Hey family
Sorry but this week the letter isn’t going to be all that long, I don’t have a lot of time to write because we have been out all day long First off how long has the family been there in the house, it sounded like you guys were having a really fun time all there together in the house, I don’t know how long really it has been since we were all there together and this time was no different because I have been here in the heat working my butt off ( literally) for the lord, but I know that there will be more Christmases and that I am going to receive a lot of blessings from the lord for serving him diligently for these short two years.
How did Christmas go for you guys? Pictures?, really thank you for all of the gifts that me and elder forero received, we are really grateful for the gifts we got, speaking of gifts, I have my tie bar, it was in the house of elder Dias like I thought and I got it this morning when we went to look at the año viejos, they are like super small, to 3 stories high, paper machet (sp?) sculptures and at midnight on new year’s they burn them and fill them up with firecrackers, a lot of which are homemade and are literally the same as half a stick of dynamite, so it will be really cool to get woken up at midnight Thursday. Elder Peterson described it like the world explodes. So next week in my letter I will have to tell you guys how it goes, Next week we have changes and we really don’t know if I will go or stay, right now with me and elder forero we are like 50/50 so we will have to see, if I get changed and don’t write you its because Im a little far away from Guayaquil and am travling, so don’t freak out if you don’t get a letter next week, we´ll just have to see what happens.
This week we were able to have another baptism for our efforts and I was able to baptize somebody for the first time in my life, it was a great experience and one I wont forget, Belen (her name) was an old investigator that we had that we couldn’t baptize because we didn’t have permission from her mother, so we just had to be patient and wait until we could get the permission, finally her mother said that she had seen a change in her daughter and that we could baptize her, it was pretty easy she was already a member non baptized, she had been assisting the church every week and participating in all the young women activites. So it was a cool baptism we had like 50-60 people there, so pics to come in the future.
Other than that this week went really slow and there were trunky feelings all around, so now we have a new week to get back into the swing of things and keep working in the work of the lord, I hope you are all doing well, Stay Safe, make good smart decisions , and keep the faith, I am praying for you every day and I hope that you have a good productive week, take advantage of the cold, I forgot how great it is to actually have seasons, I love you all very much Elder Jonathan Match Mision Guayaquil Sur
P.S. Happy new year 2010, make it a good on
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Panic over Christmas Box
First off let me say Im sorry but I didnt know that this was going to happen, today I got a notice from the mail service here in guayaquil, they have my package, and its intact, but it weighs too much and so they are charging me to get it from them, now I have never heard about this but its happening with all of the elders if your package weighs more than 2 kg this will happen, and mine weighs 4.7 kg. so now I have to go to this post office before christmas to pick up and pay for this package.
NOW the really bad news, it is going to cost me like 40 dollars! this is a problem because I dont have 40 dollars, so what I am pleading with you is that you can put 50 or 60 dollars on my card so that I can be safe that I can get my package, I understand if you are mad and I am as well. I didnt see this happening, I also know that it is christmas and you probably dont have 50 or 60 dollars to give me. But I really need it by tomorrow afternoon/ night. I know that this kinda sounds like Im trying to make an extortion or something, but Im serious, you can talk to president johns. Once again Im really sorry for this, and we can definatly prevent it in the future, I love you all very much and I hope you have a merry christmas, Im praying for you every day, and I hope that you like that picture of me in the blog, its pretty cool with all of my zone of latinos, LOVE ELDER MATCH
NOW the really bad news, it is going to cost me like 40 dollars! this is a problem because I dont have 40 dollars, so what I am pleading with you is that you can put 50 or 60 dollars on my card so that I can be safe that I can get my package, I understand if you are mad and I am as well. I didnt see this happening, I also know that it is christmas and you probably dont have 50 or 60 dollars to give me. But I really need it by tomorrow afternoon/ night. I know that this kinda sounds like Im trying to make an extortion or something, but Im serious, you can talk to president johns. Once again Im really sorry for this, and we can definatly prevent it in the future, I love you all very much and I hope you have a merry christmas, Im praying for you every day, and I hope that you like that picture of me in the blog, its pretty cool with all of my zone of latinos, LOVE ELDER MATCH
No Box Yet
Family
Well first off Merry Christmas, or as we say here Feliz Navidad, it’s been going really good for me here, and it sounds like you guys are making the most of all the time that you have off from work and school, take the time to rest and relax with all the family and friends, have a really good time at David’s wedding, and say hi to the whole Contreras family for me, and tell David congratulations from me.
First off, I am sitting here crying my baby looks so freaking good, Im not going to lie I had a pretty trunky moment sitting here looking at my car. I have put a lot of love into that car and at the same time I neglected her for a while so I feel all the worse. But when I get home the first thing Im going to do is get a job and get the new shocks and bushings for her.
It’s really cool that your getting in touch with your family dad, did you know that I really don’t know my extended family, especially on your side dad, so how is this grant guy, are they members, what does he do, where does he work, I would like to find out about all of this family that I have that I don’t know anything about, it’s cool that your finally catching up with the times and getting a facebook dad, just remember that everyone can see everything you post so don’t post anything embarrassing or something that coiuld get another person in trouble.
Im glad that you guys remembered to write me the week before Christmas it probably saved me from getting a little depressed J.
Sorry to hear that the suburban is still giving you guys trouble, just put a little bit of work into it and it will be fine, youi just need to find the time to work on it.
Steven Im just going to say, merry Christmas, and for the love of all things good in this world, do not run around in December in Texas in only a loin cloth
I think you´ll be glad to know that I am losing a gigantic amount of weight, a little bit had to do with my sicknesses but I only weigh 212 lbs so in the course of 2 ½ monthes I have lost close to 30 pounds, don’t you guys want to be on the Ecuador diet, when I get home Im going to be a twig. But really you guys can lose this weight as well just, eat rice everyday and walk more than 10 miles, its all good, the muscles in my legs are huge, Im pretty sure that im also faster, so well have to see when I start running again.
Im really glad to hear that you passed the semester of ap history, so all the work you did wasn’t in vain, you actually got credit for it.
On the book of mormon front, steven you can read it before the end of the year easily, you just need to buckle down and one of these days, dress comfortably get some water and just sit down on the couch and read, don’t get up for anything but to use the bathroom, lose yourself in the words, become the words and steven I promise you that your testimony will grow a lot, just lose yourself and the lord will help you fly through his holy scriptures.
Once again, DO NOT USE A LOIN CLOTH, or a ¨jungle thong¨ as you so eloquently put it.
MOM
Don’t stress out, I know that there are a lot of things to do at this time of the year, just remember to keep movies or music playing and have a good attitude about these things, like us missionaries we are working all day, even more now that Christmas is coming up, just keep the feelings light and work to serve ( yourself and others)
ME.
Not a lot has been going on here, this Sunday we baptized another person into the the true church of Christ and this Saturday we have another baptism, actually if all goes to plan I will baptize and it will be my first, so well see how it goes.
Now the phone number, I got it and here it is,
TO CALL OUR HOUSE: 011593087590259
If that doesn’t work use: 01159387590259
So those are the numbers, I will call you first at about 10:00 in the morning your time 11:00 my time to confirm the numbers that you have and we get to talk for a full 40 minutes, so that’s good I really look forward to talking with you guys.
It finally rained for the first time since I got here on Saturday; it was good there is a lot of dust here right now and now that the rains are starting it should start to get better.
On Friday when we are talking if I have my box I will tell you what was in it and you can tell me if I lost anything in transit.
During this time of the year all the people drink alot hot chocolate and Pan de Pascua (fruitcake) so in these next 4-5 days we are going to be eating a mountain of these things and I am probably going to regain those 30 pounds that I lost.
Well I love you all very much I look forward to talking with you on Friday, make sure that you guys are ready with your calling card or whatever it is your going to use, pray, and really remember the reason that we celebrate, for the birth of our savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ, I love you all very much and I pray for you every day,
LOVE
ELDER MATCH
Well first off Merry Christmas, or as we say here Feliz Navidad, it’s been going really good for me here, and it sounds like you guys are making the most of all the time that you have off from work and school, take the time to rest and relax with all the family and friends, have a really good time at David’s wedding, and say hi to the whole Contreras family for me, and tell David congratulations from me.
First off, I am sitting here crying my baby looks so freaking good, Im not going to lie I had a pretty trunky moment sitting here looking at my car. I have put a lot of love into that car and at the same time I neglected her for a while so I feel all the worse. But when I get home the first thing Im going to do is get a job and get the new shocks and bushings for her.
It’s really cool that your getting in touch with your family dad, did you know that I really don’t know my extended family, especially on your side dad, so how is this grant guy, are they members, what does he do, where does he work, I would like to find out about all of this family that I have that I don’t know anything about, it’s cool that your finally catching up with the times and getting a facebook dad, just remember that everyone can see everything you post so don’t post anything embarrassing or something that coiuld get another person in trouble.
Im glad that you guys remembered to write me the week before Christmas it probably saved me from getting a little depressed J.
Sorry to hear that the suburban is still giving you guys trouble, just put a little bit of work into it and it will be fine, youi just need to find the time to work on it.
Steven Im just going to say, merry Christmas, and for the love of all things good in this world, do not run around in December in Texas in only a loin cloth
I think you´ll be glad to know that I am losing a gigantic amount of weight, a little bit had to do with my sicknesses but I only weigh 212 lbs so in the course of 2 ½ monthes I have lost close to 30 pounds, don’t you guys want to be on the Ecuador diet, when I get home Im going to be a twig. But really you guys can lose this weight as well just, eat rice everyday and walk more than 10 miles, its all good, the muscles in my legs are huge, Im pretty sure that im also faster, so well have to see when I start running again.
Im really glad to hear that you passed the semester of ap history, so all the work you did wasn’t in vain, you actually got credit for it.
