12/29/2010

HOLA

well it was great to talk to you guys and great to have a real p-day today haha it seems like its been a long time but yeah things are going great and it sounds like things are great at home.

so what did you guys do for christmas? who was all there? anything exciting happen? our christmas ended pretty well after everyone was done talking we went and took all our investigator families presents and talked to them a bit so that was fun we enjoyed it.

so something kinda crazy Andrea was talking to me about the extension thing and all that and i was always way against extending because they call ya for two years and you cant just decide to change your call and yeah i was just always way against it cuz i fugured its like trying to stay a little longer in a calling when the bishops tells ya hes going to release ya but then on sunday i got a phone call and president wants to extend my whole group and do a this special little program so i told them i would haha so i guess now we will see if the brethren aprove our extensions the maximum it could be would be 30 days so i guess well see what happens haha if it gets passed that would mean that me and jason would probably only be a little under 6 months difference kinda crazy hu?

O YEAH! IM GETTING MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS 2012 FOR SURE!!! hahahaha jk that would mean i got to find her date her and marry her all in under a year and a half thats a lot of work haha... but i bet i could do it in under a year ;)

love ya

elder ward

12/15/2010

HOLA

well things are going great here we just had a baptism this week hes a really cool guy his names Angel Pabon and it was great he had been going to church forever and so it was amazing to see him finally get baptized he had a lot of stuff holding him back but he made it he even had his family members of a different faith bribe him to drink cofe so that he couldnt get baptized it was crazy and we had to commit his wife to pay tighthing BUT HE DID IT! haha it was great and his wife finally went to church and went to his baptism and she loved it we went to their house yesterday and they both have just progressed a ton since the baptism she is really interested now and hes just way excited and reading all the church books he can get his hands on its great! :)

we are also working with some great families tonight we have a cita with the perfect family they are having troubles excepting the book of mormon so we are planning to help them with that today and im really excited for that :) and then we just have some other people and families that we are working with so we should see some great things here soon :) this ward hadnt seen a baptism for a year so with all this good stuff thats going on we feel like they are just going to get excited and explode :)

so anyways sounds like everything is going good over there nice and cold with lots of snow. thats cool that you got to go to the funeral and see everyone i bet that was fun haha and a bummer they didnt get to shoot any geese. have they done any hunting this year?

Christmas here in Puerto Rico is pretty cool i would say thats the thing they take the most pride in here haha its kinda funny cuz they just have all sorts of extra hollidays and things and they celebrate give gifts they dont carrol they do parandas which means they just run around to peoples houses play and sing and dance to puertoriquen music and they dont leave until you give them some stuff to eat haha but yeah christmas is pretty cool here they have trees and all the goodies but the bigger holliday for them is three kings day and thats when the most gifts come haha but yeah we will be having a pretty good christmas conference this year it sounds like so im excited for that

i havent been taking pictures :( ive been really busy so yeah i need to be better about that ill get some dont worry

being a zone leader is great and yeah we have to teach and do everything all that good stuff just as much as everyone else we just have a ton of other stuff we have to do as well pretty much this whole week we have been getting up at 5 just to try and get everything done haha but i like it its great keeps me busy :)

well the cinder blocks were to build the house haha all houses here pretty much are made out of cinder blocks and cement so yeah it was all the blocks to make the walls of his house :)

but anyways i got to get goin so i dont think i will be able to use internet this next wednesday so if you have any plans or anything like that for christmas send me a letter so that i know becuase i will be calling christmas day sometime so yeah just send me your schedule but yeah i think thats all for this week love you guys

elder ward

12/08/2010 - Zone Leader

New Companion: Elder Taylor from California

HOLA!!!

haha no i wasnt anything last transfer i was on a special asignment haha but even though i wasnt anything president gave me special invites (as he likes to call it) to all the meetings and i still had to do a bunch of junk and me and my companion lived with the zone leaders but today is the start of another transfer and now im zone leader again and my companions name is Elder Taylor from california hes way cool and im excited i already new that we were going to be together and everything but yeah its going to be fun im still in the same apartment and the same town same area just now i dont get to teach all those people we found last transfer :( but it will be cool Elder Bailey and Elder Taylor have some way awesome families that they found and ive met them so im way excited some of them have been investigators for a really really longtime they just arent there yet but they will be soon :) this saturday we are baptizing a man that has been going to church for the last 6 months and he finally decided to get baptized so thats exciting we just have to make sure he is 100% on the law of tything and hes good :) but yeah so things are going good that big family of 8 we went and did some service for them this monday and that was good we carried like 500 cinder blocks up a hill into this house it was fun a good work out haha but yeah they love us and were really grateful and the mom is reading and studying so yeah im really excited for them Elder Dennis and Elder Curtis will be teaching them again tonight :)

but anyways sounds like things are goign great back in Mtn. Home and like a lot of snow thats cool and exciting i would love to see some snow President said something about getting us snow for this christmas so im thinking hes going to rent a snow machine or something crazy for the christmas conference but i guess we will see haha but yeah that sounds like a great missionary tool and im sure people loved it i would love to know what people think when they go to something like that and see how the church really is im sure its great :) were the missionaries there talking to people? i cant wait to see the new stake center i bet its way nice but kinda wierd that we dont go to the stake center anymore haha.

but yeah life is going good we are working hard and having fun and im way excited for this transfer i just hope it doesnt go by as fast as the last one :)

love ya

elder ward

12/01/2010 - ARGH!!! BSU LOST to NEVADA!!!

BSU LOST!? thats so crazy i cant even believe that but i guess thats what happens when you dont get to play all year because no one you plays anygood and then when they actually have to play they cant because they havent all year long crazy i cant believe that wow

but yeah it sounds like the thanksgiving party was pretty good and things are going well kinda crazy that there was only a couple of people there it feels like our family parties are dropping in number i think im gettin old :(

Thats cool everyone got to go skiing i cant even picture tucker skiing hes gettin old haha man everything is going to be all different and wierd when i get home.

So anyways i was thinking about all the traveling after the mission and it would probably be best if i just went home and found a job and started working and making money for school and if you guys want to come down here we can either do it right when i get back or we can wait and it for christmas or something but yeah i was just thinking and that would probably be the best way to do it :)

well the work is going great and we are deffinetly having fun. we had our zone councel on monday and thats always a ton of fun except im dang tired haha weve been getting up at 4 and 5 for like 4 days straight now haha but i guess thats just how life goes :) o and this is the last week of this transfer but i already know who my next comp is and i know im staying in Vega Baja but ill let you know who it is next week cuz nobody is supposed to know yet hahaha

so yesterday we had a really cool experience at zone councle we talked about faith a lot and how that all works and how in order for great things to happen we just have to change our mindset and always be positive and thats faith we talked about how many times the church has been criticized for Prophising and then doing everything they can to make it happen and thats a self fulfilling prophicy and its just funning because thats exactly how it should be faith without works is dead so if you dont do all you can then you dont have any faith. Soooo.... i decided to put it into practice i told my comp right after zone councel we are going to find a great family and then in my prayers i didnt say please help us to find a family please give us a family or put the family in our paths i said we are going to find a family and please just bless us with the strength and knowledge we are going to need and then we planned a ton of finding time and we were pretty excited but to make a long story short we didnt end up having anytime to do the finding but i called a referance that we got set up an appoint we ended up being able to do it and its an AMAZING family of 8 sadly the dad had died 8 months ago but thats why they are looking for a way to strenghten there family in christ so we taught them a bit about Eternal Life they loved everything they want to go to church and are just perfect GOLDEN is what they say haha but yeah it was just a really cool experience and im WAY excited to work with them WAHOOOOOOO!

but yeah i better get goin i love you guys and hope you have a great week

Elder Ward

11/24/2010 - Dia De Accion De Gracia!!

DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIA hahaha thats thanksgiving in spanish kinda a mouthful

but yeah they celebrate here so yeah yeah thats good and bad at the same time because sure its great to celebrate but we also work on those days and its really hard to get citas with people that are celebrating and yeah so its kinda difficult but its good this thanksgiving we have a bunch of service that we are going to do in the morning and then we have a dinner cita with a family in the ward and then well i guess well see what we will do after that :)

yeah i would love to go back over to England before she comes back just because it will still be easier while she lives there and i never got to go to ireland and scotland but yeah we do have a ton of stuff we need to spend money on so yeah i dont really need to go i just kinda picture it as like a last chance thing but your right there is a lot more really important stuff like SCHOOL YIKES! i hope i can get a good paying job when i get back. but yeah about the whole picking up missionary thing the prophet said not to do it so i im not going to ask my president but im pretty sure he tells people not to do it everyone that haves ever been here with there parents went home and then came back like right after.

i would love for you guys to see puerto rico but yeah im just not exactly sure what we would do cuz we could come back and go see all the people that i used to teach and go to the beach Thats really all there is for tourist is beaches so what people do when they visit is just stay in a really exspensive hotel and go to the beach but what i would like to do more than anything else would be just rent a car and go around the island to all the towns i served in and enjoy the beach and try surfing haha (thats another reason why you couldnt pick me up is cause i wouldnt be able to go to the beach and swim) but yeah i dont know how you guys want to do it but if we are planning on comming down to Puerto Rico right when i get back i would deffinitly say no to england cuz thats just way to much money and it would be better and more logical to save it for other things but if you want to wait and go to Puerto Rico later in like a two years with jason and the fam we could do that too it just all depends on what you guys would like to do :)
but yeah i dont know what we are going to do for christmas this year cuz its a new president but i would imagine that we will all spend christmas eve in the mission home and then christmas day usually we just call and then have citas with members :)

but yeah sounds like life is going good back home and that its getting cold im going to freeze like crazy that first year home i get cold at night when it drops down to like 70 haha its been getting a bit cooler now with lots of rain so thats been nice :) but yeah everything is great we are teaching some great people and working hard I LOVE IT!

love ya

Elder Ward

11/17/2010

haha! yeah kinda a bummer about the robbery but the funny thing it was about the same deal it was halloween night and we were gone and they just knocked all the windows out but its funny cuz in PR you have bars on all the windows and so they are like steel frames on top of that and there is no glass but yeah so they got them open and then with there hangs and sticks they reached in a got the stuff they could reach and it just so happened to be that my box with all my picture cards and some other stuff were next to the window on my dresser but yeah o well they got some other stuff from the other elders too but yeah i dont need anything im pretty good :) and for christmas i dont need anything either cuz well i hate to admit it but im on the down hill and if i get anything it would just be a waste so yeah im good my shirts are gettin kinda nasty but they will last till the end and then ill just chuck them all and i still have two long sleeve ones brand new haha but yeah im doing good adrea said she was talking to you about sending me over there when i get back to visit here and going to ireland and scotland and london and maybe Germany so yeah if you decide to ship me over that would definitly be way more than enough for christmas haha (i feel bad though cuz thats a lot of money and im broke haha i got to get a good job when i get home nate was talking to me about working with him for a rafting company as a guide and then sarah whittier was talking about oya councelors and those would be way awesome if they pay good well have to see i dont like to think about it to tell you the truth :))

thats cool Elder Dennis grampa was dads teacher hes a really cool kid and his family sounds like really great people. his dad just got called to be in the singles ward bishop rick in oreagon hes freaking out haha its pretty funny his dads never been anything but young mens leader :)

our week is going great we are working hard and we teach about 20 lessons on average a week but not all of them are investigators its been really tuff to try and get some new investigators but we are doing great we set some high goals and are working really really hard and just spending all our time finding and its going to do great things :)

thats great skiggs got a talk haha im not sure whats on page 39 but im sure it will be great tell him to just study it real good and then just get up and let everyone know how he feels about it haha i love being a missionary and i love talking in church now i used to not like it before but its great i really enjoy it now ( i dont know if i will be able to do it in english though :))

wow it sounds like kim is doing great and it sounds like some good missionary work is going on all around thats awesome. thats cool bsu is doing so well but if they go undefeated this year and dont get to play for the championship that will be crazy ill be ticked haha

o yeah so i was talking to andrea about going to england and she said that you guys were thinking about going as well but if not i was thinking it would be way cool to go with like kyle or nate or a good budy so if you dont go you could talk to Debbie and Terry and Kyle if you decided to send me haha :)

well i better get going but yeah things are going great and im really enjoying my self we are working hard and making miracle happen haha

love ya

elder ward

11/10/2010 We got ROBBED!!!

WOW! the family is just growing growing growing thats crazy its hard to keep track of it all but yeah you can tell leash congratulations for me :)

haha good job on the missionary story that is so great you should come down here and teach the members a thing or to haha jk the members are just so young in Puerto Rico so they just need a little help sometimes haha but they are great. but yeah thats so awesome that they are going to church and things you should tell the missionaries that you and dad will go over and teach with them if they want that would be fun haha we are always trying so hard to get members to come and be friends with the people we teach but its hard i bet there the missionaries have members in like every lesson. But yeah i dont know who that kid is i have never herd his name in my life i wonder how he knew me hes only a year younger than me right? get them going go church and then ship him on a mission haha :) but yeah that is great keep up the good work and keep being there friends :)

we are doing great me and Elder Dennis o yeah i was going to ask you you have to ask dad if he knows a Dennis that taught the mechanics classes at ricks i pretty sure he does and if not i know gramps would know him but yeah hes my companions grampa he doesnt teach anymore but he used to when dad was there im pretty sure. but yeah so we are working hard we are trying really really really hard to find new investigatores and get members to come out with us its kinda difficult when you have to just start an area fresh with nothing to go off of but i love it its different and im enjoying it we do A LOT of finding :)

sounds like bsu is still just doing great and they just dont want to give them that bsc spot hu if they go undefeated and dont play for the title im going to be ticked haha that would be a joke but yeah they better get there

thats a bummer that galan didnt get to make it over that would have been cool for him i bet i cant wait to talk to be in spanish when i get home haha it will be way awesome especially people that i knew before my mission like galan and the hired hands on the farm that would be awesome haha

but yeah keep up the good work love you guys

elder ward

ps we got robbed the other day and the dang bumb got all my pictures from my whole mission so im a little ticked about that but i should be able to get a bunch of them from my old comps so we are alrigth :)

11/03/2010 - Happy Halloween!

Hola

So yeah Halloween was pretty normal cuz we had to go in early but I had a meeting in Bayamon so yeah we just got done working at 6 and then drove over to Bayamon and had a meeting and I was fasting so kind of a weird Halloween. But good haha sounds like the trunk or treat went well that’s crazy there were so many people I would love to see a ward that has at least 150 people total haha the ward we are in right now has about 75 active members but we are getting it up the ward in Cabo Rojo two weeks before I left hit 104 so that was exciting :)

I’m not sure when elections are in Puerto Rico I guess it’s supposed to get pretty crazy when they do do them but yeah I didn’t see anything how often do they vote for that kind of stuff cuz I’m pretty sure all the big stuff that happened here happened while I was in the MTC a year ago but who knows haha

That’s good they went out to go hunting that should be fun. Maybe they’ll whip Kyle’s butt and get him going on a mission haha but yeah I remember Galan he’s a good guy you have fun hanging out with him too bad he didn’t wait till next year to come that would have been cool to talk to him and his son in Spanish :)

So me and Elder Dennis are doing great he is a great kid and he is from Oregon originally but he lives a ton of years in different parts of Idaho which is cool but yeah we are getting along great. So right now I am not a zone leader anymore I’m on a special assignment haha as President likes to put it :) but I still do all the same stuff the zone leaders do it’s kinda funny I thought I was going to take it easy and not have to worry about all that stuff but I guess not :) well actually I don’t have to put on the zone conference which is cool that one goes all on the zone leaders Elders Bailey and Taylor haha they are great! We all 4 live in the same apartment share the same area and ward and everything it’s pretty cool.

But yeah everything is going great we are working hard we both got sent to the area at the same time and the other elders were already there so we pretty much have to start completely fresh with investigators and all that good stuff and learning the area but its good we are enjoying it and finding a whole ton of people which is great we just are really focusing on getting to know the ward a little better so that we can get some members out working with us :)

We happy and having fun and we should have a baptism pretty soon. We just have to get them married they are great and really loved church and yeah we are excited about that

Love you guys

Elder Ward

10/27/2010 TRANSFERRED!!

