Week # 11/30/2009 (Ponce Area 2)

Email dated: November 30, 2009

EL DIA DE PAVO!
haha I had a great dia de accion de gracias haha it was the day after transfers so yeah I didn’t know what to expect but we actually ended up going to a really cool guys house that’s only been a member for about 6 months and he’s the only member his wife and 4 kids aren’t members so we really want to work with them but yeah it was good. We had turkey rice and beans and pasteles (they are like these little things that they started feeding us around here at the end of October and I guess they cook them all the way through January too. I guess its a festive food but its made from platanos or guineos or whatever they decide to use and its just like all mashed up and they put meat and all sorts of stuff in the middle of it and then wrap it in a leaf and tie it up and boil it. Its like a puertoriqueno tamali but yeah I like them :) ) also this family had a little bit of American food like appetizer things it was breaded shrimp and then like these little codeanblue (idk how to spell that I’m not French) balls and like fried taco things haha (I don’t know how to describe all this stuff) but yeah it was good and we just stayed there with his family for a bit and played some dominoes for a little bit and then went out and went finding -- tocing doors and visited some other members it was good.So that’s a bummer that Kyle and Tanner aren’t going anymore I thought for sure that they would both smarten up and get goin I was all excited dangit o well I guess maybe while Jason is out they will realize what they are missing and get in gear haha Anyways it sounds like you all had fun and that it was a good thanksgiving. Did you get any killer good sales? My companion wanted to get up early and head to the store to see if we could get some Black Friday sales but I had to inform him that we probably shouldn’t do that. haha he’s a funny guy! But yeah I love Ponce so far. Its a really big city I already knew a ton about it cuz I was always here already and I went on a trade off in the area that I’m in now but yeah its good there are 6 missionaries in the city of Ponce which is cool so sometimes we’ll be riding on our side of the street in our area and they’ll be riding on the side in their area and we will see them haha and one of the companionships actually live in our area in another apartment complex so we see them sometimes too but yeah the thing I love about Ponce is that there are so many people haha ITS GREAT! in Adjuntas there wasn’t as many people so it was hard to talk to a ton of people. so now there is like a ton of people everywhere and when there’s more people, you talk to more and when you talk to more, you can teach more, and when you teach more you baptize more so yeah our agenda for this week is already chuck full of citas so I’m way excited. We found a guy my first day here and we’ve taught him two lessons and he’s way cool and doing good so I’m excited about him too but he’s going in for a knee operation so we can’t see him till Saturday. but yeah Ponce is great and so far from what I can tell it should be an area with a lot of people getting baptized but the missionaries that have been here for the last while were a bit bagga haha but don’t worry we are changing all that around :)My companion Elder Stanley is great! He’s from Las Vegas and he’s a good guy. he only has 4 months left in the mission and so I think he’s getting a little excited to get home but I keep him working pretty hard :) he’s also hyper glysimic and so he has to eat every now and then so that’s kinda been weird for me because I usually like to just eat a giant lunch and then just work the whole day but yeah I kinda felt bad cuz we did that two days ago and then he got really nauseous and sick so now we just like stop at burger king and get him a milk shake or something but yeah I love him he’s a great guy and he’s working hard and we are going to see some good stuff happen this transfer I KNOW IT!!So anyways I don’t even want to think that it’s almost Christmas! That’s so crazy! Its going by way too fast WAY WAY too fast!!! But yeah I actually decided something that you can get me. I would really like if you could get on the internet and go to that Hush Puppy site and see if they have those brown shoes still on sale because I mean my doc martins are good I just think my feet are going to melt away cuz they are so so so hot here! In Ponce its like 10 degrees hotter than Adjuntas and yeah my feet don’t handle the heat in the doc martins and they are my only brown shoes so yeah if you could look on there and see if they have them and send me those that would be great they are the ones that are just plain leather and like a light brownish color and they aren’t water proof or nothin but other than that I think I’m good with everything I actually might try and send some stuff back again like my doc martins if you can get those other shoes sent :)but yeah sounds like everything is going great up there in Idaho! Thanks for the email and everything and I’ll talk to you guys next week.
LOVE YA
elder ward

Week # 11/23/2009 Going to Ponce! (4th Transfer)

