Tears for BBQ

Dear Family, 

Good luck this week, with my cousins there and Dad gone :) I hope it all goes well. 

My week was good. I enjoy being companions with Elder Wiley. We get along pretty well. It was very weird going from Tudela to Wiley. They are like polar opposites. Sometimes I feel like being companions with Elder Wiley is like being companions with myself. We are pretty similar. Elder Wiley is 23, and will return to BYU in fall of 2015 as a senior, and I will be a sophomore. He played lacrosse at BYU and he´s just a really cool guy. He´s from Seattle, which is super cool. He´s really mature. Which is kind of difficult to find in a missionary these days. 

The Elche zone is doing better. I think with the change of companionships in our zone things will start improving. The companionship that didn´t ever leave their piso has started to work and their area has already seen major improvment. Hermana Flake (my favorite Hermana from the MTC) is here in Elche as well, and she is a machine and is working very well. I worry about only one companionship in my zone. But we are doing what we can. I am starting to like being zone leader for the first time. I feel like I have been living under my potential for a long time. I could have been doing so much more to help these missionaries. 

I really am doing well. I love the mission. I love the Spanish language. It´s a lot better than english. I love Spain. I love Elche. I love the missionaries that I am serving with. I really couldn´t ask for anything more right now. Oftentimes during my mission I have asked myself ¨WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??¨ Why are we not baptizing? Why is our only progressing investigator going to move away for work AGAIN!!!? This is LITERALLY the 4th time that this has happened to me in this city. BUT.....I am trying not to be frustrated. Or discouraged. Elder Wiley and I had a really good week this week, and I know that we will soon have other progressing investigators. I am realizing that it isn´t about what I am doing wrong. It´s not always that. Rather, the question is: have I been doing things the right way for long enough? It´s a patience thing. 

I do love it though. I am very excited for this transfer. Things are going very well. I am learning a lot. I would say it´s the best time of my mission. I think I am learning about how to really measure success in the mission. It´s not about baptisms or anything like that. It´s about how much I give and how hard I work. And how I obey. I think I am a really slow learner. Other people learn lessons a lot faster than I do, it seems like. Oh well though. I am trying. 

Brigham should get his call two weeks from this wednesday. But I am wrong more than I am right. So I wouldn´t trust myself too much ;) 

Mom- I think that just because we don´t talk a lot about food, you think that we don´t miss our mother´s kitchen. HA. Quite mistaken. The food here doesn´t compare WHATSOEVER to what I grew up with. Not in the slightest. Everyone in Spain thinks that ¨one eats very well in Spain¨ but it´s only because they have never left Spain. I REALLY miss your mexican food. And I really really really miss casseroles. I would love to eat black bean and pineapple enchilidas right now. I miss BBQ. Sometimes I get tears in my eyes when I think about BBQ. I really really really really miss cafe rio. I miss chiken niko. And pork chops o brien. Holy flount I would love to eat pork chops o brien right now. I also miss this other dish that I can´t remember the name of. I miss those delicious salads you used to make. I can kind of replicate it here, but it´s just super expensive. I don´t really miss a whole lot of desserts. Honestly I think my sweet tooth is going away. I haven´t had ice cream for so long. Dessert kind of sucks in Spain, and it honestly doesn´t bother me. Maybe I grew out of it ;D Who knows?? I miss normal food. Your food. That´s another reason why I don´t want to get married. I will try not to judge my wife´s cooking , but I know that in my heart I will be disappointed. Who couldn´t be disappointed?? No one can take my mother´s place. 

Wanna know something funny?? I have had about half of my companions (and even some missionaries who aren´t my companions) tell me that they think that I care too much about what my parents think. Specifically my mother. They think that parents should stay out of their kids affairs, especially about relationships.  I don´t really understand why. I guess we´re just a little bit different. So feel good about yourselves. Because I really do care about what you guys think. I try hard to please you. When it comes to important life decisions, your opinions mean VERY MUCH to me. And it´s evident to those who are around me, because comments are often made. 

Well today we are going to have a zone p day. We will eat cookies and play card games and talk about things unrelated to missionary work. 

But I really like the work. The ward is changing slowly. We are trying to align the keys of the stake president and the mission president. I love my life right now. Really- I am getting better at contacting in the streets. And we are seeing small miracles every day. 

I do love this work. I can´t imagine what my life would have been like without this experience that I am having. I am immensely grateful for it. Even though it´s difficult. It really isn´t a sacrifice when looked at from the right perspective. 

