Daaaa I get the shirt! That is so funny!! I 8 sum pi. I love that. My
companion is a math whiz and he enjoyed it as well. But Anyway,
Hey! I’m in Guatemala! I hope that I can remember everything that has happened so far. It has been a super intense week.

First off, it is so green up here. I love it. Every breath of air is so clean and pure. We arrived at the CCM, put our stuff away, and they IMMEDIATELY took our passports and cameras. So no more pictures for 6 weeks =(. I got your email about theft, and it is absolutely true. They figured that you don’t need your camera that much here so they take it to make sure it is safe, and on our third PDay when the Latinos leave for the field, we get them back for the day and take lots of pictures then, ha. We also have locks on our closets just in case. I’m trying very hard to make sure everything is safe. Hopefully that lasts throughout these 6 weeks.

Fun fact for the week, as of this coming Wednesday I am 4.5% done with my mission! (Or just about one month down). I certainly cannot say it is flying by, but I’m sure it will at some point.

Hello! I’m related to Joseph Smith!

So! My companion’s name is Elder Smith (he says he is related to Joseph Smith) and he looks like the guy (I don’t know his actual name) Todd Packer from the Office. If you don’t know who that is, he played the guy with the cowboy hat in Anchorman, and if you have seen Balls of Fury, he is the guy who has the cockatoo at the casino. That’s the best I can do, ha! But he is a great companion. He took 2 and a half years of Spanish, most of it at Snow College, so he knows a lot! He has been very helpful. Anytime we are teaching an investigator, I know that I won’t say something stupid, or he will correct me at least.

Speaking of something stupid, pretty much only Spanish is spoken here, and any English is said either by us gringos, or by the teachers if we really have no idea what they are saying; and one time our teacher was making fun of us for not looking good enough while in our suits and I accidentally said, ”Hey, I’m a beautiful woman!” She had a good laugh, but humility and making mistakes are the best way to learn your Spanish. We have super cool native roommates, and my companion and I talk to them all the time! I was talking to one of them about guitar and he says that he really likes Steve Vai, so naturally I told him about Buckethead, HA! But he is way cool, and we try to teach him English words from time to time. He is getting the hang of it I think.

Even though we have to eat ALL our food (or else we get a sock in the mouth) it is delicious!! Everything is made fresh, and natural. I don’t think I have had a tastier carne asada in my life! There are some shaky ingredients sometimes, but I’m gonna have to learn to eat gross things anyway, but the food is usually delicious. It is kind of weird, but I miss Provo a lot. We had a lot more places to go, and we could go outside and stuff. The CCM is just a box, and we rarely go outside. I s’pose it is for safety reasons, but it is so nice
outside =(. However, we got to go outside to do some service this morning, and it was awesome! Guatemala City is beautiful, and the people are so short and friendly. We got to sweep up a local park. I still can’t wait to get in the field and hike around the mountains all
on my own. But I gotta learn the gospel and the language first. 5 more weeks! Almost half way done with my MTC tenure!

P.S. after those 5 weeks, do NOT send dearelder letters. They take much longer to get. Post MTC it is better to send normal letters. Dearelder letters are given to the CCM first, then sent to Zone leaders, and they deliver them the next time they see you, which could be a long time. I feel like I am ordering everyone to write me, ha so maybe I should say if you ever feel like writing me (please do btw!) and it happens to be post CCM, make it a normal letter. That will be great. Thanks so much.

Gah! Out of time already. Just wanna say that I love all of you, and thank you for all of the encouragement I have gotten thus far in the mission. I hope to hear from you often! Don’t worry about the Snowman, Guatemala is awesome! But I still miss you all a lot. Take it easy. And have a great Summer!