The Merciless Peppers of Quetzalzacatenango

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Aaron

Still here in Huehuetenango in Cuchumatanes. We begin week 6!! After this week, I am half way done being trained! Whether or not I feel half way ready to be solo with just another companion, not quite sure. I still have trouble teaching people, and not lessons, but it is coming. Also contacting. Contacting sucks you guys. I’m gonna be honest, there is a better way than to just knock on doors everyday. Grrr. Ha its not that bad… but anyway. So! My computer decided to work again! Therefore, I have new pictures. To accompany the picture of the chili pepper, enjoy this short film:

So interesting facts about Guatemala, there are 52 languages here. And I have heard 4 of them so far. English, Spanish, Quiche, and a language called Aguacatil. Very weird, but cool! Secondly, Michael Jackson is very big. Not sure why, but I hear Billie Jean almost every day! Thirdly, Edible arrangements is here as well. It is in English, and they have business and everything. I saw a guy with a clip board writing down some orders just the other day. Super funny!

In general, this week was kind of frustrating. 1. I am not a perfect missionary yet, 2. We haven’t had sufficient success, and 3. We haven’t had sufficient success because our members are not very supportive. I feel like it is just Elder Paniagua and I working sometimes. We have tracted, walked, and hiked more this week than I have on my entire mission. Its crazy. We fasted this week for a breakthrough. This being said…. the bright side is that I am starting to understand the people a bit better. Not perfectly… but I know that it is coming. Holy cow it feels good just to UNDERSTAND!! Secondly, we gave another Book of Mormon away (here BoMs are expensive, and are NOT supposed to be given to just anyone) so that’s pretty dang cool. Thirdly, I scored a goal in soccer today! That hardly ever happens for the gringos. Ha despite my high sense of pride this week wasn’t that bad. I have a lot more to learn, luckily I know what I don’t know so I know what to study. Things are coming along nicely here. I am accustoming well. And things are starting to speed up as well.

We get letters on Wednesday, so excited! I hope to hear from you guys. I might be all wrapped up in the Chapin scene, but I still miss you all so very much. Have fun… I hope the school season has started off well. I love you all. Take it easy!

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I’m-a learning

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Aaron

Fourth week in the field. Starting to get used to things now. I now recognize names faces, directions, and houses which is really nice. With this knowledge my companion has been pushing me even more. As of last night, I taught a quick lesson to a less active family all by myself! He didn’t have to fix me in anything really big. So I ma learning! And he thinks I am learning as well which is great. However… there is always something to be learned. We have had a lot of drama with some investigators of ours. we have 5 major ones. One we caught smoking one night, one just doesn’t want to be baptized and probably knows more about the church than some Elders, one always leaves when we organize a visit, one could possibly already be baptized! (I have no idea how that happened) and one is completely golden, is reading the Book of Mormon, has even filled out the dumb little questions on the back of the pamphlets that we give her, but is always dropping a church attendance opportunity =( so this week is gonna be weird trying to fix all of this. But at least there is work.

Our secret clubhouse

Speaking of my area and the work here, I believe now that I started in one of the best areas. We have one of the highest church attendances, we get a member lunch EVERY day, everyone is super nice, we have a large area to proselyte in, and our apartment actually is not that bad. It is weird because we get hot water only through the shower through a dim little light bulb, and our place is essentially a secret club house (you open the outer door, walk up some stairs, and you’re on a roof… then there is a secret staircase to the back that has our bathroom kitchen and bedroom). But I really can’t complain. In Momostenango, it is essentially living like you’re in the 1600s. Candlelit stuff etc… however… once again… can’t complain.

Gah!! I wish my SD card could be read (this computer is busted and won’t read my SD card, so there are no pictures this week =( which stinks because I took some good ones)! The computers here aren’t exactly top notch. Next week will be much better. But to be completely honest this week was not too eventful. It has just been lessons and walking. Our ward has about 9 Elders preparing for missions right about now, so we have been taking them out on splits quite a bit. Its pretty weird too, because I was doing the same thing not too long ago, and now I am in a different country! With a name tag! Its crazy go nuts! One day I will be like the old Elders and have disgusting shirts with ruined brown (used to be black) shoes. Until then I’ve got 5 baptisms we have to worry about.