On the book of mormon front, steven you can read it before the end of the year easily, you just need to buckle down and one of these days, dress comfortably get some water and just sit down on the couch and read, don’t get up for anything but to use the bathroom, lose yourself in the words, become the words and steven I promise you that your testimony will grow a lot, just lose yourself and the lord will help you fly through his holy scriptures.
Once again, DO NOT USE A LOIN CLOTH, or a ¨jungle thong¨ as you so eloquently put it.
MOM
Don’t stress out, I know that there are a lot of things to do at this time of the year, just remember to keep movies or music playing and have a good attitude about these things, like us missionaries we are working all day, even more now that Christmas is coming up, just keep the feelings light and work to serve ( yourself and others)
ME.
Not a lot has been going on here, this Sunday we baptized another person into the the true church of Christ and this Saturday we have another baptism, actually if all goes to plan I will baptize and it will be my first, so well see how it goes.
Now the phone number, I got it and here it is,
TO CALL OUR HOUSE: 011593087590259
If that doesn’t work use: 01159387590259
So those are the numbers, I will call you first at about 10:00 in the morning your time 11:00 my time to confirm the numbers that you have and we get to talk for a full 40 minutes, so that’s good I really look forward to talking with you guys.
It finally rained for the first time since I got here on Saturday; it was good there is a lot of dust here right now and now that the rains are starting it should start to get better.
On Friday when we are talking if I have my box I will tell you what was in it and you can tell me if I lost anything in transit.
During this time of the year all the people drink alot hot chocolate and Pan de Pascua (fruitcake) so in these next 4-5 days we are going to be eating a mountain of these things and I am probably going to regain those 30 pounds that I lost.
Well I love you all very much I look forward to talking with you on Friday, make sure that you guys are ready with your calling card or whatever it is your going to use, pray, and really remember the reason that we celebrate, for the birth of our savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ, I love you all very much and I pray for you every day,
LOVE
ELDER MATCH
Monday, December 14, 2009
Bus Ride to Cuenca
Hey Family; Mom , Dad, Steven, Sam,
How’s the week been going for you, I am really glad that you were able to move marcie and Mike into their new apartment, I’m sure that Benjamin was really happy to get finally moved into the new house and not just go their to work, also he likes trucks and I would have liked to see his reaction to the u haul.
It always seems like the ward Christmas parties are pretty uneventful. On December 23 in our ward 2 of the 6 future missionaries are going to leave so Monday we are going to have a party for them. I think it will be a little more exciting here because they really like to party party. So the people will be dancing and there will probably be a lot of food, fun , and especially more than everything else, laughing.
I know everyone is getting married, its so weird, dax is especially weird, don’t worry when I come home Im not getting married ever so its ok with me.
First off, we get to talk on the phone for 30 minutes not 10. And we can do it on the 25 not the 24 so you guys can go to the wedding, but you have to be home on the 25th. I can tell you a time next week, when our schedule is more fixed, but right now I am an hour ahead of you there in texas so it will probably have to be at like 930 AM you time and we can talk until 10AM your time 11Am my time, also this week I will make sure to figure out the number that you need to call and I will call you guys from a pay phone, just to verify, It will only be like 2 bucks here for a minute and a half. So next week Ill make sure confirm all with you, I looked on the tracker for the box and it said that a week ago it left the states, so really there is a good chance that I will get it tomorrow, if not Ill get it 3 days before Christmas, but no worries.
Bummer about the Honda, its been a really tough little car, its gone through 3 teenage drivers and 2 of them have been pizza delivery drivers, so if you can fix it cool, good luck. Hey I would really like a picture of my baby in the sun with the new mags I think it would look really cool, just take the picture from the drivers side of the car.
Bummer about Dustin, he had the opportunity to be a really strong missionary, but he let the world drag him into it, and when he got rejected for his mission he completely allowed it to overcome him, he will see in time that the life of a professional musician usually isn’t the most edifying of jobs but eventually will remember the joy that comes of living a life of the commandments of god and will come back, it will just take a little time for him to just smarten up.
Sorry about the whole computer problems, hopefully it will be a good lesson for you and you can learn to keep backing things up. Yeah over time I will keep sending you guys pictures and I am not deleting anything from my memory cards. I still have a blank 2 gb memory card and the thing is I can buy them for a pretty decent price here in Ecuador. So we shouldn’t have any worries about running out of memory here in Ecuador.
ME well life has pretty calm here we are working rally hard here in el batallon and the progress is going really well, this Saturday we had two more baptisms and its looking like we will be able to have like 3 or maybe 4 more before the end of the change at the beginning of January. So we really are working pretty hard here, it will be really weird to see if I or elder forero leaves this change, right now we are at a 50/50 chance of either of us leaving so we´ll have to see.
When I was sick I missed my zone conference in Guayaquil so president johns invited us to Cuenca for their zone conference, normally its 4 hours in a bus to Cuenca, for us it took 7 their was a wreck and a bunch of un planned stops by our driver, so welcome to Ecuador, but the thing is Cuenca is cold because its in the top of the mountains, in the night it got to like low 50s high 40s, cold enough that we had to use 2 really thick blankets, also its really quiet, and its way rich, I have some pictures of Cuenca in my camera and Ill send them to you later, but its really cool, the thing about Cuenca is everyone in catholic I have a picture us us leaving on the bus and you can see 7 different cathedrals so sorry this week nothing really happened, exciting to me, it was a really calm really boring fast kind of week, Im going to try and write down all the funny weird or cool things that happen to me so my letters can be better.
I love you all very much and I pray for you everyday, stay safe, drive smart, act smart, use the spirit as you guide, keep the faith, Love Always, Elder Jonathan Match.
How’s the week been going for you, I am really glad that you were able to move marcie and Mike into their new apartment, I’m sure that Benjamin was really happy to get finally moved into the new house and not just go their to work, also he likes trucks and I would have liked to see his reaction to the u haul.
It always seems like the ward Christmas parties are pretty uneventful. On December 23 in our ward 2 of the 6 future missionaries are going to leave so Monday we are going to have a party for them. I think it will be a little more exciting here because they really like to party party. So the people will be dancing and there will probably be a lot of food, fun , and especially more than everything else, laughing.
I know everyone is getting married, its so weird, dax is especially weird, don’t worry when I come home Im not getting married ever so its ok with me.
First off, we get to talk on the phone for 30 minutes not 10. And we can do it on the 25 not the 24 so you guys can go to the wedding, but you have to be home on the 25th. I can tell you a time next week, when our schedule is more fixed, but right now I am an hour ahead of you there in texas so it will probably have to be at like 930 AM you time and we can talk until 10AM your time 11Am my time, also this week I will make sure to figure out the number that you need to call and I will call you guys from a pay phone, just to verify, It will only be like 2 bucks here for a minute and a half. So next week Ill make sure confirm all with you, I looked on the tracker for the box and it said that a week ago it left the states, so really there is a good chance that I will get it tomorrow, if not Ill get it 3 days before Christmas, but no worries.
Bummer about the Honda, its been a really tough little car, its gone through 3 teenage drivers and 2 of them have been pizza delivery drivers, so if you can fix it cool, good luck. Hey I would really like a picture of my baby in the sun with the new mags I think it would look really cool, just take the picture from the drivers side of the car.
Bummer about Dustin, he had the opportunity to be a really strong missionary, but he let the world drag him into it, and when he got rejected for his mission he completely allowed it to overcome him, he will see in time that the life of a professional musician usually isn’t the most edifying of jobs but eventually will remember the joy that comes of living a life of the commandments of god and will come back, it will just take a little time for him to just smarten up.
Sorry about the whole computer problems, hopefully it will be a good lesson for you and you can learn to keep backing things up. Yeah over time I will keep sending you guys pictures and I am not deleting anything from my memory cards. I still have a blank 2 gb memory card and the thing is I can buy them for a pretty decent price here in Ecuador. So we shouldn’t have any worries about running out of memory here in Ecuador.
ME well life has pretty calm here we are working rally hard here in el batallon and the progress is going really well, this Saturday we had two more baptisms and its looking like we will be able to have like 3 or maybe 4 more before the end of the change at the beginning of January. So we really are working pretty hard here, it will be really weird to see if I or elder forero leaves this change, right now we are at a 50/50 chance of either of us leaving so we´ll have to see.
When I was sick I missed my zone conference in Guayaquil so president johns invited us to Cuenca for their zone conference, normally its 4 hours in a bus to Cuenca, for us it took 7 their was a wreck and a bunch of un planned stops by our driver, so welcome to Ecuador, but the thing is Cuenca is cold because its in the top of the mountains, in the night it got to like low 50s high 40s, cold enough that we had to use 2 really thick blankets, also its really quiet, and its way rich, I have some pictures of Cuenca in my camera and Ill send them to you later, but its really cool, the thing about Cuenca is everyone in catholic I have a picture us us leaving on the bus and you can see 7 different cathedrals so sorry this week nothing really happened, exciting to me, it was a really calm really boring fast kind of week, Im going to try and write down all the funny weird or cool things that happen to me so my letters can be better.
I love you all very much and I pray for you everyday, stay safe, drive smart, act smart, use the spirit as you guide, keep the faith, Love Always, Elder Jonathan Match.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Bronchitis Attack
Hey Family in Texas
So first off the gov here is really screwing up our schedule. I was writing you a letter at 130 this afternoon, when lo and behold the power went out. because the govt is rationing power, becuase they have to buy it from colombia and peru. so we thought it was going to be ok, bc I was typing on word and it always auto saves. so we left anddid all of our pday stuff, we went to the malacon, which is like a big riverwalk, I took some cool photos, and next week Ill send them to you. when we came back to the cyber 15 minutes ago, my document had not saved and now i am re typing my email out to you, Im really sorry but its not going to be very long because we have lessons to teach.
this week was pretty good until about friday, that day i woke up at with a fever of 102 and it didnt go down until 1 in the afternoon. so we went to the doctor and he examined me, and guess what. I have bronchitis. so right now I am on a bunch of medicines but Im getting better and the meds are working, but my body is still betrayying me.
on tuesday we went and ate lunch, and in the lunch the sister had fried shrimps for us, but the shrimps were pretty much whole, they were really really good. the heads were actually the best part,it tasted just like fish, and not bad fish, good fish.
