May 31, 2012

Three Weeks left

 Ola minha familia e meus amigos!!!!
Todo bem!!?? (hows it going!?)
this week has been INSANE!!
with my new assignment as zone leader. i have literally ZERO time. its crazy. on that schedule i sent you a couple of weeks ago, where ever it says personal study time or additional study time, that mow means, babysitting, interviewing, checking up on, running around like a chicken with my head cut off, giving blessings, allllll that. My sundays, i feel like dad. i have nonstop meeting till 930 at night. its insane. but i do learn alot, so thats cool.
In onther news, our zone/branch is now only a skinny stick. as of today, we have 10 elders and one sister under our command. haha just kidding. but theirs only 11 in our zone ritht now. so TOMORROW when we get 15 new elders, im gonna freak out!!! i have no time now, i dont even wanna know what next week is gonna be like with almost 30 elders. plus we dont know if were getting brazilian elders till tomorrow the day of, so we could be getting evern more. so ya. im freakin out.
buti know that everything will be ok. the lord is testing me with patience. absolutely!
in the next week, i will really learn how to have patience this next week.
its crazy to think that i only have two and a half weeks left in the USA! i honestly am freaking out. its gone by so fast. but if the next two years goes by this fast, its goona be like i never even left, besides that ill be two years older and much muhc wiser! haha
anywyas, i gotta email grandma and write some letters. ill try to get on an send another letter today. i love you all so much and am so grateful for everythign you do for me and for all the prayers you have for me. i cant wait to hear from you all again.
-mom, i got your pictures of the cabin. ugh i love and miss those babies so much! and thank you for the package! ill hopefully get it today. im goping on my longest dry spell of no mail yet. i havent gotten any since friday haha ya ya i know your all thinking that its no big deal, but it is! it truly can mess us your day when the thing you look forward to the most is not there haha bt its all because of saturday, sunday and memorial day, so im sure illl get lovingly bombarded today:):) anyways, i love you all. im grateful for this opportunity to serve and to be able to preach the gospel to the people of angola! i LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! im so greatful for all of you and i love you all! graham claire and beau, i love you! more than anything!!
dont forget your uncle colie and dont grow up while im gone! i love you!
Elder Colin Jay mONtgomery
ps. thats so good for kyle. is ther anychance you could give him my email so i can tell him congrats??]
pss i will be sure to find out what kind of specific directions i need as luggage goes. thank you for the advice! i cant believe ill be leaving in 20 days!!!!!!!!!!!!! holy cow. anyways. i love you all! bom dia!!!

May 20, 2012

May 15, 2012

Ola minha familia e meus amigos!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eu amo voces muito! Eu amo esta un missionario!!!!!!!!!!!
how are you all? how are things today back home and everything? dad i just got your sports update email, thanx!!! i love you all so much!
Mom, to responder to your email, that’s so cool that Meg made you a picture book! how was your mothers day/ there is a letter on its way to you i promise! Im so sorry that we couldn’t call:(
-Im glad Kyle FINALLY GETTING his call. Make sure you let me know or have him email me when he gets it!
-yes i got my suit and cookies THANK YOU SO MUCH! my whole floor now knows who’s mom makes the best sugar cookies in the whole world. they are all addicted!
-that’s crazy about the freak rainstorm! i wish i was there!
I’m gonna run out of time responding to your letter, so i would just tell you all little about my well. pretty uneventful besides the fact that i gained a testimony turly of the Book of Mormon. no big deal,,,, just kidding IT WAS A Huge Deal. Monday morning i was reading and I finished Moroni. That was my first time ever reading it all the way through all by myself. I could feel the spirit so strong when i finished it so i went somewhere semi alone and kneeled down to pray,. the words i planned on saying had been something like "Heavenly Father , i have a testimony that this is true, please confirm it in my heart or give me a sure sign that it is true, BUT the words that actually came out was i started crying, and I just bore my testimony to Heavenly father and said, I KNOW THIS BOOK IS TRUE. I love it and I have a true testimony of it. I truly truly gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon yesterday. I Love studying and reading it.
ughh Im super sorry that I have to go! I will fly out of SJC about midnight tonight to NYC and then I have no idea when il becoming back. but I hope I will be able to take some pictures and show you all. I love you all with all my heart and i am so thankful for your prayers and love. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! I KNOW THAT this is where I belong right now. give the babies all my love and kisses. I love you alll!
Love,
Elder Colin Jay Montgomery