Email dated: November 23, 2009

4th Transfer
Ponce 2 Area
New Companion: Elder Stanley from Las Vegas, Nevada

I’M LEAVIN! :( :) had to put a double smile because I’m happy to go to a new area and talk to new people but I’m also sad to leave my little Branch up here in the mountains they are awesome. Our mission is going through all these changes so now what we are doing and I’m pretty sure all the missions in the world are doing is that we don’t have transfer meeting and we have zone conference every month now. I guess they want to focus on doing missionary work by the month now or something but yeah so I know where I’m going and who my companion is already. My comps name is Elder Stanley from Las Vegas he’s a pretty funny kid I went on a trade off with him for a day my second transfer. We are going to be in the Ponce 2 area haha kinda funny cuz that’s still in my district and I’ve gone there at least once a week so far on my mission haha so it’s like I’m right next door kinda funny but yeah Ponce is like one of the bigger cities in Puerto Rico so I’m going from one of the small ones to one of the biggest haha but yeah it should be good except it’s usually like 10 degrees hotter down there which isn’t cool. I leave Wednesday morning -- I don’t know what my address is but you can just send stuff to the office and it will get to me just fine. Oh and if I go to the islands ever you just send letters to the office and then President takes them over when he flies over like twice a transfer but yeah you just can’t send packages when your in the islands!
So to answer dad’s questions if we can watch movies the answer is YES! you know all those movies that the missionaries hand out (like cordero de dios, como hallar fe en Cristo, Familias puede ser eterna, etc..) haha yeah those are the only movies we can watch :)
But anyways that does sound like a good movie haha (We went to the movie “The Blind Side” and I told Matthew a bit about it! Very GOOD movie!!) I would like to see it so yeah you can just buy it and save it for me. I love football movies! but yeah tell Jason he better get crackin and get to the temple and get all his stuff ready and tell him that I said a lot of days those mesh garments don’t sound too bad haha
We had Thanksgiving planned with an awesome family here in the branch that I just love. they have a bunch of kids and they’ve been members for about 30 years or so they were one of the first people to get baptized in Adjuntas but yeah they are awesome and have a bunch of returned missionary kids and then 3 foster kids that are ages 12-14 but the problem is I get transferred the day before so I don’t know what I will be doing Thanksgiving. I would imagine it will just be a good day of missionary work cuz a lot of families will be home and then we will probably have a dinner at a members house in Ponce.
But anyways I think I answered all the questions haha but yeah life is going good we just gave out a baptismal invite yesterday and the guy accepted his name is Nestor and he’s a really nice guy that we met at the beginning of the transfer. He was living with a girl and a bunch of kids but they got in a fight and she left or something and his house on his farm burned down a couple months ago and he didn’t have insurance so the Lord is doing a good job of humbling him so yeah he wants to get baptized but he still has a lot of work to go. Other than that we don’t have any really strong investigators but we will find them I have one more day left to get them haha :)
Well I better get going o and I ended up getting everything in the mail like a couple days ago so yeah I have my card and everything and tell Jason I’m going to write him a letter today.
I love you guys and have fun in Utah
elder ward

Week # 11/16/2009 (Adjuntas)

Email dated: November 16, 2009

haha you crack me up but good work on the missionary work now you just have to get her to come to the good part CHURCH haha but it sounds like your doing good haha. So you and kelli went to the temple? When is Jason going to go through? I don’t know how hot it is in the Philippines but tell him that I kinda wished I would have tried some mesh garments out sometimes haha and don’t let dad see this email cuz honestly I like the crew neck ones better too haha even though I told dad I wouldn’t it’s just so much better with a collared shirt haha I definitely like the other ones better when I’m wearing a t-shirt but with the collared shirt I like celestial smile all the way haha (you might have to delete some of that when you send this email out haha idk :)) but that’s cool that you had the temple pres. and stuff come down that’s awesome its crazy cuz sometimes I wish I was in a states mission cuz I miss going to the temple I love it and also I miss all the big wards and stakes haha don’t get me wrong I love it here but its just a giant sized blessing to have a temple and a big ward and everything :) but anyways everything here is going great we haven’t really found anyone for a while either we are spending about all day everyday tocing doors and looking for people to teach we just haven’t had that much success but we are working hard and we will find someone :) but yeah o so I got a funny story I’ll tell ya about so Friday (which happened to be Friday the 13th) was just a funny day so it starts out that we forgot to turn our phone ringing on which is our alarm clock and usually we wake up at 6:20 but the phone didn’t go off so we woke up at like 6:35 and sinned right off the bat and then we did all our studies and all that good stuff which went good but we went out to teach and in the first 30 minutes of the day all 5 of our citas fell that we had planned idk how we even contacted them all in that time but it just so happened like that and they all said they would be gone and we couldn’t teach them so then we went tocing and it was a way hot one Friday and then mid contact I was talking to this guy and all of a sudden a big giant bee stings me right on the tip of the figure and man it hurt but I was talking to this guy and man it was just a mess but really funny at the same time but yeah it cracked me up and I don’t want to complain in my email or anything but I just thought it was a funny Friday the 13 experience haha well I better go run and check dad’s email but I hope you guys are all doing good I have checked the mail yet so I don’t know if its here but I think it should bebut I love you guys and everything is going wonderful transfers end not this Wednesday but the next so yeah we’ll see what happens haha but yeah love ya and I’ll talk to you next week
elder ward

(Matthew’s email to his dad was quite hilarious this week so I just had to share it with all of you!)

