Gypsies...but we go on.

Dearest Family, 

I was cracking up at his letter too :) Hahaha. His comp sounds absolutely hysterical. Mamma wolf. I think they will get along swimmingly. So Spencer was whitewashed his first area. That is really hard. But obviously President Hall knows that Spencer can handle whatever the Lord needs him to. 

My week was good. Just chuggin´along over here in Almería. We are still looking for people to teach that will actually progress. We just have tons of people that aren´t married right now. The most frustrating thing in the world because it takes so long for people to get married here. And no one has a dime to their name, so that is even less motivation to begin the process. But we go on. :) 

This week was actually super long. The longest week of my mission. It was jam-packed with tons of different stuff. I wish I had time to be more descriptive about everything, but I really don´t have a ton. What´s new? 

Last P-day we hung out as a district. I really really love our district. Chapple is great. He´s a really interesting person, but we get along really well and I like him a lot. The other two elders are Bastien and Bird. Both live in Utah right now. I love both of them. Bird was the star quarterback and point guard in high school, and is super athletic. He´s 6´6. He grew up inactive his whole life, but started coming to church about a year ago. His future wife helped him decide to go on a mission. He really is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. And Bastien is a lot like me. He is one of the few elders that I have met that I would actually want to become close friends with after the mission. (I have loved all of my companions, especially Lish and Erickson. But I just couldn´t see myself being super close with them after the mission). We just get along really well. We´re a lot alike. He is my DL and has been in the mission six weeks longer than I have. He lives in Saratoga Springs. Well, his family does. The Hermanas are Clark and Crockett. Clark is super super cool. She reminds me A TON of Aunt Amy, so I love having her in my district. She is 22 and kind of a free spirit. She´s funny. And then Crockett is a byu grad with a bachelor´s degree. She´s almost 24. She is nice. It´s a good district. On Monday we went to a large statue of the Savior that is here in Almeria next to the castle. It was cool. I have some cool pictures. Almería really is beautiful in some parts. I get the best sunrises every morning. Unfortunately they can´t quite be captured fully with the camera that I have. (Haven´t lost my camera...that is a record for me I think). 

Tuesday...can´t remember what we did. It was a routine day I think. 

Wednesday- we were invited to an evangelical church by some guy in the gypsyville on Tuesday, and we went. He said we could teach him if we did. So I went to an evangelical church with my companion. It was...odd. An old building in the middle of Los Alhemendros, which is a neighborhood filled with gitanos, or gypsies. We went in an it was very dark. There was a preacher up front with a mike that was chanting and singing, along with a rock band up front on the stage thing. There were loud speakers on the wall, and it was insanely loud in there. My head hurt. We walk in, wearing full missionary get-up of course, (no one was dressed up in this building), and every single head turned and just stared right at us. There were old benches set up in the middle of the room, and they were packed full of people. They looked at us like we were insects or something :) But we walked on in with our friend and sat down on a bench. The pastors rushed on over and greeted us. I didn´t feel an evil spirit or anything like that. I didn´t feel anything, actually. No peace, no light, just...nothing. Kind of numb. It was loud, hot, and people were chanting and wailing and singing along to the blasting music. At one point the pastor called up all those who desired to be clean of their sins to come forward, so a bunch of people got up and formed a line in front of the stage. And then the pastor and his sidekick went over and placed their hands over the ears of the forgiveness-seeking people, and started chanting and singing, swaying from side to side. Sometime they would whisper in the ears of these people. This was happening all while everyone was chanting and singing and the band was playing and it was all super dark. I only felt uncomfortable when they pastors put their hands on the people. That made me feel...wrong. The people would sit their and stare at the pastor chant and sing, and then they would put their hands in the air (while the pastor´s hands were on their head) and just start chanting and swaying around in a circle. Like a weird ritualistic dance or something. It was strange. That went on for about an hour. I was really bored. There was no word of God or anything. Just music saying the same things over and over again. And weird moaning and chanting. Very irreverent too. People (including teenagers and adults) would climb all over the benches and change seats and everything. It finally ended and we left and waited outside the building as everyone came out and shook our hands. They were super nice to us. It was kind of cool :) Usually people aren´t. A lot of them had a lot of questions for us. The pastors came out and asked us some stuff too. I think we intimidated them. But the whole crowd of people had gathered outside and were really interested in us. They kept looking at us and they were all whispering and stuff. We left, but came back to that neighborhood a few days later and everyone knew us. And they would listen to us and everything. We are going to keep going back. I think there is a lot of promise there. But I definitely know that our church is true. There was no Spirit testifying of truth in that church. 

Thursday- in Granada with president deere for a training. Really awesome in Granada. It was cold there. Yes. I said cold. I was in Heaven. It was like Utah in September. I absolutely loved it. I missed it. Such a blessing. I won´t ever get to serve in Granada because usually one doesn´t serve in the same zone twice, but I do appreciate the chances I have to go there. 

We also set a baptismal date for Juan that day. 24th. Fingers crossed. 

Friday- really sweet day. No time to explain. Miracles all day.

Saturday- average.

Sunday- stake conference in Granada. loved it. I saw my first DL Elder Hooper. I missed him a lot. He goes home soon. 

