Friday, June 27, 2008
Week 2 Cincinnati
Life overall is pretty good. I am pretty worn out by the end of the day, and my bed feels pretty good. My companion is pretty cool. Overall, things are pretty good.
The areas around us are mostly black with a little white and latino thrown in. They all live in a few apartment complexes. We work till exactly nine pm at the earliest because we dont want to miss anyone.
The spirit is really strong and everyday it seems like we need it more and more. We are currently teaching a guy named Keith. He is 16 and his grandpa was actually a member of the 70, and his mom got offended at something and she quit going to church. So he basically believes in nothing. Our first discussion with him was incredible. I have high hopes for him.
Ok so here is the funny story.
We were on our way home and we decided to knock on a few more doors so we walk up and there is a guy sitting on a porch with a pipe in his hand. I asked him "how are you doing?" his response, "smokin weed" I thought about it, and realized that when I used the word "how" he figured that if he answered with smokin weed, I would just assume he was doing well, and it prevented the pesky "why" question that people always ask after finding out that someone is doing well. We quickly tried to get away by directing the conversation to the church. Problem is, he liked that. This is when he told us his well developed theology. He said to us, "I believe in Johnny"
We started laughing. He then followed us back to our car, just chatting us up. Wehn he mentioned that he had been waiting on his friends porch to console him over the death of a loved one. I was thinking how great of a counselor he must be if he can even help people when he is drunk off his rocker and high as a kite. He explained that this is the reason he was so dressed up! Jeans shorts, sandals, silk shirt withthe top 4 buttons undone. My companion asked, "what do you normally wear?" and Johnny replied "Balla Clothes", or something to that effect, and did a sweet crossover w/o a ball. (ok, i have done that before!) But then he went straight from the crossover into nice "ib @ the club style dance moves. He kept this up for a good 30 seconds before singing in a sort of Zena warrior princess war cry...
It was sweet. We finally found a chance to get away and left, but, first we gave hugs, of course, "because thats what old friends do!!!" But anyway, life is great.
We have lots of people to teach. I cannot wait to see Michaels Baptism, he is awesome. He and I connected pretty quick, and he is ready.
Alright, well, thanks for everything. Life is good. Tiring but good.
Write me back, I would love to hear from you.
Love,
Elder Stiles
The areas around us are mostly black with a little white and latino thrown in. They all live in a few apartment complexes. We work till exactly nine pm at the earliest because we dont want to miss anyone.
The spirit is really strong and everyday it seems like we need it more and more. We are currently teaching a guy named Keith. He is 16 and his grandpa was actually a member of the 70, and his mom got offended at something and she quit going to church. So he basically believes in nothing. Our first discussion with him was incredible. I have high hopes for him.
Ok so here is the funny story.
We were on our way home and we decided to knock on a few more doors so we walk up and there is a guy sitting on a porch with a pipe in his hand. I asked him "how are you doing?" his response, "smokin weed" I thought about it, and realized that when I used the word "how" he figured that if he answered with smokin weed, I would just assume he was doing well, and it prevented the pesky "why" question that people always ask after finding out that someone is doing well. We quickly tried to get away by directing the conversation to the church. Problem is, he liked that. This is when he told us his well developed theology. He said to us, "I believe in Johnny"
We started laughing. He then followed us back to our car, just chatting us up. Wehn he mentioned that he had been waiting on his friends porch to console him over the death of a loved one. I was thinking how great of a counselor he must be if he can even help people when he is drunk off his rocker and high as a kite. He explained that this is the reason he was so dressed up! Jeans shorts, sandals, silk shirt withthe top 4 buttons undone. My companion asked, "what do you normally wear?" and Johnny replied "Balla Clothes", or something to that effect, and did a sweet crossover w/o a ball. (ok, i have done that before!) But then he went straight from the crossover into nice "ib @ the club style dance moves. He kept this up for a good 30 seconds before singing in a sort of Zena warrior princess war cry...
