HOMECOMING!!!

Elder Matthew Ward arrives in Boise on Saturday, June 18th at 9 p.m. WOOHOO! We are very excited to see him! Please join us in welcoming him home! He will be speaking in church, Sunday, June 19th at 11 a.m. in the Mountain Home 4th Ward. We will then have a luncheon at Brad & Kelli Christiansen's home - following church! (A BIG Thank You to our good friends, Brad & Kelli for opening their home to us!)

We are grateful for all our friends and family and are thankful for the love and support they have given to Matthew (and continue to give to Jason). We are very blessed to have such great friends and family!

We are soooo proud of Matthew and the service he has given as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Hope you can join us on Saturday and/or Sunday!

Possibly last Email from Puerto Rico! 06/15/2011

Hey mom things are pretty crazy! Thanks for the email I'm at a pizza place with Pres and the others. It's great but I will have to write you on Friday I think.
Love ya,
Elder Ward

04/27/2011 - Grocery Shopping for 14 Missionaries!

HOLA!

Yeah Easter was good. We had this big old Easter mission get together it was pretty fun it was a lua (I don’t know how the heck to spell that but one of those Hawaiian party things :)) but yeah so we had a big old pig and we played sports and just had some fun. It was on Saturday but yeah pretty exciting.

So about taking pictures … I’m pretty sure that my camera got stolen at the party so I officially have one chip of pictures for my whole mission :( kinda sad but yeah we are hoping that it will show up though :) and don’t worry I have all the pictures my comps take :)

yeah so we are still running around like crazy but its cool. I got to go back to Cabo Rojo and that was AWESOME. It was great cuz I visited all the people I used to teach and got them all excited again so it was really really good for the missionaries there. I had a lot of fun :) We go to a laundry mat but I haven’t gone yet so I don’t really know how it is they always want me to go get the food so I always go with the guy that has the Costco card and Elder Zenger who’s going to live with me at school. We all just take out cash before we go and they give it all to me and we buy it. We usually spend about 300 dollars every week A LOT OF FOOD! 14 missionaries can sure eat but we do it very economically :)

We don’t really ever go to the mission home anymore but the mission office is like right next door and so we have a ton of meetings there all the time with president and stuff so that’s fun. We are like presidents guinea pigs and so he tries all this crazy stuff on us and then we come back and talk about it and evaluate and go at it again. The stuff we are doing is very crazy and pretty difficult just because it’s a completely different type of work than I have ever done my whole mission but it’s fun :) and I’m learning a ton!

but yeah sounds like everyone is doing good. Don’t have too much fun with all your Easter peacocks haha!

Love ya

Elder Ward

04/20/2011 - Letter from Kennady!

04/20/2011

Dear Matthew,

I hope you visit us and I hope you come back. Which you will. I get 3 weeks off of school. We walked to burger king for lunch yesterday and I got a hershey pie, chicken nuggets, and french fries. I painted my own toe nails. They are light pink and dark pink. Can I paint your toe nails when you get home?

Love you.

Love from,
Kennady

Matthew’s response to Kennady …

OOOO NOOO there aint going to be any paint touchin these toe nails hahaha but don’t worry I’ll be home in about a year or so ;) I lost track how long I got left :)

Love ya

Elder Ward

04/20/2011

HOLA

Yeah I don’t really care when I talk I’m good with everything but if I do it the Sunday I get home just let me know what my topic is and you’ll have to let everyone know its my homecoming so yeah idk which is better. I’m ok with whatever Bishop wants! Tell him he can decide!

That’s cool Eric wants to do a lawn mowing business. It’s a great idea. I’ve thought about doing it a lot but yeah you just have to have a nice rider. I know a lot of people that have done it and made thousands of dollars - way good money during the summer you just have to find the right people and make sure you get a good price :). Tell him to go and hand out flyers and talk to everyone and put it in the newspaper and all that good stuff and I bet he would get some good customers :).

The new program is going good. It’s a little crazy but I like it. I just got back from Salinas last night. I was over there for two days working with some other Elders so that was fun. I was with Elder Foggin from Magrath - he said his dad went to Magrath High but he would have been like 3 years older than you. It was way fun to talk about Canada with him though.

But yeah all the Elders in our group are way good friends and we love it. On p-day we all split up and half go wash clothes and 1/4 clean and another 1/4 buy food. We go to Costco and its hilarious buying food for 14 missionaries. It’s a lot of fun.

Things are going great and we are having fun it sounds like everyone is doing good back home

Love ya

Elder Ward

04/13/2011 - Last TRANSFER!! (A 10 Week Special Assignment)

New Companion: Elder Radmall from Oregon
New area: San Juan
Living in a house with 14 missionaries!!