Anyway. I am out of time. But things are going well.  I am doing good. Just pressing forward steadfastly. In 16 months from today, I will either be on a plane or I will be with my parents!! Isn´t that insane? I don´t feel like I have been gone for that long. But I am glad I still have a lot of time. I need it ;) 

Could you send me some recipes? Stuffed mushrooms from Grammie and green bean casserole, try to keep in mind that I cannot get any american products here. The only green beans they have are fresh. I am making my own thanksgiving dinner. Cause I was homesick on Halloween and I know thanksgiving will be worse. 

Love you all. Sorry I just ran out of time today. 

elder sharp

Best Ward in Spain

Dear Family, 

Well I took you up on your offer and spent the last hour writing people I don´t usually write. So I have a small amount of time :) 

Things are going well here in Almería. I love the ward here. We had ward council yesterday and I almost fainted. They were talking about OUR investigators. They have a website that they all use and they have every auxiliary organization assigned to do something for each of our investigators, whom they know by name and by photo. Honestly the bishop was giving out assignments for people to do stuff to help our investigators, and we hardly even talked at all. And then at the end he told us that he has a list of people he needs us to visit this week and part member families and things like that. I about died. This is the best ward in Spain. It´s amazing how much the members support us. There are 22 ward missionaries here!!! 

The other missionares here are great too. My companion and I get along really well. He´s a great kid and he makes me laugh a lot. We are pretty good friends. The work is going really slow. It´s hard to find investigators, but we are continuing forward. 

I was in a lesson that I had a small little revelation this week. I was trying to comfort an investigator with massive depression problems and a very difficult life, and then I just started talking about Jesus Christ and the love that He has for all of us, and that we have every reason in the world to be hopeful. It was almost an out of body experience, where I heard the words come out of my own mouth and it dawned on me that what I said was for myself as well. I need to practice what I preach. I would go around from house to house preaching about hope in Christ and the love of God and I wasn´t applying my own counsel :) It´s been a crazy past few days, but I really changed my perspective on a lot of things. My district leader gave all of us a copy of a letter from his father to his older brother, who is serving in India, and his older brother is so much like me it´s literally eerie. His brother has a lot of my same challenges. And this letter really helped me. As well as some modern day prophets and other things. I have started to look at myself from a different perspective. And I am right now working on being hopeful. Positive. Optimistic :) There is so much to be hopeful about. He really did overcome the world. I know that although I am not perfect, He is and He loves me. I love Him so much. I actually feel really happy :) Things can be difficult, but that is no reason to be down on oneself. I make mistakes, I don´t accomplish everything I want to, but I am trying. And He loves me no matter what. 

Well I am out of time :) I am proud of the hope that you both have right now. We all have trials in life. You will find a good job.  I am sorry that things are hard right now, but you guys just need to keep on having hope :) I love you both so much. I love all of you. Brigham I love you and I want you to know that you are so loved. By your earthly parents and your heavenly parents. If I were there with all of you, I would smile so brightly, and hug all of you. And I would tell you how much you mean to me. I am content being here in Spain, but I will always look forward to the day when I get to be with my family again. 

I love you 

elder sharp

Faith Stronger than Fear

Preston sent two letters home this time, one to dad and one to mom. So I combined them for this post. That's why it's so super long. And a bit choppy.


It was a pretty good week. It was very reenergizing to switch areas. I like it. Almeria is an interesting place. My area is smaller than Jerez, which is nice. But they use the bus a lot here, which is...different. I prefer walking to the bus. In Jerez we walked so much. Most other missionaries don´t like that. They prefer to wait for a bus to come. But I think walking is more effective. Saves money, healthier, and you can talk to people while you walk. I dunno. An opinion thing I guess. I was really really disappointed when I started talking about the weather with people. Apparently this is the city with the most hours of sunshine in a year in the whole world. Even in winter. I was seriously just heartbroken. I am so sick of sunshine. I just want clouds, rain, and snow. It does snow in some areas here. But nope. I got sent to the sunny coast. I will spend the winter in San Diego :) They say it never rains here either. It isn´t that hot right now. I mean, it´s hot, but nothing like summertime in Spain. Everyday the weather is perfect here. And it just makes me sad. I am super weird about weather, but honestly in october the weather should be different than this. I have accepted the fact that I won´t experience my kind of weather until five months after I get home. Until then, I will learn to love the sun :)

Almeria is a city that is smaller than Jerez, but more condensed. And it has pueblos (or small towns) outside of it that do belong to our area. But we normally don´t go there. Although lots of members live in the pueblos. The ward here is enormous. 140 - 150 active members. That´s huge for Spain. We´re about to be split. The ward is actually really supportive. We get fed almost every day. Which also helps me save money. I am glad to be here. They are very willing to help the missionary work. The food here is the same...I suppose. We shop at a huge supermarket chain called Mercadona, and they have that everywhere in Spain. There are lots of south americans here, and they cook differently than the spaniards do.