New Area: Vega Baja
New Companion: Elder Dennis

Hola

Wow sounds like things are going great in Mtn. Home. That’s so crazy about Jace’s mission. I can’t believe that he didn’t ever wear normal clothes (suits) that just seems so crazy to me but cool at the same time.

So right now I’ll fill ya in on the changes. I have a new companion which is a bummer cuz me and Elder Burton thought we would be comps forever! But yeah my new companion is way awesome though and his name is Elder Dennis and he is way cool and knows a lot about Idaho and hunts and does all that good stuff so we are pretty excited about that. I’m way excited for this transfer. Also, I moved to Vega Baja which is a great place so I’ve heard and we are living with 4 missionaries in an apartment and that’s going to be awesome I think because we are all really great dedicated missionaries which just makes everything fun. So yeah I’m in a completely new zone and everything so that should be fun!

So I’m excited - sad that I had to leave so many really cool families that are progressing but excited for the new adventure. It will be great!

Thank you so much for the package. It was great! Elder Burton told me to tell you you’re the best and we were going to send you a great thank you card but they changed us so yeah thanks!

For Christmas I think I’m good. I don’t really need anything and don’t worry about sending a little tree or ornaments and lights and that stuff cuz i just use it for a tiny bit of time and just throw it away the only thing I can possibly think of would be a nice face shaver but I don’t know cuz I’ve kinda gotten used to the blade ones cuz my old electric was pretty horrible so yeah I don’t know if I want to go electric again or not!

I love you guys - things are going great and thanks for everything!

PS: Grace got baptized on Sunday and it was way way way great to see - she is awesome!

Elder Ward

10/20/2010 - Cabo Rojo

Wow that was a good report haha!

So it sounds like everyone is doing really good and getting old! I would love if Kori is going to byu-i. That would be great. Tell him to get up there! Haha! and if you see any of them you can tell them hi for me. You haven’t heard from Nate have you?

That’s really sad about Nick Stover. I remember teaching him will position in football. I used to make him stay after practice with me and hit the tackling dummy and pull the sled. That’s way sad he was a good kid! I guess it just goes to show how the things of the world just work people down and eventually destroy them.

But on a happy note it sounds like football is going great for BSU. I really hope they keep doing well and get a shot at the BCS that would be awesome ... it kills me thinking about football. I would love to play again! Haha! I’ve been talking to my companion about maybe finishing my associates at byu-i and then transferring to somewhere with sports but idk! Haha! I don’t like to worry about it but he insists I move to Utah and I calmly explain to him that one day he will come to Idaho have the taste of a great state and come around! Haha!

So yeah the work is going great. Me and my companion have been traveling all week again which is kind of annoying especially because we have all these great investigators and we haven’t been able to visit them like we would like to but we love the work and we do what we are asked gladly! Haha! :) This Sunday Grace will be baptized. She is great! One of the coolest ladies I have ever met. She loves the church and she is VERY energetic even though she is 70 years old! Haha! She goes to the store and every month she fills up about 5 bags of groceries and carries them to all the people that go without in her neighborhood. She loves the Book of Mormon and all her 7 kids :) tell her not to be baptized cuz its a serious decision and she tells them all to read the Book of Mormon and they’ll all feel the way she does! Haha! She’s great.

But yeah anyways things are great. We are working on a program to get 18 mini missionaries in our zone for one week and do splits with them to double the work. So we are pretty happy about that and I can’t wait for it! WAHOO!

Sounds like Jason is having fun and has a lot of service to do! Haha! I bet he’s loving it :)

Well I’ve got to go but you guys have a great week! Tell dad and Brad if they see some big deer to not miss cuz I heard all about what happened last year with that wolf! :)

Love you guys

Elder Ward

10/13/2010

YEAHHH!!!!!

I knew Justin would show up. He’s the one that was really good friends with me and Nate and I knew he was in that mission. That’s who I was talking about when you said that Ste’fan was going there. That’s awesome I hope he sends me a letter that would be great. :)

But yeah things are going great! We are doing awesome and just loving it here. We now have 5 baptismal dates and Grace will be baptized on the 24th. Then we have Frank who we have to get married and help him quit drinking and smoking but he’s doing really great. We have a meeting next week to get him started on a program. Then we have Elsi and Jonathan that have a sweet little family of four and are really learning and growing and we have the date for them on the 20th of November. Then another family; dads a member and is really getting things going and they will get married and baptized in December so things are looking great and we are just having a ton off fun. :)

That’s awesome Eric’s a priest now. I can’t wait to help him prepare for the mission – it’s going to be great! Haha! Do we still have six missionaries in Mtn. Home? Do we have Spanish speaking ones? It’s kinda funny, my whole mission I’ve have been trying so hard to get members to come out and help us and to do missionary work cuz Puerto Rico is a bit small and it’s a bit difficult here but I was thinking the other day if I’m always trying to get all these members out with me I cant be a hypocrite so I’ll have to do some missionary working when I get back :)

So it sounds like everyone is doing great and life is good. How is everyone from highschool doing. Do you ever see any of those guys like Luke and Chris and Chris and Charles and Brad and all those guys? I sent Kyle a letter the other day so I hope he gets it. It’s actually going to the Hall’s house so he will get it some how :)

Well I better get going. Thanks for sending that stuff I should get it soon!
Love you guys,
Elder Ward

10/06/2010

Haha yeah my companion was telling me about BYU before I read your email! Haha! Kinda crazy isnt it? They are a really young team this year so yeah but sounds like BSU is still doing good!

So that’s crazy Jordan is home and I bet everyone was excited to see him. I saw some pictures of him and yeah he got WAY skinnier. Good for him :) So what’s his plans? Is he planning on going to BYU-I, if he is - tell him to get going. They always say if a missionary comes home and bums around for a while that’s when they have problems! Haha! But yeah when I get home I’m just going to find a good job so I can get a lot of money to go to college :)

That’s good you found the hair cutter but yeah me and my companion are excited to get the package. We thought you might have sent it already so we were all excited to get it Friday because some people are coming over from the office on Friday but yeah don’t worry about it we will get it soon enough! Haha! Usually someone comes over at least once a week or we have to go over there so we’ll get it :)

Yeah Conference was great I really liked it. We watched all the sessions it was great! This time in our mission the new president said that before anyone could go to the conference they had to talk to 140 people cuz that’s what the prophet wants - so yeah he said if you don’t talk to 140 you shouldn’t go cuz you can’t truly sustain the prophet if you don’t do what he asks! It was great and everyone did it :) Sometimes some missionaries need a little motivation to work hard :) but yeah things are going great, conference they talked a ton about parents teaching their kids before they throw them out into the world. It was cool - I really liked everything they talked about. The priesthood session was great as well :)

But yeah the work is going great we have a couple people that are planning on getting baptized and we are really excited for that. We really want to get the families going cuz in every situation its one individual that wants to get baptized but the family needs some work and then some other ones the family is getting baptized they just have their wedding date set for Dec 11 so we have to wait a while haha! But yeah we should be seeing some baptisms soon :)

o yeah I got plenty of contacts! So I had a little bit of a supply when I started the mission and I’ve rationed them nicely. A set lasts a lot longer than 1 month so I’m doing great :)

Things are wonderful her in PR and we are having fun and working hard. The time is just going by faster & faster and me and Elder Burton and just getting nervous and freaking out (we came out together in the same group) I don’t want the mission to end and I don’t know how to slow it down :)

Love ya guys

Elder Ward

09/29/2010

HOLA!

Sounds like all sorts of things are going on at home. Kinda crazy and really blows my mind that Jordan is coming home WOW!

Sounds like the cabin is going well and that BSU is doing good again. My comp is a huge sports fan so every once in a while we have to talk about some good old sports history and a good classic is the BSU Fiesta Bowl. Its crazy how many people all remember that game :)

Zone Leader is fun you’re just super super super busy all the time. Zone leader in my mission is a lot different with the new president and I think a lot different in other missions but yeah its great. We do all the same stuff as other missionaries except we get a whole lot more stuff thrown on top! For example this week we were in Bayamon for 2 days and we haven’t had a p-day in about 4 weeks. So we are cut short on time but as a leader your area has to be an example for all the other missionaries so it’s kinda crazy cuz you’re just always working crazy hard but I love it. I LOVE BEING BUSY! and yeah we do all the interviews for the District Leaders’ Baptisms and yeah we have to travel a lot. Zone Leaders get 2000 miles on our cars so that we can do all the traveling we have to do. Elder Burton and I are good planners though and we try to stay in our area and when we go we try and get it all done in one trip but yeah its great :)

That’s so crazy that all those kids are getting on the mission. I feel so bad I haven’t written Kyle back yet. I have to do that. I just haven’t had p-day for a while!

