Janae – Page 4 – Terry Family Shenanigans

Salgueiro Brazil, First Area in Matthew’s Mission

After 6 weeks in the Brazil MTC, Matthew hopped on a plain at 3am and went to Recife Brazil. It was about a three hour flight almost straight north and a little east from Sao Paulo.

His Mission President Brother Martins and his wife picked him and the other missionaries up at the airport. The first thing they did was go to a Brazilian Steak house to eat as much food as they could. Matthew greatly appreciated that. He was very excited to have some good food! The MTC food was pretty bland and not very good. They had some training meetings and went over the rules and guidelines of the Recife South Mission. He was assigned to a new companion, Elder Waite. He is a zone leader and has been on his mission for about 15 months. Matthew also had to get his Visa changed from a one year to a two year Visa while he was in Recife. I believe he stayed just one night in Recife then at the end of his second day he got on a bus and traveled 11 hours almost straight west, overnight to his first area Salgueiro Brazil.

This is a cool kind of overwhelming picture of our home and Matthew’s new location.👀

When you google Salgueiro, it doesn’t have much about it. It is desert. Matthew said Recife was pretty humid. Salgueiro is a dry heat, and Matt arrived on the first day of the start of the hot season. The average temperature from September-December is 99 degrees. Last week when I talked to him he said it was 104 degrees that day. Pretty toasty. It is not humid though and it does cool down to the 60’s at night so they get a little relief. They are working with the mission finance person to get them an air conditioner but currently do not have one. The population is about 60,000 and it is Matthew and three other missionaries for the whole area. The city is surrounded by a whole lot of nothing. It is pretty remote. There is one other area two hours west of them that has missionaries, otherwise they are as far west as their mission goes. Matthew says there are stray cats and dogs everywhere which he wasn’t surprised about…there is also wild horses roaming around everywhere which did surprise. There are paved roads but a lot of dirt or cobblestone roads. They walk everywhere all day. Their preparation day (P-Day) is on Mondays. That is the day we get to talk to him. He usually calls me at 6am our time before I go to work. He talks to Ryan sometime during the day. And often will call right before he goes to bed to talk with his sisters or all of us again. Tuesday through Saturday they wake up and do their morning study, exercise and get ready for the day then they head out and walk around to find people to teach or teach people they have already found. They usually meet the other two missionaries they live with for lunch at a café area, it sounds like what we would call a food court. They get all you can eat rice and beans. Matthew says they have a new seafood restaurant he is excited to try, and he also likes the acai bowls. He says he craves water because they drink juices and coke most of the time when they are out. Sunday they go to church and try and bring new people with them every week. It is a small branch for their area that has about 40 regular members. That is the one day they usually eat dinner at a members home as well. It is tricky getting people to come to church. Most people they meet are catholic and even if they say they will come to church, on Sunday when it is actually time they don’t want to get up that early. Matthew says they have found a few people that seem genuinely interested and he hopes will get baptized.

They walk everywhere. He has some comfy, fashionable but probably won’t last long if you walk in them on cobblestone roads for 10 hours a day shoes he took. He wore them in the MTC. He also took some comfy but not fashionable-looks like my grandpas shoes- but every missionary mom I talked to said their kid loved them or wished they had taken them. They are made to last forever but in Brazil will last most missionaries about 6 months. He switched to those about two weeks after he got to Salgueiro. He saves the fashionable ones for zone conference or the temple. His feet are still pretty sore at the end of most days but are getting tougher. He also has a bunch of insoles he can switch every month or so to help keep his feet happy.

I think he is doing pretty good. Right before his birthday he seemed a little homesick when I talked to him. A few days later on his birthday he was in better spirits. Before he left I had as many friends and family as I could write him a birthday note and put them all in an envelope. Then I put a small picture book together for him of family and friends. I also made a banner that said Happy Birthday Elder Terry in Portuguese. That along with some peach ring candy all went into a little package that I hid in his suitcase for him to open on his birthday.

This is a compilation of the videos we sent back and forth on Matthew’s birthday.

