April 29th
Hey everyone, how are things going for you all. As you can tell by
the header, I have recognized that I don't have that much time left being a
missionary, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't show himself to me by the
miracles he gives me any less. So let's talk about what happened this
week.
One of the miracles that we saw was that a family of recent
converts is doing super well after a time of inactivity. They are coming to
church (first week was when I got here) and they have many friends. We love them
alot and they are already helping us with the missionary work! Yay!
Some interesting stuff happened this week. One was that we visited
one of the most ghetto places I have ever seen in my mission. Oh my goodness,
you could tell that it was on a whole different level. Would never want to
visit that place again just for passing by. But we had to find some people
there so we went with excitement, determination, and a dash of bravery as well,
haha!
We also passed by this one lady told us not to visit her house
again because she took her name off the church records and her families as
well. It was sad, but she did offer us a glass of water which was a nice
thing.
We have been trying to clear the names of the member list for a
while now. A lot of people don't live her anymore as expected, but quite a few
say to us that they won't come back to church. It breaks my heart because they
don't know what they are missing out on. And I fear that it will be too late
for them. President Nelson spoke a bit about it saying that "Time is
running out". I wish there was something more that we could do for them.
Sigh.
During soccer for sports, we played with some other kids, around
the ages of 10-14. It was fun to have a game. It was mostly for fun, but I
sometimes find myself getting worked up to much and demanding perfection when I
can't even give perfection from myself. Its a comtasmt battle that I have to
work on, butmi know that in will get it down someday.
That's pretty much it, nothing to exciting happened this week.
Well it all just comes and goes. I will say though that I am getting super sore
from the gym, haha. Couldn't even lie down without moaning, haha. I did get a
haircut though. I knowmloke like how I did when I was 14 years old! Fun stuff.
I love you all. I hope you have a super week filled with love and cherished
moments. And that you can continually work to being the best you that is
possible! I love you all and keep the faith!
Love Elder Maybury
Elder Benedict and I looking like studs
Cartagena at might (just a part)
First day at the gym. Its a work in progress.
Feeling good! Talking to my mom :o)
May 6th
Hey
everyone! How has your week been?! I hope it went by faster than mine because
mine seemed to take forever, haha!
It's been
pretty relaxing this week, I guess. We have been working hard with the
returning members and trying our best to attend to their spiritual needs. So,
it would sound like with all the work that we are doing, it would go by fast
right? Yeah, so would I. But the thing is that I have been looking at this
clock that I have set up on my tablet to tell me how many days I have left. And
at first it was great, but then I got too carried away with it and it made the
week super long. So, on Wednesday or Thursday I said I wasnt gonna look at it
until today and it made everything go by a lot faster. Haha!
There's
not too much to tell this week. I have been trying to practice the ukulele more
often so I can just sit down and play a song when I want from memory. But it
will all be worth it right?
We went to
this other city on the outside of Cartagena. It wasn't a hot day but being in
the sun for 2-3 hours puts a burden on you. We went around passing the points
there and we figured out that we had just missed the bus. We looked up the
schedule and it would come in another 30 minutes. I luckily had some pistachio
nuts with me to eat. But it felt like an eternity waiting for the bus. And the bus
stop was just on the side of a road without any bench or sign. The bus came and
we found out that our bus card didn't work for the distance of the area that we
were in. I luckily had some change with me so we could buy two tickets to get
back home. If not, I think we might have walked to entire way back or taken our
money and waited for 45 minutes to an hour for the next bus. So, we're were
blessed.
This past
Sunday was the fast and testimony meeting. There was a baby blessing as well
which is always good. The members were excited for the couple and the fact of
having a baby in their ward. It's one of the greatest visible examples that God
is there and does love us, by when a family has a little child. But after the
meetings, and interesting and fun thing happened. The ward and a
"Break-the-Fast" lunch. It was good to see members there and that we
could all be together. I liked it alot actually.
We are
still working hard with the returning members of the ward. There are many
people to minister to and it is one of my favorite things to do as a
missionary. But other than that, we are still trying to find people to teach and
clear the member list of people who do and don't live here.