WOW! You’re scaring me with all that travel itinerary talk. I still got a lot of time left :)

So yeah we had some crazy all day meetings about the stuff we are doing in the mission and in our project and I am very excited. We are going to be working in San Juan my companion is Elder Radmall but a different one than the first one I was comps with and he is from Oregon. Way cool kid!

We will all be in the same Ward all 14 of us in the same house as well. We will also go and work with other missionaries on Monday and Tuesday of every week and then in our own area the rest of the time so that should be pretty cool. I’ll get to see most of the whole island and then we are going to take two trips to the islands for 3 days each trip. I’m WAY! excited we are going to be working a TON and having a TON of fun - I LOVE IT!

But yeah thanks so much for getting all that school stuff done. Jason told me that too - kinda crazy. It will be way fun to have him up there with me though – I’m pretty excited. I guess one of his buddies from the mission is going to be going there too. I can’t believe how fast time is going. I’m really getting scared.

I don’t have much time today. I already took a trip around the islands dropping off bikes and yeah we are so busy it’s crazy!

Oh and I did that with my eyes - I waited a long time (like 2 months) and then I got new contacts and it didn’t work :( so I guess I’ll just wait till I get home.

but yeah got to go

LOVE YA and I’ll talk to you next week
Matthew

Travel Itinerary!

Matthew will be home on June 18, 2011. He will arrive at the Boise Airport at 9:27 p.m.

04/06/2011

WOW!! Sounds like a fun trip I’m glad you got to see a lot and enjoyed yourselves. But don’t worry we can all take a relaxing vacation down to Puerto Rico all together when everyone’s home. I think it would be way fun to do for Christmas. (I was at the O'Dell family's house yesterday and they can’t wait for us to come down and stay there).

Conference was GREAT! I liked it a lot they talked a ton about families it was so awesome. We finally got a family to come to church and they came to the last session and just loved it they are a great family of 5 and all the family talks just hit them good :). You’ll have to watch the priesthood session on the internet it was really good. President Monson told all the returned missionaries to go to the temple and get married don’t wait hahahaha. I told Elder Dennis my new goal is to get married before he gets back from his mission hahahaha. But yeah really the talks were all very very good I loved the talk about “To be and To do” that was awesome and yeah they just were all really great I can’t wait till they come out in the church magazines so I can study them good. :). Elder Dennis told me I should ask Bishop if I can talk on conference and then I could just choose President Monson’s talk and tell all the single girls "look I’m not just saying it it’s the prophet. Do you want to follow the prophet?" hahaha but yeah I’ll be leaving Puerto Rico on June 18th. I guess they’ll have to check to make sure that’s possible but yeah I’m pretty sure that’s 100% but don’t worry they’ll call you with all the info and with my flight schedule and all that stuff. So yeah I’ll be in church there on Sunday the 19th but I’m guessing I won’t be talking on that Sunday - but who knows! haha.

Wow that’s crazy about Bishop Sessions! I hope he’s doing alright.

I still talk to Jason every week except the week that he was at the hospital so yeah it sounds like he’s doing good :)

But yeah thanks for everything I’ll talk to ya next week

love ya

elder ward
ps so yeah the project thing starts next week it’s still not all figured out yet and I’m pretty sure we aren’t supposed to know anything yet but I do know that we will all be living in the same house (the 14 people in my group maybe 16) and the house is way nice it’s a member that lives here that has a ton of money so it’s one of the other houses he owns and it has AC in every room WAHOOO!!! So that means we will be working in the San Juan area but I still don’t know all the details :)

03/30/2011

haha wow! It sounds like you guys are having funny and running around all over the place. You’re going to have to keep Eric on a leash. He turns 16 and he thinks he can just buy swords and go dancing with the Flamenco Dancers huh?

That’s awesome that you’re taking a lot of pictures. I really should get better about that but yeah. I think I told you that transfers were on the 6th but they’re not they are on the 13th so yeah I got a little mixed up. But yeah so transfers are on the 13th and then starts my nine week program. Today I have to turn in all my flight home info :(

That’s cool that there were so many Mormons on the trip. How many kids were there? and how many adults? Yeah I really want to hear Kennady talking like a Brit haha.

WOW! I completely forgot that I will be calling home in like a month haha that’s weird. That will be a weird Phone Call. It’s a good thing I extended my mission. :)

Things are going good - we are working hard and having fun. We have found some really cool families. One is an Adventist family that are really strong in their church but they are listening and studying and learning and progressing well. Another family is the granddaughter of one of the members and she and her daughters are going to church and they went to a baptism the other day and they are doing really well as well. I think in the next little while there is going to be a lot of success in the ward and that is exciting :)

Things are going great and I’ll talk to you soon
Love ya

Elder Ward

PS So I was going to ask you to talk to Bishop Price because for like the last 4-5 months I haven’t been able to wear my contacts because I put them in and my right one hurts my eye like crazy and if I leave it in my eye just produces a ton of eye boogers and all sorts of junk. The other day I opened a new pack and tried them out again because I hadn’t tried for like 2 months and I wore them like the whole day but it kept bugging my right eye and then I took them out to go to bed and when I woke up my eye was like sealed shut with eye boogers it was crazy. So yeah I’m not really sure what’s wrong but if you could ask him about that or what I should do that would be great. But if we can’t figure anything out I’ll just wear my glasses till I get home J

03/23/2011

Hola!

