Happy New Year!

This week was quite interesting. A few days before Christmas, we ended up getting stuck in Logroño, another city in our mission for about four days because Elder Gerber, my companion, got sick with a “bathroom issue”. We made the trip to Logroño because as a District Leader, Elder Gerber had to interview a person for a Christmas day baptism.:) Logroño is about 1.5 hrs. away from our area. The day we were suppose to head back on Christmas eve, had us just missed the last bus until Sunday. We were stranded there and didn't really have a change of clothes. So we had to use what we had and do some laundry. But it was kinda fun being with the other Elders there. We ate with a family there and they were great. Their daughter, Sara, just got off her mission to Malaga about two months ago and she's going to BYU in about a week. So some of you might meet her. But now I'm finally back in my own city, and it feels great to have my own clean clothes and food and everything.:)

It was really frustrating this past week because I couldn't do much at all since Elder Gerber was sick. If he's sick, I have to stay with him. So we didn't get to teach anything or anyone, and we were stuck in the piso for a few days. It was awful. And you can only read for so long haha. I just felt like a bum. But now he's all good and we're back to action :).

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Let's just say that this year was wayyyy different than expected. But at least I got to talk to my family :). That was the best part. And of course, I got to delve into my Christmas stocking when we got back!:)

Sorry this one is so short and doesn't really have a lot of stuff in it. It was a pretty boring week to be honest. And we have to run to a visit in a few minutes, again, so my time got cut way short again. Hopefully next week's email will be better.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I know it's not quite Christmas. But since I won't be able to email again until after, I decided to say it now. Hope it's great! I'm not quite sure what we're doing here for Christmas...I think we're going over to a member's house with the Hermanas and doing something. Should be fun.

This week was crazy. Tuesday was our Christmas Conference with our entire zone. It was awesome. We got to exchange white elephant gifts and we ate an amazingggg dinner. President and Sister Hinckley also gave all of us a couple of presents. Since our mission nickname is "El Faro", which means lighthouse in Spanish, they gave us all a Lighthouse Christmas ornament. It's way cool. We also have cookbooks coming haha. But they weren't quite done at the printer so they'll just mail them they said.

After the conference I went on my first Exchanges!! For those that don't know, an Exchange is when you and your regular companion split for a day or two and go with another missionary. I got to go to Bilbao for two days with Elder Ramirez who, lucky me, is a native haha. But it was really good practice for my Spanish. Bilbao was an awesome place. Way different from Pamplona but still way cool. We also had to walk soooo much. And Elder Ramirez loves to walk fast. So I was actually way too warm for my coat haha. But overall it was an amazing learning experience.

The rest of the week was iffy. We didn't teach many lessons because we had a lot of appointments just fall through. It's really frustrating when that happens because you don't really have a whole lot else that you had planned. So instead of teaching, we usually just go by people who are listed in the Area Book or run by references. And it is definitely not one of the most effective uses of time. But this Saturday we had a baptism! It was awesome! Her name is Lisa. Her whole family are members but she was the last one. It's awesome to see the hand of the Lord in this work. I love it here :)

I would email more but we're really short on time. We gotta get somewhere soon. But next week I'll have more time. Hope you all have a great Christmas!!!

¡Feliz Navidad!...casi (Merry Christmas!...almost)

I gotta say that this has been one of the fastest weeks ever. And it's also been one of the most emotionally trying haha. But don't get me wrong, I've loved being out here. This week started out pretty dang bad. We weren't having a whole lot of success and everything with contacts, and it was really frustrating. We also had a ton of citas (appointments) fall through. So we had to just pass by other people that we had as references or people to contact. But then there were just some days that were awesome. We had some citas that were amazing and you could feel that Hand of the Lord working on the people. When we had some of our lowest points, that's when we'd have one or two great experiences. The Lord blesses us with just enough to keep us going. And it's working haha.

Living in NY I thought that I had experienced some crazy weather, but I guess not. I swear that the weather here is bipolar. On Wednesday it was 23ºC which is around 70ºF! It was soooo warm and I was loving the weather...but then we woke up the next morning to -3ºC. Talk about quite the change. But even though it's been around -2ºC every morning, it usually gets up to 11º. So it's actually not too bad. And I still have yet to experience the realllll cold stuff haha. But I don't think I'll be experiencing that here. It rarely gets below freezing and rarely snows. But still, add the wind and its pretty cold in church clothes haha.

For those that don't know exactly what missionaries can or can't do, we sacrifice two years of our lives and go and serve the Lord wherever we are sent. I was sent to serve in Spain and I love it. One of the sacrifices we make is devoting our time and energy to the work and to the Lord, which means that we don't have distractions from girls here and cell phones, facebook, etc. So we can't hug girls or anything. It may sound kinda strange but I don't mind it. It's just something you get used to haha. But we went to one of our investigator's piso (apartment) and her friend, Adriana, was there too. And the typical greeting between two women or a man and women is a kiss on each cheek. But as a missionary, we don't do that. But...she didn't know that and she proceeded to greet us like normal haha. It was a little awkward because I wasn't able to react fast enough to say anything. But we explained afterward and she apologized a lot and everything. It was pretty funny. We just laughed afterwards.

This past week, along with the emotional rollercoaster, was our English Fast. And for those that know what fasting is, this is the same thing. Instead of abstaining from food, we didn't speak English for the entire week. It was kinda hard at first because I wasn't used to speaking only Spanish for the entire week. I'd done it for a day at a time but never for this long. But, surprisingly, it became a lot easier. By the end of the week I was thinking in Spanish and speaking fairly easily. Obviously there are still a lot of words and phrases I don't know but I'm amazed at how quickly I learned.

This morning was the first time we could speak English and I kinda forgot so I was still speaking in Spanish to my companion haha. And then we realized that we could switch. But today I've still been going back and forth just because it's a habit now. And now I even form sentences in English based on the Spanish grammar haha. This morning I said something like, "The food's hot, no?" instead of saying, "The food's hot right?" haha. I guess it's a good thing though because it means that the language is becoming part of my daily thinking.

With Christmas just about two weeks away we've been listening to lots of Christmas music haha. I'm lucky that I actually have a companion who enjoys listening to it like me. And we get along well so I can't complain. But it's weird because here in Spain, Christmas isn't that huge. Yes, people still give presents and acknowledge the birth of Christ. But the lights, and the trees, and the Christmas spirit in general is kinda lacking. It's kinda sad to be honest. So we make up for it in our piso. Tomorrow we have a Christmas Conference with our entire Zone and that should be pretty awesome.

