Coco

A coworker of Ryan’s rescued a cat a few months ago. It was really skinny and had an infection. They shaved her and took her to the vet. It is a girl, she was owned by someone at some point because she has been spayed and declawed. But they either let her go or she got away and was lost. The vet thinks she is about 10 years old. So they named her Coco and brought her home. She has grown her hair back and put on a little weight but they had two other cats and she doesn’t like other cats or dogs. I would guess that since she has been declawed and on her own she can’t really defend herself so she has to bluff and fight with all her might when she was on her own so she goes on the offensive pretty quick. So she was their downstairs cat and the other cats they had lived upstairs. They mentioned that if anyone wanted or knew of someone that wanted a cat they were trying to find one for her. Her hair has grown back and she has put on a little weight but is still pretty skinny.

We weren’t really looking for a pet but the girls are always asking for a dog or cat. I wouldn’t want to declaw a cat, but since she already is, and she is older. I thought she would be a good one to try. We agreed to take her for a few weeks and do a trial run. Just in case one of us was allergic or we decided she wasn’t a good fit. It took about two days and I think all of us were pretty much attached to her. She is a sweetheart. She loves to snuggle and follow you around. They gave us special cat food for her because they said she was throwing up a lot when they got her. She still eats that but we give her chicken and turkey too. She seems to like it and has already put on a little more weight. We have had her for a week and plan on keeping her.

None of us really love the name Coco but we can’t decide on any other name that we all agree on so we call her Coco and a bunch of other ones right now until one sticks.

As you can see she is a great snuggler.

She was crawling over my lap and fell asleep half way off.

Spring Break

We hung out around home for a the first few days of break. Ryan was out of town for work but when he got home Emilee and Ryan and I tried out a new putt putt place. They have a restaurant attached so we ate their first. When we started golfing, Matthew called so we passed him around for the first few holes while we golfed. He did pretty good at carrying on three separate conversations and picking up right were we left off depending on who took the phone from the next person. It was almost like he was with us. I was winning until the very last hole, and it all fell apart.

About half way through the break Ryan went to Las Vegas with his mission friends for his usual March Madness adventure.

Allison stayed at her grandparents for a few days.

Emilee and I went on a girls trip to St Louis. We stayed at a hotel right by the arch, ate yummy food, and went to some fun places. Our first stop was the Museum of Illusion. We got some really cool pictures there.

Emilee wanted to check out a few bookstores while we were there. I think we ended up going to about four different one. We got some good books and had fun reading and chilling in some of the places for a bit. We also went to the aquarium and did a fun ropes course. We enjoyed having a fun trip together. We both like to sleep in and don’t have to be go go go the whole time. I think we had a great balance of relaxing and doing things.

Ibura Brazil

Matthew’s new area is in Ibura Brazil. It is a suburb of Recife. Known for drugs and gangs. He is in an apartment with his companion and there are two other Elders in their own apartment on the other side of the city. His companions name is Elder Saturnino, from Sao Paulo Brazil. He hit his 7 month mark about the same time he arrived.

He has only been her a week or two so they are getting used to the area and meeting people. There is certain areas of the city they do not go for safety, and Matt has seen a few drug deals happen in broad day light. The people know they are there to teach about Jesus so they are pretty good about leaving them alone, if they aren’t out after dark. There is a few teenage boys that have been baptized and are bringing their friends, brothers to church and it sounds like Matthew is trying to reign in 12 ferral boys who have never heard the word reverent, let alone be reverent in their life. He said a few of them that have been coming for a while are better but some of the newer kids will start wrestling and fighting at the drop of a hat and it is pretty exasperating.

About the same time he transferred to Ibura there was a special fireside and one of the apostles, Elder Rasband came and spoke to them for a while. Matt said it was pretty cool. He was further south is Brazil in Sao Paulo, and his mission president knows him so he asked him to stop and speak to his missionaries before he headed home.

Matthew is standing next to his first companion, Elder Waite who is about to head home.

This area is closer to a lot more missionaries so they will probably be able to get together on p-day more often. He said they do the temple, or BBQ’s or soccer a lot.

We sent Matthew a package and it got to him this time! He has a new tie and tie tack to wear.

Leaving Escada

Matthew had two transfers with his companion Elder Toledo in Escada Brazil. From talking with him, it seems like he liked the area and enjoyed the people. They did a lot of good and sounds like they were able to get a few people more active than had been before. It isn’t a ‘high baptizing’ area which makes it seem like you aren’t ‘successful’ sometimes but I think they did a lot of good. Here are the last few pictures from his time in Escada. There are some from a zone conference and a few trips to play soccer in Recife while they were there on p-days.

I believe these pictures are from his last zone conference.

These are the last pictures he sent us from Escada before he left for his new area.

Allison Qualifier and State Wrestling-2026 Sophomore Year

Allison qualified for State wrestling this year! The first group of pictures if from her qualifying for state match.

Screenshot
Screenshot
These are the Spring Hill girls that qualified for state.

Qualifying match videos

It is pretty awesome that she made it to State!! We were excited for her. The parents made ‘fat heads’ for their kids and we attended the parade walk for them around the school before they left. She missed a lot of regular practices because of some therapy she was doing but she made them up with morning practices and worked really hard.

They do a walk out of all the State athletes before the matches begin. The SH girls are in the yellow on the front (bottom) left side of the picture, starting maybe 10 people in.