It was sweet. We finally found a chance to get away and left, but, first we gave hugs, of course, "because thats what old friends do!!!" But anyway, life is great.
We have lots of people to teach. I cannot wait to see Michaels Baptism, he is awesome. He and I connected pretty quick, and he is ready.
Alright, well, thanks for everything. Life is good. Tiring but good.
Write me back, I would love to hear from you.
Love,
Elder Stiles
Friday, June 20, 2008
Day 1, Cincinnati, Ohio
Hey!
I am here safe and a real missionary! "a little nervous, but
ready". My mission president was a little more intimidating than I
expected but he seemed very nice and his wife seemed very nice too! We
spent the night at their house last night and went out to our areas
this morning! It seems like today is soo long. It is P-Day, which I am
pretty neutral about.
My companion does not like sports and is pretty
funny, first impression was that he was like Kevin Wood. He speaks
good Spanish and we mostly try to speak Spanish with each other. He
says he is from New Zealand but his accent comes in and out so I do
not know if it is a joke or that is just the way it is. His name is
Elder Lantz.
I am in an English speaking ward that is suburban with
some urban areas. It is in Cincinnati. I hear that the chances are
slim that I will go outside of the city, but you never know. I am not
sure how hard of a worker my companion is, Which scares me, and makes
me think I am going to need to work hard to stay working hard, and
make sure I do not get lazy.
We have a baptismal Date set for next
Saturday so that is cool. Apparently its an 18 year old kid. Cool
Stuff. It is really green here. It is virtually the same as Pittsburgh
in EVERY way. Our apartment is not way nice but not bad. its big,
old, and the hallways outside smell Like Cigarettes. But it is very
clean and livable! I look forward to tonight being able to go teach!
We are going to teach a Spanish Family. I cannot wait to do that. We
went shopping and I have 60 for the rest of the month.... Talk about
budgeting! I cannot believe I am a missionary... It is nuts. I cannot
wait to really get out there though! Thanks For everything, I love you
all!
Elder Stiles
Our Address is;
Elder Scott Stiles
1600 Thompson Heights Ave #207
Cincinnati OH 45223
Please have people write me, I could use a little pick me up!
Ps. More fun facts:
We have cell phones "the whole mission"
We drive a Mazda 3
The Average missionary will only see 2 Baptisms... "I will see 20 times that"
There are 4 missionaries in our ward.
I ate at a Mexican market today for the first time
My companion says he never really eats... (Como Se Dice "No Bueno")
It is weird to be in the REAL world!
I cannot wait to do this work... I know I am here for a reason, and the Lord has prepared people who only I can reach... I am going to make it happen.
I am here safe and a real missionary! "a little nervous, but
ready". My mission president was a little more intimidating than I
expected but he seemed very nice and his wife seemed very nice too! We
spent the night at their house last night and went out to our areas
this morning! It seems like today is soo long. It is P-Day, which I am
pretty neutral about.
My companion does not like sports and is pretty
funny, first impression was that he was like Kevin Wood. He speaks
good Spanish and we mostly try to speak Spanish with each other. He
says he is from New Zealand but his accent comes in and out so I do
not know if it is a joke or that is just the way it is. His name is
Elder Lantz.
I am in an English speaking ward that is suburban with
some urban areas. It is in Cincinnati. I hear that the chances are
slim that I will go outside of the city, but you never know. I am not
sure how hard of a worker my companion is, Which scares me, and makes
me think I am going to need to work hard to stay working hard, and
make sure I do not get lazy.
We have a baptismal Date set for next
Saturday so that is cool. Apparently its an 18 year old kid. Cool
Stuff. It is really green here. It is virtually the same as Pittsburgh
in EVERY way. Our apartment is not way nice but not bad. its big,
old, and the hallways outside smell Like Cigarettes. But it is very
clean and livable! I look forward to tonight being able to go teach!