I got to my area and was a little frustrated. The person who I replaced was getting really comfortable here. I don´t blame him because it happens after you´ve been here for so long, but let´s just say I made some serious changes. They had been teaching eternigators(investigators that just aren´t progressing because of various reasons) three times a week, and that is just a fat waste of time. They hadn´t been finding any new investigators at all, and were visiting recent converts and eternigators, and lots of members. Which is not my style. So Elder Chapple was a little bugged at first when I explained to him the problem, but he came around. They haven´t baptized here for awhile, and it was obviously because the other elder was just tired. They had about four investigators when I got here. All of them have been investigating for years. They taught lots of lessons every week, but I don´t think 20 lessons to investigators that aren´t progressing is anything to be proud of. We are here to make things happen. So this week we only had nine lessons. Which is really low. But sometimes it is necessary to start over and build back up. We are going to start FINDING. Really though, I got here and my performance level SKYROCKETED. I have been surprising myself. I wasn´t really a street contacter at all in Jerez, but I have been doing it here. We found this african on friday in the street and he came to church on sunday and we are going to teach him today. He´s pretty awesome. His name is Gabriel. He should have a fecha for the 3rd tonight. And we also got some eternigators to come to church that have never come before. I was so glad they came. We´re gonna set a fecha with them tonight as well. So things are going well. I have never felt so much desire to work. It´s insane. The motivation is just oozing out of me. We went to church and a baptism on saturday and I was so outgoing. Talking to all of the members and getting all of their names and just being really friendly. It is weird being in an area where I don´t know everything. I have no idea where to go somtimes. And I don´t know the ward yet. But I am learning fast, and I realize now that I have changed a little. I could not have done any of that before the mission. I am just not a very outgoing person :) But a missionary is an outgoing person. So sometimes we need to stretch a little. Things are going well though. Elder Chapple is a good kid. He´s only 18. Really young. But he is really obedient and wants to work. Haha. He just...I don´t know. He is super athletic and a good looking kid and is really nice and cool, just a little different than me. But we get along pretty well.

Anyway. Enough about me. How are things with you guys? If I have learned anything it is that we only need to trust in the Lord. You have two missionaries now and you will be blessed. Our faith needs to be stronger than our fear. I love that. Fear is the opposite of faith. You´d think that it would be courage or something, but it´s faith. It´s having hope even when we are afraid. I am sometimes afraid that I won´t be able to find new investigators or have baptisms, but I do have faith that if I am obedient and work as hard as I can, the lord will bless me. I think one of the blessings of the mission is being in an environment where gospel priniciples are so easily applied to life. It is so much easier to see the application here than it is at home.

You are always in my prayers. I miss you so much. I miss my family. Sundays are always the most homesick days for me. I don´t know why. Being at church or something. This church is for families. Sigh. I know that I am doing the right thing though. It´s difficult to want so desperately to help these people that cannot understand or choose not to. I will pour my heart out and share this message only to watch some turn away and reject it. I´ve gotten used to people hating us in the street. Here there are tons of Jehovah´s witnesses and everyone HATES them here. They always confuse us with them because we dress similar. So most people just don´t give us the time of day. But it´s a good experience. It´s hard. It´s repetitive. I get overwhelmed sometimes and I start to worry about everything. How I am not making the most of my studies, how I am not budgeting as well as I need to, I don´t exercise enough, I don´t eat healthily enough, I am not progressing spiritually, I don´t study the language like I should, just so many things. The hardest thing for me is that I am not good at applying what I learn. I read something, like it a lot, but struggle to apply it to my life. Like every other human being. But that is my biggest worry right now. But what mom told me really helped me. I can´t overcome all of my weaknesses on my mission. I am not expected to. I have all of my life for that. It´s true.

So things are going well. But we don´t live with the other missionaries here in Almería. There are two other elders and two hermanas and we all are in the same city. Our piso is SUPER nice though. Small, but I love it. It has american AC and wood floors (the closest thing to american carpet you can get in europe). I would love to spend Christmas here just because the piso really feels like home. It´s nice. Good view of the ocean too. And the person that was here before me (Elder B) is now ZL in San Fernando. We traded spots. Sometimes they do split up people´s training. Which is fine. And no, I am not a huge fan of the zone leader life. But it is a chance to serve other missionaries which is good. Lots of pressure though. And you have to tell people what to do a lot. I just like being responsible for me and my companion.

Your email was good. Don´t ever feel bad for sending a long email. I do like the long ones better. Sometimes I get so jealous of your life. I really miss home. Sundays are homesick days for me. Yesterday I was more homesick than usual. I will study that parable more and tell you what I think about it. I must not understand it either. And thanks for the Bednar book...I thought you were going to send a different one but I think this one can really help me. I just have hardly any time to read it. I read a little though.

I am excited for Spencer to get into the field. You will probably hear from him in a couple hours. That´s awesome. Hopefully he starts writing more. Although it is hard even with lots of time. There are just so many people that want to hear from us. Today I won´t be able to write anyone besides you two. I am starting to realize that my friends all write shorter emails to their families than I do, or I just type really slowly.

I feel better now. It was renewing to start again in a new area. I sometimes just wish I had more time in the day. I would like five hours of study time instead of one. And then the question of whether to study in Spanish or english comes up. I can do both, but it isn´t quite as edifying in Spanish. I don´t know. Right now I am reading the book of mormon in spanish and using an english BOM study guide that I found. But I just want more time!!! I don´t really like comp study at all. It´s good and everything, but I much prefer personal study.

