Monday, August 9, 2010

thats right I got transfered and it was a good one.
Im sad that I had to leave milagro but it was time, now I am here in the middle of the andes mountains and I am freezing my butt off. it seriously is cold here and the sun is out, I dont want to have to think about tonight, thats why, when I get done writiting Im going to go to the store and buy a sweater, its what all themissionaries do here,

I also got bumped up to district leader, so that means I finally have to work, I know it sucks that the missionary in the family has to do missionary work but its all good, I wont die from it. my comps name is elder Liberato, he is from guatamala, and has 4 1/2 months in the mission, but we have a solid group of investigatores here and alot have baptismal date, so I am really excited to work here, I was ready for a change of scenery but now that its come I am really ready to work my butt off,

as for packages, sorry but here they wont get here unless they only weigh like 2 1/2 pounds, but thats fine if you want to send me 2 giant bags of beef jerkey again ( wink wink wink wink wink)

Im sad to hear that cliff hazelton died, it was his time, he has served the lord faithfully his whole life and now is resting in paradise, and will soon come into and inherit his glory.

dad I hope your feeling better, just fyi, when you have really bad antacid chalky pills suck, you need to drink milk of magnesia, or pepto, the tastes arent too good, but they help more than tums, and faster.

I hope grandma is feeling better, mom just remember that when we lose our cool, it dosent help anything, so just remember pacience, and like I was explaining to the members the other day, pacience isnt enough, you have to develope all of the christlike attributes, if you want to be happy, I hope you all have a fun week in SLC tell everyone I say hi and if you cant get to a comp to write me dont worry, Im not going to die.

now dad car stuff, I think that is a really ok Idea, I have no problem paying for the things on my own car, so Ill be fine, it is good news that I wont have to go instantly to school, so I will just be able to relax, work on my car and work, but we dont need to worry about that until spring.

with electrical the 3 big problems were the energy drain, the clock/volt reader, and the dome light dont work, so there is definatly a short goin on in there some where,

dadd I want you to look please and tell me, in the hood by the engines are a couple of plastic parts that are broken, like the windowwiper fluid, can you look in black dragon and see if they have those parts, because if they dont I could see us having problems finding those, old plastic parts.

well Im sorry that this is a short one today I dont have alot of time and p day is going to end in an hour, and I only got here to cuenca 1/2 hour ago,
I love you all very much and next weeek I will write to you guys and describe my sector.

Love
Elder Jonathan Match
mission guayaquil sur, sector Tomebamba

Monday, August 2, 2010

so this week went really well and really bad, here in the pradera we have 4 people now that have baptismal dates, the only bad part was that for 4 days of this week I have just been really sick, now Im all better, but I just got a cold that knocked me off of my feet, we had our first interviews with president montalti, and from there we went straight to the house and I ended up sleeping all that day, then all that night, then the next day we thought we would leave and work, welll that didnt last long, and at this point elder jimenez is also geting sick, so we just took that day off as well and just rested, well it was worth it, becuase insted of just being, all sick and crappy for 2 weeks we took the days off and were able to finish the week strong,
 
other than that life here is going pretty much the same everyday of the week, there isnt alot of change, going on, but we have changes in a week and its going to be interesting to see if I stay or go, becuase, there are some big things that could start happening here by my sector so I will let you guys know how it goes next week if things turned out or no,
 
the stang looks really good, the body looks like its a heck of alot better than mine was, and im glad to see that your working on it steven and not just letting it sit around the ouse like I did with mine, but I know that that car will look good, so it has a back row of seats, huh, well thats cool, it has alot more space, but it sounds like you got alot of goodies to go along with the car as well. so take advantage of that, it just means that there is less stuff that you need to do to the car and you will able to get crusing around all the quicker, just make sure to take your time, a good cool car is way better than just a cool car.
 
well thats about all I got for this week, we are in the last week of the change, so I will let you know how transfers go next week,
I hope you all have a good safe week and all goes well for you
love you lots
Elder Jonathan match
Ecuador guayaquill sur

Monday, July 26, 2010

Hi family other than all the atacks that have been happening this last week I am fine, I kid you not I hate the flies  here they are so annoying  in the states when you swat at a fly its because its on your arm, but here they specifically go for your face I dont know why, mabye its because they are always in the eyes of the dogs here, or mabye they just dont care, but its all good, Im going to live longer than they do anyway.

things are doing really well, for the first time in like 1 1/2 monthes we had a really good week, yeah sure the other weeks we have been working out butts off to keep the sector alive and the members excitements up but finally we had a week where our numbers definatly showed how much work were doing, I am actually glad that elder fletcher and elder Jimenez are having a good tough first sector, it will help them for all the rest of the mission, because they will go to their next sector and have alot of success and will see that its s not always bad and they will just love missionary work so much more. when you just keep enduring with faith, god will always reward you you just have to keep it up or god dosent like it too much.

Steven hasnt told me squat about his new car( thats all) p.s GET YOU EAGLE

dad you need to remember the bumper ends were one of the first things that I ever took off of my car in 2006 if the bolts even still exist they will be in the plastic bucket without a baggy, when I took them off I just tossed them into the bucket, so not to make you search, it is my problem for being so stupid when I was 16 so if they are not in that little bucket, then we are pretty much out of hope on finding them.

dad mom right now do not worry about me working that is the only thing that Im doing, you need to remember that right now I am training I do not have the open space of an older comp, this comp of mine is a new elder in the mission, the rest of his mission could be possibly be based on how he learns to work with his trainer,
what I will ask you guys is that when we get really closer to christmas, not because I will get trunky but I will be feeling like I should be home then, last night elder halls got his flight plans in the mail and I realized that I should have mine as well right now. but then I also got thinking, you know there was a reason that I came back to ecuador, and if I do it after december it means that i couldnt have done it if i hadnt gotten sent home, so dont worry about me getting trunky, I actually like talking about the cars and the life at home because if keeps me calm. really reading about how you are going to conver the welder into a mig welder is a comfort and stress reliever for me, the same way that hearing that mom just finished the book of mormon (btw good job mom) is a comfort thing, really if it wasnt for that aspect, most missionaries wouldnt even care if you wrote them. so Just for you guys dont worry about where my heart is, there is no one else and I mean right now no one else who has my heart, only the lord, I remember the blessings and responsibilites that I have to preach the gospel to the lamanites and I am completly convinced that it is only for mine and the efforts that my other missionary brothers are doing right now that is keeping god from coming in that glorious day, god will not come while there are still people to find, and dont forget family there are always people to find, sometimes you have to get dirty and look under rocks and in the dirt, but really that is when you find gold, the work really is worth it, and it really is a good thing to be able to honor god, I remember something you said to me dad about 9 months ago ¨god honors those who honor him¨ dad now that I can feel his honor with me all the time I know with a surety that what you told me is true.

dad stay calm about the a.c, remember money is just money, yes I understand Alot of money is Alot of money, but what if you had tried to fix the thing yourself and end up breaking the whole thing and having to buy a whole new unit it could have been a little bit worse, just stay calm, you dont want to have a heart attack just because you got stressed about cold air.

tell scott congradulations for me.

hey a question, the next time you see brother fisher( therapist) ask him something for me.
my shoulder has started popping again, it dosent hurt really but its uncomfortable when it happenes, I just want to know if its a little temporary thing or if theres an excercise that I need to be doing.

mom keep it up with the new testament, once you get through the gosples it flies by, I know I have now read the N T twice here in the mission, I also love the Pauline epistles, they are great, just pure apostolic teaching, also keep your bible dictionary bookmarked because there are abunch of words that there was in old english that now mean other things, but just keep it up its really easy
did you guys know that all you need to do is read 4 pages(front and back) of the book of mormon daily and you will finish in less than 3 months. when I get to my last 3 Months I am going to start again and I challenge you to read it as well, Ive read the book of mormon in english 1 full time in the mission and now 2 1/2 times in spanish, and it really is an amazing book. before the mission I never could have imagined all of the things that god straight up reveals to his children very plainly. it really is the truest book here in the earth.

also I have now read Jesus the christ 13 times, I havent read in like a month because I am taking a break but remember that that book as well is just absolutly amazing.

well thats all about that I got this week, yes I know it was a little bit longer than normal. but I really hope all is going well there in texas, have a good week, make good smart decisions and pray and read your scriptures, and more than anything take full advantage of all the blessings that your getting for having a missionary in the family right now.
I love you Lots
Elder Jonathan Match
Mission Ecuador Guayaquil Sur
Sector La Pradera Zona Milagro(because they are never moving me out of here)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Letter to Family

so Ive only got a few things to write about this week as well but they are a little cool, well a little cool as a missionary,
so we went out to our friend cristorfers house, he has a finca ( plantation) of cacao, I know Ive told you about him before, but he showed me some of the bullets that hes saved up over the years, it was really cool, he had some from the m-16 I forget what size but they were smaller than I expected he aso had a .50mm bullet witch was cool it was the lenght of my palm, then  he showed me a  monster of a bullet, he says its what they put in the f.-16 fighter jets, this thing was huge I swear it was funny, he was in the ecuadorean air force for 25 years and he is a high ranking inteligence officer, he is always tempting me to go on vacations with him and his family, hes always likie elder match lets go to galapagos, ALL free, military transport and a military beach in galapagos where nobody is and im like no cris I cant go swim, then hes like well then lets go up to the mountains its really cool there, no cris I cant leave my sector, but its funny he is a really good friend and its sad because he is not progressin as an investigator.
                   then this thursday we went as a service to go clean te church and I swear it was so bad, nobody has cleadned this church in years it was so freaking dirty, we worked for 4 hours and still didnt finish, so if the work donsent get done I going to hav eot do it myself and Im not looking forward to that.
the weather here is still cool and during the days its great, the problem is that it cant decide whether to be hot or cold, one day it will be chilly then the next it will be so hot, we cant walk in the streets becase we will butn to easy, adn remember that I have been walking in the sun for the last 1 so when its that hot you know its hot.
 
    the work here is still going realy slow for us but I not super worried we learn alot when we are able to work without success this is the time when you just have to buckle down and keep it up, but I should be happy at least Im not in romania where blaine is going, at least I have had a baptism.
no but that is so awesome where he is going, he is going to learn a heck of alot there, tell him I said hi and good luck it will be really cool for him.
 