There's a quote that Elder Gerber, my companion, said that I want to share. He said, "The time on a mission is kinda weird. A year seems like a month, a month seems like a week, a week seems like a day, and a day seems like a year." And it is so true. I haven't been out in the field for a month yet so I can't quite say that yet haha. But the weeks just go by so fast. I can't believe that another one has already come and gone. But there are definitely some days that just seem like they don't want to end. That's why he said they feel like a year sometimes. But it's all in the attitude.

I guess I'll finish with a scripture I found studying this week. It's Luke 12:34. For some reason it just popped out to me. So there's your spiritual enlightenment for the week haha.

Love and miss you all!

I'm here!!!

After nine fun weeks I am finally in the field! My first area is Pamplona! For those of you who don't know where that is, I'll just let you use a map. And an interesting and really cool thing about Pamplona is that this is the place where they have the infamous Running of the Bulls every July! Unfortunately, we can't go to that but it's still cool knowing I'm in the city where that takes place.

My trainer's name is Elder Gerber. He's been out about a year and a half now so he's well-seasoned and knows the language really well, thank goodness. It's kinda funny though that I'm paired with him because we have a lot in common haha. It's actually a little creepy. We're both from NY, we're both the oldest child in our family, we both shared a car with one or both parents and it was the same car, we both have slightly Asian eyes haha, and we were both at the same multi-stake activity a few years ago but didn't know each other at the time. I think I'm forgetting something but oh well. We have quite a bit in common and we get along really well.

We've had quite a few lessons and it's been really fun going around and teaching people. And what's even better is that I've been able to understand and participate in every single one. I've actually gotten compliments from some people about how well I can speak haha. But I know I still have a longggg ways to go.

This past Sunday we had lunch at the Echarri Family's house. They have three kids at home but I think they might have more that have already been married and moved out. Their kids come with us when we teach a lot which is great. After that meal at their house I was so full. But it felt soooo good. I hadn't been full since I arrived in the field. I only went shopping for the things that would carry me until today so I didn't buy like anything. And then today is a holiday so all the stores are closed. Just my luck. But we're gonna stop by tomorrow so we don't die of hunger. I'll survive though.

I did survive the snow that we got my first day here so if I can survive that I think I'll be fine. The first morning here we got up and looked out the window and there was about 3" of snow outside and it was still coming down hard. It was sweeeet. And by the time we went out for our District Meeting there was another two or three inches. It was awesome. But it was really cold and the snow was everywhere. The cold only lasted for a few days along with the snow and now there's no snow and it's now 13 degrees (in celcius) which is way good haha. But I'm used to the cold since we have it forever back home.

This morning we woke up and I was like, wow I feel great! And Elder Gerber said the same thing and then we looked at the clock and it said 8:30! We totally overslept somehow and apparently the alarm didn't set right haha. But luckily it's P-Day and we don't have things with investigators in the mornings. We're supposed to get up at 7:30 in our mission so we got another hour of sleep. So let's just say we feel awesome today haha.

At night we have to be back to our piso, or apartment, by 10:00 and then be in bed by 11:30. People are up so late here and it's so weird. We taught one lesson at 9:30 the other night and we're gonna be doing it the rest of the week. I'll get used to the schedule though soon enough. The only thing that kills me is we have to wait to eat dinner until we get home for the night. We eat lunch from 2:00 until about 3:00ish and then dinner after 10:00. I'm probably gonna actually lose weight out here cuz of how far between the meals are, how little we can eat since we have to make all our food now, and we walk everywhere. But that's definitely not a bad thing haha.

I think that's about it for now. Or at least that's all I can remember. Miss you all! Keep them letters comin! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well here it is. In less than one week I will be out in the mission field putting to use the things that I've been practicing for the past nine weeks. Yes I'm crazy nervous haha but I'm so excited and looking forward to getting out and actually doing the work that I've been sent to do. I know that I still have a long ways to go before I'm even close to being able to talk fluently in Spanish and to teach the best I can but I feel like I have been prepared well.

I guess I should also say Happy Thanksgiving!!! It's so weird to think that everyone back home will be eating nice, big, juicy turkeys or whatever you eat along with pie, potatoes, rolls, and everything. I gotta say I'm a little jealous haha. But we get to have our own little Thanksgiving meal today too which is pretty nice. We're apparently having turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pies, etc. So it won't be too bad. I just wanna sorta fly back home for a day and have Thanksgiving there haha. And it's kinda nice that it's on P-Day too.

This past week was pretty crazy. So much happened and I hope I remember it all. I had to write down some of the more important stuff so I don't forget. I guess I'll start with last Sunday. Last Sunday we were having study time and our District Leader, Elder Thompson, came in and told me I was giving a talk on Modern Day Prophets. So I stopped reading in the scriptures and started preparing my talk. I originally was just gonna go off the top of my head and bear testimony but for some reason I felt like I should write it out. It was the easiest I have ever had to write or think in Spanish. The words and the sentence construction just flowed and I felt like I was totally immersed in the language which was so cool. And then when I gave it, I didn't speak like an American. I'm sure I had a slight accent and that some of my Spanish was wrong once in a while, but overall I was able to speak fluently and easily. I can only contribute this ease to our Father in Heaven. It was an amazing experience and I'm sure there are many more to come.

This past week I also got both my suits dry cleaned finally! I've been waiting to get them done until right before I left because they'll be clean for when I leave on Tuesday and I saved money these past nine weeks haha. So that was pretty fun. It cost €11 for two pants and the jacket which is a lot cheaper than I thought. But still, it's money and I probably won't get them cleaned again until after New Year's haha.

E. Thompson, Keeler, and I also had to go somewhere to do some more visa stuff. Apparently missionaries that need this done don't get it until they're already in the field but ours came early somehow. We had to take the metro for 45 minutes which was a pain and then we went to this big, yellow building which apparently is for visa junk, and then we had to wait in line for another 30 minutes. And the guy that was taking us there and helping us was 30 minutes late picking us up. So overall, it was a pretty boring experience and I felt like I wasted lots of time. And all we had to do was get our fingerprints taken. We left at 1:45 and didn't get back until 5:30. I could”ve been studying or something! haha. But whatever. It was a necessary waste of time.

After we got back we decided to go to the gym to see if the other missionaries were there because we returned during our exercise time. We got there just in time to see Elder Raiano spike the volleyball in Hna. Nalbandyan´s face. We just stood there and had no idea what to do. It's kinda funny for all of us now that we look back on it. But at the time we were just thinking, "She's gonna kill you Elder." haha. Luckily she didn't though. But yeah I can't really join in the sports anymore which stinks because of my hernia. Hopefully you all know about that by now haha. If not...I have a hernia. So whenever we play soccer or basketball, I just play goalie or just shoot around on the outside during basketball. But still, I hate not being able to play for real. But whatever. My health is more important right now.