So about the Garments the Larges will be too big I need all mediums and I would like 6 pairs if you could do that for me :) I already got a pair that I tried and I love them dad was right the whole time they are GREAT! SO MUCH COOLER! (but don’t let him know I said that) ;) but yeah if you could send me like 6 pairs all medium that would be great :) and if you got some room we would like a big thing of laffy taffy and some airheads haha :) and one last thing I have money to buy it because its an expense that I can use my blue card for and I always have a ton of money left over but they sell these really nice hair cutters at Costco for like 35 bucks and we have been trying to get a member to take us to get one but we always have to go do something on p-day so we haven’t bought one idk if it would be easy to get and then take it out of the card board and send it in a flat rate and then I can take money out of my card for it. But that would be nice if you could do that but if not we’ll just have the member take us when we get the chance :) so just 6 G's, bag of laffy taffys and a box of Airheads and we’re good :) haha

but yeah everything is going AWESOME -- here we are working way hard and having fun. We have set like 3 dates this last week and they are all really awesome people and we can’t wait we are way excited -- 1 of them is a family, the dad went less active but the mom and the kids are not members and the dad is fully active again and really awesome and they are doing great so we are excited for that. One of the other ones invited us over to eat and told us she was going to feed us something completely different that they don’t eat in PR and was all excited and so we went over and she gave us tacos haha! It made me laugh but the best part was she said ''I was reading in 2 Nephi 31 and it says you need to get baptized and I loved it that was my favorite part'' it was a miracle. So we just gave her a date right there and she is way way way excited. She’s way way cool - now we just got to get her husband to quit drinking and get in shape haha

Well this thing is huge so I better get going!
I love you guys thanks for everything!

Elder Ward

09/22/2010 Zone Leader!

An email to Andrea ....

Haha! Sounds like life is crazy. Sorry i dont have a lot of time to write today cuz i had to go all over the island today helping people move out and doing some crazy stuff. To answer your question I'm a Zone Leader and that's why I have to go cruising around and not get p-day. But yeah it's fun i like it :)

Things are going great - Elder Burton and I are really enjoying ourselves and having fun and we have some cool investigators that are progressing so we are excited about that.

love you guys

09/22/2010

HEY!

Wow! Sorry I don’t have much time today we have been crazy crazy busy I’ve been running around like crazy but I like it :)

So anyways things are going great sounds exciting back home. You said Elder Packer came but it’s not the Elder Packer that’s an apostle? Supposedly this January Elder Uchtdorf and another apostle are coming to Puerto Rico so that should be exciting :)

We are just working like crazy and just really having fun. Two nights ago they called us up late and are like hey can you meet us in Ponce you’ve got to do a trade off. So we ran down there got Elder Alisa, he is an AP and way cool. He plays football for BYU and he’s a stud. He got a sack and a blocked punt the season before the mission but yeah he’s way cool. Me and him and Elder Burton get along really well and had a great tradeoff just didn’t get to much sleep cuz all the driving to Ponce – craziness -- kinda killed us! Haha! But it was worth it, we even set a few baptismal dates and yeah it was a great day :)

That’s so awesome that Eric read the Book of Mormon and that he’s got all those Mormon Buddies at school. That’s so great! He’s really lucky to have all them – haha! He’s going to be a stud missionary!

Well I better get going but I wanted to ask you if you could send me a couple pairs of mesh garments size medium with the swoop neck – haha! I want to try them out so yeah if you could send me a package with those in them that would be awesome.

I love you guys and I’ll talk to you next week

Elder Ward

09/14/2010 TRANSFERS!! - Staying in Cabo Rojo

Haha for some reason I totally forgot that you were in England. haha kinda funny but then I remember but yeah sounds like your having fun and enjoying yourselves!

haha yeah sounds like that is kinda funny the whole thing with the stores in the mall I guess Europe is the big nice clothing place haha so I guess it makes sense.

That’s cool BSU won. That would have been cool to watch. We’ve watched a lot of football games with the Christiansen’s haha I wonder if Brad was telling Kelli that she knew how to warm the best leftovers up in the microwave haha!

Well things are going great around here. We are working hard and having fun! A lot of crazy stuff went down this transfer but it ended up working out all good and exactly how we wanted it. President wanted me to go to Mayaguez again to be with the zone leader there (that’s what he told me like 3 weeks ago) but then something happened I’m not sure what and now Cabo Rojo is the Zone Leader area so me and my comp are staying (which we are really excited about) cuz we didn’t want to leave the ward. We were really starting to build up but yeah so everyone is happy :) and yeah kinda crazy but good!!

I also sent one box home I tried to send two but they told me I stuffed the prepaid box too full and that they wouldn’t accept it so I’ve got to figure something else out. It’s just a box of stuff I’ve gotten during the mission.

But yeah everything is going good we are finding some great investigators and we are working with a 16 year old kid that we are really excited about. He’s a friend of a member so that’s definitely good we just need to find out and get a hold of his parents :)

But yeah I’ve got to get going!
Love you guys and have a great week!

Elder Ward

09/08/2010 Cabo Rojo

HOLA

Life sounds crazy! haha that’s cool but weird - two more marriages! It’s pretty crazy once you go on a mission it seems like people get married every week haha but yeah that food sounds so so so so good kinda bummed that I missed it and the wedding of course :)

It sounds crazy that they are already heading back home. Time just really flies it seems like yesterday they got to Idaho but yeah everyone always says that when you hit the second half of your mission the time just starts cruising and I’ll tell you what they weren’t lying it goes like crazy. This transfer ends in like a week :(

But yeah everything is going really well here and we are working really really really hard and having a ton of fun. We have some good families that we are working with and the mission is still making a ton of changes and stuff and wow it’s pretty crazy but really cool!

Our mission now focuses on less actives more than anything else and retaining the people that we have and so ever since we kinda changed the focus things have been pretty crazy and we are having a ton of success and things are just great. Last night we had two family nights with two less active families and that was really good and we also had a family that has been less active for a while come back to church this Sunday! It was GREAT!

But yeah I’m lovin life and just having fun WAHHHOOOOO!

Love ya

Elder Ward

PICTURES!!

Here are some pictures of the Cabo Rojo Lighthouse and the area around it and then me and my comp tearing it up on our bikes haha ENJOY

09-01-2010 Hurricane Earl - A no show!!

Hola

Yeah everything is going great here! Earl came by and we were praying that it would just slam us and give this island a nice little humbling experience like in Book of Mormon times but for some reason it just missed us haha but yeah things are going good it was a good week and we have been doing some great stuff.

Haha that is so crazy that Jason doesn’t have some of that stuff. In Puerto Rico you can pretty much find everything but yeah its kinda funny because every single house you go to they eat rice and beans everyday and they like freak out if they don’t have rice and beans its funny they all go to the states and are like we only got to eat rice and beans 3 days out of 5 and it was horrible haha but I’ll tell you one thing I don’t think I’ll eat another rice and bean for about a year after I get home :) then I’ll probably start to miss it and eat it once a week :)

Sounds like the cabin is going along good. They better hurry up and get it done soon or the winter is going to come haha it cracks me up because I swear in between like 2 emails you guys were wanting hot and then the next email it went straight to wanting cold it cracks me up (I'm still wanting some cold :))

haha sounds like Eric had a good little time doing visits haha that’s good stuff getting him ready to go I've already decided that when I get home I'm going to turn him into a super missionary haha and make him teach me the lessons once a week (don’t tell him though cuz we’ll have to take him by surprise haha) we’ll make him teach us the lessons in family night or something :) (Which will also be implemented on my return home :))

I actually cook steaks like once a week it’s pretty good but a bit different cuz its a Churasco which is a completely different cut than we us I'm pretty sure its a piece of brisket but I'm not sure haha cuz nobody knows anything about were it comes from they just say they eat it haha but its funny cuz I always make up all these sweet sauces to cook the steak in and every time my comps all freak out and are like you sure you should put that in there and then after we cook it they are always like WOW! That’s way good it’s funny!

