AHHHH MY VISA IS HERE!!!!!!

January 30, 2013

AHHHH MY VISA IS HERE!!!!!! It got here today! Mom and Dad, I am calling at 6:05ish Utah time...so 8ish your time. Siblings please let them know to be home when I call. For everyone else I can give some brief details. I leave Monday morning. Im flying to NY, my flight leaves at 8am. I get to NY at 3pm. I leave NY at 7 25pm and arrive in Barcelona at 9 25am. This is a miracle!!!  Only one of other person at the MTC got a visa today other than me. My companion is still without one, pray for him and his visa! I meet with the consulate friday to sign my visa. I love you all! Call mom and dad and let them know Im callign the house tonight around 8. Thanks!

From a few more emails that arrived later that night:

Hey actually I wont be able to call tonight, I need to buy a phone card first. I will call tomorrow. Let me know what time works best tomorrow ASAP

When I know my address I will tell you. I got Chris and Jessicas package, got yours as well with the cake. Get the Jake cologne. My package will be forwarded. I will call tomorrow night, and as well Monday morning at the airport. Id take a day off if I were you. After I land not sure, it's up to be my mission president. I sent it to both you and dad. Some reason It didnt work for you. I also emailed you back, sometimes it doesnt work I guess. Ill try to fix it.

Need to run, by the way my companion just got reassigned to Salt Lake City. He will be there for 6 weeks.

My Last Real "P-Day" Hopefully

From the January 29th email:

Alright this might be a little short since I'm gonna go grab some
lunch.  Not too many new things happen this week so that's good!


I got to host missionaries Wednesday, and I am hosting again tomorrow. 
It was really fun being able to help them get around and stuff.  I dont
remember being as scared as they were tho haha.  There was one time
when a big family got out and they seemed happy.  Then they all started
crying and a little girl came up and asked me if I would take care of
her older sister.  So that was fun..It's pretty weird how long I've
been gone.  Almost at the 2 month mark.


Still no word on the visas.  I do know I will be out of here by the 5th
or 6h tho.  This wendesday or thursday I will have a temporary place
that I will be reassigned to go to just in case my visa doesnt get here
by next week.  They are doing this because they need the room here so
they need us out by our departure dates.  We've been told chances are
if we do get reassigned it will be somewhere close because they expect
our visas to come very soon.  Once it comes, I will need to return here
and sign my visa infront of the consulate.


But it's all good!  My visa will be here soon.  The Spain consulate has
even guaranteed spain missionaries coming to the MTC in the future are
guaranteed their visa before their departure dates.  So it will be less
than a month AT MOST before I get to Spain.  I see this as a blessing,
because now I can eat some fast food before I leave for Barcelona. 
Most missionaries miss friends and family...i miss food.  Kidding!  I
miss you all very much.  Thank you all so much for your support, it
really helps me work harder knowing I have so many great friends and
family cheering me on!  Next week I should be on a plane.  My parents
will know in the next couple days my fate, so ask them if you are
curious.


Elder Sharkey


Posing again. The nose is good! Whew!

waiting.....check out the nose!  It looks okay!

in the hall

The guy in the yellow is Dayna's boyfriend!

in class

Week7 in the books

Here's his much longer Jan. 22, 2013 email he sent later in the evening:

 

Good evening everyone! I'll jump right to it and let everyone know i got my nose cast off today haha. It was insanely itchy under it so you all have no idea how great it was getting it removed today. I can also blow my nose again! Hoooooorah. And gladly I do not look like Owen Wilson.

There is a real sense of urgency in our district right now. It's kicking in that in 2 weeks we will be in the mission field teaching real people in spanish. We are all dying to go haha. Oh some peculiar visa info, the consulate meeting with missionaries has been rescheduled from today to thursday. The reason this is signifcant is because they are expecting more visas come tomorrow. If this happens, mine could come tomorrow and I could be meeting with the consulate thursday. I know it's very wishful thinking but I am just about dying to get my visa right now!

I get to host missionaries tomorrow. I didn't get to last week because of my surgery but we've been asked to again this week. Dad knows what I'm talking about. It's the missionaries that help brand new missionaries who are leaving their parents. I'll take them to get their books and show them around. And this is pretty funny because i've heard that a certain person is coming tomorrow. Dayna's boyfriend haha.

