Mataró - Week 9...Feeling great!

Hello mommy! How are you?! 

So this week is been super amazing. And by that I mean that I feel absolutely great. No, no baptisms but that doesn't matter because I am here doing the work of the Lord! Woo-hoo! In Spain, there are a lot of revolutions. Mostly in my Zone. It's almost election year here and there are a lot of Separatists that want Cataluyna to be separate from Spain. So every night for the past week, people get out on their balconies and start banging pots and pans, playing drums, and just making a while bunch of noise! It was a little frightening at first but now I am just used to it. I have of course prayed for the our safety and the Lord has given it in abundance. 

Me and Elder Graham work hard because we need to work hard! Anything less than a full out effort reaps nothing but laziness and sorrow. We are commanded to, "Thrust in our sickle with ALL our might." And I intend on doing just that. This week has flown by pretty fast. I have found that the more visits and appointments we have, the more time seems to slip away. Which is good. Because I like to be busy and focused on the work. 

This Preparation Day has been really fun! We played some basketball! And I still got it! (Swish noise) It was really fun up until the point my companion sacked me in the face with his elbow or hand. I dont know which one it was. I only know that I scored and that he hit me hard enough to break the skin and bleed. So I got a swollen left cheek bone. Haha. But it was on accident and it takes more than that to knock Elder Maybury down. You know what I'm saying?! Yeah, you do. Anyway, i was dribbling and shooting and just being myself. It was really fun. We than finished and tried to do some gymnastic flips and that didnt work out too well. But it was fun to just relax, chill and have fun. 

So the miracle I saw this day was one of our appointments. He is a friend of a member that he works with and they are best friends, I believe. And we talked with them as they passed by us and we were talking about church and stuff. And he wanted to know more and he said he had time right then to talk more. So we went to their apartment and started to teach him. And he seemed really interested! It was amazing! 

So my district is called the Lion District. And in a Chinese store, we found these two neat statues of Lions! So I think I am going to by one and have it be our mascot! I only have two weeks with my trainer until I get my breaker*, so it's really exciting and nerve racking as well. 

*Breaker means a new companion who is not my trainer and I am no longer considered a “new” missionary.

So I take it that dad's letter hasn't got there yet. Bummer. But it will come soon I hope. I also mailed a Birthday letter to Isabella. It will probably get their early but better early than late! I am really glad that everyone is doing amazing! I am doing amazing as well. We did not go to the office today but probably next week we will go and I will grab the mail! Yay! A package!  Exciting! 

Nick Purcell looks way different. I mean, the same but different as well. If you could tell his mom for me that I said hi and that I hope he is doing fantastic. And happy birthday if that is soon or already happened. My email address as well and that I love him. He is a great friend. 

I will send pictures in another email, but know that I love you and everyone so much! I can't wait to hear from everyone again!  Love you mommy! 

Con Amor, Elder Maybury 

As a mom, this is one of my favorite pictures.  I miss his face.  But this is a face of true happiness.  I know he is doing well.  I can literally see it in his face.  

Awww, and this face.  This is the face I have known since he was a baby.  I would recognize this perfect Zander-face anywhere.  I love it. 

This picture also ranks in my top 5.  Wow, I can't believe how much I miss him and how much my heart swells when I see his face.  I went from seeing this face every day to now only seeing it in pictures and I miss him so much.  But seeing his face with this pure smile brings me such happiness.  

And, I'm glad to see he is keeping up with his haircuts!  

This is from a Zone Conference (zone = 3-4 areas/cities). 

I LOVE that he is right at the top center.  A perfect place for him! 

This was a great week and I was so happy to hear our son's report.  I am so happy for him that he is finding his stride and that he is happy.  I have said it many times before - missionary work is hard work, but it is also rewarding work.  I am grateful that he can see both sides.  

In my weekly emails to him, I often tell him that he is a warrior.  All missionaries are.  They leave all of their known comforts and they go to another place, sometimes learning a brand new language and they serve people all day long, every day.  Beyond the individual missionary receiving many blessings for their service, their families are also blessed.  I have felt a very palpable, yet intangible cloud of blessings resting upon our family.  It would be too difficult to describe, but I simply feel that the our family is the recipient of untold blessings because of our son's sacrifice to serve a mission.  And for this, I continue to write to my son and thank HIM for blessing our family so much.  What a gift he has given us.  He is the first missionary in our family on both sides for the grandchildren.  He is a warrior.  A hero.  An example.  And, a shining star.  We love him and we love supporting him.  We are grateful for the blessings that his service brings in to our lives.  