This past week, Elder Keeler and I set a few goals, like usual. And one of them was about the language. We decided to only speak Spanish from after breakfast, 8:00, until our gym time, 5:00. It was pretty hard at first but it's been getting a lot easier. I still don't know some words but I can communicate with all the Spaniards here. The problem is when I get out on the streets haha. They speak way faster and they mumble their words a lot more. Most of the other missionaries here are from South America and they speak a lot clearer so it's easier to understand them. But I'll get used to it eventually.

I'm still loving the food here. We have a lot of sea food which is pretty cool. The crawfish and clams and stuff I still haven't gotten up the courage to try haha but the fish and shrimp is fine. Tastes really good too. But...I miss good 'ol home cookin once in a while haha. Once in a while I crave the taste of "American" food, whatever that is. But I haven't gone without a meal yet so I guess I'm doing pretty good. I think my favorite sweet right now is churros and chocolate. That stuff is soooo good. Apparently it's really big here, especially in the winter. They give you a cup of hot chocolate. Not the hot chocolate that we're used to though. It's thicker, creamier, and richer and sooo much better haha. And then you dip the churros in the chocolate and eat it. It's so good. I took a picture of it so if you wanna see it, just ask my Mom. I'm pretty sure I'll be having lots more of that before I go home.

The mission is going great. I've never been happier in my life. Yes the days are long sometimes and I feel like dropping dead from being tired, but it's all worth it. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be right now and that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Thanks for all the support, love, prayers, and letters! I miss you all but I know that I'll see you before you know it.

Elder Mathews

Two to go!

Only two weeks left until I'm out in the field! It's crazy how fast this time has gone by. I remember when I first walked into the Provo MTC and thought that nine weeks was forever. And now I only have two more to go. But I'm really excited to get out and start the work. I won't say I'm fully prepared but I'm ready I think... at least I hope.

This past week we got about 15 more missionaries. It feels so weird to have this many new missionaries here because it's a lot louder now and busier. But it's really good because I speak Spanish a whole lot more now. The other day after Elder Keeler and I got done with a practice lesson with our teacher Hna. Gutiérrez, she told us that we speak really good Spanish. We thought she was just saying that haha but she said it was true. She said that we'll probably be training our trainers. Me and Elder Keeler looked at each other and we were both thinking, "Nooooo" haha. If I'm going to be the one teaching my trainer Spanish then we are doomed. Because there are sooo many words that I don't even know and then it's a lot harder to understand natives when they talk normal speed. But I'm getting better now that the Spaniards are here in the MTC.

We played soccer with them last Friday or so and we played the Europeans vs. the Americans and let me just say that the game where the US beat Spain a year or so ago was a prophecy haha. Just as Spain got destroyed in that game, we destroyed them here haha. It was sweet. Luckily most of them like soccer so most play. But I gotta say that we're in way better shape haha. So they were all gasping for air after a while.

For our service this past week we got to put up Christmas Lights!!! I was so excited when I heard we were doing that. We got to put them up in the trees and it was a lot of fun. And we were singing Christmas songs, in English, while we were doing it. But unfortunately they don't turn them on until the day after we leave :( So I won't even get to see them on. But it was fun putting them up. And it's weird to think that Christmas is so close!

I don't really pay attention to the holidays that are coming up because it's not like I can do anything to celebrate. Thanksgiving is apparently next Thursday and I didn't even know that. But President told us that they have turkey and pies and everything! I'm so excited that we get to do something a little special for it even if we can't play football, watch some games, relax, etc haha. But it's still a lot of fun to do something a little different.

Without fail, every November I get sick. And this November was no different. I got sick again this past Monday and it was killer. I was fine all day until right before dinner and then I just felt awful. I was achy and tired and cold and just wanted to sleep. I went to bed a little early and then just slept for a while longer the next day and then went to classes and stuff. I thought I was fine during the day but then after dinner I felt the same and I went to bed at 7:30 and then didn't wake up until 10:30 the next day! I didn't know I slept that long haha but it felt soooo good and now I'm doing a lot better. I still feel a little sick but I'm doing fine now.

A few days ago we woke up and there was some really thick fog outside. It was way cool looking too. Our teacher said that they don't usually get fog here so it was crazy to see it when it was as thick as it was. And it was that way for two days. And yes I did take a picture so hopefully mom posts them somewhere when I send them home haha.

Oh and I finished the Book of Mormon!! I made it my goal during my second week in Provo to read the Book of Mormon, front to back, before I was done in the MTC and I did it! It took me only about six weeks which is crazy. It's amazing to see how much you learn from it when you read it like this. And I only read a few chapters a day because that's all the time we had but I guess it was enough to finish in less that six or seven weeks haha. Time for the New Testament!

Last P-Day was a holiday here in Spain so we went to downtown Madrid and got to see what was going on. Apparently they were honoring the Virgin Mary. And every city in Spain has their own Virgin that watches over and protects the city. Every year they have a day where they "worship" her and give flowers and stuff. Kinda weird but it was cool to takes pictures and to see the cathedral and the Palace of Spain. The Palace is pretty cool. But the King and Queen don't live in it. It's just for special guests and special events now. But we got to see it and take pictures. I wish we could have gone inside. Maybe on another P-Day.

I hope all is well with everyone! Love and miss you all! And I think about you often! :)

Elder Mathews

Numero Tres

Well week three in the Madrid MTC came and went really fast. I still can't believe how quick everything is going by. At this rate I should be back home by next month :) haha. But this week there was lots of fun, awesome, crazy stuff that happened. So I guess I'll start rattling them off.

The first one is we got to play some sweeeeet soccer with some other Spanish kids we didn't know. We were just at the court (yes, a court made of cement) playing around a little, and four or five other people asked if they could play and of course we said yes. They had some crazy foot skills, but they didn't pass or shoot any better than we did to be honest. And it didn't help them that they smoked haha. They came up to us with cigarettes in hand. So let's just say they were really out of shape. As the game went on we were just running around them and they had to sit out every five minutes or so to catch their breath haha. Thank goodness for the Word of Wisdom. When we were leaving, one of them tried to sell some drugs to Elder Schuerch. It was probably the funniest thing ever because it caught him way off guard and he acted all awkward about it haha. We kinda teased him about it for a while and we still do every now and then.

I guess another crazy thing is something culture related between the US and France/a lot of Europe. We were talking at lunch or something the other day and we got on the topic of dating and stuff like that cuz Elder Harel has a girlfriend and is actually engaged haha. But I guess it's a French thing. But apparently they don't ask people on dates. If they do it's because they really like the person and they want to see about marriage. So they don't just call up a girl or knock on their door and ask them to dinner or whatever. It was sooo weird. And they all thought we Americans were weird cuz we went on dates all the time haha. I guess it sort of explains why people seem to get married a lot later here in Europe. But it's still funny when they hear about our "weird" dating habits haha they act all funny and look at us like we're so strange.