Well I must go. I love you all a ton. Brigham- it frustrates me so much to read about you doing the same stupid things that I did when I was your age. I wish I could give you some of the knowledge that I have obtained over the past year and a half. Just pull it out of my brain and put it into the pensieve and just shove your head into it. I feel like I will have this same sensation a lot as I parent my teenage children. So that´s something to look forward to. Not. Really though. I don´t think you´ll change your mind anytime soon. But soon you´ll give yourself realization. And you´ll probably regret your actions a bit. That´s ok though. That´s the only way that dumb people like us learn. 

I love you mom. And Dad. And brothers. You´re the best. 

elder sharp

Who Can Resist Coldplay?

Dear Family,

 

 

Well mother I feel like I didn´t emphasize enough the fact that yesterday was mother´s day. I hope it was an amazing day for you :) I really really miss you. The good thing is that yesterday was the last mother´s day that I will ever spend without my mother. I find a lot of comfort in that.

 

I felt very weird about our phone call. I feel like we just talked about random things and the time just FLEW by like nothing. I felt really sad afterwards. I LOVED getting to see my talented little brothers. I seriously can´t believe how much Clayton has changed. It seriously kept me up last night thinking about it. I cannot fathom how someone can change so much in so short a time. I am so proud of that guy. And of Quincey and Lincoln. They are just so wonderful. Brigham still hasn´t changed at all :) Haha. I love that kid. I have accepted the fact that I will NEVER be as good-looking as him, so he doesn´t have to keep telling me that ;) I hate the fact that I won´t see him in person for 27-28 months. It´s a very long time. Also I loved seeing Grammie and Grandpa and Grammy there. I have the greatest grandparents in the world. Honestly I just have the greatest family in the world. It seriously isn´t fair for everyone else. I am just so spoiled.

 

What worried me is that I didn´t even cry at all! I didn´t even feel emotional in the slightest. I just felt disoriented after I hung up and had to rush to that meeting with my drill sergeant new ward mission leader. I didn´t feel homesick at all after the call. It just made me happy knowing that you were all doing well, and that you´re all as beautiful as you were when I left you. Happy, Healthy, and doing well in the gospel. That´s about all that matters. But I feel like I should be missing you more than I am?? I don´t know. I honestly don´t feel jealous of Kyle at all. I would probably hate life if I knew I was going home in less than a month. I just have so much left to do. I guess that´s a good thing. But for the first year of my misson, I just missed my family so much that it hurt!! And I still miss you of course, but it´s different now. I don´t know. Maybe I am just finally focused on the work. I don´t know.

I just know that I don´t want to leave this place. It makes me sick to think that I have less than ten months left. It is going by way too fast. I look at Tudela and just feel pity for him. Poor guy. Hopefully I will want to go home in nine months. If not, we will have some serious issues.

 

Coldplay is playing on the radio right now in the internet cafe. Trying hard not to listen to it.......trying..sooo..hard

 

Well Tudela is leaving me. I hate it when this happens. I am going to miss this chilean swede so much. I have never had such an open relationship with a companion. We don´t hold anything back. And I love it. I love him. 

 

Anyway. Tudela is leaving me. Wiley is coming. He´s cool. I think we´ll get along. I am excited to be in charge again. I do so much better as a missionary when I am senior companion. I don´t know why. I just take the back seat when I am junior comp, and don´t contribute as much as I should. One of my many flaws.

 

Things are going well here in Elche. Really, we have found some amazing people lately. I don´t see them getting baptized very soon, but I think that they will be able to progress. One is a young spanish girl named P. She´s nineteen, and is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. We contacted her on a bus. She is a pro swimmer too. She is also a scientist, and the girl that travels to other countries doing charity work, a red cross volunteer, studying to be a nurse, and has read the bible, torah, and koran. She´s a pretty incredible person. But I just don´t know how receptive she is to the Spirit :( But we are trying.

 

We rescued A yesterday!! She get a calling and everything! I am super happy about it. We are working with other families and people that are less active and lots are progressing really well. We have like 7 progressing less actives.

 

Good knews. Two people that I found are getting baptized in Almeria. YES. It makes me feel like I actually did SOMETHING there in Almeria.

 

B is doing well. Working every sunday. But as soon as june starts, she will start coming to church. I hope to baptize her before I leave. Only God will be able to pull off that miracle though. We have some other investigators that have potential. We are just trying to be patient.