Im sorry to hear about grandma it really sounds like there was always a little bit of stress in this whole situation and im realy sad it had to turn out that way, tell here i love here and just to stay calm and think about recouperating fast from the operation, tell her im praying for her
 
oh yeah and dad HAPPY BIRTHDAY my present to you is that you get to make a 400 dollar mission payment for me to be here in a 3rd world country pulling my hair out with stress, but I really hope you have a good birthday, and stay strong on your diet, there is a whole lifetime to eat cake you can eat when the weight goes down, have meat snacks or cheese with candles in them. stay strong-
 
skype is really great with skype we will be able to talk in december a heck of alot easier and it will be cheaper for you guys as well
 
STeven you have time befor school starts, GET YOUR EAGLE its so so so sos sosos so worth it, all the stress goes away and then you get to just be chill and get some palms, doing straight up easy merit badges, just get it done and all the get your eagle stress will go away.
well thats all Ive got for today I love you all lots and hop you have a good week stay safe and keep the faith
Love
Elder Match
Mission ecuador guayaquil sur

Car Email

Today I am going to send 2 emails to the family, because of the amount of material that I have to write on about the cars today i am just making this email my car email,
on the my car front, dad Im not to worried about any thing that you can do on the out side of the car, because I can do it as well, but for sure I want you to leave, EVERYTHING on the inside for me to do when I get home,
next, dad  DO NOT put the windshield back in.
I have been thinking about it and my plan was to come home get a nice little car and have my cruise around datsun car, but then I realized that I could use my money in such a better way so I decided that the datsun is my car Im going to use her, and she is going to be my daily driver. and in that case I want her to be nice and that means that I am going to redo the dash, also I have all those electricle problems and to fix them I was going to have to probably take out the dash any way, so as it stands, go ahead and put in the rear hatch glass, but keep the windshield off so that I can get to those areas alot more eaisly. yes I also realize that my english speling has slowly gone down hill since I moved here and its sucks because I know that im going to have to take english classes when I get home, but its ok, hey thank you for figureing out the problem with the gas tank, that will save me a little bit of grief. but watch out if you try to drive it, the brakes need to be fixed and I desperatly need to grease up all of the parts so just be carefull even if you try to take it around the block and remember that it has been sitting not moving around for the last couple of years and needs to get all the parts back up to speed. some thing else that you might want to try looiking up and finding out right now, is about the steering wheel pad, and horn, I looked for months and never could see anything wrong but I am convinced that there is something missing there,so if you want to look something up that would be it.
       STEVEN, Im so glad your finally joining the club, of the people that have rust buckets sitting around in the garage forever. no seriously, thats so cool that you are getting a ¨new¨ mustang to work on, you should have no problem finding parts for it. What color do you want to paint it? is it a convertible? and how much are you guys going to pay for it? no but seriously thats awesome, I cant wait for me to get home right as you graduate and we can work on our cars together, and to top it all off mike as well is bringing home is car, so dad it looks like you are the only one left who needs a project, so start searching, I have the datsun and steven has the mustang, and uncle marvin has the MG so you need to find something origional and not copy one of us, but thats ok there is plenty to chose from, mabye an old truck of some sorts?
STEVEN do not, I repeat, do not get señoritis it is not worth it, and just work work work on the car, I know there will be days when you dont feel like it, you know that just driving the honda will be easier and yoiu know, the honda has a radio, just remember that its not worth it its way more worth it to just work and get the car in good driving order and go around witha  cool car for the chicks. JK but not really
DAD if you can get the bumpers on this week that would be really cool, and then take some good picture in that good ole TX sunlight,and send them to me that would be really good, for me I am kinda jonessin for some awesome pics of my baby, yes i know that there is a level of trunkyness in thinking about my car and I still have lots of work to do here but a boy can dream.
well thats all Ive got for now,
ALso send me a pic of steves new mustang and mikes car asap Please
LOVE
Elder Match
Ecuador guayaquil sur

Monday, July 12, 2010

I am not kidding I am so glad that it finally got finished, for the last couple of monthes the hype up along with all of the advertisements and all of the laziness that the people here were having is finally done, on sunday spain won the netherlands, 1 to 0 in like the last 3 minutes of extra time, Yes I admit it i saw the game, actually i saw most of the games because here in ecuador it totally isnt like the states, when the missionaries come over the tv goes off, well here its almost the opposit, we will sit down to eat our lunch and they will turn on the tv, yeah i know cool, but I was able to see alot of the world cup, soccer still is not my favorite sport in the world but I was cravin being able to watch sports, so I ate up all that I got, becase I still have a little bit of time before I get to sit down and  watch a sport on tv without feeling all of the guilt involved, its such a weird feeling I want to just sit down and be able to watch tv all I  want but at the same time when I honestly have the oppurtunites to do that here I feel so bad.

so a little bit went on this week I was able to do a freaking wreck of a service this thursday, we agreed to help one of the mothers in law of one of our members here, she told us that we werer just going to be moving a couple of bricks from one side of the yard to another. so Im thinking all right lets do it its just moving bricks, so we get over there, and lo and behold, there were more than 2000 freaking bricks all piled up about as tall as I am, so she also has abunch of hills of dirt in her yard making a straight walk over impossible. so what I had to do was first build a bridge between two of the hills so that we could put a wheelbarrow across the hills, then we spent the next 4 1/2 hours moving brick after brick across the yard, oh yeah did I forget to mention that we only got about half way done, and this thursday we are going to go back to finish the job so im not looking forward to it, my legs still hurt from the first time, and dont worry about my shoulder, its been more than 13 months from the surgury and I feel great there, its actually my other shoulder that hurts but dont worry Im doing fine on all the physical front.

I also met a very interesting guy, hes black and he comes from one of the islands and his parents were slaves, he was here when slavery was still legal, it was cool to talk to him a little bit about his life and all the stories that his parents told him, so that was cool.

and Ive been thinking about what Im going to do for work when I get home, because belive it or not we talk about that alot as missionaries, its always what we are going to do when this really short time runs out here, and I dont think I can work at dominoes, it would be a really good job but I dont want to put that many miles on my baby. so I have to think, but then I also though about umping again when I did it the first time I really did not take it all that serious, I only had like 16 years and  I wasnt ready to take it serious I just wanted money, but I think that now days I will be a little bit more mature and I get to make my own schedule so that could be good for me.

well Ive got nothing else, I look forward to hearing from you next week,
Love you lots, stay safe, and keep the faith
Elder Match
Mission Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

Monday, July 5, 2010

answer, all the dead cats here of course, I kid you not fam this week we saw like 12 dead cats all on the side of the road all just chucked out of the side of a car, really because the people here dont bury things they just go to where there are less people and chuck it out of their high speed moving car we never have to worry about being hit by the things because I still avent seen anybody do it we just know how they do it.
this week has goine a little bit better, the sector is still suffering a little bit, it is just rediculous finding new people to teach here, they jus all reject everyting, and the hardest part is that my sector isnt that big I ave every road memorized, but I just need to keep the work up. I know that in the first second that I stop working I will definatly not have any chance what soever of finding any news, so we are just confiding in the face that if we keep working really hard, eventually god will put people that are ready in front of us and really give us oppurtunities of people to teach.
My new companion is named elder Jimenez, he is from the country of guatamala and is pretty cool, hes kindof a shy quiet guy, but hes slowly getting out of it and getting talking to the people more. so we will see haw it goes but I am confident that he is going to be a really good missionary.
on thursday we were able to meet with our new president president montalti , he is from venezuela and he is relativly young, he has his 3 small children with him,  8 10 and 12 years old respectivly. he is really funny, and he has a great personality, so Im not worried about how its going to go with him, yeah it sucks that president johns went home, but he had done his 3 years and it was time for him to get home, so Im just ready, there have already been some really big changes made, and we found out that they are adding ALOT on to preach my gospel, and we have to start, learing all of the stuff thats going to go into it.

