May 28, 2008
Hi Everyone,
This week has been good! I taught in Spanish again and it went really well, my companion froze up again but he did better this time at getting himself back into the swing of things! I HAVE BEEN HERE SIX WEEKS!!! can you believe that? this week was good but I have one bummer thing to report, I tweaked my neck like two weeks ago playing soccer "heading the soccer ball is not fun" and it hurt bad right away and my left hand went numb, it was just a stinger so I ignored it. and over the next two weeks my neck got more and more tense until finally last Thursday I went to the doctor cause it was spasming bad and was REALLY painful, he gave me some muscle relaxants and told me that should do the trick and had me come back to him on Tuesday "Monday was memorial day which by the way is horrible in the MTC because it is a regular day without mail!" The muscle relaxants made me way tired and just made me worthless but they made the pain better, he also had me do that shock therapy stuff for my neck where they send the pulses through it. and they heated it. It is feeling better but still pretty tense and I have not been able to play at PE until the end of the week... its miserable!!!!
Funny Story;
Part of my job is to put together the plan for sacrament, "what songs we sing, Who prays and so forth" and I was way messed up on the muscle relaxants when I put the plan together, and to make a short story shorter I BUTCHERED it. I had written down that we were going to sing "Tengo Gozo En Me Alma Hoy" 3 times in our sacrament meeting. and that the same person was giving the opening and closing prayer "MTC branches are small, but not that small". But anyways after Sunday I decided that I needed to not take the muscle relaxants anymore. I feel a lot better than I did it is just really tense, but the doctor told me to take tons of Ibuprofen, I have not even taken as much as he told me I could. But I am feeling better so you don’t need to ask me in the next 5 letters if it hurts, I will tell you if it does!
I went to the RC the other day "referral center, where people call into from commercials for free videos and whatnot" and I got this call... It was a 61 year old women from miami who told me here name was Willie Nelson, I did the whole call and managed not to laugh... EVEN WHEN SHE SAID "I am gonna beat you up... I am going to beat you up over the phone." But then at the end of the call she asked if her name surprised me, I said yes and she explained that she had been called Willie since before she had heard of the singer. Then she proceeded to tell me she was ghetto... and because she was ghetto she had some "RAW" nicknames... she proceeded to tell me one of her inappropriate nicknames and at that point I laughed, explained I had to go, and concluded that call... it was hilarious... since then I have shown many people the recording of that phone call "all the calls are recorded" and it is a unanimous decision that it was not a prank call... it was just a legitimately crazy women.
ok enough with funny stories last night was an awesome devotional. It was by Anne M. Dibb. She is president Monson's daughter and she talked about the characteristics that define her dad. It was awesome! It was one of those things where it made you do self evaluation I loved it!
Our zone is doing well and everyone is getting to bed on time and obeying the rules- which is great and the best part is I have yet to Nag anyone to do anything, the other district leaders and people have informed me that they are more obedient because they appreciate that I am not trying to boss everyone around and they don’t want me to feel like I am not doing my job. Then one kid just straight up said "You know what I have started following all of the rules for one reason, do you know that reason?"
I was like "what?"
And he said " cause I respect you and think your treating this whole thing really well, cause your still friends with everyone and not on some power trip"
I was really happy to hear that I thought it was a pretty good compliment considering the last two zone leaders have not been anyone’s favorite once they became zone leaders. It showed my little plan can work.
But anyways I am out of time, I only have thirty minutes but life is great I love you all! Keep the letters coming, I have come upon a dry spell! 2 and a half weeks left!!! NUTS!
PS Austin Hatches address?
Love Elder Stiles
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
no tengo me Diaria!
May 21, 2008
Hi Everyone!
Spanish is coming along very well. when people talk to me I Know what
they are saying but if they talk fast I get lost. with that said we
taught in spanish this week and did very well! My companion struggled
through parts of it and kinda just told me to go for it so when I got
going I was solid! I taught most of it and did pretty well... even my
old teacher who I was not wild about came up to me and told me he was
surprised so that was a good feeling! I got into a flow and my
sentences went together better!
I finally gave up on basketball. it
is just not fun so I picked up this new game... its called soccer? I
hear it is big in some other parts of the world. and I was the LAST
pick the first day I played... actually I was not the last pick...
they argued and said you can have Stiles then the other team was like
no you can have them... to make a short story short two days later I
was picked first and have scored in every game I have played in... 6
games in a row... and have not lost. and had a hat trick on monday...