Part 2
ok so this is my last word before i leave to New York! We just had a fire side with L TOM PERRY !!! so cool! Ill write you a letter about it. I love you so much ,,,, and crazy news,,, I just got made a ZONE LEADER! I was not expecting it at all! Ill write you a letter this week and explain more! i love you all so much and you’ll hear from me later this week in a letter! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!
Elder Colie

May 8, 2012

First Week at the MTC 4/24/12

The Dynamic Portuguese Speaking Duo 
 Elder Castleton and Montgomery MTC Companions both going to Angola
 I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY !!!!~ ELDER MONTGOMERY
 MTC Group ~ Provo Temple
 Elder Platamore, Montgomery, and Tucci-(from Australia). Elder P. and T. are going to Portugal.
They left the MTC today.  
This is Who I am and Who I represent for the next 2 years. 
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

#3 Email

Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 8:49 AM
OLA MIHNA FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eu amo voces muito!!! i love you all so much!!!!
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!
Fist to answer your questions mom,
-Yes having elder castleton speak better helps me alot,  but i am not submerged in it haha he stil speaks better english than me to,. hes not that far ahead of me on the portuguese lately tho! ive been learning a ton!
-Im so sad to hear the granbabies are sick. tell graham and claire that uncle collie love them so much!
-i miss father and sons, make sure greg and dad have a fun time .
 -yes i finally did get dads letter! tell him thank you and i love him so much. i will write him back today when i get a second:)
-thank you so much for sending the suit and sandals,. i cant wait to get them! i need them for when i go play sandvolley ball for gym because they are so much easier to take onn and off :)
- i usually play soccer everyday for gym. its the best workout, and allows me to get all the energy out from sitting allllll day long haha but i do really good and always score, so its fun. thats all thanks to my indoor soccer team. SHOUT OUT TO DIRTY DASH AND THE BOYZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I be reppin you in provo!!!
-mom, if possible i would love some of you sugart cookies and homeade frosting, just so i can prove to the other elders that you truly are the best baker in the world@!!
- Elder Platamone and Tucci are going to serve in Lisbon Portugal. They are my absolute favorite. me and tucci are seriously so bonded, its wierd. we have the exact same mindset and experiences, except he is an auzzie and im an AZ. i plan on either going to visit him on australia or meeting halfway in hawaii after our missdions! they leave today. i am super super sdad, BUT i know they are gonna be such sick missionaries. i love them both.
-i did get the envelopwe about angola and all that. it was amazing! thank you so much! i love hearing about the people i am going to serve.
-i love gettign chandlers emails, please keep forwarding them:)
-that so cool mitch is gonna be here tomorrow! are his family dropping him off??? im gonna request to be his escort for sure!!! when you get this today shoot me a quick email so i know if its his family, what car their driving, ect. i really wanna be his escort
-I still cant believe kyle hasnt gotten his call yet. i really hope it comes soon. could you get me his address so i can write to him?
-I love the book of mormon,. The rule is at the mtc, in order to learn to teach it, you are only allowed to read three books. the BOM, the white bible/ missionary handbook, and preach my gospel. so i have LOVED reading the boook of mormon. i just started helaman this morning. ITS amazing. and of course i loved alma with all the war stories, but truly the best part is about the 2060 stripling warriors. how the were EXACTLY obedient and that is how theyhad the strenght to not have any harm come upon them, and even whn they passed out because of loss of blood, not a single one of them perished. i love that
 i love being a missionary. i am coninuting to multiply and expound my portuguese skills, for time i wont type any haha but just trust me!!. i love all of you at home so much. i cant wait to get to angola and serve the people there. i love them so much already!!!