As of this up coming week, I have 21 months left on the mission. Holy cow this has been going by so slow. But at least it is going. No one ever really talks about their first 3 months in the field… so maybe after then things will start to get interesting. However, I am alive and well. Gettin work done too. I love you all. If you have sent me a letter like a million years ago and not gotten anything I’m sorry =( we get mail about once a month! So its not my fault! Anyway… I hope summer was tight-diggity. Keep in touch!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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I’m some sort of circus!

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Aaron

Hola! Thanks again for the pedometer  (I think thats what it is called). We walk about 6 miles everyday… about 70,000 steps a week. Its crazy…
but worth it. We have been getting more investigators this week, and 3 of our most promising investigators have been coming to church as well which is amazing! This is what we’ve been working for. We hope to challenge each of them with a baptism date this week. Please pray for us… we haven’t had sufficient baptisms here in a very long time!

Anyway I’d like to talk about the mission life for a bit. There are a lot more Gringos here than Latinos (missionaries) but we only really get to see each other once a week on p-day when we play soccer as a district… or when we are at Cafe Zupas . But I see my old companion Elder Smith and other good friends from the CCM a lot during
these times. But when it is just me and my companion (btw it is just us in our apartment) I get lots of ”gringo!! gringo!!” from the kids… and I’m tempted to just say ”chapin!! chapin!!” somedays… but I know that Christ probably wouldn’t do the same… but it is funny. The people think I’m some sort of circus! I’m 6’4” they are 4’6”. I’ve got blonde hair and am a goofy guy, so whenever I’m around its a party for them for some reason. Its kind of funny…and might have actually gotten us some appointments as well. hahaha…

So I had to give a talk in church this past week. I talked about obedience and the Spirit and how it applies to missionary work. I was very nervous… but apparently did well. One of our investigators that was there told me that I did ”buenisimo” which helped a lot. Our ward had 130 people last Sunday which is actually pretty good… not very… but pretty good… and it is full of very unpunctual people. hahaha. But they are absolutely lovely. I love every single one of them…

There is something here called morcafe… which is Mormon coffee, and they only drink this stuff in Guatemala apparently… so i guess i got pretty lucky… or not… because it is pretty gross. And the members offer it to us all the time… and we have to drink it… >=( hahaha its cool though… I’m drinking Mormon coffee in Guatemala!! Other than that… I would really just like to say thank you for the letters. I have gotten some more old ones… BUT I GOT EM =D its wonderful… and I hear letters have been received from you all as well. So thank you again… and I love you all. After this week I’ll have just about 3 months under the belt… keepin on truckin… I love you all… good luck to those who have school too. Les vaya bien!

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This Sucks, But That’s Okay

Posted on August 16, 2012 by K

From my personal blog, Ramblings:

I started my Peace Corps application exactly a year ago. I’m shocked by 1) how quickly–yet at the same time, how slowly–a year can pass and 2) how many red-taped hoops I’ve had to jump through to get relatively little information about the next stage of my life. The Peace Corps is a program funded and operated by the US federal government, which means that the application process is a bureaucratic nightmare with no interest in maintaining one’s sanity or will to live. Basically, the Peace Corps is the DMV. No, actually the Peace Corps is like going to the DMV blindfolded because you have no idea when it’s your turn. Oh, and you have to go to the dentist in the process. The Peace Corps is equivalent to a blind-dentist-DMV hybrid of bureaucracy, confusion, and lectures about plaque buildup on your rear molars.

When I got nominated in March (“nomination” is more like a general acceptance into the program with an idea of where I’ll be going and what I’ll be doing; what I’m waiting for now is my placement/invitation which is a specific assignment), I was advised by my next flurry of informational packets and webpages that the placement process would require “flexibility and patience.” What they should have said was, “Just take a buncha Xanax for the next six months.” It certainly would’ve helped through the background checks, fingerprinting, personal statements, physical exams, painful dental X-rays, heckling past doctors for medical records, blood tests, jabbing 8 vaccinations in my left shoulder, and my personal favorite: botched tuberculosis tests. This pre-placement process (I like to call it purgatory) totaled hundreds of dollars in medical fees and a stack of documents as thick as a Twilight novel.