My birthday was pretty good - we had to do a lot of running around that day but it was good we had a meeting at the Stake Presidents house and his wife made us some homemade pizza so that was awesome. I’m not going to lie I forgot it was my birthday until about half way through the day haha.

Well it sounds like you had a fun little time in London running around all over the place. That’s funny they went to an antique shop. I’m pretty sure Bill nailed it right on the head haha. I can’t believe it’s already been a week to tell ya the truth. Time just goes way way way too fast now and I don’t know what the deal is. We are already 4 weeks into the transfer. Transfers are on the 6th and then that starts my last transfer so that’s when I’ll be with my whole group. I can’t wait to see what they have planned cuz they still won’t tell us all of it. Haha! but it will be fun I’m sure of it haha.

That’s so awesome that Adam is coming home on the 22nd that means I’ll barely beat him back home. haha You can tell Nathan that I told him good choice haha he needs the full 2 years ya can’t just cut it short!

So it sounds like the whole Howard crew is doing good. Do we know when for sure they are going to be moving to Texas? It will be nice having them there - maybe me and dad might have to try another little Texas trophy hunt just this time pick a better spot haha.

Everything here is going really well. We had a cool little learning experience on Sunday. Sometimes ya think when you’ve been on the mission for over a year and a half you have it pretty well figured out. So for weeks we have been just running around like crazy trying to get all our extra responsibilities done and also keep everything going in our area and complete with all the things president has asked us to do and we were just going crazy. So Sunday I got a bit frustrated haha (yes missionaries can get frustrated :)) so I said ya know that’s it we are going to do it right we are going to be diligent and plan everything out and not “run faster than we have strength” and so we started that this week are exercising a little more faith and it’s amazing. We are getting way more things done and its just going smooth and successful. (too bad I’m just now really learning that lesson huh?) It’s a dang good thing I added that extra little month on the end :) So yeah things really are going great we are working hard and just loving it.

love ya

elder ward

ps have fun in spain thats going to be a blast :)

03/16/2011

HOLA!

Yeah I got the package last night. I was in the office and it was there so THANK YOU!! Me and Elder Dennis are dieting! Haha! so we’ll have to share the treats with everyone. It’s so funny because when I was with Elder Dennis the first time he told me he was going to diet and lose weight and so him being my companion and all I decided to help and do it too and we did good for a while and then he broke and it went down hill from there hahaha! but the other day at the beginning of this transfer he told me again it was so funny “he’s like you got to help me Elder Ward” so I told him no messing around this time so I’m officially Elder Dennis' personal trainer hahahaha even all the Ward members know we are dieting and they don’t even try to give us pop anymore (that’s a blessing) :). But yeah thank you very much I ate one of those taffys today and it was pretty dang good.

So yeah we heard all about all that Japan stuff and I heard they got some nuclear power plant problems and if it keeps getting worse it will effect the Western United States so yeah we don’t get to much news but i talked to a couple people in the street about it.

What else is new? O yeah the coolest thing every that family that just got baptized we got it all figured out how to get them to the temple this week so that they can do baptisms for the dead it was AWESOME! They left yesterday and are going to be in Florida for a month so we got them all set up and got there recommends and everything I’m SO excited for them :) we told them they have to wear a skirt and white shirt and a tie so we got that under control I had a white shirt that someone gave me so I gave it to him with a tie haha.

So this week we had a really cool experience and found two new families. so we are really excited about that. They both seem very interested and one even has some family that are members.

but yeah thanks again for the package I hope you enjoy your trip you’ll have to send me some pictures and let me know all about it. You guys are going to have a blast.

Love ya

elder ward

03/09/2011 - Letter to Dad!

Dad,

That’s cool Brad got his truck. I bet he’s just way excited.

So does the cabin have everything finished then? or is there still a little bit more to do? Did you ever decide to do a porch? I can’t wait to stay in it and the ones up at the farm. I told Elder Burton that me and him are going to go to the cabin up in Rocky Bar and spend a few days on the lake this summer haha so you better have all that all ready to roll :)

How much do those Rangers cost? but yeah I heard they are pretty fun. I can’t remember which one it is but I think it’s the Yamaha that makes a really nice one too. I was talking to Elder Dennis about it him and his family are way into all that stuff. He’s the one whose grandpa was your teacher at Ricks but yeah they build all sorts or sandrails and do all that stuff. His dad’s way way way good at all that stuff so I told him we might have to go to town on the Willys after the mission haha!

