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.

A Home With No Chairs, No Walls and No Roof

MTC district

OK where do I start. I'm not really sure cause there´s a lot to talk about. I got to get it out of the way though. I'm so happy the debates are going well! That´s annoying about Biden. I never liked him but hey as a missionary I guess I have to say he´s an OK guy. Oh gosh I can't do it...I take that back. Also I'm glad to hear Romney is winning in the polls. I just got my ballot and voted for...yeah you guessed it Romney! I'll send it in on Monday.

I can't believe there was that Marijuana thing on it! Oregon is dumb sometimes but whatever it better not pass.

Alright as for my week it was awesome. As I told you guys on Tuesday we went proselyting. I went on splits with my Latino roommate Elder Olguin. He is the funniest guy ever and speaks pretty good English. We tracted in a big area and had like four hours.

The whole day I didn´t talk much but I could basically understand everything that could be said. If I didn´t know something I would just ask him. My Spanish has been coming along soooo much faster here than in Provo. We even had an English fast the next day and couldn´t talk any English at all the entire day! It was crazy hard but at the same time great.

Alright back to Tuesday. The highlight by far was a man we met holding a bunch of fruit and a machete. I can't remember his name because it was something super Guatemalan. We met him in this little alley thing and started talking. We would have been happy to just give a few pamphlets and maybe a Book of Mormon but he insisted that we come to his house. At the end of the alley there was a piece of plywood that he pushed aside into his house.

There were no walls or a roof. It was just outside. The floor was dirt and about five feet back there was just a drop off into the jungle. He didn't even have chairs for us to sit on so he turned over some buckets for us and put a rag on them so our pants wouldn't get dirty. Elder Olguin taught him an amazing lesson about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He really seemed to feel the Spirit and definitely wanted to learn more. We gave him a Book of Mormon even though it was kinda hard for him to read. He said he would definitely read it and we are going to have the "real" missionaries come by and talk to him.

As far as his house goes, I knew I was going to see poverty like that but it doesn't really sink in until you're in a house. It definitely was a humbling experience. Well that was definitely the highlight of my week but for the most part the week was just awesome. I'm not exactly sure where it went though because it seems like I was writing you guys two days ago.

The food here is good. I doubt it is anything like I´ll have in the field though. There´s a huge variety of stuff so it's hard to give you an idea of what I eat. Sometimes we eat Mexican type food and sometimes it's more American. It´s weird though because Every meal I have been here they but some type of sauce over it whether it´s eggs, steak, or burritos.There is a lot of meat every day which I'm happy with. More than I´ll probably eat when I'm out.

Oh and yeah I know Elder Campbell! He's cool. He lives pretty close to my and I already found out he´s from Bend. For some reason people here like Bend a lot because people keep asking what it´s like and stuff. OK well I'm glad Curtis is liking school. He must be going crazy to actually like High School but hey whatever. It's definitely a good idea to take health online. They're just a waste of time in school. Although health two was my favorite class. It was super easy and my three best friends were in it so we just kinda messed around. Hey I still got an A because it's pretty much impossible to not get one. And Briana I'm happy you're doing well! Good luck with the Spanish!

I can't wait till I can actually just teach. Well I'm out of time. This next Tuesday we get to go on a big tour of the City. After they take us to the Market which is three stories tall and is going to be awesome. Everything is super cheap here. The most I've spent is 100q...10 dollars and got a ton of stuff.

OK well I miss you guys and have fun watching the last debate without me. Just know my vote is on the way to tip the balance of the vote in Romney's favor.

Report From the Provo MTC

Well hey family!

The MTC so far has been crazy! My head hurts but They say once you make it past your first Sunday it gets easier. The past few days have been non-stop with language and devotionals. On Friday I had to teach my first lesson all in Spanish!! Luckily my companion (Elder Steed from Canada) kinda knew what he was doing. We taught him the first lesson but it turned out pretty bad. Oh well the next time we saw him was much better. We actually got him to promise to be baptized! Well I think...I couldn't really understand anything. Oh yeah and the first day here I met Gordon B. Hinkley's son. The problem was I didn't know it was him till later. He just came into our class to talk to our teacher and once he left Brother Snyder told us who it was. That was kinda lame but still cool.

Mom the food here is good but I can see how it would get old after awhile. It's basically just cafeteria food. Nothing special. I'm so happy Curtis went to Pep Band! That's hilarious. So he met Gonzo (Taylor) and Jane. They were pretty good friends but apparently they're blind if they think Curtis looks like me! I hope he likes it. He should just cause band is awesome. As for the BYU game I heard. That's soooo lame! Most people in my District were pretty happy cause I'm the only one who goes to BYU. They go to Utah State and Utah. Other then that though my District is awesome. 

I'm already getting Spanish and English mixed up sometimes just because all I do it seems is study it. Sometimes I'll be saying my prayers and slip into Spanish without realizing it just cause I've practiced the Spanish prayer so many times. I really don't know much but I'm getting better. Oh and yes I got your package. Oops (he forgot his alarm clock).

Dad that's crazy about the volcano! Elder Steed saw the picture too and we freaked out! That's so close to where we'll be going. Too bad we didn't start in the Guatemalan MTC cause we would've seen it maybe. 

Nothing like that has happened here but we have had some amazing devotionals. Last night was awesome! We had a fireside by Brother W. Tracy Watson. He talked about the Book of Mormon and how it applies to us. It was awesome! After that we watched a talk by Elder Bednar called the Character of Christ. It probably is now my favorite talk I have ever heard. It was a talk he gave in the MTC last Christmas about how we become converted. Being in the MTC is crazy but it's really amazing.

I'm so happy I'm here and know I did the right thing by coming. I can't wait to get out into the field and start teaching but I still love it here. They have a saying that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. It's so true! I've already been here almost a week. Whoa. Only two more to go!

Well time's almost up so I better go. I miss you guys and hope you're doing well! Tell Curtis to practice trumpet.

Love,

Elder Layton