Friday, February 24, 2012

It's Almost Been A Month!

E.E (Elder Edwards) has almost been gone a month now and we know he is keeping himself busy because we are getting less emails/letters than the first two weeks. But we are happy he is working hard. Here is a short update we received:

"My companion and I got called to be zone leaders! Its' sweet. I get to plan who speaks in sacrament, meet/orient the new missionaries, become friends with all 6 sister missionaries and tell people what to do haha. There's a 50% chance that Madi will be in my branch which means I get to give her the run down and orient her on her first day!"

He also sent a bunch of pics which I will try and get scanned ASAP and load them onto the blog.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

For The Blog.

Elder Edwards sent this letter with instructions it be "for the blog".

"Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing good! The MTC is going great. I got to take my companion through the temple for his first endowment session which was a great experience! I've been learning a ton about the gospel the Portuguese language and the culture of Cape Verde! I know i'm not quite ready to get out there yet but i'm sooo excited for that day to come! -Elder Edwards"

A few corresponding tidbits from emails/letters we have gotten from Matt this week:
Matt's companions name is Elder Haile (High-Lee).
Elder Haile didn't have access to a temple before entering the mission field so that is why his first time through was with Matt once his arrived in Provo.
Matt  has been sending letters to the neighborhood family included in my letters to save on stamps. So if any of you have more than one mailbox check them both because I delivered 8 this week from him.
Matt is loving the letters and emails. Keep 'em coming!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Bits And Pieces.

The following are bits and pieces from the letters/emails we have received from Matt this last week. I feel really spoiled because we have heard from him almost every day since he went into the MTC. Once his leaves for Cape Verde on March 27th I know we will not be so fortunate.

January 30. 2012:
"The portuguese is going pretty good. Most of the stuff i've been learning is all church related so luckily I know some other stuff from rosetta but I have a portuguese book for you that will teach you all the church related things you'll need to know. haha go nora! that's my girl! I can just see her being soo good at portuguese. I can email everytime I do laundry (which is once a week) and then everytime that I go to our computer lab. so like 3 times a week maybe 4. I know that if you pray you can find an answer to anything :) And that is the most beautiful name that there could ever be for my car! GO SHIVA!"

Januray 31, 2012 (Letter):
"Ola! Tudo Beun" (Hi, Everybody Good) Thank you guys soooo much for the care package! This letter is addressed to everyone due to lack of time. I wish I could write each of you because I ahve so much to say to each and everyone of you! So far the MTC is not what I had expected. It's a lot more fun and interesting that I thought it would be and leaving Salt Lake and the fam has not been very easy. Seriously the C.P (care package) and all of your guy's letters made my whole week! All my companions are soo jealous!! My main companion is awesome. He's from Ethiopia and is just the nicest/funniest kid ever. He's the first missionary ever to come to the Provo MTC from Ethiopia! Because of this he's super popular and everyone wants to talk to us and be our amigos haha. Learning Portuguese has been really interesting. The first thing they teach you is how to pray in Portuguese which I found rather interesting. day 3 in the MTC we ahd to teach an investigator (byu student) that only speaks Portuguese! I would've been screwed if it wasn't for Rosetta Stone. Everyone is jealous I am "learning" way faster than them :) Ebones, I don't know how you gained weight here! The food is pretty good but the gym is awesome! Also, so lame they didn't let you guys come say goodbye, that was buggin' me that whole day! I ended up waiting for 30 minutes because I was the first to arrive. I hope to hear back soon. Signed Elder Edwards de A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos ultimos dias. Tchau!"

February 2, 2012:
"It's great to hear that my babies are doing so well! If I wasn't in a place of reverence, I'd give a shiva shout out! Speaking of those little brats, tell them I love them and miss getting hugs from them! And in your guys' next care package, it would be highly appreciated if you could include the following: more ties, a set of those metal collar things to keep your collar looking steezy and then an address book with all of the addresses I need :) Hope you're doing well. With love, Elder Edwards"

February 3, 2012:
"Sweet to know the tie package is in persuit. I need some sweet ones that are worthy to trade with my ethiopian companion. As of now I can't think of anything else that I need but I did find out that my letter from my mish pres went to someone else and I found out after we get to the main island we can only take one suitcase under 44 pounds and one carry on under 11 pounds from island to island so I'm probably gonna end up sending a bunch of stuff back. No in my room There's four of us. Love Uncle Matt"