January 27, 2019

This week Matthew had the opportunity to go to the Seattle Temple.  He said it was good to get to go.  At least he did send a couple of pictures from that trip.  Kind of a trade off...we get pictures but less email.

He's still pretty homesick this week, so we sent up a package of some puzzles and games that might help keep his mind/hands busy when they have downtime.  I'm hoping that it's primarily the January blahs and soon it will start warming up and the sun will come out and he'll feel better.

From his short email this week he says:

Scripture is Alma 18:18 (This is when Ammon is first starting to talk to King Lamoni and can discern his thoughts.  King Lamoni then asks Ammon if he is the Great Spirti, who knows all things.)

Pray for me to overcome my homesickness

Love you mom,

Elder Harding

They are teaching several people right now, so we are also remembering them in our prayers so that they might feel the spirit and follow the promptings to learn more.

It was good to see his pictures this week.  I hope the trip to the temple helped him to feel peace and refocus so he will have a good week.  Hard to believe he's been in Federal Way nearly 4 months now!

January 20, 2019

Elder Harding has been serving 17 weeks...just over 4 months.  He told us this week that he had some homesickness, so we are hoping that this week he has been busier so that the homesickness doesn't get him down.  We are sending lots of love and prayers his way.

Matthew definitely prefers to communicate through Google Hangouts more than he likes to write a formal email.  So instead of getting an email from him, I've compromised and told him as long as he sends me his scripture for the week and some pictures I'll be happy.

Here's his scriptures for the week:
     Matthew 6:19-21
     Nephi 13:19-21

Life in the mission field:

   He says they are out meeting people a lot.  He says they haven't had anyone be mean to them in a long time so that is good.  He tells us his breakfast consists a lot of coke and pancakes (to that as his mom I say YUCK! and seriously child!).

   He sent a couple of pictures this week.  One of where they were playing football (it looks a lot warmer in Washington than in Utah right now) and one of just driving down the street.

January 13, 2019

Here's parts from Matthew's email home this week:

"Sorry for the late answer to your email, but here are my answers for the week. Firstly the scripture that stood out to me was 3 Nephi chapter 27, it really affirms President Nelson's remarks about the name of the church. Something that you can pray for this week is for the people we are teaching to keep their commitments, we have 5 people on date to be baptized. So just praying that they can keep that commitment and make the changes in their lives to make that covenant with God. We are "teaching" a lot of people right now ( I believe around 60 or so) but a lot of the time the lessons fall through and they don't happen, so people we are like actually teaching is like around 5. Lessons go really simply actually, preach my gospel plays it out exactly how we teach and if you ever look up "the district" it is pretty accurate as well. Anyway I love you and I hope everyone is doing well! 

Elder Harding"

We also found this picture in his shared Google photos this week:

The boys were super excited about this picture.  If you look really closely at the door you can see the Ghostbusters logo. 

The boys have convinced themselves that this is the REAL and ORIGINAL Ecto-1 EctoMobile ;)

There was also this little gem of a card house...not sure the story behind it, but maybe we can ask him about it tomorrow :)

January 6, 2019

Matthew has survived his 2nd 6 weeks...this week was transfer week - he has stayed in Federal Way (Hylebos Ward) and has the same companion Elder Hodgson.

I think he has discovered that using Google Chat with use each PDay is easier than taking the time to send a real email :(  So this week I asked him some of the questions from my email while we were chatting so I would have something to share here.

He said New Year's Eve he was asleep by 10:30PM...so not like him if he had been home, but good to know he is on a good schedule. 

His scripture for the week is 3 Nephi 1:12-14.  This scripture is about the time right before Jesus was born.  It is what was happening in the Americas at the time of his birth in Bethlehem.

While he was "chatting" with us, he also was "chatting" with Ashley and Amber.  They sometimes get more out of him then we do...and low and behold they got some pictures!  Here are some they got him to send:

Amber actually got him to take and send a selfie.  So here is our missionary :)

This is his breakfast he said (I'm hoping it was more of a lunch).  It is a clam chowder type soup.

He went to this restaurant.  It is called Salty's.  The rest of the pictures are from there.  The last one is the sunset looking out over the ocean.  It is gorgeous!