We are going to teach a Spanish Family. I cannot wait to do that. We
went shopping and I have 60 for the rest of the month.... Talk about
budgeting! I cannot believe I am a missionary... It is nuts. I cannot
wait to really get out there though! Thanks For everything, I love you
all!
Elder Stiles
Our Address is;
Elder Scott Stiles
1600 Thompson Heights Ave #207
Cincinnati OH 45223
Please have people write me, I could use a little pick me up!
Ps. More fun facts:
We have cell phones "the whole mission"
We drive a Mazda 3
The Average missionary will only see 2 Baptisms... "I will see 20 times that"
There are 4 missionaries in our ward.
I ate at a Mexican market today for the first time
My companion says he never really eats... (Como Se Dice "No Bueno")
It is weird to be in the REAL world!
I cannot wait to do this work... I know I am here for a reason, and the Lord has prepared people who only I can reach... I am going to make it happen.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Sorry it’s a Grammatical Disaster!
THANK YOU MATT for the Wendy's!!! (moms note: Matt and his good friend with connections went to the MTC one night with a big bag of Wendy's and dropped it off with Scott. Scott was VERY Suprized to see Matt, not only that, but he was bearing gifts of food.) Fast Food!
Matt is appreciated by our whole zone. Funny story, I was so surprised to get the food and was so excited. Then I started to feel guilty about it right before I ate it. So I went and told my Branch president and he replied "well if your mom sent you brownies would you eat them". His logic was superb. He then said he appreciated me bringing it up with him. So i settled on sharing with my whole district that way no one felt like they got left out or offended. It was perfect ‘cause everyone was so excited about it and so I gave the burgers to my best buddies, and shared everything else and told everyone not to be greedy. They liked it!
Life is great, but I don’t have a ton of time today so this may be short... sorry, just getting ready to go is not too quick... pretty much all business in this one, I will real life talk to you on Monday... not sure how long that will be but we will see!
First off, I have not yet received your package, but to anyone considering sending me a package I have determined that those peanut-butter chex things mom sent me reign supreme as the best treat!
Life is great. I understand all of the Spanish concepts that we have learned and can do them ALL on paper, but when it comes to speaking them all I am not so great, I am ok "not great" at conjugations and future tense, and subjunctive. But Direct object and Indirect object is wrecking me. But I am still above average at speaking it so I am fine. I have worked hard so it will come... Just a slightly humbling experience!
I have had the opportunity to talk to Elder Johnson quite a bit. He is alot of fun and we have actually become pretty good friends in the week that he has been here. It’s crazy because after all these years we have been able to just pick up and be friends again. It’s cool!
Laur thanks for the Dear Elder! I did not want to write you back and have you not get it for like 2 weeks so I will write you once I have a chance in Cincinnati. Have Fun and Be Safe!
Dad, Good luck tomorrow at your meeting. I know things will work out and this will be successful. I love you and am proud of you for doing this. PS happy fathers day!
Ok so that’s about it for me!!!
I am way excited to go. Kinda nervous about starting off at the bottom of things again! I can see now that I needed to go Spanish speaking because I needed this 9 weeks to help improve myself before I could possibly go teach other people.
Love you all
Elder Stiles
Matt is appreciated by our whole zone. Funny story, I was so surprised to get the food and was so excited. Then I started to feel guilty about it right before I ate it. So I went and told my Branch president and he replied "well if your mom sent you brownies would you eat them". His logic was superb. He then said he appreciated me bringing it up with him. So i settled on sharing with my whole district that way no one felt like they got left out or offended. It was perfect ‘cause everyone was so excited about it and so I gave the burgers to my best buddies, and shared everything else and told everyone not to be greedy. They liked it!
Life is great, but I don’t have a ton of time today so this may be short... sorry, just getting ready to go is not too quick... pretty much all business in this one, I will real life talk to you on Monday... not sure how long that will be but we will see!
First off, I have not yet received your package, but to anyone considering sending me a package I have determined that those peanut-butter chex things mom sent me reign supreme as the best treat!
