Spring Break 2013

For spring break this year (mind you this was back in March! I am so far behind!) we went to Oak Island for a week. Tory brought his friend Caleb with him to keep him company, not that we weren't good company, but hey, he is a teenager. We had a great time, even with the weather being cold and rainy. We did get out to the ocean, to cold to get in, but it was beautiful, and it made me long for our family trip to the beach in July ( I am going to start counting the days until them) We went to Fort Fisher, to the aquarium and rode the ferry, ate ice cream, rode bikes (I loved that most of all)It was Easter Sunday so we attended church there in the small branch. Tory and Caleb participated in passing the sacrament. The Bishop stood up and mentioned how wonderful it was to have worthy priesthood holders, that no matter where they were, they were prepared and ready to serve where needed. I think that made them feel good. We dyed Easter eggs too. I really was missing mom this Easter, we would always go to her house and hunt eggs, color them and eat together. Moms, Grandmas who make and carry out traditions are sure missed when they are no longer there, but I guess we get to continue to bless our families by doing those wonderful things with them and then our own grandchildren as they come along. We missed having the rest of our family with us. Family vacations have sure changed over the years with everyone leaving on missions, and school, but the feeling of love and unity is always there no matter who is or isn"t with us. I love my family, all of them so much. We have so many wonderful memories to look back and many new ones to make.

Happy Easter & Happy Birthday Dad

The family all got together Good Friday to celebrate Easter and also Dad's birthday...#87. He was so happy to be around everyone. I have to say that I missed Mom soooo badly. It just was not the same getting together at the house without her. Love you Mom. She was always so good at making the Easter Gathering fun with dyeing of eggs and Easter Egg hunt, the kids always loved going there every Easter. Since we met in the evening there was no egg hunt, but it was nice to just be together, eating and talking, and singing "Happy Birthday" to dad. Debbie found Mom's birthday card to dad, already signed and all. Bitter sweet! Happy Birthday Dad hope you have many more to come!

Elder Ward the Traveling Trainer

Hello Everyone!


So, tomorrow will be my first day as a traveling trainer- so that means that tomorrow is going to be the first day of 6 crazy weeks. Usually when I pack, I just throw all of my stuff together in different suitcases just to get from point A to point B...but now I have to pack one small suitcase to take a weeks worth of stuff with me at a time and then have everything else packed away and stored in some old missionary apartment. I think I am just about packed, basically I am just going to take a week's worth of stuff with me and then do laundry at random member's homes or missionary apartments where they will let me. I just get to go to a different area every day and I get to decide where I am going too- so tomorrow my buddy Elder Wright (we served together in Clearfield) is going to be whitewashing (or completely replacing..usually one missionary stays and one new missionary comes in- so that people know the area, members, how to get around....but every so-often you have a whitewash, or both missionaries get replaced. Elder Wright is whitewashing Riverdale Spanish, which was part of my first area. So, I already decided that on Thursday I am going to go show Elder Wright around Riverdale....should be a lot of fun!). It looks like I am going to be spending a few weeks in the Cache Valley this transfer, a couple weeks down in Syracuse and Clinton and then a few weeks in Brigham City. You can Google all of those...I am going to be traveling a lot! Haha.
Elder Plowman is coming here with Elder Bassett (Elder Plowman, Elder Bassett, Elder Wright, and I are all like best friends and MTC buddies......so we all want to serve together) and we are all stoked that those 2 get to be here.
We had a baptism on Friday of Maria Guadalupe Ramirez, or Lupe Ramirez for short. She is the lady from Mexico that we had been teaching for a while. She finally decided that she wanted to be baptized. She was one of the funnier characters I have taught on my mission- usually funny characters are good for only 1 lesson because that are not too interested in talking with us, but they are crazy and weird and make for a fun lesson. However, she always kept the commitments that we extended to her and she loved it when we came by. She always joked, "Como estan mis bonitos gueros?" Or in english, "How are you my lovely white men?". Whenever we would take a member with her, she always called him her "moronito" or little brown one. He ended up baptizing her too, so now she calls him her "padrino" or "godfather". It is so funny. She is so crazy.....just your crazy old lady, but it happens that she is from Mexico and that has to make everything funnier. Also, she has a fear of taking photos. Usually, we take photos at baptisms and people are super excited because they want to have the photos too. Now, Lupe Ramirez came running out in her jumpsuit to get baptized and showed it all to us....but when it came time to take the photos....she just ran away and hid. She has a fear of taking photos and is super stubborn- so she was determined to not get a photo. Needless to say, but Elder Bassett and I are pretty stubborn too...so we devised a plan. We sat down beside her and her daughter- like we would during the baptismal service. Then, after about 5 seconds Elder Pyne was to run in and snap 2 really quick photos and we would all share them. SO, it work! I just got the photos from Elder Bassett, so I'll attach them in this email. You can see just about how happy Lupe Ramirez is, haha. She lightened up though and tried to play in the water of the baptismal font afterwards. In all, this will all go down as just about the funniest baptismal service I've had.
So, I'm going to preface the next story with a general trait of hispanics- they are completely tone deaf for the most part. Seriously, they are really bad. So, Elder Bassett, Elder Pyne, and I sang for the baptism on Friday and just did this simple thing where we all sang melody one the first line, then had melody and bass on the 2nd line, and then melody, tenor, and bass on the last line. Everyone loved it! It was alright, but generally to write home about. Well, if it is "nothing to write home about" you might ask why I am writing home about it. Well, everyone flipped. Since then we have been invited to sing in almost every event or meeting or whatever. So, we had to break the news to the Ward that I was leaving and since I was leaving Elder Basset and Elder Pyne don't want to do the song by themselves....so they flipped again. Haha. They eventually got over it, but we seriously got asked 4 or 5 times to sing within 2 days after the baptism because Hispanics never has special musical numbers....so they wanted to experience. It's just something funny that happened, nothing else really.
Not really too much more to report. Today we need to get haircuts, I need to finish packing, we might go do something fun....who knows! Next week's email will be from a location that is still TBD- I guess we will find out next week! Until then, I love you all!


