Deep Sea Fishing and Puking

David took the Priests and Laurels deep sea fishing off Monterey Bay. After a few minutes of being in the open ocean, the captain commented to David that he was surprised that they were allowed to leave shore since there was a small craft advisory due to gale force winds. These gale force winds made it hard for half the group to even fish. Many were sick for a time and others the entire time. Steven felt nauseous for an hour before he found his sea legs.

(Bishop Black, Britney, Bob, Emma, Josh, Steven, Nathan, Kelsey, Truman, Wesley. and John)

Everyone was able to catch something. Between David and Steven, they brought home eleven rock fish. The girls rocked. None of them got sick and Emma caught the biggest fish. David caught the longest. In all, even through sea sickness, they all agreed to do it again.

Recital

Mrs. Rumsby, Steven's violin teacher, hosted a recital tonight. It's always fun to see how her students have grown and listen to their improvements. Steven did a great job. I've noticed a huge improvement with his playing. I hear and see more passion. He knows how to play really loud and very soft. I look forward to many more performances from him.

New Belt Color

Kirsten is now a Camo Belt. She's been working hard and as a result is moving up quickly now. I'm so proud of you Kirsten. 

Comic 4

New Comp!

Hello Everybody!

This past week has been a different one. 

Transfers were last Thursday, so I got my new companion Elder Mau'u. He is from Victorville CA, and loves sports. We seem to get along great. It is kind of annoying because he roots for LA teams (that makes both of my comps so far). But that is OK because his teams never win (I love reminding him of that). I am sad to see Elder Leavy go, he and I grew to be great friends.

As far as missionary work goes, we are in the rebuilding phase. In the last two months, all of our investigators have either dropped us or have been baptized. We spend the majority of the day knocking on doors, trying to locate those whom have been prepared for us.

The way the wards work here in the quad cities is, each ward has a Iowa and Illinois side to it. So there is a companionship assigned to each side of the ward. On Saturday, we moved one of the four active families on our side of the river to the Iowa side. This makes it incredibly difficult for members to fellowship our investigators. The ward council is trying to find a solution, but for now we have to be very creative to get a member to a lesson.

The weather has been great! A bit on the hot side, but no complaints! I'll take 80 humid degrees over 10 humid degrees any day!

This week nothing to crazy happened. A little child threw a water balloon at an Elder I was on exchanges with which was very amusing. 

I don't want to brag, but I've gained some basketball skillz here. Missionaries take their ball time very seriously.

That is all for now folks! I love the area and the people. I know that God called me to serve here.

Most High & Sincere Regards,

Elder Zinn 

Elder Leavy didn't get transferred, he got translated!

Here is a picture of a turkey

Elder Mau'u and Me

Summerizing

I've been busy getting the backyard ready for summer. This means getting the pool cleaned up, pulling the thousands of weeds that fed off of all the rain we've had, and sorting through the pool toys. Loni loves hanging out with me. Jumping on the trampoline and climbing in the spa are her favorite activities to do in the backyard. I love having a little companion.

Comic #3

(Elder Zinn eating a hard boiled egg with the liquid yolk running down his mouth and thinking,
"Great, now I'm going to get Polio!"

This latest comic may not make sense to most people. So, let me explain. When James was younger, he couldn't remember the term "salmonella". Instead, he would use the word "polio" when asking if he'd be okay eating cookie dough or meat products, "Are you sure I won't get polio?" As he got older and learned Spanish, he liked how similar the Spanish word for chicken, "pollo" and "polio" were. As a result, he continues to jokingly ask, "Will I get polio from that?"

Transfer # Too

Hello everybody!

This past week was a pretty good one! Because this week is transfers, we have P-day on Wednesday. Luckily we are still allowed to write home today though. I won't know who my new companion will be until tomorrow.

Obviously, the crowning moment of last week was Josh's baptism! He is sooo excited and happy to be a member of the church! His baptismal service was a unique one. Josh is legally blind and he invited six of his friends who were all blind. It was cool though because two of his friends now want to meet with missionaries.

The weather has been very delightful! It felt amazing to be able to wear short sleeve shirts. It had been months since my arms felt the warmth of the sun. 

On Saturday we met a very drunk guy named Lucas. He pointed to Elder Leavy and said, " Your tall, but I could still beat you in basketball". After he went off on several other tangents, we were finally able to teach him something. We told him we would come back another day, hopefully when he isn't drunk.

Finding untouched knocking grounds is becoming increasingly difficult in our small area. We are resorting to knock houses that are literally on mountains. I will attach of photo of one of these "mountains".