(the typical score to our games like 3-2 or so) and They picked me
last!!! I actually really enjoy the game and I have only played it
once since fourth grade and that was in my intramural soccer game last
semester and I scored... I only played one game, so the way I figure
it I am on a 10 year scoring streak... it sounds pretty impressive
huh?
ok so funny spanish story; Monday I was only speaking spanish so here
is my story: everyone here carries around study journals. They are what we take
notes in and on monday I realized I left it in the cafeteria. I went
back and knocked on the door and luckily a hispanic girl answered the
door. I needed to tell her I did not have my Journal (diario) but I
did not know how to ask if it was in there. So basically, I needed to
figure out how to let her know it was in there in spanish. All I could
think of was to tell her I dont have it and let her figure out the
details... so I said
No Tengo me Diaria... Diaria is also something that is common at the
MTC but not a journal. She laughed in my face and then told me not to
say that again... no bueno!!!
So that is most of my week! it has been a good one I have worked hard
and had alot of fun!!!
Oh yeah, they made me a zone leader on sunday. It was a surprise to
everyone because there is a district that is older then us in our zone
still. being zone leader just means I have more meetings and need to
deal with more peoples problems and try to get people to sleep on time
and report on the zone! The thing that stinks is that I have to be a
fun killer sometimes and tell people to go to bed. So far everyone has
been really responsive and helped me out by making sure they went to
bed on time and whatnot! and when I ask they have been like oh yeah
for sure and done it... being friends with everyone at first helps
alot! I have just tried to be really nice and not gotten onto some
incredible ridiculous power trip like the previous Zone leader... so
that is it... that is my life. Everything is great. I am learning a
ton. I am MORE then half way through with the MTC and it has flown by.
but I am excited to get to Cincinnati.
Love you all.
Elder Stiles
ps congrats matt on creating your own job!
Hi Everyone!
Spanish is coming along very well. when people talk to me I Know what
they are saying but if they talk fast I get lost. with that said we
taught in spanish this week and did very well! My companion struggled
through parts of it and kinda just told me to go for it so when I got
going I was solid! I taught most of it and did pretty well... even my
old teacher who I was not wild about came up to me and told me he was
surprised so that was a good feeling! I got into a flow and my
sentences went together better!
I finally gave up on basketball. it
is just not fun so I picked up this new game... its called soccer? I
hear it is big in some other parts of the world. and I was the LAST
pick the first day I played... actually I was not the last pick...
they argued and said you can have Stiles then the other team was like
no you can have them... to make a short story short two days later I
was picked first and have scored in every game I have played in... 6
games in a row... and have not lost. and had a hat trick on monday...
(the typical score to our games like 3-2 or so) and They picked me
last!!! I actually really enjoy the game and I have only played it
once since fourth grade and that was in my intramural soccer game last
semester and I scored... I only played one game, so the way I figure
it I am on a 10 year scoring streak... it sounds pretty impressive
huh?
ok so funny spanish story; Monday I was only speaking spanish so here
is my story: everyone here carries around study journals. They are what we take
notes in and on monday I realized I left it in the cafeteria. I went
back and knocked on the door and luckily a hispanic girl answered the
door. I needed to tell her I did not have my Journal (diario) but I
did not know how to ask if it was in there. So basically, I needed to
figure out how to let her know it was in there in spanish. All I could
think of was to tell her I dont have it and let her figure out the
details... so I said
No Tengo me Diaria... Diaria is also something that is common at the
MTC but not a journal. She laughed in my face and then told me not to
say that again... no bueno!!!
So that is most of my week! it has been a good one I have worked hard
and had alot of fun!!!
Oh yeah, they made me a zone leader on sunday. It was a surprise to
everyone because there is a district that is older then us in our zone
still. being zone leader just means I have more meetings and need to
deal with more peoples problems and try to get people to sleep on time
and report on the zone! The thing that stinks is that I have to be a
fun killer sometimes and tell people to go to bed. So far everyone has
been really responsive and helped me out by making sure they went to
bed on time and whatnot! and when I ask they have been like oh yeah
for sure and done it... being friends with everyone at first helps
alot! I have just tried to be really nice and not gotten onto some
incredible ridiculous power trip like the previous Zone leader... so
that is it... that is my life. Everything is great. I am learning a
ton. I am MORE then half way through with the MTC and it has flown by.
but I am excited to get to Cincinnati.
Love you all.
Elder Stiles
ps congrats matt on creating your own job!
YOU KIDS GO TO BED!