Well thanks for the quote it’s actually in preach my gospel haha not the whole thing but most of it but yeah I like it it’s a good one

well keep having fun and enjoying the end of the warm weather I’ll talk to you guys soon I have to get going cuz we have to go to Bayamon for a meeting and lose our p-day :( but that’s life haha :)

Love ya guys

Elder Ward

08/25/2010

Hola!

Primary again huh? That should be cool! Primary is fun. Getting a new calling has to be like moving to a new area in the mission haha your excited for the new experience but don’t want to give your old calling to someone else kinda funny! Haha!

Yeah I told you three weeks ago I got a new comp named Elder Burton from Salt Lake City haha and yeah he speaks way good Spanish and is way awesome we came into the mission together and yeah we are stoked and doing way awesome! Best companion yet by far and yeah WE’RE LOVING IT! And President’s new thing is that he doesn’t want to move missionaries around anymore so we are way stoked and think we will be together for a long time. But yeah we pretty much know for sure we won’t leave the Cabo Rojo Zone until we die haha

And yeah I got the packages - they were great! That book is pretty cool but yeah so I haven’t read the other book cuz my old pres said I could read it but I haven’t asked the new one yet so yeah I have to wait and see before I read it.

That’s so awesome Brad spoke in the Spanish Branch. Haha! I remember going to Ecuador -- he had the best Spanish of the 4 of us haha! That trip was so funny and way way fun!

But yeah that’s weird that they don’t go anymore (Kyle and Tanner) and how did he find some girl in Utah kinda weird haha! I guess that is kinda a bummer for Eric!

So yeah my new mission president is way way way awesome we are doing all this new crazy stuff and things are changing like crazy! This week we had a bunch of conferences and meetings with Elder Vinas and Elder Anderson and yeah it was way awesome! Our mission is changing a ton of stuff and I'm way excited for it. In the last meeting we had it was so funny we were talking about a "bone tiring effort" haha cuz that’s one of the new things required for a mission haha so we were talking about it and president made me do all these pushups in front of everyone and yeah it was pretty funny! President Alvarado is a crazy guy but he sure knows what he is doing, he was a 70 before a mission president so I guess that’s probably why but yeah things are going great and my whole zone is full of way good missionaries now and yeah I'm way excited about it :)

I can’t believe you guys are going to go to Spain that will be way awesome and way fun haha there’s a kid in my mission from Spain he’s pretty cool he will be getting home from his mission when you guys go haha but yeah that should be fun.

About picking me up… we aren’t allowed to do that anymore. The church doesn’t want parents doing it and it would kinda stink for me cuz I would still be a missionary and here in Puerto Rico really all you can do tourist wise involves the beach and water haha so yeah I’d rather come home for a while anyways and then come back when I really start to miss it ;)

Well things are going great -- we are having fun and working hard! I’ll talk to you guys soon!

Love ya,

Elder Ward

08/18/2010

HOLA!!!

So yeah everything here is going just great we are having fun and working hard. We have found some really cool families that are progressing quite well. We haven’t really set any baptismal dates yet but we are planning to set a few in the near future. But yeah we are just doing really well.

This week starting Monday me and my comp Elder Burton had a car and he has had one his whole mission cuz he was in the East Mission. The other two missionaries in our district were having a bit of a tuff time on bikes so we decided to give them the car and take bikes for a while. It was funny cuz Elder Burton hasn’t rode one his whole mission so we were just laughing and having fun and then we were walking around the plaza and we walked by all these younger kids and they just started busting up laughing at Elder Burton and that’s when he realized that he still had both pant legs tucked into his socks up to his knees it was pretty funny but yeah we are doing great.

Sounds like everyone had fun in Rexburg how about Tanner and Kyle -- were they there? And how are they doing? And Denver and his wife? It’s been like over a year since they got married and it still seems crazy to me haha. Eric was saying that there were no kids there but tanner and Kyle and Kelsie were all there right? How come he didn’t go chasing cows?

That’s really cool about Lin and her mom. That happens so so so often everyone hates us before they even get to know us and then we try and try and try and help them and then finally something just clicks and they realize that we are just trying to help them but that’s awesome that she finally realized now she just needs to realize what that means haha. There’s a million scriptures that say all good things come from god especially in Moroni so if she realizes that all those good things that god has put in his church (like the opportunity to have an eternal family) were put on earth so she could have them and be blessed by them then shed love to be a part of it and have those blessings. But really the most important thing is that the members are friendly and really are her friends and then it’s all up to the missionaries to teach her by the spirit and help her down the path.

Well I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you soon

love ya

Elder Ward


Letter to Andrea …. 08/18/2010
HOLA!!!!

haha so we decided that we can probably go to the light house now because there in actually no beach there just rocks and a cliff and stuff and we had a little meeting the other day about the rules so I think I will be going one week from today :) my ward mission leader said he wanted to take us out there haha.

Sounds like the reunion was pretty fun and that everyone enjoyed themselves a little bit :) what did sonny do? Did he sing? Play the guitar? Or what haha man I'm kinda bummed that I missed it. But I think your a little bit crazy about that sister missionary she is definitely not cute and I’m pretty sure a little weird haha there is just usually something funny about those sister missionaries that makes everyone wonder where they come from.
HEY HEY HEY! What is all this 9 months stuff? first off your cutting me short its not quite nine months yet and second your scaring me it goes by fast enough already from now on all we say is that I've been out for a little over a year and then we just leave it at that :)

Well you guys have a good week

Love ya

Elder Ward

08/11/2010 - Transfers: Same area new Companion

New Companion: Elder Burton from Salt Lake City, Utah
Same Area: Cabo Rojo

HOLA!

OUR WEEK WAS GREAT!! haha so I got a new comp at transfers his name is Elder Burton. He’s awesome, from Salt Lake, and we are having so much fun! It’s great. He came out with me on the mission and he is my first comp that can speak Spanish, likes to work and have fun at the same time. It’s so so so awesome! We are working great and just finding awesome people and families left and right. I’m loving it! This is going to be one of my best transfers yet for sure we are just doing great.

Thanks for sending the package I hope I get it tomorrow because we are having a zone conference tomorrow so I’m hoping it got there!

yeah I met Hermana Sitton one time. She said her parents are military and moved to Mtn. Home so yeah that’s kinda cool! I can’t remember but I think she might have served in Adjuntas for a bit and knows one of the families we baptized they are awesome!

That’s crazy your going to England again. I think you’ve been there like 3 times now right? I want to go back right before they come home and go tour around in Ireland and Scotland and maybe London or something and then help them come back so you can start looking for some cheap tickets now if ya want haha ;)

Well it sounds like the summer has gone good. Make sure you get all those cabins nice and ready for me for when I get back haha that’s probably the first places I’m going :)

Love ya

Elder Ward

08/03/2010

HOLA

So this week is pretty good! Everything is going great so I just remembered I was going to tell you - I didn’t know Stefan was going to Cuernavaca Mexico but that is awesome because remember Justin from college well he went to that mission so he might even be Stefan’s trainer haha! He’s has like 15 months in the mission already I think so yeah that’s CRAZY!

So we are teaching some really cool people right now. We have one lady and her two kids that are awesome and they have a baptismal date for the 4th of September but it will be for Florida because she is moving in a little bit. We are also teaching some other really cool families and working on getting another one married. We had a great noche de hogar with them last night and it went good and the guy is a member and the lady is progressing really good so we are way excited for that :)

That’s cool Andrea and Bill and the kids made it - sounds like you guys are going to have a lot of fun with all the kids. I cant wait to see them either. They’ve got to be getting pretty giant sized haha and Kennady, she’s got to be giant too! Man that’s crazy!

But yeah things are going great and I’ll talk to you next week!

Love ya

Elder Ward

PS: They still haven’t called to tell us if we are staying or anything yet so yeah we have no clue its kinda crazy I’m not sure what’s going on but did you ever get the package sent? and where did you send it?

