We got this on the 16th:

"I just received special permission from President DeLaMare (del-a-mar) to send this email to inform you that we arrived safely in Manila and to send our love to you all. I will be here until I get a new Indian visa in January, become a permanent missionary here or I go to a domestic mission."

And, within hours, we should be getting our first P-day email from him.

David is on the move!

We got email from President Funk this week:

"...will be going to the Philippines to serve while they await the receipt of a new visa to return to India.  We expect they will receive a new visa and return about the end of January."

David will be in the Philippines Quezon City Mission. This is just a little north of Manila (Philippines Quezon City Mission). His brother-in-law Jonathan was somewhere in the Philippines for his mission. 

Elder Mattes and his traveling companions arrived in India yesterday. They all looked good and happy!

David's email home from the MTC today told us that he is leaving for India on Monday morning! he has about a day worth of flights and lay overs, but at least he is traveling with 7 others.

David's 1st Email from the MTC - Wednesday, 1/18

After sending one empty email with a subject line that read, "I'm only on for 8 mins", David sent a second email.  It looks rather rushed, but we are thrilled to hear from him.  The following is his email:




Hey Family!

I've been getting the Dear Elder Letters and it sounds like you guys
have been busy since I left, hope your not stressing to much about me.
Dear elder is the best way to talk to me right now.

Toni dropped me off here and I pretty much had the place to my self.
About 10min after drop off, I was put into a room with about 20 other
elders where we watched some of the district movie. After a few talks
from various people I met my companion, Jacob -----, sorry mom, he's
like me: quiet, lightly, but more musically inclined then me. there
are 8 missionaries going to India, and when I find out how to send
pictures I'll tell you there names.

Having fun, but can be stressful at times. My teachers are Bro
Sainsbury, rather calm guy, and Bro Elton, very passionate yet fun
guy.

Studies here are a bit intense but then again I've never been to
public school so I don't have much to compare it too. we're slowly
working our way through preach my gospel, working on how to commit
people to find out for themselves and teaching by the spirit(working
on that one). We have 4 investigators to practice with two are our
teachers role-playing, 1 is actually a MTC president's wife and the
other one is a member referral. all of them are pretty fun to teach
but we havn't started with the referal.

I'm running out of time, but I love you all and hope you have a good week!

PS: either you guys grouped a bunch of letters together or dear elder
prints multiple together.

For anyone that is curious about the Missionary Training Center (MTC) that David is now at, here is a church web site with loads of information about it - The MTC

How We're Coping Now & DearElder.com

I wonder about what David is doing every few minutes - what class is he taking now? does he like his companion? when will his p-day (personal day off) be? .  My husband, Scott, keeps announcing when they're probably eating and when it's probably getting dark there (Utah is 2 hours behind us).  He also announces the temperature in Bangalore every morning.  

His siblings, on the other hand, made good use of David's bedroom space as soon as we got back from the airport.  They went through the clothes David didn't pack away in the attic and took what they liked.  (I should add that David told them to do it.)  Then his 12-year-old brother finally moved in with the big boys.  In a large family there is no sacred space,  

Today, I finally signed up at http://www.dearelder.com/ .  This site will print and deliver messages to missionaries.  The missionaries are only allowed 30 mins each week (on their specific day off) to check email.  They can receive printed mail throughout the week though. This site allows them to get printed mail the same day that you send it and it's FREE.   The hope is that email time will be spent writing instead of reading a lot of emails.  I am going to encourage David to write first and read second.  My letters are going through dearelder earlier in the week.

Here was the first test note:

"Dear Elder David Mattes - That name has a nice ring.

Hope you're enjoying your new structured life.  Just remember we're having prayers for you morning and night.  Dad announces the temperature in Bangalore every morning.  It was 76 degrees today - nice and warm!!  Everyone says hi.  Hope you're wearing your retainers now.

Love, love, love, Mom"