For
preparation Day, we kept it mostly relaxed. We went to Carrefour which is like
a Spanish Wal-Mart, and then ate at Burger King. We also went to the gym and
had a good work out session. It was leg day today. I can't wait to be so sore
tomorrow 😄(sarcastic)😑. Haha!
We also
had a Family Home Evening on Sunday night. We talked about agency and the 4
things we need to have it, which are:
1) Power
to Choose
2)
Opposition
3)
Laws
4) Knowledge
of Good and Evil
We also
talked about Moroni 7 which is a great chapter! We read 1-20, 33 which talks
about giving good gifts, the light of Christ, faith, and knowing good from
evil.
Well, that's
about it for this week, the week is starting again but the time winding down.
But it doesn’t matter because I know why I am here and what I am supposed
to do. I love you all, I hope you have a great week and remember to keep the
faith!
Con Amor, Elder
Maybury
Waiting for our bus
A Family Home Evening
Another Family Home Evening with members
"Break-the-Fast" Lunch with members
A
flower
Feels
like the wild west
Service project - painting a house
May 13th
How is it
going for you all!? Our week was great!
The
miracle of this week was that I was feeling a bit sick, and we came in from Language
Study. I really wanted to sleep, but I knew that I needed to study. So, I said
a prayer to God asking that if I would do my language study well, then he would
bless me with strength and energy to finish off the day positively, and He did
bless me because I did my studies!
Let’s
see, this past Thursday we had Zone Conference! Wow, it was so good!!! Many
good lessons were given, and we had several missionaries share their thoughts
on the topic: "What the Lord has
Taught Me". I was one of them because it is my last Zone Confernece. I
accidentally spoke for about 15 minutes! 🙃 I was only going to speak
for 5 minutes, but you know what?! I am so stinking tired of missionaries being
uptight about the time. A missionary is basically saying goodbye to everyone
because he or she is going home, and you can't cut them some slack in the time???
Yes, I admit I spoke a bit longer, but
they told another sister missionary to cut it short. To that I say I'm gonna
talk to your bishops so when you come home you are only allowed to speak for 3
minutes! Take that you punks! SIGH!!!
Anyway, other than that, everything was great! I got to see a lot of the
missionaries that I knew and say hi. It was fun. We ate Papa John's for lunch
and me and Elder Benedict suffered for it. It did not sit well in our stomachs,
hahaha. But we are better now.
I had the
blessed experience of finishing the Book of Mormon in English again and marking
all the references of Jesus Christ. It was and amazing experience. I said a
prayer to Heavenly Father to ask if it was true, and I got the response that I
already know that it is true. And I am happy about that response because it
means that I have worked hard for my testimony and I know about the Book of Mormon
so surely that I could never deny it, nor would I ever do it. So, it was a
happy moment for me. I add my testimony that the Book of Mormon is another
testament of Jesus Christ, and that as we read it often, with true intentions
to understand and become better, our relationship with Jesus Christ with
strengthen and become a firm foundation for our faith and will guide us and
protect us in the future.
On Friday,
it was a relaxing day. Well, better said, we didn't have to travel as much as
we did for Zone Conference which was about 1 1/2 hours in a car. Anyway, on
Saturday we took a bus to go to Los Alcázares for interviews with Presidente
Galli. I didn't have mine because I will have mine on my last day. We almost
missed the bus to get back home though, hahaha. After that, we visited some
people to go teach and everything went well.
On Sunday
we had Stake Conference. The elders from Huercal-Overa took us in their car. We
got there early because my companion wanted to see a lot of people form the
wards because he has been serving in the stake for quite some time. It was good
to see him meet with a bunch of people. I was able to see Roberto (Elder Salazar
– my companion from the Marratxí again and I met his family. It was super fun.
We were also able to give a blessing of comfort to a member. I love that even
though we were far away from our area, and in a different setting such as Stake
Conference, we were still able to use the priesthood power to bless the lives
of God's children. It’s the best to be a missionary.