This past Sunday was our little duet piece. It actually sounded really good. We recorded it on a camera during practices and it sounded good then, but during church it sounded even better. I wish I could send a recording or something but I don't have one to send. I guess I'll just have to perform when I get home :).

Oh! and the freakiest thing ever happened on Friday, I think it was. Maybe not. I can't remember. But Elder Keeler, my comp, took a pill that he has for acne or whatever, and he went out to do something before bed and I was just sitting in our room writing in my journal when Elder Thompson comes in and says, "Your comp is dying Elder." I didn't believe him at first cuz he jokes around a lot, but I came out anyway and he was actually kinda telling the truth haha. Apparently the pill exploded in Elder Keeler's throat and all the powder inside had shot out his nose and all in his throat, and he couldn't breath for a while cuz of all the powder; and then he said it just started burning his throat like it was on fire and water didn't help so we had to run up and get president. It was kinda scary because it wouldn't go away and then his nose plugged up and all that. So sister Earl and another lady had to try to flush out the stuff from his nose with warm salt water. I'm not gonna go into details, but let's just say it wasn't very pretty or anything haha. It grossed me out. But yeah that was that experience haha. Made my journal entry a lot better that's for sure. I think that's about it for the "cool" stuff this week.

It's starting to get kinda cold now and it's raining more than it used to which means winter is coming. It's still not anywhere near what it's like back home haha but it's still kinda cold. Surprisingly I still weigh only 181 haha. We all weighed ourselves last night when the French missionaries were packing so I gotta say I'm doing pretty good somehow. But it's only been about 6ish weeks haha. So I still got a ways to go. But another way to think about the time is I only have 22 more fast Sunday's! haha Sounds a lot less time when you put it that way. And fast Sunday always comes up too fast so before you know it I'll be back in action and back home acting all awkward haha...but hopefully not.

Spanish is going really well like usual again. I accidentally talked in my sleep apparently and was speaking in Spanish lol which is really funny, but it's a really good sign that I'm kinda starting to think and act more in Spanish. I just can't wait for the day when I don't even have to think about the words before I say them.

The new missionaries come tomorrow so that'll be really exciting. Four are from the US, but I don't know any of them, unfortunately. But it'll be good when they're all here because we're going to start speaking wayyy more Spanish when they arrive, which is really good practice because I still speak a little too much English. We actually started, as a District, to have two days a week where we don't speak any English. We call them "English Fasts" haha, and it's kinda hard because there's so much you wanna say but you gotta do it in Spanish. But it's the only way to learn. I guess I'll finish this huge email so you don't get too bored reading this. So I'll end with my favorite scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 25:26. This is our purpose in life :)

Miss you all!

La Semana Segunda

Can't believe that I've almost been here for two weeks! The time is just going by which is really good and means that I'm focused on the work. But I can't wait to actually get out into the field in about four more weeks. Today is Monday and it's our P-Day because it's a Spanish National Holiday, apparently. So instead of having it on Thursday like usual, it's today. And same with next week apparently, too, because it's a Madrid Holiday. I kinda like it on a Monday because Sundays are a bit more relaxed and then you have a day to sorta have a little bit more fun. But I think I prefer it on a Wednesday or Thursday because it's right in the middle of the week, and makes a good break in the middle for you. But it's not that big of a deal.

This past weekend it rained here for the first time! I've been waiting to see it rain because I wanted to see how it was. Utah rain has a very distinct smell, NY rain is just normal and comes in buckets, but here it's nothing special. It just comes in a little bit for a while then waits and then comes again.

We had to go to the park on Saturday when it was raining so there weren't a lot of people there to talk with. But we did find these three English girls who were visiting for a vacation and we gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon! It was way cool to answer their questions and actually know how to respond, what scriptures we could share to help us, and to also testify of what we were saying. I'm not sure what will happen, but at least we planted a seed for them.

While we were in the park we went up to a man who was just sitting on a bench and we thought he'd be a great person to talk to. But we started talking and I asked, "How are you?" and he said, "Porque te interes?"...I think haha which means why do you care. And I said something like I don't know, it's a great day! And then he just told us to leave and get lost haha. It was kinda unsettling at first but it's just a funny story now.

The food here has been awesome. There hasn't been a meal that I haven't liked which is crazy. We have a decent amount of fish, which I don't mind, and lots of meat. There's bread at every meal and lots of other fruit and stuff. I usually only eat toast and yogurt in the morning and then eat a lot more at lunch, which is their big meal.

The three French elders and sister leave next week which is kinda sad. We get along great with them and we'll miss them a lot. One Elder doesn't speak any Spanish or English so we have to have a translator with us most of the time. Luckily the Sister from France knows English really well and an Elder that's serving in Madrid knows French and English! So it works out great. The other Elder from France can speak a little English and a little Spanish. So it's a little easier to talk with him. But it's fun using signs and acting things out sometimes haha. Makes for an interesting time in the MTC. But to replace them next week, we get a ton of Spanish missionaries. Which means a ton more Spanish speaking to do, which is good.

For our service project the other day we had to rake leaves. I heard that and I was like nooooooo haha. I thought I got away from that for the next two years. But apparently not. I guess they knew that I was a pro at raking leaves since we do it so much at home every year. But it was fine because we had everyone out there and we just made it fun by talking and stuff. So service is all in the attitude. Make it fun and it will be fun.

Next week Hna. Boone and I are singing in sacrament meeting. I'm kinda nervous because I've never had to sing in just a duet before in front of people. And I don't even sing a bunch outside of church! I haven't sung in a choir since 6th grade but people keep asking if I have and if I take lessons...which I guess I should take as a compliment haha. But I think I'd rather play my violin right now. I didn't think I'd miss it this much until now. Hopefully I'll be able to touch at least one in these next two years. If not I might just go crazy. In the mean time singing will have to do.

I guess I'll update you all on the language again. I can now read Preach My Gospel in all Spanish which is pretty sweet. I've been doing it for about a week but now it's all I use when we study because I can understand it just fine. I read a little slower because I'm still learning but I can do it. I can talk and understand Spanish a lot better and I can carry on conversations with most people about a variety of things...sorta. It's just a matter of knowing vocabulary now. I know tons of church words but it's the other things that are a little iffy haha. So my goal is to work on that stuff.

I'll leave you all with a scripture I found while reading this week. It's really funny because it can totally apply to anyone, especially missionaries. It's in Proverbs 28:25. The last half says, "...but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat." So if you see missionaries that come home a little bigger than when they left, you know they trusted in the Lord haha. Obviously this isn't the real meaning, but I thought it was pretty funny and I shared it with everyone else.