with the car dont you remember the same thing happened with the brake and the brake light a couple of years ago, the problem is I dont remember which car, so if you look in the datsun or the honda, you should find another bolt, pushing another button, I know its kinda makeshift and shoddy, but it works, and it shows, that little rubber pieces in cars suck.
I cant remember if you told me or not, did you ever find other bumper ends for the car, I think you did but I swear I cant remember, if you did, you should start looking for the bolts because evenif we have th right bolts they will be all rusted out and and it might be more feasable to just get new ones.

to answer your questions, the weather is getting better here, it actually has cooled off alot to the point when I get up in the morning and go to the roof to work out its actually cold, I know cold, so Im hoping that from here I might be able to go up to the mountains where it actually is cold, that would be the best for me. to actually get to sleep using the blanket that you makde for me. the rugby ball is going really well its just cool to be able to have it back in my hands, Im getting my good spin back and  just being able to strech out my arms throwing it around.
I know that this is the only time that I will ever be able to serve like this and wat makes it all the sadder is that Ive only got like 11 months left to do it, I really feel that this time is actually moving too fast, and its scaring me, because its already july 5 and the time is just speeding up, but im not too worried at the same time because I know that im doing the right thing.
wow mom it sounds like your changing the house up alot, its going to be a different place when I get home, its going to be interesting to see, dad have you given any thought to building that second garage on the back side of the house, or with that, what needs to come first, the fence I bet ri, well just let me know how that goes.ç
thats prett much all thats going on here, Im doing good and hope yall are as well, well Ill talk to you next week, ç
love ya lots
ELder Match


Monday, June 28, 2010

well there are actually good points and bad points to the week, its a very confusing one for the heart strings.
so on Wednesday President Johns goes back home to Texas, and president Montalti comes in from Venezuela. on sunday he came to our stake conference here in milagro and when it was time to leave, he just gave us all a hug goodbye and we took a picture, but I will get to see him again tomorrow, when I go to the trainers meeting,
oh yeah, Elder Fletcher got changed and I am training, again... no its really cool, but the sad thing with this my second son, is that i will probably only be with him for these 6 weeks and then I will getting out of dodge ( milagro in this case), I have no Idea if it will be a latino or if Im going to get a gringo again... thats how it is with training , you get to feel the uncomfortableness of not knowing whats going to happen twice in a change, once at the change, and then again when he gets here tomorrow.  Im putting in a couple of pictures for your viewing enjoyment,
the story with the suits is kinda funny, when I went to go pick up my suit we accidentaly grabbed the wrong pants, so when I get  home to try it on, I didnt have pants that fit, but we realized that my gym shorts are about the same color, so I just poped those on and we took the pics, me and elder fletcher have custom made suits, and they look good, also I wore the whole thing to stake conference and it looks really good with the pants and everything.
 
mom about souvenirs, 1 I have alot of time left to be thinking about that, and 2 I already have alot of really cool stuff that I want to get you guys here, Lots of handmade crafts, and dad if you want a wood instrument, here is the right place to do it, they are everywhere, what were you thinking.
 
wow steven that is really cool that you were able to have an expierence like that, it honestly could be like once in a lifetime, It must have been really cool to have gotten to see all the different people from all around, how were you guys dressed, in t shirts or in scrubs, becuase that is super cool, keep up the good work, you only have 1 more year of high school, dont be like me and be lazy with off periods, if you can take some fun interesting classes, and work really hard, it will pay off in the end, and how is work going, are you still at dominoes, or have you quit yet, honestly if you can steven keep the job there it is so worth it, because you have the ability to earn alot of money there. oh yeah and stay out of the freaking sun, I know how it is to be walking around in the sun all day, i do it every day here, steven skin cancer is not worth it, just keep covered up,
 
so speaking about the sun, actually we are going into winter here, and I never would have thougt it but it is actually getting alot cooler, to the point that the nights are really cold, its really cool, still warm enough to wear short sleeves but cool enough that the warm is almost starting to feel good, so its weird, I would like to go to the mountains in a little bit because there it actually gets cold and it would be fun to have to wear a sweater all day
 
hey tell michaelanne that I say hi,.
 
wow its a bummer that you guys sold the bmw. that was a good bike, dad you are right I do need to learn on a smaller bike but living here, I totally see the need for a big bike and the difference that it makes, so Ill probably get home, earn some money, get a smaller bike, sell that and then get a bigger bike, Mabye a bmw like the one we had.
 
all is well here in milagro, our program is down in the dumps, but thats the mission, I just have to keep working, obeying ALL of the comandments and pray, and eventually the success will come, so dont worry about that it will all turn out well in the end.
 
well thats about all that I got for the week, as soon as the investigadores start coming thats when I will be able to tell you guys about all the wonderfull spiritual expieriences that im having.here in milagro.
 
well love you lots and hope all is well there
 
Elder Jonathan Match
Mision Ecuador Guayaquil Sur

Monday, June 21, 2010

Hey,
Like I said I know its a little crazy, but yet again another week has gone by, I just realized as I was typing this that this is the last june 21 I will have in the mission, I know Im not trying to be trunky, thats just a natural part of the mission coming to the realization that you are getting old in the mission, that pretty soon here all the elders that you really know are starting to go home or will be going home really soon, Its like elder halls, he only has 4 changes left in the mission, and its super crazy to think like that, its the reason that I dont talk like that, it brings way to many problems.

so like I forgot to start, happy fathers day, I know you could here all the enthusiasm in my voice, Im not trying to be mean, the thing is that here fathers day means, just a lot of drinking hard, and domestic disputes, but thank goodness its over, and for the fact that we live in a country that if you are going to do your drinking you are going to generally do it behind closed doors and not put your giant speakers facing outwards to the road, but seriously dad thanks for all that youve done for me, I really truly appreciate it.

on the car front, because as you all know I really do need to talk about my car at least 1 time a week while I am writing so that I dont go stir crazy only doing missionary work here in ecuador. if you want to buy the carpet kit and the seat kit now because you think you can get a better deal I say do it, but I want for sure to do those two things, not you, all of the inside work on the car i want to do, speaking of a new dash cover, that might be good figuring that the last one we put on is all warped and was only a half cover, so if you buy a new cover, a full cover will funcion and look better that the little half ones. also with the electricity I will need your help, the main thing is that the dome light dosent light and the clock doesnt work and it sometimes shuts off and its like there is not battery so I guess I will just have to trace wires until I find whats draining it. you say that it will take monthes to finish my car, Father I expect the only thing that will hold me back from working on my car will either be, class or Im simply waiting for the part to get in, I think you are really underestimating how much I am going to be working on that blue goddess of mine.

mom I came to like the 2nd best mission in the world for seafood, next to like an asian mission. we eat alot of seafood here, like honestly 2 days ago I was eating crab, granted its not going to compare in the amount of meat that you guys have on the crab there but I got to get the taste of it, but crab here is also rare, its everywhere and really cheap, the people are just lazy and rarely cook it.

dad get into shape thats all im going to say, Im not worrried about you having a heart attack while i am on the mission thats less than a year, but when steven is, you are seriously starting the falling apart of your body years dad and its seriously not worth it to excercise, I no you dont want to and it sucks but at least you need to go walking EVERY night, and honestly go get a physical with dr burchard and get you heart checked, its like I tell all of the people here, the life isnt easy, it shouldnt be easy, if it was easy it  wouldnt be the life, things suck but, we grow when we break old habits and make new ones. we are way way better people when we can learn from the past, correct all of our past mistakes and keep going on in the life.

Now about the boat, dad Im not going to lie I have been jonesin for some water sking, but honestly its your decision, I like the boat, you know that when I wasnt being lazy, Im the one that likes boating, but its up to you, Im also not going to lie a jet ski would be really cool, because I could take my friends and we could just do a really easy quick launch and go tubing behind a jet ski. but like I said, your decision

Im going to pick up the whole suit today, but I have already tried on the jacket and the pants and it looks really good, it goes really well with my sun bleached hair, and it looks good, the pics will come next week. and the boot insoles are working really well, the leather on my boots is super soft and they just mold to my feet.

the work started picking up a little more this week, me and elder fletcher just picked up our records and went and visited every single family that was in the book and now we have couple of appointments, actually tonight is actually going to be really really busy, tonight we have the oppurtunity to get our entire goal of 10 news, its really cool, we are packed starting at 6 and its work all night, but its good, because working is way better than just sitting around. trying to look for news, the thing is you think that people are cold in the states, they dont even compare to the people here, the level of religous fanaticism that exists here is redic, like in the states, we love religion, they do too here, the only difference is that here they think that is has to be a war or a fight and that literally the ¨mormons¨ are of the devil, so after every contact that was a dud, me and elder fletcher, just got into the habit of saying , your cold blooded, or your as cold as ice, ( its a chapells show reference, ask steven) (p.s rick james)

but the work is starting to get better here and I know that it will start off one of these days. for the better,
well stay safe family, have a good, week and keep the faith,
Love
Elder Match
Mision Ecuader Guayaquil Sur.