Jason was talking to me about hunts. I have no idea when they are so you’ll have to just put in for me this year and see if I get an extra little blessing on top for serving a mission! Hahaha!!

Love ya

Elder Ward

03/09/2011 - A New Treat ... PIGS FEET!

HOLA!!!

You can tell Eric I’m going to have to whip him that phrase is bad haha it means something else so don’t make that mistake in Spain or you might get in trouble! :) The correct way to say it is. Como Estas? Tu tienes calor? You can’t say that someone is "Calient" (hot) you have to say "do you have heat" Tu (you) tienes (have) calor (heat) but don’t worry you’ll get it hahaha :)

That’s so crazy that it’s still snowing a bit. I really don’t know what I’m going to do because I think my body is ruined and I’m like thin blooded now or something because I don’t really get hot anymore and I freeze when it’s 70 degrees. I hope I’m not ruined for life. Haha!

That’s cool she bore her testimony and even cooler that she is going to the temple. Our recent converts are going to Florida on the 15th so they are going to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. I told them in a year that I’d go to the temple with them so we might be taking a little trip hahaha. They are way excited!

That’s so awesome so many missionaries are going out. I can’t remember who said it - I would have to look it up but someone promised that the more missionaries that a Ward has out the more that Ward is blessed. So the Ward should be seeing some good blessings by the time I get back right! :)

Well everything is going good here. Yesterday I was on a trade off with Elder Zenger (the one that’s going to live with me at school) it was pretty fun. I made him have to sing a solo at our recent converts house haha it was awesome. (two weeks ago I got Elder Dennis twice and now Elder Zenger I’m on a roll :) neither of them were very happy hahaha) but yeah I also got back on a bike for a couple hours yesterday and that was fun it had been a while but President wants us on a bike at least once a day so we are trying it out. I like it - it makes me feel like a real missionary haha.

What else... o yeah so the other day we had this big family night and then we ate after and they gave me a big old heaping plate of rice, beans and pigs feet. That was a treat! haha I don’t think there is any meat on those things just a bunch of bones and you just have to suck and slurp the fat off around the bone. Pretty crazy experience it was a first for me and Elder Taylor. We just looked at it, looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and then went to town on them hahaha!!!

But yeah we are going to have a big family night tonight with our recent converts and the mom’s sister and her family so that should be way fun we are excited!

WAHOOOO!!!

Love ya,

Elder Ward

03/02/2011 - Transfers! Zone Leader again!

Companions: Elder Dennis and Elder Taylor

HOLA

Well things are going great here in Puerto Rico I LOVE IT!

This week was a great week we had our zone council which is always good so that was fun and there is a lot of crazy changes going on. One thing I’m back with Elder Dennis again but we are in a threesome with my same companion. So me, Elder Dennis, and Elder Taylor and we are all zone leaders. It’s Elder Dennis' first time as zone leader so we will all be working together but at the same time me and Elder Taylor will be working with every elder in the zone so that’s going to be pretty crazy. The first three weeks Elder Taylor will be traveling all around the zone and then the next three weeks I’ll leave and do it. It will be fun but will probably give me a bad back – haha - an air mattress for like 6 weeks! Haha! This will also be my last transfer as zone leader :) then I just get sent to San Juan area where I get to just work hard for my last 9 weeks and enjoy being a hard working missionary! WAHOOO!!! So yeah I’m excited about all that!

The week also ended super good cuz yesterday we got to go out and work with all the new Greenie missionaries that got in yesterday. So all last night me, Elder Taylor, the APs and some other Zone Leaders each took out a new missionary and it was so fun! I was way excited it reminded me of my very first day as a missionary and we just worked like crazy! We placed 3 Book of Mormons and taught a family - it was way fun. Oh and I forgot to tell you a new missionary will be coming in next transfer from Magrath Canada cool huh? (That is the town I grew up in (Karen).)

Yeah I don’t really know what to do about the whole byu-i thing. There isn’t really much I can do. But they love missionaries so I think I’ll be ok! Haha!

I got 4 out of 6 of the DVDs you sent. Yeah you got the right ones - its just everyone wants them cuz they have that new movie so they are on back order so we might have to wait a while. But yeah really I can’t think of anything for my birthday so don’t worry about it I’ve got too much junk I don’t know what I’m going to do with at the end of my mission.

That’s cool you talked to Charles. It will be fun to see him when I get back. We’ll go hunting or camping or something and then I’ll make him go to church for my homecoming talk or something cool hahaha

That’s awesome Brad got his truck finally. Is it brand new? and is it diesel?

So does Eric work at the car wash everyday? and do you still have the hispanic guy working there? What’s the ranger doing? Does anyone drive it? Do we still have it?

