09/29/2010

HOLA!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Ward

09/22/2010 Zone Leader!

An email to Andrea ....

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

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

love you guys

09/22/2010

HEY!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Ward

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Ward

09/08/2010 Cabo Rojo

HOLA

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya

Elder Ward

PICTURES!!

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

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

Hola

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya guys

Elder Ward

08/25/2010

Hola!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya,

Elder Ward

08/18/2010

HOLA!!!

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

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

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

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

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

love ya

Elder Ward


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

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

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

Well you guys have a good week

Love ya

Elder Ward

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

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

HOLA!

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya

Elder Ward

08/03/2010

HOLA

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

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

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

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

Love ya

Elder Ward

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

07/28/2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you guys

Elder Ward

Familia Gonzales Wedding and Baptism!!

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

Love ya,
Elder Ward

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya,

Elder Ward

07/14/2010

HOLA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WAHOOOOOOO!!!

Elder Ward

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

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

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

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

ALOHA! From my new companion Elder Nauahi – haha!

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

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

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

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

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

Love You,

Elder Ward

Elder Gordon's Fire Dance

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

06/28/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya,
Elder Ward

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from our transfer meeting!

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

Elder Ward & Elder Pliler

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

Elder Simons, Jacobson, & Ward

Elder Ward & Elder Gordon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya,
Elder Ward

06/14/2010 w/pictures!

Two Elders getting out of the RAIN!!!

HOLA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya,
Elder Ward

Pictures!!

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

love ya

06/07/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

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

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

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

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

Love ya

Elder Ward

06/01/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

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

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

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

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

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

Love you guys

Elder Ward

Pictures!!!! 05/24/2010

05/24/2010 (Cabo Rojo)

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya

Elder Ward

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

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

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

05/17/2010

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

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

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

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

love you guys
Elder Ward

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

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

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

CHACHO PAPI

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

les amo

elder ward

05/03/2010 (Mayaguez)

HOLA FAMILIA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya,

Elder Ward

04/26/2010 (Mayaguez)

HOLA FAMILIA

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love you guys

Elder Ward

04/20/2010 (Mayaguez)

HOLA FAMILIA

CHACHO!!! (that means WOW! in Puerto Rico haha and it’s going to be hard for me to quit using that word when I get back I think haha) but it sounds like things are going good and crazy back home. Missionaries coming home and leaving and volcanoes and airplanes! haha Sounds pretty exciting!!

This week has been really good for us. We had some cool experiences. First off one of our investigators, William Lopez, he’s an awesome guy. His friend is a member and he’s been going to the church a lot to help with the unemployment program here. All of a sudden one day he walked up to us and we didn’t know who he was or anything and he said I want to be baptized so we told him alright we’ll see what we can do to help him. Haha! It was awesome! So then the first time we went to the church to teach him and we sat down and he said ok what do I have to do to get baptized haha it was crazy! I didn’t think I would have an experience like this in Puerto Rico!) But we explained what a testimony is and how that all works and how he has to gain a testimony for himself and then we taught him the first lesson and read and prayed and all that good stuff! So he came back and he said after the lesson he was reading and he prayed and he asked to know if he was doing the right things. He said he really didn’t get an answer until right after he decided to go to Walgreens and his ex-wife and daughter that he hasn’t seen for like 3 years was there and she yelled at him and said come over and see your daughter and that she wanted him to be a part of her life and that she was going to let him see her once a week. So he came back two days later for the second lesson and he said he got his testimony and he was telling us all this stuff. He’s learned about the church and it was really awesome he is a way way way smart guy. He’s a doctor but an herbal natural doctor (I think kinda like Wendy’s friend but he does a lot of chiropractic stuff too). But yeah it was really cool and he asked us if we could baptize him that day but we told him we have to wait and teach more and keep praying and reading and yeah it was really cool. The only bad thing is that he has cancer and he gets really sick. So Sunday he ended up not making it to church and we couldn’t teach him one day but we saw him yesterday and he’s doing better again and really excited for his next lesson. It’s been a pretty awesome experience.