(At this point you’re thinking, “Why are you complaining? You chose to do this. You knew what you were getting in to. Just go get a real job.” You’re completely right. But you should know the whole reason I created this blog is to complain and make fun of things. Now go be happy and reasonable somewhere else on the Internet.)

I ended up making five visits to the health center, three trips just for the dentist, a journey to an orthopedic specialist, went to the police department twice, and thought I was done. I sat and waited with my hands folded like the chipper, patient Volunteer I was supposed to be. Just to give you an example of the series of irritating incidents that occurred after I sent in my medical packet and legal evaluations: In late May, the PC placement office sent me an e-mail saying, “Hey, why haven’t you sent in your medical packet? We wanna place you!” Huh? I called the medical office and they said, “Oh, yeah, we got your packet but we just can’t open it yet.” Whaaa? Well then why did I get that e-mail from the placement office? “Oh, the departments don’t actually communicate with each other.” WHAT. Okay…

This continued for three months. Meanwhile, PC is switching to a new online application process so I can’t even get ahold of a recruiter let alone log on to my account to see my status. You can imagine my frustration–unless you are one of the happy, reasonable people mentioned above–when I got a letter today without a shred of information about my placement, but with copies of several medical forms that were “insufficient” that I had to redo. Basically, since they had taken their sweet time with my medical evaluation, I am no closer to placement than I was when I got my nomination in March. I’m at the point where I’ve been working through this for an entire year, and there’s been so much drama–so much more that took place beyond what I’ve mentioned–that this process has become completely exhausting. I guess I am neither flexible nor patient. And most of all, I started wondering if anything is worth all this trouble. Now I know why the Peace Corps acceptance rate is so low; maybe the struggle is just too difficult. 

Whenever I’ve had a setback–and there have been many this past year–I try my best (after venting to my equally sassy friends of course) to keep a positive perspective. I told myself that worrying is pointless, because “everything happens for a reason,” blah blah blah. Everything will work out in the end, I just need to persevere, never take my mind off the goal…right? Isn’t that what sports movies teach you to do? I’ve posted those colorful, tacky little motivational quotes on my Pinterest to try to convince myself that life is a wonderful series of filtered, high-contrast images of attractive people laughing and holding hands under catchy, overused idioms. I tried to be an optimist, I tried to be a Stoic: when people asked me if I had heard where and when I was leaving out of pure consideration, I cringed inside knowing full well that this stage of my life was completely out of my control, but cheerily remarked, “I should find out soon!”

But today I blew a fuse. THIS. SUCKS. I hate waiting. I hate having next to no information about something I’m very passionate about, about something I’ve worked toward for years. Taking a second job to get English teaching experience. Hours upon hours of filling out forms and interviewing and paying my own money to get certificates and documents and tests. I hate having to generate lame, vague responses when people ask about my life, which currently has a very blurry future. But instead of cheerfully destroying myself from the inside out, I am giving myself permission to be angry and disappointed and unsure, and all of the above. I came to realize that this culture of optimism we live in isn’t helping anybody. Sure, it’s great to look on the bright side. It’s great to be flexible and patient too. But sometimes, things just suck, and that’s okay.

Once I allowed myself to admit that this is too much, I felt relieved. It changed the way I thought about the future. I still believe that I’m meant to be in PC, and I still want to go more than anything; it’s still on my horizon. But what’s the harm in broadening that horizon, investing in my life NOW too, considering all possibilities so I can avoid wasting my energy agonizing over one path? Who’s to say that anything I do now–before or even instead of the Peace Corps–would make me just as happy and just as productive? I don’t HAVE to do this. I don’t HAVE to feel strung along if I’m living in a way that will maximize benefit to myself and others, PC assignment packet or not. These thoughts gave me control again. I know now that no matter what happens in the placement office during the following months, I’ll still be me. I’ll still have the rest of my life. And that is pretty cool.

I’m moving from Oregon back to Nevada this Monday after my work contract is up. I’ve always viewed the next four months as a sort of awkward limbo during which I’ll need to constantly distract myself from the fact that I’ll be living like I’m in high school again. Now I realize that my obsession with my assignment has distracted me from what this time should be–from what each day is, really, no matter where or how you spend it–an opportunity. There’s no reason to wait, fists clenched, for some entity to make a decision about my next step in life. That’s my job! I’m going to make the most of my time, whether it’s in Eugene or Henderson or Morocco.