Monday, June 14, 2010

well dad- family, I thought that I was hurting as a missionary here in ecuador but? it turns outt your doing just as bad there in the states.,
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First off about the suit, its already paid for and done, I went to the fabric store and picked out my fabrick, and then we went over to bro valensuelas house and gavie it to him with the money, really its ok, elder fletcher has already done his, I know that in the states, 100 dollars wouldnt get you a good suit if yoiu wanted it to, you probably coulndnt have even got the jacket for 100, but here, its really cool, hes our friend so he was just like, go buy the fabric and another 55 for work costs, did I mention that its going to be a freaking 3 piece suit, I bought an extra yard of fabric for that and its going to be really really cool, this thing is custom fitted to my body and hes also leaving extra fabric so that if I do get a little bit fatter it can be let out and still fit me. dont worry if its even close to the quality that elder fletchers suit is, it will be really good, he should have it done by this week and Ill send pics to you next week, its ok, Im also totally fine on the money front.
?
on the z car front, I know that you have things to do and I do expect fully to spend like me first 3 weeks home, not leaving the garage or driveway just? working on that ole car of mine, but we worked pretty hard on that paint job and I would like that its not getting damaged, if you say taht dust isnt good for it I would like if you? could at least get the dust off of it, also , I know that just a little just isnt going to kill the car, but I am to the next part of the project which is? doing the interior, and getting it sealed off from the enviorment and air and huumidity would probably be pretty good for the car, yes I do understand that in the garage isnt exactly 创exposed to the elements创 but? I would kinda like to seal her up, just to that when Im doing the electrical work I wont have to clean the dust out of the components,燽ut I kid you not the biggest things im looking forward to doing when I get home is making my baby the coolest car ever and? going on dates, I know jon match dates, who knew.
?
no so about the box thing, if you send me a little package, like say under 2 pounds, its like 17 bucks or something and I dont even have to go and get it , it just gets mailed straight to me wherever I am, so like If I asked for a thing of cookies or candy or somthing or somehting small I dont have to go get it out of hawk, and if you want to send me a bigger package, and you dont want me to pay the 创taxes创 ( what they call them here) you have to keep it under 4 kilos, thats about 8 pounds but you have to be sure.
?
營m glad that you are trying to go walk the dog, it will help you and the dog, Im serious, I know that its hard, you come home from work tired, your legs hurt and you would just rather rest, but you should really be working out everynight, your to the point in your life that if you dontget working out and keeeping you heart in control that it could turn out bad and its possible to have problems with the heart.
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Also Ive totally seen how unprepared the people are here for any tytpe of disaster whatsoeve. I have also been stuydying about the new jeruselem and that stuff pretty hard, and the thing is dad that ffoood storage is a very really good thing to have, I just know that for all the life we were never super good with food strotage and I just feel like it would be really really good to get real food storage going, the thing is its worth the pain that comes trying to do it in that point? seriouly, it would just be way better for you guys to start really doing it, I just keep thinking of alma 34 just how we cant procrastinate tht day of our repentance and just how that should also work with all the things of our life,
?
did yiou know ( of course not you there in the states) that here in ecuador the people are super duper lazy, but now in the ward we are trying to get a gardening program going, the thing is that here the people live day to day, you get paid, you send your wife to go to the corner store and buy your rice and whatever that you are going to eat, so we as a ward are trying to get the people to start planting their own crops so that they can kinda bread the yoke of bondage that they have with their laziness.
?
so not to tell you guys how much the work has fallen here, but I am no to the point here in milagro that we literally have NO program, so in the course of like 2 days I kid you not we lost all of our baptisms and dates for baptisms and investigatores, all we have left are 2 investigators that arent really progressing, so its? kinda depressing, we have this girl MIA she is the sister of jonathan alava, my convert, she is actually golden she had such great social conversion, the only lproblem is that the members here in ecuador are not the best examples of how a well organized perfect church is supposed to be run, so the problem is that she is super duper smart, shes 24, and she is totally seeing the two facedness of the members here, its like they say, yes I am a member of the true church of jesus christ, but then dont act like members of the true church of christ. so it is pretty depressing, when all her friends found out that she wasnt going to get baptised this week they were all in shock and didnt want to believe it. but its ok, she will get baptized she just need to get going more with her spiritual conversion.
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so the box turned out all right, I have been able to manage my beef jerkey and I still have some, I know its amazing, Im just forcing myself not to just rip into the bag, the cookies were good, the snickerdoodles were really good they are just hard as rocks. you take a bite off and just let it softenup-disolve in your mouth. the ricecrispie treat was really cool, I dont know if its a good or bad thing but I took that treat down in one sitting. its ok though because I left the house afterward and walked 20k, I know that sounds like an exageration but I kid you not as missionaries and witht the sector that I have here in milagro we walk about 20k everyday and its doing wonders, my legs are rock hard there is no fat on them whatsoever, and my gut has gone down supriseingly alot, and my face has changed , I dont know why燽ut all the pics I take my face always looks different, its just weird. Ive still got my hair, and in sufficient abundance that I dont look bald, but I still think Im coming home and just going to shave my head, just because I can do it.
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well Ive got nothing else, I hope that next week my news about the sector will be better, we are in week 6 of this 7 week change, so Ive still got 2 weeks minimum here in milagro.
?
Love you all lots
Elder Jonathan Match
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Monday, June 7, 2010

Well another week has gone by, it was pretty cool, the only problem is that not a heck of alot is going on, just grindstone missionary work, oh yeah and the fact that I have had a splitting hadache sinve yesterday in the afternoon, I only slept about 3 hours list night and at 3 am I had to get up and just take drugs it was so bad, so Im definatly lot looking to fowrward, to starting the whole migrane thing but they are starting to come more frequently, Im hooping its just for the stress of all the missionary work that Im doing, because if not its not going to be all that fun to have to start having these, Im mean I dont like to complain at all Im just sitting going almost on 24 hours straight headache,
 
this last saturday thougha we did an open house in the chaple, it went really well, we did it with the youth and what happened was there were 6 rooms and each of the rooms had a presentation,different, we helped the youth a little and they all made their own station, there was one on profets, one on history of the church, andothers on word of wisdom and the book of mormon, it went really well , all in all we got a good 37 contacts out of it and we are gong to get to see how they work out as we go through this week. so I am excited to see if we canget any quality investigators our of it.
 
so last night I ded get spit on though tahat was a fun expierience, i was walking in the road and a truck came past and I guess the people in the back of the truck dont like mormons so they pulled past me and one in hte back just spit on me, I had to go to where there are members to wash out my hair, so that I could get it out, but its ok I didnt feel mad or anything, I just rest in the knowledge dont worry, hell get his.
 
wow steven it sounds like you have a super lots of things to do, but seriously you should be so gratefull that you have the oppurtunidad to be able the be part of a church organization that is just so much better than it its here, are you kidding you couldnt get the youth heree to come out early to go to a meeting if your likfe depended on it, I ked you not we really do work alot harder in the states, but the people here are great, them here just still need to grow up a little in the church.
 
so im sending you some pics of our station in the open house, and the milk pile that me and elder fletcher built up, because the milk here comes in boxes and is super processed. so enjoy
 
well thats about it for the week tell mom I missed her and hope that she has a good time in san antonio, and to stay safe,
 
well love you lots,
Elder Match
right now Im just sitting here in the grocery store cyber, Im going to go shop then go home drop of the food and then, we are going to go write, so dont worrry I will write you guys today, Ill be coming back to write in like an hour, so if youive got some good news for me you can let me know, that would be cool.
Love Jonathan.
hey dad i got my box today in the morning, man talk about hassle, waiting in lines for an hour just to have to pay 50 freaking bucks in total, but I have it, so asap (jk but seriously) it would be cool if you could activate it, also fyi, going on 9+ months of not eating anything even remotly spicy, that beef jerkey really makes me sweat,
Love you lots
Jonathan

