Jason after Christmas!....
Hola a todos!
Happy new year everybody! It was great to hear from you all! I'm especially glad I got to talk with Matt. It's always kinda strange talking with the family. Although I do have to say that I'm glad for email. It seems like I'm still pretty up to speed on everything going on over there. So I'm not learning any crazy things about you over the phone hehehe. We're separated but we're still united!
It is crazy to hear about Nikki though! Holy crud man! That has got to be one of the weirdest things ever. I remember playing with her as kids at MamaJo and PapaDe's house. I know it's a bit cliche but.... IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY! So what does that make her kid to us anyway? Mom is a Great Aunt and all but will it be like our second cousin or something? Just wondering ; )
Anyway, It's gonna be awesome when Ryan goes into the MTC! Ryan you have to write me one last email before you go in man. I gotta hear from you. I guess this letter I have for you will go you you in the MTC. I'm terrible at sending these things off!
You will meet a lot of missionaries in the MTC and in the field that don't like to be obedient. You may be companions with one or you may get to be friends with some. Above all, do not let anyone make you think that disobedience is okay. You have the potential to do great things in your mission and I want to see you reach that potential. Wake up on time every day no matter how hard it is. Do your studies every morning. You'll never have that much gospel study time again in your life. Excercise in the mornings too. Honestly that will set the tone for the rest of your day. It'll also keep you from gaining weight. (Obviously this Elder was lacking in that at the beginning of his mission ; ) I can never say enough to BE OBEDIENT!!!!! Otherwise you'll just be one of those missionaries that is just there, coasting until the end. Love ya bro.! Good job on your farewell talk. Keep up the good work!
Anyway, I'm going to buy a camera right now!!!!! I love you all a bunch! Thanks for the money! Glad to hear that Holton is doing so well! Yay for serving missions!!!!!! WHOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!
Elder J. Otis
By the way mom, that story of Pushing The Rock was awesome. I always enjoy the things you send! Thanks!
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Dec 22nd Matt...
Hey Mom,
So, I'm feeling kind of lazy today(well I didn't sleep much last night and had about 12 hours of train riding) and since I'm going to be talking to you in a few days, I'm going to keep this email short. So I would like to answer your questions.
So, you have some investigators? We do, but we don't have any that are really going anywhere at this moment. Our one "golden" investigator fell off the map. We just can't get a hold of him, he only gave us his home number and his mom told me to never call back again. So I think his parents probably talked him out of getting baptised/meeting with us. He is by no means young, he's 29 but lives with his parents (Russia is a whole different world lol).
How is that going? Trying to find more right now to give my companion a good start on the next transfer.
Do you have a better bed to sleep on in this apartment? Well, I sleep better on it, but it's just a mattress on the floor.
Do the Elders run your branch in Kurgan? No, we have a Branch President, he just has a hard time giving people callings and has us do way too much (we are working on that right now).
How did your zone meeting go? Really good. Christmas zone conferences are a lot more relaxed and are just really spiritually uplifting. I was asked to bear my testimony (it was my last zone conference so it was my last testimony). President Allen of course spoke to us, but we didn't do practices or anything. Instead we watched a slide show of pictures from the mission, it was a lot of fun. Then afterwords we went out to eat at a restaurant called "Casa de mia." It was pretty good. Then we went back and we had our interviews with President Allen, and we watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift." I highly recommend seeing that movie, it was amazing and really makes you realize how much of a gift this life is and what we can do with it.
Well, I hope you have a very merry Christmas, I can't wait to talk to you! I love you all so much, and can't wait to hear your voices again.
Love,
Matt
p.s. Please send my number to Jason so he can call me. Thanks.
- Show quoted text -
Mondays letter...
Hey Mom, Hey Family!
That's pretty crazy that Nikki's going to have a baby! That's exciting news, and it's also exciting that Ryan is heading out pretty soon! Just about a week eh? You'll do great on a mission, just follow the advice I gave you and the advice in that story you sent me. All I can say about that story is AMEN, it's 100% true. That's pretty much the story of my mission.
So my companion and I had a pretty good week. On Christmas the sisters had a baptism. So that's what the pictures are of that I'm sending you today. Also there is a picture of our district. So the baptism went really well, the lady that got baptized is the mom of a really strong member who just recently got back from her mission in Novosibirsk. So she was really excited about her mom getting baptized. Then we had our Christmas activity. It went really well, but unfortunately the missionaries planned it and did it all. I'm trying to work on that right now, we do way too much in this branch. But anyway, on Sunday my companion did confirmed Zoiya. He was really nervous and scared but he did a great job and I was proud of him. Also on Saturday, we went caroling...all day long! We went caroling with the sisters and walked all across Kurgan visiting members and investigators and it was really cool. I think we lifted a lot of hearts, the members had never had carolers come before so it was a new experience for them. And all their neighbors heard (we sang in apartment buildings) so we might have done some missionary work in the process. So it was a great day, I thought my feet were going to fall off by the time we got done though, we walked a ton! =).
But I think that's pretty much all I have for you today. I'm just trying to do all I can with the time that I have left. I'm going to try and buy everything I need today and get that out of the way. Well, I'll write to you again next week, it'll be my last one. I wish you a Merry Christmas! and a Happy New Year.
Matt
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