Another cool thing that's happened is a bunch of people who were reassigned came back to the MTC. I made many friends who are going to Spain that came back so that they can meet with consulate this thursday. Elder Oldroyd, a friend of daynas, is one of these elders. It's awesome having them back on our floor.

I guess I'll wrap this email up with the best part. After I got off the phone with my parents last tuesday(I got to call because of my surgery) we went straight to the devotional. We sat super close. Now the way these devotionals work is whoever gets their first gets to pick where they sit. They also don't say who's speaking until right before it starts and everyone is already there. While waiting for it to begin I noticed a lot of different things. There was a ton of mission presidency on the stand. There was a lot of police around. Also, the first bishopric was on the stand. And once everyone was there, the doors opened and the MTC president and Jeffrey R. Holland walked in. Everyone stood up and you could hear whispers of excitement in the room. It was seriously incredible! The reason so many people were on the stand was because the MTC presidency just changed. Jeffrey R. Holland gave an incredible talk, and I mean incredible. There were moments when he was tearing up, he was super nice, and then ofcourse he got in our faces haha. We loved it. And then at the end he re-dedicated 3 buildings in MTC that were remodeled. I am so thankful I was there for that prayer. It was absolutely amazing and it strengthened my testimony so much. Jeffrey R. Holland carries a spirit with him that is overwhelming. So yes, that was last week. Still think about it a lot.

Well, hopefully I know my fate of where I'll be flying here real soon. I really just want to know and get started. I know I have a lot more preparation to do but I need to start teaching! I love what I am doing and I love my calling. In no way has this felt like a sacrifice or a burden. I really do enjoy every minute of it and it is so exciting knowing I'm just starting. I have to run to devotional now! I hope everyone is doing well. Oh yeah so since I'm super prideful my birthday is feb 2! that's right, send me presents! hahaha im kidding! i love you all!

Elder Sharkey

Recovering from a broken nose!

Elder Sharkey broke his nose Monday, Jan. 14, while playing basketball at the MTC.  It was broken in 3 places & it was hard for him to breathe through it. He had surgery on it Wednesday, Jan. 16. He says he's doing great!

 

Here's what the surgeon wrote up for him! His extremely short email is below.





From Jan. 22, 2013 email:
Hey all.
So my surgeon was so awesome. He signed a prescription slip saying this. And it almost worked haha. I was so close to getting tbell but my driver at the last sec called in to see if she should drop us off or wait there for us. But her boss immediately told her that the doctor couldnt authorize that and only my branch president could. SO I was super sad haha. But everyone thought it was hilarious so I took a picture of it. Ill send some pictures next week of my nose.
Elder Sharkey

Week 7?

Best shirt ever!

District



with Bro. Law (old teacher)

From Elder Sharkey's Jan. 15

This week has been very...fun! We received all of our new teachers and zone resource teachers. Pretty much our district has some people that are super behind in Spanish. And I can't blame them because before our teachers were sometimes here or not because of the holidays, and our 5 districts shared one zone resource teacher. Now we have 3 districts with 5 zrts. One of them came in (And this guy is AWESOME, brother jarman, he served in Madrid)and told us we were all desperately behind and bad, but that he was going to change that. And he is amazing. But don't worry I'm doing fine. Me, Elder Dougal, and Sister Harris are all ready to enter the field. Then we have about 4 people who are in the middle. And then we have 4 people who are still like week 3 level. It's so split that we have to split up our class into two groups. Right now Im working on relatives and vocab. Always need to learn more vocab. But yeah a lot of attention is being given to our district right now to help people catch up.

So yesterday during gym, I was playing basketball. A kid tried to cross over me and I didnt budge, so he thought driving right into me was a great idea. So his forehead went straight into my head, and I was out. What happened next was like 3 different trips to BYU urgent care and ENT doctor. I'm getting surgery on it tomorrow. It's broken in 3 different places so thats fun. It'll take about 2 weeks to recover enough for them to take the splints out. They said this wont affect my departure date of Feb 6.

News on Visas for Spain are still the same. They are working on them, but none have arrived here yet. They usually give out a reassignment 2 weeks before the date, but they are waiting on me until the very last second because they think my visa could still come. Whatever happens, it's always a gooood time. Come what may and love it! Elder Wirtlin was the bomb. Okay well were gonna go snag some lunch. Oh and I heard from Ben this week! His spanish is pretty amazing. His letter was almost completely in spanish. So funny ready leading his letter. Apparently knocking on doors in the rain gives you wife points. We'll see Ben haha. Thanks for the continued letters and support! Talk to you all soon.

