Oh, goodness. I'll be replying this way to the emails from now on. So yeah. Got into Nashville Thursday night, ate dinner and slept at the mission president's home. President & Sister McKee, by the way. It was pretty good. Then Friday I got assigned a companion, and started working. It's interesting. A work in process. My companion is Elder Monson. He's half Japanese and lived in Hawaii for eight years. The first eight years. So that's cool. He's going to make some kind on seaweed, rice and spam thing to eat one of these days. Nine of us came from the MTC, which boosted numbers here from low twenties to around 30. There were a few areas they were going to close that they don't need to now. I'm in one of em. It's pretty good. The Spanish branch was recently joined with the ward. By the way, the name of the place and area is Columbia. Columbia Spanish. Because of the join, we need headsets for translating to Spanish, and it makes things a bit more difficult. The first Sunday we had here was actually a stake conference, so I'll be seeing next Sunday. We're figuring things out, however. Reactivating people, finding people. It's somewhat hard to just go tracting here because you have to choose which houses would be speaking Spanish, because we don't want to go knocking all the English doors. We're getting things done now though. A work in progress, yes, but we'll make the best of it. Anyways. It's nice here. Temperature wise. Not really very humid so far. I'm blanking, more or less. There's plenty of religions here. Catholics, Christians, Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church of Christ, and everything in between, or split off. It makes things interesting. I haven't been in any confrontations yet. We did talk for a while with a Jehovah's witness lady yesterday, which was good. Anyways, for the second time. Well, I decided that I might say a bit more here. Spanish is going well. I can understand just about everything the natives say, or through context I get it. Well, depends on who. But around 80-90 percent. Argentina speech will be harder though. A bunch of slang. That's what'll be the hardest. Well, I'll learn. It'd be cool to run into an Argentina family here, but it's fairly unlikely. Ummmm. I'm learning. This mission covers basically all of Tennessee and parts of Kentucky and a little bit of Illinois. I'm not really big city here in Columbia. Not really spread out but not so close like the neighborhoods in Mesa. I realize reading the line I wrote, that it sounds funny. I'm not really big city. Heh. Hopefully everyone thinks I'm weird. It's a fairly big area. I'm still figuring it out. We will be getting bikes later this week. We have a car every two days, sharing with the English elders. Things are good. I'm working through everything, hopefully in a smart way.
Sara Anne & Matthew - Calling it a bubble wrap cover makes me think you just bought bubble wrap and threw it over the top. That'd be cool. That ceiling needs no touch up work. I worked on it, so it's perfect, no doubt. It's nice to sleep in a good bed. The ones here are actually pretty sweet. Not huge, but fairly comfortable. I almost typed fairy comfortable which could work too. Gardenia. Lots of fragrance. I hope you have it in a pot, or raised off the ground somehow. It's necessary. Swimming is nice. Water is good too. Yup, I'm not sure either.
Dad - Interesting. To some degree I've thought of all that before while studying. Not so much in depth or specific as Elder Pratt, but it's good. I think there's still things I need to learn from that chapter. If nothing else, I need to feel its importance. One thing that I had a ton of time for in the MTC was just idle studying. Out here it needs be a bit more specific. I'm learning to concentrate more while studying and keep my focus. I'm learning to prepare for everything before it even happens. Planning is good when done right. But it is a process.
Matt - Towel. Hmph. My brain is also tired of thinking today, and it's not even 1 o clock yet. I could also use some muffins. They sound scrumptious. We've eaten at a few homes already and the food is pretty good. I tend to hiccup when I eat something spicy enough so I started doing that a little bit yesterday. But it was good. I like the word good. It translates well into Spanish as well - bueno. I am learning to take more pictures. My companion from the MTC took a ton. I need to get some of here so I remember it. Writing also will be something to do. Hmmmnng. That poem was actually fairly interesting. Not a favorite, but it went pretty well together.
Alex - Good thing New York went well. But you lost your wallet? And 70 bucks? And pretended you were 15? Especially because you're really an 18 year old. Oh, boy. Sounds like you've got a few things going on. You should enjoy them. Columbia here has been good so far. Nothing crazy yet. I'll make the best of it.
