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

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 compaƱeros 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