Matt's letter for June 27th, 2011

Hi mom!

Sounds like you are having tons of fun in good old idaho! Im happy. No package today, but i'll look for it tomorrow or the next day. Thanks!

So Tuesday was President's Farewell! We drove up to the Goleta Vally Stake Center and it was awesome! I played the piano and did pretty well. I didn't have to play the songs i wasn't good at, so it was ok :) I attached a picture of all of us and President Murri and I. I have to let you know... I'm really discouraged with my camera. It takes horrible pictures and I've tried everything. See how bad the group pic is? I couldn't get it any better.. It really makes me sad, because that is the only oppertunity i will have to get pictures with president Murri. Agghhh... Oh well.

President Castro is coming into the mission on wednesday! He'll be coming here to meet us on Friday, so that's pretty good. Im excited!

We taught a lesson to Fred on Wednesday. He's been asking alot of good soul searching questions lately and he claims that nobody has the answers. He asked us to tell him where we came from and where we're going, so i looked up some stuff in the Missionary Pal you sent me and made a copy of a couple pages for him. He said, " I Don't know..." but we challenged him to pray about it and he'd feel better. He said he would!

I also attached a picture of the Best O' Luck sign you sent at St. Patricks. We spray painted it orange and hung it in Bro Donovan's truck! (You know he's a Notre DAme fan and he HATES orange) We found it the next morning burnt to a crisp on our door with that note stapled to it. Haha! I died laughing!

One of our investigators, Xavier Placencia, had his 20th birthday this week. We went over at 6 to give him a DVD and a card, and he was already plastered... Agh. That hurts. But, we'll keep trying. They wanted us to stay, but we got outta there pretty quick.

We also went on exchanges this weekend. I went with with Elder Stoecker up to Goleta and elder McCarey came here with Elder Searcy. It was so much fun! Elder stoecker and I get along so well! We are already best friends. It's too bad he's leaving in 2 weeks. Poo. But that's ok! We had such a great day! We were studying and trying to think of something to share with someone, and we couldnt think of anything. I had flipped to the story of the Liahona earlier, but disregarded it, so i suggested that. He said, "that's exactly what I was thinking!" So we found a talk about hoe the Holy Ghost is OUR liahona, and gave it to this less active guy, and he LOVED it! I'm glad we were in tune with the spirit! :) So needless to say, we had a great day.

In church yesterday there were two guys that sat in sacrament and then in priesthood. They introduced themselves (We get LOTS of tourists) and told us they were from Salt Lake and biking from Vancouver B.C. to Tijuana. SO COOL! We went to dinner at Bro. and Sis. Clarke's and they had invited them over for diinner! They were twins, got their mission calls on the same day, left on the same day, got called to the same city in Chile (Different missions), and their mission president's (who were brothers) were twins too! Haha! What a co-winky-dink. They were nice! Dibs on doing that sometime after my mission.

Last night we went to the Risdon's because we've had trouble meeting with the for the past 2 weeks. We had a nice, short lesson, and then asked them to come to church! They have been promising that they would, but never have, so i pulled the guilt card on them. I told them that I may only have 2 weeks left until i'm transferred, so they promised to come next week! Im SOOOOOOO pumped! They are finally making progress!!! AGH!!!!

Hmm... Anyway, i think that's it. It was a good week. Elder Searcy is tough, and it seems to get better, then he loses it all again. It's really a trial of my patience, but i'm working on it. He's really great, It just seems like im babysitting. But, you're right, this too shall pass.

:)

Well i hope you have a great week! I love you all and look forward to your mail:) Thanks for all you do and for supporting me. I love you and appreciate you. The church is true! We'll figure out a way to email next week. It looks like we may just do it on Tuesday, so if nothing comes Monday, don't freak out! Tell Sister Leavitt hi and that i love and miss her! Don't hesitate to have dad and someone use their preisthood.. Bro sears asked us to give him a blessing on saturday nigh because he was having really bad chest pains and was really afraid. We did, and about a half hour later he came in and said, "Never underestimate the power of prayer! The pains are gone!" It's a real power, and we should use it. Talk to you soon,



Elder Matthew Monk
California Ventura Mission
Jan. 2011 - Jan. 2013

Much needed vacation!

After we got home from Youth Conference on Saturday, June 11th, we decided that we should go on our vacation the very next Monday because Wynn has stuff going on at work the next week and he has his treatments on every Thursday in July so we headed out. . . I kind of felt like I didn't get any time to look forward to it and do some planning. We just left!

Monday, we drove to Carson City, Nevada and spent the night there.