And now a funny experience … so two nights ago we went to a lesson and we had to leave to go eat dinner with some members. We were supposed to take the other missionaries to eat with us but when we called them a member answered their phone so we thought they were just joking. But I guess some how they accidently did something with the phone and the lines got crossed so every time you called the missionaries it was the member’s phone. But we were late and my comp thought the members were joking and so he was getting super mad and we couldn’t find the missionaries and then they called and we were already there and my comp was still all mad and then the other missionaries were getting all mad cuz they didn’t know what happened either, So everyone was getting all ticked off and I was trying to calm them all down and remind them of President Monson’s talk about not getting mad cuz anger only destroys. It was a pretty crazy night but at the end we gave them a ride home and everyone figured everything out and my companion said he learned his valuable lesson of not getting mad no matter what the situation. It was a nice little mission learning experience but yeah it’ll be one I’ll have to expound on for you guys when I get home. :)

But other than that, things are going great and we are having fun. Don’t worry about the ties just keep checking they’ll come on every once in a while just make sure they are polyester and old and not clip ons haha. My buddy accidently got some clip ons.

It’s really hot and we have been doing a lot of service and I ate a chilly and then worked in the sun all day and fried my upper lip really bad. We all got a good taste of picapica … the worst plant in the world … worse than stinging needle! Haha!

Tell Kori I said hi! I can’t believe that he’s home. Chacho that’s crazy and today I’ve been a missionary for 11 months :( time really does fly! Well I’ve got to go but I love you guys and have a great week!

Elder Ward

04/12/2010 (Mayaguez)

HEY FAMILIA!

So everything is going just great here in Mayaguez. It’s wonderful yeah -- Elder Christensen was here for 3 transfers before I got here and so yeah I know him. Right before he left he told me he left me some good food so that was rather nice of him! Haha! But yeah we are doing great Margarita still has her baptismal date but what happened was that when Elder Christensen left they put 3 new missionaries in the ward and split the area. So Margarita is in the other side so really I have never taught her but I have talked to her at church. She is an old lady that has been going to church for about 2 years. The only reason she hasn’t been baptized yet is because she cant quite give up her last little half cup of coffee she drinks every morning but she will do it soon I think and we are praying for her :)...

The other people in the area are great! We are teaching an awesome family that includes a mom and three young boys and they are awesome. They live in the same house as a member so it’s really cool! We are teaching them and she is always going to church so I’m pretty sure we will set a baptismal date with her pretty soon. Then we have another family that goes to another church but we have been teaching them and yesterday we went over with a member to teach them and the coolest thing about the member we took is that she was a founder of the church they go to! Haha! so I really really think her testimony helped and they will start progressing really soon :) other than that we have had some really good experiences and some new people that we have found and are teaching so yeah this week should be really awesome and I’m way excited to teach :)

So Andrea and Bill’s house looks way awesome. I want to go visit before they sell it! Haha! o well I guess just tell them if they sell it they have to buy a really cool different house! :) But yeah sounds like you guys had a good trip and things are going good in Mtn. Home! It’s also crazy to think that Bishop Price has not been bishop for a whole year isn’t that kinda crazy? but yeah I don’t know what else to tell ya haha I think we are going to go to one of the nicest beaches in Puerto Rico today! I’m not sure exactly but I think we are so if we do I’ll take some good pictures and send them to you guys next week... my shoes are going great no problems I think my black ones might last my whole mission I have my fingers crossed and I’m praying haha.... but yeah well I better get going but you guys have a great week!
I love ya

Elder Ward

O yeah just send stuff to the office it’s a lot easier that way :) love ya

PS: O yeah mom I wanted to ask you a favor. So the best ties in the world to have on the mission are the old polyester ties and I figured out how to get them. I guess you can get on eBay and buy boxes of like between 15-50 ties for really cheap like $.50-$1.50 for every tie so that would be awesome if you could get on there and buy me a box and send it to me and then I can send some to Jason too if you want so that we only have to pay shipping once. but yeah there’s a missionary that’s always getting boxes of them from eBay and they are like the coolest ties ever and they are durable so if you could do that I would appreciate it :)

Love ya!

I Love Pics!!!

Birthday Cupcake Bonfire - Elder Ward turns 20!!!

Give a bunch of Elders B-day hats and this is what you get ...