Mom - Good that Ty went. Game night sounds fun. I kinda forgot it was Easter. We got some slightly weird jelly bean eggs, though. We ate at a member's home, the Abac's. They're from Guatemala. They cooked a bunch of meat. It was quite similar to how Matt and I once ate at Michael's house. They just threw a bunch of meat on the grill, cooked some beans, had tortillas, and ate it. A lot of meat. Like a bunch. It was good. I am starting to miss food, though. I don't know if it's possible that Ty is more awkward than me with a baby, however. It's pretty tough. And by saying pretty I'm understating. There's a word for that that I learned in the MTC that I just can't recall at the moment. Nashville is temporary, until we get visas. They just had a group of visa waiters, to Mexico, who had left the week before. That's why they were going to have to close some areas. It just depends on when they get the visas. I've heard so many mixed things about the consulate that I really can't inform you with any real sense of clarity. But it'll happen eventually. Probably within a transfer, but possibly longer. It's weird because visas come individually but I think they send us out as a group, so even if someone gets their visa soon they'll wait longer to be sent until a certain number of the group have visas. I'm probably just making things complicated. Yeah.
Family Letter April 9, 2012
Happy Easter. Hope you're enjoying the change in scenery there in Tennessee. we've been busy around home but not too busy.
We got a bubble wrap cover for the pool so Matt won't have to clean it as often. It should also help keep the pool warmer so we can start swimming sooner. Shouldn't be long if the weather continues the way it has. We bought a new fan for our bedroom so Matt's been doing some touch up work to the ceiling and is switching out the fan. I'll be happy with it, I just wish it had come with a remote. We're basically done staining the bed frame. The stain we chose has not been wanting to dry as quickly as it said it should. Hopefully I'll get my bedroom back by the end of the week. I've gotten a little tired of sleeping in the game room.
Not sure what else to tell you about so I'll just leave you with this plant description of Gardenia jasminoides 'Veitchii'.
Design Ideas
With its low, dense growth, this Gardenia is a favorite for limited space. Mounding habit is complementary in Asian-inspired gardens and on mounds with boulders where it appears to spill down a slope. Best planted close to outdoor living spaces in heavy ceramic pots or raised planters to enjoy the lovely fragrance. Keep away from big bushy shrubs which can overwhelm this smaller Gardenia.
Companion Plants
Combine this fragrant beauty with other woodland shrubs and perennials like Masterwort, Coral Bells, Camellia and Evergreen Azalea. Create a tropical container planting for your patio or deck with Mandevilla, Elephant Ears, Agapanthus and Fuchsia.
History
Gardenia is a native of China where it has been cultivated for over a thousand years. Plants reached America directly from Asia in 1761 where John Ellis cultivated the plants at his Yeshoe Plantation. These would be the progenitor for all camellias in England. Ellis named the genus for his friend, Dr. Garden, a physician of Charleston, South Carolina. In the Victorian language of flowers the gardenia came to symbolize secret love. It is a favorite flower for corsage due to its heady fragrance.
Matt and Sam
Nick,
Here some wisdom from my lesson Jacob chapter 5:
Use it to study the metaphors from the Allegory of the Olive Trees
Vineyard = The world.
Tame olive tree = The house of Israel (v3).
Wild olive tree = The Gentiles (those who are not of the house of Israel by birth).
Master of the vineyard = The Lord.
The servant = A prophet or prophets.
Grafting natural branches into the wild trees = Branches of Israel dispersed among Gentiles.
Grafting wild branches into the natural tree = Adoption of Gentiles into Israel.
Nephi defined grafting as coming "to the knowledge of the true Messiah" (1 Nephi 10:14).
Pruning, nourishing, and cultivating = The work of the Lord and his servants to save their people.
Natural fruit = Faithful Saints and their righteous works, worthy of eternal life (v61).
Wild fruit = Unfaithful individuals and their unrighteous works.
Elder Pratt’s commentary: Outline of the history of the world played out in the story of the olive grove.
5:4—FIRST VISIT, PRE-CHRIST. He cares about the tree.
5:7—House of Israel conquered by Asyrria, Babylon, Rome
5:13—Isles distant from Palestine.
5:14—Ten tribes in the north. Some of Judah and Joseph in American. Others, upon isles.
5:15—SECOND VISIT, EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Six or seven centuries.
5:17—The Gentiles in the Apostles’ days
5:20—First group. Place unknown
5:23—Second group. Place unknown
5:24—Third group. Place unknown
5:25—Fourth group. America. Tame fruit = Nephites. Wild fruit = Lamanites.
5:26—Lamanites
5:29—THIRD VISIT, RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL. About 18 centuries. Joseph Smith.
5:30—All sorts of fruit = Sects of Christendom.
5:38—Distant isles
5:40—Wild fruit = Lamanites. Good fruit = Nephites.
5:43—Nephites. America.
5:44—Jaredites.
5:45—Lamanites overcame the Nephites.
5:46—Present condition of the Indians (Present meaning, of course, the turn of the 20th Century, and Indians meaning Native Americans)
5:48—The branches tried to support themselves rather than relying on the root.
5:50—Christ is always our Advocate.