 

I honestly feel nervous. I don´t know what I am doing as a zone leader. And I always feel like we should be doing more to help the zone. And now I have to train a new zone leader. My zone is currently not in good shape. I have two companionships that are struggling really really bad. One doesn´t even leave the piso to go out and work. Even harder is that he is older than me and an x zone leader. So it´s a tricky situation. I don´t know how to lift this zone up. But I have spent lots of time on my knees to find out how, and I know that I will continue to do so. But this is going to be the hardest time of my mission I think. I can use all of the prayers I can get.

 

Spiritually, I am doing phenomenal. Really. Best time of my mission. The week of consecration really helped me. I have tried to get better at every aspect of my mission. I wasn´t ever really disobedient or anything, but I didn´t always exercise. And I sometimes slept in for five-ten minutes. And I was basically always five minutes late to everything. I think I just decided that if it´s acceptable for my companion to do it, then it is not that bad. But I changed my mindset. And I have felt a lot closer to the spirit. I have had some INCREDIBLE spiritual witnesses lately. One happened as I was reading mom´s email today, and the other was ....yesterday. I just love feeling close to the spirit. And feeling close to the Savior. I feel happy. A little bit scared and discouraged, but happy. I am excited for these last ten months. It´s gonna be awesome.

 

This is probably the worst email I have ever written. It´s just that I wrote it really fast without really thinking before writing. Sorry. Well I love you. I wish I could skype with you every month. But I can´t.

 

I AM SOOOOO HAPPY ABOUT CLAYTON!!! Seriously. What an amazing blessing.

 

And I am super excited to hear where Brig goes. He needs to get out into the field :)

 

Well that´s all. I love you both so much. I miss a lot of things about home. But the thing that I miss the most are my parents. I have the best parents in the world. Thanks for all that you do for me. You are my heroes. And I really look to you as the best examples in my life.

 

Sorry for failing at communication. I know I have lots to improve on. But trust me, it´s kind of hard.

 

This church is true! I know it. My faith and testimony has grown so much over the course of my mission. And I am starting to see the WHYs about the gospel. Why we come to church, why we strive so much to live the gospel, why we take the sacrament, why we read the book of mormon, why we give up everything for two years. It´s really incredible.

 

I am thankful for the Savior. If I have learned anything on my mission, it has been a deeper comprehension of His sacrifice. It is becoming personal to me. I have learned that the moments in which we truly come to know the Savior are those in which we are struggling- those moments when we have doubts, trials, temptations, or when we just feel discouraged. It is in those moments that I kneel down and plead to God for help and strength from Him who is mighty to save. And I have felt that divine help. I know that it is available to all of us. Because without that help, we could not do it. God doesn´t give us anything that is too hard, too complex, or too much for us to bear. This statement is only true when we are relying upon the Savior. Without Him, life would be practically unbearable. How blessed are we that we don´t have to go through life without the enabling power of the atonement? I find a great deal of comfort in that knowledge.

 

 

I am way out of time. Ugh.  I love you all. So much!

 

love,

 

elder sharp

 

 

PS- Derek Hansen is a stud

Happy 20th Birthday in Elche!!

Now more than Ever

Dear family, 

I quite enjoyed your talk mother. You really are one wise woman. A ¨mother who knows¨ to be sure. You may say that I can deliver them better than you (which I strongly disagree with- I have learned in the mission that expressing myself and communication in general are NOT my strongpoints, although that has a lot to do with spanish), you have a gift of writing talks. Searching and finding counsel from various sources and relating it all together with your own testimony- you do it in a very powerful way. Hopefully one day I might be able to do the same. 

I am doing well. It´s been a rather boring week. I can´t even remember what I did. All of our progressing investigators are unable to meet with us :) So at this point we are left with working with people who are progressing VERY slowly. (I had to delete a large section of his letter because he gives too many details about his investigators to put on the blog.) 