Monday, May 31, 2010

its ok just write next week have a good safe time in san antonio tell allen and sol I say hi,
Love
Elder Match
Well family another week has gone by here in good ole milagro, I am sitting here not knowing what to do because I am absolutly broke, its kinda ridiculous, we dont get our money from the church until the first of everymonth, so here I am on the 31st and its seriously not working out too, actuallly the thing is that all the elders here are broke, this is the 5th week, and we wont get money until tomorrow, this tuesday I did get the notice from the mail office here telling me I have my package in guayaquil, the problem is that I couldnt go to guayaquil today to get it because there is no money to do it.
       I dont know if you guys heard, but 2 days ago a volcano started shooting out pretty high levels of gas here, its only about 1 1/2 hours from here so we got some pretty good ash fall, but you should have seen guayaquil all the people had to walk around with masks on because the level of gas that was in the air was so thick that it was a danger to anybody that would have tried to breath in the air. so it is a little sketchy, because its spewing out ash thats not a good sign, it means that any day now we are going to have a good eruption or an earthquake here, I almost want one to happen here, not for all the hurt it will cause with the people but it willl definatly help the work to go on progressing here. so dont worry the way my sector is is that if there is an earthquake here all  I have to do is jump out of the cane shack before it falls to the ground and then just walk into their backyard where there arent any wires, really this is the best sector for me to be in if there is an earthquaqke here, so well see what happens.
     not alot is going on down here, its just the same old walking everyday trying to find anybody thats willing to listen and accept the message of the restored gospel, its kinda hard some days, what makes it easier is that I have no real problems with the spanish language I can understand and talk with everybody, even the super out in the middle of the woods type person, and here in this country that means really really thick spanish, so its funny, how boringly fast it goes, I talk like its just slugging through every day just trying to make it through, but really every day is just flying by, were going to have to see if I stay here or not after this change, I already have 2  changes with elder fletcher and I really think that he needs a latin comp, hes to the point where hes well adjusted, speaking the language and doing great, basically to the point where having a gringo comp walking in the streets speaking english is probably not to good for him.
             so the name of one of my converts here is Jonathan Alava, we went over to his house last night and he was on his facebook, so I made him do a search of my facebook and some of yours, I believe that I sent one to you dad, with a message attached, thats so that If you see this random spanish contact you just know its because I made him sent the request,
 
STEVEN- check your gmail account !!!!!!!!
 
question, hey can you guys tell me the username and password of our ward website, so that I can get on.
 
well Ive got nothing else, I love you all very much and look forward to talking with you again next week,
Love
Elder match

Monday, May 24, 2010

so Iike dad said this has been a very long week since the last time that I wrote you guys,
                         the only difference is that all of my weeks are super duper long weeks and they all go by I kid you not 2 or 3 times faster than yours, we literally have to get a million things done every week and also deal with how every day literally flys by. seriously every week is like its own little change. we have to worry about who we are going to teach, when, how to get people out to church, staying away from problem places and people, and pretty much being like counselors to everyone, because when even the bishops of the wards come to the elders for advice and someone to vent their frustrations on it takes time, don't get me wrong I love the work here it is my life and it has and is helping me and the things I will do in this life beyond belief. and I really want you guys to know how grate full I actually am for all of the support and help I have gotten and am getting from you guys, it literally carries us missionaries throughout the week to know that our families are there helping us and letting us spend 2 years ( 2 1/2 for me) out of their checkbook so that I can be in another country talking about Jesus.
           today elder halls that lives above us, let me borrow a talk that he had on CD, by Cleon scousen (Sp?) on the atonement, it was absolutely amazing, because it was pure pure doctrine that literally changed the way I have been thinking about miracles and how they are done, he talked about how each element that exists, has a little bit of intelligence in it, so literally in the creation and the miracles, it wasn't just god making the stuff, the matter and the elements respected god and literally  god said what he wanted done and the elements obeyed and did it on their own, so when jesus was all like turn water into wine, he didn't turn the water into wine, he commanded the water and the water turned itself into wine, I seriously suggest you find this talk, it is absolutely amazing and I am going to go home after this and listen to it again. now all me and elder fletcher have been doing with elder halls is talking deep doctrine for the last like 4 hours, yes I know there are better things we could be talking about but the fact is that its way more fun to talk about doctrine than about baptism.
           Speaking of motorcycles, I know mom is going to love this, but when I get home I am getting a motorcycle, I am starting to like the idea of a nice big enduro, or if not that something along the line of like a honda shadow, without it being a honda shadow. or mabye a big kawasaki sit up straigt bike, I just nee to find out what I like riding. Just from being here where everybody, and I mean everybody, I swear I see more little old grandmas on bikes more than middle aged men rding around, yeah that might be an exageration but Im not kidding everyone rides here, and Im also seeing how stupid it is to ride without a helmet or protective equipment, so its cool i really do want to get a nice comfortable sufficently large sunny day riding bike when I get home, to save on money and because its cool, mom I know that you love me and would never want me to get hurt but serously theyre cool and Im kinda an adult, not all the way but im getting there, but no worries well cross that bridge when I get home.
             it sounds like the harley is pretty cool youve never told me how bigg it is how many cc does it has, and how much does it weigh, yeah Ive seen the pic but that dosent do alot to help me all that much.
 
           I hope you all have a fun week this week with aj, I know that that will be cool, all of you guys together one last time, elder fletcher has a friend that his brother got married and his other brother is on the mission, so the family went and made a life size cut out of the one missionary brother and put the cutout in allof the pictures, so that it looked Like he was there, so Im thinking that you guys could do that for me ,its not goingto be hard and Ill be in all of your pics that you can send to people,
 
hey dad you know there is a problem with your math on when Im coming home, dont you know that literally agosto to decimber basically dosent even happen, the fall months go by so fast its not funny, take the normal, months that you are missionary, yeah they already fly by but then you put the fall with all the stuff that goes on and they really fly, I ts going to be cool, because im going to blink my eyes and its going to be christmas and Im going to be super trunky because elder halls will have gone home.
 
with school yeah I have no problems taking classes right when I get home, itll give me something to do and just keep me occupied, talking about school, we have about a year, you might want to start thinking about the super awesome kick butt laptop that you promised me, no joke I want like 700gb ram and an amazing video card, and windows 7 because using word 07 for 2 years here has spoiled me and thats what Im thinking i want.
 
and lastly from your letters, clothes, in the ward, we have a brother that is a tailor, I know I havent shown you guys pictures of me in that grey suit that you bought me but lets just say it doesnt fit, actually every time that sister johns sees me in it she laughs at me because se says that it looks like im shrinking more every time i whear it, so the brother in the ward says that he can make me a custom fitted 3 piece suit for under 100 dollars, Im really thinking I should do it while I have this oppurtunity here in milagro, it will be cool and I get to chose my fabric and everything, and the other money will just be to pay off the debts I have, so no biggy.
 
          the works going pretty well here not alot is going on we have gotten into a pretty good finding spree here and now we just need to sift through them and figure which ones are chosen and which ones only want to listen to us, becuase they like listening.
 
we had a fun run in with an anti Mormon the other day too, it was funny because we just let him rabble and rabble on, and then he just went away thinking that he all won and more proud of him and his bible than ever, it was really sad and i got a little depressed, just because its so sad how far people can fall away from the same god that gave them life.
 
still no word on the box, but no worries it will get here any day now, but I still wont be able to get it for 2 weeks just because Ill get my package slip on tues and then have to wait until the next week to have money and get my package out of hawk.
 
well I love you all very much and hope you all have a good week. stay safe and work hard,
Love
Elder Jonathan Match
Mision Ecuador Guayaquil Sur
 
ps mom I was about to send this and your email got to me, all was written before I read yours, steven I know you will hate me for this but seriously satan will do ALL he can to stop you from going on you mission, he will literally if he has to try to kill you, spiritually ( sin) and physically, you just need to be as safe as possible, look at how bad I wanted a bike, when I was in high school I was not mature enough to be riding a bike, but when I get home I will get one, so just be patient, get a sweet nice sports car and pick up chicks instead, remember you cant( dont) take a girl on a date on your motorcycle but if you both go in your nice sports car you might just get lucky ;)

Monday, May 17, 2010

Hi Family hope all is okie dokie there in texas land
wow I cant believe brother james is still the ward secretary, hes been going at that calling for years now,, you should teall bishop that its time to give him a break and call some one else to the seat. wow so mom your email sounds all chipper and happy and dad all he taled about was how much he hurt and just some sick stuff.
       hey dont worry about the box, it will get here any day now, Im telling you it will still probably take a week just to get into the country, dont worry if the cookies are stale, it has been so long since I have had real american cookies I will just gum them until they disolve in my mouth. that is definatly not a problem.

      So you told me to laugh whenever I could well Im going to tell you guys a story, and your going to laugh at me for being such an idiot, well so we are sitting there in ward council, and just fyi its way way way more lax than there in the states, we were the only ones in ties, so Im sitting there with the stapler open  just being bored and absentmindedly whacking it on my arm, just acouple seconds earlier me and elder fletcher were talking about how stupid the people are that purposly staple them, so Im sitting there whacking my arm, and I guess I just did it a little too hard, because I looked down at my arm and lo and behold there was a staple all the way in my arm. it went straight into the muscle so I didnt even feel it go in. but I was like WOAH and just pulled it out. we honestly just sat there the whole ward council laughing, and now I will never ever live it down here, the people are going to talk about the elder that stapled his arm in the meeting, actually later that night in the street my friend richard ( young mens pres) called out ¨hey stapler come over here¨ So Im just going to have to live with that one, because I actually stapled my arm.

oh and with the banana trees you have to be care full because they are covered in a milk/liquid that turns any thing it touches black, so it wouldnt be good if I climbled the trees because I would constantly be covered in black stuff thats super hard to get rid of

wow cool story dad, Im just glad that you live in a place where you can actually call your home teachers and they will come over at any time of the day or night, it doesent even matter what they are doing, not like here where if you want a blessing you basically just have to wait till the elders ( us) come by your house, or you might be able to call bishop but then he´ll just wait for us to stop by and tell us to go visit so and so because they are feeling sick and would like a blessing. honestly when there are only like 6 melchezidick priesthood holders in the sector its a little bit harder to run the ward, honestly I dont even know how we are a ward, there are only like 12 priesthood holders in the sector, and only like 50 people attend every week. so I dont get it but its all good, i love it here and its gong by way to fast.

well nothing else is really going on here I love you lots and hop you have a good week, it will be monday again really soon, or really far, just depends on how you look at it.

