June 23, 2012

I love it here, it seems a little sketchy at first, but it turns out to be pretty nice! It is very different here, the whole CCM is run in spanish, which I don't know very much! We get mail every Tuesday, and dearelders every Thursday, and I have heard that it takes like 12 days to send a letter, also we can only send letters on Saturday, so we'll just have to see which works best! I am fine with email, it goes a lot quicker, it is not as personal as handwritten letters, but it will do. Yes packages are very expensive, so don't send many... I mean I would always love to receive a package, but that will put a HUGE hole in your wallet! Thanks for being so supportive!

Where to start!? Well we left the Provo MTC at 5 pm on Tuesday and got here at 7:30 am Wednesday. I have been so wiped out, but with everyday, the tiredness goes away. Things are a little ghetto, but I think it is just because they don't haev a lot of money to put into it. Guatemala City is a pretty big city, very interesting. It's got mountains all around, but that doesn't mean people don't live there! I love the food here, it is different, but amazing. It is so much better than the Provo MTC. It is pretty humid, so the first couple days I just felt super gross and sweaty all the time, but now it doesn't feel too weird. I love the people here, they are very nice! My new companion, Elder Gibson, is from Orem, so I don't have a latin companion. It is fine, having a latin comp would probably make me crazy right now! Seriously, everything here is in Spanish. It is so nuts!!! I have four other roommates: Elder Hatch from Rigby, Idaho; Elder Rucker from Spanish Fork; Elder Segura from Peru; and Elder Vasquez from Mexico! So I have two latin roommates and that is enough for me! All the teachers are also latin, which means they don't know a lot of english, but like we are, they are learning! They are very wonderful teachers, and it helps that they speak spanish all the time so we can learn it better! It is kinda fun, a big challenge, to speak spanish all day everyday. Haha it gets kinda awkward when I am talking to a Latino and I don't know how to say what I want! So I just sit there trying to figure it out and they leave because they think the conversation is over... Awkward for me at least.

It is so fun here! There is a lot more freedom here. They let us go walk around the temple yesterday with our teachers and we got to talk to a couple natives. It was very cool. First there were a couple cute kids sitting outside the temple doors (the temple is very beautiful and I hear the setup of the Quetzaltenango one is even better, I hear it is MAGNIFICENT!) and the kids were holding a very little iguana. Pretty sweet stuff! Then, a man came out of the temple while a group of us were just standing there and he decided to talk to us a little bit. We found that he was the first convert in his family, something like 30 years ago. He was converted by the one and only Dan Pope. So there is a big spot for Dan in his life. We continued to talk and he told us that we looked very clean, and that everybody looks up to us. He is now the bishop in his ward, and has converted his WHOLE family! His mom was just baptized three years ago. He told us about the spirit of the prophets he feels in Salt Lake City and the testimony of the Book of Mormon here in Guatemala. It is so amazing the spirit that story brought when he told us. He told us that he wants his boys to marry american girls! (woot woot!) He has three sons, two of which are serving missions currently, and one that had served in Chile! It was a great booster that THIS IS the Lord's work, and it is rolling forth like a stone cut out of a mountain without hands!

We play street soccer everyday, they have two fenced in basketball courts with hoops, but the supporters for the hoops are also soccer goals. It is so much fun, I love it! I have almost instantly become best friends with the Latinos, they are so funny and so willing to have another friend. It is so much fun! There is supposed to be a little shop that we can get some sweet Guatemalan stuff, I'll try to send some home! Time is almost up, I love you and thanks for your support!

Love,

Elder Hilton!