We didn't get much from him this week as far as email information goes, but I'm so glad the girls were able to get him to take and send some pictures.  Now to get him to work on the perfect combination of email info and pictures :)  Then he will have a happy mom.

December 30, 2018

It's been a great week!  We go to talk to Matthew on Christmas.  He was his quirky, happy self.  He was even such a smart alec as to tell me this when I asked if he wanted to bear his testimony:

"God is real.  The church is true."  He then added a minute later, "Oh, and I love you mom."  I guess I can't complain after that :)

 We got a group picture of Matthew and the other kids.  They all thought it was fun to talk to him on the TV.

I harped on him about taking more pictures...so he tole me to go ahead and get a "tag pic" from this one.  So I guess my first tag picture from his mission, I actually took :)

We were glad to see he was finally feeling better after his cold.  He says that it is still really green in Seattle, but he wished it would have snowed for Christmas.  

This week Matthew reached the 100 day mark of his mission.  He is coming up on 12 weeks in the field; this week is transfer week.  We will find out tomorrow if he gets to stay where he is at or if he is moving, and if his companion stays the same or changes.  

Here are a couple of pictures from his picture files:  

Can't wait to hear more about them :)

December 23, 2018

Our Matthew has been sick this week :(  He didn't send his normal email home, but we did get to chat with him a little back and forth on Monday.  He feels awful, but hopefully will be taking some time on his PDay to rest more and that will help.  I've offered all of the mom suggestions: NyQuill, Vicks, EmergencyC, etc.  Hoping he will take some time to take care of himself and soon be feeling better.

We are excited that he will get to make his first phone call/video chat home this week for Christmas.  We will try to record part of it to share.

December 16, 2018

Here's what we hear from Matthew this week:

"So the meal thing is going good, we still have members that will drop off a dinner for us to eat during the week. I honestly have not looked for a crockpot at all so I don't know if we have one. It really hasn't been too bad of an adjustment. Music is a weird story, there are a lot of different views on what is and isn't allowed to be listened to. Currently I just go along with whatever Elder Hodgson wants to listen to, and we have listened to a few Christmas songs recently. However if I am honest, the lack of snow keeps the feeling of Christmas distant. On the point of the temple, I believe that we get to go in January or February. I've been told that we only get to go twice a year, I am not sure why that is, but that's the rule. As for favorite restaurants, IHOP is great restaurant and we have one close to our apartment, Buffalo Wild Wings is another good one, we would go on Tuesdays, recently we have been going to Cafe Rio because it's quicker. Federal Way has all kinds of fast food though so whatever you believe that I would eat, that's the best thing I can say, you aren't really a picky eater any more when you're a missionary. As for a scripture this week, I think that Alma 5:25-26, I liked this scripture because me and Elder Hodgson listened to a talk by Hyrum W Smith. This talked really stood out to me and made me think about the "Marvelous Work and Wonder" that missionaries are doing. And I was just glad to be apart of it. For Light The World we aren't doing anything super special, however last week we did a service project as a district and did it in the name of Light The World. As for prayers, just keeping me in mind and praying that we keep the car again in Hylebos. I love you all, and I hope you have a good day.

Elder Harding"

During our back and forth conversations Monday we learned that they are meeting with a couple of new friends, and that they got to attend a baptism with one of them.   Matthew said that during this past week he also got to give his first priesthood blessing.  He was really excited about that.  We love that he is having such wonderful experiences on his mission.

He also told us that they are busy doing a lot of tracting right now.  They get to meet a lot of new people this way.  Matthew said it has been good that he hasn't been yelled at since November by anyone so that was a positive.

I also emailed with Sister Rasmussen, the mission president's wife this week and loved getting this little bit about Matthew back.

" We sure do love Elder Harding. He is doing so well and adjusting to this wonderful missionary life. We get to spend the day with them on Thursday as we do some follow up training. I will be sure to tell him hello from you.

 Thank you for sending such a wonderful young man to us.  We love him and promise we will take good care of him. This is the Lords work and it’s such an exciting thing to be a part of with these amazing young people! 

Sincerely,
Sister Rasmussen"

We also heard from a family in his area this week and got another picture.  He was there helping to hang their Christmas lights.  I'm glad he got the opportunity to do that because he was always a good helper at home getting the lights up.