[10/30/11] Monday Memories: Zach's Mission, Part 2

Zach returned from his mission on October 19, 2009. We waited anxiously at the airport for what seemed like hours. He looked so good when he walked up the ramp to meet us!

The first thing Zach said when he met us was, "Man, Parker's big!"  When Zach left for his mission Parker was about a head shorter than he was. Now Parker's as tall as his dad.

We left the airport and went straight to our Stake President's house so Zach could be officially released from his mission.

I was curious as to how Zach would acclimate to being home. For the first few days he was with me constantly, which was totally fine. As missionaries, they're with their companions pretty much 24/7, so he felt kind of weird not being with someone.  He watched some movies that had come out while he was gone, he ordered an ipod and his laptop for school, and he registered for winter semester classes. 

About a week after he got home he went to Rexburg to see Kam, my parents, and my sister and brother-in-law and their kids, and to get his housing and other stuff set up for school. Kam was so excited to see him and they had a great time. Aren't they cute?

After he got home from visiting Rexburg he went back to work for John at Varsity. We were right in the middle of what could aptly be called "chaos" with one of our contracts and Zach worked a lot of hours in the midst of this chaos. He's always been a really good worker, so John was glad to have him back to help out. And he appreciated the $$ to add to his savings account for school.

Since I wasn't really blogging while he was on his mission, here are some pictures he sent us while he was serving:

These two pictures were taken at Mars Hill. Yes, the Mars Hill where the Apostle Paul preached in Acts 17. When missionaries arrive in Greece to begin serving their missions and leave to go home at the end of their missions they hold a testimony meeting on Mars Hill. Very cool.

On his P-Day (Preparation Day, the day the missionaries do their laundry, grocery shopping and sight seeing), he and the other missionaries would go sight seeing. Greece is filled with so much history and Zach was able to see some amazing sites.

The picture above shows something that I think is so interesting. You can see "ancient" Greece intermingled with "modern" Greece.

Zach served the first six months of his mission in Kavala, which was known as Neopolis in biblical times. Kavala is pretty close to Thessolonica, also from biblical times. He saw some amazing things in Thessolonica, but I can't find that file of pictures. And they are awesome pictures! :o( There's one that's believed to be where John the Baptist is buried, there are some of the ancient arena where Paul preached, and there's even one of some ancient "outhouses." I'm sure they're somewhere.

Zach served for four months on the island of Cyprus, where he taught mostly international students from Napal, China and various countries in Africa. He loved his four months on Cyprus and the opportunity he had to interact with so many different cultures and people.

He spent the rest of his mission in various parts of Athens. Besides his usual proselyting, he was able to do service during the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics, at a sea turtle rescue facility, and for other organizations.

John and I were going to take him back to Greece in June of 2010 (we had our plane tickets and everything), but this whole "moving to Georgia" thing came up, so we weren't able to go.

Maybe someday...