I have no time anymore. I love you so much. Don´t lose hope. Things are scary right now but I know we´ll be ok. The Lord will bless us. I love you mom. I really can´t wait to see you again.

elder sharp

On to Almeria

I sent Preston a lot of photos of Spencer's MTC drop off and the days preceeding that.  I also sent him Spencer's first letter from the MTC.  It sounds like Preston may have some hard days ahead of him- but he is up to the challenge, I'm sure of it.  I miss my boys.  P.S. I don't know why blogger posts the text in different ways each week.  Weird!


Wow. I just spent the last half hour sobbing. Haha. It felt like I was there when I looked at those pictures. That was surprisingly difficult for me. He looked so wonderful. The best photo was the one with all of you hugging him and you could see his face. He´s gone. I thought about him all week. It feels so crazy. I hope he ends up loving the mtc. It sounds like he does already. Honestly this week has been the most difficult week of my mission so far. I have just been super discouraged. That really helped me though. I know that you feel like he isn´t ready, but I think he is. He has to be :) But he will really be fine. He will grow so much. I am so happy that he is out. The countdown has started. I will see him in 725 days. And Brigham in way more apparently. But I prefer that. Better that he leaves sooner than later. And he will be at my wedding. A year and a half?? Yeah I will definitely not be married by the time he gets home. That´s too soon. I miss all of you so much. I am excited for Christmas. 

San Fernando is alright. I don´t like being here though just because I don´t feel like it´s my area. But I do love Elder Lish. It is RIDICULOUS how much he reminds me of Ben. I am going to miss Elder Lish. I don´t really have a lot of time. I spent all of it listening to hymns and looking at Spencer´s photos. I am leaving San Fernando of course. I will be sent to Almería and my companion will be Elder Chapple. He has six weeks in the mission, so I will finish his training. There are six missionaries there. It apparently isn´t the best area in the mission :) Hahaha. Before I got called, I asked some people what the worst area in the mission was and several told me Almería. After they found out I was assigned there they started thinking of positive things to say about it and I got "you grow a lot in Almería" ;) I wanted to go somewhere like that though. I am not a huge fan of being a zone leader. Lish has a hard job, and you spend a good amount of time out of your area. I was hoping to go to a difficult area, and I got what I wanted. I don´t like thinking that any area isn´t a good area. I know that there are prepared people every where, and I feel a ton of motivation now. Which I was lacking this week. My companion and I will baptize in Almería. 

I don´t know why this week has been so hard for me. I sometimes feel overwhelmed. I was never too hard on myself before the mission. I stressed and had desires to improve, but being in here I just get overwhelmed with how far I have left to go in the eternal scheme of things. I often feel as though I am not doing enough with my mission. It´s an odd feeling. But I am pressing forward. I shouldn´t be discouraged. I may not be the missionary I want to be quite yet. But I can´t expect to be perfect. It´s a process. 

I love all of you so much. Thank you so much for the package mom. I was thinking that maybe they just aren´t worth it, because of the hassle and the price. But opening up that package with the halloween theme and the autumn smell and everything just felt like a rush of home. I LOVED it. Thank you so much. You are so wonderful. I hope you are all doing well. Did you get a new car?? Or was that Grandpa and Grammie´s van? Anyway. I love you. 

elder sharp

The baptism of his beloved Pablo

Remember when he said he had held a falcon?

With his first and second companion.  Pardo and Erickson.  Now it's Chapple time.  :)

Spencer Enters MTC

Sorry- this week has been BUSY. We were able to email back and forth with Preston as a family on Monday for a few mins. since we were traveling home from Oregon when he emailed. That doesn't happen very often. It was fun to joke back and forth. He is in very good spirits. :)


Well things are going...

I like San Fernando. I have been fed every single day. It´s way different than Jerez. It isn´t good for me when it comes to the diet and all, but at least I don´t have to spend money on food. I´m in good old Jerez right now actually with Chavez and Erickson. Only for today and tomorrow. My companion is in Malaga in a mission council for all of the Zone Leaders. He is super awesome. I really love Elder Lish. He is a lot like Ben and we get along super well. I will be sad to leave him. I will find out where my next area is on Friday. I am really excited. I don´t really know what to say about San Fernando. The members are great and really strong. But the work is a little harder. It´s just different. It is easier to get lessons in San Fernando, but harder to find baptisms. I was super spoiled in Jerez. I am Jerezano at heart. It was really awesome on Sunday to see all of the members from Jerez. V was almost in tears when he saw me :) I love that guy. The members of Jerez love me so much. And I lov them even more. P was there too. Stud. He is so awesome. I just love them so much. I will always have a special place in my heart for Jerez. Also- I really want you to come pick me up. But you have to learn some spanish first :) K?? I want you to be able to talk to these people!! And I know that you guys are hardly ever busy and just have oodles of time on your hands to learn new languages and stuff like that, but some basic conservational skills would be really cool :) Whatever you can do!!

I feel like I don´t belong anywhere right now. It´s weird. I feel like I am on a really long split or something. I am like a half companion. Just filling a spot until the real ZL gets here. That´s ok though :) I am still working as hard as I can in San Fern. Excited for Spencer to get here ;) There is hardly any work in San Fern. But we are finding some news right now.

So I don´t have much to say right now. So I will tell you about conference.