No Visa Yet-Still in Provo

with Elder Wheelright who's going to Dallas



with Elder Wheelright

with Elder Quarez who's been reassigned to Las Vegas

with Elder Biggler who's been reassigned to Las Vegas

Latest email from Elder Sharkey, 1-8-13:

Another week and no visa! It is looking more and more like I am going to be temporarily re-assigned which is okay! Wherever I go I just hope it is warm. Spain is working on their visas now though so that is good news! They're visas are super random, so anything could happen. We had two elders going to Peru find out at 5 30 this morning that they had to catch a bus to airport in 30 minutes. Sometimes it can be that crazy. I'll continue to update when I have news.

Since the BYU semester just changed, we get a new set of teachers. We have brother Whaddup (yes really) and sister Eyring. They are both pretty awesome teachers. Right now we are just going over little stuff in Spanish, but for the most part I'm ready to leave. I can give an hour lesson now and read in spanish. No big everyone. Oh and yeah, Sister Eyring is President Eyrings granddaughter. I think that's pretty legit. She just got back from her mission in Uruguay and is now teaching at the MTC.

There was a huge stomach virus flu thing that went around the MTC. Tons of people got sick, to a point where people were quarantined haha. Our district was magically untouched! Our zone wasnt as fortunate. Finally it has cleared up so thats good. I'm really glad I didn't get sick.

We have more elders leave today and yesterday. Our oldest district in the zone left. They were all waiting for visas to Mexico, and have been reassigned to Vegas and Dallas. Our district is now the second oldest one in zone. The now oldest district lost 3 elders. They left this morning for the Lima Peru MTC. We should be getting a new district tomorrow so that will be fun.

The MTC is getting more and more packed. Sometimes the food line goes on for hours. It is quite an amazing sight to the work being hastening. I'm really glad to be apart of it. How are my Lakers doing? Have they played the Heat yet? My dad is horrible at updating me so I need some help here peeps! Oh, duke is loosing too right Bishop? Hope you enjoyed that pancake.

Doing fine here! I'm ready to leave the Joint haha. I love everyone very much. Make sure you all wish my Dad a happy birthday!

Elder Sharkey

Happy New Year! Jan. 1 Email

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone was safe and had a blast last night! Not going to lie, I got a little home sick at 10pm Utah time. I miss you all a ton! New Years was fun here tho at the MTC! We got a huge stash of food and had a great time. We were lucky that it was the day before our P day! Got some extra sleep :D. Spanish is still just flying by. There are some workers here in the cafeteria that speak little English. It's pretty cool being able to talk to them in Spanish about all sorts of things! They all have such great things to say about us too which is always good. Nothing really new is happening here though. Every Friday we have Spanish speaking members from the area come in and we give them 20-40 minute lessons about random topics. It's like home-teaching. And of course, no English at all. We have days during the week where they can't even speak English. It was challenging at first, but it is pretty easy now! I'm pretty excited and ready to head out to Spain. There's a new teacher on our floor who just got back from his mission in Barcelona 5 weeks ago. He said President Pace and his wife are amazing mission presidents. Apparently Spaniards are pretty hard to talk to as well. They will get offended if you use the usted form with them...which as missionaries that's what we need to use at all times. We can only use tu with little kids. So...it will be a fun challenge I suppose. He told me there are a ton of Africans and Latinos in the Barcelona mission that are very nice and open people. Also, he said the weather was amazing! So yes...I want to go...NOW! Today the Spanish Consulate is supposedly sending our visas today. In the next few days the first batch will arrive. I may or may not be one of them, here's hoping! I will go when I'm supposed to go. Can't blame me for being excited though haha. I love everyone very much! Enjoy 2013! I'll see you all in 2014!

Elder Sharkey

Here's Elder Sharkey typing emails.

Here's a small part of the line to get into the
devotional with Russel M. Nelson

Here's Elder Sharkey (Brandon) with his good friend Elder Bivens
who's going to Malaga, Spain. Elder Bivens has been temporarily assigned
to New Mexico until his visa comes in. He was at the MTC for 11 weeks.

Good friend Elder Mason--love the shirt!

The group that did New Years!
Brandon is wearing his tag!

with Elder Garcia in front of their party stash

with the drinks they put in the snow

all their food for their party