So where are the Jensen's from? That’s cool their boys must be about my age when do they get back? and where are they serving?

Yeah the valentine made it thank you :)

Little kids are awesome! He made a good choice of scripture haha. There’s a little 9 year old boy that we teach him and his family and he cracks me up. Last time we were at his house he was outside on the porch burning leaves with a magnifying glass and I told Elder Taylor to put his hand in the light and see how hot it was and he was just messing around and he’s like ouch! and pulls his hand away! But yeah the kid loves us and they all think I’m like the mastermind and Elder Taylor is my Hench man haha so he tells his mom that I told Elder Taylor to do it and he burnt his hand. It was pretty funny! We are always joking around with them and for some reason they think I’m a prankster and Elder Taylor just carries out what I tell him to. It’s way funny!

But yeah life is going great and we are having fun!

Love ya,

Elder Ward

02/23/2011

HOLA!!!

Yeah isn’t it crazy how fast time flies? It’s scary! and Jason is an old geezer now.

Well I don’t have that much time today but before I forget I need you to do something that I didn’t know about so you have to resubmit my application to BYU-I so what I need ya to do is get online on the Besmart website and do that for me. My sign in name is __________ and my password is _________ so yeah if you could get on and do that and then I’ll make sure President does my endorsement but if you could do that this week at least that would be awesome it shouldn’t take too long cuz its all pretty much filled in you just have to read it really quick and update some things.

Zone Council was really great. I enjoyed it. Right now we have a TON of senior couples but most of them are usually doing the work on the islands in our mission. We don’t have any young missionaries on the islands anymore but yeah Elder and Sister Button are great. I just talked to them yesterday haha.

But anyways the Rodriguez family did get baptized and they are great. We got a little scared because we had the baptism scheduled for Saturday night and they didn’t show up and she called and she was freaking out cuz her husband hadn’t gotten home from work yet and it was all crazy but then we figured it out -- he got home late because he was working and something went wrong and they couldn’t let him leave so we did the baptism after church on Sunday and that was great I loved it :)

The CDs haven’t gotten here yet but they could have come today but I know they weren’t there yesterday. But don’t worry I go to the office a lot so I should find out pretty soon :)

Sounds like you’re all having fun and that it’s starting to get closer to spring. Haha! But we all know that the first day of spring doesn’t come until one of the best days of the year (Matthew’s Birthday is on the first day of Spring) haha so we will all just have to wait about a month or so.

I don’t really need anything for my birthday. I think I’ll be good so yeah don’t worry about sending anything really.

Things are going great here and we are really working hard and having fun. We have had a lot of success and its been great.

Love ya

Elder Ward

PS: I have seen Taken I’m not that old hahaha

The Puerto Rico San Juan Missionaries - December 2010

2/15/2011 - Zone Council

HOLA

P-day was changed to Tuesday this week so yeah but things are going good here. We have a Baptism on Saturday. They are way awesome and I’m way excited for them. We are working hard tomorrow we have our Zone Council so that should be pretty cool. Pres said we don’t have to do anything except conduct the meeting and him and a Sr. Couple will do everything else so that will be nice :).

Did you get my pictures I sent you in the mail? and Nate’s letter?

love ya

Elder Ward

02/09/2011

WOW!
This is some scary stuff I’m signing up for college – Nate’s freaking me out! Haha! and remember my other buddy Justin? Well he left on his mission March 4th so that means he has 1 month left of his mission. I always figured me and him go home about the same time :( SCARY!

Thanks for getting that all sent. It wasn’t that much money was it? I just figured it would be free doing it on your own. But thank you! :) Do you know if they said how long it takes for it to be sent cuz the members here told me it takes a while when they get it sent from online so I guess we’ll see what happens. Oh and I forgot to tell you those cds you sent me ended up working it was just that they were made for a cd player that reads mp3 files cuz that’s what you copied them as and I didn’t have one that did that so I later found that out but they all got stolen with the rest of my stuff right when I found out they worked! Haha!

hahaha yeah I think it’s so weird how old Eric is now. He’s old enough to be datin the ladies and that’s just crazy haha! He doesn’t still have a big old crazy mop on his head does he?

That’s so awesome that Corey Hall was on the winning team for a Super Bowl! Haha! Wow nuts that’s two super bowls now I’ve missed! haha kinda crazy! I don’t even know what it’s like to watch football anymore.

Sounds like your trip to Spain will be really cool! How many of the adults don’t know spanish? You guys might just have to postpone the trip and I’ll have to go instead :) haha its weird to think that I can talk Spanish.

