2013-10-28: Two Dog Bites, One Shooting, and Everything's Great

Hunter's last 2 emails are below:

10/21/13 email

Hunter’s email is short. 

Hey first I will answer your question… no, they do not have spaghetti mixes and things in the apartment but you can buy them at the market.   You can cook in your apartment whatever you want to cook. You don't need to send any mixes I am good for now.  I'm not feeling baggy yet.  Hermana Jackie's cooking is really good and she cooks a lot for us.  Don't worry mom I'm eating haha!  We have about 12 or 13 investigators progressing and everyday we teach people.  The work is very different from what you might think it is.  Many people get the conception that we knock on doors all day but we have a thing called Plan A, B, and C.  Plan A is working with the leaders of the church to get work done with investigators.  Plan B is working with members of the church to do work such as members during investigator lessons, and Plan C is solo missionaries.  We want to be working Plan A and B all the time, because it is always more powerful when the investigator sees someone they know or a native is normal and part of the Mormon Church.

We placed a fecha(date) for a baptism in November, and hopefully it doesn't fall through.  Things are going good here, my companion is really great and the zone is cool.

I am starting a study journal as I begin reading the Libro De Mormon again and I am starting to see things that I have overlooked my whole life.

I am trying to do good over here, and I am surviving!  I guess dad is right... I am comfortable being in uncomfortable place.  I am getting eaten alive by bugs as I sleep.  I have started using the bug spray and the past few nights were okay.  

Have a good week guys! I will talk to you next Monday!

10/28/13 email

My week was good and we did a lot.  I have a few stories to tell you.  I got bit by 2 dogs in 2 different members’ houses.  The first is at this lady’s house named Mama Concha, and she has this chucha (dogs are called Chucho or Chucha here) from off the street in the back of the house and as we were going upstairs it bit me in the ankle, but luckily I wear my army boots everyday so the bite didn't pierce.  Speaking of boots, I just realized that these boots have seen so much terrain in it’s lifetime …. they are really dependable and it would be cool if you could find a pair for me and hold on to it so I have a new pair for when I get back?  

So the second dog was in a yard of a member’s house in an area of our area called Potrero Grande.  I was walking towards the house with the hermana that owns the house, and my companion.   And then this Chucha walks up to me sniffs my thigh then bites me, and I thought for sure that it broke skin because this dog was way bigger than the last one that bit me, and the bite was really strong.  But when I checked my thigh, I saw that it didn’t penetrate and that it only poked small holes in my pants, but all in all I just have a small bruise from the bite.  

The next crazy story, and this is the highlight of my week... is that one night when we were leaving the Jardines (area) from a lesson with a family.  We were walking down this hill to get back to the Joya where we live, and this hill leads down to a little intersection that all the buses stop at and there are a few small tiendas(stores) at the bottom of this hill.  So we are walking down this hill and all of a sudden we hear "pop, pop, pop, pop" and then we freeze, look at each other and we are like "crap, that’s gunshots!"  So then we continue walking down this hill, and people are running up this hill because the gunshots came from the intersection.  A tuktuk (little red moped transportation vehicles) comes up and we get in, but he can’t get through the intersection because of all the people, so he lets us out, and we walk through this intersection and ask people what happened.  In the intersection there was a yellow school bus that is all souped out with paint like all of them are (the kind we ride everywhere), but people were running away and screaming and stuff.  When we asked what happened they said that a man shot the bus driver 4 times and ran out of the bus into the night. The ambulance already took the driver away, and there were many people there, but as we continued walking down the road towards the Joya, I realized that we had been blessed.  If our lesson had been a minute or two shorter, we would have been in that intersection, and it is a fact here that if there are witnesses to a crime and they know you saw their face that they will blow your brains out.  So I realized that every question that went on in that lesson, every pause, every answer, helped to prolong our time there so we would not be in danger.  The Lord works in mysterious ways, and we may not know why things happen the way they do, or why blessings or opportunities come at different times and in different places, but everything happens for a reason.  The Lord has a plan for each and every person in the world, and through obedience and faithfulness, everyone can be blessed and their paths guided in all that they do.  