On Tuesday, we toured Virginia City, Nevada. So fun! We took a tour aboard this train and viewed the country side and learned all about the mining industry of long ago.

Isn't this a cute conductor?

We then headed out and went to Lake Tahoe.

Didn't stay long, just a late lunch here.

We then drove over Ebbett's pass on our way to Yosemite National Park.

There was tons of snow!

So beautiful.

We stayed in Jamestown, California and then

visited Yosemite the next day.

The water was incredible here too. So much of it everywhere.

After Yosemite, we headed toward the California coast line.

We just missed San Francisco and got on Highway 1 and headed up the

coast.

Can you guess which way the wind blows the most?

Such a beautiful coast line.

We climbed down 308 stairs to visit

Point Reyes lighthouse.

This is Point Arena Lighthouse.

Oh, I just love lighthouse!

I think they are so beautiful

and so fun to visit.

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.

Something about a lighthouse just warms my heart.

We also visited this drive-thru!

We completed highway 1.

We have now done the whole

Pacific Coastal Highway.

Highway 1 and 101.

Took a few years but we did it!

Avenue of the Giants!

Those Redwoods are huge.

Trinidad Head Memorial Lighthouse.

Battery Point Lighthouse.

Can only be visited if the tide is low.

Such a cool place to visit.

We headed home across California and Oregon.

Such a long drive home.

But, we saw a beautiful rainbow.

Always nice to come home after a great trip.

We put 2,750.5 miles on our car!

June 20th, 2011

Hi Mom!

Sorry im so late. We went to Santa Ynez today and played at a members house. It was so fun! We also got to drive thru wine country... I love it! I think that this is where i want to live.. It's so pretty! I'll attach some pictures.

YEah it's not too hot in carp. Probably around 65 - 70 everyday. Real mild!

So this week has been good. Sharry's gay caretaker freaked out at us and told us he would have the apartment managers kick us out because he thought we were talking to Sharry about him... We were'nt, but whatever. So... we're gonna let that one cool for a bit.

We went on splits again, and this time i went with brother Snelling. He was way good! The people we visited kept telling him how much they loved his wife, so that was hard. He seems pretty broken up about it all. We also had dinner at his house on Thursday. All the furniture was gone, so that was odd. He's on a healthy kick, so we had sardines, an egg, a scoop of plain yogurt, 1/4 of a tangello and an avacodo, and a protein shake. Haha! It was actually really good. The key is chewing really really slow, then you get full faster. Then we did pilates! I do it every morning after my running. Haha! I'm kinda getting healthy! :)

We met with the Placencia's and the dad's girlfrind Juanita NEVER meets with us. when we were leaving we were talking, and she got into the conversation. I told her a little about dad and his cancer, and the blessings we have seen from it, and she was crying! The spirit was way strong, so it was good! It was amazing!

We tracted on saturday and found a new investigator named John. He beat throat cancer 20 years ago, but the radiation they gave him then is killing him now. He seemed pretty bummed... out of work etc. We gave him a BOM and asked him to read Moroni 10:4-5 and he said we could dome back! :) That's pretty exciting.

That night we walked downstairs and i had on a green tie, and i showed brother Donovan and he approved.(He's irish, so he HATES orange with a passion). I forgot something upsairs and so when i wnt up i changed into an orange tie and showed him, and he didn't like that. When we got home, sister Donovan had us come downstairs to do something, and when we got back ustairs, our bathroom was FULL of black trash bags filled with air, and green balloons. Haha! It freaked elder searcy out.

We taught young womens on sunday. The lesson was the role of missionaries, so it was pretty easy. It was alot of fun, and the girls participated really well. The lady who was going to teach it had a death in the family, so she asked us to take over. I liked it. When we got home from church i tried to evaluate it with elder searcy, and that opened pandora's box, and he got pretty upset. I am out of ideas. I don't know what to do anymore. He fights me on EVERYTHING! Even this morning, i found out that he's been using my pillow to work out on while im in the shower. He puts it on the NASTY floor! AGH! When i got out of the shower, i got ready and did my personal study, and he slept. then i sang and prayed and did my one sided companion study, while he slept. It's hard. But, i'll keep trying!

Hmm.. I think that's it. Sorry i didn't write more!

The only other music i want is the stuff i asked you for a while ago. You should be able to get it all on itunes. Please and thank you!

I attached a picture of this vitimin. I can't find it in Carp., so would you send some? I also attatched a pic of the side so you can see the website. Thanks! There's also some grapes in there, some of the Santa Ynez country (That's where Michael Jackson's neverland ranch is) and a carp. sunset and my bike. I hope you enjoy

Mmmmmk i think that's it. I love you tons! I keep you all in my prayers. Talk to you soon

Cute Grand babies. . .