Miss you all and I love hearing from you! Until next week!

Oh How Lovely Was the Morning

Week one down, five to go! The Madrid MTC is sooo different than Provo. First of all there are so few people here that it was really weird to not have to wait for a shower or wait for food in the cafeteria. There aren't many people at church meetings either which actually is kinda nice sometimes because the teachers and speakers talk directly to you. But we're getting 13 more missionaries in about two weeks...and all of them are from Spain, which means I have to speak Spanish to talk haha. It's not that big of a deal because I've been doing great so far but it'll just be a little different. And now we'll have longer lines in the shower haha.

Today is our first real P-Day here in Madrid, and since it's kinda a bit more relaxed here with the rules and stuff we can go to downtown Madrid!! And that's exactly what we're doing today. I gotta go buy some stuff that I don't have yet and then we're just going to tour and take pictures and everything. I'm so excited.

This past week in the park was crazy. Every Saturday we go to the park to contact people, which means talking to them and trying to share the gospel a little. I was sooo nervous, but in the end it was such a sweet experience. We were paired with different missionaries here since a few speak only French. I got put with Elder Thompson, who's also going to Barcelona. He's having a hard time learning Spanish so I had to do most of the talking and then translate into English for him. It was really good practice for me though and I was amazed to see that everyone actually understood me and I understood them! I know for sure that my spanish is farrrr from perfect haha but at least I know that I can communicate.

We play a lot of soccer and basketball here for our gym time which I absolutely love. We got to play basketball with some French kids who came down from France to visit the temple with their families. There were a tonnn of them too. And it was a good experience because you could tell that the little 10 year olds totally looked up to us haha.

Soccer is cool, as always, but also cuz we're in Spain haha. But the other day Hna. Boon sprained her ankle pretty bad while we were playing which isn't good. She went to get x-rays and everything and luckily it's just a bad sprain. But she's got this cast thing on her leg and has to wear it for like five weeks which is awful. Hopefully I don't get hurt seeing as I'm prone to injury haha. But so far so good.

The weather here in the morning is perfect. It doesn't get light till around eight or so and

the sunrise is awesome. I took a picture of one from our classroom the other day so I guess I'll have to send it home. It's the perfect briskness and temperature in the morning. Not cold but not warm. I really like that for some reason.

And for those who understand Spanish or can use a dictionary, here's some words from Elder Mathews:

Estoy muy agredecido para este oportunidad que tengo servir un mision. Yo sé que Dios vive y tiene un plan para nosotros. Os quiero mucho y os extraño mucho. Tengo mucho suerte porque yo tengo un buen compañero. Nosotros enseñamos juntos muy bien y tenemos much en común. Y tengo una escritura: 2 Nefi 22:2. Es mi aconsejo para la semana :) Ok so hopefully you can figure that out if you want. And yes i'm pretty sure some of that was wrong haha but a Spaniard would know what I was saying.

I love and miss you all!

Day 2 in Madrid

Oct. 21, 2010 - Thursday (P-day)

I lost my key today...and I´ve only been here two days! The key was to my drawer that had my passport/visa, wallet, camera, and money. So we had to go to the desk and they called people and after 2.5 hours and five people we finally got it open! haha crazy morning!

We got to go to the Madrid Temple today, too! It was so cool! The temple was way pretty and so much bigger than the Palmyra one; and it´s really strange when everything is in Spanish; so but luckily, we could hear the session in English :)

Apparently we get another hermana tomorrow! So now we´ll have 8 people here! I think I told you about contacting in the park already, but I can´t remember, so I´ll do it again haha. Every Saturday we take the metro to a huge park, like Central Park in NYC, and we go with our companions and we walk around and talk to people there and try to get referrals and things like that. They told us that baptisms do come from this so it´s not just for practice; but I´m still way nervous because these are real people that aren´t pretending to be investigators; and on top of that they speak crazy fast Spanish!

Oh funny story this morning haha. So Elder Keeler and I went to breakfast and we went to grab a tray, and this lady said something and I guess we didn´t need a tray; and she came over and said something and we just looked at each other with that blank stare hahaha. So i just said "no puedo comprender" which means I can´t understand haha. So she just smiled and kinda laughed and then spoke a little slower and used some different words and some hand motions. So we understood after that. But yeah, they speak way faster over here and with a way different accent. So that´ll be fun trying to get used to that.

Yesterday during our gym time we went over to the futsal court to play, but no one was over there! We were pretty bummed. We just played around for a little and then came back and played basketball in the stake center. The Elders and Sisters from Madrid had pday, I guess, so we got to play basketball with the Elders. It was pretty fun.

The keyboard on the computer is wayyyy weird. Since the Spanish people use different letters and symbols, they stick them on the computer keyboard and so things are in different locations, which is kinda annoying. The colon, parenthesis, quotation marks, question mark, and a few others are like on different keys so I´m still getting used to it, but it´s ok i guess.

Hope all is well back home and wherever anyone else is when they read this haha, Elder Mathews is doing fantastic :)

Hola from Madrid!

Oct. 20, 2010 - Wednesday

Well I´m in Madrid right now :) and I am definitely not caught up on any sleep whatsoever. We´re all so dead and tired, but we get to go to bed at 7:30 tonight and sleep till 6:30 which is great! The plane ride was fine; just really long.

We met a family who has a son who is also in the Provo MTC and she showed us pictures, but we didn´t recognize him. She also has a son-in-law, who was on the plane as well, that served in Barcelona on his mission! Small world haha.

We landed in JFK and one of the Elders that was traveling with us said he lost his boarding pass for the next flight so we spent like 15 minutes trying to work that out and ended up having to call church travel services. It was crazy but we eventually got it worked out.

The MTC here is sooooo different, but i kinda like it a lot better. Me, Elder Keeler, and the two other Elders that flew with us were the only four missionaries here today for a while, and then two other French missionaries joined us. So in all there as six of us right now, but that way you get more attention to your own development and everything.

The rooms are way nicer here, too, which is always a plus. We get an hour of email instead of 30 minutes which is pretty cool; and we actually go to a park and contact people....real people; not the pretend people in Provo MTC.; and here it´s allll spanish which just adds to the anxiety, but it´s still pretty exciting.

I´m pretty sure I´ll love it here, but I know I´ll miss my district back in Provo a lot just cuz they all added so much to the atmosphere and the attitude of our district. It feels weird to eat meals with less than fifteen people here instead of 2000.

The temple is right outside our window which is way cool, and the stake center is right next to us, too, and we can use it to play basketball or volleyball or whatever, which is awesome. There´s a futsal court nearby so we´re probably going to play there a lot. Apparently the local teens go there when we have gym time cuz they know that´s when we come to play haha. So at least we´ll have people to play with.