I don't know why I tore my ACL during that season of football, or during this past season of baseball, but I know that those things prepared me and helped me grow.  I know that if I had not been injured, I would not have been able to meet the people I did, or go to the area I am in now, or experience the things that I am experiencing now.  At the time, I didn't know why, and I admit that I am a little ashamed that at the time my testimony wasn't strong enough to handle the experience, so I got angry.  I now realize that every experience is there to strengthen you and make you a better person.

Today, guess where we went for our P-day zone activity?  BOWLING!  Haha it was really fun... Okay, when you send things don't worry … the system is pretty good here and Elder Trupp said that he received all his packages.  They told us not to put the religious stickers because it makes you seem like you are trying too hard to bring things into the country.

We are doing well in Palencia and we have a few good progressing investigators, but it is really frustrating when people do not do their part and complete our challenges to pray, etc.  We can only help them as much as they want us to.  You can't give someone a true testimony, they are the only ones that can get it for themselves.

We set another baptismal fecha(date) and we are trying to work with the other, because she doesn’t come to church, and we can’t baptize her if she doesn’t go to church.  A lot of people don't go to church because it is too great of a sacrifice, so we have to really teach them the value of church and what it can do for them.

All in all I had a really good week and still going strong and not feeling baggy.  Hey, I have to go now time is up have a good week, I love you guys!

2013-10-14: Lots of Questions Answered, Just love It Here

These are the questions we asked him in our recent email to him:

Do you have hot water?

- No we do not have hot water, and the water runs out real quick.  We have to conserve the water and we use a thing called a pila in the back of the house to wash dishes and stuff.  This past week we didn't shower for 2 days because the water was out.

Do you have a flush toilet?

- Yes we do, but we have a bucket with water for when the water goes out.

Do you have toilet paper?

- Yes we buy it with our monthly allowance.

Can you drink your tap water?  If not, do they deliver filtered water to your house?

- No we cannot drink tap water, I have a really cool bottle made by the company Seychelle that filters the water and I can drink it, but other than that we live on milk, soda or juice, and we get 2 water cooler size jugs of agua pura every few weeks.

Do you have a bed with mattress?

- Yes our house has a tiled floor, and we have a bed with nice new mattresses that they just got before I got here.

What time do you go back to your house at night?

- It all depends on our schedule and our success of the day, the latest we can and have been out is 9:30 but the earliest on bad days maybe 8:30.

Where do you shop for food?

- They have a big mall called Centro Norte and we buy our groceries at La Torre.

Do you have a refrigerator?

- Yes

Are there any panaderia close by?  I read that their bread is really good.

- Yes they have them everywhere, but we rarely buy anything unless we really need it, all shopping is done at La Torre in Centro Norte.

What do you eat for breakfast and dinner?

- Cereal for breakfast, and I don't really eat much at dinner because we either don't have time or we have to budget.

Do you get a lot of dinner appointments?

- No but people feed us during the day sometimes when we visit houses.

What is the name of your mission president?

- Presidente y Hermana Watts

How far is the mission home from your house?

- 1 1/2 hour bus ride maybe I don't really know.

How far is the meeting house (church) from your house?

- 15 minute walk

Do you have a house phone or cell phones?

- We have a cell phone, but the cell phone is a big house phone thing with an antenna and we have to carry it to places.

Is it branch or ward?  How big is the membership?

- Branch the membership this past Sunday was about 80.

What is your house address?  Can we send letter there?

- It is a mission rule to not give out house addresses and no you can't send letters there.  Haha I would tell you but exact obedience brings miracles.

Where do you go for your p-day?  And what kind of things do you do?