Love,

Elder Ward

Tory's first PrOm!

Can't believe that Prom has already come and gone by so quickly. Everyone looked so handsome and so beautiful all dressed up in their best. We had dinner here at our house, love doing that for them. Thank you so much Sharmyn, Kristi and Sarah for all of your help. Then it was off to downtown Charlotte, to the Roof with a view. I have no pictures from that night because we were not allowed to attend this year. They all said that they had a great time. Can't believe that my little Tory was even old enough to attend. He and his date Shannon had alot of fun.

Guess who turned the big 50

Such wonderful friends!!! Love you Heidi, Kristi, Sharmyn and Deneen! Turning 50 wasn't so bad, atleast when you celebrate it with dear friends. Kristi and Sharmyn had the coziest dinner for me with some of our dearest friends. It was a very memorable birthday! Thanks so much girls, it was wonderful.

Miss you Mom

This post has taken forever. I still don't have pictures up loaded (so slow) it's hard to believe that mom has been gone for over a month now. The time has passed so quickly. Staying busy has helped I guess, but then again it has kept me from actually morning her. I have already caught myself from calling her when I had something to tell her about the kids. And I have just broken down and cried because I miss her so much, and hearing her voice tell me that things are going to be alright and that she loves me. Gathering for Easter and to celebrate Dad's birthday (which I will eventually post) was great, but mom was truly missed. Mothers are the glue, they provide the warm hugs and smiles, although Dad has gotten much better at that and truly looks forward to visits from his children. It's always been true to me that having even one person missing in my house truly makes a difference. They are gone, their spirits are not with us. Everyone is different and contributes something different.

Her funeral was really sweet. Gordon you did a hard thing,but you did it very well. I know mom was proud of you. The talks, the music, everyone who came to tell us of their love for our mother was so comforting. She was very loved and will be misses so much. I look forward to the day I see her again, and I will. We will know each other, we will love each other, and we will have a lot to catch up on. Till that day mom, I pray I will make you proud to be my mom. I love you!

Katie's Baptism

Katie Miller was baptised on March 2nd (that is how far behind I am on blogging) It was up there as one of the most beautiful baptisms that I have experienced. Katie is a friend of Tory's, but that friendship developed after getting to know here through Mandi Gardiner. Katie and Mandi are good friends who met through track team at school. Mandi brought Katie to church on sundays and Katie seem to be interested in what she was learning. She has been such a sincere seeker, and really desires to learn and discover truth. Her testimony is amazing, and growing everyday Tory says. Tory and Katie are in the same ceramics art class at school and have lots of opportunity to talk and get to know each other. When Katie decided to get baptized she asked Tory to baptize her. What an honor is was for Tory. It was an experience he will never forget! The joy that she felt coming out of the water was just beautiful. The wonderful thing about the gospel is that we are always learning always striving to become all that our Savior needs and wants us to be. He wants only our happiness, and that happiness comes from knowing Him and living His gospel and applying his gift of the atonement daily so that we can have the Holy Ghost with us so that we can be lead and guided to reach our full potential and that is to become like Him. What a great example Katie has been to all of us. She has reminded us of the Covenants that we made at our own baptisms.