One good thing about missionary apartments is that missionaries dedicate a closet specifically for junk they don't want. This past week I set out to organize it. During the process, I found brand new dress shoes that a missionary didn't want! It was a remarkable find.

That is all for this week!

Elder Zinn

Baptism Shot, From left to right(Bro West, JOSH, yours truly, giant Leavy)

Stairway to Heaven

The District! From left to right (Elder Miller, Ogden, Lee, Bramall, Todd, tall Miller, Leavy, Pippen, and Bowman) 

Balance

I've been trying to get these two to the park more often. It seems that most of our activities revolve around the older kids and I want to balance things out. The three of us had fun playing "hot lava monster".

I really wish you would answer your phone. Bye. James.

The other day as I was cleaning out my voice mails, I stumbled upon one left by James last year (which is rare as he hates leaving messages). His tone in the message is impatient and clearly frustrated with the fact that he can't get a hold of me. Hearing his voice was a little piece of heaven. 

Blood Thirsty

Dave-o learned all about the make up of our blood. 

Red water beads=Red blood cells(that carry oxygen)

Ping pong balls=White blood cells (that fight germs, bacteria, and viruses)

Craft foam pieces=Platelets (that help heal cuts)

Water=Plasma (helps move blood around

I thought that Dave-o would love playing in the water beads. I was wrong. He was turned off by the smell. Loni, however, loved the sensory bin. It kept her occupied throughout our school time.

Comic 2

Comic 2 vol.1

Liquid Yoke!!!

Hello All!

How are you all doing? It was a fairly average week for me which I was very grateful for.

The weather here continues to annoy me with its inconsistent behavior. For an example, on Friday it started out being a beautiful sunny day. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there was an icy blizzard. These weather patterns make it incredibly difficult to know what to wear.

On the bright side, Josh is very excited to get baptized this Saturday! He is a super humble guy who is legally blind. On a less-cool note, we "set aside" Edward due to his lack of progression towards his baptismal date. We pray that one day he will be ready to meet with missionaries again.

Our finding efforts were not too fruitful this week, although we do have a few potentials that we are hopeful for. We knocked into another basher who was very rude. He told us that we were "carrying out Satan's work". On the inside, I was very upset at this man who had the nerve to tell me that I am following the devil, but I was able to keep a poised/calm composure. 

The wild life out here is super harsh. On Wednesday, we witnessed a hawk swoop down and carry a rabbit away. Yesterday, we were in a more secluded part of town, and saw a guy shooting at squirrels off his own front porch!!

I am expanding my diet to include boiled eggs in the morning. One morning I was particularly impatient and rushed the boiling process. In return, I got a mouthful of liquid yoke. After this I gave up and refrigerated the rest of the half-boiled eggs. My question is, can I re-boil half boiled eggs?

Transfers are on the 21st, so I am nearly done being trained! I will will be sad to see Elder Leavy go, but it will be nice getting a companion who doesn't tower over me.

The only picture this week is of Elder Leavy and I waiting at the local grocery store for our bus to come.

I love you all!

-Elder Zinn

Giants vs Dodgers

Douglas and his kids were in town this weekend to watch the Giants vs. Dodgers games. He bought a couple of Saturday tickets for me. I brought Kirsten along (even though she's an A's fan) so that she could hang out with Malena. We had a fun car ride to SF. We took turns playing our favorite songs and singing at the top of our lungs. 

There weren't many people at AT&T Park when we arrived. I think the rain was a factor in this. We were all thinking the game would be canceled, however, to our surprise everything continued as planned. Ammon and his friend, Kirsten, Malena, Nikkaila, and Thomas sat behind home plate, while Douglas and I were a little above them in the club seats. I loved this section. This is the area where all the trophies and memorabilia is showcased. Plus, Douglas and I stayed dry as there was a covering above us. 

Even though the Giants lost, it was a fun day. I got to meet Nikkaila's fiance, who proposed to her after Friday's game and Douglas and I got to chat and hang out without kids interrupting us.

Zoo With Cousins

Mike's kids are off this week for Spring Break. So, today we got together and had a fun day at the zoo. 

The arctic playground is blinding when the sun is shining.

Loni was innocently enjoying pouring handfuls of sand through a hole, when along came a random boy who poured sand on her. Her reaction is funny.

I love how close Kirsten and Emily are.

Mike's poor back.

Cousin love.

Afterwards, I took the Emily and Owen home with me for a slumber party. I love these kiddos.