- We usually do things with other companionships or other districts and sometimes as a zone.  We always go to the mall Centro Norte to eat lunch and use the Internet, and we go to this place called Megapaca.  But today was really cool because we hiked a few miles out to the middle of nowhere in the forest and as a zone explored a cave.

Where do you go to email us?

- Centro Norte the mall.

How long is your allotted time to use the email?

- 1 hour and 15 minutes, one hour for you guys and 15 minutes to email Presidente Watts.

Can you print your letters so you can read them later?

- Yes but you have to pay and every quetzales counts here.

Do you pay when you use the computer to email us?  How much?

- For the hour and 15 minutes we pay 7Q so a little less than a dollar.

Do you take your dirty clothes to the lavanderia or does she come to take them?

- We take our clothes to her, she lives a few houses down the road from us, and so does the food lady.

Is it hot there?

- Yes it gets hot here during the day.  In the morning and at night it is cool.

Are you taking a lot of pictures?

- When I can I am, let me know how I can send the memory cards home.

Did you have a haircut at the CCM?

- Yes once by one of the teachers and he muffed it up pretty bad, so I got my hair cut the other times by other missionaries.

Do you like pupusas?

- I don't think I have tried any yet...

Are there any hermana's in your stake?

- Yes

For Christmas can you send me paracord, no clips or anything.? and maybe a flash drive or 2.  Don't waste space in the package on candy though...I don't really know what else... I will let you know if I come up with anything.  I love it up here you guys... you don't even know.  The people are really great and my companion is cool and we get along really great.  It is a hard area, but with faith we were able to get a few new investigators this past week.  The language is hard, and in lessons I mainly just bear my testimony and answer some questions.  My ear is starting to develop to the language and I am getting better at recognizing words.  

I am really learning how to budget here.  I realized that we are basically living the college life here.  We cook our own breakfast, and lunch we eat with Hermana Jackie.  Dinner sometimes we don't eat because we don't have time.

Hey I tried to answer your questions, but I gotta go now, we have an appointment with a family!  I Love you guys... there really is no other joy in this world than service.  I love it here, no matter how hard it gets I won't give up.  Have a good week!

Yeah it is great out here we just got back from our zone activity at the cave.  I am trying my best to be a good missionary!  Palencia is a great place.  I really love it here.  I gotta go now… I love you.  I will talk to you later. 

2013-10-07: Week 1 in El Campo

Hey guys how is everything? I got my first assignment to the zone Atlantico (18 I think...) Palencia.   It is just what I wanted! It is just what I envisioned Guatemala to be.  Palencia is a huge, huge area in the mountains right out of the Capital.  My first companion, and trainer (Dad) is Elder Ky Dennis Trupp (FB him).  He is a really cool guy from Ashton, Idaho, and he is about 13 months into the mission.  He is going up to BYU-I after the mission. 

Palencia is one of the top 3 biggest areas in the mission to cover because it used to be 2 big areas, but they closed one and merged it into ours, and there is only us up here in the mountains.  We walk everywhere, and catch chicken buses, and ride with other members.  I am trimming down quick here because of all the walking.  Our apartment is really humble but better good enough for what we need.  I am so thankful to the Lord for letting me be able to come here.  The area reminds me so much of Peacock flats except with tin roof, dirt floor, cinderblock wall houses about 50-100 yards apart.  There is a lot of ranching going on up here with corn and stuff and the members are cool.  The members are good, but they are kind of reluctant to help us out with missionary work.  They will give you a ride, but won't go out with you to visit.  The stars are amazing here, and I like it because you don't breath the fumes of cars and busses all day long. 

The situations here are so humbling.  Seeing people live this way was hard for me the first few days because I did not think people could have this kind of poverty and lifestyle, but what I really like and what I have come to learn is that you need to be thankful for what you have, thankful to wake up another day, thankful to have a casa (house), thankful to have your family, and thankful for work.  The people here do not have much, but they find comfort in having everything in their families, and relationships with others. 