I can’t can wait for my Peace Corps service. Isn’t that flexibility at its finest? Maybe that’s what they wanted me to learn all along.

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Our First New Progressing Investigator

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Aaron

So we did not have as much success this week… I don’t know if it was the hurricane that nicked Huehuetenango just a few days ago (we had a lot of rain… hurricane… I don’t know, but it might as well have been) or if the people here are just…. cheek-kuns, but we had a hard time. Up until our very last lesson on the very last day on the very last hour. We just wanted to visit some random guy who we had met a long time ago, turns out that he is not baptized… knows a bit about the Gospel, and was very very interested in our message. Both my companion and I were very surprised, and excited… so I got to help teach my first legitimate Restoration lesson. At the very end of the lesson I told him that like Joseph Smith, you can know this is true through prayer, if you knew that this church was true, would you wanna get baptized? And after answering a few more questions, he said yes!! So we have our first new progressing investigator which is freakin sweet. That made the week worth it.

Other than that, I have received some letters from people that sent them before I entered into the CCM. I don’t know what happened, but I got them 6 weeks late. Ha! So if you haven’t received a letter from me, it is on the way, I promise.

There is a chance that I could have a new companion next week. Elder Paniagua is not 100% and might have to change. But we’ll see.

I think that I am getting used to things a bit here, meaning that I am getting accustomed to the food, not having to ask my companion so many questions, and know when people are asking how tall I am. (Might I add that I apparently said that I was 1.44 meters tall; that is untrue. I did the math and I am 1.96. 1.44 is about what a Guatemalteco is.) So not much to add… other than that the city is beautiful… the people are great. My district and zone are great… and the food is awesome too. The uh… end results of the Guatemalan food have not been so great… I won’t go into that… but I am managing. I average about 5 miles of walking up and down everyday (thanks for the pedometer mom), but I hear in other places, it gets up to 20. But first… gotta get through the next 10 weeks.

Hey so lemme explain the pictures eh? There is one of me eating Reeses Pieces in my bowl… thanks to Callie Thackeray…. I have finally eaten all of your goodies… they were wonderful!! Also, there is a restaurant here called Cafe Zumbas! No, there is no zumba dancing, but it is very good. The chef, Enrique, speaks very good English, makes hamburgers, and lets every new elder put their name and home town on his wall. There are probably thousands of names on the walls, and I got to join them!! There is a picture of Captain Crunch… I was very happy when I found this in the store… haha… and one is of my scripture cases… they are beautiful. And I have received many compliments about them. And there is a picture of me in front of a capital building I think. There are lots of old-timey buildings like this… (most of them Catholic churches) and I wanted
to send a quick one again…

Thanks again everyone for the letters, and the love. I can feel it… and its legit. I hope all is well. Good luck with school prep, and have fun!!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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Patience and Flexibility

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Cheryl

Here is the question I get most of all these days: “When does Kathryn leave for the Peace Corps?” It feels comparable to the good-natured question, “when are you going to have children?” if you’re recently married. The short answer to the question I get is: I don’t know. And, what’s worse, I don’t know when I’ll know.

Waiting is hard for a mother. When Aaron put his mission papers in, I devised all sorts of strategies to keep myself busy, knowing I had a few weeks before the infamous packet would arrive in the mail. This is different. This is a larger bureaucracy we’re dealing with; one that is in no hurry to get anyone anywhere. I recognize that the Corps has a lot of variables to deal with, but it doesn’t help me feel much better. I try to stay busy and not focus on where my daughter will be assigned and when she may be leaving. It’s still hard, mostly because I have no end date–no general idea of when her packet will arrive in the mail that gives me the information that allows me to PLAN.

I have lots of conversations with my daughter (who I know gets asked about WHEN more than I do) about my stress over this. She says, “Mom, the Peace Corps website tells us that during this process, we need patience and flexibility. Can you try and do that as well?” She is stronger than I am. I know this is tough on her, but she is handling it rather well. I think that being a mother ramps up stress, especially about things that will affect the well being of her children: if I was waiting for my assignment, I could handle this better. It’s been nearly a year since this process has started. She has had to put up with me freaking out on a regular basis, worrying about things I can’t control.

