I apologize. Preston's letters have been coming in at different times lately, and I keep having computer issues. Because his letter came in so much later yesterday, I was able to email back and forth with him about twice. It was nice again to feel like I was able to communicate with him in real time. He is doing very well. I think he's very happy with his companion and his current situation. I'd like to see this big Rebajas and see if it's really all that great. :)
Dear Family,
This week was good. Numbers wise it has been the worst week I have ever had in the mission. It is a little hard with the area being cut in half. But we have some really promising new investigators. And some promising new futures. So we´ll see how it all goes this week.
Elder Erickson has been sick this week. He has a stomach problem. Poor guy. I just want him to feel up to working hard. He is a funny guy. He sometimes reminds me of Uncle Jarrett. Just the way he laughs. I could be friends with him outside of the mission for sure. He is a little like Kyle Macdonald too. I don´t know how to explain Elder Erickson. He´s kind of a punk. But he makes me laugh a ton. We have gotten along pretty well so far.
Hermana Johns is not Hermana Johnson from the MTC. Hermana Johns is super awesome and I love working with her. She is super old in the mission. She will go home in February. She is not from my same group. But we get along really well. Having other missionaries in the area is really good. I am enjoying it. And yeah I had a class or two with Chance but we never talked very much. She is pretty good friends with Tean I think. Not sure though.
Yeah I have lost weight according to the scale. But not a lot. I am getting super fat. Just a lack of exercise. We haven´t done much cause Elder Erickson never can. He either has blisters, upset stomach, or ingrown toenails. I feel bad for the guy. My first few weeks were rough too. I don´t give him a hard time for anything. I know it is miserable in the beginning. I have not forgotten :) But we need to start doing some kind of exercise. Last week I ate pretty poorly. I found this super delicious cereal and ate two whole boxes of it this last week. Chocolate pillows. The boxes of cereal here are even less filled than the ones in the States. So it wasn´t that much cereal. But I didn´t buy any today. I tried to go really healthy this week and ended up spending ten euros more than I should have. It´s hard. If I try to eat super healthy (just salad stuff and tons of fruit and lean meat) then I end up going over. One day I will figure this stuff out. I make refried beans a lot (which is just a little oil, beans, salt, and garlic, and some cheese) and that can´t be too bad for me. I dunno. We shall see!!
You should send me that book of Bednar´s for Xmas or something. I can get almost any church book approved from Pres. Deere. I would love to read it. I have already almost finished Jesus the Christ and all the other books I brought. I read a lot. I used to think Jesus the Christ was super complicated but it really isn´t that difficult to grasp. I like it a lot. I am gonna read it again in Spanish towards the end of my mission.
You definitely don´t write too many letters. I promise there is no such thing as too many letters. Or too long of an email. I can understand that writing letters to someone that never responds to them might be pretty frustrating, so I don´t blame you if you aren´t too thrilled to write me. Don´t feel obligated to. I did send one though last week. It should get to you guys soon. While you´re on Trek. When does Spencer go through the Temple?? Hopefully after my letter gets there. I would like him to read it before he goes through.
My bag is perfect. I love it so much. Perfect size and everything. I wouldn´t buy the Mr. Mac mission bag. There were like 2 of them that broke in the MTC. But yeah, it sounds like he has got everything all ready. Weird that he only has two months left.
Yeah I am spending money. Right now is Spain´s REBAJAS, which is the huge sale that all of the stores have. I have got some super great deals on stuff. And I also have had to use money to live. I wish I could make money in some way. I don´t know what I will do. I know missionaries that have never been able to go a month without using their personal money to eat. And they are almost done with their missions. It´s frustrating. I promise I will stop buying stuff. See why I did that? I gave you my word that I won´t buy more clothes for the rest of the year. If I break that then I am a person of zero integrity.
Thanks for sharing the miracle about Nico. That is seriously awesome. Seriously awesome. Thank heavens for the priesthood. And I actually got an email from Brianna a week ago. She says she is doing well. I am excited for her mission. And for Lolly too. She emailed me and told me :) Nampa Idaho. Super crazy!! I am happy for them. There is no better place to be!!
Well when it comes to me, I am doing well. We have this awesome family that we are teaching right now. The mother is Sonia, a lady who hasn´t been to church in 7 years. She was an active member for 6 years. She went through the temple and everything. Even has her patriarchal blessing. But she got offended or something bad happened, and she left the Church. She moved to Jerez a few years ago. Her husband (second husband) is named Jose. He looks EXACTLY like Liam Neeson. The actor from Batman 1 and Taken. SUPER cool to teach the gospel to Liam Neeson. This guy used to be a body builder and almost died from steroid abuse. He quit all of that after he met Sonia and they got married. They are REALLY happy together. He is still really ripped though. And Sonia has two kids from her old marriage, Ana a 13 daughter and Alonso a 9 year old son. Jose has a daughter that lives with them too, named Paula. She is 18 and pregnant. She is visiting her mom right now in a different part of Spain, so we haven´t taught her yet. But we definitely will. Jose and Sonia want to be sealed in the temple together. But Sonia doesn´t want to begin the repentance process. She does, but she knows it will be hard. She has a super strong testimony and knows a ton about the gospel. All of them do because she has taught it to her family. It´s a little weird teaching them. But I love them a ton. We will keep working with them.
Pablo and Maria are still with us. We can only teach them once a week though because he works 6 days a week as a lifeguard. He is 19 and she is 16. He knows this is true. I think they will be baptized after the summer is over.
Jose and Ana are not doing well. They have been busy and they told me they feel like this is an obligation that they aren´t ready for right now and they want to wait a while. Which was hard to listen to. Sigh. But we keep going!!!! Always :)
We have some other people and things should start picking up. I am excited for this week!! I don´t have much time left. I love you all a ton. Thank you for your support. Things are going really really well here. Thanks for your prayers :) Have fun on Trek!!!
Love, Elder Sharp
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