Things are going great here. We go to Bayamon Monday and Tuesday every week and yeah there are a ton of missionaries there. There are always 6 and then everytime we go we bring 4 more for a total of 10 so yeah its pretty crazy. President also has me and my companion go to universities in Bayamon to try and talk to young adults. (this week was our first week trying that out and it was a bit of an experience. Talking to young adult Puertoricans is a tough thing to do but we’ll find a way to crack them haha) so yeah the thing in Bayamon is still on the developmental stage but it’s going good our Area is going GREAT! The Rodriguez family is going to get baptized on the 19th. We moved it back a week because he wanted to be good 100% solid on the no more drinking coffee. I think he’s been good for 5 days straight now so he’s doing great. But yeah the other people we are teaching are doing really well as well and it’s great to see. A lot of times we just wish we could be normal missionaries so all we have to worry about is our area and baptizing the families we are teaching - haha but yeah life’s great things are going well and we are having fun!

WAHOOOOO
love ya

Elder Ward

ps I don’t know how it all works but I’m pretty sure I have to do some stuff with classes soon. I guess our ecclesiastical endorsement had to be in like a week or so ago but we went and talked to president and he said he would send it in :) so yeah if you could see when I need to do classes and all that stuff that would be great thanks :)

02/02/2011

HOLA

That’s so awesome that you are having the missionaries over. I always think about that and how it will be so weird once I get home to talk to the missionaries. Haha! But yeah that’s awesome! In our mission we’ve been trying to get www.mormon.org out like crazy. When president first started talking to us he was like look for ways to do it and get it down. Haha! We bought window paint and wrote it neatly across the back window on our car! It was cool and then a bunch of missionaries got permission where there are graffiti walls in PR and wrote it there and we did the thing where you spell it with cups in the fence. it was cool! Haha! we were trying to think of so many things we also made special little cards to give to people.

We had transfers two weeks ago. I am still in Vega Baja with Elder Taylor from California. We are supposed to go to Bayamon 2 times a week but idk we are trying to get that changed. We have a meeting with president tonight and tomorrow morning so we will see what happens.

Teaching is going great. We have some great families that are really doing well. The family with the date for the 12th is progressing well and are doing great! I’m really excited for them. They are awesome. We are going to go teach them tonight with two of the recent converts from the ward so they can talk to them a bit about baptism :) (The family is a bit nervous cuz they’ve never seen a baptism haha)

I’m in a ward that has about 75 people in church a week but we are getting that up there is a lot of great people here but we are trying to get that going better now as well. We have a member that is SO SO SO awesome. He loves us so much and trusts us like crazy so he invited a ton of people over for family night and that’s where pretty much all of the families we are teaching came from either from that or referrals from people that went to that.

That’s crazy that Adam is coming home that early? He came to the mtc 3 weeks after I did so I figured he’d be coming home about the same time as me. Kinda crazy but yeah I cant wait to talk to him about his mission that will be fun.

So about the housing – I’m not sure what to do cuz we’ll probably want to move out after the first semester depending on what Jason wants to do (I haven’t talked to him) and also I still want to see if we can fix up that old farm house of grandpas and rent out the rooms and make a bit of money. (I have no idea how bad it is) Also last time we did that we signed up for two semesters and it was cheaper and then when I switched at the semester they only made me pay 100 bucks I think it was so it came out to be the same anyways so I don’t know if it would be better to sign up for 1 and then be good or buy two and sell it and change if we have to. Probably just do 1 and then we will go from there :). Did you talk to Nate about that? But yeah thanks :)

So I wanted to ask you to send me some things; first off it’s a video of the church. The office doesn’t let us order much anymore but it is the new Joseph Smith video. I don’t know if you have seen it but WOW it’s amazing. It comes in like a 4 disc pack with a bunch of stuff about the Doctrine and Covenants and a ton of other stuff but if you could get that in Spanish and send it to me that would be awesome and then also get on the computer and download all the conference talks in Spanish and put them on cds for me and send them AS FAST AS POSSIBLE :)

For my birthday I’m good - I don’t need anything. I was going to see if you could find a nice electric shaver but the weather over here makes them rust and it messes my face up here so it would probably just be better to buy one when I get back so yeah don’t worry about buying anything and if you insist on buying something buy me a razor and I’ll get it when I get home! Haha!

But yeah things are going great!
Love you guys

Elder Ward

01/26/2011

Yeah the weeks are just flying by. It’s crazy! Haha! This crazy like program thing we are doing just makes it faster I get super tired but its good! I like it.

Sounds like things are going good back home just super cold haha! I would like a little bit of that every once and a while when I think of a week of 40s I’m just like shocked and don’t even know what that’s like anymore haha.

OFF to Spain that’s going to be pretty exciting! I heard it’s really really great there! That will be fun for dad too cuz they speak a Spanish that is really weird they speak with vosotros and its all funny sounding.