I loved it SOOO much. I honestly felt like I was on fire the whole time. As the new young women´s president oscarson spoke, I just teared up. I don´t even know why. I just love being a member of the church. I think to myself about how I want to live the gospel perfectly for the rest of my life. I just get excited about all of the callings I will receive and how amazing I want to do at my callings. I will be the best primary teacher/young mens advisor/home teaching coordinator ever. I couldn´t care less when it comes to the actual calling. I just want the chance to serve my Heavenly Father and my fellow brothers and sisters. I am going to have 100 percent home teaching every single month. Wow. I am just so excited. I know that it will all be a trillion times more difficult when life is back to normal again. With family and school and work. But I still have so many desires to serve Him. I just love being mormon. I looked around at the other missionaries sitting next to me, all taking notes and watching intently as we listen to spiritual, scriptural sermons. We truly are a peculiar people. Not many young adults would choose to do what we do. I love it. I want everyone in the world to experience the edifying and uplifiting joy that I feel as I hear the voices of our inspired leaders. It´s like a waterfall of revelation. They are telling us exactly what God wants us to hear.

As I heard the voice of our Prophet, I felt so much peace. It was like I was back home in Utah again. Like I was sitting on the couch next to Spencer watching conference in our pajamas. The spirit that I felt as he spoke was so comforting. I felt reenergized and ready to go out and face the world. Towards the last two or three years before I left on my mission, I really started to enjoy conference. But this was so much better. Difficult to explain. I hope you all absolutely loved it. Those of you that stayed awake the whole time ;) Just kidding. I can´t judge. I have fallen asleep before as well, unfortunately. Never again though.

Things have been going really well for me. I have really improved my personal study. I feel edified every morning and I am making the most of my time. We have started to read the BoM as a mission as well, and that is really wonderful. We started today and will finish by the 31st of December. I am also focusing a lot on the Spirit. I am drastically improving the quality of my prayers and trying to focus on the Spirit in every aspect of this work. Basically I am doing really well. Although I don´t feel tied down to an area or anything and that is a little hard, I still am loving being a missionary. Guess what!!!!!! I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDPA!!! Erickson is going to train!! I am super excited. I have been talking him up to President for about six weeks so it´s about time!! Really though, he is fantastic. He has learned so quickly and he really is ready to train. After this transfer he and Elder Chavez will split up and he will train and Chavez will get a new companion and go to the other part of Jerez that will open up this transfer. There will be seven missionaries here!! Super cool.

Package has arrived. I haven´t got it yet, but we will pick it up tomorrow :) And I got Grandpa´s letter as well :) Thank you so much. I wouldn´t send anything for a while though. Until I am all situated in my new area. Wherever that is. Tell you in a week. Let´s just say Elder Lish is great. He is wonderful and I am gonna miss him a lot. He is a good Zone Leader. San Fernando is great. Super ugly. But I like it a lot. The members are nice. I haven´t said goodbye to everyone yet, but I am coming back on Thursday to do that.

Not much else to say. I want you to know Spencer that this work has already changed my life forever. I have never done anything so worthwhile in my entire life. This is the greatest work you could ever be a part of. It will be hard. You will be thrown into a life so different than what you knew before. But just be quick to observe, and adapt to it. Learn fast. And think of all of the missionaries that have gone before you when you are feeling down. In the beginning of the church they left their starving wives and children to go and preach the restored gospel. They left hungry and tired with absolutely nothing but one book of mormon and the clothes on their back. It was rough back then. But they did it. And God strengthened them to bear their burdens and have success. And he will do the same to you. Your burdens will be different than theirs- not easier, but different. Pray for the strength to endure whatever is thrown in your way, and don´t waste time. Sometimes this flat out sucks. But it is worth every single second. So think of them who went before you. Have faith :) You are about to embark on the coolest adventure of your life. Don´t be afraid. Please don´t be afraid. It´s ok to cry and it´s ok to miss home. A lot. But remember who this is for. Remember the reason for all of this. All of the heartache and the tears and the exhaustion and the emotional pain that you might feel. It´s a small small piece of what He went through as He atoned. I once heard that the mission is blood and tears because the atonement was blood and tears. I have actually lost blood on the mission. Not a lot. But still. Tears...a lot. I just think that we learn so much about His love for us and for our brothers and sisters here on earth. We learn a little bit about the motivating factor that enabled Jesus to accomplish what he did. Pure, celestial, and godly love. He obeyed the will of the Father in every way, and He did what no one else could have done. Because of love. Pray to be given some of that love. I promise that He will give it to you. More than anything I could tell you, I would tell you to plead and ask Heavenly Father with all of your heart to give you that same motivation. You need to be motivated on your mission. Not by positions or numbers, but by a love for your Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that will make your mission truly life changing. Pray for that motivating love. And think of that everytime you get discouraged. This isn´t about us. It´s about Him. It´s His work. In His footsteps we walk. I love Him. I love Him more and more every day.