The bottom line is this: getting an assignment in the Peace Corps takes a lot longer than anyone probably expects. It is not an easy thing, especially for a mom bracing herself for her daughter’s departure. Kiddo, I’ll need you to be a little more patient and flexible with me.

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A 6´4¨ Blonde Haired Gringo is Pretty Freakin Awesome

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Aaron

Hey its P-day!! This computer is also super busted. But I have lots of news. Not much time to say it. I´m trying to upload pictures… I hope they come through. That alone is taking up a lot of time. Luckily I have an hour to email instead of 30 minutes.

Anyway… where do I start? I guess with my trainer… out of about 10 Nortes 3 got paired with a Latino and I was one of them. His name is Elder Paniagua… and is wonderful. He is very patient, smart, knows the area very well, and most of all is a hard worker, and is obedient. He is wonderful, and my Spanish is ah´sploding. It’s great. Frustrating at first… but I’m moving along nicely. I know time is going by because I have had 3 companions already.

But anyway, I have been assigned to the city of Huehuetenango. Its is just a small Xela, but the people here are very hard hearted. We have a 50% inactivity rate, however everyone here is super nice. They all think that as 6´4¨ blonde haired gringo is pretty freakin awesome. Anyway… the members are wonderful of course… our apartment is nice… and there are cows dogs chickens and roosters EVERYWHERE!! I get woekn up by one of the 4 every morning. Cadillac problems though. I’m in Guatemala dangit…

So my first day was exhausting… but we did a lot of good. We have actually been doing very well for the mission. We have a 14-10-10 goal for the mission which means 14 references, 10 new investigators, and 10 lessons taught to less active or recently baptized. We had a 24-14-10 week which is wonderful. I have been trying to say as much as I can to get used to the language, and bearing my testimony a lot, and contacting the best I can. I still suck really bad, but hey all new missionaries suck at these things. I’m getting better. I just gotta show the patience.

So when it comes to writing, it doesn’t really matter, as long as it is done via US Postal Service… if you do it via UPS or any private company I might kill you. It is very expensive to receive letters that way. So just do US Postal Service. (p.s. Mom, the package was waiting for me in the mission home =) ) so that’s the update.

Just know that things are pretty legit here… and that everyone is loved. Thank you so much for the support. Oh! P.S. Elder Bench from Las Vegas was in my area not too long ago. That’s pretty cool. Anyway… Ima try these pictures again. They are of my area. Talk to you all later. Love you all =)

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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Headed to Xela

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Aaron

Hey so guess what, we got to Xela tomorrow, and we are supposed to email you now because our P-Days are on Monday now. GAH!! But that’s
okay! I get to write you one more time which is always super nice.

Concerning the whole letters and packages thing that President Brown of the Provo MTC says [about how moms sending lots of letters and packages is more for the mom than it is for the missionary–it can make it harder for a missionary to get over homesickness], I don’t know… I like getting letters man… and packages. I was so dang sad that I didn’t get it, and I hope I get it soon, since it has moonstruck chocolate in it!!! Oh well… at least I’ve got another one on the way! Thank you so much =)      Daaa

Michael Phelps didn’t even medal?? Poor guy… I hope he gets something. He is getting old =(

So we have to switch companions for today and the bus ride down, and my companion is an Elder Garcia, a Latino who is about 5 ft 5 inches… pretty much a foot shorter than me, but he is great. He and I are both worried about our trainers. I hope that goes well for us. I’m super worried that I’m gonna get the guy who has 1 month left and is a trainer because he hasn’t trained anyone yet and would feel bad if he never got to. Oh well… I just want to make sure i’m effective and doing everything right.