Sounds like Andrea is really enjoying herself haha kinda crazy doing it double whammy (potty training the twins) haha thats funny I bet they are just really having fun =)

o yeah so before I forget - I have some stuff for you to do for me. So for fall semester at school I need to get my housing like right now so I was talking to my buddy, Elder Adam Zenger, and we are planning on living together. We are going to go to Summerset. He got his mom to do it a while ago like 3 weeks and I just kept forgetting to ask but yeah so if you could start trying to figure that out for me. We want to live in the same apartment and also if you could send Nate an email we want him to live there too so yeah if you could figure that out that would be AWESOME =)

I’ve been doing a bit better about pictures. I was going to send you some today but I forgot my cord so hopefully I remember next p-day. But yeah that’s awesome you have some. I didn’t know I sent a CD WAHOOOO but yeah I think we will be able to get some other ones too but at least we have some =) but I’ll send you more soon I promise! Haha! But yeah that picture’s pretty cool (a picture of all the missionaries in his mission) if you would have asked me like 8 months ago if I knew them all I probably would have been able to say quite a bit but now I’m getting older and more and more are coming in and I’m not sure I know a lot of them! There are quite a bit and you really never see them unless they are in your zone so yeah kinda funny!

But yeah things are going great here we moved the program we are doing now to another city so that’s going to be fun to start working there two days out of the week and here in our area we have plenty of work and good stuff going on. The investigators we are working with are progressing well so that’s fun and things are just going swell WAHOOOOO

love ya
elder ward

(A letter to Andrea)

haha yeah we have to get up way early a whole lot its nuts! But I guess that’s how it is! haha but yeah we have some baptisms planned right there close to her birthday (Kennady’s birthday is February 13) and they are awesome so we are way excited =)

The special program will be way awesome I think! The reason I like it is because I won’t have to worry about anything else I’ll have an awesome companion and I’ll just be allowed to work work work all day long way hard and just not have any leadership responsibilities. It will be AWESOME but no i don’t feel too special! Haha! President just loves our group and we are a big group so that’s probably why he’s doing it. I’m pretty sure he just looks at it like a one months worth of work bonus hahaha!

That’s crazy how fast the boys are growing up when I see them they will probably be little chatter boxes haha CRAZY!

But no I’m not really trunky if I was I wouldn’t be extending hahahaha but I know what he means you look at things like football, hunting, watching a good movie, dating girls and you think wow those are all good activities nothing wrong with them but as a missionary they are all against the rules! Hahahaha! So yeah it will be fun to do all that again but it can wait haha I LOVE MY MISSION! and it only lasts for 2 years =)

love ya
elder ward

01/19/2011

HOLA

Yeah it’s pretty crazy that time goes by so fast! I still feel like the young missionary but everyone in my zone is younger than me! Haha! Except one missionary - he goes home in 6 weeks.

Things are going great here we are still teaching that great family that came to church they are awesome and they have a baptismal date for the 12th of February so that’s exciting.

That’s crazy that everyone is after Coach Peterson haha! I hope he stays for a while too! I wonder if it’s going to affect them too much by having a new offensive coordinator.

so so about the whole picture thing I’ve got to get better we are just so busy that I haven’t really taken any. They all got stolen and it took away my drive even more to take pictures! Hahaha! But yeah I’ve taken a bit and I’ll take some more and see if I can send ya some. You have saved all the pictures that I have sent you right? Cuz a bunch of them are like my best ones so I hope you did :) o and in that picture I’m wearing a red tie with white circles on it I’m on the very far right side just past the middle to the top haha I don’t wear pink ties! Sister Alvarado doesn’t like them hahahaha :)

Yeah that would be really cool to go to Spain. I heard it’s pretty awesome there - Elder Dennis went to Europe and went to a lot of countries and said that Spain was his favorite so I bet its cool. A good buddy of mine went home today! He’s from Spain, maybe you’ll see him hahahaha

but yeah things are going good sounds like you guys are doing great

love ya
elder ward

01/12/2011

Hola Familia!

Well sounds like everything is going great back home and a lot of good missionary work. That’s awesome about Drew Guyer. I don’t know him but that’s so cool he’s going on a mission. Sounds like the missionaries in Mtn. Home are pretty good ones. And it’s so true if your not getting rejected that means your not inviting anyone to do what they need to do and that’s the whole purpose of being a missionary haha I think there are a lot of missionaries that are afraid of getting rejected so they aren’t bold.

This week we had a great week we had some awesome things happen. This Sunday we saw a way cool miracle! A lady that we had been teaching with her brother and mom well she finally came to church but the coolest thing is that she came with her husband and her daughter so I saw them and ran out and brought them into sacrament meeting. Then we went to classes and things and after principios del Evangelio class. I was talking to the husband and he said he wasn’t going to come in and stuff but he was really loving it and then I turned and was talking to some other people and some members were talking to him and then he all of a sudden turned around and walked away. I was so scared I thought they made him mad about something haha but then I realized he was crying and then he came back in and started talking to me in Priesthood about a bunch of stuff. It was great … I shared a couple scriptures to help him with his questions and now he’s all excited to listen and come to church with the WHOLE family! So that was AWESOME!

