A Runway Birthday

Thanks for always making us laugh, David (see video below). Happy birthday!

An Eight Year Old

The cutest thing happened after sacrament meeting. Matt Sundstrom, James' friend, came up to me and said he had heard that Daveo is missing his brothers and is having a hard time. Then he asked if it would be okay if he came over sometime during week the to hang out with Daveo. He kept his promise and came over today for Daveo's birthday and played games with him. Then, Daveo's friend Jacob along with neighborhood kids came over to jump on the trampoline. For dinner, Daveo requested chicken primavera with salad. I made a Frasier Torte (A French version of strawberry shortcake) for his cake.This boy has sophisticated taste! 

Happy birthday Daveo! I love you!

The Birthday Girl Heads to the Beach

My sweet Daveo was more excited for my birthday to arrive than I was. He's been reminding me for weeks now that on my birthday he would give me two things; a huge hug and Love Potion ice-cream. Daveo delivered on both promises. This year, I thought I'd take the kids to Pacifica (no surprise there) to explore areas they haven't been. We started off eating lunch at the famous Taco Bell on the beach located in Linda Mar. This particular Taco Bell has a deck where you can watch the waves and the dozens of surfers that frequent this beach. I originally planned on staying in this area of Pacifica. However, I changed those plans when I realized we were really close to the new tunnel that was dug to replace Devil's Slide. So, we popped back into the car and drove through the cool tunnel. On the other side, we pulled off the road to explore an abandoned bunker sitting on top of Devil's Slide looking as though it will slide off the cliff into the ocean. Growing up here, I had seen it many times but never thought to stop before. We had fun exploring the abandoned building and enjoying the views from so high a place. 

Next, I thought that while we were heading south on Highway 1, we might as well drive to Half Moon Bay to explore the tide pools. However, we never made it that far. A couple of miles into the drive a cute beach that I had never noticed before caught my attention; Gray Whale Cove State Beach. We decided to check it out. It was quite the hike down with lots of stairs to the cove, but well worth it. This would be our final destination for our day trip. A gentle stream of water flowed to the ocean and cliffs to climb on provided enough entertainment to last us the rest of the afternoon. The weather was overcast in the high 60's. The sun broke through the clouds the last hour we were there warming it up to the 70's. Daveo's favorite part of the trip was us building a "massive" sand castle. I love how he used the shells he had collected to decorate the walls of the castle. Loni enjoyed sliding down the sand banks and playing in the stream. I loved watching my children run joyously free without a care in the world. 

When we got home, David had Panda Express waiting for us to eat. I even heard from my two boys who are away from me. (James asked a member to text me a sweet birthday message.) 

Honoring Justin's Birth

We all got to video chat with Justin this morning, wishing him a happy birthday. I can't believe this boy is 22 years old! At the end of our conversation, he told me that Grandma Weller was calling him. A few minutes later, Justin called me back to tell me Grandma was taking him out to lunch in Orem, UT. Thank you, Mom, for spending the afternoon with him for us. 

We honored Justin's birth by going to SF. We grabbed some Ghirardelli and walked around enjoying the warm sunshine. After buying some clam chowder from the wharf, we drove to Pacifica to play at the beach. This time, I took everyone to Rockaway beach (for the first time) where we watched all the surfers catch the huge waves. A stream ran down into the ocean, making for the perfect play area for Loni and Daveo. It was a perfect day. Happy birthday Justin. Love you!

Rockaway Beach

A 20 Year old Legend

James seems to be enjoying his birthday in Muscatine, IA. He got the sweater and beanie that we sent him and french toast was fixed for breakfast. I had also sent him all the fixings for him to bake and decorate a birthday cake. The picture he included in his email of the finished product was impressive. He hasn't forgotten his decorating skills that he learned while working at Cold Stone. Happy birthday my twenty-year old missionary. Your next birthday will be spent with us!

Red Zone!

Hello Everyone!

I hope all of you had an amazing week. We had a pretty boring/standard week.

With our most solid investigators being baptized about a week ago, we had to shift our efforts to different people. We are mainly working with Dorothy and Mary right now. Our game plan that I mentioned last week is still in the works. Our idea is to have one of our members call Dorothy and Mary's husbands to explain why they are getting baptized. We talked to one of the Recent Converts in the ward, Adolphus, about the situation and he said that he is willing to talk to them about it! He told us he was going to talk to them today so hopefully everything will work out there! We are also still teaching Adam. We met with Adam yesterday and had a great lesson with him. He has been reading the Book of Mormon pretty diligently over the past few weeks! We are working with him on relying on the Spirit for his answer. It was a great Sunday because Dorothy, Mary, and Adam all came to church! Those three investigators make up our entire teaching pool right now. We are still spending a lot of time knocking on doors, but it seems like we are just seed planting right now. We met with Jalay this last week to start her new member lessons. She is going as strong as ever!

I was sick this whole week which was lame. I wasn't the only one suffering, our mission Nurse told me that over a third of the mission has reported to her that they are sick! It must be the time of year or something.

The weather has been relatively warm but gloomy. Everyday has been foggy or rainy. On the bright side, it didn't dip below 30 this week!

There is a Worldwide missionary broadcast scheduled for this Wednesday. There are a ton of rumors floating around that our daily schedule will be changed. I really hope these rumors aren't true, because the alleged changes seem even more rigorous.

Have an Amazing week and stay strong! Love you All!

Elder Zinn!

The African Family we are teaching! From left to right! TOP: Dorothy, Rachel, Martha, Mary, and Able! BOTTOM: E-man, Elder Schoenfeld, Jennet, Grace, Jeremiah, Elder Davis, a 20 year old Legend, and Angeline!

My Cake Skills are still top notch! ;)

Birthday, Beach, Balloons, and Brazil

Unbeknownst to Steven, I decorated the house in Brazilian colors for his birthday. I kept asking him if he liked the colors of the balloons, but he had no idea what I was trying to tell him. We all drove to Seabright Beach and met up with some friends (Osorios and Davis). We played lots of games and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. It was an absolutely beautiful day. However, it didn't matter how much we tried to distract Steven; he could only think about whether or not his call would come today. 

 We pulled in to the driveway around 4pm and immediately noticed a big white envelope sticking out of our mail box. What a perfect birthday present! Steven invited a few of his friends and finally put his mind at ease after learning where he would be serving for two years. Steven Weller Zinn has been called to labor in the Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission speaking Portuguese. He will enter the Brazil MTC on May 9.

The rest of the evening was spent eating lots of cake and ice-cream and playing games. Happy eighteenth Birthday Steven!