June 16, 2019 - Father's Day

June 16, 2019

We didn't get to talk to Matthew very much this past week as he spent his PDay on a "cultural outing".  With the aide of his cousin Kristina, he and a few of the other elders in the Bellevue zone got to go be tourists for a little bit that day.  Here are some of the pictures from the outing:

We did get him to share a scripture with us by text....Gallations 1:6.

When looking at his other pictures we also found that he has been using the rubiks cube the boys sent him to entertain himself.  The boys were excited to see he had it.

Today is Father's Day, and it is also his transfer week.  Matthew is waiting until his transfer call from the mission president to call today.  This will let him call dad today and give us the updated news at the same time.

June 2, 2019

June 2, 2019

We didn't get to talk to Matt too much on his last P-Day because we were helping at the Fire Department Memorial Day Breakfast.  But he did send a few instant messages and a couple of pictures. 

He told us that he and his companion have been teaching some friends that are making the commitment to be baptized.  We are excited for him to have this experience. 

He is still riding his bike, and was showing me that his companion wanted to ride to the area that says "red" on the map in this picture.  It would be 5 miles downhill, but then 5 miles uphill to get back.  We will have to ask next week if he actually made the ride.

He also had to do some shopping.  He had to buy new shoelaces for his shoes...the others have already given out.  I guess making it almost 9 months they held up pretty well.

We're excited to see what he has to share with us this coming week :)

May 26, 2019

May 26, 2019

Our Elder has had a couple of pretty routine weeks as far as a mission goes.  He says that riding the bike is getting a bit easier.  He has been meeting some new friends and teaching others so that is good.  He is really good to call and talk to dad each week and makes sure to try and call home at least once a month so everyone has a chance to say hello.  I am happy that he is remembering to take and send more pictures :)

Here are some of the latest:

May 12, 2019 - Mother's Day

May 12, 2019

Happy Mother's Day

We got to video chat with Matthew today.  He looks well and was his happy self.  He says they have a couple of friends they are teaching, and he seems to enjoy his ward.  Tonight he got to go and eat with a family and they sent some fun pictures.

It is always so fun to get pictures from people he is meeting :)

Earlier this week when we talked to Matthew we found out that he is staying in Bellevue with Elder Fullmer for this coming transfer.  

During the week and on PDay he went to some bible study, his companion got made a district leaders so he'll be tagging along to some extra meetings, and is enjoying (or getting used to) riding the bike more.  He says that he and his companion are still having some meeting of the mind conversations, but even that seems to be getting better.  

He told us the weather yesterday was warm, but that it changes quickly and was much cooler today.  They are warmer there than here this week as they are already in the 80s.  

He sent this picture when I asked him if he was playing any sports for PDay...

If you count billiards

His scripture for this week is D&C 121:7.  He said he was able to share it with someone and it helped them through their day.  It is good to have him share experiences like this :)

Here are some other pictures he took this week that we got through shared photos.  I love getting photos. 

May 5, 2019

May 5, 2019

This week Matthew got to go on exchanges with the Spanish speaking Missionaries.  I asked him if he understood anything being said and he said "nope".  Maybe if they do it more often during the next year or so he'll start to pick up a little bit.

He says the headaches are finally much better after his bike accident.  He was even looking forward to playing a little volleyball for PDay last week. 

This coming week is transfer week.  We are waiting to see if he stays in Bellevue or moves somewhere new.

He sent a few pictures this week...all of them FOOD!!

I guess he was pretty excited to get to eat at the Cheesecake Factory.  Seriously, that boy...no wonder he's always out of money before the end of the month.

At least he remembered to send me his scripture this week: Alma 7:24.

With him being able to call on the phone and chat we never get emails, but I guess at least getting some pictures is worth it in the trade off.  It just means I get to be his narrator :)  Until next week, we leave Matthew as he suffers from the food coma he got from eating at Cheesecake Factory.

April 28, 2019

April 28, 2019

Pictures of our missionary in action??
Looks like he needs to be reminded about the rules of feet off of tables ;)

It is fun to finally be getting some more pictures of him.

Matthew tells us that life is good this week.  He is feeling much better after his bike accident and concussion, but says he still gets a bit nauseous and headaches if he starts riding too fast.  This makes their travels slower, but he is still up and going which is good.

He tells us that last week he got to spend dinner with a members family.  He said they served lamb; it was his first time trying it.  He said it tasted pretty much the same as a beef roast.

Other updates he tells us are that it is still raining a lot there and that he is still studying from the Pearl of Great Price and likes that is shares a lot of things we know about God that other religions don't.  

He sent us a few pictures during their P-day activity this week.  At first all he knew is that there was going to be a secret activity and they needed to be ready at 1:00 to be picked up.  Their surprise activity was bowling. He and 4 other Elders spent the afternoon enjoying a couple of games.  He said it was fun and that he realized he had really missed going bowling.

He ended the day by sharing with us his scripture for the week: D&C 77:5 which explains part of the revelation of John and talks about the Elders who were faithful.  I will have to ask him to expand why he chose this scripture and if it relates to something he was reading from the Pearl of Great Price.

For now, this is where he leave him until we hear from him this coming week :)

April 21, 2019 - Easter Sunday

April 21, 2019

We got to talk to Matt his past week on Wednesday (different than his normal Pday).  His Pday was late this week because he apparently had a small accident the previous Saturday when we was out on his bike.  As he tells it, he was going down a really steep hill when he grabbed the front brake too hard.  He says he supermaned over the handle bars and crashed.  He received a concussion.  After this he was put on "brain rest" for 4 days.  So he was still on rest on Monday, thus the change of their Pday to Wednesday.

The good news about brain rest is that there's not much to do in a missionary apartment when you are forced to rest except talk to your companion.  So that helped him to have the opportunity to communicate better with Elder Fullmer.

He did send us these pictures from his week:

He called and talked to us all a little bit on Wednesday afternoon.  He seems to be doing very well in Bellevue and is adjusting to the change well.  His new challenge is to learn to budget :)  He also shared his scripture for the week which is Enos 1:27.

Today, we received a couple of pictures of our missionary.  This picture below is from a baptism of a new friend they have in Bellevue.  One of his new ward member sent it.  She says that they love having Elder Harding in their ward and wanted to share with us this picture :)

We also received this picture today from Kristina :)  It sure is fun having a niece close enough to occasionally run into our boy.  What fun for them to share the same church building.  We were hoping maybe he would get to call home today (we heard lots of missionaries were), but he didn't...so here's to waiting until tomorrow to get his next update.

We wish you all a Happy Easter.  We are happy to know that our Elder Harding is out sharing the gospel and helping more friends Come Unto Christ and learn the true blessing of the atonement and the resurrection given to us as a gift by Jesus and celebrated at Easter.