Life is great. I understand all of the Spanish concepts that we have learned and can do them ALL on paper, but when it comes to speaking them all I am not so great, I am ok "not great" at conjugations and future tense, and subjunctive. But Direct object and Indirect object is wrecking me. But I am still above average at speaking it so I am fine. I have worked hard so it will come... Just a slightly humbling experience!
I have had the opportunity to talk to Elder Johnson quite a bit. He is alot of fun and we have actually become pretty good friends in the week that he has been here. It’s crazy because after all these years we have been able to just pick up and be friends again. It’s cool!
Laur thanks for the Dear Elder! I did not want to write you back and have you not get it for like 2 weeks so I will write you once I have a chance in Cincinnati. Have Fun and Be Safe!
Dad, Good luck tomorrow at your meeting. I know things will work out and this will be successful. I love you and am proud of you for doing this. PS happy fathers day!
Ok so that’s about it for me!!!
I am way excited to go. Kinda nervous about starting off at the bottom of things again! I can see now that I needed to go Spanish speaking because I needed this 9 weeks to help improve myself before I could possibly go teach other people.
Love you all
Elder Stiles
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Thanks for the Packages!
Hi Everyone,
HEY THANKS FOR ALL THE PACKAGES!!! HOLY smokes everyone came through this week! and everyone in my zone appreciated it! I am still having fun and doing GREAT!!! I cannot beleive that I am only eleven days from leaving its nuts!! I cannot wait but I also have enjoyed this alot more then I thought I would!
Spanish came along really well this week! it seems like every week I have a period where it feels like I will never learn the language then, it all comes together and I feel like I will be able to actually really speak it some day. and this week was no different. Sunday it felt like I could not put to spanish words together then on Tuesday "yesterday" when I taught in the TRC in spanish I literally just talked and I did not even really feel like I was speaking spanish. I got done and I kinda looked at my companion like was that spanish or what? and he said that it was the best I had ever done! I was kinda excited about that! He has kinda been struggling with spanish so he usually gets frustrated and has me teach alot of the time. the thing is that he has alot more vocabulary then me and is ALOT better at memorizing stuff, but he just gets nervous I think... He is a smart kid and he is alot of fun, he will figure it out!
Ok for the funny story of the week, the zone across the hall from us in our Condos "we call our rooms the condos" are really really like uncomfortable and just kinda boring, its one thing to be obedient, and its one thing to be boring, and THEY are boring. So I have started talking to some of them and kinda become friends with some of them that are trying to enjoy themselves at times and so I was walking through there hall giving out stickers "which emily sent in her package" and most of them have erally supportive sayings on them like "your number 1" or "Keep on Going" or "A+" and so I was coming out of the bathroom one night when I had a idea... and it was a fantastic one. I started giving out stickers to people after they came out of the stalls and saying cheesy sayings like " do you know what you are... Your NUMBER 1". Basically I would find a way to associate whatever the sticker said on it into what I told them. It made a few really uncomfortable, but most of them really enjoyed it!
I really like the new district from last week. They are really cool and not doing anything stupid. And we got a new district this week which puts our zone at 33 people. they all seem really cool and there is a kid from cincinnati who said that the spanish missionaries there are definately the cooler ones and he says he knows a whole bunch of them. so that is cool, and I met a kid whose brother went there spanish speaking and said he learned spanish like he would of had he gone to mexico! so that is always good to hear! on other news There is one bedroom in our hall that is not in our zone, and I saw this big Elder talking outside it and I was like whoah, is that Quentin Johnson! The answer is yes and he is not in my zone but sleeps 3 rooms down from me. We had a nice talk, he seems like a nice kid and it will be fun to kinda catch up with him considering I probably have not talked to him in 8 years or so!!!