May 14, 2008
I sent this first part LAST WEEK but it says it got returned so I am
resending it... and then I will have this weeks at the end!
This week has actually gone really well! I have gotten more focused
and made it my focus to not waste any of my class time and time when I
am supposed to be studying! I have actually been quite successful at
doing so and it has helped me alot. Especially in my spanish. The lord
is blessing me for doing a better job of being more dedicated and
focused. with that said I have also decided to make sure I have more
fun during non educational times like from 9:30 to 10:30. The whole
language is starting to come together for me. It seems like it is
making more sense and I am doing a better job conjugating and
communicating. I am even understanding most of what my teachers say
when they talk to so that is definately a nice thing. I taught for the
last time in English yesterday... it is spanish from here on out which
is kinda nuts! Next week we teach the whole first discussion in
spanish which will be kinda nuts. We got a whole new group of Elders
last week and they are AWESOME!!! I spend that hour of free time at
night just bouncing around rooms and chatting people up. its really
fun.
Kinda a cool story;
My district was starting to be disobedient in some small things but
they were things in which you deliberately choose to be disobedient in
and so I had to think of some way to address it without being stupid
and boring or coming across as self righteous. So I formulated a plan
which has worked beautifully so far. I got everyone together and told
them that I understand and I would rather do those things from a fun
point of view but that I cant if I am going to be honest with the
branch president. I then asked them if they respected the branch
president and they of course said yes. So I asked them if they
respected me and they said yes, so I explained that it is kind of
embarrassing to go to the president and tell them that my district is
not being obedient and asked that if out of respect for the me they
would be more obedient. They understood where I was coming from and
now they are fully on board and they do not to seem to be mad at me at
all. It was kinda a different management technique but since they know
I wanted to have fun too they really did not seem to mind changing a
couple things. It was actually kinda fun to have an opportunity to
problem solve... Here everything else is scheduled and planned for you
so those opportunities dont come up often.
Overall things are going great! I love my zone and we all have tons of
fun and staying focused. Thanks for everything,
Elder Scott Stiles
I sent this first part LAST WEEK but it says it got returned so I am
resending it... and then I will have this weeks at the end!
This week has actually gone really well! I have gotten more focused
and made it my focus to not waste any of my class time and time when I
am supposed to be studying! I have actually been quite successful at
doing so and it has helped me alot. Especially in my spanish. The lord
is blessing me for doing a better job of being more dedicated and
focused. with that said I have also decided to make sure I have more
fun during non educational times like from 9:30 to 10:30. The whole
language is starting to come together for me. It seems like it is
making more sense and I am doing a better job conjugating and
communicating. I am even understanding most of what my teachers say
when they talk to so that is definately a nice thing. I taught for the
last time in English yesterday... it is spanish from here on out which
is kinda nuts! Next week we teach the whole first discussion in
spanish which will be kinda nuts. We got a whole new group of Elders
last week and they are AWESOME!!! I spend that hour of free time at
night just bouncing around rooms and chatting people up. its really
fun.
Kinda a cool story;
My district was starting to be disobedient in some small things but
they were things in which you deliberately choose to be disobedient in
and so I had to think of some way to address it without being stupid
and boring or coming across as self righteous. So I formulated a plan
which has worked beautifully so far. I got everyone together and told
them that I understand and I would rather do those things from a fun
point of view but that I cant if I am going to be honest with the
branch president. I then asked them if they respected the branch
president and they of course said yes. So I asked them if they
respected me and they said yes, so I explained that it is kind of
embarrassing to go to the president and tell them that my district is
not being obedient and asked that if out of respect for the me they
would be more obedient. They understood where I was coming from and
now they are fully on board and they do not to seem to be mad at me at
all. It was kinda a different management technique but since they know
I wanted to have fun too they really did not seem to mind changing a
couple things. It was actually kinda fun to have an opportunity to
problem solve... Here everything else is scheduled and planned for you
so those opportunities dont come up often.
Overall things are going great! I love my zone and we all have tons of
fun and staying focused. Thanks for everything,
Elder Scott Stiles
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
"Childbirthing"
Dear Dad,
So my hand is sore from writing letters so I am emailing this one and
it is for mom and everyone too, I just only have your email cause mom
had me take your business card so please forward it to me!