“I am here to scare you to death”

I think about you guys plenty and hope things are going well. Please pray for these leaving missionaries… we’ll need all the comfort we can get. We’ve had a lot more workshops lately that are trying to help us, but are really just scaring us. They really shouldn’t do that… but I’m not too worried. I’m good at making friends I think. I just say hola, make a cool secret handshake, make a funny face and say something rediculus in Spanish and they remember Elder Snow. One of my good Latino friends I gave a tie to remember me with and he almost cried, it was so funny, but sad. We got comfortable here, now we got to get to work. I’m excited to get out dood. (P.S. my teacher said your can learn Quiche in 3 weeks at most. It is super easy) Anyway…

I will talk to you on Monday I guess. More letters on the way, of course. I will be in the field until then, but trust me, I’ll be fine. In fact I’ll be great. I’ve received a lot of help so far in the mission, and I know that I’ll receive more. I can speak, I can walk, I can eat rice everyday, I drink lots of water, I’m healthy… after this transfer things will start picking up… I know it. Have you felt like these 2 months have been quick?? Misha says yes… Anyway I love you so much. Have fun at home… good luck with Kat coming home, and
Grandma Moonier. There should be some form of picture in the Monday email for you i’m sure =) I hope so. Bye!! I love you.

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“Hard Work and Dedication”

Posted on July 29, 2012 by K

Dear Michael Phelps:

My “love” sometimes bordered on “obsession.” Sue me.

It was the oversized ears, the goofy grin, and the genuine happiness you displayed after each victory that made me–a 14-year-old at the time–fall in love with you during the 2004 Athens Olympics. Oh, and the washboard abs. Those helped too.

Or maybe it was your story: a young man on a mission to prove that “hard work and dedication” could make him the most decorated athlete ever. I had always heard athletes throw that phrase around–“hard work and dedication”–but never really understood what it meant. It takes only a quick glance at the Snow family photo album to learn that as a kid, I was not athletic nor did I have any interest in physical activity. Another quick glance will prove that this makes absolutely no sense: I inherited exactly 0% of the sports prowess present on both sides of my family, especially my father’s. The human genome had failed me. I was afraid of getting hit in the face with a volleyball. I could not run or jump fast or far. My seventh-grade ego, so used to success in academics and the arts, couldn’t suffer the defeat of losing a soccer game. I was useless wearing cleats, a catcher’s mitt, or ballerina shoes.

My stroke of choice, like Phelps: butterfly.

But whatever it was that caught my interest, you inspired me to swim. It wasn’t until this year, during your final Olympic Games in London, that I realized how much swimming has changed me as a person. I learned so many lessons from competing that apply to every other area of life–which is what makes sports so great. The following is a list of things that wouldn’t have been possible without swimming–that wouldn’t have been possible without you:

  • I met some of my closest friends and mentors, many of whom I am still close with.
  • I learned the value of “hard work”–practices with cold weather and long, tedious sets; swimming through injuries and sickness–and saw it pay off before my eyes: first place finishes, personal bests, and thumbs-ups from coaches.
  • On the flip side, I learned that when I didn’t do my best in practice, it showed in my race times.
  • I watched some people do their absolute best in practice but barely maintain mediocre times. I watched others be incredibly lazy in practice but inexplicably blow everyone away at meets. It’s completely unfair, but it’s the truth: in sports, as in life, some people are just naturals. I was not a natural, but I learned to accept that.
  • Swimming is both a team and an individual sport. Don’t compare your times to others’, especially people who have been swimming much longer and practicing much harder than you. The team just expects you to do your best. You should have the same expectations of yourself.
  • I learned how to be part of a team, how to be happy for others when they succeeded and how to comfort them when they fell short as so many people did for me.
  • I learned that if you swim a bad time, it’s not the end of the world. Really, it isn’t. Next time you will do better. (And that always turned out to be true.)
  • The more you relax, the more likely you are to perform well. Your body knows what to do; let it do it.
  • As captain of my high school team, I learned how to lead by example. And like all leaders, I learned that not everyone will like you, but the people who don’t usually suck anyway.
  • I learned that who people are in the pool says a lot about who they are outside of it.
  • I learned how to balance my life with the added mental and physical commitment of being an athlete. I gained respect for my friends and family who I knew were training for different sports much harder than I was in both high school and college.
  • I discovered that I had a cartilage disorder in my left knee that required surgery. The recovery was difficult and frustrating, but I learned to appreciate the amazing healing abilities of the human body.
  • I learned to be comfortable with competing, to be grateful for success and accepting of defeat. (This was the most difficult lesson, and one that I have had to keep learning over and over!)
  • By my senior year I was a White Letter, Four-Year Varsity captain with experience on a club team. I got a county-wide award and made it to high school regional finals my last two years. I know that stating that on my college applications had something to do with the fact that I got a scholarship to the University of Oregon–something that has also changed my life. (But that’s a whole different story.) There’s a possibility that whoever was reading my application knew, as I did, that sports teaches you lessons that few other things can.