mom im so so sorry, but they mision president told us to email home and truly apologize to our mothers because the in the mtc we cant call home for mothers day, BUT in a few weeks when i GO TO NEW YORK to get my visa, i will be able to call then!!!!!! THE only Angolan embassy is in new york city! so we get a day and fly to NYC and go to the embazzy to pick up our visas. im so freakin pumped hahahhahahaahahha i will call you when i get it and write a letter before then that explains more. but wilhelm and hansn and tillley all did the same things. they said it was a fun ""day off"" from the MTC. and since two elders in our district went home the first week,  now me and elder castleton are the only two going to angola from our group. so anyways i promise to write more about it when i find out. 
DAD- one of the elders form my district who went home the second week, guerss where he was from!!!!!!!!! Palmer alaska! he said he has been to a miners game before, but that their pretty much just a old guy beer leaguwe now ahahaha anyways i gotta wrap this up. i love you all with all my heart. thank you for your love any prayers. i Definityel feel tham lifting me up daily. i love you all! give my kissed to grahambo claire and beau! i love them and all of you so much! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!
your son friend and elder, 
Love 
Elder Colin Jay Montgomery
 
   We heard from colin again this after noon he is going to NYC tuesday to get his visa, crazy.
we've never heard of that happening. A one day trip from Provo to NYC and back.

May 1, 2012

#2 Email

#2 Email
Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 12:10 PM
OLA minha familia!!!
Mom to answer your questions first:
- Yes I get exercise and gym every day:)
-There is a general authority every week, but not always an apostle.
-My debit card has no picture but it doesn't expire till 2016 so were good there
-My branch is 54 districts J
Yes and no about Portuguese it’s a bit like Spanish but it’s hard to explain because there’s different accent and stuff. it’s like Portugal Portuguese not Brazilian Elder Castleton is a great guy. He loves hiking and rock climbing and is super good at Portuguese ( his mom is Brazilian) Yes he is going to Angola too. We have a super good relationship and get along great. I'm sending pictures on a cd today for you to see.
I have no idea about my visa tho,  They said  as soon as they know I’ll know. but it won’t delay me at all.
Yes I got that package with garments and such. thank you SOOOOO much! I love you
 That is super cool about dad’s grandparents though. I’m glad someone is doing their temple work .
   That’s so cool what Chandler said too. I’ve definitely felt uplifted by advice from others. My branch president said as long as they are supportive and not distracting, it’s ok. And both of those are true, my work doesn't suffer at all and I am all good:)
That's crazy that Kyles call hasn’t come yet!!! I hope it does soon. make sure to have him write or email me!!
I can bear testimony and say all my prayers in Portuguese along with the first vision, and the missionary purpose and baptismal prayer all memorized in Portuguese. The gift of tongues is REAL!! I've felt it help me so much.
Heavenly father understands what we are trying to say and helps us, especially when were praying in port.
I love this gospel so so much. It is amazing to know that even out here; I still know the church is true. That I have MY OWN testimony and don’t rely on others.
 Soooo in other news, I got letter s from all the Jones! and one from Austin Hancock. super cool! and this morning I got an email from Hayden!!! that totally made my day!
So if you all haven’t picked up yet from my letters, my mission theme is I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!, I try to say it as much as possible because it’s so so true. I miss you all with every ounce of my heart, but I love this gospel and love being a missionary. I can’t wait to teach the people of Angola and bring them the blessings of the gospel. I have to go now but I want you all to know I love you!!! Give those grandbabies a kiss from me and tell grahammy I said I can’t wait to NACHO him in 23.5 months! I love you all! thank you for your prayers, I feel them all. I’ll write more in other letters. I love you!
Elder Colin Jay Montgomery
PS the reason I write so short is because I type so slow. I’m so sorry! I will write more I pr0mise! love you!!!