We have other investigators. We are working with tons of less actives. But no one is progressing. It´s all passing so slowly. Nobody in our zone baptized this month, so I get to go to concilio and report a big old 0 baptisms as a companionship and 0 as a zone. Our zone is absolutely tiny, only seven companionships. Smallest zone in the mission. But still. It´s hard. I am trying to be more positive and faithful. Hopeful. And I know that May will be better. I just get frustrated because I am working hard. We really are helping people. But our numbers just don´t show it. Sure we are teaching 20-25 lessons every week, which is the standard of excellence in our mission, but we don´t have any baptismal dates, progressing investigators (in order for them to be ¨progressing¨ in our mission, they have to come to church every week), and so far we haven´t baptized here in Elche. I have had a really interesting mission. Jerez was a golden paradise, and then I was sent to Almería which was just insanely hard. It´s just flat out a hard area. And then here in Elche which is supposed to be a good city, but it turns out then all of the four areas that are here in Elche are just dead. None of the missionaries have anything. I don´t know what to do. I will be honest, being a zone leader isn´t the greatest thing in the world. At all. I basically just get to feel guilty for the fact that the whole ZONE is doing bad when it comes to baptizing, and not just because my companion and I are. Anyway. I never wanted to be responsible for a zone, but I am. And I know I need to do the absolute best I can to help it in every way. So I am going to spend some extra time on my knees this week to find out what we need to do differently. As I learn more about the way that the church works and experience the responsibilities of leadership, and especially as I work so closely with church leaders, I am seriously amazed at all of the challenges and trials that I never before had thought about. Being a bishop would be SO incredibly difficult. Getting the members to respect your authority as a bishop, even if they don´t see you fit for the job, having to deal with all of the immature adults that have so many problems in their lives, having to be the authority in charge of everyone else, trying to run effective ward council meetings, worrying about all of the financial aspects as well, trying to keep unity between all of the organizations, listening to everyone confess their sins and trying to listen so closely to the spirit to try and give them counsel that will actually help them in their life, and praying to know when someone has actually done enough to be forgiven because it affects your own salvation as well, WOW. The list goes on and on and on.  I don´t know why anyone would EVER want to have that responsibility. Seriously. Some people are literally crazy. Actually WANTING to have that kind of responsibility?? Yeah. NO, THANK YOU. It´s a good thing that God is there helping all of His faithful bishops, because they couldn´t do what they all have to do without divine guidance and assitance. 

 Personally, I like teaching. I do not like leading. I want to be the gospel principles teacher for the rest of my life, and nothing else. And I am very glad that I love teaching, because in my blessing it tells me that a Teacher is my role. No matter what I do in the church, I will always be teaching. It´s my personal calling :) So I lucked out on that one!! 

Right now in our mission we are having a ¨week of consecration¨. I am super stoked for it. We are all going to be exactly obedient and we will work with urgency and eficáz. Even elder tudela recommitted himself to the work, and is now back on track. Which is a tremendous blessing for me. Pray for us that we will be able to consecrate everything this week, and then keep doing it even after the week of consecration ends. I am starting my ten months of consecration today, actually :) 

We had a really awesome lesson this week. Several, actually. We are teaching this romanian girl named S. She´s an evangelist. Baptist or something. But we contacted her and are now teaching her. We had a really good lesson about the book of mormon. It was incredible. It was so good that it could have been on the preach my gospel training videos. It was Elder Christiansen status, even. I felt the spirit so strongly as I testified about the book of mormon. She promised to read it, and she understood! She understood our message, which is something that happens less often than you would think. 

I also had a really cool experience as we were giving a blessing yesterday. We were in the stake president´s office (the stake president, aka my hero, wasn´t there) with A and her cousin J, and tudela and I were giving her a blessing. She is struggling right now in her life. Anyway. Tudela was giving the blessing, and I was standing there with my hands on her head as well, and I just started praying for tudela that he would be receptive to the spirit and be able to give her the words that God wished her to hear. Instantly after I had started praying in my heart for him, I felt SUCH a strong feeling of the priesthood power. It felt like Tudela and I were in perfect unity during that blessing. As I prayed for him and he strived to listen to the spirit, I felt Heavenly Father´s spirit there. It was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever experienced. The most powerful spiritual witness I have ever felt was in the madrid temple, but this one was strong as well. It was so specific too. Total priesthood unity. I felt the power of the priesthood channeling through us, and I was filled with feelings of unity. It was like I knew what he should say before he even said it, and then he said exactly what I felt. It was cool. 

I am doing well. I am happy, even though things are hard right now :) That´s what matters. I love this place, and I would say that I am enjoying my mission now more than ever. 

I am grateful for your prayers and for your support. I love you so much!! I pray for you every day and I am so thankful for you all. I can skype whenever. Tudela doesn´t skype until the end of may. Mother´s day in Sweden is different. So let me know!