Princess Deneen and Princess Lisa

Tri-stake women's conference was so uplifting, and inspiring. I invited my friend Deneen to go with me. I think that she enjoyed it. There were so many great topics: FAITH- we must have sufficient faith to get through the hard times. FAMILY- When a child knows who they are, A Child Of God, they are more likely to reach their potential. RELIEF- If we all did our 1/12th we could change the world. And most of all we were all reminded that we are of Royalty, Daughters of our Heavenly Father, we are Princesses.

New Do :)

My new haircut. Love it! Thanks Natalie.

Primary Class Activity

I am so very far behind. SO much has happened over the last month, and I can't even post everything. It takes forever to download pictures, and then it freezes and I have to start all over, so I post one at a time, therefore there will not be alot of pictures. (alot for me that is)
Feburary was a busy month. I had a primary class activity. So fun, they all came over to my home and we baked cookies and cupcakes, decorated them and took them to some dear friends to let them know that we love them. Of course I had to feed them so after our visits we went for pizza. They are some of the sweetest kids I know, so grateful that I get to be with them every sunday and anytime we plan fun time together!

Baking and decorating, being silly and visits with Myrtle and Flora

Elder Ward update

Hey everyone!


So, I only have a few minutes right now to email- so my plan is to email now and then try to get back on later to write some more emails and whatnot. We had a baptism this past weekend of Moises and Alejandro Toledo. Moises is 9 and Alex is 8, their parents are already members but they weren't very active. It is a crazy story how they were found. One day in Clearfield, I was knocking a lot of doors in this trailer park. This old hispanic lady answered to door to trailer 52, yes I still remember the number. She told her name was Senora Gonzalez and that she used to be a member of the Church, but due to some family problems she wasn't going to Church anymore. So, we set up a return appointment to come back that Sunday night. Well, we show up on Sunday night- very punctual and right at 7 o'clock. We walk inside and there are like 30 people jammed in this small trailer for a party. She asked us to share a message with her whole family, including the 12 or so kids that were there. My companions were kinda in shock, so I remember just teaching a really basic message about Baptism and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I later found out that Moises and Alejandro were there and they really liked the message and they wanted missionaries to come to their house to visit their parents and them- they wanted to be baptized. I got the address and sent it to the missionaries in the area. Now, I come here to Jefferson 2nd and I realize that address is in our area! We go by and teach them some more and now they got baptized this past Sunday! Their whole family came in for it, some even drove 15 hours from California! After the baptism, the grandma came up to me and she was almost crying. She said (in Spanish), "Did you serve in the Clearfield Ward?" I told her yes. Then she asked if I remembered her and coming to her house, I told her that I did. She said, "Do you remember me? I am Sister Gonzalez and you came to my house and shared a message" I again told her that I did remember her and that I did remember coming to her house- I wrote about it that night in my mission journal. And then she almost cried and just kept saying "thank you, thank you." It was a really humbling experience for me, it almost brought me to tears. It was a really humbling experience for me. Every time that I see someone change on my mission it is just so humbling to see how the Lord has used me as his hands. He wants to succor them, He wants to save them, and He wants them to know of His love; and it is such a blessing that I have to be able to be His hands and his servant.
I went by the other day to visit the Rubio family, one of the families that I taught and baptized in North Ogden. They are doing really well and everything. They gave me a rough time because UNC lost to Dook. They don't even like basketball, but they saw it on and they remembered how much I like UNC Basketball. It was pretty funny. I told him that we are going to have to watch and America Soccer game after the mission. America is a soccer team from Mexico that is pretty popular. Cruz is a huge fan, so much that he named his daughter America (not because of the USA, but the soccer team...haha).
Well, I gotta run right now and go play some soccer, but I will write you all some longer emails later today and so forth. I'll talk to you all soon!


Love you!


Elder Ward

Life with Tory

Last night after already saying good night, Tory came back downstairs, put his arms around both of us and said, "I just had to come back down and tell you how much I love being with you both. I love having time together, studying scriptures, and just getting you all to myself. I am the luckest on of all, because I get time with just you". Wow! That made our night. We had been out that night and we just laughed so hard with him, he is so funny. And we were feeling the same about him. Thanks so much Tory for letting us know that time with just us isn't so bad, infact it can me fun. We love you!

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a great Valentines Day this year. It was simple as it usually is, but it is hard to top when you feel like almost everyday is Valentines Day :)Thank you Steve for always being the man who makes me smile everyday. I love you!
Here are a few thoughts on how to make your relationship even stronger. I have been working on a few of these things and thought they were worth sharing.