5:52—Branches whose fruit is most bitter = The more wicked portions of the Gentiles.
5:54—Roots = The scattered branches of Israel. The branches of this tree = The believing Gentiles. [Graft them in unto] them, the roots = Scattered Israel.
5:55—The believing Gentiles numbered with the believing of scattered Israel.
5:56—The believing of scattered Israel numbered with the believing of the Gentiles.
5:57—Those ripened for destruction.
5:63—The last that may be first = Gentiles. The first that may be last = Israel.
5:70—Servant = Joseph Smith. Other servants = Those called through Joseph Smith. (I differ with Elder Pratt on this one: It makes more sense to me that the servant is always Christ, and Joseph Smith is one of the other servants.)
5:76—MILLENIUM. For a long time = 1,000 years.
5:77—JUDGMENT
Good for your personal study and growth. One of the blessings you are entitled to as a missionary is an increased understanding of the scriptures through study(ponder), prayer, & obedience - The reason is that as a missionary you should have their life in alignment with the spirit and be able to receive and understand the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
Love Dad
Towel,
Happy Easter! I made muffins this morning after taking Ty back the airport. Blueberry, and I had to tell Mom she couldn't eat all of them. I hear you're off to Tennessee for a bit. Hope that goes well for you - it's cool you get to see what it's like back there. Should be getting warmer at least. My brain is tired of thinking today - I even lost Scrabble spectacularly.
This week has been long feeling. Part of it is probably that work was really slow due to the Easter holidays. I'm getting towards the end of this school semester though. Guess what? I went in your old room the other day and a very enterprising little spider had made a nice string of web from the ceiling to your door and then across to the bed on the other side of the room. I would have liked to see it at work - I'm interested in how it pulled the line taught from the door all the way to the bed...
The church has some newer bible videos on the life of Christ that I was watching on their website. They did a pretty good job. They seemed kind of quiet, but I think they might have been going for that. They had the relevant scriptures listed out right below the video so you could read what sections of scriptures it covered - a nice touch.
I hope you enjoy getting out in the field. Just do what you are supposed to and trust that the rest will come accordingly. Also, take pictures and write in your journal. I was looking over my pictures and I am annoyed by two things. One, I don't have more of them, and two, I don't remember everything as well as I used to. The names of places, people, and things is fuzzy around the edges. It's kind of cool to re-tract the paths in my head though. Anyways, keep it all up. And by the way, because his school would not allow him to have dogs Lord Byron came back with pet bears. Here's a fun poem of his for you to read:
The Destruction of Sennacherib
The Destruction of Sennacherib
THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
It's based off of 2 Kings 18 & 19. Yup, brushing up on my poetry between calls. Later
- Matt
Well I haven't heard much from you lately besides the bit about Nashville which should be pretty sweet in the mean time. Well new York was bomb.com and completely worth it. Lotsa good memories from that trip. Anything you want to hear about? Morp is Friday, dance festival is wednesday and Saturday morning, and saturday night is the ward country cook off. Tomorrow is my dentist appointment. And I have to find a job soon!!!! Anywho you da man. Carry On.
- Alehandro
- Alehandro
Hello Elder Nick,
So, we had a visit from Tyrelius this past weekend. He blew in on Friday night. We enjoyed a game night with him and Sam and Matt. Alex was still in New York. Ty went to Adam's wedding on Saturday then left early Sunday. Easter was pretty laid back. The easter bunny is getting seriously lazy. Just some candy in bowls on the table. Next year it will probably just be some bags of candy left around. Not nearly as much fun as an easter egg hunt, but then we don't have any little kids either..... It felt like a true empty nester's house for a couple of days this past week with Alex gone. (even though Matt is here, with his schedule, we never see him during the week.) So Alex didn't mention he lost his wallet with driver's license and about 70 bucks in New York. He had to pretend to be 15 to get through the airport security without his ID. Oh well, he made it home. With substantially less souvenirs also. John and Allison with Holden came over Saturday night after Matt and Ty got home. Ty is less comfortable holding a baby than you. I didn't think it was possible. Sam rescued him though. Holden is getting bigger and chunky. Happy boy though. Not much else to report. Love you lots. Give us lots of details about Nashville. (It is a temporary thing as far as you know right?) Love Mom.Family Letter 4/3/2012Hello my brother? How fares the mission? Did you get a chance to sing in the choir for conference? Bradly did along with david archuleta. Pretty cool stuff. The musical is done. The last night was the coolest for me personally because there was just a really great crowd and I did the best i ever had before. It was just really a good experience. a good ending ya know? Ah ten nthere was missionary week this week! what an opportunity. I got everything that was expected and more. I did really well. The thing is that some losers at mesa didn't even really try for it. I figure they will learn later on and i shouldn't judge. So we are moving from the house soon enough as you should know and going to a luxury apartments. We are talking a pool, hot tub, a gym, and if i am lucky racquetball courts. That would be sweet. The only negatives is first it is gonna be smaller, second the parking may or may not suck, and finally it is like 10 min away from everything i am used to. Not nec
essarily to bad but its gonna be a change. Anywho I am going to New York Tuesday and that should be a blast! Oh and conference was great as well. Many good talks such as the big bang theory applied to a print shop and Elder Eyring's 'I wanted to be a good boy'. Conference seemed to be focused on the family this year. Good messages. Welp, i don't really have to much else to say besides carry on brother. Keep on the work that you are doing. Your letters are fun to read because your train of thought is entertaining and you just to me seem like an overall stud. Keep on keeping on.