In other areas there will be a lot more missionaries to interact with-especially on P-Days, since it is just the four of them in Salgueiro their P-Days are a little less exciting. It is a nice break and chance to rest. Sometimes they watch a church approved movie. The other three have guitars. Matthew is trying to find a good deal on one. He took a personal credit card for things like that. His card has not been working pretty much since he got to Brazil. It worked for three days in the MTC. I have been trying to get it figured out. The mission gives him a card that they add money to every month for food. Sometimes the money isn’t available on the expected day and takes a few extra days to arrive. Matthew is a big person and is walking in heat 10-12 hours a day so in case he is extra hungry one day or the mission card doesn’t work is another reason I sent him with a personal credit card. Long story short- the week he arrived was a few days before the end of the month. Between Matthew getting a few extra supplies needed from just arriving and the mission card not getting charged right away, and his personal credit card STILL not working after me talking to the bank 2-3 times a week for two months, Matthew had no money for food for about 4 days. By the time he told me about it, his mission card had money again and he was fine for food. That was the last straw for me for the bank though. I did not support Matthew going to Brazil to go hungry. Another long story short- Matthew’s credit card is now working and I have the personal cell numbers of our banks local and regional vice presidents if I have any further issues.

Here are some pictures from Salgueiro. All the missionaries have a cell phone but when they go out for the day, they are only supposed to take one with them. (The main reason I have heard is muggings aren’t uncommon, and then they still have a phone if one gets taken🤷‍♀️ ) The senior companion (longest time in the mission) is usually the one that takes their phone so Matthew leaves his at home. That is why for now the pictures are all pretty much taken from Elder Waites phone.

This past week Matthew went to his first Zone Conference. Every six weeks, all the missionaries in a big area of his mission get together and do some training, discussions, eat together, get a chance to socialize and see other missionaries from around their mission. Sunday evening they all took an 8 hour overnight bus ride to Caruaru. This one had a fun P-Day attached to it. There were about 100 other missionaries there. They had a blow up volleyball/football court. Not sure exactly what that was but Matthew described it as a giant blow up court that they could tackle each other and get a little crazy with. Each of the groups of missionaries did a little skit/dressed up. Matthew and his three companions did the three witnesses from the Book of Mormon. There were some amazing brownies, and lots of good food. They building they stayed in was pretty tall and they were on the 32 floor. It also had air conditioning so Matthew was super excited to have the best night sleep in weeks probably. They were there Monday and Tuesday and then took an overnight bus back to Salgueiro. Matthew has a hard time with the overnight but trips. The buses are nice and pretty comfortable but he is to big to curl up on his side so he has to lay flat and the seats recline about half way so he says it is really hard to sleep. Here are some pictures from the zone conference. Matthew will have to write the names of people in the margins of this book when he gets home. I am not sure who everyone is.

Matthew has been on his mission for about 2 1/2 months now. It still feels weird to not have him home. We miss him A LOT and think about him and pray for him all the time. We look forward to talking to him every week and hearing about what he has been up to. I am not a morning person but I happily set my alarm for 5:45 Monday mornings so I can be ready for work when he calls about 6:15 and talk to him as long as he can. I don’t know if Mondays will always start and end with a call from Matthew while he is on his mission, but I am grateful for it right now. We are all proud of him and what he is doing. He is setting a great example for all of us. I know sometimes will be harder than other times for him on his mission and right now seems like a good time. I am grateful for that and am glad he seems to be doing so well.

Emilee’s Fall Sport

We tried a new softball team for Emilee this Fall. We went to a new team at the club level for Advanced Fast Pitch Academy. She is the youngest girl on the team. She seemed to like it and got along well with the girls. The girls seemed nice. They are not very good. They played in five tournaments. 4-5 games per tournament and one two games total. That is a little frustrating for Ryan and I. She seemed to lose skills she had because they weren’t taught or reinforced…and we are paying club prices now, not rec team. She had a fun season and it takes time for teams to mesh so we will see how winter conditioning and Spring go but I don’t feel like we have found ‘her team’ yet. One of the tournaments they did was the Monster Bash. Here are some cute pictures from after the game.