I am so excited for you Spencer. This will be the greatest two years for your life. I promise. I love you. I love all of you and I pray for you every day. Thank you for your support

Elder Sharp

Ripped off like a Bandaid

Hey guys,


So this week was really really awesome. Sounds like it was a fun one for you guys as well. All yesterday I was thinking about how Spencer was giving his farewell, and then how everyone was at our house eating wonderful food. Good times. Sad that I missed it. But it´s a good thing that I did. Love the photo of Spencer´s picture holding my picture. That was a super cool idea. Not too long before I will see a picture of a picture of Brigham holding both of ours :) And I am so jealous of the snow you guys have. Although it has been raining here the last few days. Which was heavenly for me. And the picture at Gardner Village is awesome as well. Clayton is dressing really well. Finally following in the footsteps of his older brothers ;) I really love our family.

My week was amazing like I said. I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity we had to baptize J and A on Friday. It was absolutely wonderful. An gave a talk in the baptism, and she did so well. She has such a strong testimony and I am just so proud of her. She is only 13 but she is so special. It´s amazing to me. She is doing this because she truly believes in it. She goes to seminary and reads and makes her family hold FHE and everything. Such a champ. And she talked about how we have changed her life. It makes me feel so good. And also S bore her testimony in the baptism, and she didn´t tear up until she started talking about her elders :) She said she considers us her sons, and J said the same thing in his testimony. They love us so much, and we love them so much. A bore a powerful testimony as well, and he is only nine. It was just fantastic. But the best part was P. P is a wonderful girl. She listens to us teach when she can, but she is often feeding the baby in a different room when we teach, so she isn´t always listening. But she has desires to learn. She is just more worldly than the rest of them. We are pretty good friends with her though. But spiritually I am not quite sure where she was at. She never wanted to pray in front of us, but they said that she read the BOM and participated in FHE. So when we planned J and A´s baptism, I begged her to say the closing prayer. She FINALLY agreed to do it, and I was super stoked about it. So after the baptism and the musical number (performed by the six missionaries in Jerez ;), and after the testimonies and final hymn, she got up there and started to pray. First time I ever heard her pray. And she just started sobbing during her prayer. She said one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard. She was literally talking to Heavenly Father. You could feel it. And she said so many incredible things. She talked about how grateful she is for the opportunity to live together as eternal families, and she prayed for Heavenly Father to help her family make it to the temple, and she talked about the scriptures and the blessing they are in our lives, to help us progress and become like Jesus Christ, and she thanked Heavenly Father for the spirit that we had all felt that night. And she was just sobbing the whole time she prayed. I was about to faint. I was SOO surprised. She could not stop crying after her prayer. I just looked across the aisle at her as she sat down and she looked back at me and just smiled, kind of embarrassed. I was dumbfounded. And really touched. There is so much more to people than we ever realize. We all need to try to see other people as Christ does. But wow. After the baptism I went up and just looked at her and she was like like ¨don´t give me that look¨. I think she was really embarrassed, but she shocked everyone. Such a miracle.

Yesterday Chavez confirmed J, Erickson confirmed A, I gave J the priesthood, and then I later confirmed W, M´s son who was baptized by A:) Pardo and I baptized M, and then the Hermanas came and taught A her husband, and I baptized him the same day as An got baptized, and then yesterday A baptized W, their son. That baptism happend last night. Such a sweet experience for me. We all used the priesthood a lot yesterday.

On Friday night, after the baptism, everyone was just hanging around at the church building and everything and all of my converts and favorite members were there. And it was raining pretty hard outside and I just realized how much I love Jerez. How much I care about all of these people. I could literally live here. I would never want to because of my family and my country, but I could be happy here. The people are wonderful. It means so much to me. I was standing in front of the building walking around in the rain just thinking about how we´re going to baptize P soon and about V and J
and S and Fam and M and A and fam and P (who was there as well) and then tons of members started to invite us over during the next few weeks because they all know I leave soon, and it was a really happy time. I truly love this place. And more than that, the people. We are splitting the area right now and everything and I thought to myself, ¨wow- I really don´t want to leave. I would love to stay here another six weeks. I am going to ask President to consider that.¨ I just want to leave my beloved Jerez in good hands. I want to make sure it gets split alright and I just want to be here. I love it so much.

BUT....

I got a phone call from President this morning, and he told me that I am being emergency transferred to San Fernando, TOMORROW. Talk about a dagger to the heart!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously!!!


There was a situation with our zone leaders, and one of them had to be transferred. So I will take his place until the end of this transfer. Seriously, I am heartbroken. There will be lots of people that I won´t get to say goodbye too. And don´t worry about the package. I will see Erickson in about ten days at Zone conference, so he will give it to me then. But I am so sad. I had so many appts to say good bye to people, and I was going to bear my testimony in church the last sunday and everything. But I am being ripped off like a bandaid. It hurts. But I know that this is what president needs me to do. And I will obviously do whatever he asks. I do not ever want to be a burden to him, and if I can help him in any way I will. Even if it kind of stinks. So yeah. Tomorrow is my last day in Jerez. I am going to see the most important people today and tomorrow, and then it´s all in the hands of Erickson and Chavez. I will miss them a lot as well, especially Erickson. But this is the Lord´s will, so I will do it.