- The man
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I have been doing the mundane chore of filing taxes - It is not a morale booster........ After listening to conference I've decided that all my children are better at controlling their angry than I am. I appreciate and love each one of you.
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Hi Nick,
So, to set the record straight, Dad thought Belle looked like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz because she had a blue dress and white pinafore(apron). Also, Dorothy did sing - "somewhere over the rainbow", a very popular song - probably more so than any in Beauty and the Beast. I have now sent you all the lyrics of Beauty and the Beast. Also the lyrics that Alex used to ask Lexy to prom. Alex is the one who re-wrote it. Loved having the weekend off for conference. So many good talks. I'm looking forward to going back and watching them again and studying them. Lots of food for thought. So on Elder Whiting, I guess Brad didn't get the e-mail that changed his report date to 3 weeks later, so showed up set apart and ready to be a missionary 3 weeks earlier than they expected him. I guess they put him in the English learning lessons class until they had a group ready for the Tagalog classes. We saw him on tv. Lots of facebook comments on sightings of him also. You can't o
fficially sell blood products - that would be ethically wrong - like selling a kidney on e-bay. However you can sell plasma at plasma banks. It's used for non-medical purposes - like making cosmetics. Hoping Alex doesn't have to resort to that. However many college students use that to provide grocery money. I also did more cooking this past weekend than in a long while. Probably since Christmas. It was good. Do you know what Pinterest is? Probably not. you "pin" different sites or pictures you like on your "boards" that are on your individual sites. You can also see what your facebook and gmail friends are "pinning" to their boards. I've been doing this at night. It gives me lots of recipe ideas and I have a ton of quilt ideas also. Currently am making one for Matt out of Batiks (like the swirly colors from Sion's quilt). It seems to have an island feel that is right for him. Also it will be king size so perhaps he'll find someone to share it with. Were y
ou able to figure out when Dad was talking and when I was in our last e-mail? I wrote it and he interjected thoughts throughout it (ie Dorothy and blood donation comments for example). Well, back to laundry. Have a good week. Love you!!! Mom
***************
Buenos dias,
Mi nombre es Tengo Guapo. Que es tu nombre? It has been another exciting week here at home. I have yet to hear any reference about the awesome temple food up there. You should take my advice and give it a shot if possible. More so if you have the morning session when they are serving breakfast. I still miss the MTC food. I am missing it right now as I sit here famished. I'm just about to run off to ASU to see if their institute board postings have any roommate postings worth considering. Hopefully they do, because it is expensive to live on your own. Also, I just glanced up and saw Mom misspelled EBay. On another note I still hold the arm wrestling championship title having humbled Alex with both left and right arms respectively. He thinks he will start working out when Mom and Dad move out because they'll have a gym room at their apartment complex. I don't think anything is settled as far as that goes. Also, more exciting news - I went to the dentist for the first time in ye
ars. Turns out I need 2 crowns and 3 fillings. It's going to do ugly things to my bank account no doubt. It'll be good to have my oral hygiene back on track though. Ha, it's like I'm repenting with my mouth. That would make the dentist my bishop or something. So keep brushing and flossing them tooths. Today's fun fact - ping pong balls can travel off a paddle at speeds up to 160 km/hr (about 100 mph). Hope you enjoyed conference - it'd be extra cool in the MTC. Priesthood was enjoyable too. I find I get way more out of all them talks when I can read and study them vs listening to them. Lastly, for my disjointed letter it turns out Alex would make a terrible engineer, handyman, or even basic housewife. The projector was overheating because the filter was blocked. His plan was to put an icepack on it to cool it down. It made me chuckle anyways. I'm off to do some roommate hunting. Then I'll probably come home and eat and then help grandma with her sink. Later hombre -
Tengo Guapo
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