So Where To Begin?

So where to begin?

 

First day was pretty wild. That guy that picked me up, the host or whatever. He had only been speaking english for a few weeks so our trip back to my dorm room was pretty hilarious. Turns out it is only my companion and I in the room so we have a 4 person room to the two of us. Its way less crowded than the others and way more space for the both of us. My companions name is Elder Reeder, he's from Kansas City and everywhere else in the US. If he talked more I'd tell you more about him. He doesn't hardly talk at all, actually quite boring, sorry to say, but we get along so thats pretty good.

 

There is another Elder in my district from Idaho Falls. Elder Smith, no relation to Bridge man apparently I checked. There's also an elder who plays college baseball, or played I shold say, for the U of Kentucky. We;re gonna do a slowpitch home run derby this week sometime haha.

 

oh, before I forget, I'll have pictures for you guys on thursday along with another email so check your email again then, thats my P Day until I leave Provo.

 

Maddy has been writing me and so did Alexis so those are always fun to get, send me a package please! a big one full of candy and stuff. We eat three times a day and thats about it so i need snacking food please :)

 

And speaking of Maddy and Alexis, their letters are in the mail today so they should get there in a day or two.

 

Thursday was our first real day, the 630 waking up wasn't too bad. There is so much food. I'd rate it at like a 7 on the food rating scale so its not amazing, but there is a ton of it and I can eat as much as I waant. I noticed now that the fruit is sliced for me without me having to do it I really enjoy eating it. I hope I don't gain too much weight haha.

 

The Spanish is so so hard!!! I regret not taking it in every year of high school. I sound, accent wise, way better than every single elder here, even ones that have been here for a while. The problem is, I have no idea how to talk in spanish. There are 2 more out of the 9 of us in my district that have as little experience as me so its nice to know i'm not the only one getting copmletely rocked by the language. We're learning to say prayers and give our testimonies in spanish. I almost ahve the prayers down and the testimony oddly enough I can do and vary the things I say each time. My nametag is in espanol, I'll send a picture of it next week. I feel pretty legit when I look in the mirror and put it on every morning.

 

Tell people to write to me!! Letters are the best part of the day so get the family in on this haha

 

Friday was way awesome! I learned a lot from sort of fake teaching experiences. Our teachers pretend to be people they know or taught on their missions who are or were investigators and we get to practice teacing on them. Its fairly realistic and I'd like to think I"m doing quite well in english if I could only get the spanish part down. We finally got gym time on friday!! thank heavens, i've needed to shoot a basketball and relax for an hour or so for a long time. I'll get that every day while I"m here. I was teaching Hermana Ellsworth by myself on friday and she said when I invited her to read the Book of Mormon and that if she prayed sincerely about it she'd get an answer and I made some promises and told her that as a representative of Jesus Christ I could promise her that she would feel the truth of the Book. She agreed to get baptized. Nailed it!!

 

Saturday-today. I'm so freaking tired!!!!!!!!! haha! Our days are pretty busy so its not ever too boring but I am tired. I'm looking forward to a little basketball tonight. Spanish literally kicked my little white gringo butt this morning. I have never felt so stupid in my entire life. After eating lunch and writing a few letters I"m ready to get abck into the ring again and give it a go. That gift of tongues promise better work because I"m having as much faith in it as I can and I"m doing my best to learn the language I"m supposed to go teach God's children in!

 

So Mom and Dad don't worry, its pretty good here!

 

Next week is going to be pretty wild. I have to prepare my first talk in spanish for sunday in sacrament meeting. It only has to be like 3-5 minutes but I know about zero spanish haha. that doesn't mean i'll give a talk but we don't find who is speaking until they are up so you ahve to be ready. Tuesday we'll be doing TRC, not sure what it stands for but we'll be contacting fake investigators in this building that is used for that purpose only.

 

After today my schedule becomes pretty monotanous. Our Zone Leader said it's like the movie Groundhogs Day where the guy has the same day over and over and over again. Except we go to sleep instead of dying or whatever happens in teh movie.

 

Our district of 9 elders all meets in teh same classroom every single day to do just about everything we do all day long. My companion and I are the only ones gonig to Guatemala our of our entire district and the rest of the Zone. We're officially known as the Guatemalanas now haha.

 

Well, I love it here. I realized the first night, and every night since that this is the best decision I have made in my life so far. It truly is and I'll tell anybody that. i'm having a good time and loving what I'm doing, I'm pretty anxious to get to the CCM in Guatemala and I"m sure time will fly until then.

 

I love you all, Mom, Dad, Lex, and anyone else reading this!

 

I'll talk to you all next week :)

 

Love,

 

Elder Brock Andersen