Last Letter From the MTC

This week was pretty awesome. It was my last full week and I leave on tuesday ! I can´t wait. Well we went proselyting again and it was pretty good. We were in a little richer part so everyone had homes indoors and everything. We didn't really have that much success cause we mostly talked to less active members which was annoying. We did get into one house and we were really excited to teach until we looked up on the wall and saw tons of the classic Mormon pictures. It was funny. She was a really strong member of the church and before we could say anything she left us in her house and went and bought us juice. Then she kept insisting she fed us but we had to let her know we weren't "real" missionaries and had to get back to the CCM soon. It was fun though. She showed us all these pictures of her baptism and stuff. Hmmm what else? 

Oh yeah so you guys heard about the earthquake. Yeah it was insane buildings were falling down and stuff!! Alright not really I just said that to bug my teacher. We did definitely feel it though. We were on the top floor of the building and suddenly everything started shaking pretty good. Apparently it was a 7.4 near the coast of Mexico. It´s sad though cause apparently 14 or 15 people died (actually the news this morning reported that at least 52 people have died). Yeah nothing actually scary happened here just a little shaking.

Other than those two things this week has pretty much been normal. Yesterday we were in field workshops all day and they were extremely boring. Oh well only a couple days to go. Mom 

I wanted to give you the address apparently you need to send letters and packages because I´m not quite sure if the one you have is right. [A.P. 340-A Guatemala C.A. Guatemala 01001] Yeah so just make sure that´s right on the blog and bulletin  

Well I´m glad Curtis is doing well in school. Just so you guys know I´m going to be browner than him when I get back. It is going to be hot here...unless I´m in the city which I might be. Just a couple more days and I´m free! Well not really but I´ll be in the field ha ha. Alright good luck with everything at home (and in California) I´ll see you guys in 22 months, unless I decide to stay here cause all of America is on fire...

Earthquakes and Gunshots???

Elder Layton and his companion, Elder Steed

¡Hola familia! I hope everything is going ok up in Oregon. Everything here is pretty much the same. All the people here when we got here though left and we got a ton of new people. For two days there were only 18 of us in the entire CCM.

So that´s why we got to go to the market. It was so much fun! We got to barter and everything and there was sooo much stuff there. I got a bunch of stuff that will help tracting for super cheap. 

Oh yeah also I guess I should tell you last week on Saturday night I got called to be the AP here for the whole CCM haha. I´m the only one for now but soon probably today or tomorrow he will call a Latino one as well. It´s been fun this week. 

I have to wake up early and open up the building just by turning on all the lights and unlocking all the doors. Then at night I turn them all off and lock all the doors. Oh yeah and re do the daily schedule board. I do other stuff too but so far those are the main things. It´s weird to think that as of Tuesday I only have two more weeks here. The time has gone crazy fast. But then again looking back on it, it seems like I've been gone for a really long time. 

I guess I should be missing you guys by now...hmmmm well I might get there eventually. There is one thing I miss! Politics!! I´m deprived aqui cause we still can´t talk about it. Oh well at least Romney did awesome in all the debates. 

Hmmmm what else happened this week... I taught a bunch more lessons that went really good. I don´t have a Spanish accent or anything psh I haven't been gone that long. But at this rate of learning I´m hoping to be able to speak most Spanish by Christmas when I call you. It´s crazy how fast I´m learning. It´s really fun to talk to all the Latinos every night when I´m here to close down the building. I'm starting to be able to understand them better and it´s fun cause they always ask me how to say things in English. 

I think on Monday through Wednesday I´m going to have a English fast. Basically where I can´t speak any English the whole day for three days. We will see if I do it. I´ve done it before and it helps a ton but it´s sooooo frustrating. I just can't wait to get out in the field though. 

Apparently I'm in the hottest mission and it gets to like 120 in some places. Great. If I´m in the city though the temperature is perfect. 

