LAST PICTURES OF HIS DISTRICT AND TEACHERS.  HE HAD TWO CCM TEACHERS FOR SIX WEEKS.

well its my last week in the mtc and man am I excited. i've been made travel leader for my group in the west mission. my spanish speaking is getting better but my understanding the language is better. I received the gift of ears first and the other gift is still coming bit by bit. my branch president told me that he thought I was the type of guy that is very quiet but is excelling faster than everyone else. I will miss everyone here in the mtc. but my district is already planning stuff for when we get back (but that isn't what we are focused on). Of course we keep the lord in our hearts and we study what we need to and remember the reason why we came. but we'll be leaving at 5:45 in the morning to panama then flying to Republica Dominicana. very excited but I am lucky to have flown out of the country already so i'm not to worried about the airport and where I need to be / look for. I have been struggling with my companion a bit but I just remember 2 nephi 29:8. which helps me to remember that if we argue our relationship could fall apart. I'm going to miss everyone here at the mtc like my teachers and some of the people in the cafeteria. But I am ready for the field.

Our Elder Stimpson said he is going to leave CCM at 2 a.m. then fly out at 5:45 a.m. on March 25 (Monday).  It is going to be a long trip for our guy and his troop (His companion and two sisters).  He is pretty excited about getting out there.

Pictures of Elder Ian Stimpson and his district 11A

Fifth week in MTC

Ian and his mom emailed each other.  Their conversation went as this:

Ian:
well its been a month in the mtc but its been the best ever and it is so easy to study Spanish. If I had been studying at school it would take me 3 years to know this much Spanish. Today while playing volleyball

Mom:
Your dad told me you have six weeks in CCM.  Your original departure airfare said April 12 or 13.  It has been past four weeks or five weeks.  Did you get new flight plan yet?

Ian:
I got pretty red i always forget sunscreen. but its still soooo fun especially with my district. a couple of our devotionals have been awesome but then it got pretty serious at the end because we missionaries have some problems some more serious than others and the mission president had to have a talk with us but we needed it.

Mom: 
Can you tell me what type of problems missionaries are facing now?

Ian:
I don't know how it will go yet. If I need to fly back to the states or if we can fly straight to the DR. but one thing is we'll be flying in during hurricane season which will be fun and I know that will worry you mom but the lord is with me. I'm sure the church has some willing members who will fly out to get us with their private jets.
stuff with hand shakes that get a little excessive but its not nearly as bad as provo. it seems that they can't give the opposite sex any kind of handshake.

Mom:
Are you talking about “ hand games”?  Like bomb, slapping, etc?

Ian:
but it haven't received a a culture shock but I probably will when I get there since we're in the boons. like slaps, fist bumps and other things.

Mom:
Explain “Boons” . .  I am getting different stuff from dictionary.  The way you said made it to sound different.

Ian:
boons meaning a poor place with the people living farther apart sometimes has some farming.

Mom:
No problem.  I like pictures and I wonder if you can attach names to those pictures so I know who they are?

Jonathan, Ian's cousin, then got online and told Ian where he is going for his mission.  He is going to Brazil Brazilia Mission and he is going to speak Portuguese.

You just can imagine their excitement!  I'm so happy for them both.  Ian told us that he haven't gotten new travel information and how excited he is to go to field and work with people.  Everyone in his district made beautiful adjustment and are very excited about missionary work.  

Pictures incoming ......

Hi!  This time, it is Clint, the father, who got to talk with Elder Stimpson today.  They enjoyed exchanging news.  Elder Stimpson continues to have wonderful time at CCM.  He tried listening to endowment in Spanish at Mexico City Temple today.  He manage to get some of it.  Here's his brief email for this week:

hey family and others. mom love the letters you sent me i shared a bit from the one about broken pottery. just finished going to the temple and did it without English but I could generally understand what they were saying. now I'm almost done with my forth week. can't believe I've been out for about a month. love the history tidbits they're fun to read. can't wait to get out in the field but I will miss my district here in the ccm. they are great friends and people and of course we will exchange emails and stuff. most of them are going to be in Utah anyway.

 

how does Timmy feel about being the only boy out of the kids? hows school going? what other fun things have you been doing? what kind of pictures do you want to see? as well as any other questions you might have?

hey to everyone else. I want you to read mosiah 3 and share your thoughts with me. favorite verses from there are 16-19. make some connections with other scriptures and maybe share your testimony.

Video Chat today!

Here's another picture from Estaben!



Ian called me up and we chatted on video!  More productive!!  I was able to clarify some things and get answers from him!!

If you want to send him letters via this link:
https://www.missionarypackagemx.com/    or
https://mtcmexicocarepackage.com/

Enter the necessary information:

Elder Matthian Stimpson
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission
District # 11a

Write a letter on those websites, make donation so families owning those companies can support their missionaries, and enter that address.

He is loving down there.  All people working at CCM are very warm and loving.  Ian definitely is enjoying the Mexican welcome!  He loves his district and enjoys hanging out with them.  He told me that he lives in a "house" with his companion and two other missionaries.  It has two showers and everything they needed.  He is living it up and knowing that he won't have those same privileges in field.

He enjoys the spiritual environment.  First two weeks were easy and now things are growing to be challenging.  He doesn't have difficulty in picking up language and he said his accent is pretty good.  He is making wonderful adjustment, I can see!

He said it is pretty hot down there.  He is sweating a good amount.  He said he lost 11 lbs even though that he was eating pretty well.  He loves the food though that his body is having hard time adjusting to different diet.

He shared with me things they do at CCM that was very different from my time.  The missionaries experience more flexibility in their companion study, teaching and thus.  I'm so happy to hear that we now can depend on the Spirit more often.   Of course, I had to compare notes of his experience and my experience in MTC.  So different!  They no longer use blue planners like I did in my time.

I'm happy to see him very happy!

Laurel, his mom.