It was another great week! There were some frustrating moments with Spanish,
but I learned a lot from my teachers and my fellow missionaries, so it is all
good! I'm learning!
I sent my picks for March Madness. I totally guessed on everything
(and received some divine revelation). You'll have to keep me posted on how my
picks are doing. I heard BYU lost to Marquette but had an amazing play-in game.
We try to get as much information out of the teachers here as possible or ask
new missionaries what the latest news is. It's pretty funny to see all the
missionaries that have been in the MTC for awhile crowd around the missionaries
that have only been here for a day or less and try to get as much information out
of them as possible.
I have become really close
friends with Elder Barlow. He is from Salem, Utah and played football at Snow College. He is the
biggest stud ever and we have a lot in common. He went to Salem Hills High
School. He is the nicest kid I
have ever met and we have a lot of fun together. Elder Barlow, Elder Hicks and
myself are the three missionaries going to Uruguay.
Elder Ollerton (so weird to say that) is doing awesome! I see him almost
everyday and we always chat for a bit. He is doing great and already knows the language better then me and I've been here longer. We speak Spanish to each other and we laugh about it because it's so weird! On Wednesday I felt a tug on my shoulder and turned around to see Zach
Larson (Coach Larson's son). It was crazy. I ate lunch with him that day and
told him all the secrets of the MTC and some other advice. It was fun to see
another familiar face.
This next week my district gets to be the "hosts" for the new
missionaries that pull up in their cars with their families. It's crazy to think that I'm
going to be a host! It feels like yesterday that I was pulling up with you guys and
seeing all those host missionaries with their cheezy smiles! My
district is really excited and several of the missionaries are already thinking of crazy ideas on ways to make the drop-off more memorable for the new missionaries! I'm not going to get into them. :)
Me and Elder Hicks give lessons all the time to "fake"
investigators. It can be challenging sometimes, but we are really
improving. I feel like I can give a lesson in Spanish with ease and understand
mostly what they are saying. The whole get-to-know them and small talk is
really hard for me. However, I know the Lord is helping me and that as I keep
focusing and working hard the Lord will bless me. I already see his help in my
daily life, which is a TON! It's so weird speaking another language. My
district tries to speak Spanish as much as possible and there are moments when
I'm talking with other missionaries or branch presidency members that
don't speak Spanish. I'll start speaking Spanish with my English. They
typically give me a funny look and that's when I know I might have said
something in Spanish and not in English. It's crazy!
This last Tuesday we had a devotional by Elder Cardon and he
talked about how we need to focus all our effort and time on the Lord. We
shouldn't worry about our plans after the mission and things back at home. It was a great talk and something we all
needed to hear. The spirit was strong and it was a great experience.
Well, I'm doing awesome! I'm growing a lot spiritually, and not
so much physically... however, I'm having a blast! I'm dominating the basketball
courts and lifting weights with my good friend Elder Barlow. He keeps me
in line and so does my companion Elder Hicks. (We are the Uruguayns!) I love
you guys a ton and think of you always!
P.S. I'm going to be sending home some more
pics this week so be looking in the mail!