Thank you for sending me a box, I cant wait to get it in 2 weeks. it will be really cool and Im glad you took the time and the money to buy it put it togheter and send it, we are teaching this family that lives in a cane house, that is on stilts above the river. so its really cool, to get to the house, you have to walk on a pretty sketchy bridge that sways. the other day the river was really low and it was just mud and rocks below us, there were some cats on the bridge and when we came they allran away and jumped to other pillars, and actually one of the cats jumped and missed, and fell like 15 feet down onto rocks, at first we thought the cat was dead, then it got up and ran away. so it was pretty freaky.
steven remember that it dosent matter what things you do in school just make sure that you will do them really well, and get good grades, you changed your schedule to keep a good gpa, so keep a good gpa, dont let it slip, because if you do there was no point in changing your schedule, you basically did it in vain.
mom dont worry Ill open the box, dad said not to but like I said in the other letter, I dont think I would be able to last the bus ride home without opening something, I would have gone crazy, Do you guys have any questions, what doo you want to know, let me know, Sorry I know this letter is short, but time is short, I need to do these lessons so that I can get home and rest, I love you all very much, Im always praying for you, and always remember that as we keep the comandments of god, we literally receve the blessings we need, the lord is obligated to help us, so literally I challenge you to obligate the lord, Stay safe, and always keep the faith.
Love always,
Elder Match
So first off the gov here is really screwing up our schedule. I was writing you a letter at 130 this afternoon, when lo and behold the power went out. because the govt is rationing power, becuase they have to buy it from colombia and peru. so we thought it was going to be ok, bc I was typing on word and it always auto saves. so we left anddid all of our pday stuff, we went to the malacon, which is like a big riverwalk, I took some cool photos, and next week Ill send them to you. when we came back to the cyber 15 minutes ago, my document had not saved and now i am re typing my email out to you, Im really sorry but its not going to be very long because we have lessons to teach.
this week was pretty good until about friday, that day i woke up at with a fever of 102 and it didnt go down until 1 in the afternoon. so we went to the doctor and he examined me, and guess what. I have bronchitis. so right now I am on a bunch of medicines but Im getting better and the meds are working, but my body is still betrayying me.
on tuesday we went and ate lunch, and in the lunch the sister had fried shrimps for us, but the shrimps were pretty much whole, they were really really good. the heads were actually the best part,it tasted just like fish, and not bad fish, good fish.
Thank you for sending me a box, I cant wait to get it in 2 weeks. it will be really cool and Im glad you took the time and the money to buy it put it togheter and send it, we are teaching this family that lives in a cane house, that is on stilts above the river. so its really cool, to get to the house, you have to walk on a pretty sketchy bridge that sways. the other day the river was really low and it was just mud and rocks below us, there were some cats on the bridge and when we came they allran away and jumped to other pillars, and actually one of the cats jumped and missed, and fell like 15 feet down onto rocks, at first we thought the cat was dead, then it got up and ran away. so it was pretty freaky.
steven remember that it dosent matter what things you do in school just make sure that you will do them really well, and get good grades, you changed your schedule to keep a good gpa, so keep a good gpa, dont let it slip, because if you do there was no point in changing your schedule, you basically did it in vain.
mom dont worry Ill open the box, dad said not to but like I said in the other letter, I dont think I would be able to last the bus ride home without opening something, I would have gone crazy, Do you guys have any questions, what doo you want to know, let me know, Sorry I know this letter is short, but time is short, I need to do these lessons so that I can get home and rest, I love you all very much, Im always praying for you, and always remember that as we keep the comandments of god, we literally receve the blessings we need, the lord is obligated to help us, so literally I challenge you to obligate the lord, Stay safe, and always keep the faith.
Love always,
Elder Match
Monday, November 30, 2009
Las Cucarachas
Well family another week has gone by here in Guayaquil Ecuador.
First off, great letter, if it takes me more than 15 minutes to read it I am really happy. It sounds like you had a really nice thanksgiving. Like always I’ll write about your letter then Ill talk about my week here, but this week I have more to talk about than last week.
Dad- fist off wow, you really should get some more sleep you wrote for like 3 hours and it’s a really cool letter. I don’t understand that statistic; I see no reason for it to take longer for an older musician to learn a new instrument, if anything it should be easier because already you have the experience
Hey we have something in common, all of this week me and elder Forero have been really sick, but the thing is we can’t take off time so we have had to get better working the same amount of time that we always work. For three days we weren’t able to get medicine, because there is a new law here that you can’t buy cold medicine without a prescription so finally after 3 days without, we called the nurses and we got a mountain of medicine to take and we still feel sick but it’s getting better.
Yeah Marcie and Mike really did get a great deal on that house, so when they move in a couple of years they should actually be able to make money on it, so it’s a really good investment for them you guys just have to put a little work into it. So you are getting a lot done that is really good it sounds like you’re using your time wisely and with these 2 weeks you get off for Christmas, you should be able to get a lot done, just manage your time and you can do a heck of a lot more.
Hey thank you for telling me about thanksgiving food, you know what I ate Thursday. Practically nothing because I was sick, really I wasn’t even thinking about thanksgiving and didn’t realize until Saturday that it was Thursday last that it occurred.
I really hope that Allen will be able to get into that school. If he can he will defiantly be able to provide for his family for the rest of their lives and he will be able to progress pretty well.
I know I’m exceptional I just try and stay humble to not make the rest of the world look bad and lazy.
I’m not trying to look ahead, but I’m thinking when I get home, Ill make sure the Datsun is in really good working order, change the shocks and the bushings, then save up and buy a truck, this doesn’t mean I want to sell my baby, I just don’t want to put a bunch of miles on her, I just want to have a cool car that I can go on long calm drives with, and another truck to use as my work horse car. I you want to go ahead and repaint the bad parts I won’t complain just try and make her look good.
I’m glad you are finally realizing that good instruments are better to play and they sound better and can make a person who doesn’t sound as good, sound better, so save up and get a good guitar and you will like it more than the cheaper more affordable guitars.
Steven- How’s life going for you Allen told me about how hard he hit you in the balls the other day. So hope you’re feeling better. Yeah bro beckham is a beast, could you imagine if you were playing contact and he put the hurt on you, yeah just think about that. Well do good in school get good grades and work really really hard at what ever it is you are doing. Have a good week, be safe, read you scriptures and pray everyday, get your own testimony of the truth before you get out of high school, its way way important.
MOM- wow it really sounds like you and Ben need a break from working on the new house, How long until its going to be ready for them to move in, I really hope that it gets done soon because it sounds like everyone is ready to have a nervous breakdown about this house.
Mom life gets busier because church gets busier, I have seen that when the church things aren’t really going on the life is really relaxed and calm, and when there are a lot of church things going on that is when people get stressed so I don’t know why its that way but, I have decided that the solution is to not do church work that way we will never be stressed (kidding that’s all that I’m doing, and I’m always stressed) I don’t know why you guys always do your shopping on that night and that morning. Its always crazy, there are a million people there and you have to spend 70% of you time sitting in lines or waiting just to go into the store. It sounds like that area by Stacy will just keep getting bigger and crazier. So watch out.
ME-
This week went really well for the second week in a row we had a baptism and if we work really hard I think we can have 4 this change which will be really good.
Saturday we baptized Sister Rosa Sela. It was a good baptism, there were only about 8 people there (us included) but the spirit was really strong and she was able to make her covenant with god.
This week I had an interchange with the zone leaders and I went to their sector. For lunch I ate probably the most disgusting thing that I have ever eaten, it was a soup with a cow’s foot in it. The broth really wasn’t bad. It tasted decent but the cow’s foot was horrible, it was pure cartilage and fat and there were little pieces of black stuff in the cracks. I seriously feel nauseated in my stomach right now just thinking about it.
For the past month or so there have been a couple of circuses in our area, and its been cool to see the ads and the flyers and with one of them there is always a car that drives around with a person in a barney costume that waves to everybody. So the other day we were sitting around talking in the street and this kid of like 14 years came up to us and started to talk with us. We learned that he works with on of the circuses and he is the person in the barney costume, so it was really cool, because now we can tell people that we know the person that plays the barney in the circus show.
Like I was telling dad, we got really sick this week. I had a headache, nose problems, a sore throat and stomach problems for like a week. But seriously me and elder Forero have been able to work like normal this week, so it’s a real testament that the spirit can strengthen us because we have been able to work the exact same amount that we work every week while at the same time being sick.
We are teaching this girl that baby-sits for a member family, and one of the babies (5 months old) literally has the face of an old man, its really funny because he’ll look at you and it just looks like an old man with the body of a baby, and when he smiles its even funnier because he really doesn’t have any teeth so it looks like an old man with no teeth smiling at you.
We have been having a war in our house, a war of the cockroaches. I swear there are a million cockroaches in our house every single night. When we come home every night we have to spend time killing them with either a bug spray that we have or with our shoes, I’m going to attach a picture that we took it was on the side of the little table that we have our stove, there was a nest there and before we destroyed it I took a picture, we are to the point in this war that every night we are moving the fridge the tables and filling the sinks with water so that they cant get in, but still, every night more and more show up, I don’t know why they just do. So Ill update you on the status if it changes also we are looking for a new house and should get a new apartment next change I hope it is better than this one.