Love you Lots
Jonathan

Monday, May 10, 2010

Hey so this one will be a really short one just because I dont really have anything to say, well hows it going there in the states, has anything new hapened in the last couple of days.

not to be mean but yesterday was so different talking to you guys than it was last christmas, the thing was on christmas I was still kninda trunky ( ready to go home) and I just wanted to hear your guyses voice to get rid of that, this time it was all just super chill, mainly because I dont have any problems being here and  it was just kinda like well heres my voice what to you want me to say, not to get me wrong, I loved talking to you guys and it went super fast, it was for me at least kinda like ok whatever, back to work, talk to you on pday. but I am gratefull that we have the ability to talk across thousands of miles.

not alot is ging on here, weve just got some real potential going on here, they all still only have the fist lesson but they are some big families and are really interested in hearing, we know that because they found us and we didnt find them, that is how it works here, if they find you its almost a sure baptism if you dont do anything to screw it up. you just ahve to be so good with the rules, because god does not have to bless you in the least bit if your ar disobediant, always remember its not the rules or commandments that you are following its the ones that your arent, thats why introspection is way improtant, honestly all of you just take one day this week and try to figure out if your following all of the rules, not just the ones you want to , and then think of the blessings you could be losing, and then change and get the blessings

the other day we went out  the the elder quorms presidents house, did I forget to mention he lives like 1/2 hour in bus then like 1/2 walking away from our house, well honestly he lives in the middle of a freaking bananna plantation, so we got sme pics in the midde of the bannana trees its way cool it smells great and theres always lots of shade.

well thats about it for today, I love you all very much and hope you have a good safe week, read your scriptures, pray, etc-

Love
Elder Match
Mision Guayaquil Sur

Monday, May 3, 2010

I forgot here are 3 pics one of a baptism with me and elder fletcher, me in one of my normal streets in my sector and one of our awesoem sunsets

JON
Wow, Hey fam, it was way cool I got the exact opposite of what happens every week, all of you guys wrote me a letter and dad didnt. so its all good, dad your slacking.
wow mom so Im really glad you found a rugby ball, you said it was hard to find so where did you find it and how, im actually wanting to know how that story went, you made it sound with that one sentence like it was something really hard to do. but thanks for doing it, its going to be really cool to have a rugby ball here. Also I realized that these are going to be a really couple of busy days for you guys because its mothers day on sunday and then I think that steven is turning 17 on tuesday. so thoses are going to be a really busy couple of days for you guys.
          that ward luao sounded cool its sounds like it was really fun, I would have liked to see the priests doing the haka but its all good. the work here is giong good if you consider not really having a program going good, no its all fine, its just that we are in a big slump as a zone right now. so were just going to have to see how it goes, I just still cant believe that Ive already had 2 changes here in milagro, the time is actually going ridicouslly fast.
          thats so cool that michalanne is going home in june, thats so weird, its so freaking fast the time, I remember being in the mtc in provo and talking to her a couple of times, yeah I know im showing my age, but thats so weird that that happened a year and a half ago. it honestly feels just like yesterday. so thats definatly tim for you guys.
          Im looking forward to getting to talk to you guys on saturday, so we definatly need to plan when were going to do it. so the thing is I have church, sunday from 10 to 1 then we go and eat lunch, usually with the members until about 3, so how about if we do the call in the night like at 8 pm. Ill call you guys at 8 and verify the number I need to call and then you guys can call, remember that we get 40 minutes to talk, so just make sure that you have a calling card that has credit on it.

the number to call is 011-593-09-809-6938
and if that is wrong   011-593-9-809-6938

             did you know I actually dont like talking to you guys on the phone all that much, I mean dont get me wrong, I love being able to show you guys how retarded my english now is but it just makes you so freaking trunky, and it doest help atht I am just about to hit my one year mark and that is (for some really strange reason) making me really trunky as well, I dont know, its just when you start the mission you see, the number 2 years and you think its just a really really long time, and now that i only have 1 year left its the exact opposit, it just feels like a really really short time. I dont know why but its like elder fletcher says, you for the first year are counting up the number of days and monthes, and then as soon as you hit your 1 year mark, it just starts countaing down, you start having your last of things and it just speeds up.

well not alot went on, I was joking around with elder fletcher and I said, ¨I am a treasure trove of proverbial knowledge¨ well that totally stuck, i said it like last week and it is still just a  joke taht we have inbetween us, like seriously, next to elder peterson my trainer, elder fletcher is going to be the best comp I have had in the mission, and were going to have to see, because I probably have like 2 more changes with him, werer going to be able to do alot of good here in milagro,

also today we went over to a ward members house and made french toast, I am serious I wanted to marry the food we made, It was so good, we were able to by syrup at the grocery store, in the usa aisle, so it was perfect, I honestly think Im changing what Ive been saying, the first place were going when I get home is IHOP jkjk.

well I love you all very much and I hope you all have a good and safe week, remember Im praying for you and have a good mothers day
LOVE
Elder Jonathan Match
MIsion Guayaquil Sur.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Well whats the hizzapps in the good ole u.s of a. were hearing on the news here that you guys are having a little bit of trouble-protesting with the whole Arizona laws going on, yes we do here about that. but don't worry the people here couldn't care less.
          mom you can totally tell me about the big breakfast analogy because you forgot, I dont like breakfast food. now if it was pizza thats another story. honestly when I get home that first night i just want my own personal rosattis deep dish pizza, and just sit there eating not talking to anybody. no just kidding (about the not talking, not the pizza)
                        it is actually really weird, when we start the mission we think like wow 2 years, and it really does feel like a long time, now that Im  basically at a year and  I think just a year more, its way way fast, it dosent even feel like a long time, I actually think it feels shorter than anything, heck in october Im going to complete my 21 years and Ill be home before I turn 22, so its really weird. but Im not even worried about time, Im just trying to live day to day here with elder fletcher. not to be or sound mean, but really the only time I think about you guys are right here in the cybers on mondays, there is just way to much to think about and do, Im just glad elder fletcher is a super hard worker and is keeping me from just being lazy and not doing anything.
             speaking of super stressful gray hair making work the work here is going good like that. actually this week has been absolutly horrible. we went from 6 secure baptisms to now only 2. we were supposed to have a baptism on saturday, the first was the brother arturo, he had his interview and everything, he was completly ready he had recieved his answer, and we went to his house on friday in the night, when I asked him how he was feeling for his baptism he said ¨bad¨ he then proceded to give a bunch of excuses about his awesome family and how he wanted to change his wife, I then proceded to talk to him about his moral agency and how salvation is personal, he then just looked at me and was like ¨stop, Im not going to be baptized, I hope god forgives me¨ so you can see he had his answer and denied the holy ghost, I was really really disapointed in him, I had put over 2 monthes of work into him and he just decided to use his moral agency for bad, but I guess thats why we have moral agency.
               then we had 2 other investigatores manuel and cecilia, they are a couple, and are good friends with our bishop they needed to get married so bishop interviewed them on sunday, well the brunt of the matter is that they dont want to get married because they are afraid they will meet their soulmate 2 months later. OH YEAH did I forget to mention they have 2 kids together, I mean seriously 2 kids and they are afraid someone better will come along, at which point they will just go off with the other person and live with them,
                  yeah so not to be depressing but thats basically the kind of crap that i have to deal with here. and also as senior comp, with a comp that is still trying to learn the language I have to be infront of it all taking all of the trouble and talking with the people here. but I have another investigator Geronimo, he is absolutly amazing and is super excited to be baptized this saturday, so Ill let you know how it goes these next weeks.

             MOM I agree with you, I think dad should build a fence and paint it white, that would be so cool, its not even hard to do, just put hinges every 5 pickets and it can turn in between the fence and the grasses, DAD just stop being lazy, its not hard and you know it,
          about the box, you know what I want, pics, priesthood line if you have it. beefjerkey, other stuff that you think wouuld be good to send and if at all possible a rugby ball. I know that they used to have them @ atown sports, you could go see how much they are and if its too expensive, just dont worry about it. And Letters from everybody and I mean everybody, and send it on friday ;)

I want to see that new controller it sounds so cool, all motorized and such, but ill probably be afriaid of it figuring I am in a area of the world that still burns witches ( im not joking, they do it in the mountains), and i saw a ghost the other day, so i am totally turing into the technological retards that they are here

I hope you get that bike dad, just bid smart, and did I tell you taht i am totally getting my own bike when I get home, that way Ill have my baby when it rains or looks like its going to rain, and my bike for when its good days. so I let you know how that one goes.