I have had a GREAT week. I have had some very spiritual expiriences...
like three days in a row I had great expiriences. I love my whole
district and they are all great people. We have 4 Elders and 4
Hermanas, two of the Hermanas are way cool and fun and the other two
are loosening up, they are just really shy and are more of the mindset
that if your smiling your not working, which is not my style, or
TRUE!!! But either way we are all very productive and work well
together in class and enjoy eachother! Life is great! Spanish is
coming along, the TRC is "kinda a testing center for missionaries" went
really good for the spanish part of it. We had to converse for 15
minutes in spanish and learn about their families and things. that
went really well and we nailed it and I understood most of what he was
saying! Spanish is picking up, conjugating makes sense and I can do it
on paper, I just cannot do it very quickly in my head most of the
time, but I am working on it!
ok now for the funny story: we were teaching the second lesson and we
were doing very well, then the old man who we were teaching went into
an in depth conversation about child birthing... I held it together
and just changed the subject back to the gospel once he took a breath.
then, about three or four minutes later he started talking more about
child birthing and fetus's!!! I could not help but chuckle, all I
could think about was knocking on people's doors and saying "Hi we
would like to give you a quick sex ed class". It was an utter disaster
but I hear that that particular volunteer always messes with the
missionaries and tries to get them off topic! I felt bad afterwards
for laughing but seriously, he was trying to mess with us!
PS. I have seen Robbie Hansen's parents this week everyday at breakfast!
they sure are nice people, they are going tobe Mission Presidents in houston! and I saw matt
grieco within 30 minutes of him being here and he seemed very happy to
see me! I have seen Kelly Pike a couple times. and I have seen my old
roommate who should not be on a mission. Thats all!
I love you!
Elder Stiles
So my hand is sore from writing letters so I am emailing this one and
it is for mom and everyone too, I just only have your email cause mom
had me take your business card so please forward it to me!
I have had a GREAT week. I have had some very spiritual expiriences...
like three days in a row I had great expiriences. I love my whole
district and they are all great people. We have 4 Elders and 4
Hermanas, two of the Hermanas are way cool and fun and the other two
are loosening up, they are just really shy and are more of the mindset
that if your smiling your not working, which is not my style, or
TRUE!!! But either way we are all very productive and work well
together in class and enjoy eachother! Life is great! Spanish is
coming along, the TRC is "kinda a testing center for missionaries" went
really good for the spanish part of it. We had to converse for 15
minutes in spanish and learn about their families and things. that
went really well and we nailed it and I understood most of what he was
saying! Spanish is picking up, conjugating makes sense and I can do it
on paper, I just cannot do it very quickly in my head most of the
time, but I am working on it!
ok now for the funny story: we were teaching the second lesson and we
were doing very well, then the old man who we were teaching went into
an in depth conversation about child birthing... I held it together
and just changed the subject back to the gospel once he took a breath.
then, about three or four minutes later he started talking more about
child birthing and fetus's!!! I could not help but chuckle, all I
could think about was knocking on people's doors and saying "Hi we
would like to give you a quick sex ed class". It was an utter disaster
but I hear that that particular volunteer always messes with the
missionaries and tries to get them off topic! I felt bad afterwards
for laughing but seriously, he was trying to mess with us!
PS. I have seen Robbie Hansen's parents this week everyday at breakfast!
they sure are nice people, they are going tobe Mission Presidents in houston! and I saw matt
grieco within 30 minutes of him being here and he seemed very happy to
see me! I have seen Kelly Pike a couple times. and I have seen my old
roommate who should not be on a mission. Thats all!
I love you!
Elder Stiles
"I am having a grand old time"
Week 2
Dear Mom and Dad,
Life is Great!! I am having a grand old time. The spirit is so strong I have never been this happy.
The food here is actually not that bad. I get salads and wraps and I have yet to go hungry. One of the elders in my district has gained ten pounds since he got here, I have not gained a pound.
I also decided to jog a mile a day which means I have to get up at 5:50 am. Crazy, huh? On top of that, we have gym. The basketball here is comical everyone says they played highschool but there is only one guy who I have played with who can play and actually stop me, so in short, HE played highschool ball.
The class time is actually really enjoyable too. My teachers are amazing and I feel the spirit on a daily basis like I had never felt it before. I got my fist taste of teaching by the spirit and didnt even have to think of what to say, it just came to me. I did have to correct some false teaching by my companion, though, (see emilys post) But overall it was a great experience and my companion was not shattered when I told him what was wrong. My companion is a great guy, having a hard time because his parents are getting a divorce. The other two elders in my district, my other roomates are really good guys, grew up poor, but are getting lots of packages from thier wards and so you dont have to feel bad sending me packages.
I cannot tell you how blessed I am to have been raised in your home. Thank you for everything.
