February 27, 2012

I am glad Preston is getting back to his old self! It has been really cool though because our District has come closer together because of Preston, when I read the letters my companion and the other Elders in my district could tell something was wrong so I told them about Preston and they have been praying for him ever since they found out. Elder Prenoveau who is in our district is kind of a crazy guy and has done some pretty crazy things in his life, but one night he game up to me in my bed and looked at me in the eye and said your brother is going to be ok. Also he said one night he was on his knees praying and he felt he needed to pray about something before he finished his prayer but he wasn’t sure what, he then turned around and saw me praying and remembered Preston and said that that was what he needed to Prayer for.

Elder Fitzgerald is on a Football Scholarship and it is actually for Southern Utah State University. We typically have one companionship inventory a week. My companion and I are doing pretty well and we talk really well with each other. Elder Preneveau and Elder Awbery are having a hard time especially Elder Awbery, he is trying so hard, and he is just really struggling. Also his family does not send him a lot of letters.

I saw the Carmichael’s Nephew (Wilhelm) for the first time last night, he is in a different Branch and so our schedules are completely different, he seems like a really awesome guy though. There are also three other Elders who are going to Angola in 10 days I think. They just got their flight plans and they fly to Texas and then have a 5 hour layover. Then they fly to London have a 10 hour Layover and then fly to Angola. I think they will end up getting there two and a half days after they leave with the time zone switching. Oh would you or Dad be able to call that one lady about my Visa her phone number and name are in my missionary packet? The other Elders that are going to Angola said that the second week they had to fly to New York and meet with an Ambassador from Angola and get finger printed and stuff. So would you be able call her and see if I am going to have to do that and find out how my visa is coming along? Thanks!

I have seen the Palmers, Wesley Ashcroft, Doug Gillette, James Wirthlin, Rachel Robinson, Morgon Rogers (she works here at the MTC). It is a lot of fun to see them around.

I go to the Temple Monday Mornings at 7:20, for some reason the Provo temple is open then. So that is kind of a bummer (we won’t be able to attend at the same time). Thank you so much for the Dear Elders they are great!

I am not quite sure how to send pictures … I will let you know though. I should be able to get back onto my email around 1:00 or 2:00 again so if you want to know anything else or if you just want to write me again… I will probably get it and I will be able to respond Love you! Mom!

Pops!-Thanks so much for the letter it is very comforting to know that things are going well with work and everything! Thank you for your testimony it really does help me a lot. I think I felt a lot of the same pain you did as you were with Preston. I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives and how it blesses families. Thank you so much I love you!

Braden-Thanks for the letter Bro. That’s a bummer that you got rejected! I feel your pain I think I got rejected… oh wait I don’t think I ever got rejected!  Haha Just kidding Bro just keep up the hard work. I definitely know what you mean about how this is a different hard work and there is a little bit of a twist thrown into it. Its funny because I feel like this is one of the hardest things I have done, but when I take a step back and look at it, it is not really that hard. It is kind of a weird feeling. I am stressing a little bit about the language, but not too much.  I am doing really well with the Lords help. The Spanish that I had in High School really has helped me because there are pretty much all of the same rules, a lot of the words are the same or similar but they are pronounced a little bit differently. What has been the most stressful is teaching in Portuguese! But one of our teachers Irmao Peterson (he was our first investigator) taught us a lesson. And he showed/taught us the first lesson and I felt the spirit so strong and then he had us practice teaching, with hardly any preparation. And it was really good for all of us. In our Lessons we were pretty much just reading things in Portuguese, but with this practice with out hardly any preparation, it showed me and my companion that we can teach in Portuguese with our just reading stuff. I am a lot less nervous to teach now. After the instruction with our teacher I felt like I just wanted to talk in Portuguese all of the time and for about 5 minutes I did not want to talk in English at all. That feeling soon left though But I know the Lord is blessing me with the gift of tongues.

I have been struggling with Personal study too. I have been having a hard time because normally when I study my scriptures or even pray I am normally alone by myself and I feel like I can really feel the spirit, but now I am with others and it is hard to really feel the Spirit strongly. Also the Elders in my district kind of feel the Personal Study Time, means Free time, so it is really hard to dive deep into the scriptures, but we are definitely doing better, and my companion has really fallen in love with the scriptures, he pretty much does not know any of the book of Mormon stories and so he read about Ammon the other day and loved it! So that is good, but I am having a hard time feeling the Spirit really strongly. I do not know if I have any advice for you, but I feel like I am going through some similar things. Love you man thanks for your Prayers!!

Thanks so much Rach! I love you so much! Don’t worry you are an awesome sister! Thanks for always being there for me and being an awesome older sister! I love you Joe and Joshy Boy so much! How is Joshy Boy doing? and Joe in School? I hope they are doing well. Tell Joshy Boy I love him and give a Kiss for me!! and show him lots of pictures of me so he doesn’t forget me! Love you so much Rach love you!

This is where we are from . . . 

This is where we are going!

We have an Elder here in our Zone, Elder Curtis who is a Quarter Back for Utah State, I think he Red Shirted this past year and then he will play after his mission, but he is a really good basketball player too and we were playing the other day and he was about two or three feet behind the three point line, and it was about time for our gym time to be over so I told him you better shoot it and he didn’t so I stole the ball from him turned around and shot a three from about 3 feet behind the line and made  it. Probably 5 seconds later a person came over the microphone and said that gym time was over, it was pretty sweet! Then the other day he was about 7 feet behind the line and he looked like he wanted to shoot it and I said “its too far” and he kind of smiled at me and was like “what!” then he shot it and drilled it! So then everyone told me to top it so I went up and shot it from about 7 feet behind the line and drilled it. Then Elder Curtis went back to about 10 feet behind the line and drilled it! Then I went to top, but missed it, just to the right. IT was a sick little battle though. Love you family. Thanks everyone for the letters they are a lot of fun to get! Hope you guys have a great week! Love you guys!