Hola! Hey family first of all Sherrie and Brian I am sorry to hear about the situation with Maleah. My prayers are with yall and i will fast this sunday for yall. Everything happens for a reason and i know that at the time we have trials it is hard to see the purpose of it and sometimes even after. Just remember the Lords has His hand in all things and everything in the end is the way it needs to be. I love yall a lot and hope yall can have peace in yalls life whichever way this ends up turning out! My spanish is getting better now and i am learning a lot of new words and my grammar and conjugations are geting a lot better too! I can understand a lot! The baptisms went well.. I got to baptize the husband in the couple and it was obviously all in Spanish and he had four names but i did it! It was good but if i wouldnt have been so nervous I would have be able to focus and feel the spirit more! Mom would you send me a couple small pics of the wedding of sean and kellye with all of us!! Gracias! I went on splits with another elder who is just as far in the field as i am! It was fun we talk three lessons and got 25 contacts and it was fun! It rained that day and even though we had umbrellas with us we got completely soaked.. hence the reason i need money for boots! but thanks for putting more on my card.. i will get it out next time we go to the gas station and atm! thanks mom and dad! We made quesadillas and grilled cheese and pankakes while we were on exchanges.. it was a lot of fun.. then we have two new families that we are teaching and a couple other guys that have some potential.. hopefully we will have somebody else close to baptism before the next change... oh yeah and dad... i dont carry my wallet on me ever.. haha only like 10 queztzals which is a dollar and a quarter or so.. my favorite food here is dulce pan, chikys, and jalepeno chips.. sometime ill get a pic of all three and send it to yall.. oh yeah dad i find some puzzle grass and took a pic of it for you.. oh yeah thanks for the pics.. i want one of the bluebonnets in a package or something so i can put it in my album... but please put people in it.. haha thanks... well our schedule is wake up 630 work out eat shower and then 8 personal study 9 comp 10 lang.. and 11 proselyte till 1 ... 1-2 lunch and then proselyting till 8 and then ate come back and have dinner and plan and we are in the house for the rest of the night... its good though.. my comps name is elder garcia and hes from maragua nicaraugua and he speaks only a little spanish which is good.. my comp in the ccm got sent straight to polochic and will be learning kaichi.. haha that would be hard so i am glad its not me.. maybe after a year here id be up for that! haha whats up with the nba basketball playoffs... i dont want in depth detail.. just any crazy upsets or where the texas teams are in the playoffs! :) haha i eat at members houses and they give me weird fruit drinks and i had made it all the way until last night without arrigamortis and here is my story.. so yesterday in santa faz our area up on the heal.. the poorest of our area.. we taught a lesson and it was all good.. then we asked for water ... got some and it tasted like dirt.. then we left and joked about how nasty it was cause all of our water is in bottles and purified obviously cause the water here is bad outta the taps.. anyway then we had some other bad water later on in the day.. walking back to our house.. which has 3 lats and 3 nas and yeah it is nasty and i clean up after myself but the problem is everyone else doesnt.. i honestly didnt think i could handle it the second day.. but i am managing.. anyway back to the story so we were walking and both of our stomachs were hurting a little.. we had about half a mile to our house when i realized i thought i wouldnt make it.. my comp thought he couldnt either.. my stomach felt like it was gonna cramp up completely and it then it stop... then about 200 yards i told my comp in broken spanish that we had to run cause i wasnt gonna make it!!! so we did... i thought i was about to crap in my pants cause honestly i couldnt hold it in cause it hurt so bad.. some how i did though and thats the end of my story.. my first arrigamortis in guatemala.. a funny story but a scary one too:/ haha anyway if anybody has some advice on how to better feel the spirit and follow it i would like that.. and sean and shayne i still want the advice on comps that are tards.. hahah mine right now isnt but i know ill get stuck with one sometime... Well i have some pics for yall now.. . Oh yeah i like the emails but sometimes just do a dear elder.. mom and dad always do emails... but everyone else do email and throw in a dear elder if you want and ill email you back! its just good to sometimes get a letter to keep and read when i at the apartment and need a boost!! thanks a lot! I am soo excited to be a senior comp and eventually a leader and be able to teach everyone how to respect things that are give to us, work hard, and be obedient! i cant wait to lead people and help people become better missionaries by doing simple things and being obedient!!!!! cause theirs a lot of retards out there.. anyway i know this church is true and that joseph smith did see God and Jesus Christ.. this is not his church but theirs.. the same church established here and in Jerusalem during the time Christ was on the earth.. i love yall all so much and keep praying for me and ill do the same... also if yall send a package let me know so i can expect it!!! love yall!!!