This
Monday (today), we all went to Murcia! We had our district council there and then
we changed to go hike to Fuensanta, I believe that's how you spell it. It’s
like a cathedral-type thing. We had fun going up there and it was a blast. We
all ate lunch together and took some amazing photos. I can't wait to show you
all of them! We then came back to the city and tried to play volleyball, but the
court was already rented out until 11pm, so we went back to the church to write
and play some soccer, haha. We are always playing soccer. On, and Roberto was
with us as well so it was great to pass the time with him again!
Answers to questions...
In your triathlon with Joshua,
what sport did you choose?
I think I
chose soccer, you and dad will have to pick the 3rd one or it will be a raffle
or something like that.
Do you remember that we
need to choose your classes on June 5th?
Ok, we
will do it together. Thanks for helping me! 😍
Are both your shoes torn
up or just one pair?
Both are,
but I have super glue and I will be buying a new pair as well.
Do you still have your
camera? Take as many pictures as you can
– even if you don’t send them over to us.
Just take pictures.
I have to
use it more often, I do have it though.
Where are you in your Book
of Mormon reading now?
I
finished the Book of Mormon, I am now reading in 2 Corinthians
How many times have you
read the Book of Mormon all the way through?
I think I
have read it 5 times on my mission and once before.
Well,
that was about all of it to tell, we had fun time this past week and I hope you
all have a great week as well! I know
it's kind of short email this week, but those were the major things for the
week.
I love
you all I'll see you next time!
Con Amor Elder
Maybury
With
Elder Vaughan
Eating
some ice-cream
I was
writing down some notes after my prayer, but it looks like I fell asleep,
Haha!
Picture of our group after our hike in Murcia!
Well, as the time ticks down, the emails get shorter and
shorter. Hahaha. It’s quite alright though. Missionaries are busy and I love that he
still writes and puts some detail in his emails home.
Of course, we all were able to talk with him on Mother’s Day and
that was wonderful. He had no time limit
this time and so he spent ½ an hour talking with Isabella, Joshua and James. And as a my Mother’s Day gift to my mom, I
was able to FaceTime her so she could spend about ½ an hour talking with him,
too! Of course, he was also able to say
a quick hello to Daniel. So, it was nice
for him to see everyone. I then had a
chance to talk with him and we talked for an hour. Wow! I
am always surprised at how long he likes to talk to me. I had responsibilities at church with helping
to set up the Mothers Day luncheon with the other members of our Relief Society
presidency, but my kept saying, “Oh, one more thing…” Before I knew it, an hour
had passed. How can I deny him “one more
thing”.
It was FABULOUS to say, “I’ll see you in 2 weeks!!!” It really bring instant joy to my soul. He did ask, of course, if my hug was going to
take 10 minutes. Hahaha. I assured him it would not take 10 minutes,
but it might linger.
The official countdown is 15 more days!!!!
He will be returning to Salt Lake City. Hugs will
abound!
He will be speaking on two separate occasions.
- UTAH: He will speak
in our ward (Riverside 2nd) on Sunday,
June 9th at 11:30am. We
will be having an "Open House" here for visiting, as well.
Details TBD.
- CALIFORNIA: He will speak
in our "home" ward (Hurley) on Sunday, June 16th at 9am. Yes, that is Father's Day
weekend. What a treat!!!! There will be an Open House for
visiting with him later that day at the Juarez/Peterson residence (1332
Rowena Way). 4pm to 7pm. Drop by before or after your Father's
Day lunch to visit, give hugs, and wish Alexander well on his next
adventure! College! He would LOVE to see you!!
My son is definitely eager to finish his mission STRONG and to
work every day that he has left. He LOVES his mission so much! If
you have a spare minute, PLEASE WRITE TO HIM. At this point, we
cannot send any more mail to him, as it might not get to him before he leaves,
so EMAILS ONLY.
All the missionaries got new email addresses, so please make
sure you use this new one: alexander.maybury@missionary.org
He may or may not respond to you, but he reads them all!
And he is grateful to receive them.
As always, THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT FOR OUR SON! We love and appreciate you too!
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