Camden Wynn Monk

7.5 months old

Emily Elizabeth Monk

3.5 years old

Don't I have the cutest grand babies in the

whole world?

I just love 'em.

Twins?

Just had to share a picture of our cute Natalie

and our darling little Camden

in their twin shirts.

IF West Stake Youth Conference June 9, 10, & 11 2011

Even though I was released as Stake YW President, I got to attend our Youth Conference.

A few weeks before I was released, Wynn was called to be our Ward Young Men's President. When the bishop extended the call, I immediately cheered because that would mean Wynn would be going to Youth Conference. Well, Bishop remembered my enthusiasm and asked us to be the "Tribal" leaders from our ward after I was released. I was so glad I got to and take part of the spirit that was there. I literally LOVED it!

We had a Book of Mormon theme. I will go. . . I will do. . .

We met at the church on Thursday morning and there we were put into tribes. We then made our flags.

In the Strength of the Lord, we can do all things.

After traveling to our camping spot up by Heise, we were "Commanded" to build a boat. . .

We each got lots of cardboard and 2 rolls of duct tape.
I can't believe how long these boats lasted. We had relays with all the other tribes.

Our tribe did so well.

Not to mention, it was so cold and the kids just had a ball anyway. Isn't it funny that the life guard is all bundled up and all the kids are in their swimming suits. The hot pools were defiantly the HOT spot.

Here is our ward just chill'en while the youth swim.

Yes, it rained and it rained but then we enjoyed the beautiful rainbow.

Here are all the kids in our tribe. They were the best!

The Youth Council sang at the fireside on our first night there. It was beautiful!

Br. Palmer, from BYU-I was our speaker. He brought pictures of

ruins in Mexico. He taught us to trust the Book of Mormon, not

to look for answers elsewhere. He did an amazing job.

The spirit was incredible!!!

After the fireside, we enjoyed a nice campfire. The wood was wet but with a little "scout water" we got it going.

Yes, it was so cold. I froze that night.

On Friday morning we went to different stations and learned about the Book of Mormon.

Here we are lashing together Benjamin's Tower.
At this station we got to "Hold to the rod." We were blind folded and we were to keep hold of the iron rod. There were lots of distractions and if you let go you had to go back and start over.
At each station we first learned about the experience in the Book of Mormon and then we did an activity that helped us learn. After, we did a reflection time.

Such cute girls in our tribe!

Katie Fossum, Kalysa Nebeker and Nicole Spaulding

Our ward did a Liahona experience.

It was amazing.

We learned about all the different

kinds of Liahona's in our lives.

Just a cute back of a sweatshirt.

Here we are making bows and arrows.

Nephi's broken bow story was taught here.

There, Benjamin's tower

was finally erected.

What an impact this made on us!

Cute girls again!!!!

At this activity we did the war chapters of the Book of Mormon.

A huge steal the flag, kind of, game.

A lot of chaos, just like I am sure it was in the Book of Mormon.

You really didn't know who was who and who was

fighting for what.

It proved it's point.

This activity helped us learn what it must of been like

when the world was completely dark for three days

just before Christ came to the America's.

A very effective activity.

We went in the black part of this tent type thing,

and it was completely dark. There was lots of disturbing

noises going on outside.

I could hear a baby crying, it touched me so.

I can't imagine not being able to get to your baby

because it is so dark outside.

Every effective.

Some of our cooks, Carla and Dale Jones.

Aren't they so cute?

Here is Jared Stout.

At this experience, we read Ammons journal then

discussed the cutting off of the arms.

We each got a sword that we wrote something we wanted to bury in

our lives and then we burned it.

Totally amazing!

The spirit was so strong at this station.

Tamla Rencher is my hero!

Of course, a Tug-o-war depicted the finally

battle in the Book of Mormon.

Girls against the boys.

The rope broke right in the middle

and all the kids promptly

fell to their bottoms.

It was hilarious.

Here is my cute husband enjoying the experience with the youth.

The dance under the huge tent, courtesy of

Party Signature Rental.

Thank you so much!

The limbo!

Had the share this picture of a couple of kids dancing up on the

mountain. The real dance was going on right below. Because it

was outside, we could hear the music everywhere.

So much fun.

They played "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus and it made me

miss Matt so much. I guess that is kind of our song.

Weird I know but what can I say?

We have such awesome youth in our Stake. They are so much fun and knowing them gives me so much hope for the future. Youth Conference was a blast!