07/28/2010

WOW that was a big email and I’m in a huge hurry so yeah sorry but I have to make it a bit short. About the package well I don’t really need anything but that and did you ever find that book called Missionary Pal? That would be about it! I’m pretty good - Oh and I found my camera cord so don’t worry about that :)

So sounds like a ton of crazy stuff is going on back home! Haha! All sorts of activities and lots of fun! The missionaries in the baptism photo are Nauahi, Simons, & Gordon and the little girls name is Tanisha and she is the coolest and the little boys are awesome too. Pretty much the coolest family ever!

That’s crazy Andrea will be there soon and that they aren’t moving till next August but that would be cool to go and visit one more time maybe to help them move or something!

The Olympics are cool we won’t be able to go to any events cuz today was our last p-day before they end and we didn’t get the chance but it was still cool to see all the stuff and hear all the riot!

Me and Elder Nauahi are doing great and having fun we are teaching some really cool families right now and we are going to start setting baptismal dates like crazy here soon so that should be exciting. One family is way awesome and we’ve got to get them married as well but I think it will happen soon :) They are the family Maesoneft and they are awesome!

If you send the package by Wednesday it should get to me by Tuesday, I think but if not just send it to the office and also if you get the chance to go to an lds book store I would also like the book called The Miracle Of Forgiveness if you can :) but yeah things are going great

I love you guys

Elder Ward

Familia Gonzales Wedding and Baptism!!

Ok so I put the pictures of the baptism and the wedding and then I had to add in the one of the youngest one of the family cuz she was sleeping during the baptism but she is just so dang cute I had to add her in :)

Love ya,
Elder Ward

07/19/2010 - Familia Gonzales Baptism (Cabo Rojo)

HOLA so yeah you guys didn’t write me this week because last week I told you they changed my P-day but they have all this stuff planned for this week so President moved it to Monday but they say its only for this week and then it’s back to Wednesday again! Kinda crazy but hey what can you do haha! It would be nice to have like a week notice or something haha but o well!!

So this week was GREAT! The Gonzales family got baptized and that was an amazing day! It was so so so awesome seeing a whole family get baptized and WOW! They are just so awesome! It was great!

Also this week they had us go to the Opening Ceremonies of the Caribbean Olympics and talk to people and hand out pamphlets and stuff and that was pretty cool. The Olympics would be way awesome to go and see some games. They were going to do the soccer right by our house and we were stoked to go on p-day but last minute they changed it and now soccer is in Venezuela so yeah kind of a bummer but o well haha!

But yeah things are going great and we are working hard and having fun WAHOOOOOO!

Love ya,

Elder Ward

07/14/2010

HOLA

So Elder Nauahi never went to BYU Hawaii but he lives in the same town and knows a ton of people from there and like all his buddies parents are professors and stuff so it’s pretty cool I think I'm going to try and go there for a semester when I get back but yeah!

So about the scriptures … I forgot to tell you that our p-days are Wednesday now haha but yeah the wedding did happen and it is the Gonzales Family and they will be baptized this week :) on the 17th but yeah just send them as soon as possible. This is the address: Calle Rossy #39 Altos
Cabo Rojo, PR 00623

But yeah please send those and that would be great. Also, I was going to ask you so the other p-day some how I lost my camera cord and can’t find it so I was thinking that I'm pretty sure Jason lost his camera and maybe his cord is just there in the house in the computer desk or something but yeah I'm still going to look for the cord and I hope I can find it but my camera is dead right now and yeah its kinda a bummer. :(

So yeah my district is Elder Simons, Elder Gordon, Elder Nauahi, Elder Bown, and Elder Parodi (who is from Spain and very excited that they won the World Cup but sad at the same time he wasn’t there to enjoy it with everyone hahaha) But yeah I've been driving in Puerto Rico forever. It gets a little different at times but it’s not too bad haha but yeah I'm senior comp and transfers were like 3 weeks ago or something like that.

That’s cool about Jason’s mission president and wife sounds like his mission is pretty crazy haha but I guess you can’t win them all haha its either living luxuries or humble people that’s the trade off I've decided!

So sounds like the fireworks were pretty crazy and exciting to see that’s a lot of fireworks haha

That’s cool you talked to Tyson and everything sounds like he’s doing good. Man its weird that everyone is like done with their missions and wow it’s crazy – mission time is FAST FAST FAST and Chris is getting married that’s pretty crazy wow I'm old! :(

But yeah the ward here is going great. We are trying to get them a little more excited and working hard so we are trying to get them to think of ideas for activities they want to do and we are passing around sign up sheets to go work with us and stuff so we are getting them going a little bit better. We had a good meeting the other day and they got excited and started thinking of good things to do and it was great. Cabo Rojo is a nice area especially now that we get to use our car a little bit. But anyways things are going great, we are working hard, and having fun!

WAHOOOOOOO!!!

Elder Ward

PS: idk if you ever went to get the books yet but i would like if you could check to see if you could also find a book called Missionary Pal Reference Guide for missionaries and teachers by Keith Martson if you find it that would be great to have as well :) thanks
love ya
Elder Ward

(Message to Jason - we think?)
Hey do you know an Elder Akina or an Elder Pickard? from Hawaii cuz Elder Nauahi my comp grew up with them. Who are the friends you got in Hawaii?

07/07/2010 - New Mission President and New Companion!!

New Mission President - President Alvarado from Puerto Rico
New Companion - Elder Nauahi from Hawaii

ALOHA! From my new companion Elder Nauahi – haha!

So we had some pretty crazy events this week. So first of all I was in that three some and then one night they called us and they said that the next morning we had a meeting with the whole mission so we had to wake up at three in the morning and I had to drive us up to Bayamon for the meeting where we got to meet the new President and his family. We got to listen to him speak and then after the meeting we all shook his hand and talked to him and when I went by he said hi and Elder Gordon was standing right next to me and so he asked me is this your companion and I said one of them haha and he said WHAT! A THREE SOME! Wait in my office and I'm going to talk to you right after so we waited and then he came in and he said what do you guys think about getting a new companion? We said sounds good and he talked to us for a bit and then said that we would get one in 12 hours so I said ok great! We didn’t know who would be splitting or nothing so we all walk past him and shake his hand and I just walk past the door and he said Elder Ward I need to see you in my office again and I just kind of laughed and went back in and he yelled down the hall ELDER NAUAHI so we both sit down and he talks to Elder Nauahi a bit and then he said ok sounds good you are companions. Go to Elder Nauahi's apartment and pack his stuff we aren’t going to wait 12 hours! So it was pretty cool! I’m now in the same area I was in and it’s awesome. Elder Nauahi is from Hawaii the same island that has the BYU and the Temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center. We are doing great he’s an awesome kid and we are working hard and just having fun. I’m really really excited for the rest of this transfer it’s going to be great.

But anyways so about the work we have been finding a lot of people and we have been teaching a lot and we have a wedding that will happen on the 10th, a baptism of 4 on the 17th, and we have some really great people that are planning on going to church and we are just trying to find more people. The new President is really great and he just loves the people here and knows them because he’s from Puerto Rico and yeah things are just going good and I’m way excited!

It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun this weekend and that you were enjoying the cabins. I can’t wait to see them and stay up there for a while. Haha! But yeah that’s great as well that Brad blessed his baby and all that good stuff. Sounds like everyone is just doing great and it’s crazy the family is just growing and growing and growing.

But anyways -- so I was going to ask if you could do me a huge favor by the 17th. We were going to do it through the mission office but they don’t let us do it anymore but we wanted to see if you could send us a nice set of scriptures in Spanish and on the front get written Familia Gonzales and send those to us and you can just send it to the house but I’ll get you that address next week and then you can send it :) THANK YOU! and then me and Elder Simons will split the costs :)

Well I better get going but I hope everything is going great!

Love You,

Elder Ward

Elder Gordon's Fire Dance

Elder Nauahi worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center and so we had a little culture night and Elder Gordon did a little fire dance for us! hahahaha!

06/28/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

Two Companions -- Elder Simons & Elder Gordon (Threesome)

Wow! Clear up in Canada! Haha! I still wear my Canadian pin on my suit jacket every Sunday and everyone always asks me if I'm from Canada and then I tell them nope but my mom is – haha! It’s kinda funny but wow Canada is a great place. I haven’t been for so long kinda crazy the last time we went (well I guess I went) was when we went to the mall wasn’t it? I can’t believe that Kim is getting divorced that is really sad and crazy I hope it all goes decently well.

