Snail Mail Letter dated 01/25/2010

01/25/2010 (letter received in mail 01/28/2010)

Kamusta Kayo!

So this week was the same as every other week. But as you can tell I ran out of Internet time again. I had to write the foreigners first so I don’t use all my stamps (meaning Matt plus Ang). That’s awesome that Reed’s back. I want him and Kyle to come visit me. But I WILL TAKE NO PART IN SETTING THAT UP. : ) But if they just happened to know where I was at a certain time when they just happened to be in the area you couldn’t prevent that, could you? It’s just fate – haha! Just Kidding!

The language is super! Maganda Araw are the words you learned last week. Alam po ko na puwede ako gamin ng mga kandis! (I know I could use some candy! Haha!) Just kidding – I already know you got that taken care of. But all the guys want a print out of the missionary mom chats. We all get a kick out of it when one of the moms writes something about it!

Elder Hale from Orem has gotten seriously one package a day and an average of 4 letters a day. It cracks us up – we’re like “that’s just embarrassing”! hahaha

So far we have had Elder Tom Perry and some guy from the 70 – but my favorite was this guy that’s like the Missionary Manager or something! He was hilarious. He had people stand up and say random stuff and he just grabbed people out of the group. It was awesome! But ya – I know all about the Brazil deal. A kid I met has been here since October.

I’m bummed – I wish I could go see Sam’s dad talk. O well I guess! Will anybody that put in their papers be in the MTC before I leave -- which is March 8th and COUNTING?

My teacher is way cool. Andrea will have to send you my email to hear all about him. But I have tons of pictures so I’m thinking I’ll make a disc before I leave and send it home or maybe you could find me a memory card and send that and I’ll send the other back.

So these people that I taught the first lesson to on the phone – I guess they sent some missionaries over there to teach them and they’ve already taught them some lessons too. But I have to call them on Wednesday to see how it went and hopefully teach them another lesson. I couldn’t bear to tell Matt I might get a baptism before I leave the MTC. Haha! She’s a nice lady though she lives in Texas. What we like to call the Bible Belt. But it’s too bad Matt’s companion didn’t like to go to the RC cause it’s the best. It’s the closest thing to the real deal we can get. I’m not sure if my visa is here yet but I know they haven’t had any problems at all getting them.

I got to get going to dinner! I’ll talk to you next week!
Mahal Kayo
Jason

01/25/2010 Week 3 (MTC)

Jason didn't have time to email his parents this week .... but did find time to email his brothers and sister!! We know who really rates in the Ward household!! That's okay though -- I'm glad he loves them!!

Thank you Andrea .... for sharing your email!

01/25/2010
hey hey
So not a lot new has happened since i talked to you last. It’s pretty much the same thing … but one story … so the other day i was saying the prayer in Tagalog and i was trying to say hinihiling po namin basbason para sa ng propeta at ng pamilya which means we ask you to please bless the prophet and our family and i said hinihiling po namin para sa ng propeta at ng pamilya which means we ask you for a prophet and a family. haha so everyone got a kick out of that!! The teacher was like actually we do have a prophet. haha Our teacher is way cool he got back from our mission (Cauayan) like a year ago and we always joke about him and his girlfriend in Tagalog! haha It’s pretty funny!! He’s always like you guys can’t say much in Tagalog but when it comes to me and my girlfriend all of a sudden you guys are Tagalog professionals. He’s a way fun guy

I figured it out that I’m a 1/3 of the way done with the mtc! I’m so excited to get out there and start doing the real deal like no joke. haha but anyways sounds like the boys are gonna be huge when I get home with all the eating they do now. haha but anyways I got to go I’ll talk to you later!
mahal kayo
Jason

01/18/2010 Week 2 (MTC)

January 18, 2010

kamustak
so mom your tagalog is getting awesome haha. I’m not gonna show off with my tagalog skills yet cause I don’t want you to kill over with how good I’m getting. but yes mom i know elder hale and elder vander----whatever. Elder hale is in my district and he’s the funnest guy ever he cracks me up. Elder dahlin is his companion and every night we have story time in Elder Hales room. our district has 9 guys in it 3 of them are going to manila and the other 6 are all going to cauayan and they’re all awesome. tagalog is just like spanish except that the vocab is all completely different so it's pretty much way different except they use the same method, I guess you can say.

k so me and my casama would like mike n ikes, gummybears, and I need some white sox and just some plain gym tee shirts so just regular tee shirts and I think thats all for right now. everyone here hates the food but I’ll pretty much eat anything so I’m loving it -- definitely no complaints here. on sundays its pretty much a typical day except we have church and we watch one of those church movies so it’s really no treat. but it’s always nice to break up the monotony a little bit. I got all the shots I need I just got the typhoid. but the dentist was fine nothing too exciting there either. k i think i answered all your questions.

as for the cool stuff -- me and my companion discovered the referral center Friday and it was the best ever I got 3 people to consent to have the missionaries come over I think the Citi job paid off there cause nobody else had any luck besides sending them dvds and stuff like that.
but anyways that was awesome teaching lessons on the phone. my companion didn’t really want to or my whole district but i was like Matthew said it was awesome so we've got to try it. and now they all love it. haha

but so a funny story -- the other day when I was teaching someone they asked me in tagalog if I had any questions and to say "no i dont have" you say wala and i said walo. well it caused quite the confussion walo means 8 and wala means "i dont have any" so he thought i had 8 questions and i thought i had none so he goes off in tagalog and i didn’t have a clue what he was talking about so it took us about 5 minutes to sort it all out with my limited tagalog. haha but anyways I have one minute of email left so I’ve got to go i wish i had longer