Oh here is my address for my mission home. They say it takes about 12 days to get letters here so it´s about time to start sending them to the mission home. And seriously I haven't got one handwritten letter since I've been here, come on everyone! Nah just kidding I don't care.[A.P. 340-A Guatemala C.A. Guatemala] I guess that´s the whole thing...That´s all it says here but double check it. 

I love the Dear Elders every week from Dad and Grandma. I wish I had time to answer more of their questions but well, I don´t. Oh yeah and the letters are in my room so I don't remember the questions, sorry. Well I hope everyone is doing OK. 

I'm sorry to hear about Brother Medeiros. That´s really sad. At least he had time to say goodbye and it wasn't immediate but still that´s sad.

I hope your work is going good, sounds like it is. Briana's work too. Glad you're teaching a lot of people. I can't wait to be a "real" missionary haha and have real investigators. Well no more time so I got to go. 

Oh yeah one last thing. I was in my first earthquake. And then my second. Apparently they are really common here but the sad thing was I didn't feel either even though somehow they were big. Also the gas station next to us got robbed and we heard gunshots :D Don't freak out though it was cool. OK bye.

Los Nortes in the Guatemalan MTC

Ok well first off down here in Guatemala is crazy. The whole CCM is only Spanish so I don't understand a thing. Even the keyboards here are different so it´s hard to type. 

This week has been awesome. I feel like I'm learning a lot faster now and think I will be much better off than if I stayed in Provo. This week we actually get to go out street contacting on our own! It should be interesting. 

Yeah Mom the CCM is right in the city and it´s actually in my mission! Today we saw Elders walking past the gates that are in my mission. This city is huge. I can't wait to actually go out into it and place Book of Mormons. 

My favorite part of every day is the soccer here. It´s tons of fun playing with the Latinos. I actually score all the time haha. Everyone calls us Nortes it´s funny. The food is really good but definitely takes some getting used to. There is some mexican type stuff and then also some American food. With some of the things I have to force it down but I guess I better get used to it. Overall the food is really good. 

The schedule here is way more relaxed than Provo too! We have a lot more study time and in a couple weeks they are going to take us to a huge three story market and then to Wendys! I can´t wait haha. 

Hmm I can´t figure out how to start a new paragraph so I´ll just keep typing I guess (we edited his letter and added paragraphs before posting). Conference was crazy good! I got to watch it in English because over half the people here are Nortes. It´s soooo crazy about the age thing now. I never thought that would happen. I bet by the end of my mission there are a lot more than 2 Hermanas in my zone. 

I really liked all the talks. We watched every single one so it was really good. I also liked Elder Holland´s but I would have to say that one of the seventies was my favorite. 

I can´t remember his name. I'm so happy to hear about Romney! That´s hilarious!  Obama's best thing last time were the debates and looks like Romney has a good shot maybe. We don't really talk politics in the CCM and so I'm a little deprived and definitely like the updates so thanks. 

The weather here is awesome. Every day it´s a perfect temperature and it really hasn't rained that much. Yesterday we got our first big rain but even that only lasted about fifteen minutes. I kinda wished it lasted longer cause I didn't get to go in it. 

The one thing that is kinda lame here are the rooms. There are six people per room and only two closets. There aren't any desks and every person just gets one small drawer. So I pretty much just live out of my suitcase. We have a shower in our room but it´s tiny and we always have to hurry cause it´s only one shower per six people. We can´t drink tap water so it´s a pain to brush my teeth cause we have to go get other water. Hmmm oh yeah and we can never touch the floor with our bare feet or we'll get a weird fungus thing! It´s fun! Don't get me wrong I still really like it here and in three weeks we might be able to move to better rooms.

When we got here they completely reassigned companions and I got...the same one. Whatever though he´s cool and we'll have a fun last five weeks. Yeah only five more weeks here! Well that´s kinda a lot but it´s going by fast. I can't wait to get out and actually have my own apartment and start teaching real people. Well just about out of time.

Hope my email made sense even though I can barely type. I'll see you guys in two years! Well hey actually less.