August 18, 2012- Speed Walking

How is my most favorite family ever doing? this week went by super fast. hopefully ill be able to write all the things that i can remember that happened. thanks for all of the letters and emails this
week. i wont have time to email a response back to everyone, but hopefully ill have more time to send out some letters. this week we took a bus into the city. they dropped us off and we had the experience of tracting. thank goodness for my latina companion i was asigned to, or else i wouldnt have had any idea what anyone was saying. it was a great experience, and i had the opportunity to share a book of mormon and bear witness of the truthfullness of the book being another testiment of jesus christ. the best part was watching the womans face light up and change as the holy ghost bore witness as well. i look forward to having more experiences like this for the next year and a half. we get to go and tract again next week. we also get to go on a tour of the city on tuesday, because thats the day where half the group here leaves for there mission, and the next group from the mtc in provo comes in. by the way, CCM stands for centrál capacion de misioneros... its just the abreviation, like the mtc in spanish. this week i had to sit volleyball out for a day, due to my sprained ankle. my district was having speed walking compitions down the hallway(because guatemala won their first gold metal ever in speed walking!!) i won the first two rounds, and then on my third race, i was wearing my ugly dansko and when i got to the end of the hall and went to turn around for my final stretch i blew out my ankle and fell to the ground. dont worry though, it was only a minor injury, and im back in business. lauren, yes i have been also practicing basketball,as well as jungle gym, dance, cheerleading stunts, and many other sports to try and keep my sanity here. but i work just as hard as i play when its time. i feel like this week i really grew in my ability to understand and comprehend others spanish! we also had a fireside. some quotes that i liked include ´obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles¨ also once you have done something that you have never done before, it becomes easy from there on. Dad and Mom, i love you both so much. thanks for your great example always. tell Jeramy happy birthday for me, I also love all my siblings and friends. my times up but ill write again next week

August 11, 2012

Hi everyone!

 how is everyone doing? Thanks for the emails this week they were fun to read and to hear what has been going on. also, im pretty sure you can still use dear elder, and letters will get printed off and sent to me. they just wont arrive that exact day. I had another great week here. A lot of people seem to be getting sick, but luckily i havent caught what is going around. I wanted to tell you more about what the CCM is like here. There are two buildings here. One has the main office, the comedor where we eat and have firesides,the big room for meetings, and a few classes. The second floor in this building has the Elders´ living quarters. The third floor has thesisters living space. there are 5 rooms with 3 sets of bunk beds in each. we have 4 showers, three toilets, and 4 sinks. there are also 2 washers and dryers that we all share. the buildings are pretty nice. we dont use the sink water to brush our teeth. there is purified water right next to the sinks that we use. we only get 5 minutes to shower everyday, so you know im definitely only washing my hair every 3 to 5 days, haha!! MERMAID HAIR HERE I COME!! the other building is where my district meets for class. there are 10 of us in my district, all from the north. we have 3 latino teachers. In the 2nd building there are a bunch of little living quarters where the church will house people who have traveled here to go to the temple. right now there is a large group (4 school buses full) of people who rode all the way from Honduras to go to the temple. We also have a little exercise gym with some weights, and treadmills. Outside there is a caged in cement basketball court, and volleyball net. we all joke about how we ar playing prison ball outside. I love when we get to teach or be taught by the latinos here. they are always so willing to help is with our spanish and the same is the true for them. here is a tongue twister that I learned in spanish: R con R guitarra, R con R barril. rapido ruedan los carros cargados de azucar al ferrocarril. you have to roll all of the r´s, and its really fun to say. this week we were able to go to the temple. it was a great experience to go as a missionary, and received the blessings that are only available through attending the temple. I continue to learn and grow more and more in the gospel and in the language everyday. I enjoy the opportunities we have to teach people everyday. I have a testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bless you in all aspects of your life. Everyone has different problems and challenges that they are trying to overcome, and there is always a portion of the gospel that can assist them in their challenges. Today I have a nursing meeting with the area medical advisor, dr. drake, who is from reno, and knows grandma and grandpa there is also a couple here, I think their name is the Perkins, who are from Kanosh. I was saying that i was from fallon, and sister perkins was like, ¨oh you must know the whitakers than¨ and i told her I was a whitaker. she knows all of the whitakers in kanosh, and a lot of grandpa´s siblings. Dad, when we went to Kanosh and stopped at someones house and had homemade bread and jam, who´s house was that? I have to go now, but thanks for all of your love and support. Mom, keep up the good work on being healthy. I know you can do it!! I love you all, and will be sending some more letters today in the mail.

 I love you soo much !!

August 1, 2012 - Made it to Guatemala

Hola mi familia!!

 I just have a minute to tell you that I made it

 safely to the Guatemala CCM! Yesterday was a long day. We waited in
 the airport all day, and finally got on a plane at 9:30 at night. We
 flew to LA, and got our next flight around midnight. We Landed at
 about six this morning. So far everything has been good. There was an
 old school bus waiting for us at the airport that brought us to the
 CCM. Also, everyone speaks spanish here, obviously. I can already tell
 that i'm going to pick up spanish so much more quickly. I'm in a trio
 companionship with a girl that was in my room in provo, hermana
 stratton, and another hermana from california, hermana stewart. We had
 breakfast this morning, which was delicious guatemalan food. i don't
 know the name of anything that i eat. but its super good. The temple
 is right across the street, and we can see it right outside the
 window. The people here are so little, so cute, and so nice. I'll
 write again on my preparation day, which I think is on Sunday. 

I love you. Nos Vemos