Hola! haha i am finally in the field and ive already been here for a week pretty much! the time goes by pretty fast out here except it was kind of going slow for a bit cause i was missing yall a lot since i hadnt heard from yall since the 7th of april. I have a bunch of cool pics to email home but i forgot my card this week but next week i will definitely send home some. I am in the capital still in zona 18. I am in the colombia ward and there are about 60 or 70 people that attend but theres a lot of inactives.. I think thats one of the big problems here. Any I have a lot to say but mom and dad thanks for your emails and send me some pics of yall in the flowers or something please! and could yall send me the last pic of all of our family at sean kellyes wedding because people always want to see my family but i only have individual parts.. or atleast one of all of the siblings! gracias.. anyway mom and dad president uctdorfs talk the other day in conference made me happy cause it was like hearing the words straight out of yalls mouth.. it was about patience and he pretty much said no instant gratification and the world doesnt revolve around you.. i thought to myself those words sound pretty familiar to me.. haha i realized the world doesnt revolve around me now more then ever and i am developing patience.. yall would be proud.. haha yeah could yall send me like40 more bucks just for some rain boots.. it rains a lot now since its the raining season but i need them more for if i got sent up north to the jungle later in my mission.. unfortunately i think ill be here in the cap for a while and eventually go up north for a part of my mission.. anyway shayne since you know spanish or mom could you make me some little papers and laminate them of the plan of salvation or the different parts in spanish.. that be cool.. anyway please send email things through dear elder and just put guatemala north in the thing because they get to me.. i got one from cody on thurs and it makes me happy to get them just like emails... i have pday every monday and wil get letters and pack on weds. the last week in the ccm i did the sacrament prayer in spanish.. it was cool..we have two baptisms on friday but i only have taught the husband of the couple a little bit and he is cool.. i dont see any other promising investigators as of yet but i am working hard so hopefully well come across some more.. Another reason i know God is real is that i ate 4 pieces of pizza at some members house the other night with a ton of onions and peppers on it and i almost gagged but i didnt and they were crunchy too! and last night we ate with members too.. the food here isnt too bad... our apartment is pretty nasty though.. theres six of us and all the things are sick in it... but hopefully i wont have to live in it too long.. i havent gotten arrigamortis yet the whole time ive been in the field which a pretty big accomplishment. we have to cook for ourselves and we have a lady that does our laundry for us 4 times a month for only about 11 bucks..yall need to buy a calling card for mothers day so i can call you and you can call me back! that is in less then two weeks!!! anyway if yall want to send me another package sometime please put the 4 juggling balls in it so i can practice cause i have free time at night.. next time i will tell yall more about my schedule.. i cant wait to hear from yall again next week.. Anyway sean and shayne please give me advice on things about missionaries and comps cause i hate it when people arent exactly obedient.. its not that hard and just other things on how to get through the tough parts of the mission! id appreciate it alot.. oh yeah my comps an latino from managua nicaragua and hes cool and good and doesnt speak much english but hes pretty obedient.. i just need advice for putting with it or whatever other advice yall have.. everything from now on is sent to .. Mision Guatemala Ciudad Norte, Apartado # 951-A, Guatemala, Guatemala C.A. for the rest of my mission.. anyway i love yall a lot and i know this church is true and obedience is very important and you recieve blessings from being obedient... i love yall alot and keep praying for me cause i am for yall too.. please send me emails and letter or dear elders! ttyl love yall!!!!

Woohoo i am almost in the field! haha its exciting and scary at the same time cause i dont know if i will have a native companion or a norte americano who can speak english! whatever happens happens though and i know that heavenly Father will help me out! k so here is my new adress to send stuff to.. and if its a package tape a pic of jesus on there so it will assure safe arrival.. 5 ave. 5-55 zona 14, Edif. Europlaza Torre 1 Oficina 1202 Nivel, Guatemala, Guatemala C.A.... and that should be my address for the next 22 months! i have been out for 8 weeks now and thats crazy.. i still dont always feel like i am in guatemala! k anyway an hermana in our district wanted a blessing the other day and i gave her one with elder lusty. it was amazing.. half way through i realized that i wasnt speaking my words but i was just talking from the words heavenly father put into my head! blessings are awesome and i like the talk in priesthood about them and the faith that is required in giving them. i watched all of conference and i would took notes all the talks. James B martino that talked spoke two weeks ago here at the ccm and went to school at tu and i shook his hand! he started off talking about baseball and the kid being a good pitcher!!! also they showed a pic of some hondurans infront of the guatemala temple which was cool! today we saw a latino who was here two weeks ago in the ccm and he is having 5 baptisms this weekend! i cant wait to start doing that!! the other day i had 4 bowls of cereal and eggs and two pancakes.. it was like the best meal of my life since cereal is a treat down here especially milk.. i am getting less picky though.. mom youd be proud of me! haha... also i am trying to be more