Blast From the Past

My sister Sherri and her family stopped in a few weeks ago. They were taking a road trip to see our Grandma June and were stopping at family along the way. When they left our house their next stop was Colorado. They were well on the way when they started to come up on an RV and moved over to pass it. When they did Kenny saw that it was one of our old RV’s that we sold when we closed our RV business. It still had our logo on the side! It was the one we called “Cowboy”. Pretty crazy!

Homecoming 2025

Spring Hill had their homecoming dance at the beginning of September this year. Allison went with a group of her friends. They came over here after school and each of them brought some food. They had a potluck dinner while they got ready together to go take pictures. Then I drove them all to Heritage Park. Several of their moms met us there and we took pictures. After pictures were taken they changed into football game attire and I dropped them off at the game. It is a bit of a hectic night because they have the game and the dance on the same night. A little after halftime I picked them up again and they came back to our house to get back into their dance outfits. When they were ready I took them back to the school to attend the dance. They said it was fun and they had a good time. When I picked them up we stopped at McDonalds for some ice cream on the way home and then some of them went home, some of them spent the night. I think everyone had fun, looked pretty and made good high school memories.

First Phone Call

Matthew can message people but emails and and phone calls to family are supposed to be done on his preparation day (P-day). It was 8 days after he left before he had a p-day. In the MTC it isn’t a full day, its just a few hours. That is a little stressful for me because some of the times he is available I am at work. Its only a few weeks but I still want to talk to him. It was so good to hear his voice and see him over facetime. All of us got to talk to him, and all of us were looking forward to it and anticipating it. Emilee even said she would skip her riding lesson so she could talk to him. It had ‘only’ been eight days but it felt like a month. We talked for a while. I think he is getting frustrated with the speed he is learning Portuguese. I’m sure its going to get a lot more frustrating before it gets better. Especially once he is in Recife and learning and figuring it out or not being able to communicate with people. I’m also sure that he will get it and then have the confidence and pride that comes with conquering a huge challenge and task. He likes his district and seems like he is already forming some pretty solid new friendships. It was great to talk to him and I am going to look forward to it every week.

Matthew started a photo album that he can add pictures to for us to see. We made one for him too. Here are his pictures from the Brazil MTC.

This is Matthew’s first video of him bearing his testimony in Portuguese he sent us at the end of the Brazil MTC.

Planes, Boats, and a Baby!

The first weekend after Matthew left I was pretty down in the dumps. Ryan tried to distract me a little bit. There was a Commemorative Airplane Show at an airport near by so we went with some friends to check it out. There were jeeps, helicopters, a museum and a handful of plans from WWII and Vietnam.

Allison went on her annual lake trip with a group of her friends for their friend Olivia’s birthday. This is the third year she has gone.

The Jones family picture that was taken on at Thanksgiving has now become outdated. John and Rachel had their fourth baby, second girl, Johanna. I believe they are going to call her Jojo. She was in the NICU for a few days because her breathing was struggling but she is doing great now.

Allison has been taking drivers education and practicing driving the past year. She recently got her learners permit for driving bumped up to her restricted driver license. That means she can now drive by herself, or with one sibling, to work, church, or school. For her first drive with Emilee to the church for youth night we took these pictures of her backing out. Its kind of hard to see but the first one is Allison crossing her fingers, and the second one is Emilee’s reaction when she saw her doing it. It was pretty funny. Allison did great and everyone got to and from where they were supposed to safely.

First Day of School 2025

While Matthew started the MTC the girls started school! Allison is a soft more at Spring Hill High School. She is taking honors math and chemistry and an AP History class. She is planning on wrestling in the winter. Emilee is a 7th grader at Forest Springs Middle School. She is excited for math, spanish and her engineering class. She is doing club softball and still doing her riding lessons. Hopefully they will both have busy fun school years!