Well I love you all very much and I pray for you all every night, have a good week LOVE Elder Match
First off, great letter, if it takes me more than 15 minutes to read it I am really happy. It sounds like you had a really nice thanksgiving. Like always I’ll write about your letter then Ill talk about my week here, but this week I have more to talk about than last week.
Dad- fist off wow, you really should get some more sleep you wrote for like 3 hours and it’s a really cool letter. I don’t understand that statistic; I see no reason for it to take longer for an older musician to learn a new instrument, if anything it should be easier because already you have the experience
Hey we have something in common, all of this week me and elder Forero have been really sick, but the thing is we can’t take off time so we have had to get better working the same amount of time that we always work. For three days we weren’t able to get medicine, because there is a new law here that you can’t buy cold medicine without a prescription so finally after 3 days without, we called the nurses and we got a mountain of medicine to take and we still feel sick but it’s getting better.
Yeah Marcie and Mike really did get a great deal on that house, so when they move in a couple of years they should actually be able to make money on it, so it’s a really good investment for them you guys just have to put a little work into it. So you are getting a lot done that is really good it sounds like you’re using your time wisely and with these 2 weeks you get off for Christmas, you should be able to get a lot done, just manage your time and you can do a heck of a lot more.
Hey thank you for telling me about thanksgiving food, you know what I ate Thursday. Practically nothing because I was sick, really I wasn’t even thinking about thanksgiving and didn’t realize until Saturday that it was Thursday last that it occurred.
I really hope that Allen will be able to get into that school. If he can he will defiantly be able to provide for his family for the rest of their lives and he will be able to progress pretty well.
I know I’m exceptional I just try and stay humble to not make the rest of the world look bad and lazy.
I’m not trying to look ahead, but I’m thinking when I get home, Ill make sure the Datsun is in really good working order, change the shocks and the bushings, then save up and buy a truck, this doesn’t mean I want to sell my baby, I just don’t want to put a bunch of miles on her, I just want to have a cool car that I can go on long calm drives with, and another truck to use as my work horse car. I you want to go ahead and repaint the bad parts I won’t complain just try and make her look good.
I’m glad you are finally realizing that good instruments are better to play and they sound better and can make a person who doesn’t sound as good, sound better, so save up and get a good guitar and you will like it more than the cheaper more affordable guitars.
Steven- How’s life going for you Allen told me about how hard he hit you in the balls the other day. So hope you’re feeling better. Yeah bro beckham is a beast, could you imagine if you were playing contact and he put the hurt on you, yeah just think about that. Well do good in school get good grades and work really really hard at what ever it is you are doing. Have a good week, be safe, read you scriptures and pray everyday, get your own testimony of the truth before you get out of high school, its way way important.
MOM- wow it really sounds like you and Ben need a break from working on the new house, How long until its going to be ready for them to move in, I really hope that it gets done soon because it sounds like everyone is ready to have a nervous breakdown about this house.
Mom life gets busier because church gets busier, I have seen that when the church things aren’t really going on the life is really relaxed and calm, and when there are a lot of church things going on that is when people get stressed so I don’t know why its that way but, I have decided that the solution is to not do church work that way we will never be stressed (kidding that’s all that I’m doing, and I’m always stressed) I don’t know why you guys always do your shopping on that night and that morning. Its always crazy, there are a million people there and you have to spend 70% of you time sitting in lines or waiting just to go into the store. It sounds like that area by Stacy will just keep getting bigger and crazier. So watch out.
ME-
This week went really well for the second week in a row we had a baptism and if we work really hard I think we can have 4 this change which will be really good.
Saturday we baptized Sister Rosa Sela. It was a good baptism, there were only about 8 people there (us included) but the spirit was really strong and she was able to make her covenant with god.
This week I had an interchange with the zone leaders and I went to their sector. For lunch I ate probably the most disgusting thing that I have ever eaten, it was a soup with a cow’s foot in it. The broth really wasn’t bad. It tasted decent but the cow’s foot was horrible, it was pure cartilage and fat and there were little pieces of black stuff in the cracks. I seriously feel nauseated in my stomach right now just thinking about it.
For the past month or so there have been a couple of circuses in our area, and its been cool to see the ads and the flyers and with one of them there is always a car that drives around with a person in a barney costume that waves to everybody. So the other day we were sitting around talking in the street and this kid of like 14 years came up to us and started to talk with us. We learned that he works with on of the circuses and he is the person in the barney costume, so it was really cool, because now we can tell people that we know the person that plays the barney in the circus show.
Like I was telling dad, we got really sick this week. I had a headache, nose problems, a sore throat and stomach problems for like a week. But seriously me and elder Forero have been able to work like normal this week, so it’s a real testament that the spirit can strengthen us because we have been able to work the exact same amount that we work every week while at the same time being sick.
We are teaching this girl that baby-sits for a member family, and one of the babies (5 months old) literally has the face of an old man, its really funny because he’ll look at you and it just looks like an old man with the body of a baby, and when he smiles its even funnier because he really doesn’t have any teeth so it looks like an old man with no teeth smiling at you.
We have been having a war in our house, a war of the cockroaches. I swear there are a million cockroaches in our house every single night. When we come home every night we have to spend time killing them with either a bug spray that we have or with our shoes, I’m going to attach a picture that we took it was on the side of the little table that we have our stove, there was a nest there and before we destroyed it I took a picture, we are to the point in this war that every night we are moving the fridge the tables and filling the sinks with water so that they cant get in, but still, every night more and more show up, I don’t know why they just do. So Ill update you on the status if it changes also we are looking for a new house and should get a new apartment next change I hope it is better than this one.
Well I love you all very much and I pray for you all every night, have a good week LOVE Elder Match
Monday, November 23, 2009
5 people and a dog on a motorcycle, WHAT?
Mon 11/23/2009 12:13 PM
Hey familia,
Well first off I just need to say really how much I hate matt brown and Southlake Carroll. I knew that you guys already knew this but I fell I needed to reiterate it. It seems as if he chocked once again. But seriously it sounds like the game was crazy good, in total how many people do you think were there at the game? If it was full it looks like there must have been close to 40000 people.
Well other than that depressing news hows it going at home in texas. Things are going really good here and I am still in el batallón with elder Forero,
DAD- wow ward missionary should be fun, that’s like being a member missionary, just remember to work with the elders that are in the ward right now, they will really appreciate your help, even if they don’t show it. Dad stop worring about my baby, if you want to work on it, work on it, if you don’t, move it outside buy a cover and let her stay there until I come back. And Ill be able to work on her with all my heart might mind and strength (D&C 4) J. Hey just keep on keeping on with the guitar, it will come eventually just work at it, wow it sounds like you guys are putting in a lot of man hours into Marcie and mikes house. At least does it look good? Or like all of the other match family projects, Hey I got the dear elder that you sent oct 26 this week so that should put time into perspective, you asked me in the letter about time and this is the thing, Letters are way way faster, but the thing is that letters also cost money, if you would like me to get them the same month just put 2 stamps on an envelope and Ill get it in like 2 weeks. Also the dear elders are just a piece of paper, no envelope so its easier for people to read what you wrote. Also tell Emily that she has a letter in the mail please.
MOM- First be careful its not worth it to get hurt, working on someone elses house. It really sounds like a lot of people went to the game and it sounds like you guys had a really fun time, too bad Allen lost to Southlake, as always. Like I said earlier I am still in el batallón with elder forero, so I think if you can send it this week Ill be able to get it, speaking about Christmas. I found out that here in Ecuador, we call you guys the 24 of December or Christmas eve, so Ill have more info to come but just know we call that day and not Christmas,
1. my candy is getting depleted not all of it but a giant bag of gummy bears would be really cool
2. a new tie or two would be cool
3. I would like a new picture book with new pics and 2 different pics of me actually playing rugby, to explain to the people here. If you cant find them on the computer look on my facebook or myspace there are plenty there.
4. maybe some new cds
5. ( the best two years and singles ward soundtracks)
6. Anything else you guys were thinking about, I’m fine
Just remember to send it this week and put a couple Jesus stickers on the outside, If you want me and Forero to get it before Christmas do it this week, also I don’t know the rule for international, but some fudge that has been air sealed. Also just use the us postal service ok. J thank you for your concern for my well being.
STEVEN- sorry to hear that your season is over, at least you went down fighting and lost in a really good close game. I’m not going to chastise you for what you did to that mouthpiece but to have really hit him you should have just walked up and said ¨this is how you lose with class, here is the mouthpiece you dropped¨ and should have just walked away and not said anything. Have fun being lazy and hanging out with Allen all this week, eat like 12 plates of turkey for me ok, and play call of duty for like 40 hours. and get good grades seriously oh yeah and tell you boyfriend I said hi.
ME- well life here is going really good. We are working really really hard, this Saturday we had a baptism of the mother of one of the members, right now we are working on getting all of the family. So we are really working hard, this last change me and elder Forero taught 119 lessons, so 119 lessons in 6 weeks works out to almost 20 a week so we have been working and teaching a little more.
This week we saw 5 people and a dog on a motorcycle. It was the 5 people with the dog in front of everybody, it was really funny, I know you don’t want me to talk about time but, this change went really really fast. Like it flew by, I’m sitting here thinking like really where did all the time go, the climate is ok. But this last week it has been extremely hot. Like I don’t know how but its hard to describe how bright it actually is here. It’s crazy. Well not a lot of things went on this week we just had the baptism and went to the temple with converts and investigators (I’m sending pics of both things)
Mon 11/23/2009 6:48 PM
I didnt say goodbye im really sorry.
I love you very much and I pray for you every day, stay same keep the faith pray and read the scriptures every day, LOVE Elder Jonathan Match Mission Ecuador Guayaquil Sur
Hey familia,
Well first off I just need to say really how much I hate matt brown and Southlake Carroll. I knew that you guys already knew this but I fell I needed to reiterate it. It seems as if he chocked once again. But seriously it sounds like the game was crazy good, in total how many people do you think were there at the game? If it was full it looks like there must have been close to 40000 people.