Almost everyday we eat lunch at Hermana Jackie's house, she is a single mother raising 4 children.  The first day in the field Elder Trupp and I hit the pavement as soon as I got there, and walking up the mountain on the road, he asked me: “are you ready to climb the steps to Mordor?,” and then we hiked.   Really we hiked, up the side of the mountain in our white shirts and ties on a dirt path to see members in the forest.  He tells me that this area is hard, but a good area.  People are reluctant to let you into their houses, but when you do get in, many are receptive to the gospel.  

So on my 4th day in the field I experienced my first crazy story!  We were in the house of a man and he was sick so we gave him a blessing, and after the blessing we sat and talked with him.  He started crying and said: Tengo una problema (I have a problem).  Then after that I didn't understand what he said because the language they taught me in the CCM is way different than from what they speak in the field!  So I sat there and the man poured out his heart and I watched my companion listen to him and Elder Trupp was stone-faced the whole time so I didn't know what was going on.  I said the closing prayer and we left, and as we were walking down the dirt road away from his house Elder Trupp turned to me and said: “I don't think we are going back to that house again”.  So I asked why, and he said: the man we just talked to said that last night he fired 5 shots at another man right outside of the house and hit him in the chest.  Ha-ha that is Guatemala for you! 

Oh, I almost forgot, but the day we left the CCM we stayed the night in another area as a CCM group and got to tract with elders in Zona 18, Alameda.  I tell you that the mission really does know how to break in elders... that was one of the sketchiest nights of my life, and probably won't be my last.   Ha-ha it is crazy here, not as much in Palencia, but in Guatemala in general. 

The way we get our monthly allowance is through a debit card they give us, about 1850Q a month.  We pay 100Q to the lunch lady, and 120Q to the lavanderia (laundry lady). 

All of the gringos got to go to the stake center and watch conference in English, and I really enjoyed it.  I have the regret of not paying attention better to watch the conferences in my past.   Almost all the missionaries go crazy on their missions and they say that conference is what keeps them in there.  We all gathered around a small TV and ate snacks.  I love it here.  The mission is hard, but I know that it is worth it.  I love you guys and have a great week!

Some last minute things:

- Mail is so slow here so I might not get mail for a few weeks

- I don’t need anything; surprisingly they have a lot of American stores so no need packages

- Tell uncle mark and them Hi for me!

2013, September 25, Just Can't Wait to Get Into the Field

Hey guys, I CAN¨T BELIEVE YOU MET ELDER JEFFERY HOLLAND! I’m so jealous, we watch his devotionals all the time here at the CCM and he has a spiritual presence that is like no other.  Look up the devotional about checking your religion at the door at Dixie college.  [Elder Holland's Talk he is referring to is here: http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2012/01/israel-israel-god-is-calling?lang=eng].  What did it feel like to meet him?

I can’t wait to leave this spiritual prison!  haha we call it that because we grow so much but we can’t leave this gated community!

My Spanish is coming along and it is going well because I can kind of express myself okay through it, but I just need to improve my vocabulary.  In less than a week, I will be in the field.  I am kind of nervous for the field because I don’t want a trainer companion that is lazy or impatient, or is hard to get along with because I will be stuck with the guy for 3 months!  It’s okay though, because the Lord knows all of us and if that is his will, then so be it, because He knows I have to learn something from it. 

My experience has been great at the CCM and I am glad I was sent here rather than Provo because here you are forced to speak the language whereas Provo probably only speaks it in the classroom because everyone is American there.  I just got the letters Monday, they were great!  The newsletter thing was really nifty and I enjoyed receiving the copy of my blessings.  Mail is like gold here, we only get to hear from families once a week. 