humble.. i realize i am not a beast and a lot of people say i am really humble but i have a lot too work on that.. and being around guatmalans that have nothing willl really help me out! that elder hatch that i told yall about had family in the other day that came to the ccm and guatemala to visit them so there were about 5 hatchs here the other day which was cool and the latinos always ask me if i am related to him or if hes my gpa.. its always funny... me and elder lusty through hard work and the gift of tongues have taught lessons about infant baptism and pornography in espanol and they are pretty good lessons. also on the bus the other day i talked to a man in spanish for about 15 min about his religion and obviously ours and then his work and family and guatemala!! and then an hermana from honduras in espanol for 10 min!! i am getting it kind of !!! haha its really exciting to speak to people and i cant wait to get even better once i am in the field!! we leave the ccm at 530 next tuesday morning with pres torres to the mission home north of here.. mom and day thanks for the package and candy i have eaten a lot and cant wait to eat the pretzels!!! k i need more money though so i can always have 100 for emergency and i just need some to by some rain boots like there were back at academy since the rainy season starts in may!!! probably just like 40 bucks though sometime towards the end of this month.. i went through another full session in espanol today at the temple and can understand so much and do the later part about half by myself!! i read the pearl of great price and understand more now and love seeing how geneology was done by adam and missionary work and even the tree of life thing was like his word of wisdom.. our church is not new but restored andi like seeing this through reading... i met president mask at the temple who knows the whettens welll... i dont have much more time but i probably wont email again till not this next monday but the next.. i love yall a lot and sherrie and brian she is really cute and congrats.. i will continue to pray for yall and the birth father... thanks joc and jenn for the emails too i will have more time in the field to actually email yall back indidually hopefully.. pray for me as i change to the field ... i need your prayers cause this will be an adjustment love yalll

Hello Family! less then two weeks and i am outta of here into the field! haha not that it is bad here but i am just really exciting to really lose myself in the work and be able to get a lot better in spanish by full immersion! we have new latinos in here now and they are all really good at obeying the rules and they are gonna be some great missionaries!! This week down here is like passover or something week so its like a national holdiay from like today till sunday or something! tomorrow is april fools day! too bad i wont be playing any realy chistes cause id rather not get in trouble :P haha anyway mom and dad you should watch the movie called journey to faith.. its an historical archaelogical movie about the path lehi and family took to the amiericas.. .its pretty neat! Steph thanks for the package.. i got it on the 25th so it only took 10 days to get here.. thanks a lot for that the letters inside it made my day and i am really enjoying the candy and crystal light! if anybody else is planning on sending stuff dont until i get out into the field and can tell you my new address and all that stuff so i dont have packages or letters in the ccm while i am in the field.. anyway last fast sunday i fast for you again sherrie and i cant wait to hear how everything goes and get to see pictures! i will continue praying for yall and sean thats exciting about kellye and the baby landry haha that will be weird you having a kid.. yeah i am becoming a central american kind of and love playing soccer everyday!! jocelynn thanks for finally writing me! jk haha i know yall are busy! thats good that tawni and ty are doing well and enjoying their sports! haha tell tawni to stop getting arrested or i am gonna kick her tail when i get back!! anyway ¨my comp Elder Lusty was sick on sunday so i got to give my first priesthood blessing.. it was neat and he is doing better now... oh yeah hahah like 15 or the 20 norte amercano elderes got sick with stomach problems.. aka arigamortis and had it for like 2 or 3 days.. it was pretty funny cause some of them had to use the porcelan rocket like 8 times in one day! i am good though and i have had a little bit of fun with that but not too bad at least yet.. haha thanks mom for sending that and hopefully i will get it soon.. everyone has boots that are like waterproof and tie up so i will need to get some soon cause the rainy season starts in april! Almost all my money now has been changed into quetzals and i will send some of the little boys some eventually when i get settled in the field and figure out all that stuff! cause i know jaden wanted some and wesley and cooper and ty would probably think its cool too! for every american dollar its 8 quetzals! anyway i am excited for conference and then next week we get to go the central plaza again and get references which will be awesome to talk more to real non members and bear my testimony and share this gospel with them... anyway i am doing well.. .there are definately ups and downs but i have been here now for 49 days!! and only two more.. i cant wait to be in the field though cause i think thats when my testimony will really start to grow and my spanish will also grow rapidly! this church is true and amazing and always share it when given the opportunity! the gift of tongues is true too and if you doubt it doesnt work! anyway i have only semi done that once though and plan not to do it again cause only ummms come out! haha i cant wait to relax and hear from the prophet and leaders of our church.. keep emailing me and i will be able to respond to yall individually in about two or three weeks! i love yall so much and i will ttyl! stay strong!