Well other than that depressing news hows it going at home in texas. Things are going really good here and I am still in el batallón with elder Forero,
DAD- wow ward missionary should be fun, that’s like being a member missionary, just remember to work with the elders that are in the ward right now, they will really appreciate your help, even if they don’t show it. Dad stop worring about my baby, if you want to work on it, work on it, if you don’t, move it outside buy a cover and let her stay there until I come back. And Ill be able to work on her with all my heart might mind and strength (D&C 4) J. Hey just keep on keeping on with the guitar, it will come eventually just work at it, wow it sounds like you guys are putting in a lot of man hours into Marcie and mikes house. At least does it look good? Or like all of the other match family projects, Hey I got the dear elder that you sent oct 26 this week so that should put time into perspective, you asked me in the letter about time and this is the thing, Letters are way way faster, but the thing is that letters also cost money, if you would like me to get them the same month just put 2 stamps on an envelope and Ill get it in like 2 weeks. Also the dear elders are just a piece of paper, no envelope so its easier for people to read what you wrote. Also tell Emily that she has a letter in the mail please.
MOM- First be careful its not worth it to get hurt, working on someone elses house. It really sounds like a lot of people went to the game and it sounds like you guys had a really fun time, too bad Allen lost to Southlake, as always. Like I said earlier I am still in el batallón with elder forero, so I think if you can send it this week Ill be able to get it, speaking about Christmas. I found out that here in Ecuador, we call you guys the 24 of December or Christmas eve, so Ill have more info to come but just know we call that day and not Christmas,
1. my candy is getting depleted not all of it but a giant bag of gummy bears would be really cool
2. a new tie or two would be cool
3. I would like a new picture book with new pics and 2 different pics of me actually playing rugby, to explain to the people here. If you cant find them on the computer look on my facebook or myspace there are plenty there.
4. maybe some new cds
5. ( the best two years and singles ward soundtracks)
6. Anything else you guys were thinking about, I’m fine
Just remember to send it this week and put a couple Jesus stickers on the outside, If you want me and Forero to get it before Christmas do it this week, also I don’t know the rule for international, but some fudge that has been air sealed. Also just use the us postal service ok. J thank you for your concern for my well being.
STEVEN- sorry to hear that your season is over, at least you went down fighting and lost in a really good close game. I’m not going to chastise you for what you did to that mouthpiece but to have really hit him you should have just walked up and said ¨this is how you lose with class, here is the mouthpiece you dropped¨ and should have just walked away and not said anything. Have fun being lazy and hanging out with Allen all this week, eat like 12 plates of turkey for me ok, and play call of duty for like 40 hours. and get good grades seriously oh yeah and tell you boyfriend I said hi.
ME- well life here is going really good. We are working really really hard, this Saturday we had a baptism of the mother of one of the members, right now we are working on getting all of the family. So we are really working hard, this last change me and elder Forero taught 119 lessons, so 119 lessons in 6 weeks works out to almost 20 a week so we have been working and teaching a little more.
This week we saw 5 people and a dog on a motorcycle. It was the 5 people with the dog in front of everybody, it was really funny, I know you don’t want me to talk about time but, this change went really really fast. Like it flew by, I’m sitting here thinking like really where did all the time go, the climate is ok. But this last week it has been extremely hot. Like I don’t know how but its hard to describe how bright it actually is here. It’s crazy. Well not a lot of things went on this week we just had the baptism and went to the temple with converts and investigators (I’m sending pics of both things)
Mon 11/23/2009 6:48 PM
I didnt say goodbye im really sorry.
I love you very much and I pray for you every day, stay same keep the faith pray and read the scriptures every day, LOVE Elder Jonathan Match Mission Ecuador Guayaquil Sur
Monday, November 16, 2009
Elder Match is heating up
11-16-09
Hey Family
Hows it going there in Texas how does it feel to be in a place where its not ridicously hot, it sounds like things are moving really fast there.
Dad- I’ve been settled in for like 4 weeks now. Im doing really good. I had another bad day for my shoulder like 3 days ago but im fine. Seriously its just pain, Im not going to die, Im doing all the exercises that bro fisher taught me and im fine, it just hurts now and then. The thing is, is that’s part of the mission life, if it was going to be easy there would have been any reason for me to come back here to Ecuador. Seriously dad just keep at it with the guitar and one of these days it will all click together and you will be able to play better and better. Im not worried about the time, so don’t think I am. Also Im not to worried about my baby because when I get back Ill have time to work on her.
Mom- it sounds like you too have a lot to do there in dallas, that book sounds really good what are you guys going to do next. I was talking to Marcie and told her that its really cool and its really weird to kinow how fast that ben is growing up. Pretty soon he is going to be speaking in sentences and I really think that he is growing up way too fast and pretty soon he is going to be going to school. I hope you are doing well and your safe.
Steven- You didn’t tell me who you guys beat, so good job. How are clinicals going I hope that the work isn’t too hard on you. What are you learing in the class right now. You know you should start saving right now for your mission that way when you go you wont have to work like crazy to earn the money necessary. Well good luck with the game Saturday. I hope that the Allen team doesn’t choke
ME-
Well like I said it has been going really good here in Ecuador. I am really adjusted and its going really well.sure Im tired and hurting but its not bad and its going really well Im working really hard here in el batallon.
On Monday we went to do a service at the temple and then we went to a buffet called gran chef, I put two pics of it with the email it was seriously one of the nicest buffets I have ever been to. It was also really good food.
I think you will be happy to know that when I left I was a t 240 lbs and now Im at 220 its really coming off fast and Im starting to get back to what I was at when I came home.
On Sunday we have changes its really crazy, I am positive that im staying in my sector, but if you don’t get an email its because I went outside of the city and didn’t have time to write you, but like I said Im almost positive Im staying in el batallon.
To give you an Idea of the names that I have to deal with, every Saturday we eat lunch in the house of family Quijije (pronounced (key-he-hey) so that should really give you a good idea about how crazy the names are here, and to try and here them and write them all down is really hard.
In that Christmas box, if you going to send me one. Wait a week because if your going to do a stocking I would like you to do one for my companion as well. And if I get changed I´ll have a new comp. right now my comp is Elder Forero but it might change so wait a week and then send it quickly.
We have 4 girls named andrea in our ward, it gets really hard to keep them straight sometimes, so just thought tell you.
Now for a sad-funny story, the other elders in our apartment told us this, they were walking and they saw a pastor preaching to his group and he had them in a frenzy with the offering plate, he was saying ´´ its all for god, all your coins and cash , its all for god all for god,¨ and this went on for a while, until this woman had a check and the pastor was all like wait you have a check, you have to put my name on it but its all for god, just screaming and everyone was cheering.
So you can kinda see how the verses in 2md nephi are literally being fulfilled when he is talking about how the churches are literally going to steal from the poor. So that’s a little sad. Well Im going to let you go I have to finish becase the power is supposed to go off at 6pm to8 pm, and if that happens we have to go home for the rest of the night because its too dangerous to be outside without power.
Well I love you lots and everynight I pray for you, stay safe, keep the faith.
Love Always
Elder Jonathan Match
Ecuador Guayaquil South
Hey Family
Hows it going there in Texas how does it feel to be in a place where its not ridicously hot, it sounds like things are moving really fast there.
Dad- I’ve been settled in for like 4 weeks now. Im doing really good. I had another bad day for my shoulder like 3 days ago but im fine. Seriously its just pain, Im not going to die, Im doing all the exercises that bro fisher taught me and im fine, it just hurts now and then. The thing is, is that’s part of the mission life, if it was going to be easy there would have been any reason for me to come back here to Ecuador. Seriously dad just keep at it with the guitar and one of these days it will all click together and you will be able to play better and better. Im not worried about the time, so don’t think I am. Also Im not to worried about my baby because when I get back Ill have time to work on her.
Mom- it sounds like you too have a lot to do there in dallas, that book sounds really good what are you guys going to do next. I was talking to Marcie and told her that its really cool and its really weird to kinow how fast that ben is growing up. Pretty soon he is going to be speaking in sentences and I really think that he is growing up way too fast and pretty soon he is going to be going to school. I hope you are doing well and your safe.
Steven- You didn’t tell me who you guys beat, so good job. How are clinicals going I hope that the work isn’t too hard on you. What are you learing in the class right now. You know you should start saving right now for your mission that way when you go you wont have to work like crazy to earn the money necessary. Well good luck with the game Saturday. I hope that the Allen team doesn’t choke
ME-
Well like I said it has been going really good here in Ecuador. I am really adjusted and its going really well.sure Im tired and hurting but its not bad and its going really well Im working really hard here in el batallon.
On Monday we went to do a service at the temple and then we went to a buffet called gran chef, I put two pics of it with the email it was seriously one of the nicest buffets I have ever been to. It was also really good food.
I think you will be happy to know that when I left I was a t 240 lbs and now Im at 220 its really coming off fast and Im starting to get back to what I was at when I came home.
On Sunday we have changes its really crazy, I am positive that im staying in my sector, but if you don’t get an email its because I went outside of the city and didn’t have time to write you, but like I said Im almost positive Im staying in el batallon.
To give you an Idea of the names that I have to deal with, every Saturday we eat lunch in the house of family Quijije (pronounced (key-he-hey) so that should really give you a good idea about how crazy the names are here, and to try and here them and write them all down is really hard.
In that Christmas box, if you going to send me one. Wait a week because if your going to do a stocking I would like you to do one for my companion as well. And if I get changed I´ll have a new comp. right now my comp is Elder Forero but it might change so wait a week and then send it quickly.
We have 4 girls named andrea in our ward, it gets really hard to keep them straight sometimes, so just thought tell you.
