Elder Terry

Matthew Moves to Pesqueira

Matthew was in Ibura for 18 weeks. He had three different companions while he was there including his first training companion Elder Carrera. His new mission president moved almost everyone around to a new area on the last transfer. Matthew and Elder Carrera both moved together to Pesqueira. It is about 5 hours inland from Ibura. Matthew likes the interior area of his mission a lot so he was excited to go. It has been a pretty nice place so far. He said it is one of the nicest apartments in his whole mission. He gave us a tour and it is pretty cool. It is on the top of the building and has a big outdoor porch area with a really cool view of the city. They are living with two other missionaries which Matthew also really likes. It is nice to have more people to socialize with in the evenings after their days. One down side is the bedroom they are in has a bunch of roosters that live just outside it so he had to get used to sleeping through roosters crowing at random times in the middle of the night. So he is liking his area and is doing really well still. We are super proud of him. He hit his one year mark on his mission this week. August 11th. He has dedicated the last year of his life to teaching people about the Savior. He has grown and learned a lot. We miss him A LOT but we are very proud of him.

Here is a compilation of videos that Matthew has shared with us in his new area. There is scorpions and monkeys apparently. They have gone running a few times and a goat decided to try and join them. There is a tower they climbed to see a great view of the city.

Matthew’s Mission-Becomes a Trainer

Matthew is still in Ibura. He has been there for three transfers which is 18 weeks. He is hoping he will go to a new place for his next transfer. He has had three companions while he has been there. Elder Saternino (sp?), Elder Carter and his first training missionary Elder Cabrera (sp?).

He recently got a new mission president as well. President Martinis and his wife finished there three year call and President Bradford and his wife are now there. He really liked president Martinis (I am probably spelling that wrong). He was good at motivating and connecting with the missionaries. He likes to spoil them with lots of good food at zone conferences and fun ‘mega’ p-days. Matthew is liking President Bradford so far too. He has only been there about two weeks but Matthew met with him. He brought two of his kids with him and is from Texas.

Matthew is finding lots of people to teach, teenage boys and some of their parents are the people that seem to connect with them the most. He loves to get his pizza with chocolate stuffed crust whenever he can. Food is one of his biggest joys. There is a sweet lady that feeds them and has them over a lot. I talked with her on the phone once. She was very sweet and I told her thank you for taking such good care of my son while he it there. It is the world soccer cup right now. He has loved celebrating with people when Brazil plays. He is coming up on his one year mark too! That is exciting. He only has one of all the holidays left before he comes home. He likes to practice his guitar. I put songs for him to learn on our photo album.

We still talk to him for a few hours on Monday. I look forward to it every week. He seems to be doing pretty good, which I am very grateful for. His first companions out of the MTC have now gone home so he is transitioning from the ‘new guys’ to the ‘old guard’. He has enjoyed training his companion but is still hoping to go to a new location next transfer, which is this week so next time we talk to him we will see if that happened or not.

Matthew’s Latest Mission Pictures

Matthew posts a lot of pictures for us from his mission. It is awesome, and I love seeing them. I am a little behind on adding them to my posts though.

His last updated I did, he had just gotten to Ibura. He is still there, he is almost done with his second transfer which is 12 weeks. It is a little bit of a crazy area. There are lots of drugs and drug activities. Lots of gangs and gangs fighting. Everything we have heard, and it has been true with Matthew, is that the gangs leave the missionaries alone and don’t want to mess with them.

Shortly after he got to Ibura, he went on a trip by bus with a few dozen other missionaries to a city and helped with a big humanitarian service project. They help load/unload and distribute tons of food and water and basic hygiene supplies to the city. Matt said it was the best week of his mission so far. They had a program while they were there too, the locals did a lot of dance and singing performances. The missionaries sang some songs, there was a few local choirs. They also took the missionaries to do a little sight seeing in some really cool looking places. Here are the pictures he sent from the service project.