Basketball has picked up here. all the kids who were in college are now here so it is far more competitive!!! I have been playing with all the best players and holding my own... I ruined a kid who was on a full ride at QB for BYU in football and was like some star basketball player in high school he is 6'5''... He dunked on me but I outplayed him outscored him and blocked him silly... and my team won... and his team was way better. I like basketball alot better then soccer. my 10 year scoring streak ended cause I played goalie. so there is nothing to play for anymore!!!
So the jist of this email is that life is Great, I cannot wait to get to cincinnati, but I am actually gonna miss the MTC. I have made so many friends and learned so much it has been really a great expirience for me, but with that said I am not going to ask to stay back or anything!
I love you all and thanks for the packages! It is always nice to get mail!
Love Elder Stiles
HEY THANKS FOR ALL THE PACKAGES!!! HOLY smokes everyone came through this week! and everyone in my zone appreciated it! I am still having fun and doing GREAT!!! I cannot beleive that I am only eleven days from leaving its nuts!! I cannot wait but I also have enjoyed this alot more then I thought I would!
Spanish came along really well this week! it seems like every week I have a period where it feels like I will never learn the language then, it all comes together and I feel like I will be able to actually really speak it some day. and this week was no different. Sunday it felt like I could not put to spanish words together then on Tuesday "yesterday" when I taught in the TRC in spanish I literally just talked and I did not even really feel like I was speaking spanish. I got done and I kinda looked at my companion like was that spanish or what? and he said that it was the best I had ever done! I was kinda excited about that! He has kinda been struggling with spanish so he usually gets frustrated and has me teach alot of the time. the thing is that he has alot more vocabulary then me and is ALOT better at memorizing stuff, but he just gets nervous I think... He is a smart kid and he is alot of fun, he will figure it out!
Ok for the funny story of the week, the zone across the hall from us in our Condos "we call our rooms the condos" are really really like uncomfortable and just kinda boring, its one thing to be obedient, and its one thing to be boring, and THEY are boring. So I have started talking to some of them and kinda become friends with some of them that are trying to enjoy themselves at times and so I was walking through there hall giving out stickers "which emily sent in her package" and most of them have erally supportive sayings on them like "your number 1" or "Keep on Going" or "A+" and so I was coming out of the bathroom one night when I had a idea... and it was a fantastic one. I started giving out stickers to people after they came out of the stalls and saying cheesy sayings like " do you know what you are... Your NUMBER 1". Basically I would find a way to associate whatever the sticker said on it into what I told them. It made a few really uncomfortable, but most of them really enjoyed it!
I really like the new district from last week. They are really cool and not doing anything stupid. And we got a new district this week which puts our zone at 33 people. they all seem really cool and there is a kid from cincinnati who said that the spanish missionaries there are definately the cooler ones and he says he knows a whole bunch of them. so that is cool, and I met a kid whose brother went there spanish speaking and said he learned spanish like he would of had he gone to mexico! so that is always good to hear! on other news There is one bedroom in our hall that is not in our zone, and I saw this big Elder talking outside it and I was like whoah, is that Quentin Johnson! The answer is yes and he is not in my zone but sleeps 3 rooms down from me. We had a nice talk, he seems like a nice kid and it will be fun to kinda catch up with him considering I probably have not talked to him in 8 years or so!!!
Basketball has picked up here. all the kids who were in college are now here so it is far more competitive!!! I have been playing with all the best players and holding my own... I ruined a kid who was on a full ride at QB for BYU in football and was like some star basketball player in high school he is 6'5''... He dunked on me but I outplayed him outscored him and blocked him silly... and my team won... and his team was way better. I like basketball alot better then soccer. my 10 year scoring streak ended cause I played goalie. so there is nothing to play for anymore!!!
So the jist of this email is that life is Great, I cannot wait to get to cincinnati, but I am actually gonna miss the MTC. I have made so many friends and learned so much it has been really a great expirience for me, but with that said I am not going to ask to stay back or anything!
I love you all and thanks for the packages! It is always nice to get mail!
Love Elder Stiles
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Only Two Weeks Left In MTC!
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
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 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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