There were plenty of swimmers faster, more seasoned, and more talented than I was, and I certainly wasn’t anywhere close to the best. I was not cut out to be an Olympian like you, and that’s fine with me. But the fact that I could succeed in an area that I had dismissed for my first 14 years of life rocked my world. What I have gained from swimming has carried over into every area of my life…and will most definitely aid me in my Peace Corps service this winter.

After you were disappointed by a fourth-place finish in the 400 IM, I watched you blow away the world of sports by shattering the decades-old record for most decorated Olympian of all time with a gold medal victory in the 4×200 freestyle relay, then the final race of your Olympic career in the medley relay. It was not only the end of an era for you, but for me too. I have followed you for almost half of my life and although the time I spent in the pool pales in comparison to you, my experience as a swimmer has changed me for good.

You can add to your golds, silvers, and bronzes the knowledge that you changed a stubborn, pudgy, bookish 14-year-old’s life. Now that 14-year-old is me, and I would not be me without you.

Thanks, Michael.

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Love a little more

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Aaron

Hey cheek-kuns! Last full week here in the CCM. Wow, what a week. We got to proselyte without Latinos on Monday, that alone was quite amazing. Amazing because Elder Smith and I had more success this time than with our Latino. Possibly because the people knew we did not know Spanish perfectly, so they just smiled and left with our pamphlet… but I
don’t think so. Elder Smith placed the first Book of Mormon, then I gave another one to another guy (with a backup testimony from Elder Smith) But it was amazing. Each person was so interested, and promised us that they would read it. We gave away 10 pamphlets, 2 Books of Mormon, so 12 people contacted. For 2 hours that is very good! On the bus ride back, there was a Guatemalan woman sitting by herself, and a lot of other Elders were standing around her not doing anything, (Latinos and Nortes) so I told them to talk to her…none of them wanted to, possibly because they did not want to bother her, she was listening to music, her head was turned away, or the fact that she might have been very attractive to them (haha) so they did not want to be tempted. So I squeezed out of my tiny chair, ducked under a few of the overhead lights, sat down next to her, and talked to her about the Doctrine of Christ and gave my last pamphlet. It was sah-weeet! Maybe I was being a bit cocky in front of the others, but I wanted to accomplish my goal of giving away all our pamphlets.

You wanted to talk to me, Elder?

So since it is our last week, we have a lot of workshops and stuff, and are preparing for the whole packing endeavor and interviews with the President. He told me that it rains a lot there (Xela), that it gets to 45 degrees in the night, but that it is easily the most beautiful city in Guatemala and possibly Central America. He also said that lots of members are there, and that the people are absolutely wonderful. Phew… Thank goodness. I have been very nervous about finally going into the field. However I am also very excited! As soon as I get used to the work, speaking Spanish, (and understanding it) and get used to the food =-/ Things will go great I’m sure, and time will hopefully start flying.

So lots have been asking about addresses lately so I should say that my address does change, and I don’t know if dearelder works anymore, but it is worth a try…if you wanna be cool and just send an international letter, it is just 3 US stamps, and it gets here in 2 weeks. Most appreciated my friends [Mom’s note: everything has been updated on the ‘Contact Aaron‘ page]. Thank you so much for your support so far. I love hearing from the Vegas kids and abroad. It really makes the day worth working for sometimes.

I’d like to close saying that I know that this work is great,and that this is the best thing that I could be doing right now, but most of all that it is true! I have had a lot of time to pray to my Father in Heaven about this experience, and he has manifested the greatness of this work, and its importance, and its truthfulness many times. I encourage and challenge you all to love a little more and show true service this week. I’d love to hear about it too =)

I love you all so much. Thank you for your support. I feel it. Have a great Summer, I can officially say that SCHOOL IS COMING UP ha! But not for me! Anyway, have fun… and
make it count!

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