We are also doing some crazy program. I think I told you but my companion and I work in another area on Monday and Tuesday. We had some funny experiences … the Elder I was working with is brand new and doesn’t know Spanish so that was fun. We found this crazy lady and I thought it was one of their investigators we were going to and so she invites us in and we sit down on like this little cement wall and she all of a sudden sits down on the floor (we were waiting for her son to get back) but I turn to my comp and ask him who she was and he’s like I have no clue. So that’s when I realized we were in for a treat haha! Come to find out she is a less active member from about 30 years ago and she had been super offended and so she starts talking to us about all sorts of crazy stuff and she was all like a philosophical speaker and just way crazy (o yeah I forgot to tell you she was wearing like this crazy little turban thing) but anyways so she’s all crazy and then we sing a song, say a prayer and try to get the spirit there. She goes crazy philosophical again and then I start bearing my testimony about the church and then she reaches up and grabs here turban thing and she’s looking at me and I was like "oh no here it comes don’t give her anything, don’t act astonished or impressed" and then she all dramatic like rips her turban off and she didn’t have any hair it was all shaved off but I didn’t bat an eye. I finished my testimony and so that was funny and she looked a little shut down so she puts her turban back on and we tell her we have to go and I stand up and before I know it my comp has got the gate open and half way out haha! It was pretty funny and so I said bye to her and we left it was a pretty fun little experience though! Haha! (just another little mission story for ya guys)

But yeah we are doing way good working way hard and the time is just going by so fast because we are so busy. Tomorrow I have to do a training thing with the whole zone all by myself because all the district leaders and my comp are going to a meeting with pres. and he wants me to do this thing with the zone! So that’s going to be fun but yeah it’s crazy!

o yeah so my going home date is June 18 for sure now. I just figured out so I don’t even get a month over the two years haha - but yeah it will be fun I’m excited for my last 9 weeks it will be exciting with the crazy new program President wants us to do.

But anyways I think this email is pretty dang long. I better get going but love you guys and I’ll talk to you later!

Don’t have too many more snowmobiling accidents.

Elder Ward

01/05/2011 - Happy New Year!!

Well sounds like things are going pretty good. Our New Years was pretty good we didn’t go in early. President decided things weren’t too bad so we just stayed out and worked all day it was great. One of the recent converts that just got baptized gave us a bunch of food too. He’s so cool, he cracks me up. He lives right next to the ocean and a swampy lagoon so he’s going to take me hunting alligators haha! We decided that I better wait till I come back to visit him though :) it probably wouldn’t be the best missionary activity!

I can’t believe its been so cold that’s crazy. I’m a goner for sure when I get back I seriously get really really cold when it’s like 70 degrees. This is not good haha.

I got Granny's and Ruby's package. It was great! Had a bunch of good stuff in it. I haven’t got to use all my toys yet but here soon I will! Haha! But yeah you can just leave it at home waiting for me. (His candy bar with Money in it from Grandma and Grandpa.)

So about the extension … I figured a bit more out. We had zone council and interviews with president so we were all talking to him about it because out of my group there are 4 of us that are zone leaders and two that are APs so yeah we were all there and they told me it was my job to get Elder Burton to extend. We got it all figured out and asked a lot of questions to president and he said he is allowed to extend for 30 days no matter what. It’s his choice - any longer would have to get approved from the First Presidency. He also told us that he’s only going to let us extend if our whole group does it so that we can do the little thing he has planned. There are 13 missionaries in my group and what he said is that our last 10 weeks so 1 transfer and the extension we would be working in two wards all together and we wouldn’t be leaders or anything just focused on those wards and working really hard and trying to make it grow supper fast so yeah that’s the plan I hope it all goes through :)

So yeah that’s so crazy that there is so many in the family now. Was everyone there? What games did you play this year? Any hand and foot? I would love to have like one whole night to just play cards, eat food and frappe and not have to worry about getting up early the next day! haha that seems so weird to me :)

Kori’s getting married? That’s so crazy! That’s cool he was an EFY councilor - I was thinking about doing that or better I think would be OYA but yeah sounds like it works out pretty good ;) hahaha I wonder if you make pretty good money doing it … you’ll have to ask him for me. Maybe he will be engaged for 6 months and I’ll make it back in time haha That’d be cool!

Well I hope you enjoyed your vacation have fun working again!

Love Ya!

Elder Ward

December 2010 Pictures

The Puerto Rico Missionaries singing Christmas Carols in the San Juan Museum of Art!

Missionaries singing Christmas Carols at the Mall!

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