May 25, 2011 Guatemala CCM

Hi mom and others reading this! This week was really good it went by really fast. We got newbies in so now we’re oldest ones here. I don’t really have anything to talk about sorry, but the CCM is pretty boring. Same thing every week... nothing new.  But it is fun here so don’t worry!  I am really excited I get to leave today at lunch time to go to the doctor so that means I get real food for lunch!!! Yeeee!!! I’m going to the doctor for 2 reasons, one is I just wanted to get out to the real world and second is to get rid of a wart I’ve had on my hand for probably 3 years. I figure it was a good reason haha. My comp needed glasses so we got to go to the eye doctor haha and we’re picking them up tomorrow. I have a really funny story about us getting soda. My comp and I made good friends with the maintenance guys and then left them a note and money to bring us back coke.  We thought it would never work but it did!!! Yeee! And we did it again yesterday and got more! We love them and our coke!!! I’ll send home a picture of the note when I have a chance to send photos in 2 weeks!.... Holllllllly cow I'm out of here in 2 weeks!! Good thing I feel good about my Spanish. Tell dad to handwrite me a Spanish letter. I’m pretty sure I’ll understand the whole thing. Now that we are the old North Americans we go to all our meetings in Spanish, no more English, and I understand all, which is good. The one thing that none of us understand is subjunctive! Ahhhhh it’s dumb - nobody gets it.... one day!  I don’t really have anything to say! I promise in two weeks my letters will get more interesting!! I have a ton of emails I haven’t read that I’d like to read so sorry for the short email this week but I’ll make up for it soon!... love you all!

I forgot…27 people got their heads chopped off in Peten with chainsaws recently...yup that’s my mission!

May 17, 2011 Guatemala CCM

Hey all this week was different… so I get internet today! But next week it will be Wednesday again! Soooo today was by far the best day! First of all the Latinos and older district left and now we are the oldest district with newbies coming in tomorrow. So I will be getting a new Latino comp!

But the reason today was super awesome was because we went to a market that has everything from knifes to soccer jerseys and anything. I bartered in Spanish for everything I got, which was fun. I got a red Pepsi Guatemala soccer jersey, a switchblade, a Mayan stone knife, Guate stickers, bracelets, and 3 Guate bags like the one we saw in Hawaii....

Oh I forgot, before we went there we went to a topical map of Guatemala. It was super cool to see the layout of Guatemala. It was huge, and took 16 to 20 years to make.

After the market we went to a mall, the most modern mall I have ever been to, it was crazy. We ate McDonalds and Tacobell. Then we went to a camera store and bought more memory cards for my camera, and I bought speakers for my ipod. The speakers were 400 quetzals, but it was worth it, they are really good. 100 quetzals is 12ish American so you can do the math. Next Elder Gunnell and I went to find shoes and we found the sickest dress shoes for 100 qtz, it was great. Who knows how long the will last haha. Then after the mall we went to a place that had exhibits about ruins and stuff, which was fun!

Now I’m back at the MTC and I have to finish laundry and whatnot for next week. This week was pretty boring but today made up for it! Oh and the best part! I got my first sodas! yeeeee! I bought 4 cokes and brought them back to the CCM! Haha it’s sad how much everybody wants soda here! So only 3 more weeks till I'm out getting soda everyday! Ha.

I feel like my Spanish is going really well. I understand most everything people say to me and I also can say almost anything I want to say in extremely basic Spanish. I had no problems talking to the store workers in Spanish. But there were a few times I didn’t know how to say “speaker”, so I tried to explain what I wanted, and he said, I can assist you in English if you like. Haha… funny stuff! Well I’m out of things to say and time…

So bye bye! Love you all and have a great week. I’ll talk to you in 7 days!

May 11, 2011 Guatemala CCM

Time for my very rushed email of the week! 30 minutes is hard to type a good email!  
Well to start off I have no idea what I already told you! 
But I do know i didn't tell you that I got to go to the middle of the city on Monday with a latino comp and we did contacts! We contacted 11 people and we ended up getting 10 new investigators! So those will all be forwarded to the missionaries in this area and they will teach them lessons.

It was awesome being in the middle off the city but we weren't allowed to take money which sucked because there were people selling mangos, soda, and everything! It really sucks cause all there is to drink at the CCM is water and juice at meals. So I really wanted a mango and a soda!!!  But in a few weeks when I'm in the field soda will be easier to get than water!!! So thats ok with me! 


The latins here are great. They brush their teeth after every time they eat something. So I've been having great brushing habits!  
I play futból every morning with the latinos and some nortes and its really really really fun its the best thing all day! ha ha! 


What else... Oh! I get to go to the city and go shopping on Wednesday, a week from today. That will be really fun cause we get to barter and what not. I no longer have American money I only have quetzal which is cool cause its 7.25 qtz to 1 dollar. I feel like I have a ton of money! 


Our latinos and older nortes leave on Monday. So after that we will be the oldest district and then new latinos and nortes will come Wednesday. 
So far all is well, I heard 5 gun shots the other day which was pretty cool! ha ha. 
Oh... so last night we had a 70 here and he was talking about how every mission pres wants the hard workers from Idaho and not the lazy California surfer boys and everyone turns around and looks at me because I'm the only person from California. And he goes I take it we got one surfer boy haha. That was pretty funny. 


hmmm I don't know what else... I feel like I'm blankkkkkkk. 
Days here go by slow, but weeks go by fast. So all the time it feels like a week of mush and I have no idea what happened what day...
I know Morgan wants a Guate bag like the one we saw in Hawaii. So I'll get her one soon and send it home. Does any one else want one? Alyssa? Mom? Dad? I only have a few weeks left here. I'm really excited to be done with the CCM MTC stuff and have some fun! Well I have no time and nothing else to say so goodbye. I'll talk to you soon!

Guatemala CCM May 4, 2011

ok. everything is a little overwhelming I have like no time on p-day to email here at the ccm...I want to reply to everybody's letters but  dont have enough time which sucks. Well anyway, the first week went well. The food is really good except yesterday we had hot dogs and pancakes for breakfast haha. Other than that food is super good. 
I have a comp from Mesa who we're trying to get his gf and Alyssa to hangout. hah! Hopefully they will and can be like, ohh yeah were cool our boifranz are comps. So Alyssa when u read this, get on it! 
The ccm is in the middle of Guate. Everybody has ak-47s. We have guards escort us to the temple when we go. We went the other day just to go talk to people in español its hard! haha but its fun. 
Every day we have amazing juices at meals which are gonna make juice at home weak! 
Well I also have a latino comp with my norte comp (if your from north america you're called a norte) and at night in our room we talk about american pop culture and what not with our latino, its great. I learned the sponge bob song in spanish and all kinds of other stuff. My latino comp is from El Salvador, his name is Elder Huezo. 
So the longer I'm here the more I hear about how bad the mail is. So if you want to get a letter to me I'd say use pouch...figure it out, idk how to explain it. Dear elders are good too, they go with pouch, so I guess I get dear elder once a week ish idk. So if your gonna send me a package don't bother sending it to the ccm. Just send it to my mission home! I haven't gotten any letters or dear elders yet...hopefully soon! Also mom, you should maybe try to 3 way with Alyssa on Sunday so she can listen in! And hopefully Dad and Morgan will be around. So I think on Sunday you call at 5:30 p.m  idk.  They don't tell us anything here! Well I have no time left time to go I'll talk to you all on Sunday! Bye I love you!