Apparently it usually only takes about 7-10 days for regular mail to ship from Spain to the U.S., or vice versa which is a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be, but I´m not complaining haha.

We were just outside getting our little orientation thing and our maestra was saying how cold it was. Everyone had pants and sweaters or jackets on and we all thought it felt amazing out! But apparently sunny and 20 degrees (celcius) is pretty cold for them. So I have a feeling I´m going to like the weather a lot. Wish I could send some of it to all of you haha.

Love and miss you all!!! But know that I´m doing great and I´m loving it :)

It's here!!!

It’s here!!!

Well the thing I've been waiting for this whole time is finally here! My visa came this past Wednesday!!! Which means I'm headed to the Madrid MTC on October 19th. I'm so excited. But also way nervous. I'm going from Spanish and English to only Spanish. And they speak wayyy faster and with a pretty good accent...so it'll be a struggle at first I'm sure, but I know I'll be way more prepared when I actually get into the field.

My companion, Elder Keeler, got his visa too and our roommate, Elder Iverson, got his too. So the three of us, along with two other missionaries who we don't know are flying out to Madrid on the 19th. Pretty sweet!

This past week flew by. I can't believe it's already P-Day again...but I'm not complaining. It's nice to have a day to just relax a bit and write people. The language is coming along great! Elder Keeler and I made a companionship goal to memorize at least 30 words/day which means about 210 a week. Sounds like a ton but it's actually not that hard. We bought notecards at the bookstore, which is really cheap for missionaries :), and started writing words for the lessons and other church words we would probably use. So far I have about 500 notecards with another 200ish on the way haha. Yeah it's a lot...but they help sooo much. Just goes to show how much missionaries and the Spirit work together for missionary work. So tonight we're quizzing each other to see if we actually remember allll those words that we learned this week. Should go pretty good though.

This past week we also got to go to the TRC (Teaching Resource Center) and the TE (Teaching Evaluation) for the first time. In the TE we taught Brother Heaton who went to Japan on his mission. We taught the first lesson in English just to get an idea of how we could split up the lesson, the layout, etc. It went pretty good actually. He gave us feedback which was really helpful so now we can change a few things when we teach again on Thursday and Friday. The TRC was pretty cool. We went to the room and just had small talk and got to know our "investigator" in Spanish for the first 15ish minutes. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Then we took a break and went back to teach the first lesson in English. But instead of just the one person there, there was another person who had joined him. He didn't speak a lot of English so he only spoke in Spanish but he could understand what we were saying. I could understand everything he said in Spanish which was awesome because he was talking way faster than what we're used to. Elder Keeler kinda had a little trouble but that's ok because we're here to learn and get better. He's progressing really fast too now that we've started using notecards.

Oh! And we're only supposed to talk in Spanish no matter where we are. It's so hard. When we're at the cafeteria or wherever else and we want to tell a funny story or something, we have to do it in Spanish which is a lot slower and just kinda kills the moment haha. But it's helped a tonnnnn and I can speak in Spanish pretty dang good now. I still make my mistakes with conjugations and stuff but I know the basic formations and a lot of vocab now so it's going great!

It's been really cold this past week every morning. Kinda not used to that yet haha. The other day there was actually snow up on Mt. Timpanogas which was crazy. Good thing I'm going to Madrid really soon.

The missionary fields have been closed for the past week because there was a pretty big sinkhole in the middle of it. So we've been inside for gym which is kinda fine with me. I get to play some awesome volleyball :). Some days are better than others though. It's kinda frustrating when you get a ton of people that all want to play and then don't even make an effort. I know some people aren't as great at some sports but some at least try which I respect. It actually makes the game more fun when people that you know don't play volleyball actually try, because they're just so funny and great to play with. I sorta wish we could play indoor soccer or football or something haha.

This past Sunday was our first Sacrament meeting here since the Sunday before was General Conference. It was pretty awesome. We had Sacrament meeting at 8:00 which is usually wayyyy too early for me, but since I'm used to getting up at 6:30, it's perfect. Then we have a two hour break until Priesthood. After that we have time to take a walk to the Temple and study and all that. It's just a laid back day which is really nice. There's always a fireside on Sunday night and right after we can go watch a church movie. We chose to watch Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration this week. I love that movie.

During Sacrament meeting our Branch President was released. His name is President Weiderhold. I didn't get to know him too well since we've only been here two weeks but he got up and gave a talk and you could just feel the love he had for our branch and for us as missionaries. And I'm actually gonna miss him. He was a great guy and was a great Branch President. Our new one is President Craig. He seems nice and everything so that's good. Too bad I'm only here for another week.

Now I guess I'll answer some questions that people have had... About Elder Keeler: he actually does know Laura Mickle haha anddddd they were boyfriend/girlfriend. Small world huh?

The food's been great and I actually think I've lost some weight since I can't just snack all day when I'm bored which is awesome. At least I know I won't be getting too terribly fat while I'm out here. We sorta made an agreement as a room to cut back on the sweets. All of us got a package of junk food, haha kinda funny really. So we've been sharing with each other and with our District so that we can sorta get rid of the temptations. Soooo if you do send carepackages...go a little easy on the sweets. I already got a big enough sweet tooth haha.

No, I wasn't in the Priesthood MTC Choir. If I had arrived here a week or two earlier I could've been but I wasn't. Oh well. It was pretty cool to still be here and watch it with all those 2000 missionaries. There's so many of us here and it's so cool to look around during devotionals and stuff and see 2000+ missionaries in suits and ties, or dresses, haha.

Oh I forgot to tell about my flight plans for next week. Our flight leaves at 8:44 am for JFK and then we fly to Madrid at 5:50 pm local time and arrive in Madrid at 7:25 am over there. We're going to be so tired. I hope I can actually sleep on the plane. But since we leave so early we have to get up around 4:00 am which just stinks. And since we fly out on a Tuesday, which is P-Day, we have to see if they'll let us do our laundry on Monday so that we don't have to pack our dirty clothes. I'm excited I'm actually flying with other Elders I know too. I've never flown with other people my age that I know...kinda weird. But exciting at the same time.

Thanks for the Love and Letters!! Miss you all!

Elder Mathews

Week #1 in the MTC

Well I'm finally on a computer for P-Day. I can't believe it's only been one week though. It feels like I've been here at least a month. I'm in the Intermediate/Advanced Spanish class somehow haha but it's good because I learn the language wayyyy faster. I'm already so much better than I ever was during high school. And I took it for five years! It just goes to show how much the Spirit and the Gift of Tongues helps and blesses missionaries.