We had a devotional about courage this week and it was really pumping all the missionaries up because it was really great.  Courage is fragile, but is a strong thing.  Fragile in the way that even one small thing can break it, but strong in the way that courage can break barriers and bring many good things to come to pass.  For example one of the great examples of courage in the Libro De Mormon is Abinadi.  Abinadi in the face of death from King Noah would not renounce his religion and his teaching even until he was burned alive.  Job in the face of devastation and oppression would not renounce his faith.  Mormon the only Nephite left from a once great nation, fled from the Lamanites and survived holding and keeping the faith that one day the church of Jesucristo would once again be revived on the earth. Joseph Smith through trials and tribulations would not give up on the faith he had in the Lord.  All of these examples make me realize: would we be as courageous as these great people in the face of the same oppression?  Would we have the courage to say I believe in Lord Jesus Christ while they are lighting piles of wood on fire at your bound feet? Would you have the courage to believe: One day someone will have the faith necessary to bring this church back to the face of the earth, after seeing the nation that you once fought for, and were so righteous, be devastated and fall into wickedness? Those are some kind of far out thoughts, but today many people do not have the courage to even talk about their religion with others.  I can say that I lacked courage and had fear many times in my life, and I regret myself for having those feelings.

The mission is so great.  I love it here being able to serve others. I pray as I enter the mission field next week, that I will have courage enough to work and preach the gospel to the best of my abilities and give it my all.  I am on the Lord’s errand and on the Lord’s time so I have no desire to throw his efforts away.  President Nickolaysen told us "you are here for only 2 years, I want you to go home and be exhausted because you gave all of your heart, might, mind, body, and soul, in the service of the Lord.  I want you to go home with not a single drop of regret in your heart..." and what he said is true. 

I am glad things back home are going really well. Keep working hard in school Elijah!  I want you to do better than me!  My biggest regret from school is not doing better than I should have.  I realize now (kind of too late...) that time only passes you once, you can’t relive a moment, and you can’t go back and fix your grades from freshman year. So start early and stay ahead of the game.  I will miss my friends that I made here, but I know that I will see them again.  Most of them are going East with me anyways, and we figure some of us will probably be companions along the way.

2013, September 19 Learning to fit in

Hey guys I can’t believe it has been about a month already.  It seems like yesterday that I just left Hawaii for Guatemala.  Time goes by so fast on the mission and I can testify that when people say that it goes by real quick, they are telling the truth.  All of the missionaries here run into the same problem after the third week of not having anything to tell family because the routine is meticulous every single day. 

On Tuesday, the whole CCM got to leave to go to the center of the city and go to a park with a relief map of Guatemala.  It is a pretty amazing sight because it is a park with a 99% accurate scale map of Guatemala.  [See: http://annaclairebevan.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/a-3-dimensional-guide-book/]  The man that did it, went around the country on a donkey surveying with primitive equipment, and happened to get it 99% accurate.  While we were there president talked to us about how there are many theories of where the Libro de Mormon took place, but the one that most support, and that sounds and matches the best in my opinion is that it happened where we are now at this moment.  At the relief map he showed us where possible locations of cities in the Libro de Mormon could have been, such as the city of Nephi, and Zarahemla.  It is really interesting.  Speaking of Libro de Mormon, I am almost done with it, I started when I got here and I am just finishing Alma.  I feel so blessed to be able to serve and walk among the descendents of the Lamanites.

After the relief map, we went to the Mercado de central Guatemala.  The mercado is a 3 floor parking structure that is converted to a market.  The bottom floor is Guatemalan crafts etc. , the second floor is food with meat hanging in the open and fruits galore, and the third floor is things tourists would want to buy like bags, clothes, accessories, etc.  It was fun, and we got to see a lot of things.  There were people preaching on the second floor so we tried to avoid that, but it was fun seeing all the flies buzzing around the meat and blood stains in the back.  We are told that we are not allowed to drink water, or eat food here unless it is packaged or from a trusted source such as fast food.  But the church pays someone that is trusted to clean and cook food well and in the field we go to that person’s house and eat our meals there.  The mercado was kind of a letdown for me because I thought that they would have some cooler stuff.   All the other missionaries blew their cash there.  I only bought a huge, huge Guatemala flag (about 6 feet across) for about 55 quetzals. [$6.94 US]  It originally was about 80 but I bargained, and that was fun because we would go around bargaining for things.  The elders had to stick with the sister missionaries for security reasons.  It kind of worries me for the sisters because what are they going to do when they get out in the field and they don’t have the protection.  There are some pretty sketchy people here, and they all notice us as Norte Americanos because of our light skin.  I don’t think I stand out as much, but my white shirt does.  After that we went to Wendy’s and ate lunch.