A few ninjas assembling bunkbeds!

Coloring Easter Eggs!

04/05/2010 New Area: Mayaguez (6th Transfer)

Transfer #6
Area: Mayaguez
Comp: Elder Rivera

HEY GUYS!

ok sorry it’s been a little bit what happens here in the Catholic capital of the world is semana santa (holy week) and during holy week everything closes down and everyone eats fish and so i couldn’t email cuz the library was closed and everyone was off eating fish haha

but anyways I’m currently living in Mayaguez right now since Wednesday. i was really bummed to leave a lot of the people that we had found in Ponce including the man that had the baptismal date. we found him and he felt so bad that we hadn’t taught him for a while so i think he will probably progress again with Elder Wilson but yeah and then another guy named Juan is just amazing and I’m excited to hear if he gets baptized.

This week has been way crazy because we had to do all the moving stuff … helping all these people move, building bunkbeds and just crazyness and then we had a normal work day FINALY this Friday and it was good I got to get out and work hard in the new area and we had conference WHICH WAS GREAT! they talked a ton about families and wow it was a great conference. for some reason i just got the feeling like the times are only going to get worse and worse as we get closer to the last days and they were just advising us to be strong do things we need to strengthen ourselves and our families and just seguir adalante like they say over here haha

but yeah I’m really excited to be here in Mayaguez. its another giant city but on the awesome side of the Island. I’m on the west side and really close to some of the nicest beaches in PR and i live a rock throwing distance from the ocean but yeah everything is going great. My new comps name is Elder Rivera from El Salvador and he is great. Its awesome having a latin comp because my Spanish is getting even better :)

well i got to go but it sounds like you guys had fun in England. o and i also thought it was funny about Jason because all the stuff he asked for is stuff you learn you want on the mission and i should have told him haha cuz i wear short socks a lot, the watch thing, and everyone always get the PMG shrunk they do say its illegal but all the missionaries get them haha but yeah ill talk to you guys later

love ya
elder ward

03/23/2010 (Ponce, PR)

YA MADE IT!

wow i cant believe you guys are over there again (in England) and I'm 20 years old can you believe that? I'm an old fart haha i don't like being old its so weird but yeah anyways everything is going good and i did get your package it was awesome! thank you so so much i loved the calendar and the missionary card it was awesome but yeah thank you so so much i loved it and the cookies were great! i love homemade cookies so if you send any more packages just skip the candy and send me cookies haha they are cheaper anyways :) but yeah thanks a ton! :)

so this week was a good week. we were working pretty hard and trying to get stuff done. we were pretty low on the old investigators but now we got some new ones that are just way way way awesome. one of them is a sports journalist and he is like the coolest guy I've ever met. he really is amazing and he's just humble and he just keeps telling us he wants peace and happiness. he is awesome so we have been teaching him now and yeah it really is great. then there is another family that lives right next door to our bishop and he is awesome too. we have been teaching them twice now and they are great and they said that they are going to go to church this Sunday and that really should be awesome the dad is just amazing he really understands things and he's smart which is awesome. so we are teaching them and then the ones that had the date for this week well they kinda fell off the face of the planet for a week or two but we've been trying to get back in touch with them and I'm pretty sure we will be able to find them again this week so yeah hopefully we can continue teaching them :)

but yeah everything is going great we had interviews yesterday and transfers are about 1 week from now (a week from Wednesday) so we will see what happens. I'm pretty sure one of us will be leaving but we have no idea who it will be. so yeah we will see what happens. i really want to stay and keep working here but i also would like to see a little more of the island so i hope they leave me here one more transfer and then send me off but who knows :)

well you guys have fun in England and say hi to everyone for me and tell Eric he could probably buy himself a Scottish kilt and i bet they would let him play tennis in it hahahahha

love you guys

elder ward

Pictures!!! WOOHOO!!! 03/15/2010

Notice the Earring!!!

Elders Lamb, Wilson, Ward, Pliler!
Helping a member clean his house!

Elder Ward on the Teeter-Totter!

Boys will be Boys!!!

Elder Wilson on the Teeter-Totter!

03/15/2010 (Ponce, PR)

HOLLA!!!!