WHAT?! Man I feel out of the loop I didn’t know they were selling wolf tags now I can’t believe that that is crazy but brad missed hu? That’s a bummer but where were you hunting? Man those crazy wolves -- sounds like there is way too many of them. so you and brad better get out there and shoot a couple haha but I was thinking if you get one you can skin him and tan him and make me a big old Indian hat with the tail hanging in the back and the face right on front and then all 4 legs hanging down hahaha it would probably be better to do that with a coyote but yeah. What did you end up doing with your bear and your elk? I think the best would be to rug the bear that’s what I’m going to do when I shoot one haha :) well everything is going good and it sounds like you having fun but I’ll talk to ya later
Love ya
elder ward

(Andrea’s email)

hey HOWARDS
Puerto Rico es perfecto! :)

but anyways transfers are this next wednesday but i dont know if i will be going or not yet i will know this saturday if i stay or not but yeah if you want you can just send it to the mission home and it will get to me just fine :) but anyways that would be cool if kenna baught an airplane that sounds fun you should let her do it :) but they are dancing hu? i dont know how to do any of that dancing stuff but i did have a roommate in college that was catholic and a ball room dancer but he was pretty different haha but anyways yeah i dont really need anything for christmas for real missionaries just live out of a suit case and dont really have room for anything and ive got plenty of clothes and stuff so really im great but thanks but i still would like a big box of home made cookies or maybe some peanut butter bars man i havent had those for a while haha but yeah anyways everythign is going great hows the england life? i was just thinking do you guys know when you are going to leave england? and are you going to try and go somewhere crazy afterward? anyways ill talk to you next week ( i almost didnt get to talk to you this week but good thing i refreshed it before i left hu :))
well i got to go ttyl > > love you guys > > elder ward>

Week # 11/09/2009 (Adjuntas)

Email dated: November 9, 2009

Madre su espanol es excelente so anyways to start out that’s pretty cool that you guys had your primary program cuz we had ours too haha well actually we had stake conference so because the wards are really small they do a combined primary program right before conference starts but yeah it was really cool and reminded me of the funny kids. This one little girl did not want to say her talk at all it was funny. They also sang familias pueden ser eternas tambien haha :)ok so what are you doing with a bunch of pieces of wood your sanding? 800 is a lot haha but it sounds like everything is just about the same back home haha. (Super Saturday) They don’t have any pawn shops here :( well at least I haven’t seen one haha and they don’t have any guns really either because there is nothing to hunt so the only guys I ever see are the ones that the police have and I always ask them what it is (even thought I can usually tell before hand haha) but yeah it’s a good way to start a conversation except now I know all the policemen in town I think and haven’t got one teaching appointment with any of them :( but yeah talking about the police reminds me when me and my companion lost the keys to the car and went to the police station to see if they could unlock our door and they just handed me a slim jim and said bring it back haha man that’s funny :) I think I told you that story though at least I hope so hahaSo that is way crazy about Chris (Chris Hipwell is on a mission in SLC) and his parents going there all the time man that would be weird but I’m not going to lie sometimes I get jealous of those Idaho Utah missionaries that have giant Stakes of people that would love to help the missionaries haha ;) At least that’s how I picture it and it all makes sense to me now why they have so many baptisms! But wow that’s so weird that Kyle is coming home kinda crazy hu? Man I can’t believe it he’s going to be an RM he’s going to BYU right? man that’s weird but something kinda cool that I just realized that he will only have a semester more of school than me when I get back so we will be about the same :)So that scripture sounds like a pretty good one of Jason’s. (Jason’s scripture for his Missionary Plaque is … Alma 26:12) That was one of the two I sent you remember? But something really cool about all that is that his scripture if you read the story of the sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger well the sons of Mosiah and Alma all convert and the sons of Mosiah are all supposed to be kings but they decide to leave and go on missions instead and Alma does the same thing but the sons of Mosiah take off to go teach the lamenites and Alma stays to do his mission -- well Jason's scripture is Ammon after he had all the success with his brothers and my scripture is Alma (Matt’s scripture for his Missionary Plaque is … Alma 29:9) but I just think it’s cool because they were like best buddies who left out on their missions to different places but they just really have the same look on things. haha but yeah read the stories I LOVE IT :)but anyways now to the good stuff so everything is going really good and we are starting to get investigatores and we’ve been teaching a lot more now :). the family is doing good we had a lesson with them yesterday and the branch pres and his wife came with us so that was good (they are both returned missionaries and are like 27 years old so yeah they had preach my gospel on their missions too so they can teach great and know the language haha) but yeah then we also have another returned missionary that is 22 and he is the second counselor and he has been helping us on the weekends and he’s way awesome too but yeah we are teaching and finding and everything is going good we haven’t got anyone to church yet but we will :)anyways I’m like out of time though I’m talking too much ahha but I better get going I hope everything is going great and you get Jason’s stuff done on time haha I’m doing good and I don’t really need anything for Christmas -- tell dad I heard about Jason’s Christmas present and wouldn’t mind one of those waiting at home for me haha (I guess I better find out what this present is … I don’t even know!!!)
love you guys
elder ward