I’ll talk to you later.
mahal kayo
jason

1st Letter from the MTC 01/11/2010

January 11, 2010
kumusta kayo
K I’ll just cut to the chase first things first tomorrow I have an appt with a dentist to get all the cement off my teeth so I can wear the retainer I have in my bag cause of course the top one busted off so I get a little field trip with my companion. HE’S DEFINITELY looking forward to that. But I need you to call the ortho and see if he still has my teeth molds to make another retainer so that I have one for backup because the old one I have works but it would be better if I had a new one.
k so sorry about all that first the mtc is not bad at all I was a little scared it was going to be terrible like everyone says but it’s not it’s actually fun. But the language is coming along awesome I can almost communicate as long as the teacher’s talking really slow. But it seems like I’ve been at the mtc like forever not only 5 days.
My companion is way cool so are my roomies I definitely lucked out on that one they’re not windowlickers they all love sports so we have a ton to talk about on are free time. OOO WAIT WHAT WAS I THINKING. WE DON’T GET FREE TIME. haha just kidding but seriously. We’ve had alot of fun so far but like Matthew says it’s alot of work too. But nothing too serious I haven’t fallen asleep during any lessons yet but my casama has managed to sneak in a couple of "eye resters" if you know what I mean. But anyways I’m basically out of time already cause I used up like all my time figuring out how to get into the stupid email program but I’ll try and write everyone individually but I doubt it’s gonna happen this week so forward this to everyone if ya can meaning Matt and Andrea. Tell everyone I love them and to write me lots cause it’s definitely way awesome getting letters you and the Burgess' are the only ones to write me so far so thank them for that for me. alright well got to go bye
Elder Jason Ward

Elder Ward's MTC District!

MTC District:
Elder Busbee: Mapleton, UT - Plays guitar & sings
Elder Jones: Loves to sing
Elder Palmer: Beaver, UT - Mechanics
Going to Manila Mission

Elder Colton Riner: Washington State - Football, Basketball & Track (Jason's MTC Companion)
Elder Jason Ward: Mountain Home, ID - Football
Elder Farley: CA - Strong - Likes main sports
Elder Hardman: Magna, UT - Colts Fan - Football
Elder Josh Dahlin: CA - Water Polo & Running machine
Elder Johnathan Hale: Orem, UT - BYU Fan - All sports
Going to Cauayan Mission

The MTC Curbside Dropoff! 01/06/2010

Well the day to enter the MTC has finally arrived. At Jason's request -- we all slept in! He said it would be his last chance to sleep!!! We got ready and went to brunch at the Golden Corral. It was pretty funny because there were about 7 other Missionaries and their families there! I guess this is the hangout for those entering the MTC on Wednesdays. They give the Missionaries a free meal on the day they enter the MTC! We ate and then sat and talked for about an hour. Jason's dropoff time was 1:30 p.m. (Jason's comment to all college students ... "Wear your Sunday best on Wednesdays and go for a free lunch at the Golden Corral!" I told him I thought they might clue in after a couple of weeks!!)

About 12:50 we left Golden Corral to go take some pictures at the MTC. We were told to park across the street from the MTC and then walk over to take pictures in front of the MTC.

Then it was time to drop Elder J. Ward off! We pulled up ... got out of the car ... got out his luggage ... talked to his host (another missionary) ... gave Jason a hug and off he went with his host!!! I got a little choked up but honestly didn't have much time to really think about it!

Then I got in the car and was about ready to really lose it when .... I looked back at Eric and he said "Finally, I'm an only child!" This made us laugh and off we went. We drove around to the front of the MTC to see if we could see Elder Ward walking into the building but it took us so long to get there it was too late ... I think every family had the same idea ... so it caused a little bit of a traffic jam!! We are sooooo very proud of Jason and are excited to hear all about his experiences as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!

Elder Jason Ward .... WE miss you already!!

SEE YOU IN 2 YEARS!!!

Orem, Utah (The night before the MTC) 01/05/2010

On January 5th (Tuesday) we (Robert, Jason, Eric, and I) traveled down to Provo. We stayed in the LaQuinta Inn in Orem. We had a few things we needed to accomplish after getting to Provo ... We needed to go exchange garments cuz Jason finally decided on which size he wanted. It took him a few weeks to figure that out!! Then we went to eat at the Red Lobster and had a GREAT meal! Then we went back to the Hotel. A few weeks ago Jason received a letter from the MTC telling him some information about the curbside dropoff and also giving him a website where he was supposed to go to watch three 30 minute video segments on how to be a missionary and how to plan with his companion. Jason said that since he wasn't able to watch any TV after being set apart as a missionary he would save those segments for that time. So on Tuesday night we all sat in the Hotel room and watched the videos.

Elder Jason Robert Ward 01/04/2010

Jason was set apart as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on January 4, 2010. President Chick (the President of the Mountain Home, Idaho Stake) set him apart by giving him an amazing blessing! Those helping in the setting apart were: President Chick, Robert, Brad Christiansen, & Pres. David Borgholthaus.

Elder Jason Ward & President Chick!

Elder Ward & Brad Christiansen!

Jana Borgholthaus, Elder Ward, and Pres. Borgholthaus!


Our family - with a few missing!
Eric, Karen, Elder Ward, & Robert!

The new Missionary in front of the Missionary Board at the Stake Center!

Jason's picture will be on this board soon!

The BSU Broncos were playing TCU in the Fiesta Bowl on the same night that Jason was to be set apart as a missionary. Full-time Missionaries are not usually allowed to watch TV but in some cases permission is given by their Mission President for special events. Jason was given permission by President Chick to watch the Fiesta Bowl that evening! BSU did WIN!!