnación which is across the border from Posadas. We spent the night at the mission home but we didn't arrive there until 1 in the morning so it was a very long day. 

The next day we were able to meet all of our new companions. My companion's name is Elder Aguinaga and he's from Peru. He's has been out for almost a year. And so yeah, he only knows Spanish.... haha so that's has been quite a challenge. That night we got to our apartment and let me say it's way different. I'm just happy it's winter still or else I guess there would be tons of cockroaches! 

Anyways the last couple of days we have been talking and getting to know the members. We taught one lesson to Yolanda who is getting baptized this Saturday so that's pretty sweet! 

Yesterday we were able to go to church. I think there were 27 members there. Oh and the Branch President had me bare my testimony so that was fun. Haha. I think everyone understood it. 

It's kind of funny because everyone has cell phones and TVs here and even smart phones but a lot of them have dirt floors in their homes or no indoor plumbing. Seeing all the people here and what they have makes me feel really grateful for America and all the stuff we have at home. Anyways that's all I have for now! I love all you guys so much! 

I asked Elder Thayn what he did for his p-day, like did he go grocery shopping, etc...his answer:

We went to a members house for lunch. We actually haven't gotten any money on our cards yet because I guess there's a problem, so we literally have no idea what we're going to eat each meal. Lucky I have snacks from the MTC still. 

Pictures 

Elder Thayn uploaded a total of 26 pictures using a different method other then emailing. I will just post a few. Unfortunately he did not use the caption on the pictures to let us know what it is/where it is/who it is so I'll do my best to figure them out, some are easy.

Zac at the Asunción, Paraguay Temple

Bus drive to Mission home

Elder Thayn eating at a restaurant in Paraguay (I see the Paraguay flag) with all the new missionaries before going to Mission home in Posadas, Argentina

Elder Thayn on a bus drive to Obligado, Parguay with  his new companion (Elder Aguinaga), maybe?

Elder Thayn in his raincoat (he mention it had been raining)

New apartment pictures

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #6

August 27, 2013

Elder Thayn left the Provo MTC for Argentina on Tuesday, August 27, 2013.  From Salt Lake City he flew to Dallas then Miami.  We were able to talk to him at each of those airports, and after 6 weeks of not hearing his voice, it was awesome. From Miami he flew to Asuncion, Paraguay, where his travel plans end. How he gets to the mission home in Posadas, Argentina he did not know.

August 31, 2013

He is there!!!

Finally an email...not from Zac but his mission president.  President LaPierre sent us an email along with 5 pictures.

Email #1

August 31, 2013

Dear Thayn Family,

My wife and I had the privilege to welcome Elder Thayn to the Argentina Posadas Mission. We are excited to have Elder Thayn in our mission to contribute to edify the Church of the Lord here in The Argentina Posadas Mission. 

Elder Thayn was assigned to labor in Obligado Area with Elder Aguinaga as their trainer. During his mission, Elder Thayn will have opportunities to work in the Providence of Misiones in Argentina and Paraguay due to the mission having two countries. Although, Argentina and Paraguay are neighbors, they have different cultures and customs.

On Monday, they will have their preparation days where he will be able to communicate with you every Monday. The communication is generally done over E-mail, or to communicate with letters or packages, the direction of the offices of the mission is:

Elder Thayn 

Córdoba 1243

Posadas, Misiones 3300

Casilla 12

Argentina

We are very grateful for sending us a missionary spiritually prepared; he will be an influence in the lives of the investigators that they will teach, members who they will get to know, to his companion and other missionaries.

With love, 

XXX LaPierre

President of the Argentina Posadas Mission

Pictures from the Mission Home

Can't wait to hear from Elder Thayn on Monday, his P-day!!!

Week #5

August 23, 2013

Due to problems with visas, last Friday Elder Thayn told us he received a letter stating that he was being temporarily reassigned stateside. He would have to wait until Thursday or Friday of this week to find out where he was being sent on Monday.  

Surprise!!! 

Argentina!!!

              

Not Stateside 

(leave on Tuesday)

Email #1

Well it has finally come! Our travel visas (so technically not our official visas)! We found out last night so that was really exciting. We leave this Tuesday morning. Our flight leaves at 12:30 PM and our first layover is in Dallas, then Miami, and then finally Asunción, Paraguay! Except we're not sure how we get from Asunción to Posadas, Argentina, but I'm sure we will figure it out. I'm super excited but also a little scared since it will all be new to me. 

Today we were able to go to the temple again. It was so sweet, like always. I really like the new endowment video because I feel like it has more emotion put into it. Anyways, so our Branch President's wife wanted us to participate in the sealing of her parents who have passed away almost a year ago and also of having her being sealed to her parents. It was really neat to see. Watching performances like this truly testify to me that our church is the true Church of Jesus Christ. 

For our Tuesday night devotional Elder Maynes from the Presidency of the Seventy spoke to us. Here are some of my favorite things I learned that devotional. 