So yeah our week was kinda rough this week pretty much all or investigators dropped and they said not to come by this week it was kind of a bummer but o well we will try again next week. so needless to say we did a whole lot of finding and looking for people to teach. we did find a really really cool family that was just awesome. Something kinda funny - i'm beginning to notice is that all our investigators most of the time are not from Puerto Rico haha We found one family that is originally from panama and they are awesome and we have a return cita with them tomorrow so i'm pretty excited about that.

The guy that was supposed to get baptized on my birthday we couldn't see him either this week and so he won't be ready for his baptism this saturday but he did go to church which was great and this friday we have a cita with him and we are going to go back by and set up another date with him but yeah so that's kinda what went down this week it was good and we worked hard and we are excited to teach the new people we found. AND EXCITED TO FIND MORE!!! :)

But anyways it sounds like you guys are getting excited and ready to go that should be way fun to go to scotland. i really want to go to scotland and ireland sometime so i might have to make that trip before Andrea moves back haha but yeah you guys will have a lot of fun and Kennady will be so excited.

Jason sounds like he is doing good. that is so awesome about his mission he is going to have a ton of fun wow he's going to love it haha sounds like a really cool place to serve a mission.

But yeah about daylight savings time we don't have it here we always stay on the same clock so yeah we never change which is nice i think haha

but yeah i'm going to get going you guys have a great week and enjoy your travel haha!
i'll talk to you soon

love you guys

elder ward

03/08/2010 (Ponce, PR)

HOLA
wow yeah this week was so fast for me kinda crazy i cant believe we are emailing again but anyways life is going great our best investigators are the ones with the date for my birthday they have gone to church a couple times now and they are just awesome and are progressing really really well and he just fits right in with the ward its great but yeah we are still teaching them and they just love everything and love learning and he goes to church and he just asks all sorts of questions and like all the classes just help him so much its great but yeah we are working with the other people really hard but only the guy and his wife came to church this sunday so we got a lot of work to do with our other investigators but yeah ill let ya know how everything goes

thats so crazy about Jason i had to stay in the mtc for 9 weeks and he only has 8 that's so awesome he is one lucky bugger! I still haven't heard really anything from him for a bit so he better write me back soon!

Sounds like you had a fun time in Rexburg. I can't believe there is snow in the world right now IT'S SO HOT!!!! haha actually to tell you the truth yesterday was like the best most cool day in my entire mission. it was so cold i think it even hit like 70 i think i'm not sure but everyone was wearing like sweatshirts all day it was so funny me and my comp were just loving it it was amazing.

I'm so happy to hear about Brad. That's so good! I told you he was a tough old bird haha but wow thats great!

You can just send mail to my address in Ponce still if you want - I'll be here till March 31 that's the end of the transfer I think I will go after that but we will see what happens who knows o yeah and I remembered something I need for my birthday haha one of those oil vials for consecrated oil! Mine's all broken!

wow i cant think really anything else - things are going awesome we are doing great and the cheesecake gets better every week :)

love you guys
elder ward

03/01/2010 (Ponce, PR)

03/01/2010

HOLLA FAMILIA!!!

Wow crazy crazy sounds like life is going good back in mountain home. we did get to eat our cheesecake we had to toc doors for about 5 hours straight but we got it haha :) but yeah the mission is kinda crazy about what you end up liking i think its just you get old and your taste buds change cuz really the only things i don't like now are milk and green olives but now even the green olives are growing on me cuz everyone puts them in their food here haha it's kinda weird but I'm pretty sure the whole milk thing will never change cuz i still cant even stand the smell of it but yeah i love cheesecake remember when we bought that one in England :)

but yeah anyways this week was really good we are teaching this family that is way awesome we had taught them twice and the second time a member came with us and he was just awesome he really did his work cuz we taught and then he invited them to church and said he would come and pick them up the next day and then he came and picked them up and took the to church last Sunday and he like took them on a tour around the chapel and wow he was amazing and the best part is is that he only has like a year in the church but yeah that was awesome so then this week we were on a trade off cuz one of the other elders got sick so his comp was tired of staying in for a whole day so my comp went with the sick elder and me and the other one worked but yeah we went to teach them and they couldn't stop saying how great church was and then he just started telling us that hes going to go every week and that he wants to be a Mormon it was so so so awesome in his prayer he said "porfavor bendicenos que podams convertirnos a mormones de puro corazon" it was AWESOME! coolest thing ive ever heard an investigator say haha but yeah pretty dang awesome he has a baptismal date for march 20th (pretty cool date hu? :))