Dad I also think you are giving me way too much credit, you know that those 2 girlfriends taht I had were basically pure luck, just ask any of my friends they will tell you the truth, that I seriously was one of the shyest boys youll ever meet.

 well I love you all very much and I hope you have a good week going on, stay safe and read your scriptures daily,
Love
Elder Match
Mission Ecuador Guayaquil Sur
and next week I tell you what telephone number and when to call,
love
JON

Monday, April 19, 2010

Well First off,
             WOW Im so proud of you steven, who ever gets to say that they go to anything nationals, and now you get to, in your junior year might I add, you get to go. so study hard, because this isnt an opportunity you get everyday. really you know Im so dissapointed that I didnt do the whole clinicals thing while I was in high school. instead I just wasted time, didnt study and and took 2 off periods my senior year. seriously steve, dont waste time, but seriously Im so freaking pridefull right now. I have a brother thats going to a national competition in a medical program, its so cool.
             And dad way to go seeing a good money making oppurtunity when it comes in the way. that should be cool your getting a 300+ dollar payout for something you just bought on a whim, but that is also the magic of ebay. and mabye they werent stolen, but they were parents selling something that their son bought and really had no idea how much he paid for it. so seriously way to go for taking advantage of something good.
             Look at all the blessings you are getting from me being here eating rice. and making you spend 400 dollars a month. No but seriously I am so greatfull for the sacrifice you  guys make just so I can be here doing to lords work.
Its so true, this church isnt just a religon you can have, it has to be something you live, thats the biggest problem that the people have here, they just want to have their church and not do anything else about it. but Im here to change that. It is actually quite funny when I see the change people have in the attitudes. ¨its like wow faith without works is dead, I never knew. crazy I actually have to work for my salvation¨ wow. no but the people here are really good people, they just have a few quirks about them that just want me pull out my already falling hair. like the teenagers that have like 16 years, they all just care about drinking and football. but then you just get the one that doesnt have his head in his butt, and he is just so ready to accept the truth. but even with all of their problems i still love them.
         Im so glad the work here is finally progressing. the other elders that were here before me had hurt the work here a little, with disobedience and other things the trust of the members when I got here was basically nonexistent, but now finally after 2 monthes here they are finally opened up to me and are going out w/ me and elder fletcher.
           we have a new investigator that I absolutly love. because finally in my whole mission I have a challenge, i get to use the years of useless studying doctrine. His name is Cristofer Leon. he is a retired air for officer, he was in the ecuatorian air force for 25 years, and now he retired and bought a cacao plantation, he is absolutly awesome because he is smart, and gives us all the fruit we can carry. hes going to be a hard one becaues, he cant come to church. on the plantation they have to constantly watch it because people jump the fences and steal the cacao, so he always walks around with a gun, and its cool. he has dogs that he lets out at night but cant during the day because they would bite them. heres a kicker, he actually knew what raytheon is. who knew. but that was cool were going to have to see what happens with this guy. it should be fun our teaching.
          in the next couple weeks we are also going to have  a couple of baptisms so pics will be coming. So you know what else is coming, Mothers day, yes thats right I said mothers day. i know i wont be able to get you a gift mom, and Im sorry for that, but its ok, and We are going to get to talk on the good ole telephone. actually Im not a big fan of talking to you guys vocally, its makes you too trunky, dont get me wrong I want to, and we will I just know the side effects of said calls.
            So I dont think Ive ever told you guys,but did you know here, we dringk quite a bit of tea. yes i said tea, its all herbal and its a huge part of the culture, to the point of right now in my house I have tea my favorite is an herb called manzanitta and miel. its great. cinnamon is also good. so dont be suprised if I come home and am still addicted to teas.

well nothing else for today. I love you all very much and hope you all have a good day, stay safe, keep the faith
Elder Jonathan Match
Mission Ecuador Guayaquil Sur.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Wow sorry to hear you guys are so sick, I know how that is is not too fun.
So I had no idea that they were going to send you guys a bill saying that I had pneumonia, I didn't even know that I got pneumonia, I thought the doctor only told me it was bronchitis, well I guess my Spanish isn't that good after all :) jk.

not alot is going on here right now, me and elder fletcher are in find mode, we dont have a very strong base of investigatores, there are only a couple and only one of them is of a really good quality.

dad about the car putting stuff togther, there are really only 2 things I want you to put back on before I get back home, 1 the fuel line, I´ll let you do that on your back messy job, and 2 get the doors put back together, I dont care about all of the other little parts, I already know and want to work on them, but the doors I just really dont want to deal with, so not to be all weird figuring that im on another continent, but if you could do those 2 things it would be good. also I just remembered after writing these last 2 paragraphs, one of the front bumper ends has a tear where it connects to the car, so mabye you could also try to find a way to get it epoxied (sp) or something. and two things you need to start thinking of saving up for, the new seats or new leather, and 2. the carpet kit for the car, we have a year before I get home and those 2 things will cost money, so mabye you could start looking to find a deal for those I want white leather for the seats (not sure if im joking) and basic black carpet, also ask brother Bass, and tell him I say hi.
you also said it will wait for someone who loves it, that makes me think you dont love my baby, your 4th grandchild, father I literally take offense and dont know if ill ever talk to you again Jk

it really is so freaking weird the time, I already have 2 monthes being here in milagro. it seems just like yesterday i was in the cyber for the first time writing you guys telling that I was here in another city. I can honestly say Im away from all appearence of homesickness, or feeling like I want to be home, there is nowhere else i would want to be right now but in ecuador. I wont lie there are those days when I think of home but its not like a trunky kind of thinking its more of like thinking of old rugby games and jokes and things that we did so yeah it is a little crazy. so dont be worried about making me trunky, it dosent work the same anymore.

so Im sorry you guys had to sit through ANOTHER of one of moms girl movie marathons, I still dont understand how she is able to watch that garbage, I´m  here in ecuador and I´ve learned to understand why these people can live in cane houses with plasma tvs, but I still dont understand how mom could be entertained by that, no just kidding mom I know thats what you like, I mean look at me I just wrote a giant paragraph on what I want dad to do a machine sitting in my garage 2 continents away, so really the adage its true ¨to each his own¨ right.

Mom why were you cooking for bro wetten what happened, did his wife get sick or something, Im just a little confused at the situation I just dont knowwhy. but actually this general conference was really good. I had 2 favorite talks, the first was by that member or the presiding  bishopric, and the other was by elder holland ( as always) right now I dont remember what they said I just remember that they wre good, Im still waiting though to get the liahona in english so that I can see and read what they actually said, as of right now I just got out of it what I understood in spanish.

Like I said the work here is going a little slow, we have right now 2 investigatores with a baptismal date right now the only problem is that one of them didnt  come to church and so he was going to get baptised this saturday and now I dont know. Im even thinking that were going to have to drop him for a while.so you can see the little bit of stress that im having to deal with, especially now that I am making the majority of the decisions, I have my friend arturo, and I have to decide, If im going to keep trying to bring him his personal salvation, or if i just drop him and hope that it all works out in the end, this is the worst part of missionary work that we almost never talk about, all these stupid, idiotic gut wrenching decisions.
I also have another investigator named geronimo, yes said like the people yell when they jump. but he is really good, he was an ex investigator and we had to drop him for a while because the wife is absolutly crazy, like seriously she is an anti christ, she has a pesonal vendetta against us just because we are mormons, she has never listened to us and I dont know if she ever will, about a month and a half ago, she came out and was yelling at  us saying that we were only trying to take her husband to the church so that he could meet other women. so yeah shes a little crazy. but hes great and I dont care, were going to baptize him.

today was cool, as a district we all went out to the finca, it was basically a fam that one of the branch presidents own. and it was super cool because there was everthing, miles of rice fields and all the different fruit trees, I took a bunch of pics, but the freaking cumputer Im sitting at dosent have  a usb slot so pics to come, but we climbed up these hills and when we got to the top, we found out that they are actually burial mounds of old ecuadorian indian (lamanite) leaders, the govermanet had already takin out like 3 people and there were still more, burried with all their treasure and booby traps in the hill, so it was really cool. then we went to this cane house that was up on stilts, and  looked at all the cool artifacts that they had found, beads, and plates, and teeth, way cool stuff.

its so weird but just fyi elder fletcher is like my coolest best comp ever, I want to know if the others that trained felt this way
 about the box the pics you send, just to remind you Id like like 2 or 3 of me playing rugby, just so I can brag.

well thats all Ive got for right now, I hope your all doing good and are safe, and staying out of trouble,
I love you all and hope you have a good week,

Love
Elder Match

Monday, April 5, 2010

Hi Family hows it going. I just got your letters and im not going to lie, mom and stevens were ok, but I couldnt really understand dads. It didnt really make sense. Im just hoping that thats from the meds hes on from being sick.