Now for a sad-funny story, the other elders in our apartment told us this, they were walking and they saw a pastor preaching to his group and he had them in a frenzy with the offering plate, he was saying ´´ its all for god, all your coins and cash , its all for god all for god,¨ and this went on for a while, until this woman had a check and the pastor was all like wait you have a check, you have to put my name on it but its all for god, just screaming and everyone was cheering.
So you can kinda see how the verses in 2md nephi are literally being fulfilled when he is talking about how the churches are literally going to steal from the poor. So that’s a little sad. Well Im going to let you go I have to finish becase the power is supposed to go off at 6pm to8 pm, and if that happens we have to go home for the rest of the night because its too dangerous to be outside without power.
Well I love you lots and everynight I pray for you, stay safe, keep the faith.
Love Always
Elder Jonathan Match
Ecuador Guayaquil South
Monday, November 9, 2009
No More Hard Service (until the shoulder heals)
11-09-09
Hey Family,
How does it feel to be almost 3000 miles away from me, and seperated by 2 different oceans. The gulf of mexico and the Pacific ocean.
Its been a pretty decent week, sure my shoulder hurts but the mission isnt supposed to be easy, I could complain that it hurts and whine, but Ill have plenty of time to rest when I get home.
This Thursday we had interviews with president Johns and he officially prohibited me from doing any service without his strict permission, so hpefully that will help me to let my shoulder heal. Sounds like you had a really nice service project this weekend. It was obviously alot of work, and you didnt get paid, but you will recieve blessings for it, also it was good for the community to see that we( the church) were devoting so many man hours in helping. Its amazing what a church can do when its not spending its time trying to bash and lie about the other churches of the world.
Dad if you really want to learn to play the guitar just keep practicing, I dont care how much you have to just keep on keeping on. Also you could in one of you personal prayes ask for help. Some people might think its mundane to ask god for help with something as trivial as playing a guitar, but its a part of the learing expierence and if we learn we grow and basically follow directly into gods plan. So theres my prechy mormon missionary side coming out. Ive realized that im changing and a part of me is really fighting the change. I can basically feel it creeping up on me and its scary, but whatever its just part of the life. I still want to watch simpsons though.
About the boots if you could send new insoles in like 4 monthes that would be realy cool. Do you guys realize I have already been here 1 month, 1 MONTH. The time is really flying by, I hope I am in my sector for christmas and new years because the members here are awesome. They all help me alot with my spanish and are really nice, when I got sick the other day, they were all trying to get me to do their remedys, 2 of which actually worked realy well!
I got your first dear elder on Tuesday it was really good to actually get something physicall in the mail, so I dont care if its really short I would like you guys to try and do one each week.
Steven did you know that I am still going to get home before you graduate, I should get home like 2 weeks before your graduation. Sucks to hear about your ap history class but if it is really hurting your GPA that bad drop it. Hows the life going, hows brock, when are you guys going to lose to southlake carrol in the playoffs.Well talk to you later.
Hey mom sounds like life is moving pretty fast for you guys there in texas. Sorry I left my room in such disarray, I really am a pig and a slob. Like I told dad, keep the dear elders coming, it was great to get it, just to have someting physical in my hands to read was great. It sounds like you have a really good institute teacher, listen to what he says because what you told me tells me he is a really good teacher. Pics would be really cool just to see how the kids and people are changing. Also mom tell my slacker brother and sister to write me. Im the missionary in the family right now and I deserve letters. J
Life here in the mission is going really good. It really was like just trying to jump back into a fast moving current, but its going really good and fast. My spanish is coming along really well. I know enough to go on splits with the members of the ward and actually teach without my dictionary( elder forero) there with me. It is also really different from when I started the mission because now I am able to communicate my thoughts and feelings, when I first started the mission I wasnt able to do that and it was really frusterating but now I can, now i have the vocabulary, also my spelling in english is slowly going down the tube.
The city has begun to ration the power, so for like 7 hours everyday we have no electricity, which is really bad in the morning because without power we have no water. So to shower this past week we have have to use our 5 gallon bottles of drinking wster, and a bucket, so oyou guys can tell its a little difficult to shower using a cup and a pot of water, but all in the mission expierence.
I dont know why but the people here in this sector are just like people in the states. There is a brother in the ward that speaks just like bro stephan, same voice and all, there is a guy of 19 years that looks just like my friend hank. The bishop of another ward that I was dong and interchand in, talks and looks like uncle gary. Like seriously its scary how close these people actually are, because I am so far away from texas
When my address gets put in the ward newsletter will you save one of them for my mission scrapbook.
Also this week one of the members gave us 3 crabs to take home, and we cooked them and ate them, it was a ctually really good I have some pictures and will send you one one of these days.
Today we did service at the temple, because Im not allowed to do physical labor I worked in the hotel that the church has for the people traveling to the temple, just making sure the rooms were tidy and there wasnt dust on the molding in the hallway. If I serve when Im older I definatly want to be a temple worker missionary.
There are 2 things I wanr from you guys,
1. My line of authority, I really need it to study and memorize it because there are people who want to know and I cant tell them
2. A christmas tree, Yes I know I said I didnt want one, but I changed my mind I do want one. Also I was talking with the other elders and they said you can actually send a box box, , but seriously just use the postal service to send it. Put some jesus stickers on the outside, and dont use ups or fedex because its harder to get it, just use the post office and it will take 3-4 weeks to get here so if your going to send me a christmas box you need to do it in like 2 ½ weeks.
Well as always I love you all very much and I pray for you every day, Ill talk to you later, LOVE
Elder Jonathan Match
Hey Family,
How does it feel to be almost 3000 miles away from me, and seperated by 2 different oceans. The gulf of mexico and the Pacific ocean.
Its been a pretty decent week, sure my shoulder hurts but the mission isnt supposed to be easy, I could complain that it hurts and whine, but Ill have plenty of time to rest when I get home.
This Thursday we had interviews with president Johns and he officially prohibited me from doing any service without his strict permission, so hpefully that will help me to let my shoulder heal. Sounds like you had a really nice service project this weekend. It was obviously alot of work, and you didnt get paid, but you will recieve blessings for it, also it was good for the community to see that we( the church) were devoting so many man hours in helping. Its amazing what a church can do when its not spending its time trying to bash and lie about the other churches of the world.
Dad if you really want to learn to play the guitar just keep practicing, I dont care how much you have to just keep on keeping on. Also you could in one of you personal prayes ask for help. Some people might think its mundane to ask god for help with something as trivial as playing a guitar, but its a part of the learing expierence and if we learn we grow and basically follow directly into gods plan. So theres my prechy mormon missionary side coming out. Ive realized that im changing and a part of me is really fighting the change. I can basically feel it creeping up on me and its scary, but whatever its just part of the life. I still want to watch simpsons though.
About the boots if you could send new insoles in like 4 monthes that would be realy cool. Do you guys realize I have already been here 1 month, 1 MONTH. The time is really flying by, I hope I am in my sector for christmas and new years because the members here are awesome. They all help me alot with my spanish and are really nice, when I got sick the other day, they were all trying to get me to do their remedys, 2 of which actually worked realy well!
I got your first dear elder on Tuesday it was really good to actually get something physicall in the mail, so I dont care if its really short I would like you guys to try and do one each week.
Steven did you know that I am still going to get home before you graduate, I should get home like 2 weeks before your graduation. Sucks to hear about your ap history class but if it is really hurting your GPA that bad drop it. Hows the life going, hows brock, when are you guys going to lose to southlake carrol in the playoffs.Well talk to you later.
Hey mom sounds like life is moving pretty fast for you guys there in texas. Sorry I left my room in such disarray, I really am a pig and a slob. Like I told dad, keep the dear elders coming, it was great to get it, just to have someting physical in my hands to read was great. It sounds like you have a really good institute teacher, listen to what he says because what you told me tells me he is a really good teacher. Pics would be really cool just to see how the kids and people are changing. Also mom tell my slacker brother and sister to write me. Im the missionary in the family right now and I deserve letters. J
Life here in the mission is going really good. It really was like just trying to jump back into a fast moving current, but its going really good and fast. My spanish is coming along really well. I know enough to go on splits with the members of the ward and actually teach without my dictionary( elder forero) there with me. It is also really different from when I started the mission because now I am able to communicate my thoughts and feelings, when I first started the mission I wasnt able to do that and it was really frusterating but now I can, now i have the vocabulary, also my spelling in english is slowly going down the tube.
The city has begun to ration the power, so for like 7 hours everyday we have no electricity, which is really bad in the morning because without power we have no water. So to shower this past week we have have to use our 5 gallon bottles of drinking wster, and a bucket, so oyou guys can tell its a little difficult to shower using a cup and a pot of water, but all in the mission expierence.
I dont know why but the people here in this sector are just like people in the states. There is a brother in the ward that speaks just like bro stephan, same voice and all, there is a guy of 19 years that looks just like my friend hank. The bishop of another ward that I was dong and interchand in, talks and looks like uncle gary. Like seriously its scary how close these people actually are, because I am so far away from texas
When my address gets put in the ward newsletter will you save one of them for my mission scrapbook.
Also this week one of the members gave us 3 crabs to take home, and we cooked them and ate them, it was a ctually really good I have some pictures and will send you one one of these days.
Today we did service at the temple, because Im not allowed to do physical labor I worked in the hotel that the church has for the people traveling to the temple, just making sure the rooms were tidy and there wasnt dust on the molding in the hallway. If I serve when Im older I definatly want to be a temple worker missionary.
There are 2 things I wanr from you guys,
1. My line of authority, I really need it to study and memorize it because there are people who want to know and I cant tell them
2. A christmas tree, Yes I know I said I didnt want one, but I changed my mind I do want one. Also I was talking with the other elders and they said you can actually send a box box, , but seriously just use the postal service to send it. Put some jesus stickers on the outside, and dont use ups or fedex because its harder to get it, just use the post office and it will take 3-4 weeks to get here so if your going to send me a christmas box you need to do it in like 2 ½ weeks.