That had to be fun to see all that old stuff and memories from Canada. I'm not going to lie I pretty much don’t know really anything about the family in Canada.

But yeah everything is going way good here. We are all combined in the same area now, me and Elder Gordon and Elder Simons. It’s pretty cool cuz we are a three some and we have a ton of people to visit and they gave us a car so that’s pretty awesome! That family I told you about is getting ready to get married. The wedding is on the tenth and then they will get baptized on the 17th so that should be really awesome! I’m way excited for them and then we are also teaching some other really cool investigators. One of them we taught last week for the last time though because she is moving to the states :( but she said she will talk to the missionaries there and she will probably be back in about a month.

Our new Mission President comes into Puerto Rico today so that should be cool. I will be writing a letter to him instead of President Martineau. It’s really kinda sad cuz President Martineau is the coolest mission president ever so it’s going to be weird getting a new one but he's really cool as well -- I just hope I like him as much as I liked President Martineau.

Well I’m going to get going but I hope you guys are having a wonderful day and that mom you’re enjoying your time in Canada with the family!

Love ya,
Elder Ward

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from our transfer meeting!

Elder Ward with the Ward Mission Leader in Cabo Rojo and his wife!

Elder Ward & Elder Pliler

All the guys I came into the mission with!!
This is the first time we've all been together since our first transfer!
Crazy huh!

Elder Simons, Jacobson, & Ward

Elder Ward & Elder Gordon

06/22/2010 TRANSFERS! Staying in Cabo Rojo!

Haha! I want a bbq so bad you lucky duckies but anyways you guys are crazy - you let Eric drive up to the Freer’s that's like letting a bomb loose! haha jk! Eric told me he drives the Tundra all the time now and I told him he better let it rest and use the Honda so that he can have some good first vehicle experiences haha. So what are you guys doing with the Ranger? Do you still have it? And the Explorer as well? Are you still driving that? And the Jetta?

WOWZY!! You guys are older than I thought -- 25 years married that’s half way to 50 haha and we just did Granny’s 50th not to long ago :)

So anyways tomorrow is transfers again and I'm staying here with my companion we are not sure but I think me and my companion are going to combine into a three some with Elder Gordon and they are going to combine our areas but we aren’t too sure yet we will see tomorrow.

One week from tomorrow President Martineau goes home and Elder Alvarado comes and it all combines into one big mission and then I guess we’ll see what new stuff happens when he gets here. haha cuz its pretty cool President Alvarado becomes the president the second he steps off the plane and then President Martineau gives him the phone and the keys and tells him good luck and then he gets on the plane and leaves. haha its kinda crazy cuz the old president doesn’t tell the new president anything they just start all fresh with new ideas and go for it!

We have some good people that are coming up to get baptized still that whole family and then we have some cool investigators that we are teaching but none of them have a baptismal date or anything yet.

The ties were good they are all pretty much used I think but in really good shape they are pretty much like DI ties haha! O and yeah I got the letter from Bishop Rhead this week I think I still haven’t written back but yeah it was him and Mallory and it was all in Spanish haha but yeah I should probably write back soon. So did they do that Helaman Camp yet? Eric goes to that right?

But yeah the heat is crazy its calmed down a ton but man it was killer bad for a long time and I got the heat rash because we have to ride our bikes really really really far to get to our area and doing that with the noon day heat is a killer but yeah I'm all good now and no problems.

That’s so crazy that Jordan gets home soon. Man that’s nuts! But yeah it’s probably a good thing that she wants him to start working so soon that’s what I want to do I'm going to get a job that pays way good so I can save up for school and start working right away. I was thinking I might try to get one of those forest fire jobs but we’ll see :) that’s a long ways away :)

Sounds like you are all doing good and that you will have a lot of fun with the whole family over. That should be really cool but yeah I got to get going you guys have a great day and week and I’ll talk to you in a bit!

Love ya,
Elder Ward

06/14/2010 w/pictures!

Two Elders getting out of the RAIN!!!

HOLA

So everything is going pretty darn swell over here! We had a pretty good week this week. We had a new lady that we invited to church that came and she really liked it. She’s kinda crazy and a bit difficult to teach but we are moving along just fine and she is enjoying it.

We also found this really really awesome lady that a member knows and she’s really old. She walked to church all by herself and she has a cane. Kinda crazy but also we went back and she can’t see very good but she wanted so badly to read the Book of Mormon so she said she said a little prayer that she would be able to and then she found a magnifying glass and a flash light and she said if she held it just right she could do it. It was amazing and she just loves reading. But yeah she will be getting baptized this Saturday. Me and my companion aren’t the ones that teach her because she lives in the other area but really she is awesome and we are so excited.

We also have another family (that I have told you about before) – they are doing great - they have a wedding date on the 10th and then that following Saturday will be baptized.

That’s really cool about BSU that should be really fun to watch them play BYU haha. But yeah Eric told me they went up to the cabin and sounds like they worked on the road a bit and got it all good to go.

Man you have no idea what I would give for a nice 70 degree weather bbq with ribs and potatoes and some salad WOW!!! its been so so so so hot for a long time I was dying from a really bad heat rash for a while but it all cleared up and now I'm pretty good haha!

But anyways yes I did receive my ties and they are awesome! I gave two to my companion and then one to each of the other Elders I live with and yeah they are awesome. It’s a way better way to buy ties - that’s the way we should have done it from the beginning but I guess we’ll know now when Eric goes on his mission! Haha!

But yeah sounds like everything is going great back home! Everything is just WONDERFUL here and I’ll talk to you next week

Love ya,
Elder Ward

Pictures!!

Hey! Here are some pictures!
The Baptism is the guy I was teaching in Mayaguez and the other ones are from a little family home evening activity that we did ENJOY! :)

love ya

06/07/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

Haha - Dad tried to cook another one of his crazy treats and it actually turned out! That’s pretty amazing! Haha! I'm always inventing and cooking good stuff for me and the other 3 missionaries its kinda funny because you have one hour to cook lunch and I always just do it right after studies so we have to cook it pretty fast so I always invent quick things it’s pretty funny but they always like it and now they think it’s fun to call me Betty Crocker!

So I still don’t have the package. President just came down to do a fireside with the Ward but I’ll get it Wednesday and all the other letters waiting for me! Haha! (I hit my year mark so I haven’t gotten letters for a while haha!) But yeah it was a really cool fireside … he just opened it up to questions and then we discussed it. It was pretty cool and then me and my comp rode back to the apartment with President and he talked about the Ward and everything with us. It was pretty sweet so hopefully we can get the Ward going strong with the missionary work!

So Andrea and Bill are already planning to come down and see everyone - that’s pretty crazy! haha You guys were just there and WOW! That’s a lot of money. I'm kinda bummed I don’t think I’ll ever get to go to England again and I wanted to tour like all of Europe while Andrea was over there. I want to go to Scotland, Ireland, and Germany and maybe Holland that would be awesome. We saw a returned missionary that came to the fireside with his family. He was back in Puerto Rico after being home for two years. haha It was pretty cool and President made him stand up and talk. It was funny! but yeah I think that will be the coolest thing ever to come back and see all the people that you taught on your mission!

-but yeah the missionary work is going great… our family is doing good. They aren’t going to get married the 12th but they will soon and then they will get baptized. We are working hard with them and they are doing great and then we found some other really cool people that I'm way excited to teach this week so hopefully we get some good things going. Well I better get going but before I leave I’ll try and send you some pictures :)

Love ya

Elder Ward

06/01/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

MAN! you guys have no idea how much I would love to have a bbq! haha I've been trying to organize one here for a zone activity but we haven’t quite done it yet. But man a nice beautifully cold weather bbq would be like the coolest thing ever. I've decided that when I get back from my mission I'm gonna freeze like frosty the snowman cuz it’s SO HOT here haha

I like speaking in sacrament meeting. haha It’s my one chance to tell the whole ward at the same time how I think we could get better haha Sacrament talks are great -- my bishop said he is going to have me speak at a youth fireside I'm not sure on what yet but I'm not going to lie I'm a little bit nervous about that.