On his second transfer in Ibura he got a new companion. Elder Carter. He is an American from the northwest. Matthew has liked all of his companions and gotten along with them fine but he was pretty excited to have an American companion again to be able to speak English- at least at night. He was also pleasantly surprised to realize that he is basically pretty fluent in Portuguese now. Elder Carter is only a few months in and still learning. Matthew thought it might be a little rough since he was now the “Portuguese speaker” of the two of them but he didn’t have any issues. They have kept pretty busy finding people. They work with a lot of teenagers. If they don’t have any plans or ambitions then they usually just join a gang. The missionaries try and help them see there is better things in life. It is a hard mindset for some of the people they work with to overcome. Matthew gets a little frustrated with sometimes.

A bus that some people started on fire one night…

Other fun times he has between working hard to help and teach people each day it his p-days and Zone Conferences. He is closer to other missionaries than he has been in other locations, so often they get together and have soccer games, or BBQ for p-day. They also go to the mall and eat Popeyes Chicken for lunch. They also have temple days. At the last one he went to he was able to see his first companion on the mission- Elder Waite. He was able to come to there apartment and do divisions with them for a few days too. He is going home in less than a week so Matthew was excited he got to see him one more time. Last weekend there was a Brasil LDS singing group that put on a concert. All the missionaries in the area were able to go. Matthew said it was a lot of fun. Music is one of the things he misses most. He is only aloud to listen to church music. The concert was church music but it was fun to be in a concert environment and sing and dance with almost 2000 other people.

Waiting for a professional team to finish playing so they could play.

Matthew is working hard and we are very proud of him. It is the rainy season where he is now. Some of the videos he has sent show him trudging down the street in a down pour with a foot of water flooding the street. All day everyday. It looks pretty miserable but he has a good attitude about it. We look forward to talking to him every week and hearing what he is doing. Last week is was heading home early a few nights because a few of the gangs were having issues and solving it by having shoot outs. I hope we are done with hearing about that. He has been out a little over 9 months. We told him he almost needs to start thinking about what he wants to do when he gets home and making sure we hit all the dead lines for housing and school.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Christmas and the New Year In Escada

Matthew is going to have to go through these pictures and label them with names and places when he gets home. He tells me about them when we talk on the phone but by the time I get the picture downloaded and on here, it is hard to remember all the details. These are more pictures of his time in Escada. The Bishop and his wife are really good at taking care of them it sounds like. They make sure they are fed each day. On Christmas and New Year Eve day they went to the Bishops. For Christmas Eve they went to another members house for a celebration. It looks like a beautiful area. They have Cana (I believe that is what he calls it) here. It is pure sugar water squeezed from sugar cane. Matthew-our soda addicted child- loves it and likes to stress me out by telling me it is healthy because it is ‘natural’ and even better than soda while he drinks a 24 ounce glass of it for dinner. I told him it is like getting hit by a truck or a car, it doesn’t really matter, neither is good for you.

We got to video call with him a lot on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve and Day. That was nice. I think he was a little lonely and home sick so I am glad he could spend a part of his day talking with us. Since he is three hours ahead of us we actually got to celebrate midnight with him on New Years. He watched a lot of fireworks from his apartment. They live on the third floor so they had a good view. Time zones are a weird thing. For three hours, he was not just three hours ahead of us he was in a different year than us. Isn’t that crazy?!

Matthew said there was a mini Zone Conference they went to in Recife this week. The current Mission President- President Martins and his wife will be done in July. The new President and a member of the seventy came to this meeting to introduce themselves and see some of the mission.

Escada

The second area Matthew went for his mission is Escada. We haven’t spoken to him since he got there but he posted a few pictures. It is about 3-4 hours from Recife, much closer than the 11 hours Salgueiro was. It will be more humid but in the 80’s most of the time, not 100+. I don’t know his new companion’s name yet, but I know he is Brazilian and doesn’t speak any English.

Meeting in Recife to meet their new companions and head to their new areas.