Well as always I love you all very much and I pray for you every day, Ill talk to you later, LOVE
Elder Jonathan Match
Monday, November 2, 2009
Letter from Jon
11-02-09
Dear Family.
Well another week has gone by here in Guayaquil. The time is really starting to speed up and I can’t slow it down. We are already in week four of the change, and its going by really fast. Like normal Ill talk about the things of your email and then Ill talk about what’s goin on here.
DAD- 1st the boots are great they are really comfortable and all the people here know I am from Texas and obviously that’s why I wear boots J , because everyone that is from Texas are cowboys.
Actually I want to kill of my old florsheims so I am wearing those every day, not because the boots are uncomfortable but because I want to get those shoes done with.
I can’t believe those lug nuts were wrong. He had my rims in his hands when he was ordering them and was describing them just like you were. So I don’t know. I really would not pay 10 bucks a pop for them so I guess you just need to keep looking.
I think that my Spanish is coming along. It gets better every day of the life here I just need to keep working on it if I want to speak well. I can communicate with the people here. I forgot how fast and how thick some of the accents are here, but it’s getting easier everyday to understand and speak the language.
Oh and something that will make you happy dad, I have finally decided to stop chewing my nails and fingers, I’ve had a few relapses but I am going on a week without really chewing my nails or fingers. Actually on Sunday I actually used nail clippers it was the first time In years and years, it was really weird.
MOM- No I haven’t received a letter from anybody yet, only emails. Hopefully tomorrow when I am at district meeting I´ll get the first dearelder you guys sent me. So that will be good ill get them eventually so we just need to be patient, with Spencer especially I bet we will only be able to do 1 letter every 1 1/2 to 2 months, So I’m not holding my breath. I would like it if you guys could email me a pic of bens costume, it sounds awesome. I cant believe its already been like 6 weeks since your surgery. It seems like yesterday I was visiting you in the hospital. Its very weird.
Now on to the what’s happening to elder match front.
On the shoulder front, and before you read this I want you to know that I am fine and am working just like normal. On Sunday I had a really really bad day. I woke up and my shoulder just absolutely killed. I went to church and bore my testimony and after sat down and just started to cry. Yes I know like a girl. So I left the sacrament meeting and went downstairs then another member of the church and elder forero gave me a blessing, it helped, but t still hurt and elder forero went with a member and got my immobilizer and I wore that for the rest of the day. It still hurts right now but not even close to what it was yesterday. Now to the reason and it’s a story in and of itself.
We have two investigators that want to get baptized but first the husband needs a divorce from his previous marriage and to do that here requires 300 dollars, which is a lot. So to help them we decided to do a guatita. A guatita is a dish that is served here its made with penuts, onion, tomato, potato, and tripe( cow stomach) and you eat it with rice ( like always) its actually really good. So at 630 in the morning we got up and started walking carrying things and selling the guatitas, and I kid you not, we walked for 8 ½ hours without taking a single break. In the space of these 8 ½ hours we serioulsly walked over 30 miles. It was one of the times ive been most tired in my life. Oh yeah and after that we did missionary work for another 5 hours. I am still feeling the effects of it. We are going to try and get to the house 2 or 3 hours early to sleep before we need leave. I think this is the reason my shoulder hurt so bad, I literally overdid it. But the thing is im in Ecuador and that’s what we do here, so I don’t know, but It didn’t slow me down it just really hurt, and when I say really hurt I mean it, it hadn’t hurt that bad since I had the surgery. So I don’t know I just need to rest I guess.
Last night I realized that the moon is different here in Ecuador. We are having a full moon here and I realized the craters are different from home in texas, so I sat there staring at it for 5 minutes because I was seeing a different part of the moon. Im serious Ive looked at the moon enough to recognize that it wasn’t the same.
This week I counted the number of transvestites and cross dressers we saw. In one week alone I counted 10 different persons and one of them is the son of a member family. Now when I say crossdressers I don’t just mean clothes I mean like all out, makeup plucked eyebrows and all. So theres your weird Ecuador fact for the week. In el batallon there are a lot of cross dressers.
Cool food story on Friday I got to eat a little bit of manta ray. It was a really cool meat, because it had a light fishy taste and the texture and feel of pork, so it was really cool. If you don’t remember what they look like, manta rays, google it.
Well that was my week here, the language is going really good and the work as well. I hope you’re all doing well and are staying safe, love yall lots Elder Match
Dear Family.
Well another week has gone by here in Guayaquil. The time is really starting to speed up and I can’t slow it down. We are already in week four of the change, and its going by really fast. Like normal Ill talk about the things of your email and then Ill talk about what’s goin on here.
DAD- 1st the boots are great they are really comfortable and all the people here know I am from Texas and obviously that’s why I wear boots J , because everyone that is from Texas are cowboys.
Actually I want to kill of my old florsheims so I am wearing those every day, not because the boots are uncomfortable but because I want to get those shoes done with.
I can’t believe those lug nuts were wrong. He had my rims in his hands when he was ordering them and was describing them just like you were. So I don’t know. I really would not pay 10 bucks a pop for them so I guess you just need to keep looking.
I think that my Spanish is coming along. It gets better every day of the life here I just need to keep working on it if I want to speak well. I can communicate with the people here. I forgot how fast and how thick some of the accents are here, but it’s getting easier everyday to understand and speak the language.
Oh and something that will make you happy dad, I have finally decided to stop chewing my nails and fingers, I’ve had a few relapses but I am going on a week without really chewing my nails or fingers. Actually on Sunday I actually used nail clippers it was the first time In years and years, it was really weird.
MOM- No I haven’t received a letter from anybody yet, only emails. Hopefully tomorrow when I am at district meeting I´ll get the first dearelder you guys sent me. So that will be good ill get them eventually so we just need to be patient, with Spencer especially I bet we will only be able to do 1 letter every 1 1/2 to 2 months, So I’m not holding my breath. I would like it if you guys could email me a pic of bens costume, it sounds awesome. I cant believe its already been like 6 weeks since your surgery. It seems like yesterday I was visiting you in the hospital. Its very weird.
Now on to the what’s happening to elder match front.
On the shoulder front, and before you read this I want you to know that I am fine and am working just like normal. On Sunday I had a really really bad day. I woke up and my shoulder just absolutely killed. I went to church and bore my testimony and after sat down and just started to cry. Yes I know like a girl. So I left the sacrament meeting and went downstairs then another member of the church and elder forero gave me a blessing, it helped, but t still hurt and elder forero went with a member and got my immobilizer and I wore that for the rest of the day. It still hurts right now but not even close to what it was yesterday. Now to the reason and it’s a story in and of itself.
We have two investigators that want to get baptized but first the husband needs a divorce from his previous marriage and to do that here requires 300 dollars, which is a lot. So to help them we decided to do a guatita. A guatita is a dish that is served here its made with penuts, onion, tomato, potato, and tripe( cow stomach) and you eat it with rice ( like always) its actually really good. So at 630 in the morning we got up and started walking carrying things and selling the guatitas, and I kid you not, we walked for 8 ½ hours without taking a single break. In the space of these 8 ½ hours we serioulsly walked over 30 miles. It was one of the times ive been most tired in my life. Oh yeah and after that we did missionary work for another 5 hours. I am still feeling the effects of it. We are going to try and get to the house 2 or 3 hours early to sleep before we need leave. I think this is the reason my shoulder hurt so bad, I literally overdid it. But the thing is im in Ecuador and that’s what we do here, so I don’t know, but It didn’t slow me down it just really hurt, and when I say really hurt I mean it, it hadn’t hurt that bad since I had the surgery. So I don’t know I just need to rest I guess.
Last night I realized that the moon is different here in Ecuador. We are having a full moon here and I realized the craters are different from home in texas, so I sat there staring at it for 5 minutes because I was seeing a different part of the moon. Im serious Ive looked at the moon enough to recognize that it wasn’t the same.
This week I counted the number of transvestites and cross dressers we saw. In one week alone I counted 10 different persons and one of them is the son of a member family. Now when I say crossdressers I don’t just mean clothes I mean like all out, makeup plucked eyebrows and all. So theres your weird Ecuador fact for the week. In el batallon there are a lot of cross dressers.
Cool food story on Friday I got to eat a little bit of manta ray. It was a really cool meat, because it had a light fishy taste and the texture and feel of pork, so it was really cool. If you don’t remember what they look like, manta rays, google it.
Well that was my week here, the language is going really good and the work as well. I hope you’re all doing well and are staying safe, love yall lots Elder Match
Monday, October 26, 2009
Jon hates beets
Mon 10/26/2009 12:28 PM
Hey familia hows life going for yall back in texas.
I´ll start by answering some of the things that were in the letter.
1st on the money front, its been two weeks now and we are having trouble getting my church card activated, and we have basically used all of elder foreros money, last week I had to spend 36 out of my debit card just so we could buy food. I will get reimbursed by the church when it is all said and done, but until then me and forero are working out butts off to try and get my card working.
I also plan to not use my card really until I have to go home that way if every couple of months you put in some money, there will be some to spend of gifts for you guys.
Dad havent got any of your letters yet, but Ill wait for them. when you write your next one put a date in the actual letter because one thing that I remember is dear elder does not date the letters.
on the car front. It was always my intention to mount the new bushings when I got home. If you do it I dont care, but like you said it is a huge job and all on your back. so its up to you. try not to get to stressed out with your job. its like the work here, ultra stressful and completly dead at the end of the day, but just work you butt off and before you know it the problems will be over.