GO TO BED AT THE SAME TIME. If you go to bed at the same time, you get to have "pillow talk" which leads to communication, to laughter which leads to other things :)

Find at least a few of the same things to be INTERESTED IN TOGETHER.

LEARN WHAT HIS "LOVE LANGUAGE" is from the 5 Languages of Love

Never underestimate the POWER OF TOUCH. Even just a touch on the shoulder or a hand on his knee at dinner.

Tell your kids how excited you are to GO ON A DATE TOGETHER with STARS IN YOUR EYES.

HUG in front of your kids. (or better yet let them see you dancing all night together to the Commodores)

Tell you kids WHAT YOU LOVE ABOUT THEIR DAD. All the time!

SAY YOUR'RE SORRY before he does. (working on that one)

Continue "DATING" regularly forever, even if it's an at home date after the kids are in bed. Sometimes those can be the best ones.

Drop everything you're trying to juggle some evnings and just SNUGGLE ON THE COUCH.

Text him LOVE-NOTES in the middle of the day. (He needs something to smile about while sitting through all of those meetings)

TUCK LOVE-NOTES in his suitcase or briefcase or bookbag, so that he will find them through out his day.

Show that you VALUE HIS OPINION by giving in more often.

Keep any complaints or things we are bugged about BETWEEN US. (Not with friends, family. We figure it makes us stronger to work through them together and to KEEP OUR RELATIONSHIP SACRED.

Make an effort to give a him a sincere COMPLIMENT beofre you go to bed each night...something you noticed during the day, so be watching for the good instead of the bad.

TALK ABOUT YOUR BUDGET OFTEN and make sure we are on the same page. We are on the same page, but find it hard to find time to talk about (not pillow talk for me :)

FORGIVE. And the FORGET. Don't hold grudges.

IF SOMETHING IS IMPORTANT TO HIM, MAKE IT IMPORTANT TO YOU

LAUGH. A lot!

Elder Barrio (Ward)

(Elder Ward was in (Elder) Kyle Ashby's area. SO cool that they met up. Hey everyone! Well, I hope you all have had a good week and are all ready for Valentines Day! This year, my valentine will be........Elder Nielsen (yeah, we're not too excited about that either! haha). We've joked about that a few times, how we have to celebrate together, it's goofy. So, the coolest thing that happened this past week was that I got new name tags! Well, you might not think it is pretty cool but it is. So, it has been really hard to get hispanics to say my last name correctly, 'Ward' is just really hard for them. They have been saying "Elder War" or "Elder Barrio" my whole mission (Ward literally translates to Barrio in Spanish). So, a couple of weeks ago I got permission from one of President Hier's counselors in the Mission Presidency to ask for permission for me to get new name tags. This guy is super cool and he really likes me a lot. So, yesterday I went to the office to pick up the new tags that say "Elder Barrio". It's pretty funny. There are only 2 other missionaries in the mission that got permission for a change of nametag. Both are Spanish missionaries. Just an fyi an elder named Elder Lindsey (he is from Greensboro, NC) got his nametag change to "Elder Linzy" and an Elder Ganschow got his nametag change to Gancho (Gancho literally means clotheshanger in Spanish, like the thing you use to hang clothes in your closet). So, mine has been the biggest change. It is pretty funny. A lot of missionaries are kinda jealous just because I got to change it. I'm pretty pleased and a lot of the hispanics out here think it is pretty funny. So, we went to a Dickey's BBQ for lunch on Saturday and we saw that UNC was getting plastered by Miami- I wasn't too happy. Though, I did get some BBQ beans and Coleslaw, so that made up for the heartbreak. This is the most tired I have been on my mission, holy smokes! But today should be a lot of fun, we are going to go to Clearfield and go to the hair salon and then we are going to a trampoline park in Roy! We still don't get to drive on Pday, but the Assistants to the President do and we are good friends with them- so they are going to give us a lift. Just proves it isn't what you know, it is who you know! Haha. I'm super excited for the trampoline park- it should be a lot of fun. We still go to the gym every morning, but that just makes you more tired too! Ha, but it is all worth it because it is going to be a ton of fun! Then, I wanna take a nap! We will see what happens though. Last week, we went to play soccer- but I was too tired, so I played one game and then went to an Chinese Buffet (and I wonder why I am gaining weight! haha). Seriously though, I'm losing a little bit of weight and gaining some of the muscle back that I lost after we lost them gym. The work is going well here, but there is a reason that this is called one of the hardest areas to work in the mission. It's going well though, just a lot of knocking doors. Well, I think that is about all there is to report from this past week- I'm gonna respond to your emails real quick and hopefully grab a nap before haircuts! Haha. Love you all! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Love, Elder Ward