So I didn’t get the ties yet because no one has come over from the offices in a bit, but president will be over on the 6th so I'm sure I will get them then :) Did you get the letters that I sent home? The one for the youth camp and one to Sami Jo?

Wow that is so crazy that Natalie is going to have twins. It just must be the twin era haha that’s way cool! Maybe they will be boys too and someone will take my advice and name them Timmy and Jimmy! I think that would be the coolest thing ever!

So anyways things are going great here I love being on my mission :) I got to see a guy that I taught get baptized in Mayaguez and that was so so so so awesome. President gave me permission to go over and watch and it was way cool. He kept telling me after words that he was clean and that he just feels good. It was awesome! It’s always amazing to see someone you’ve taught get baptized. but yeah our investigators here are doing great and they are getting ready for the wedding and they are awesome. We had an amazing fhe with them last night and they are just doing great and then the others are doing good too and I can’t wait to teach them this Thursday WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you guys

Elder Ward

Pictures!!!! 05/24/2010

05/24/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

Wow that’s awesome they had their baby. (Brad (Matthew's cousin) & Brittany had a baby boy on May 21st) Let me know when they name him :) Pretty exciting -- but is he considered my cousin I don’t know how that works or is he my second cousin I’m not very good at that haha!

So Puerto Rico is awesome! Cabo Rojo is great! The guy I was teaching is getting baptized this Saturday and the other one had to go to the states for a couple weeks so he will be back in not too long and then he should get baptized as well (He’s talking about people he was teaching in his old area, Mayaguez).

But yeah so I’m way far away from the mission home about as far as I can get. haha The mission home is in Bayamon like right next to San Juan. Cabo Rojo is a cool place there are two wards in this area and they are probably the strongest wards in the island which is awesome our bishop is a pretty cool guy he was like way way way inactive for a while and then someone reactivated him and two weeks later he was called to be a Bishop. It’s pretty cool, he’s an awesome guy.

Zone Conference is just a big meeting with the whole zone and president talks and we learn and Zone Conferences are awesome.

I love being here in Cabo Rojo we are doing pretty good we have an awesome family that will be getting married on the 12th and baptized on the 19th and then we also found some others that are really awesome as well and should progress really soon. I love living with 4 elders! It’s pretty cool except it means that our area is way far away so we have to ride our bikes super far just to start working in our area but yeah its good it keeps us on our toes haha :) but yeah the mission rocks we are doing great and I’m excited for the family we are teaching WAHHOOO!

Love ya

Elder Ward

ps: stay out of the snow and thanks for ordering that I’m excited to see how they are haha :) (I ordered Matthew some Polyester Ties off of Ebay! The small and simple things that make a missionary happy!)

05/17/2010 New area: Cabo Rojo (7th Transfer)

Transfered to: Cabo Rojo
New Companion: Elder Simons from Pocatello

05/17/2010

Ok so to start everything off they ended up sending me to Cabo Rojo on Wednesday so I've been here for a while! Kind of crazy hu? But i'm way excited this area is so awesome. I love it here! It’s an awesome Ward and just a really cool area. My new companion’s name is Elder Simons and he is from IDAHO WAHOOO!!! He’s actually from Pocatello and I’m pretty sure he graduated the same year as Nate -- cool hu?

But yeah so I don’t know if they baptized anyone in my old area but I will find out tomorrow :) cuz tomorrow is Zone Conference. We have a really really cool family that is going to get baptized on the 19th (June) and they are going to get married on the 12th . We are so stoked about that! They are the coolest family ever! They have 5 kids and two of them are older than 8. It is going to be great. I’m pretty excited about it!

O yeah - I’m living in an apartment with 4 missionaries now too and it’s so much cooler! I love it – it’s pretty fun. So what is dad taking a class on? I didn’t understand that word you said (Mediation)! Haha but sounds like fun I've never been to Moscow AND I WAS BORN THERE!!!

Sounds like things are going crazy but yeah I better get going sorry I cant write much today and I still haven’t sent you those pictures but I’ll do it soon :)

love you guys
Elder Ward

ps don’t have anymore parties with the druggys and did you find some ties? :)

A Spanish Email to Matt's Dad!! 05/03/2010

(This is for those of you who know Spanish!)

CHACHO PAPI

Estoy viejo ya! estoy llegando a un ano. pero me encanta mayaguez en verdad es bien chevere. nuestros investigadores son buenisimo y tienen fechas bautismales este 15 de mayo. el verano esta viniendo y van para las montanas eso es bueno. ya pranto van a cazar wow es estrano que ya hace un ano. suena que Brad este bien y que vayan a tener que trabajar bien duro para cabar mi casita alli en las montanas. pero si aqui los miembros son bien chevere in nos invitan a comer y todo y siempre salen con nosotros para trabajar. en nuestra mission nosotros tocamos puertas un monton pero este translado no he tocado muchas puertas porque a mi companero no le gusta pero estamos trabajando con eso y tocamos algunas hora cada semana pero si todo esta bien y tengo animo para llamarles este domingo

les amo

elder ward

05/03/2010 (Mayaguez)

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD!!!!

Haha! Sounds like you guys had a fun little college party haha did it remind you of the old days? So Women’s Conference was pretty good huh? But you’re not allowed to say that you didn’t teach us enough because we’ve all gone to the temple so far and me and Jase are on missions so you guys had to do something right haha ;)

But anyways last week was really cool! Crash Boat last p-day was pretty awesome except I saw all the people body boarding and I was like wow that looks really fun so I decided a long time ago that after my mission I'm coming to Puerto Rico to surf and go to the beach!

But after p-day the week was really good as well we taught some really good lessons and we have two investigators that will be baptized on the 15th so we are pretty excited about that. I can’t wait! I just hope I don’t get transferred next week – haha! But yeah what else … pretty much just the same we are working hard and doing great.

O yeah so I’ll probably call Thursday and if not Thursday then Friday to make sure that everything is working like I did on Christmas and then we can set up everything for Mother’s Day when I call you for real!

O yeah I was also going to ask if you checked eBay again?

Well I think that’s about all I got for this week I hope you are all doing great and I will talk to you soon!

Love ya,

Elder Ward

04/26/2010 (Mayaguez)

HOLA FAMILIA

Well everything here in PR is going great. We have the same awesome investigator! haha He is so cool! Yesterday we went to his house and he is like a professional in all the martial arts and mma and all that stuff and he travels all over the world and he was talking to us after the lesson and talking about all the fighting stuff and my companion, he’s a funny guy, well he thought he would show this youth that we had with us some fighting moves. Well he went and he lifted his leg up and when he did he completely ripped out his pants. It was so so so funny! But the guy had some dress pants that he doesn’t wear anymore so he gave us like 4 pairs. It was pretty cool. I told my comp that he should teach fighting moves a little more often and maybe we’d get some more free stuff! hahaha

But anyways, that’s really cool about the football players. Idaho athletics are moving up in the world haha :) but yeah I don’t know anything about what goes on in the sports world because no one here in Puerto Rico watches anything but baseball, boxing, and basketball so yeah I don’t ever get any news! (Kyle Wilson (BSU) and Iupati (U of I) got drafted into the NFL in the first round draft pick! - Kyle Wilson is going to play on the NY Jets and Iupati the 49ers.)

o yeah … so for mother’s day I’ll just do the same thing I did at Christmas and I will call. I'm pretty sure that they are going to have us call the day before again to make sure it works and to set everything up but yeah I'm not sure but I think I will be doing that. I was wondering how I will call Jason? We should figure something out about that haha but yeah when is he going to be calling you guys?

But that’s cool about Brian and Brandt. Haha! I'm going to have to find a good job when I get back from my mission or I’ll be hurting when I go to college.

o and Nate is in Korea right now and then he is going to go to Ukraine with Jared to teach English for like 4 months so yeah they will leave for Ukraine in July but I look at it as a really good thing because I doubt either of them will get married in Ukraine so they’ll still be free birds when I get back hopefully.

But anyways life is going great here we are working hard and teaching a lot of people and yeah it’s great. Today I get to go to CRASH BOAT I’m excited! (I looked on the internet and found out that Crash Boat is a beautiful beach in Puerto Rico!)

Love you guys

Elder Ward