but yeah so why is Jason leaving already? i thought he was supposed to be there for 12 weeks? so that means he shouldn't be leaving yet haha when did they change it? he hasn't written me for a while

so that's awesome about the Olympics and Canada sounds like you guys had a pretty good little party haha I'm not going to lie i kinda miss the Olympics a little bit but o well haha

but anyways sounds like everyone's going good i feel so bad for brad i hope he gets feeling good soon tell him i said hi and "que sesienta mejor" haha that's what i always say to people when they are sick :)

but yeah i better get going it sounds like everyone is doing good ill talk you next week

love elder ward

ps don't worry about my birthday i have a ton of money on my card anyways and if I need anything I'll just let you know ok and I'll just buy something when i need it :)

02/22/2010 (Ponce, PR)

02/22/2010

HOLA!

you really didn't get my old email again? that's so weird but yeah things are going good! sounds like thinks are going pretty good back home that's so cool about Brandt that should be a way awesome mission he should really enjoy that. also that's cool that Jason taught Brian kinda crazy but i didn't get an email from him this week did you? so when you get emails from him forward them to me too just in case i don't get one k.

o and yeah they changed all our emails cuz the church got a new email service thing but it said that if you send it to the old address it doesn't matter and still gets to me so i didn't worry about it. this is my new address mattheww@myldsmail.net

wow that's pretty crazy about Frank but at least he's serving his mission just on the other side of the vail :)... we always kinda joke about that as missionaries cuz if you die as a missionary you just wake up and the only thing that really changes is they give you a new companion haha

so that's really crazy about Brad as well! i hope everything goes good. I'm sure he'll be fine. i saw him get a big old chunk of sagebrush pulled out of his leg with a pair of pliers so i know he's a tough old bird :) (you can tell him i told him he was tough just don't let him know i called him old :) ) i got the package they sent me in the mail this week and I'm pretty excited about it haha me and my comp. are going to have a little beef party :)

that story about Mallory's mission was pretty cool and so true I've had a couple cool experiences like that on my mission although we don't baptize a whole lot over here in Puerto Rico you definitely see the blessings when you sacrifice. its like the story in the scriptures about the lady that throws in 2 pieces of gold for her tithing and everyone else threw in like 1,000 pieces and her tithing was the best because she threw in all that she had where the others just threw in the abundance. i always think about that as a missionary because you could be working a thousand times harder than everyone else but you still need to look for and find the way to work harder, it doesn't matter how much more or less you do compared to everyone else what matters is that you personally are constantly looking for how you can work hard or you can do better.

so something kinda funny about this week so in our mission we have these standards that are called the foundation which is 140 contacts 12 hours of tocing doors and 20 lessons and you are supposed to get that every week. well me and Elder Wilson since we have been together we have got it and we are really working hard and doing great but this other day we went to a members house to eat and they bought this cheesecake from Sam's Club and it was AMAZING! It was a real cheesecake -- i couldn't believe it! they make cheesecake here but its like a flan but this one was the real deal straight from the states and it was amazing so we asked her where we could buy us a cheesecake like that and she was like I'm going to Sam's tomorrow just give me the money and i'll pick you one up so we got this cheesecake that contains 12 slices. so when we saw that, we said WOW its perfect there is 6 weeks in a transfer so that means one slice each week for a whole transfer. so we put it the freezer and now every Sunday if we get our foundation we take out our cheesecake and we each get a slice. we had our first piece last night and boy was it good ill tell you what that's motivation enough for me to work hard :)

but anyways yeah i got the package i wrote about it last time i think but yeah thank you very very much and i got the letters and the card this week too so yeah thank you! and for my birthday I'm doing really good so yeah just the cookies would be good for me and yeah all my clothes are doing great and holding up wonderfully :)

love you guys
Elder Ward