My companion is great! His name is Elder Keeler and he's from Houston, Texas. It's kinda funny because that's where Elder Rumsey is serving!! Elder Keeler said he went on splits with him too which is sweet. I got lucky with my companion. He plays soccer like me and he ran track in high school. He was a pole vaulter and pretty good from what I hear. We get along great so far and I'm excited to see how we do these next few weeks here in Provo.

Today we got to go to the Temple which was really cool. The Provo Temple is soooo much bigger than the Palmyra one haha and it was a great experience. Our District, which has eight elders and four sisters, is so great. We're all so close which apparently is kinda rare for everyone to be this close. Our District Leader, Elder Payne is awesome. He's from Draper, UT and he's so fun to be around.

We always do the same things during our gym time which has mostly been volleyball. We played soccer last week a bit but the fields are closed right now for some reason. But volleyball has been sick. As most of you know I love any kind of sport and volleyball is one of them. I gotta thank my roommate Trent though for really converting me to it haha.

I've seen a ton of people I know here in the MTC too which was so cool. I saw a few Hermanas from pageant here and got to catch up a bit, saw a bunch of elders from my ward at BYU which is even better. Andddd I saw Alaena while she was at work!! Kinda surprised me haha we only chatted for a few minutes though cuz we had class anyways.

I'm pretty sure everyone in my District thinks I have a bajillion friends cuz I've gotten at least one letter every day and then a few days I've gotten as many as 8 hahaha. But just so everyone knows they're mostly from family which I greatly appreciate :) It feels so good to finally be able to email and write people! I feel like it's text that I got last night but I'm just now responding if that makes sense. But it just makes me appreciate everything I hear from friends and family.

The food in the MTC is so good. But it's so easy to just pig out and gain a ton of weight. I've heard tons of stories about elders or sisters that leave the MTC after three weeks with ten extra pounds. And my goal is to stay the same as I came in. So far so good too haha. The key is just to resist the desire for seconds and not to eat till you're completely full.

There are four of us in our room: me, Elder Keeler, Elder Iverson, and now Elder Questenberg. We originally had Elder Monterrosa but he dropped down to the beginner's spanish class so we got a new elder instead. He seems great so far though so that's good.

Thursday Elder Keeler and I have to teach the first lesson already! I'm really nervous just because we'll be teaching somebody we don't even know instead of each other or other people we know. And then next week we teach the first lesson in allll spanish. That's the one we're really nervous about though. We tried to teach each other in spanish today but that was so hard. We still understood each other and could talk in spanish...but we couldn't go into a lot of depth because we just don't know a ton of vocab yet. But hopefully in nine weeks we'll be better.

And I forgot to mention my comp is also going to Barcelona!! Makes it even better haha. Apparently when we get to the Madrid MTC they speak only spanish all the time. And some teachers don't even know any english. That'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Yesterday was kinda my bad day. I woke up feeling sickly and I ached all over, I didn't feel like I got any sleep whatsoever, and I just felt awful. I took some meds in the morning which helped a lot and I felt fine until around 4:00ish. We went to dinner and I ate the healthiest dinner I have ever eaten in my life: cantaloupe, honey dew, salad, an apple, and juice haha. But I wasn't very hungry to begin with so it didn't really matter. But I can honestly say that prayer works. Both me and Elder Keeler prayed for my health and strengthe and within two hours everything was gone. I still feel a little iffy today but I'm soooo much better than yesterday. Another testimony of prayer :)

Sorry I keep jumping all over the place. I only have 30 minutes and I just write whatever comes to mind haha. Me and Elder Keeler designated the cafeteria as a "spanish zone". Which means we can only speak spanish there. It's been really hard but really good for both of us. We bring our dictionary with us just in case and, if we desperately need to, we speak english. But for the most part we've been really good about it. We pray in spanish which helps, we study the language a tonnnn each day, and we talk throughout the day in spanish...mixed with english haha.

I can't believe that just a week ago I said goodbye to everyone at BYU and to Grandma and Grandpa. I think about everyone often and miss you all a lot. I find myself sometimes reaching for my phone to check the time or to see if I have a text hahaha buttttt I remember that I don't have my phone anymore! Makes P-Days all the better :)

Tomorrow we get to see the new Elders and Sisters! Even though I've been here a week I know I'll feel older than them haha just because of the time that I've been here and the experience of being here. I met an elder the other day that's been here 11 weeks!! I feel way bad for him because he doesn't go to class because he can't. He just helps as an "investigator" and just studies on his own. He's just waiting for his visa apparently. And I really hope that doesn't happen to me haha. But if it does I'll just wait I guess. Means more time in the mountains haha.

Thanks for all the letters and prayers and everything! They mean a ton to me. The work is going great and I love you all!

Love,
Elder Mathews

ps letters are appreciated :)

My Farewell Talk

For those who said they wanted to read it here it is! And yeah it's a bit long haha sorry about that. This is pretty much word for word what I spoke minus a few other things I added in here and there:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. I hope most of you know me by now but if you don’t my name is Justin Mathews and it will very soon be Elder Mathews. Three days from now I enter the MTC in Provo, Utah to begin the best two years of my life and I cannot wait for it to come. I will be spending those two years serving the Lord’s children and our brothers and sisters in Barcelona, Spain. I just hope that I can serve in a way that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father and in a way that I can share the happiness that I get from this gospel.

My topic that I have been given is faith and hope. I heard that and I thought to myself, “that is such a broad topic.” But the more I thought about it and the more I studied it, I thought that I should talk about how faith and hope can apply to me as I serve and how we can grow and learn through faith and hope. So I want to steer this in the direction of how faith and hope can be used as a tool in the mission field and at home.

I want to begin with hope. Hope has always been a very vague and somewhat confusing gospel area for me. I had to do a lot of studying and research on this topic. But thankfully I did because this is what I’ll be teaching in Spain. Hope is an abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. But what’s the use of knowing what hope is if we don’t know what to hope for? Moroni has an excellent section that talks about faith and hope in the Book of Mormon. In Moroni 7:40-44 we learn why hope and faith are so important to our salvation. It reads, “And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart...” We learn from these verses that only the meek and lowly of heart can have faith and hope. So this is what we should aim to be. We should aim to be meek and lowly of heart, humble, submissive, and use the knowledge that we are sons and daughters of God and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and saved us from death as our source of hope. We also learn what we should hope for in this scripture. It states right in verse 41 that we should hope, “…through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection…” that we might someday live with our Father in Heaven again. We hope in Jesus Christ, in the goodness of God, in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, in the knowledge that prayers are heard and answered. Because God has been faithful and kept His promises in the past, we can hope with confidence that God will keep His promises to us now and in the future.