Cancun

Ryan and I decided to do a little get away. Well, Ryan decided and I went along and had a great time. He is the instigator of most of our trips and I appreciate it. We wouldn’t get around to it as much if I was instigating it. We went to a resort in Cancun. Last time we were in Mexico we did some day trips to see different areas and the Mayan pyramids, and a cenote. This time we were just there for three days and we decided we wanted to relax and do not very much. We walked around the area we were at and ate good food and did some window shopping. Otherwise we stayed at our resort and napped or read a book on the beach or at the pool. I got a great tan in February! In the evenings they had some show or activities we could go to. The last night we were there was the super bowl so we watched it on a big screen with the rest of the hotel. It was very relaxing and it was nice to be able to unplug for a few days.

Flying in it was raining. We have had the worst of luck on our beach vacations. We research the best time to go for great weather and smaller crowds and when we get there it is ‘unseasonably cold’ ‘not been this cold for 30 years’. So we were a little discouraged. The rain stopped pretty quick and we didn’t have any more after that. When we landed the airport had no gate for us to go to. Like they were surprised we were there.🤦‍♀️ They told us some stupid story that the plane at our gate broke down so they didn’t have a spot. But our plane was joined by 5 other planes parked at some random spot on the tarmac before we were done. We waited about 30 minutes for a bus to come. Then another. Then finally a third before it was our turn and we were able to get on one and they drove us to the airport. Last time we flew into Mexico it took about three hours to get our luggage from baggage claim so this time we didn’t check bags and were able to leave once we finally made it into the airport. I took a picture of their ladder while we were waiting for the bus to leave, it made me laugh, “Excellence from touch down to take off”. Ok Mexico.

This is the view from the pool I was in. Pretty awesome!
sunrise

After the first day the weather wasn’t really to bad. It got a little windy sometimes but it was warm enough to enjoy the beach or pool. They resort had different restaurants or a buffet to choose from. I thought the food was decent, and I didn’t have to make it so that makes it a win too! Ryan likes to wear his KC hat at the pool to make friends and I like to put my headphones it and sit by myself in peace.

I didn’t look before we went but I was thinking I would be halfway closer to Matthew than in Kansas before we left. I was still further than I thought. I was only 950 miles closer. Because of our flight times I didn’t get to talk to him as much as I usually do on Mondays so I am looking forward to talking to him next week.

More Pictures from Escada

Matthew is on his second transfer in Escada. It was a big change from Salgueiro and it took him and his new companion a minute to get their stride going but they seem to be doing good and getting some good things accomplished. I am proud of how hard he works and how he is dedicating himself to doing his best. You can see in the pictures they are keeping busy and doing a lot of good. This week on February 11 Matthew had his 6 month mark. He is a quarter of the way done with his mission. He is getting pretty close to fluent. He says he can speak and understand pretty much everything, he needs to keep adding to his vocabulary and work on his accent now. That alone is a pretty big accomplishment in six months. Plus all the other things he has learned about the gospel, living with others, working, being mostly on your own, traveling across continents, self motivating, accountability. He is elbow deep in life lessons and learning. We are proud of him. And I miss him like crazy.

They were able to find a sister who hasn’t been to church for a long time and in the past she wouldn’t let anyone come and see her or visit. I believe her name is Jessica but I might be remembering wrong. She is in her 40’s now but she served a mission when she was younger and people said she was really great and loved the gospel. She has depression now and had been having a hard time getting out of her depression. They found another sister who knew Jessica and was a friend a long time ago and they had her help them find Jessica and convince her to let them help her out. They spent a few days cleaning her house and yard up, and her friend got her some medicine and helped her get cleaned up herself. She has even come to church a few times since then.

All the yard and weeds you see were cut down and removed with the machete and hoe. Good old fashioned manual labor.

Here are more pictures of the city.

Some of those stairs the city is named for.
When Matthew is talking to me and walking around his phone is pointing at the sky and every now and then you see massive amounts of wires above his head. He sent a picture of how many are on one pole.

Sometimes on p-day they travel to Recife to the mission presidents neighborhood and get together with other missionaries to play soccer on the beach. It sounds like a pretty fun day. Last time Matthew said he was on a little bit in awe when he stopped to think his 19 year old self was playing soccer on a beach in Brazil with dozens of people from around the world. His team alone had an Argentinian, an American, a professional soccer player from Paraguay, a Bolivian, and one of the riches men in Brazil. Quite a group the church brought together.

Heading back to Escada after a day in Recife.

These are pictures of Matthew and his current companion Elder Toledo working in Escada. One of Matthew’s favorite parts of his day is eating food so he also likes to send us pictures of the food he enjoys eating.

These boys offered to run any errands for them if they needed anything.
I am glad there are members that feed them in this area so they get at least one balanced meal a day.
District meeting.

Zone Conference with member of the seventy
I liked this picture because I can see his confidence and peace and happiness in his eyes and face.

This area has a lot of members but not very many of them come to church. Matthew and Elder Toledo have been working on reactivating and encouraging members to come. They had a pretty successful activity a few weeks ago. They have also found a new sister that was baptized this week.

Did splits with Elder Aranjo (spelled wrong I am sure)

I love how she says ‘pingy pong’. 🙂 in the first video and how Elder Toledo says ‘wow’ in the rain video.