Right before he transferred to his new area he went to a Christmas celebration in Recife. Lots of missionaries came to have a fun day together. They played basketball, soccer, socialized, and ate lots of good food. Matthew said they did a little shopping and even listened to ‘non churchy’ Christmas music. Matthew loves music-including church music- they are not supposed to listen to anything besides approved church music. Not listening to his music has been hard for him, he has mentioned several times that he misses it a lot. When I hear music that I know he liked it reminds me of him singing it when he was home and it makes me miss him a lot too. I appreciate his mission president and his wife making a big effort to make a special day for them. This is Matthew’s first Christmas away from home (a lot of the missionaries first Christmas away). I am glad that they have a chance to have fun and enjoy the Christmas season together.

The second day of his trip to Recife they all went to the Recife temple together. Matthew hadn’t been to that temple yet. He said it was really beautiful. Whenever they get all the missionaries together they hand out any packages that have come since the last time they were together. We mailed one to Matthew with a private courier for Christmas…it wasn’t there. We found out a week later that it got taken to Sao Paulo (a four hour plane ride south) and is there with two other peoples Christmas packages. So frustrating. It seems like things not working the way they are supposed to happens a lot lately. At least it has been found and hopefully will make its way to Matthew at some point. He loved getting together with all the missionaries and seeing friends he made at the MTC. He loves the organized sports, he misses that a lot too.

This is a picture of Matthew’s package from Sao Paulo…labeled Recife 🤦‍♀️

Leaving Salgueiro

Matthew stayed in Salgueiro for two transfers. That is 12 weeks. He seemed to like it a lot and enjoyed his time there. He got there in September and left about mid December. That is the hot season for Salguerio, it is a dry heat and was above 100 most of the days he was there. He didn’t have any air conditioning the first half, then they had a room unit installed and they had air conditioning in their bedroom the last half. He baptized a young man named Enzo and a few of his friends and were teaching his mom when he left. These are the last of the few pictures Matthew sent of Salgueiro before he left.

Matthew’s Mission Plaque

Each missionary that goes on a mission has a plaque made with their picture and scripture of their choice and their mission on it. It hangs in the church on a wall while they are gone and they get it when they get home. Matthew’s had arrived and was hanging on the wall when I checked a few weeks ago.

Pictures From Salgueiro

Matthew stayed in Salgueiro when his mission had transfers a few weeks ago. Every six weeks they shift people around. Sometimes you stay in the same area for a few transfers sometimes you go to a new place. One of the four missionaries left and they got a new Elder from California. So Matthew is now the second newest missionary in the apartment instead of the newest. He seems to be getting into his stride. The older two left for a few days to some meetings so Matthew was ‘in charge’. He was pretty excited. He hasn’t gotten to decide what he is doing for a few months now, so he loved being the one making all the decisions for a few days. Where he is at right now there aren’t any other missionaries around besides the four of them so on P-Days they don’t really have a lot to do. That means that we get to talk to him a lot more. It won’t always be that way so I will enjoy it while it lasts. Another thing he was really excited about last time we talked is that they just got an air conditioner installed in their apartment. It is just big enough for their bedroom so they moved all their desks into their bedroom too so they can be in the air conditioning as much as possible when they are home. He says he sleeps so much better now.

He has been teaching a few people. One of them is a 12 year old boy that really wants to get baptized. His parents weren’t sure about it but after a few weeks they changed their minds and let him do it. His name is Enzo, and he is the first person Matthew baptized on his mission. He was pretty excited about it. He said he is a really cool kid.

Last week on their P-Day they went to the store to get some groceries and the store had set up their Christmas decorations. They ended up getting a small tree for their apartment. I mailed his Christmas package through a courier service a few weeks ago and they should be getting it to him at the beginning of December. It is a few small gifts and mostly some of his favorite treats. I also sent a few small decorations for them to hang up. I am glad they found a little tree to make their place feel like Christmas.

Here are more baptism pictures from Salgueiro that Matthew added to his photo album this week.

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.

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.

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.