Remember that in Moroni 7 he stated that, “…without faith there cannot be any hope.” So reading this we learn that if a person has hope, then they must have faith as well. I have been taught ever since I entered primary that faith is like a little seed and that if planted it will grow. As I grew older and learned more about this topic I realized that faith doesn’t just grow if planted. It has to be planted and nourished or it will falter and die. Faith, as stated in Alma, is, “…not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” I want to specifically talk about faith in Christ. When you have faith in Christ, you believe in Him as the Son of God. You accept Him as your Savior and follow His teachings. You believe that your sins can be forgiven through the Atonement. Faith in Christ means that you trust Him and know that He loves you. Faith leads to action. Faith is what motivates people to repent, to be baptized, and to serve our Heavenly Father. Despite trials and sufferings, it is faith that motivates us to continue to trust that God has a plan for us and knows what we should do. Knowing what faith is, we can find out how we can obtain it. We obtain faith by increasing our knowledge and love of our Savior Jesus Christ. As we continue to study the scriptures, pray daily, and be obedient to His commandments we can come closer to our Redeemer and in the process allow our faith to grow. The Savior promised, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." It is through faith that miracles are performed. It is through faith that Joseph Smith went into the Sacred Grove to receive an answer from God. It is through faith that the Brother of Jared saw the finger of Christ. It is through faith that Nephi was able to obtain the plates from Laban. But we must remember that only after the trial of our faith come the miracles. We can’t expect a miracle to make us believe. We have to already have the unwavering faith that the miracle will happen.

Now how can we apply these attributes to our lives? As a missionary I know I’ll be exercising them daily. I’ll need the faith to know that what I’m teaching people is true. I’ll need the faith to know that through the Spirit I will learn the Spanish language and be able to communicate the message that He would have me say. I will be teaching people that they can have faith that God loves them and wants them to return again to Him someday. And through faith we can hope for a better life in the world to come. I can put my hope in God, knowing that He will protect and guide me through this life until I have accomplished what He has in store for me. I may have many years ahead of me; I might not. But it does not matter as long as I do His will. And I know that through faith and hope, no matter what my course in life is, that Heavenly Father is guiding me in all things. I know without a doubt that this is the true church. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ atoned for our sins and that through Him we can all repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father someday. But we must exercise our faith in Him and know that He loves us and knows what is best for each of us. I know that I have been called to serve as a missionary to this specific part of the world at this specific time. I have no idea why but I trust that the Lord knows why. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity this summer it is finally here. I am becoming part of the mission of the church. I am helping to fulfill the prophecy stated by Joseph Smith. Most of us know it as the Standard of Truth and I think it is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. It states, “Our missionaries are going forth to different nations…The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” I am helping to accomplish this task and I will do so to the best of my ability. Every soul is precious to God. So if it is so precious to Him, should it not also be just as precious to us? People all around us are just waiting to hear the gospel. So open your mouths. You never know who might be ready and eager to accept the message of Jesus Christ. I know this church is true and I love it with all my heart. And I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Big Apple

Most of you know that I'm from New York...but I think some of you think that I live closer to New York City than I actually do haha. So to clarify I actually live upstate near Rochester which is around a six hour drive from NYC. Which means I don't get to head down a whole lot. But this past week I got to go down with my dad when he went for a business trip. It was pretty sweet getting to go down there and wander around the hugeeee city by myself. There was no one to slow me down, I could go see what I wanted, walk where I wanted, and go at my own pace which was great! I got to see pretty much everything I wanted. I don't really have a favorite place though which is kinda strange. I did really like Central Park and the Empire State building though. And I just gotta say that Time's Square at night is the bomb!! All of you who haven't had the opportunity to go really need to put that on your to-do list before you die haha. I had a lot of first too. Rode the subway for the first time, rode a taxi for the first time, and a few others I can't think of right now. I ran into a few fellow BYU fans in Time's Square of all places too! And they were from Alpine, Utah. Go figure haha. I just gotta say that even though NYC is soooo cool...I never want to live there. Too busy, too loud, too dirty and messy, and just not enough green. I think I'm set where I am.

Almost There!!!

It has been a very long five months. I got my mission call the week before Finals out at BYU in April and I saw the report date: September 29th. But after the long wait and the times of insanity I only have three precious weeks left. It's almost to unreal right now though. I have dreamed and waited for this moment ever since I was a young man growing up through Deacon's Quorum and now that it's actually here I can't even begin to realize that it's actually happening. When I went home from BYU at the end of April I thought I was in for the longest five months of my life. I could have used that time to go to a Spring and Summer Term out at BYU and gotten some more schooling out of the way. I felt that I was just wasting my time sitting at home with nothing to do when I could be doing something useful. I got a job working at a local wholesale club but I didn't really get many hours which was very frustrating. There was no way I was going to be making nearly enough money with only eight hours of work a week. I decided to find more work to keep me busy and to make some more dinero. So I ended up being a soccer referee for the Recreational League here in my hometown and made some decent money. I've house sat for a few families in my ward, and I've even helped a man in my ward with some renovation in his backyard. But with all the college kids going back to school I've finally gotten more hours. Now I'm almost wishing I didn't have so many! Other than work early on in the summer I didn't have much to keep me from missing everything about BYU. I didn't feel like doing much at all. I missed everyone and I even missed my classes!!! Crazy I know. I thought about taking some online courses to keep me busy but I never got around to that. I tried to hang out with some old friends from high school but sometimes I just didn't feel like getting out for some reason. So basically I was a bum for the first half of the summer. But everything changed once the Hill Cumorah Pageant came around. I absolutely loveeee Pageant. It is the best thing about summer for me that I have ever experienced and I'm so glad that I could do it for three straight years. I think I just needed a wake up call. I realized that I was just dwelling on the things I could have been doing back then and not doing what I should or could be doing now. I also needed a Spiritual booster. I knew that I was going on a mission and that I knew it was the right thing to do. But they say that the time before your mission is when Satan and his angels try their hardest to bring you down and I was definitely feeling that. The friends I made at Pageant, the experiences I had, and the lessons I learned were exactly what I needed. I can never thank my Heavenly Father enough for this last chance to participate before my mission. I originally put my availability date for my mission as July 1st which means I would have missed Pageant. But I know that He has a plan for each of us. And I was supposed to be at Pageant one more time. Ever since Pageant ended the weeks have flown by. I've been happier, more awake, more in tune with myself and the Spirit. I started studying Preach My Gospel and the scriptures more intently and on a more regular basis. I've literally felt myself being picked up from the ground and being set in the right direction. I know that Heavenly Father knew what I needed to become the best missionary I could possibly be. And now with just about three weeks to go I still have a lot to finish. But I feel that I have been set on the right path and that I am getting set for what the Lord has in store for me. Thanks to everyone for the support you've shown me. Even if I haven't specifically thanked you or told you, all of you who I call my friends have had more influence on me than you know.