I am really enjoying my mission. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with how much I need to improve, but I know it all happens little by little. I have learned so much in Jerez. It will always be my Spanish home. I don´t know how good of a missionary I am. I don´t know if I am a good teacher. It´s hard to tell in Spanish. When it comes to teaching all of us progress much slower than people who don´t have to learn a language. But it´s coming along. I am fluent now. I have been for a while, but it just kind of dawned on me the other day. Super cool to speak another language. Heavenly Father has really blessed me with the gift of tongues. My testimony has grown so much as well. I have come to love my Savior in so many ways. I would write more, but I can´t. No time. I love you all so much :)

Have fun in Oregon. Enjoy your last week together as a family. I will write you next week. The last time before you have TWO missionaries out. Wow.

Don´t waste a second Spencer. Not one second.

Elder Sharp

Very Large Toad

Hey, 

So I can work with your new system. I feel bad. I just don´t have money to print off the emails so I prefer to try and read as much as I can in the Locatorio. But really, the longer your emails are the better. I try to answer your questions but I admit I could do a better job :) It´s a really good idea to put the important important stuff in the first paragraph though. Alright. 

I don´t know if you were aware of how this works, but transfers fall every six weeks. Exactly. It never changes. We have 23 days until the next transfer. (OCT 16) So you could send the package whenever. It doesn´t take three weeks. But I am almost for sure leaving this transfer. If you are super concerned, you could always send it to the mission office. It will get to me usually in a month if sent to the mission office. I would just send it asap. It only takes like a week to get here. Planning on sending spencer´s card tomorrow. I am just trying to write a letter too, but my comps really hate watching me write letters in the piso on p days. I don´t know why but missionaries don´t really write a whole lot of letters anymore. Erickson hasn´t written one. Or received any. But he just does everything by email. 

Sounds like everything is going well. You sound super busy mom. Haha and honestly every flipping email I read something that Brigham is asking you to do. You spoil that kid like none other. Well you spoil all of us. But I feel like he asks you to do really huge favors for him more than Spence and I did. I thought he was grounded from Homecoming?? What happened?  Some new revelation from this interesting little parenting book you guys have read, I presume :) Brig is looking like a stud. That picture of him looks really good. I don´t think it looks much like me, but it´s definitely a fantastic foto!!! I love the fact that you´re putting on an eagle court of honor for them. I think it´s hilarious. I can imagine that neither of them really want one. I thought about my eagle court of honor today actually. Today I held a falcon and it made me think of when I held that eagle. Mom and Dad put SOO much work into my court of honor. I don´t think I ever thanked you guys enough. Remember how you made the homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches?? That was so awesome. And it was a ton of work. Not to mention the decorations and organzing everything. It was kind of expensive as well. You guys really spoil your children. It´s insane. We´re so dang lucky. At times I think of it and just miss home so much. Other times I think about the people that are eating one meal a day here because they don´t have money or a job. And then I just feel sad. There are lots of things I don´t understand about God´s plan, but I do know that we are where we are for a reason. I think a lot of it might have to do with what we did in the life before this, but we also all need to learn and progress in different ways. It´s interesting to think about. Anyway :) Thanks for that wonderful court of honor. It´s a really awesome memory :) 

I love seeing pictures of all of you. I miss you a lot. A lot. Clayton looks really tall in that 6 finger picture, but Im not fooled. I am sure he´s grown a lot, but he´s totally on tip toes in that one ;) Plus I have already accepted the fact that by the time all of us are back together again, they will all three be taller than me. Quincey and Lincoln no. Not yey anyway. I think Quince and me will be the shortest. That´s ok though. As long as we´re all taller than Dad. I laughed a lot at Lincoln´s dentist thing. Hahaha. That kid is growing up so much. 

Well the food sounds amazing. Super jealous. And you sound as busy as ever. I hope you all really enjoy this vacation. It sounds like it´ll be really awesome. Spencer´s lump on the neck scares me a little. I just want him out in the field. I really hope he gets out on schedule. Super excited for him to speak in church. That´s really really crazy to think about. I feel like I just barely left. 

Our week went well. I suppose. The baptism yesterday was SO great. P is so amazing. There were TONS of people there. That is definitely the biggest baptism I will ever attend in my mission. It´s just cause all of the members love P, because he is always with D and R (the members that are the aunt and uncle of his girlfriend) and also all of P´s family came. It was cool. I got to confirm him. Still nervous when I do that. But I don´t think that will ever go away. D baptized him. P bore his testimony and talked about how he came to know this church was true. He said things that newly baptized investigators don´t usually say. It was powerful. I REALLY felt the spirit as I watched him enter the waters of baptism :) It´s all true. And then P had some Books of Mormon that he had written his testimony in and put a photo of himself and he went and gave them to his close friends and family. He gave one to me too. I was just really touched. He is just a really amazing person. He chose this, which means changing EVERYTHING in his life. The only member in his family, even his girlfriend isn´t a member. He is now living the law of chastity and doing everything like a normal disciple of Christ. I just have so much respect for him. He was really happy yesterday. I love this guys. I don´t know if you know that or not, but I love this with all my heart. It´s hard. Sometimes it´s discouraging. Like now. But I wouldn´t give this up for anything. It´s difficult to explain. But I could do this forever. Good thing too, cause I will be doing it forever. Maybe not as a missionary, but missionary work is always going to be my responsibility as a member of God´s church. I seriously love this. Spencer I hope you´re excited :) It might be really hard at first, and it might even suck (doubt it though, if you will be in a car or a bike, not to mention the fact that your mission is tiny), but I promise you will come to love this work with every part of your soul. It´s just pure satisfaction. The best thing I have ever felt. Watching someone you have taught stand at the pulpit and tell everyone that they know and love that THIS is Christ´s church on the earth again, and it was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. :) Indescribable. You´ll get to feel this really soon though. Don´t worry about not being ready. I don´t think you can be ready for this. Almost like being ready for life. I am sure that we did a lot of preparation before we came to this world, and some progressed more than others, but in the end, we are start out as new born babies. Kinda like the field. You´ll get the hang of it really fast. Especially in english :) Lucky son of a gun. 