After lunch was the highlight of my day.  We got to walk around a big square with a fountain in the middle (Parque Central [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrZeF8PlOP8]) and talk to people.  So me and two other elders: Elder Riley and Elder Shiffler had a Book of Mormon and we placed it!  We walked up to a family and introduced ourselves and talked to them saying the topic: Nuestro mensaje es sobre las families, y el evangelio de Jesucristo puede bendice las familias.  They accepted the message and the book.  It is common for people here to ask how much the book costs and be hesitant because they think we want and work for money.  It is great being able to serve the people here.  I felt true happiness when we were able to share our message and place el Libro de Mormon.

My Spanish is coming along, and I have come out of that slump I had a little while ago.  I can generally say what I want to say in a lesson, but the key is just to improve my vocabulary.  Our teacher seeing that I was struggling pulled me aside and asked what was wrong and stuff and I just said I feel inadequate because my Spanish is behind those that took classes before.  So she showed me a video of a returned missionary giving advice to people like me with no experience and he served in Guatemala.  He said that the language is just a vehicle for the Holy Ghost.  The language is a tool for the missionary, but the most important and only tool you need is the spirit.  If you live constantly to be worthy of the presence of the spirit, no matter how gringo your Spanish may be, you can touch and influence investigators and inspire yourself.

Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadero, Yo se Jesucristo vive y Dios es nuestro amoroso padre celestial. Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es verdadero y la profeta Jose Smith tradujo el libro por medio de la poder de dios.  Yo se el espiritu santo es nuestro companero siempre! Yo se que el evangelio es una bendicion por todas personajes. En el nobre de Jesucristo Amen.

Below is the translation of his Spanish:

Mercado - Market

Nuestro mensaje es sobre las families, y el evangelio de Jesucristo puede bendice las familias.

- Our message is on the families, and the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless families.

Yo se que la iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadero, Yo se Jesucristo vive y Dios es nuestro amoroso padre celestial. Yo se que El Libro de Mormon es verdadero y la profeta Jose Smith tradujo el libro por medio de la poder de dios.  Yo se el espiritu santo es nuestro companero siempre! Yo se que el evangelio es una bendicion por todas personajes. En el nobre de Jesucristo, Amen.

I know that the church of Jesus Christ is true, I know Jesus Christ lives and God is our loving heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and the prophet Joseph Smith translated the book through the power of God. I know the Holy Spirit is our partner always! I know that the gospel is a blessing for all characters. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

2013, September 10, Doing great and learning a lot

Hey guys, how is everything? They had an earthquake here! It was pretty awesome, everything started swaying and after a while I realized I wasn’t going to faint, but it was an earthquake.  Nothing was damaged, but we had to evacuate the CCM.

The CCM routine is getting to be a little continuous, the days blur together and I don’t really know what day of the week it is unless it is Pday or Sunday.

A member of the 70 is coming to speak with us today. I don’t know his name but I will let you know later.  My Spanish is coming along slowly, but speaking to the natives is what is helping me the most. We are teaching them various lessons one to one everyday, and sometimes I get a native that speaks fast, and they say they are speaking Spanish, but it does not sound like it at all! It will get better with time I guess... I blessed the sacrament for the first time in Spanish this past Sunday, and I constantly say prayers at meetings in front of the whole CCM because my roommates are the zone leaders. 