This one is actually a quote from President Monson, "The demand is increasing, but the impact is everlasting." He was referring to missionary work. 

The other thing I really liked was how he compared Joseph Smith to the perfect investigator of the past, present, and future. And then he compared Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as the perfect example of missionaries. Although we will never be able to be as perfect as Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, they are still who we should be striving to be like. 

Well that's all for now, I hope everything is going well back at home!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Thayn

Email #2

 Here's a picture of me, Elder Averett, and Elder Murphy at the temple this morning ;) Yeah!

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #4

August 16, 2013

This week Elder Thayn wrote two emails to post on the blog.
First email, about his experiences this past week, second email, pictures, just two and neither of him. :(

STATESIDE???

Previously, Zac had mentioned the troubles missionaries were having getting visas especially in Argentina, Brazil and some other South American countries.

Email #1

Hello everyone, 

So I will start out with the news I just barely received within the last hour. 

So, we finally found out if we were going to be reassigned or not. In our mail we received a notice that our visa clearance has not been cleared so this Thursday or Friday we will receive a temporary reassignment. Since now we know for sure, we're all getting kind of excited because it's like getting another mission call! I will make sure to tell you guys where I will be reassigned as soon as I know next Friday.  

On Tuesday we had our Tuesday Night Devotional and there were rumors the speaker was one of the 12 apostles and...... it turned out it was true! 

Elder Scott came and spoke to us, it was pretty sweet! It's really amazing how strong the spirit is with him, like as soon as he walked in it was like a wall that hit us! A good wall that is haha. Here's some quotes from him that I really enjoyed: 

"The Lord has called us to succeed, not to fail." 

"Pray, even when you have no desire to do it....that is when you need Him the most." 

"He is our PERFECT Father." 

And then my favorite was... 

"Sometimes he will let us struggle so we can grow." I really liked this one because it tells me (us) perfectly why we have hardships in our lives. 

After he finished speaking and the closing prayer had ended no one even moved. It was crazy, like no one even thought of moving. It was almost like a 6th sense in the way where our spirits didn't want to leave, that strong presence of the Spirit. It wasn't until Elder Scott stood up and started walking off. It was funny because as he was leaving he yelled out to us "Be good" and then right before he left through the doors he yelled "I love you" It was funny.

Also on Tuesday we had TRC which is where we teach members a 20 minute lesson. They just come and volunteer here at the MTC. But this time we did TRC over skype! Me and Elder Averett skyped a member named David from Texas. It was a really neat experience, but also kind of hard cause it was more difficult to understand him since it was through skype.  

Just today we had the opportunity to go to the Temple!! We went at 6:50 in the morning. We were able to see the new endowment video which is 13 minutes longer and what I thought was better too. It's always so peaceful in the Temple, especially in the Celestial Room. We will get the opportunity to do it again next Friday so I can't wait! 

Well that's all for now. I hope everything is well at home! I would like to challenge everyone to come closer to Christ and our Heavenly Father by trying to make our morning and evening prayers more sincere. Maybe by taking more time to say them and having no distractions around. For after all he is our loving Father and wants to communicate with us as much as possible. Thank you! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Thayn

Hmm...did you get that? He is giving us a 

to make our prayers more sincere, by taking more time and having no distractions around us...are you up for the challenge???

Email #2

Here's a pretty picture I took of the temple last Sunday!

That other picture is a picture of my "new missionary Host" sticker. I totally forgot to mention that on Wednesday our zone was able to be missionary hosts. It was pretty cool! The first one I got was an international missionary who was from France. And yeah basically he did not know any English... haha it was really hard to show him where everything was and get everything he needed but we eventually got it all. This was his first time in Utah he said. He was going to Tahiti, I just wish the best of luck to him in the MTC! haha. The other one was from Bountiful and he was the usual, we picked him up at the drop off and took him to his room and everything. It was a cool experience, but kind of weird to see all the crying parents and stuff. It reminded me of when I got dropped off, haha. 

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #3

August 9, 2013

This past week (Wednesday, August 7th) was Zac's 19th Birthday. His first birthday out on his mission, which was spent at the MTC.

Week #3 also means...

 Zac only has 3 more weeks left before flying to Argentina. 

Once again, Zac sent a short email to post followed by 2 more emails of pictures...

Email #1

Hello everyone! 

So I have to say, holy smokes! My birthday was the best I could ever ask for on my mission! I just feel bad because I have like no time to write everyone thank you notes, maybe I will throughout my two years! Haha So thank you everyone for your love and support! I got a total of 7 packages for my birthday. I didn't even have enough time to open them all on my birthday, so yesterday was my second birthday! 

So I figured out the hardest rule to follow in the missionary handbook is no communicating to family/friends with of course the exception of P-Day. Especially this week with all the letters I received. So be patient with me when it comes to responding to all of your letters. 