Elder Terry

Matthew was set apart Sunday, August 10th. The day before he started home MTC. He gave his farewell talk in sacrament that morning, and was set apart that afternoon. Our church still zoom’s the sacrament meeting for people that can’t be there in person but want to listen, so we were able to send the link to family that was far away to watch if they wanted too. I was planning on recording it, but new I would probably forget so I asked Emilee to record it for me. I did forget until about half way through so I was glad she did it for me. A few of his friends from high school that hadn’t left for college yet came and listened to his talk. I think he did a great job. I am proud of him and excited for him.

Monday, August 11th Matthew started the MTC (Missionary Training Center) at home through online zoom meetings. August 11th is the day our family has always remembered Aaron. I think it is pretty special and not a coincidence that Matthew started his mission on the same day Aaron returned to heaven and started his mission there.

Home MTC is a little rough, its is several 3 hour long online zoom meetings and studying with your companion for several more hours each day. Day one was fun to start meeting people and exciting that your mission is actually starting. His first companion is Elder Stewart (not sure if that is how he spells it though). He did a year of college at a military college in Colorado. They are a good pair. I am writing this a few weeks after they met but they seemed like a good fit from the beginning. By day two he was already getting a little stir crazy. It is hard to focus for three hours but on a zoom call it is even harder. We tried to take him out of the house for lunch. I tried to be around on his breaks to give him someone to interact with in person. We played games after family dinner. Campbell came over most evenings to hangout. It was a little awkward for them because Matthew is supposed to follow all the mission rules so he was trying to keep it friendly. Campbell knew but still wanted to sit close and snuggle. Matthew handled it with pats on the back and lots of pacing and walking around while he talked with her. A little awkward.

Overall, it is a good transition for starting a mission. He is still home so I get to ease into him leaving, and he gets to ease into following the rules and getting on the missionary schedule. After a week of it though, he was itching to get to the real MTC. I imagine the process will be the same for the MTC, excitement and adjusting at first, then going crazy and ready to get to your actual mission by the time the five weeks are up.

He flew out Tuesday, August 19th. He flew by himself to Atlanta Georgia. In Atlanta, he thought he would meat up with about 20 missionaries and fly to Sao Paulo. I found out later it was more like 60. That would be cool to see 60 missionaries getting on a plane together. There was no communication with us about his flight and meeting other people. As far as I knew he was flying the whole way by himself. He wasn’t supposed to take his phone with him, so that meant I had no way to see if he was where he was supposed to be or for him to communicate with anyone if there was a change or problem with flights, or if he even made it to his final destination. That bothered me a lot. I told him he had to take his phone and he could turn it off once he got there. Matthew is a rule follower so he didn’t want to take his phone. After several discussions and not coming to an agreement, Ryan told Matthew that even Jesus broke a rule when his mom asked him to do something so he had to take the phone. Matthew didn’t like it but being the sweet respectful son he is, he grudgingly agreed. However, when he found out there were at least a dozen other missionaries meeting him in Atlanta, I felt much better. Normally I wouldn’t be to comforted having to rely on a think tank of a dozen teenagers, but knowing if there was a problem, or missed flight, he wouldn’t be completely alone I felt a lot calmer about sending him off to a foreign country with no phone. I told him I was ok with him not taking his phone, but I was putting an air tag in his carryon luggage so I could at least see where he was.

Dropping him off at the airport is one of the hardest days of my life. A piece of my heart literally walked away, waved at me one last time through the security gate and will be gone for the next two years. Somehow I am supposed to carry on like everything is great. I don’t even want to write about how hard its been. Just. Hard.

Campbell said goodbye at the house before we left for the airport.

Ryan tried to get a video of some hugs for me to watch while he was gone, Allison ruined it. I am angry about it but I am still keeping the video.

The air tag in his luggage was a life line for me. I really appreciated being able to know he made it to Atlanta, and then Sao Paulo, and then the MTC. It helped me a lot. Once he made it to the MTC they gave him a phone and he texted to say he made it, the flight was horrible and ask if he packed any temple clothes. It was the best text ever. The MTC sent us a picture of everyone together to let us know they arrived too.

First picture from the mission, arriving at the MTC

I am going to tag all the missionary posts I write while he is gone and then when he gets home I can print them all into a book for him. This is the first post. Only 23 1/2 months to go.