Mom its good to know you guys are cleaning the gameroom and such,its weird to think how different it will be in a year and a half, but thats part of being a missionary, getting to go home to a different place. You guys can imagine what its like in ecuador, think of neiborghoods where all the houses are made out of cinderblocks and cement, everyone watches soccer all the time and everyone is brown and speaking spanish, other than that, and the lifestyles, and the clothes, and the food. its pretty much just like the US oh and nobody has money, but other than those things I think its pretty close. Me and forero are getting along really good, hes real neat and tidy so we have our disagreances on how to live but we get along and are becoming a great team. now the question is just how long will we be together. spanish is going great, its hard to remember but everyday I am learning more and am able to communicate better with the people here. I havent been really sick yet, just some stomach-intestinal problems so Im doing really good, I know that one of these days my body is going to betray me and Im going to wish I felt better but until that day Im fine.
Now on the portion where I tell you stories about whats happing in my neck of the woods.
First off, I HATE BEETS, I dont know why they are just disgusting to me, so of course I get sent to an area where we eat beets like 3 times a week. its great I see them and just think, Oh no not again.
this week we were eating lunch and we were having a soup that was with penuts and fish. I got the head and back of the fish( eye included) so when I got to the eye part of the fish. I just had to man up and eat it. so yeah I ate a fish eye, it wasnt that bad, just kind of crunchy and really really fishey. so those are my two food stories for the day.
You guys remember my trainer elder peterson. well we heard this saturday that he got home and 3 weeks later got married to his girlfriend. its really crazy, we knew that they wanted to get married but we didnt think that they actually would do it so fast. its really crazy I think Ill write him a letter and ask for a pic of his baby before the end of my mission. we had zone conference on saturday and I was able to talk with elder halls for a while, he is freaking training a new elder, training. its so crazy how fast the time goes. i dont know if I told you but me and forero actually both started the mission on the same day, the only difference is that he has 6 monthes more than I do..
So we werewalking down the road the other day and we saw a motercycle with 6 people on it and we thought it was the craziset thing we had ever saw, until the next day when we saw 5 people on a bicycle. so the people really know how to carpool here. Also just a side note, we dont know why but weve seen like 6 different transvestites in our area. so there are alot. well I need to write president. elder forero takes like 2 hours to write so we will be here a while, also what do you guys think about the blog idea let me know.
I love yall lots
Elder Match
Hey familia hows life going for yall back in texas.
I´ll start by answering some of the things that were in the letter.
1st on the money front, its been two weeks now and we are having trouble getting my church card activated, and we have basically used all of elder foreros money, last week I had to spend 36 out of my debit card just so we could buy food. I will get reimbursed by the church when it is all said and done, but until then me and forero are working out butts off to try and get my card working.
I also plan to not use my card really until I have to go home that way if every couple of months you put in some money, there will be some to spend of gifts for you guys.
Dad havent got any of your letters yet, but Ill wait for them. when you write your next one put a date in the actual letter because one thing that I remember is dear elder does not date the letters.
on the car front. It was always my intention to mount the new bushings when I got home. If you do it I dont care, but like you said it is a huge job and all on your back. so its up to you. try not to get to stressed out with your job. its like the work here, ultra stressful and completly dead at the end of the day, but just work you butt off and before you know it the problems will be over.
Mom its good to know you guys are cleaning the gameroom and such,its weird to think how different it will be in a year and a half, but thats part of being a missionary, getting to go home to a different place. You guys can imagine what its like in ecuador, think of neiborghoods where all the houses are made out of cinderblocks and cement, everyone watches soccer all the time and everyone is brown and speaking spanish, other than that, and the lifestyles, and the clothes, and the food. its pretty much just like the US oh and nobody has money, but other than those things I think its pretty close. Me and forero are getting along really good, hes real neat and tidy so we have our disagreances on how to live but we get along and are becoming a great team. now the question is just how long will we be together. spanish is going great, its hard to remember but everyday I am learning more and am able to communicate better with the people here. I havent been really sick yet, just some stomach-intestinal problems so Im doing really good, I know that one of these days my body is going to betray me and Im going to wish I felt better but until that day Im fine.
Now on the portion where I tell you stories about whats happing in my neck of the woods.
First off, I HATE BEETS, I dont know why they are just disgusting to me, so of course I get sent to an area where we eat beets like 3 times a week. its great I see them and just think, Oh no not again.
this week we were eating lunch and we were having a soup that was with penuts and fish. I got the head and back of the fish( eye included) so when I got to the eye part of the fish. I just had to man up and eat it. so yeah I ate a fish eye, it wasnt that bad, just kind of crunchy and really really fishey. so those are my two food stories for the day.
You guys remember my trainer elder peterson. well we heard this saturday that he got home and 3 weeks later got married to his girlfriend. its really crazy, we knew that they wanted to get married but we didnt think that they actually would do it so fast. its really crazy I think Ill write him a letter and ask for a pic of his baby before the end of my mission. we had zone conference on saturday and I was able to talk with elder halls for a while, he is freaking training a new elder, training. its so crazy how fast the time goes. i dont know if I told you but me and forero actually both started the mission on the same day, the only difference is that he has 6 monthes more than I do..
So we werewalking down the road the other day and we saw a motercycle with 6 people on it and we thought it was the craziset thing we had ever saw, until the next day when we saw 5 people on a bicycle. so the people really know how to carpool here. Also just a side note, we dont know why but weve seen like 6 different transvestites in our area. so there are alot. well I need to write president. elder forero takes like 2 hours to write so we will be here a while, also what do you guys think about the blog idea let me know.
I love yall lots
Elder Match
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
First Stop El Batallon (el batt-i-yonn)
Tue 10/20/2009 2:31 PM
Hey family hows it going. first off sorry I couldnt write you yesterday we got our p-day switched for ONE WEEK ONLY. I put that in caps so you guys would still know to write me on sunday. Today has been pretty good so far, I went to the temple and it was great, my shoulder hurt during parts but I wasnt even paying attention, I know you guys are wondering so I´ll start with this, yes my shoulder hurts, yes it is extremely tired during the day, but it is completely bearable.
I am in el batallon. (el batt-I-yonn) it is great. My new compañeros name is Elder forero, he is from colombia but speakes english and has relatives that live in the states. Our area is awesome. it is more in the city and yes all of the roads are concrete. All the food is great, we actually get meat every meal and the soups have things in them. we eat lots of hearty meals. but we also walk alot during the day. more of the people in this area have cars so we also get rides alot of the times.
we are working super hard in our area. we have 15 investigators and 6 have baptisimal dates, its really great. I know you wanted to hear about me being in shock, but really the first day I was here I was able to get right into the swing of things. My spanish is coming back, little by little. Elder forero says I have really good spanish, but I think I need alot more work to do. The temperature has actually been really good. rainy season dosent start until january 1 so I have some time. like two or three days this week it was in the 70s but also there was a day when seriously I thought I was going to die it was so hot.
we are in the foothills of the mountains. so all to one side of our area are the mountains and its really cool at night because you can see all the lights of the houses going up the hill.
It would be cool to get actuall letters from you but there is a new rule and if we want to send letters we have to pay ourselves, so I really will only do that with spence and emily.( I wrote spencer and am waitng to get something from emily before I write her.
mom- yeah the adrress that you have is the same one that we use, The plane trip was fine, it was pretty boring though I was just sitting there all day. yep im workin hard and I know that the lord will bless me if I just do what president hinkleys dad told him and forget myself and go to work.
Steven - make sure to tell every football player you see to not get cocky, plano senior is not that good this year.
well I love you lots, personally I like the blog Idea and would be fine if marcie did it I´ll try to send photos time to time.
have a good week
Love
Elder Match the 2nd
Hey family hows it going. first off sorry I couldnt write you yesterday we got our p-day switched for ONE WEEK ONLY. I put that in caps so you guys would still know to write me on sunday. Today has been pretty good so far, I went to the temple and it was great, my shoulder hurt during parts but I wasnt even paying attention, I know you guys are wondering so I´ll start with this, yes my shoulder hurts, yes it is extremely tired during the day, but it is completely bearable.
I am in el batallon. (el batt-I-yonn) it is great. My new compañeros name is Elder forero, he is from colombia but speakes english and has relatives that live in the states. Our area is awesome. it is more in the city and yes all of the roads are concrete. All the food is great, we actually get meat every meal and the soups have things in them. we eat lots of hearty meals. but we also walk alot during the day. more of the people in this area have cars so we also get rides alot of the times.
we are working super hard in our area. we have 15 investigators and 6 have baptisimal dates, its really great. I know you wanted to hear about me being in shock, but really the first day I was here I was able to get right into the swing of things. My spanish is coming back, little by little. Elder forero says I have really good spanish, but I think I need alot more work to do. The temperature has actually been really good. rainy season dosent start until january 1 so I have some time. like two or three days this week it was in the 70s but also there was a day when seriously I thought I was going to die it was so hot.
we are in the foothills of the mountains. so all to one side of our area are the mountains and its really cool at night because you can see all the lights of the houses going up the hill.
It would be cool to get actuall letters from you but there is a new rule and if we want to send letters we have to pay ourselves, so I really will only do that with spence and emily.( I wrote spencer and am waitng to get something from emily before I write her.
mom- yeah the adrress that you have is the same one that we use, The plane trip was fine, it was pretty boring though I was just sitting there all day. yep im workin hard and I know that the lord will bless me if I just do what president hinkleys dad told him and forget myself and go to work.
Steven - make sure to tell every football player you see to not get cocky, plano senior is not that good this year.
well I love you lots, personally I like the blog Idea and would be fine if marcie did it I´ll try to send photos time to time.
have a good week
Love
Elder Match the 2nd
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A big announcement from Jon
Wed 10/14/2009 10:35 AM
Hey I got here fine and nothing is wrong, talk to you monday.
Jon
Hey I got here fine and nothing is wrong, talk to you monday.
Jon
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