Clayton, THANK YOU for emailing me. I will respond next week because I am out of time today :( I love you so much! One question, why are you saving up for a new guitar?? Hahaha. Didn´t you just get a super nice one last month?? I am proud of you for your musical endeavors. You are seriously such a stud. And you probably have the same voice as me. Because I have rythym issues as well. So I can sympathize with you. We´ll sing all the time together when I get home, and mom and dad will be so annoyed!! 

Still haven´t received the package. I don´t know why. Could you guys track it?? It won´t come today because it is ANOTHER fetching holiday today. I swear, every other day here is a holiday- and then the Spaniards wonder why they are in crisis?? Yeah. It´s not that complicated sherlock. It´s because people have holidays every other day and then when they DO actually work, they take a three hour break during the middle of the day. Crazy. 

Anyway. Love you all 

elder sharp

Less than 'Two Minutes' Left

Dear loved ones, 

I am doing so well!!!! How are you!? Didn´t you just love conference?? I really did. The last four days were absolutely wonderful for me. For multiple reasons. 

One of them was conference. SO great. I felt so inspired and excited to apply that counsel to my life. I was able to listen to most of the sessions in english, but because of some problems I missed the saturday afternoon session. Or at least half of it. I saw the first half but only in Spanish. And then I saw the first half of the last session in Spanish. I missed D Todd Cristofferson´s talk, and I didn´t really understand Scott and Hale´s talks because it was in Spanish and I was doing numbers at the same time, so I was on the phone with our zone and wasn´t able to really pay attention. I´ll have to wait and print them off or something. Did you know that Richard G Scott does his own Spanish translation?? It was in Spanish, but it was still his voice!! Cool huh? 

I really really enjoyed Uchtdorf´s talk. I feel like that is something that I struggle with tremendously. I am not grateful enough. That talk definitely spoke to me personally. I had so many experiences like that during this conference. I loved Bednar´s talk as well, although all of what he said can be found in his books. He is so incredible. I feel like once we come to truly understand and apply that principle ( the enabling power of the atonement ), our entire lives will changed. Our entire perspective will change. I am trying so hard right now to rely upon the atonement in that way. I also LOVED the Prophet´s talk on love. I had an interesting experience as he was speaking. For the first time in my life, I FELT that it was the Lord´s voice speaking to me, through the Prophet. It was such a strong impression. I thought to myself, out of all of the messages that the Lord would give to His people right now through the mouth of His Prophet, the Lord chose  LOVE. For some reason I just found that so interesting. Apparently that is something that the world in general is struggling with. It makes sense though. We are all so focused on so many other things. So many other good things. Missionary work, callings, spiritual growth, etc etc. But all of those things we do BECAUSE of our love. Love truly is the greatest commandment. And if we do love God like we should, we fulfill of our responsibilites gladly because we love our brothers and sisters. Missionary work is a labor of love. And as missionaries, we often forget that. It can almost become a routine job. We do all of the things so robotically. I have felt myself do it before! I go into a lesson and just robotically deliver the message and then leave. Just going through the motions. It also can become like a business. We just work so hard to have success because of baptisms and numbers but often forget the real purpose. I was doing a lot of self reflection during that talk. How much of what I do is done because I love the Lord and I really love these people that I am teaching? Sometimes it´s hard to love them. Most everyone hates us and wants nothing to do with us. And when we can get people to let us in, they don´t really want to accept what we have to say. But I need to love them. It was just a really great conference. They really just get better and better. 

And then we went to concilio on monday and tuesday. SOO great. There are 8 zone leaders and 2 SHEs in this part of the mission. And then two of the zone leader companionships have cars, so we were allowed to drive down in cars. 5 and 5. I went with Elders Skousen, Olsen, Flores, and my man Elder Bastian. It was a five hour drive there and I seriously loved it. Bastian just got to Alicante and he´s with Skousen. Both of them are just so amazing. And then there is Elder Olsen. Such a stud. It was so good for me to be with them. A lot of the older companions that I have had (either ZLs or exZLs) have been super negative about the mission leadership and about the work in general. They gave me a really bad mindset when it comes to being a zone leader. Hahaha. I was so mistaken in so many ways. Being with these guys was so refreshing. They work so hard and are just SO obedient. Especially Elder Olsen. He´s just inspiring. The positive attitudes that they have about the work and the mission in general was so so good for me to be around. It was like seeing a whole different side of the work. I don´t think I can explain it very well, but just know that the Lord blessed me a great deal this weekend. At concilio we talked a lot about the importance of studies and then teaching. We learned a lot about that. I am an ok teacher, but I still do so many thing wrong. I have tried to be like Elder Christiansen throughout my whole mission. Elder Christiansen from the PMG videos. I think he´s an incredible teacher, and I try to teach like him. Slow, simple, clear, and he pauses and THINKS before he speaks. And he focuses on the people. He trys to have them talk more than him. That is a good teacher. And in concilio President Deere talked a lot about that kind of teaching. It was just really good. And Hermana Deere made cafe rio salads which was incredible as well. Then the next morning we got up and gave our reports and then talked about the problems in the mission. It was very constructive. At the end of that concilio, I felt like we were completey unified. Usually it feels like it´s just a competition between zones. Who can baptize the most. SO SO not how it should be. But that´s how missionaries make it sometimes. But President has changed out like all of the zone leaders within the last 2 or 3 transfers, and this new council is a lot different (from what I hear). I think our mission is going to see some serious miracles this year. We are going up for sure. 

