August 28, 2012

…Campinas (temple) was AWESOME. I loved it there. I might also appear on a cover of a magazine here in Brazil? Proselyting in Sao Paulo was awesome. Downtown was nuts. Really cool, but I only had 30 minutes. Handed out 5 Book of Mormons, it was crazy. The Lord definitely helped because half the people came to me and all were very super nice. A couple things, so my whole flight here and the district I am in now are aaaaallll Brazilians. So I guess the Mission President feels confident in me, which is good. But I’ll have to describe stuff another time, because I am experiencing like 50 technical difficulties and it is hard to trouble shoot on the computer in a different language and I still need to contact the Mission President, but things are good! Tudo bem!

August 21, 2012

Heeeeyyyy I´m here in Fortaleza. é muito bonito, and I guess I have like 5 minutes to tell y´all that I´m here. Don´t have much to tell you about the mission so far but I´m being taken care of, so I don´t have a P-day this week so I will have to fill you all in next week. Love youu!

Please send letters to the Mission Home address below until Zac provides an updated address. Thank You!

Elder Zachary Cetraro

Brazil Fortaleza Mission

Av. Santos Dumont, 1789-sala 1612

60150-160 Aldeota - Fortaleza - CE

Brazil

August 14, 2012

"Hey everyone... the day has come, they are releasing me out to the real world!! The MTC has been a great experience for me meeting all the great young adults of the Church and it is going to be hard to say goodbye. But the mission is going to be full of them, ya just gotta make the experiences good! My Portuguese is really good, but I am ready for the transfer of the big dawgs of the MTC to the fresh greenies of the mission field. Just like middle-school to high-school aaall over again. We went proselyting for the first time yesterday and are going again in the center of Sao Paulo next Monday. I loved learning and working and being able to be the DL of my district, a lil’ shout out to them - Elder Anderson, Boehme, Yost, Gee, "Hyphen", Sister Gee and Young.

So we kinda got jipped for our last P-day. We had to go to the Campinas temple today. (Which OMG I loved it! Suuuch a gorgeous temple.) So we returned about two hours later than we usually do, and now we are going to listen to a Seventy who chopped off another hour and a half off our P-day.... oh well!! So yeah, last week here. Kinda crazy, kinda sad. Really excited though. I loved my experience here and I KNOW I worked hard. The calling really works. As soon as I got here I found diligence and focus I didn't know I had. So yeah, I can leave here being as prepared as I could.

Tudo Bem!

Alright... there goes my time... I love you and talk to ya while I am in the field! =D

August 7, 2012

   Whaaaatt!!?!?!? China caught back up?! I actually have been following the Olympics this week through the instructors, sounds like it’s been back and forth, nose to nose with USA and China! Crazy.... OH - and I should probably tell you I already have plans for the next summer Olympics. A bunch of us were talking about it since half our district is going to Rio. Since we are all going to be fluent, we were thinking maybe we could try to get jobs as translators down here for the Olympics and it would probably be a free trip down! =D Sounds like a good plan right? Look at me, I already have plans for my future... well at least one thing =P

   Jub Jub got sold eh?? That is good that you sold it... makes me wonder what I am going to do about a car when I get back! I'll miss good ol’ Jub Jub.

   So you are talking in church eh? Well that's awesome! I remember I liked writing talks, it gave me a pretty good excuse to study the gospel, heh =P.  Gosh I'll miss hearing you guys speak. I remember last time Dad talked it

was about tithing and he made me cry... about tithing!! I still remember what it was about though. That we should almost do a ceremony of gratitude every time we pay our tithing. Crazy how I can remember all your life lessons huh?

     I am leaving here to Fortaleza the 21st. So you guys could probably write me one more letter. I sure enjoyed all the letters I got last week from the Jenson family and Riley and aaaaallllll of them told me about how awesome the Dark Knight was and that was it. Awesome. Ha and just a lil’ funny.

     So what's up with me??? uuummmm I don't know this week went by quick. I finished my 1,200 verb dictionary the other night. Crazy thing is I remember most of the useful verbs so I almost don't need it. This last weekend was fast Sunday. I learned a lot about humility. I was sick, hungry and tired... but I have never felt so close to the spirit. I learned I should strive to almost be weak... or more like meek, and this way we will be closer to the Savior and the Lord will use us more as his messengers. Received new Brazilian roommates that will be going to our same mission!

Love you all and have a LEGAL SEMANA!

-Elder Cetraro

July 29, 2012

MAMA MIAA!!! =D =D me a lova you muito muito!! aaha... Today is a good day! I'm still a little giddy because today for lunch we had noodles of every kind and all sorts of sauces. I put on extra olive oil for Gpa Mike ;). AND we had a delicious dessert. Never is there a good desert AND a good meal. So yeah, awesomeness going on down here =)
[Editor's Note- Zac answers the question "Are you glad you left on your mission 6 weeks early?" in the paragraph below.]
And yeesss! Me and Elder Boehme who came early with me can't stop thinking about it. I can't wait to see the batch of kids who come in tomorrow. I wonder which one would of been my companion??! I'm happy I came down here though. Honestly there is nothing more fulfilling than preparing to serve the Lord. And I kind of love to study!! Just the little nerd I am. Everyone is starting to get sick of studying but I'm diligently still going on. Today I think I am going to finish my 1,200 word dictionary of verbs I've compiled. After all the long processes and editing I've been doing I think a lil’ portion of them have stuck. I am excited for the field of course! The Africans said they flew in through Fortaleza and it was sooo beautiful, and I ran into a person at the temple today who said the Mission President and Wife are the best! Good to know I'll have good mission parents =)
Speaking of the Africans.... they are gone =\ They seriously were amazing kids. Soooo fun. Soooo spiritual. We basically became brothers, and now they are gone! ='( Me and Elder Fernandes were especially close. He was always talking heart to heart with me and last night we all sang some of our favorite hymns together. I will miss them but I definitely think we gave them the blessings they deserved. I think if I could give to anybody, it'd be these boys who are definitely going to be giving their all for the work the next two years.
Olympics eh? That's pretty cool! My teacher fills us in on a lot of news. But yeah, keep me updated on anything cool on my Countries, ha. Oh and you asked about the sister. She transferred a week ahead, about the second week we were here so she could have a companion. She was very emotional about not having one, and you know when the woman is not happy, nobody is. So yeah they bumped her up. Now our district is just a bunch of stinky smelly boys ha.
So stories for this week. Had an eventful weekend. My companion rolled his ankle baaaad. He is on crutches and it looks like he has elephantitis it was so swollen. But we don't think it is broken, so hopefully it heals before he leaves. I gave him a priesthood blessing, which was very cool. We watched a Mormon Message about priesthood blessings afterwards, which brought tears to my eyes, then I read Taylor's letter which brought more, and later on we listened to an amazing conversion story which brought even more. It is a joyous life when you have tears of joy three times a day. =) Have a wonderful week and love ya muito!
-Elder Cetraro!