(This is a portion of Andrea’s email from Matthew)
Yesterday I got ribs for the first time of my whole mission it was the best we went and visited a member and they were about to eat so she is like come eat with us and she pulled out ribs I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!But anyways so for Christmas I don’t really need anything. You can just send me a batch of cookies and then I can lug them around in my giant belly instead haha but yeah I don’t really need anything :)You can tell Kennady that we will have to go on a special trip to Puerto Rico some time because I know she wants to go so bad :)
But anyways I hope everything is going good with you guys and tell everyone hi for me thank you so much for the email and everything ill talk to you later
love you guys elder ward

Week # 11/02/2009 (Adjuntas)

Email dated: November 2, 2009

HOLA FAMILIA

Life is great down here and I’m having fun! haha but no it did not really feel too much like Halloween haha but I’ll tell ya how it went. It was a pretty good day -- we woke up in the morning and did the normal thing and then while eating my cereal I decided that I had better pick a very exciting person to be for Halloween so I decided that I would be Captain Moroni so I was Captain Moroni but with a modern day twist like white shirt and tie kinda thing. Then after that about half way through the day I decided to switch and then I was Ammon. It was awesome! haha then we had a lot of lessons which was awesome and then we had to go home because we were called the night before and everyone had to be inside by 6 because things can get crazy on Halloween. haha but it’s weird here because people just like to have fun with Halloween but since I live in Adjuntas where there is a thousand churches everyone freaks out when you celebrate Halloween cuz they all think its the devils day its kinda weird I didn’t get to see but I guess every year all the younger generation dress up and do the normal Halloween thing except not trick or treating and they go to the plaza and just hang out. Anyways I guess at the same time all the pastors and stuff go to the plaza and like preach and tell people to go home and repent and that they are worshiping the devil. It’s a crazy place up here in Adjuntas haha.but other than that I think everything is about the same haha we found two new investigatores this week and I’m really excited about that. One of them said she wants to be baptized but we’ve only taught her one lesson. Then also that family that we found (Nestor and Brenda) they are doing good and we are really excited to teach them some more. We are supposed to have a noche de hogar with them tonight so that should be good!So about blessing the sacrament and stuff that’s cool Jason did it but here we never really do it. I had to pass one time because there was only one kid old enough to pass in church but yeah it’s always blessed by the old guys we do have one priest (the one we got the scriptures for) but he doesn’t ever really bless it. It’s always the elders.but anyways i did get your package and thank you so so so so so much it was awesome. I took that little pumpkin cup and I turned it into my pen holder so I’m pretty excited about that I would have eaten with the bowls and stuff but we were fasting so I couldn’t :( but I guess the next elders that get this apartment at Halloween they will have some Halloween fun haha. but yeah thanks for everything and life is going great
I love you guys and I’ll tty next week!

love ya
elder ward

hola papi
so we are teaching one family that is really good they arent that religious which is a good thing but it also means they dont understand a lot so yeah we are teaching them and then we have one younger girl thats married and she was really excited to learn and understood everything really good so yeah we are going to try and teach them right now and are really hoping things go good with them other than that we have a couple of other investigatores but no one really strong my companion loves the mountains cuz he hasnt seen any for a really really long time haha but i guess the islands are really cool so i guess it would be pretty cool to get shipped over there and i guess a lot of people speak spanish over there too so that will be good. It is way crazy that Reed and Kyle are coming home and that ive been out for almost 6 months its pretty nuts the whole mission time thing is crazy it seems like time just flys by its a lot faster out here on your mission than back home thats for sure yeah so is all the hunting over then? i forgot about duck hunting its kinda wierd it doesnt seem like its november haha its way to hot to be november hahaha nate sent me a letter and said he got busted man they got some bad luck it was last year when his dad got in trouble for not packing out his entire bear on the rafting trip haha well i hope he makes it ok but yeah that should be cool in rexburg are both the cabins done now? and have furniture and everything? well everything is going great here and im loving it its pretty crazy that jason will be getting shipped out in about two months now its gettin closer haha but yeah well ill talk to you guys next week
love ya
elder ward

haha pops is getting old hu? well man did Brad ever shoot anything? but yeah sounds like those two costumes really get used haha they were a good investment but i hope your doing good and having fun life here is going great the other day i saw like a giant iguana it was like 8 feet long i sware haha but yeah ill have to show you some pictures some time but keep up the good work are ya gettin good grades in school? and have you read the B of M yet?
love ya > > elder ward>