It has been weird without Elder Love. Tudela and I get along :) But, as I predicted, it has taken a lot of patience on my part. And his too probably. I am getting good at holding my tongue and just taking a deep breath, and letting it go. I am lucky to be with Elder Tudela. I keep trying to put myself in his shoes and it helps. We aren´t perfect, but we get along quite well considering our personalities. 

Quincey is such a stud. Seriously I love the fact that he was so attentive during conference. 

I am sad that my letter didn´t get there safely. I had sent one of my badges in there with it to give to Clayton. The guy at the post office assured me that it would arrive safely. I will have to order another badge I suppose. I am still praying for him, and for all of you.

Our investigators are doing well. M should be about finished with her job, so we are praying that she might reappear. And then V and I are just amazing as well. We went to their house (yes, they have an actual house out in the country outside of Elche- it´s glorious) and watched conference with them. They are awesome. We just need to get them married!! We still haven´t been able to get M  and her four daughters to church. As they live in Elda, those things are difficult. But we are hoping that soon they will come. We have this other lady called H that came to watch conference. We´ll see how that all works out. She has 11 dogs in her apartment that live with her. Yeah. No comment. And then guess what!! A and M came to a session of conference!!! M didn´t seem like she liked it at all, but I am just happy that A was there!!! He is an inactive that used to be young men president and everything. He´s like thirty. He bothers me so much when I teach him. He says that he doesn´t come because he´s trying to get his girlfriend to come. Basically just trying to save her soul but in the process is losing his own. I can´t stand that mentality. We should never marry or even DATE anyone that would drag us down. But he is considering it. It´s frustrating to me. But I love him to death and it´s the first time he´s been back to church in like six months. 

I am really loving it here. It´s been an awesome week. I have learned so much these past few days and I am so excited to just get to work. I loved that talk about the olympic athletes and the four minutes. If I am not mistaken, it was given by the presiding bishop...? Can´t remember. I really enjoyed that. The plan of salvation is such a gem. I thought about it in terms of a mission too. My four minutes of a mission is VERY quickly coming to an end. I have less than two minutes left. I seriously can´t believe it´s going by so quickly. The hermanas that got here with me have about 3 transfers left. THREE!!! So weird. Hermana Deere talked about that this concilio. About not giving up and making the last 10 months of your mission the best part. And I know that it will be the best part of my mission. 

I am so happy for Spencer about those people that are getting baptized!! What awesome converts! That is so wonderful. I wish I knew something about his mission. I don´t hear anything about it. I send him my email every week. I don´t know if he reads it, but at least he has something. I am just saying, this system may work out well for you guys and him, but I would really like to know what is going on in my brother´s life. I hope Brigham is practicing his keyboard ablilities so that ALL of us can actually get some info on his mission. 

Well I love all of you so much. I hope you are feeling close to the Savior and that you rely on Him in times of trials and difficulties, as well as in times of comfort and prosperity!! I have such a strong testimony of Him and the power of the Atonement. It is REAL. I have felt it and I know that it can lift us beyond our own capacities. 

Have the best week ever!!! 

Elder Sharp

PS- I spoke with V while we were at concilio. Hna. Anderson let me use her phone (she´s the SHE in Jerez). He just got his patriarchal blessing and is doing so well. I miss him a lot. He hasn´t missed one day of church since that first sunday he came with Elder Pardo and I. What a flipping miracle! And P and everyone else in Jerez are doing super well too. J and S and all of them. And E in Almeria is passing the sacrament and going to church by himself. This really is such an amazing work. 

ONE YEAR!!

