It was a long 7 days waiting for an email from that cute boy but it finally came and was totally worth it. He is doing so great and is so happy! That's all you can ask for as a mom. You just want your children to be happy. 

He was a little upset about the mozzarella cheese I sent him being confiscated (more about that below). He loves his companion and loves not being "the new guy". The language is going great, he is getting lots of packages, and he is "absolutely and completely happy".

Here is an excerpt from this weeks letter;

"Everything is going so so well with me. I speak ridiculous Spanish. Like, I can hear almost every word people say to me and I can conduct a lesson like no bodies business. I GOT MY FIRST BAPTISM! Not a real one, but still cool. We have investigators that we teach and 90% of them are all members, including Jorge, my investigator, but it was so cool because we were able to teach him over the past week and it was so fun. I love my companion. Like, he is such a great guy. STORY:

SO we were teaching Jorge and he asked why Jesus dies for our sins and we were like ???? WE DIDN'T PREPARE FOR THIS. All of our notes were about the Restoration so we were like what the heck so he goes up to the board and starts illustrating for Jorge and we couldn't remember the words for "Paradise and Prison" so we said "Bueno and Malo" and we couldn't remember the names for the kingdoms so we were like "Mas Bueno, Bueno, and Buenoish" and it was so funny. But you would be surprised how strong you can feel the spirit in a language that isn't your own. Jorge cried once so we both started crying and it was wonderful. I love this Gospel. I feel like everything that has happened in my life, the good and the bad, have all lead up to this."

​"I love you more that I have words to say. Tell Rowdy I miss him. Love always, Jack."


Oh...and about the cheese.
"They confiscated the cheese! I didn't know I was in Nazi Germany! Or Bomont from "Footloose" except instead of dancing you can't have cheese! But you also can't dance here so like that's my life. I'm so upset about it." 

I think he will be fine :)

June 15th. Ugh. That was a rough one. It's hard to say goodbye to someone you love for two years, even when you know that those two years will bless them beyond measure. The new system of dropping a missionary off is a lot better than it used to be. Pull up, hug, drive away. Like a bandaid. It's best to just rip it off. It still hurts though. I wasn't able to watch him walk away but Tracy did. He said he was smiling. That night we received our first quick email from him telling us he was happy and that his P-day (preparation) was on Saturday and he would be able to write then. What a blessing to know when to expect his first letter.

That Saturday at 11:32 it came! He told us about his companion, Elder Johnson from Boise, ID, and how well they got along. He also talked about learning the language, the food at the MTC, and seeing some of his friends that had entered the MTC a few weeks ago.

Here is an excerpt from his letter;

"...let me tell you that the Gift of Tongues is nuts. I taught my first lesson yesterday entirely in Spanish to an "investigator" named Jorge. I've passed my companion in language comprehension and he took 3 years of Spanish in high school. Plus, my accent is awesome."

Side note: Jack has never taken a day of Spanish and had only had 10 hours of instruction at that point. What a miracle!

"The food here is very...alright. I will probably end up losing weight instead of gaining like the other missionaries. Oops. Don't worry though, I'm being healthy.  We had our first exercise time yesterday and it was nice. As long as your companion is in the same building you can do whatever you want, so it's nice to have some alone time while running."

"That's what's happening with me. Nothing much. I'm putting my shoulder to the wheel like you've always taught me."

"I love you to the moon and back and then back again. Love, Jack"