Elder Chavez is a good missionary. He´s just a shy, smart, humble little peruvian. Kind of hilarious sometimes. He is just a sweet guy. Super nice. I like him a lot. He is really obedient and teaches well. I really like teaching with him.He is from my group. He has six months as well. It´s kind of weird being in a trio though.  And it´s also weird speaking Spanish in the piso. He doesn´t really speak English at all. So that is a little different. But it´s really good for Erickson and I, so we don´t waste time arguing about pointless things and so we get better at Spanish :) I seriously love Elder Erickson. We have very different opinions and sometimes he does things that really irritate me, but I think of him as a brother. That´s how we treat each other. Except Spencer and I get along way better than Erickson and I do. Just cause Spencer and I are more similar. But Erickson is hilarious. And he´s real. I definitely will cry when I say goodbye to him! Which is weird to think about. Haha.  Pardo is super great too. He is coming to Jerez tomorrow to do some residency stuff, so I will get to do intercambios with him. Kind of cool :) 

They called me today and told me that we need to split the area AGAIN. Two more elders will be here this next transfer. It´s exactly what happened to me. I will split the are and then leave it, just like my dad did. Sad. I don´t want to leave here. But I am also excited to work in a different place. I am worried because although we have baptisms, we have zero other investigators. Well we have four or five. But they aren´t progressing very well. So I am stressed. We have to find and we´re trying. But it´s hard. Sometimes I get a little discouraged, but I need to count my blessings. J and A are getting baptized on Friday, and P was baptized yesterday. Things are going really well here. I am really sad that I won´t be here to see P get baptized. I just hope that she does it. She is doing alright. We´re going to start focusing in on her more after J and A are baptized. 

I don´t know what to tell you. Well this week I laughed harder than I ever have in my entire life. I think it was a combination of stress and insanity, and it was just kind of funny. We were in this guys house, and he was super old. Kind of creepy. Very large man. Very round. He reminded me of a very large toad. He didn´t have much expression on his face, and his eyes were definitely bulging. And none of us could understand him. Not even Chavez. He just talked the whole time. He was an old investigator apparently. So we just sat there for a half hour and tried to talk. It was hard. So finally I just decided to end the lesson because it wasn´t going anywhere, and then we asked to close with a prayer. And we asked him to say it. So he said yes, he would. And we just sat there for two minutes straight, in silence. I looked up and he was just staring right at me with his huge eyes with absolutely no expression on his face. Then Chavez asked him to pray again, and he said si, and then did the same thing. I was just looking down at the ground, feeling the tension in the room. I could feel him just staring at us, and then I just BURSTED out laughing. I have seriously never laughed so hard in my life. I tried to hold it in but I couldn´t. After a while of that, Erickson just broke the silence and said, my companion elder sharp will say the prayer. So I kind of stopped laughing and tried to prayer but I honestly couldn´t keep myself from laughing. Elder chavez started laughing as well, as we are all folding our arms and bowing our heads with our eyes closed and everything, trying to pray, and I am literally laughing so hard that I am crying, so I decided to pretend like I was just randomly sobbing whilst trying to pray. And Chavez is just laughing super hard (but it´s all somewhat quiet, cause we were trying to hold it in). Erickson just sat there. He never laughed once. After like a minute of me trying to pray whilst laughing so hard I was crying, Erickson finally just said Ï´ll say it. And then offered a short little prayer with me and chavez still laughing. This old guy had literally never broken the silent stare. I don´t even know why I was laughing. It was just an awkward situation. Erickson said later that he was seriously concerned. He said ¨one of my comps was laughing, and the other one was fetching CRYING!¨ so he had to be the hero and get us out of there. We just got up and shook this guys hand and left. After we walked out ERickson was like ¨what the heck was that!!??¨ and I probably laughed for ten minutes straight. All three of us did. It´s honestly been years since I have laughed that hard. Seriously. Years. I was crying!! And I felt so stupid. It was humiliating. This old guy didn´t want anything to do with us anyway, but I really should not have acted that way. I am representing Jesus Christ. It was so unlike me too. I am usually pretty serious and calm. ESPECIALLY when we are in someone´s house like that. It was super bad. But I can´t even think about it without laughing. Erickson was so weirded out. 

Weird stuff. I was told that on the mission you would laugh harder than you ever have in your life, and also that you would cry harder than you ever have. So far I can check off the laughing part. And I think the crying will happen more towards the end of my mission. Although I shed my fair amount of tears right now. Well I love you all and I miss you. I hope you are all doing well. You´re in my prayers always. 

Preston