Dear loved ones, 

I am well. Our week was good. Fast. And a little hard. All three of our fechas fell this week. M got a job working as an interna, which is basically a person who lives with an old Spaniard and takes care of them 24/7. There are lots of old Spaniards here. But we can´t even call M anymore because her old lady boss gets ticked if she´s on the phone. It´s not permanent, but we probably won´t see her for a few weeks. She is reading the BoM and she still wants to keep meeting with us. Her son M avoids us now. He´s never home and his mom was definitely the driving force behind all of that. K the 12 year old got really scared about her fecha and decided that she doesn´t want to be baptized right now. So yeah. A little tough. But I still have hope. I have been studying faith all week. And it has helped a lot. I think they will all still get baptized. Just not this month. So that means I have to go report 0 baptisms as a companionship this month during concilio. Oh well. Next month will be better :) 

We never went running. Elder Love has back problems this week. But I exercised every day in the piso!! Interesting that you asked about our trio :) I love both of my companions. A lot. Elder Love and I would get along perfectly. Well actually, we do. We get along perfectly. Tudela and I not so much. In the mission, sometimes it´s americans vs. natives. It shouldn´t be like that. But it is. All three of us are at fault. But Tudela is SUPER defensive about Europe. If we ever say anything that we miss about America or if we complain about Europe at all, he starts making comments and then we end up arguing. We have argued about some really dumb stuff. Yesterday we got into politics and Elder Tudela was seriously ticked. We never fight or anything. But we do get irritated. When Tudela and I are alone, we get along fine. We are kind of similar so we occassionally butt heads, but I love him a ton. Elder Love just kind of ignites sparks sometimes. Elder Tudela has some personality issues that he needs to fix, and so do I. And together we can do it. So that´s why I want to stay with him for another two transfers after this. I really enjoy my companions right now. Yesterday we had a companship inventory and decided to not discuss anything about europe vs. america. I´ve never really had a problem with it before. But I think it´s just the fact that we´re two americans together with a native. Anyway. We all get along really well. I feel like I am serving with my brothers. We argue like brothers. And most of the time we get along really well. I will miss Elder Love when he leaves in two weeks. I love being a trio. It´s harder to focus and get things done, but it´s so much more fun. Although teaching is hard in a trio. It´s like hanging out with friends. I don´t know. There are good things to both trios and normal companionships. 

Your week sounded awesome. Super jealous of you guys. Driving around Cali, eating at nice restaurants, at the beach, amusement parks, with Duane and Misty. Yeah...my week was a tad different ;) I am glad that you guys had fun though. Mom- please understand that I soak up every single detail about your lives. It´s just something I look forward to during the week.  So remember, the longer the better. The more detail the better. I most love hearing about how everyone is doing. I am glad you guys kept the cars. Hopefully they are still up and running in a year!! I will get home and get right to work, so that I can either buy a car or buy one of those cars from you guys. 

Yeah I totally about died when I read that Clayton said no. Tell Dad that if that offer is still up in the air, I would TOTALLY take it. Too bad that I am not allowed to leave mission boundaries. Haha. That would definitely not be a good idea. 

Well this week was a bit uneventful. I don´t know what to say. 

This is my hump week. It has been really hard for me to think that I am halfway. One year ago I was on an airplane. I had to do the hardest thing I´ve ever done!! Say goodbye to my family. I remember all of it so clearly. Exactly. I remember waiting in that line to get through security. Dad was the last person I hugged. And then I passed through with Webb and saw you guys across the security as I was walking away. And then I stopped. And looked at you for a moment. And then walked away!! And it´s been a year now. Wow. A year!! It frightens me a little. I can´t believe that I have less than a year left. In less than a year we will finally be together!! I´ll be honest, it scares the heck out of me. It´s going by so fast. I feel like every week as I walk to the locutorio it hits me like a sack of bricks that I have seven days less to be here. I don´t even think about it much during the week. The weeks fly by. And they say the second year goes by even faster than the first. I don´t want this to go by so fast. I don´t feel like I have done enough yet. I am ready for this next year though. I am going to make it better than the first. I know how to work now. And I am going to give everything this last year. I am going to go home with nothing left! 

Out of time. I love you all. Be safe. Thank you for all of your support

elder sharp

A Great Place to Die!!