Earlier today we were able to clean the temple of which I mentioned in last week's e-mail. It was sweet! We cleaned the cafeteria, men's & women's dressing rooms, and some stair cases. We were able to sit in the Celestial room for 10 minutes and just relax and think. It was probably the best 10 minutes of cleaning the Temple. It was only a little awkward because I was in my black vans shoes... But we were in white scrubs that we cleaned in. But after knowing its totally okay since we're cleaning it was really neat! We were also able to see the Brides room so that was pretty sweet! 

Oh and we got some more exciting news in our district.... This Wednesday we will be hosts for the new incoming missionaries! It's weird cause I feel like I'm still new here. 

This week has been pretty good, more challenging though. So now we have two investigators that we teach every other day. So it works out to where we teach one of them everyday. Also being a zone leader has brought more challenges. Like, showing the new district (that came in two days ago) around and answering their questions, and also Sundays are just full of meetings! Haha but still good. 

So I decided the MTC is an emotional roller coaster! Haha but things are getting better now. It's just funny because sometimes I feel like I'm really understanding Spanish but then other times I'm so lost and confused. I have strong faith in the gift of tongues and I have already seen it be apart of me so far into my mission. Thank you guys for all of your support and remember that I'm also praying for you all back home! :) I will make sure to send some pictures! I love you guys! 

Love,
Elder Thayn

Email #2 

Me and Elder Averett's robes of power! The old zone leaders passed them off to us!

A box of cheerios an elder gave to me for my birthday! The cheerio lady was dressed immodest so we covered her up!

 All of the letters I've received from everyone.

Email #3

All of the packages I got from my birthday plus one more that's under my desk!

My haircut I got! The back is pretty short.

These are the elders that left on Monday to Honduras and Mexico.

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #2

August 2, 2013

Yesterday, August 1, I received a handwritten letter stating he had exciting news. 1st that his district  was chosen to clean the Provo temple next Friday. 2nd that he and his companion, Elder Averett, were called to be Zone Leaders. Awesome news isn't it? He has only been at the MTC for two Sundays...he seems to be doing so well! (Sorry, proud mother moment)

Today we were blessed with an email and 2 emails with pictures to post, Plus a handwritten letter from Elder Averett, he seems really sweet!

Email #1

So time has started to speed up finally here at the MTC. Spanish has been going pretty good, there's just so much to learn in such a little amount of time. But I know with faith all things are possible!  

A mission has so far been the biggest test of my faith, and it hasn't been easy one bit. With all the learning Spanish put aside the MTC is a great place to learn and grow your testimony. It is so spiritual here and I have learned so much. 

So anyways, last Sunday President Tyler pulled me and Elder Averett aside and asked us if we're willing to become the new zone leaders in our zone (11). Of course me and Elder Averett accepted this great opportunity and calling! I'm really excited but also kind of nervous about it all, since I feel like it's a big responsibility. I'm sure me and Elder Averett will do great though. 

Oh another exciting thing that is happening is that our district (11C) has been chosen to clean the Temple a week from today. I heard its a rare experience, so we're all super excited for it. 

As of this week we have started teaching an investigator everyday now, instead of every other day! It is a hard challenge especially now we have to plan two different lessons for two different people. 

Our first one (who we will be teaching tonight) is Pedro and he has been exploring different churches and trying to find the right one for him. 2 days ago we taught him about the restoration and we related him to Joseph Smith! It was such a great lesson and the Spanish seemed to flow easier than ever before. 

Our other investigator Israel has been attending our church for the last 6 years every week too! His wife is a member. So we taught him yesterday and... that didn't go too well, he asked questions we didn't understand and couldn't really respond back to in Spanish. Like he doesn't know/believe how someone (us, lds members) can testify to know certain things to be true . So yeah Israel will be a challenging investigator to teach. We plan on teaching him about the holy ghost so hopefully that will be good for him. 

On Tuesday we had a devotional at the Marriott Center and Elder Richards spoke. A thing I liked that he mentioned was how missionaries always tend to complain about how hard a mission is. And what he told them was "It's not the first time someone has asked that question: Isn't there an easier way? Our Savior even asked that to our Heavenly Father when he was here suffering for our sins." I really liked that because I/we can relate to our Savior when we are going through hard times and just want to ask our Heavenly Father if there's an easier way. This also gives proof that Jesus knows exactly what we're going through. 

Well that's all for now! I hope everything is going well back at home! Send all my love to the rest of the family! I love you guys.

Love always,
Elder Thayn

Email #2 

Our weekly Sunday trip to the temple and a pic of our district in front of the temple! 

A protester yelling "Throw your crowns on the ground, for you are not gods" and "I call you to repentance" oh and the other funny thing was when he was singing and in the middle of the song said "Jesus said this"! Hahaha funny stuff.

Email #3

Oh yes and of course our new tradition "comb-over Wednesday"! Just so everyone knows I was the one to suggest it and start it!  

Our drawing of our ship (our district) and our duties on the ship! Oh and I forgot to tell you guys 

I'm getting a haircut today at 2:45 so next week I will put the picture on of my new haircut! I hope they don't cut it too short! haha

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."