A few people have messaged me, and him about not getting the emails that they once did.  He did used to send one out and he would link in as many email addresses as he could.  For the past few weeks, he has only been writing a single email to me and a couple smaller ones to his siblings or a couple of missionaries.  Here is why.  On his P-day, they have from 9am to 6pm to do their regular things like studying (personal and companionship), exercise, eat, go shopping for their weekly needs, do laundry, get haircuts if needed, do any activity that they planned (ex: travel to neighboring city with other missionaries), and email.  He has a set time to email.  Often, that time for emailing is cut short because the other activities have taken up a lot of time or the members keep them a bit longer because they like to feed them, etc.  So, he relies on me sending out the one email that he is able to write.  I post this on Facebook and every couple of weeks, I send it to a few people via email whom I know do not have Facebook (let me know if you know someone who would prefer it via email).  So that is what is happening.  In the MTC and at the beginning of his time in the field, they had more time to email simply because their schedules were different.  Now, they are more active and he is not able to email individual people.  Trust me, he would if he could...that is just how he is.  He likes to respond to every single person.  

Please know that I love and appreciate each one of you for supporting our son.  He is a pretty amazing kid.  Not perfect, just kind of amazing and I am in awe of watching him grow and develop each week.  I wish the same for each of my children.  To know the joy of serving others, to find happiness is doing good things, and to enjoy their growth and development into strong, happy and capable human beings.  

If you would like to write to Elder Maybury, please do so at the following address:

Elder Alexander J. Maybury

Spain Barcelona Mission

C / Calatrava 10-12, bajos

08017 Barcelona

Spain

International stamps cost $1.15 each and will cover up to 1 ounce (this includes a greeting card).

Mataró – Week 8…It’s all getting better

Hi!!!!! 

Well, another week has come and gone in Mataró. Some of the days were killing me like ‘when will it end’?  But other days it was really enjoyable. I am doing my best to work hard. I just finished 2nd Nephi in the Book of Morman, Spanish version. I am picking up and recognizing some new ways of saying things. Or how and in what ways things are said and how sentences are formed. Blessings!

I am so glad you got my letter in the mail. I wasn't sure if you already got it or I forgot to put it in or something. All of your letters are blessings and comfort to me. 

So here in Mataró, my Spanish is getting better I think. I can follow along in a conversation much more. I can get gospel phrases across pretty well. I am now trying to extend my vocabulary in the lessons so I can say new things so I don't repeat the same things over and over again. We have 2 good investigators who can get baptized.  We just need to ask them! Haha! The other two elders here are working hard. They seem to be getting investigators and setting baptismal dates fast. And to be honest, it frustrated me at first because I want that success. I know this area and I can't get someone to even stop and talk to me. I was jealous and angry and frustrated with myself and other people and discouraged. But as a missionary, I try to exemplify Christ every single day. So, I prayed to God for forgiveness and promised I wouldn't let it get me down. I started to tell myself to take joy in the other Elders success. Why should I be angry? I have no reason to. If anything, their success just makes me want to work harder to be better so I can do good as well. It's not a competition but rather a reminder of what hard work can do.  And we are all helping people no matter what. 

It is getting a lot cooler in Mataró. It has rained several times in the week. It's chilly enough to wear sweaters. Sweater weather! But it's beautiful none-the-less. I enjoy being here. I do my best to focus on the work and to improve each day. 

As for the earaches, they are better. Not as frequent or painful. The tooth isn't bothering me but I brush and floss very well every day and I use mouth wash often. I don’t want it spreading. It hurts at times and I try to not eat any junk food and if I do then I eat very little. 