It is funny to see what power does to a person though... when one get power, some use it to better and help the people around them.  There was a zone leader that just left last week, Elder Barlow, and I really looked up to that guy because he was in a position of power, but he was humble enough to put others before him, and push the work.  Every 2 weeks or so the Latinos get new district leaders, and we get new zone leaders, and some rise to the challenge, but others rise to the challenge of expending their power negatively.  Others don’t rise at all but complain and shirk their duties.  It has been a great learning experience for me being here in the CCM.  I get to learn how to support other leaders, and learn from the mistakes of the leaders in front of me.  Analyzing all the missionaries here, I can see and take attributes and work ethic patterns that I like from them and apply them to my life.  I guess the Lord wants everyone here to learn how to do something, and for some it might be to lead, and others to learn certain things to better their missionary work. 

I bought a shoulder bag here, completely waterproof, textile covered and holds all my books.  I also got a really nice set of leather scripture covers here that is personalized for me, and I will send a picture.  It has captain Moroni holding the title of liberty on the front, and the Hawaii Laie temple on the back with my name and mission on the front.  Really nice! 

I got my second baptism commitment from another fake investigator, but we get to teach random people off the street once a week.  Those are really fun to do because we get to see how it really is like contacting people on the street. 

The Wal-Mart trip was good, really refreshing to get out of the CCM.  We went to an old church and had deportes(sports) for a couple hours, then we went to Wal-Mart.  I bought some sticky tabs for the Spanish scriptures so I know where to turn to for  each lesson, 2  tide-to-go pens that I use whenever there is a fresh stain from food or something, and that’s it. 

After that we went to a mall and ate lunch.  The boys in the district ate so much! Everything is so cheap here, I only spent about 10 US dollars and I had a whopper with fries, 2 mcdoubles, and a frosty, baconator, and fries from Wendy’s.  Hey don’t judge me! They don’t feed us lots here in the CCM! I lost about 10 pounds and I am trimming down.  I went down 2 notches on my belt.  They have weights here to work out and such and I am working my legs.

I am glad that I am here. It was a shock at first having to do everything myself such as laundry and keeping track of my stuff, but I am doing really great here.  The laundry room equipment sucks here, but it gets the job done.  The dryers don’t work good, so I have to air dry my clothes in my room. I heard that we pay an endowed temple member to do our laundry in the field because it saves time, and gives them a source of income.  I wash my neck till it is raw because I don’t want dirty necks on my white shirts, but sometimes it shows up so I dunno how to cure that.  Some of the guys here have bleach and use it on the neck before throwing it in the wash, but I try to scrub it out because it isn’t really that bad. I am learning how to budget here.  I haven’t spent much of my American money and I still have about 130 of the 200 you sent me with.  I can’t wait for the market, everyone has some cool stuff from there.

The gospel blesses all those who come unto it and hear it! I love teaching the gospel, even though sometimes I don’t know what they or I am saying.  There is a reason I am here, I don’t know it yet, but there is a reason.  To be honest and I don’t think that this is a bad thing, but my days here are so packed and we do something from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, so I don’t really have time to worry about anything else. I like it that way because time flies and I really enjoy what I do.  It is inspiring because when they say to lose yourself in the work, it really is worth it. Almost all the Hispanic missionaries, and teachers here are converts and it is so inspiring when they share their story about how a gringo like me come into their home and even though they don’t speak good English, through the spirit they were able to convert lives.  The Holy Ghost is my best friend, and I would not know what I would do without it.

2013, September 10, My district and others at the CCM

Here is my district and group photos of the missionaries here.

Back Row, L-R:  Hermana Robertson, Hermana Holloway, Hermana Windsor, Hermana Allen (nurse for coban), Hermana Potrie, Hermana Call, Hermana Bruno (Nuestro Maestra), Hermana Wilcoxen, and Hermana Cadwell

Front Row: Elder Tupou, me, Elder Callaway, and Elder John aaron Gutierrez