Dear FAM,

I am doing well :) I missed you all quite badly yesterday. More than usual. I am not sure why. I was in Gospel Principles class yesterday, a little frustrated because some of our investigators couldn´t make it to church, and your faces came into my mind. And I just thought of you. I am so excited to see you again. I am not excited to finish the mission. But I really cannot wait to be with my family again. I love you so much! And I mean it when I say that. I occasionally would ask myself how one can really know that he feels LOVE for someone else, as you well know mother. But when one feels that for someone, he knows it. It´s as simple as that. I was just sitting there in that classroom feeling overwhelmed by the love I feel for my family. It was a sweet experience. I wouldn´t say I was homesick. Just missing my family. Every single one of you.

I had a meeting with my stake president this week and it was awesome. I felt so motivated to do work here in Elche. I really do love being here. I trust in President Deere´s revelation, but I must say that I hope I am here for a long time. Yes I am feeling better. Thank heavens. I cannot wait to go running tomorrow!! It´s been WAY too long. Yes I am out of LAVENDER just so you know.

Brigham does rely on you quite a bit. I did too though. I think you are forgetting all of the things you do for me :) Even though Brigham asks more from you than I did, you still did WAY too much for me!!

And it´s true. I don´t drive anywhere. ALTHOUGH I did drive in Granada for about five mintues. Bassett let me drive their car when we were on intercambios because I had my license with me. SOOOO great. But there´s always the chance I could go to a car area. I don´t really want to, but it could happen. It would be SICK to die in Fuengirola. The elders there have a car because they work in some super rich tourist towns along the coast. Like Marbella and stuff. It would be a great place to die. But there are lots of downsides to cars as well. So either way, I am fine wherever the Lord sends me. But I don´t have to worry about that for another six months :)

Grammie and Grandpa gave me a red whisper phone that was nicer than the ones I made. It should be in my stuff somewhere. But if you can´t find it, the pvc ones work fine too :)

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU BOUGHT THAT CAR!!!!!!!  Seriously. I saw the picture and just felt weird. I freaked out actually. That thing does not look natural in our driveway. Like a panther in our humble home of goats. Ha. I felt a little uncomfortable to be honest. The trooper and suburban probably feel like crap now. I would too. I would be paranoid driving that thing. But I am sure I would get over that in about two seconds if I ever find myself behind it´s wheel. It´s super nice. Like, REALLY REALLY nice. I still can´t even believe it. Did you keep the Focus?

I really enjoyed the length of your letter. I love reading about your feelings and thoughts and worries. It makes me feel closer to you. I do like sharing your problems. So don´t feel bad about sharing them with me. I can understand your feelings.  I think that when correction is necessary, we should ALWAYS strive to give it with the Spirit. In a loving way. If the Spirit leaves us and we become angry, then we did something wrong and gave in to the natural man. Which happens to everyone so often. But it´s a work in progress mom. Especially for me. Being like Jesus Christ is definitely an endeavor that requires time. More than a lifetime. There isn´t much I can say, because it´s not something I have ever experienced. I know that I can say anything to you, and you can do the same to me. I hope that we can keep this openness going for the rest of our lives. It´s so important that we as a family can speak to each other. I think perfect families really DO exist. Perfect in the sense that we all love each other immensely and have fun together and take care of all problems that arise quickly and efficiently. I think that´s what all of us are working for. I know that is all that you guys want. It depends so much upon certain things though. Who we marry, of course. And how devoted we are to the gospel. I hope and pray that we can have that kind of family. It is so unbelievably important that we stay strong in the gospel. That we have our foundations firm in Christ. For the rest of our lives. I will never ever stop fighting for my family. There is always more to be done in the work of Salvation. Whether it´s ancestors, spiritual brothers and sisters that don´t have the truth, less actives, it doesn´t matter. And the most important work of all is making sure that my own brothers and parents and wife and children are strong and righteous in the gospel. I am so proud of you mom for all that you do. So grateful. I know that we can do this. God can do anything :) Please just don´t stop fighting. It´s worth every ounce of effort, every tear, everything. I know that you already know all of this. But I just hope you know that I am with you 100 percent on this. 

I love you so much. I am growing a lot. It´s been a hard week for me when it comes to the work. But I feel my relationship with my Father in Heaven growing. And also my relationship with the Savior. I have really tried to learn of Him and come to know Him, and I have prayed for it a lot. And it´s coming. I know He lives. I know that there is purpose to this life and that the plan of salvation is VERY real. It is the only thing that brings meaning and purpose to this life. I am learning a lot. And I love my mission more than anything.

Anyway. I love you :) More than the world. More than anything. My parents are the most incredible people I have ever met, and I miss you both.

love, your son