I had an amazing miracle this week. The miracle that I saw this week was on Sunday. We do an English fast on Sundays and so when I was studying in the morning, I prayed to Father in Heaven that instead of reading Preach My Gospel in English, I would read it in Spanish and that I would understand what I was reading. So, when I prayed I made sure I was doing so and asking in faith. And when I started reading I was understanding it! There were a couple words that I didn't understand but I got the general idea of the section if not completely understanding the sentences. It was amazing. Then I asked if the same thing could happen in church as well. And this Sunday, while I didnt understand most of it, I understood a whole lot more than any other Sunday. I was getting just general ideas of what people were saying. And although it wasn’t all of it, I did understand some things and I know that that was because of the Lord. It was truly remarkable. I was very humbled by the experience. And then when I was reading emails, in three separate emails it talked about being preordained to come here and speak Spanish. About being fore ordained for this task. I was blown away. So, I know what the message is this week, and what I need to remember. Haha! 

My companion, Elder Graham, is the District leader so I see him planning some lessons for district meeting. I have given a lesson twice and one of them was when he asked me on the train to prepare one as we were heading to Girona. A little late but I rocked it. But of course, the Spirit guides me in the topic to choose and the words to say. So, I have to praise God every day because he blesses me and my family every day.

I love the long emails! I love hearing about everything. I miss everyone and I love them greatly. I am glad everyone is doing well and there are a lot of good experiences happening with major blessings. I pray for you all every day and night! I love you all a super lotta much!!!

With love, Elder Maybury. 

Hello family!  I love you all and miss you! 

"What do you mean you haven't sent me a letter yet?  Tsk Tsk." 

(caption added by mom)

These are pictures from our piso.

Ah!  What a great way to start the week!  Someone must have been paying attention to the pleas of missionary mothers across the world when they set the P-days as Mondays.  I absolutely LOVE Mondays! 💖

It is so good to hear from our son and to see that this week saw much improvement for him in his earaches, his toothache and his language.  For him, getting the language down is so important.  I have had to counsel him just a little bit on not being too hard on himself.  He is expecting to be like a native speaker in a relatively short period of time, and while I understand the desire, I am encouraging him to take off some of the pressure.  As you can tell in his letters, he is a hard worker, he studies a lot and he is very determined.  I love that about him.  It is a trait that he shares with his father and it is one of the things that I love about his father, as well. 

When he first sent the email, I guess I didn’t scroll all the way down because I didn’t see the pictures.  Then when my husband pointed them out to me, I scrolled down and there on my screen was the LARGE picture of my son’s face just staring back at me.  Instant tears.  It was like I had him right in front of me for a brief moment.  I love it! 

When I saw the pictures of his piso (apartment), I was impressed by how clean it was.  So, I sent him a quick response to him email – knowing that he was still online – and I commented on how clean things looked and wondered if he would be bringing some of those skills home.  He responded.  He said:

“Thank you momzee. I am definitely glad for all the cleaning I did back home because I am definitely the best at cleaning dishes. I can't stand a sink full of dishes especially when there are none left it use. Lol!”

Well, it looks like I did something right in raising him.  That made me so happy to hear. 

In one of my emails to him I reminded him that Christmas is only 98 days away! 🎄In 98 days I will get to hear my son’s voice.  I am SO EXCITED for that day.  Reading his letters is wonderful.  It helps me to feel connected to him.  Seeing his pictures and his face is FaBuLoUs!!!! I miss that face so much and it’s like he is here with me.  But hearing his voice…!  That is gonna be the thing that warms my heart.  Especially if I can hear his laugh.  And if he can manage to get out a My Little Pony scream…It will make my day for sure.  (For those who don’t know…Alexander has the best high-pitched ‘girl’ scream out there and he is a major fan of My Little Pony, so he does that scream when it comes on.  Hahaha!)

As you can tell from his words, he loves the letters.  All missionaries do.  By this time next week, we will have 3 elders out from our ward (neighborhood church group), so take the time to write to a missionary this week.  All it takes is a card and a stamp and it will make their entire week bright! Every missionary has low moments.  Every one of them has days that seem to drag on.  Every one of them longs for a letter in the mail.  So, make a missionay’s day and drop a letter in the mail. 💌

If you would like to write to my son, please do so at this address:

Elder Alexander J. Maybury

Spain Barcelona Mission

C / Calatrava 10-12, bajos

08017 Barcelona

Spain

All letters up to one ounce will cost one international stamp = $1.15.  (Note: a card will be covered by one stamp)