So this week has gone pretty good, Im just getting settled in with elder fletcher and things are going really well, he has a strong desire to work and dosent like being lazy. but also hes just so tuckered out at the end of the day that we come home plan and then he passes out. I remember the beginning of a mission is hard. you dont know whats going on, the food is different and you dont really understand anything they are saying. but hes dilligently studying the language and in a month or two he will be fine with the spanish.
but really its so weird to have a gringo comp. hes new and just always suprised at everything, I know I was the same but its still weird to be seeing it happen.

Speaking about weird food, one of my favorite things to eat here is called guatita (gwa-tee-taa) and its made with potatoes and a penut sauce and the best part is the tripe ( for those of you who dont know, Cow stomach) I dont know why you would think the combination of those things would be really gross, but i love it, it has a good taste and the only thing wrong with the tripe is that its a little rubbery and the texture is the same as like tounge ( also really good) so thats just one of the weird things that im eating all the time here and just have never bothered to tell you guys about it.

so it was so weird I was sitting in the priesthood session of conference and I realized wow dad and steven are sitting there listening to the exact same thing Im hearing just like 3000 miles away. really I am so gratefull that you guys actually took the time to raise me well and teach me the gospel. if you never did I would not be sitting herer right now in ecuador typing this. I would probably be a t college doing bad stuff and just trying to get on with my life, I am so gratefull for all of the blessings that have been coming with the mission. mostly my personality has been changing, Yeah I still joke around with my friends, and now that elder halls lives next door we are constantly joking around. but the change of person that I have had and the change that is still going on in me is amazing. sure I still have my little bumps and imperfections, but everyday those are going away as I am here walking and preaching the gospel. and just think If you guys never taught me the gospel all that and this would never have happened, so really thank you.

during the conference sessions. me and fletcher decided to just stay and chill watch the news and whatever else came on. after the report it was a church school propaganda video. talking about the byu schools and what was there. wow it was so freaking trunky to watch that, I had to force myself to just sit there and remember, jon you still got a year left of this. but that was just one of the funny things that happened.

so the thing about here is the people dont really care about conference all that much. on saturday at the 2 sessions only like 50 people were there. and thats from all of the city, not just our ward.then priesthood there were a little more, then it his easter morning, more than 700 people came to the first session of conference, and yoiu know how many came to the second... like 75
in total, it was like the people were like ok I went to church in the morning, its done now I dont have to go again, think only 10% Of the people that came to the sun morn session came to the afternoon session. so it was a little wake up call, I was a little weirded out.

well thats all thats going on in my life, Im still going to be sitting here at the comp for a little bit, so if youve got a question or comment speak it now. or forever hold your peace ( forever=next monday)

I love you all very much and hope you have a good safe week
Elder Match

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Yesterday I went into guayaquil to get my new companero, His name is elder fletcher and is from mesa arizona, so I guess president thought I was ready to get a gringo comp. They told me it was harder training a gringo than a latino, and I guess they were right, he basically dosent speak spanish, but is really good and he shows alot of promise, well have to see as the change goes on but I feel really good about training, but I still feel nervous and like I dont know what Im doing.
Love you ALL lots
Elder Match

Monday, March 29, 2010

HI, First of all, you are making it seem like im going to be all mentally scared from getting robbed, Like I told dad other than losing my stuff its not like it was a bad robery, a bad attempted robbery was when I was in guayaquil and I had to punch a ladrone( you can say its like gangster) and chase him off, I know you guys want to know all that is going on in my life, here in ecuador, but the thing is there is a time and place to tell you all the crazy stories that I have and that will be in a year when I come home. I know you want to know, so I promise if something serious serious happens I will be sure to let you know,
 Im so sorry that grandma is fighting with aunt shyrll and uncle gary, it just seems like another one of there stupid pointless situations. I hope shes having a good time though with her new husband ( yeah I know it sounds so weird) and things will pass, thats the way the world works, everything passes, the only thing that is eternal is god, so just let the life pass and worry about the future.
 
So in the mission news, Big big news, today we had changes and when everyone left the bus station  I was left with 2 other elders, why, because Im going to be training. Its super crazy, because spencer said that they are training at their 3rd transfer, here we dont train until our 6th or 7th, so were going to have to see what happens, it should be really cool, oh and remember my companion from the mtc elder halls, well hes coming to milagro to be the new zone leader, so there are some really big changes going on here in the zone, almost every companionship  had a change so it should be fun to see how it all turns out.Im not going to lie I never want to have to kill another companion other than myself every again, yeah sure it was cool with elder ortiz but the level of trunkyness with this elder was unbelievable, he also didnt like the rules, before you ask I was ready to strangle this elder befor the end of the change. but now I get a new comp, so I get to go from trunky, to homesick. were going to have to see how these changes go.
 
  other mission news is that this change for the first time since president started, I think we got highter than the goal for baptisms, the goal is 180 every change, but we newver reached it, however I think that we did it this change, in milagro alone we baptized 39 people so we are all excited to see how president reacts.
 
dad you asked me about my shoe size, I have size 11D boots, so that would be cool, about the box, just do what you guys did last time, use the international flat rate, I feel that its the safest way to get here without having to pay alot of money, yeah sure Ill have to pay like 4 bucks, but thats just becuase I am in a country that doesnt even compare to the states with these kind of things.
 
I know that sounds harsh on ecuador, but I seriously love it here, I am just also seeing how much better it could be, and how even when we think that things are bad in the states they are actually really good.thats my little ramble.
 
dad about the car, my plan is to get home spend the first 2 weeks or so getting my car in tip top shape, and finding a job, then Ill enroll in school to get on the insurance and well see where it goes from there. there are also other factors, but all that dosent make a difference, because I am here for at least 1 year more, actually its a a lttle mas than a year, its like 13 and 1/2 monthes until I come home, so Im just going to continue working here and not think about it,
 
but cool story I was reading one of your old email that you sent me, it was in my suitcase and I was looking for something else, but I saw the email and read it, it was form the week of thanks giving, you said something I liked, ¨jon it wont be over tomorrow, but pretty soon it will be christmas, then youll blink it will be april and youll be counting down¨ wow I didnt realize it but your profecy came true, that is exactly how it feels, I seriously cant belie christmas was like 4 monthes ago, I dont like to talk about time, because it is going so fast, I cant slow it down, I want to but I cant, a full change will a trunky comp, went by in the blink of an eye, and my better changes even faster, so the lessoon here is in life we need to take advantage of the here and now, because if we wait, it will go past us so fast that we dont have time to fix or do something, if you guys have someting to do, in a calling, or in the life, do it now .
 
well thats about all I got for today, you know what I would like in my box, so I wont say it, if there is anyother information you want I let you guys know later, probably on wed or thurs Ill let you guys know who is my new comp`.
 
Well I love you lots and hope your all safe, saying prayers and dilligently reading you scriptures,
Love
Elder Jonathan Match
ps LOTS of beef jerkey ( I couldnt help myself)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Hey dad I need you to as soon as possible transfer all of that money out of my card, on Monday my manual got robbed, because it was pday I had all my stuff, my recommend, my id and my 2 credit cards, We weren't in a rush  because I was under the impression that there were only like 15 dollars on my card. Ive already talked with president johns and were getting the rest of the things under control, I'm alright I'm just a little stressed out right now.
Ill talk to you guys later about what we can do, but if were going to get me a new card, the simplest way to get it here safely, is send one of those padded big yellow envelopes that the post office has, keep it under 2 pounds, buy a hallmark card and in that put the card, then put those cards in a sealed envelope, that way when you send the package it will just look like one of the cards your sending me, I am really sorry that this happened, but its part of being a missionary in a  3rd world country, I am sorry.
Love You very much
Elder Match
PS Beef Jerky

Monday, March 22, 2010

sorry fam but I wont be able to write you guys again today, Im out of time, I just hope you all have a good week and stay safe,
I love you all very much
Elder Jonathan Match
hey family Im actually goning to send two emails today because in 15 minutes I have to go to the church, me and and the other 6 elders and 2 sisters of my district we are going to go grille and have a lunch togehter.. wow so I cant believe it snowed, once again there in texas, I  am so mad, the one winter I go away from home to a super hot tropical climate, it snows and youguys get a super awesome winter, so it really is not fair.
wow it sounds like you guys had a cool busy week Im glad that you got to see aj and the family, it would be cool to see you guys but Im here doing my part, and its ok if you guys take care of your bodies and stay safe well see eachother in about a year, so its all good.

dad said it was time to send pics so that what Im doing I got a couple cool ones here, there is one from when we made tacos, and one that shows how much weight Im losing and how my  pants are. I did tell you guys that my companion is from oaxaca mexico, didnt I, well thats wree hes from. also one form how our road was 2 weeks ago after a rain storm, it was literally a river.

this week Ill try to take some pics of my sector and house so you can see what I was talking about, the sector im in right now is really humble,  you need to realize that the people here all work out on the big bananna plantations and only make about 1000 dollars a year, the people are only taking like 30 dollars a week, so its real humble, and its not like we are eating a big ole texas size steak, ( just so you know that is what I want to eat the first night I get home wink wink)

 yeah so Im heading out right now for the grille out, so Ill email you guyss a little later with whats all going on in my sector this week.

love yall lots
elder jonathan match