Matthew’s Last Pre-Mission Days

When we got back from Gulf Shores, that meant it was just a few days, eleven to be exact until Matthew started his mission. Just like the Summer they flew by way to fast.

Matthew went through the temple on August 2nd. It was a special day. He had the Terry, Jones, and Torgerson grandparents, and his aunt and uncles-Dave, Jen, Ross and Lauren come with him along with us. Bishop Sirois also came. When I went through the temple for the first time it was a little overwhelming and I wasn’t very well prepared. Matthew said he thought it was exactly what he was expecting it to be. I was very impressed and grateful for the Covenant Prep class, and Bishop Sirois’ personal temple prep class he did along with us to help Matthew be prepared and understand more about what he was committing to do before he went.

We got there a little early and took some pictures outside. They make a plaque for each missionary with their picture, a favorite scripture of theirs and where they are serving their mission. Matthew wanted his picture for his plaque to be at the temple with the Brazil flag.

When we were done, we all took a group picture together outside and then went to lunch together at a Greek restaurant called Meddi’s.

The last week was pretty busy. The girls were getting ready for school. We did some last minute shopping to make sure everyone had everything they needed for school or the mission. Nadia and a few of her brothers-Jesse and Alex- came up to spend a few days. Matt had one last night with his high school friends before most of them left for college. We just tried to cram as many ‘one last time’ things in we wanted to do with Matthew. Most of them revolved around what he wanted to eat. Ryan grilled lots of steak-specifically picanha. Our family went to a Brazilian steak house called Fogo de Chao with Grandpa Terry and Campbell. One of the favorite meats we had there was picanha, so we got some to grill on our own a few nights afterwards. We had lots of Costa Vida and K-macho’s. Matthew really loves food. One of our last Sunday dinners with the Terry’s we did a root beer tasting contest. Matthew, dad and the girls went golfing together. There was also a lot of just following Matthew around, especially from me. Probably driving him crazy but he didn’t show it. He let me sit by him, hug him and talk with him as much as I could. We went to a couple missionary welcome homes too. His buddy Bret Sawaya came home from Brazil, and Tanner Lewis came home from Saratoga Utah.

We tried to make the most of it. I know I am going to miss Matthew A LOT, we all will. He is a big piece of our family and two years is a long time. This past year, I have tried to enjoy all the memories we have made and not focus on it being ‘the last’ or focusing on the sad part of that. I wanted to enjoy the moments and remember them as happy, not crying or sad about it meaning we were getting closer to him leaving everyday. I did pretty good and we made lots of great happy memories. When it got to about a month out, it started to get a little harder to do that. The last few days in August, I was pretty weepy. I still tried to push it off the sad part until later but it broke through more than I wanted. It is a surreal thing to have a child leave. It was like a real of his life going on in my head every time I look at him. I remember the first time I saw and held him, I could not believe we just left the hospital with a baby that was ours to keep forever. I remember him rolling around like a bowling pin learning to sit, then walk, then playing hide-n-seek, and watching Mickey Mouse Club house and laughing himself to tears about Goofy’s stinky shoes. I asked him on his 6th birthday if he would stop getting older and he said with all seriousness that he would do his best but he didn’t know how. Over the next few years I would remind him to stop growing up and he gave the same answer until he finally told me he wasn’t going to be able to but he will always give me hugs and love me. Countless trips to the zoo, learning all about animals. Hundreds of baseball games, basketball, football, racing his dad each year on his birthday. Thousands of memories. Its been 18 years, almost 19 now, but it really feels like no time at all. The hardest part of his mission I think for me will be not physically being with him and able to hug him for two years. Ugg, that is such a long time. It wasn’t perfect but I think we were able to be present in the moment and enjoy Matthew and the last few days with him as much as we could.

Terry Family Pictures

The whole Terry clan was here in July. It will be a few years at least before that will be possible again so we took the opportunity to update the family pictures.

I think I have the ages right on the individual pictures, the younger ones I might be off by a year. 😊