I cannot wait to get to cincinnati and teach though. Spanish is coming along well and we got a new teacher. She is very very good!!I can conjugate on paper but doing it while speaking is much harder, but is coming along. Thanks for the package, it was great I went to the doctor and got medicine for a sinus infection and have felt much better.
I am happier, working harder and closer to the spirit than ever.
I love you,
Scott Stiles
Dear Mom and Dad,
Life is Great!! I am having a grand old time. The spirit is so strong I have never been this happy.
The food here is actually not that bad. I get salads and wraps and I have yet to go hungry. One of the elders in my district has gained ten pounds since he got here, I have not gained a pound.
I also decided to jog a mile a day which means I have to get up at 5:50 am. Crazy, huh? On top of that, we have gym. The basketball here is comical everyone says they played highschool but there is only one guy who I have played with who can play and actually stop me, so in short, HE played highschool ball.
The class time is actually really enjoyable too. My teachers are amazing and I feel the spirit on a daily basis like I had never felt it before. I got my fist taste of teaching by the spirit and didnt even have to think of what to say, it just came to me. I did have to correct some false teaching by my companion, though, (see emilys post) But overall it was a great experience and my companion was not shattered when I told him what was wrong. My companion is a great guy, having a hard time because his parents are getting a divorce. The other two elders in my district, my other roomates are really good guys, grew up poor, but are getting lots of packages from thier wards and so you dont have to feel bad sending me packages.
I cannot tell you how blessed I am to have been raised in your home. Thank you for everything.
I cannot wait to get to cincinnati and teach though. Spanish is coming along well and we got a new teacher. She is very very good!!I can conjugate on paper but doing it while speaking is much harder, but is coming along. Thanks for the package, it was great I went to the doctor and got medicine for a sinus infection and have felt much better.
I am happier, working harder and closer to the spirit than ever.
I love you,
Scott Stiles
Emily and Jared,
Life is great!! It is very tiring but it is going very well. Spanish is coming along pretty well. I cannot wait to get to Cincinnati! When I ahve taught my lessons I have done pretty well. My companion is great and I love him but without fail he says some awkward commemt on our lessons that I have to spend 3 or 4 minutes clarifying. Like yesterday we were doing very well and we had recovered from awkward statement he said earlier when the fake "investigator" asked " When you say I get to spend eternity with my family, who is my family I would spend eternities with?"
His answer was "If you think about it you and me are brother and sister and if we love rightously we can live together..."
I had to hold back laughter until I could take over the conversation, when we got outside he was like "WOW, I don't even know what her question was," so I informed him that she may not be interested in spending eternity with him! He could not stop laughing!! It was pretty funny! But anyways everything here is great!! We have been very obedient and I have never been this happy. This is where I belong. It is great. So the baby is almost crawling huh? Good for him! The time they start to crawl is about when they start to talk alot right? Glad to hear that guy won on Oprahs Big Give! Also, how is American Idol, and how are the Mavs? I got an NFL Draft report and the Cowboys did well!!
Thanks for the letters,
Love you!
Elder Stiles
Life is great!! It is very tiring but it is going very well. Spanish is coming along pretty well. I cannot wait to get to Cincinnati! When I ahve taught my lessons I have done pretty well. My companion is great and I love him but without fail he says some awkward commemt on our lessons that I have to spend 3 or 4 minutes clarifying. Like yesterday we were doing very well and we had recovered from awkward statement he said earlier when the fake "investigator" asked " When you say I get to spend eternity with my family, who is my family I would spend eternities with?"
His answer was "If you think about it you and me are brother and sister and if we love rightously we can live together..."
I had to hold back laughter until I could take over the conversation, when we got outside he was like "WOW, I don't even know what her question was," so I informed him that she may not be interested in spending eternity with him! He could not stop laughing!! It was pretty funny! But anyways everything here is great!! We have been very obedient and I have never been this happy. This is where I belong. It is great. So the baby is almost crawling huh? Good for him! The time they start to crawl is about when they start to talk alot right? Glad to hear that guy won on Oprahs Big Give! Also, how is American Idol, and how are the Mavs? I got an NFL Draft report and the Cowboys did well!!
Thanks for the letters,
Love you!
Elder Stiles
Friday, May 2, 2008
Ready, Set, Go!
Here we are with Scott as he gets ready to take off on his mission. The first photos are at his farewell in California, and the next photos are in Provo on the BIG DAY!.
I will post his letters here as I get them, so stay tuned, more news after the break...
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