Week 29 (7/6/10) Email to Mom

Mom!
Hey everything is going good here. This week was a LOT better. That is good to hear that you got Sam going on tennis lessons. He will be a beast. It'll be fun to play with him when I get home, though by that time he will be way better than me. I heard Nadal won Wimbledon. Yeah that's right. I have seen clay courts here and someday I want to play on them. I'm actually surprised that nobody has said anything to us about Argentina losing. I think they are too humiliated and disappointed to say anything. I think every one of us here had ourselves convinced that Argentina was going to take it all. It was a big back to earth moment here for the people. Kind of depressing to see. I actually almost bought a Germany jersey before the games started. They're too expensive though. Hey if you haven't sent the package yet or aren't ready to send it yet, I'd like the Holes soundtrack and the Jars of Clay cds both of which we already have. Also ranch packets would be awesome too. And candy cane hot chocolate packets. Also I want you to see if you can find out how cheap you can find reading glasses. I often meet people that can't read the Book of Mormon very well because its too small and they can't see very well. It would be kind of nice to have some cheap reading glasses to be able to give to people that I know need and will use them. Let me know what you find out.
     So in about a week I will have been here in El Cruce for five months. That is weird to me how long I have been here. At the end of the transfer it will have been just under 6. That's about a quarter of my mission in one place. I like it here. It will be kind of sad to leave all of these people I have come to know and love. This is like my home. To me this is the mission. I know no other area. I did an intercambio this week with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Day to his area and Elder Riquez came to my area. It was a really good experience. It was just what I needed. I have been feeling a bit down the last week and a half or so. I haven't really had a companion to learn from and I felt so inadequate. I knew I needed to improve, but I didn't know how. I just wanted to be able to have someone I could learn from, someone to show me the way. I felt like a lot of things I had done in life I had had to figure out on my own and that was something that for me wasn't too hard. This stuck feeling was a new feeling to me and it was bothering me. I felt like I had my boots stuck in the mud. I wanted to continue walking down the path but I couldn't. I needed someone to pull me out and show me the way. My day with Elder Day was just what I needed. Just seeing how he did things, seeing how he loved people, seeing his desire to share with everyone we passed was freshening to me. It was just a day, but I feel like it was a very important day for me on my mission. It got my batteries recharged and the rest of the week we were clicking in my area. We put up the best numbers I have had so far without baptisms. It can be hard sometimes, not having a good companion to follow and show me an example early on but I trust that God knows what he is doing and it will turn out to be the best for me. He knows what he is doing and I know that he does. He has things for me to learn and I sure hope I am catching the lessons he is throwing me. It is supposed to be hard, otherwise we don't grow, we don't learn, we don't progress. Thanks for all of your love and support Mom. I really do appreciate it! I love the mission and I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the church of God on the earth today.

Love, Matt