The bathroom is... different. I am definitely not in the U.S. anymore

Hi !

My companion is Elder Barnes. He is from Texas and is a really good elder. I am not sure how long he has been out  actually.  He was not always active in the church but  I would have never known that he was an inactive member if he didn’t tell me. He is such a cool kid. My first meal while being in Guatemala was... Burger King. We then had stuffed chicken and I have had a lot rice, tortillas, chicken, beans, and I had pasta once.  We have a cook and someone to do our laundry (the church is giving members jobs when they need them) so she  makes us good food and lemonade and horchata. We are teaching quite a few people. The problem with all of them is that they won’t leave there work to go to church or read or anything really. Everyone wakes up early goes to work and then goes directly home and to bed.  We teach some people at work because they just work at stores that are there houses or on carts outside. Everything here is super cheap or really expensive. My area is San Antonio. It is in the mountains and it is the coldest part of the mission. It is just me and my companion living in a house. It is really big, it is actually two houses. One is for sleeping and the other has a kitchen in it. It is really nice and we have an amazing landlord. We have one of the only places that have hot water to shower with, but the bathroom is... different. I am definitely not in the U.S. anymore. It rains all the time but only after lunch, never in the morning. I have pictures but I am not sure if the computer will or can take them. The mission president is a really strong member of the church. Most active members are, but there is not really a lot of active members in my area. He really emphasizes that all Spanish speakers learn English so they will have opportunities after the mission  and he is trying to learn English too to be an example. They put gringos with native speakers all the time because of this. He constantly calls our mission the most powerful mission in the world (or at least that is what is translates to in English). It is not as humid here in the mountains, but when I was in Reu and the capital is was super-hot and humid. It constantly smells like the 4th of July here because no one takes care of their cars and burn everything. I have ran into 3 mobs already and what they do is fill the street with tires and set them all on fire so no one will move them. This happened the way to my area and we were in the bus for an extra 4 hours because of it. We were able to decide and watch three movies on the way back to our area. (By the way, we can watch almost any movie on my mission. on the way  we watched Thor 2, and i checked to make sure if it was ok, and the mission president  himself said that he approved the movie.) I thought that was kinda strange, but no one else did. I can speak a lot better than most people expect me to be able to, which is a good sign, but I cannot understand the native speakers. I can understand the gringos and they can understand me but I cannot understand the native speakers and they have a hard time understanding me. It is super hard to write home because the computers are sticky and the translation is in Spanish so I have said is underlined indicating that I have spelt it wrong (shout out to Christine for being my auto-correct).

 

Hermosa- Especially at night

El Capitan- protects us wherever we go

People just leave their doors open here.  Mi Casa es su casa.

Our hotel room my first night here.

Thanks Christine for the scripture you sent. (Helaman  13:3)  I love that scripture too. I want to give that scripture to an investigator when they feel the spirit to show them how the gospel changes your life. Most people here just don’t want to do things, which I don’t blame them because there livelihood depends on it. Kids don’t have school on Sunday so for some people Sunday is the best day for business. They have to put so much trust in God to give away a day, especially Sunday. But from the families I have seen do it, it is so worth it. Their families are so close because they have a day when it is not just pure work. By the way, my ward mission leader is 18. Tell dad that, I forgot to tell him. I usually will give stuff to the kids, especially the 5 cent coins. I have done the math and it is about 1.2 cents. They love it though. I am not so sure how well the mail works here because from what I have heard most stuff doesn’t make it or takes forever, but what I do know is that sometimes it works just fine and those are the ones with religious pictures on them. So yes, send the package, but put stickers on it.

Love you,

Bret

Photos from the Mission

Bret's mission has a facebook page.  His mission president updates it with photos.  We are so grateful for these great pictures he posted last weekend.

I am also thankful for all the Kisses I have gotten. I am eating them as fast as I can...

Family,
This week was pretty great. It was our last time teaching our investigator so afterwards he walked out of the room with us and gave my companion and I a tie. we found out that from he went on his mission and he said that he was always successful when he wore these ties. He told us that it was a custom in his country (he is from Peru) to give meaningful gifts to people when they make an impact in there life or they feel as though they had a special connection with them. I was pretty cool. I got my flight plans and i leave this Monday morning at 4:00AM and will arrive at Guatemala around 8:00PM. I have some good and bad news. Bad news: I am Travel Leader which means i am in charge of everyone in my Travel Group and have to watch over them. Good news: i am the only one in my Travel Group. This means i will get a phone to call people incase of an emergency and i am able to call home during my layover (around 12:00PM to 5:00PM). i will try to call later though so i can call you guys while you are not at school. we have a devotional today and i think a General Authority is speaking because last week they randomly told us about the procedures for when a General Authority comes to speak. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT! I am pretty excited. Thank you for all the mail and packages I have been getting. I hear all the time here at the MTC about how some missionaries only got one package there entire mission and they are scarred from it. I am grateful I am not one who gets to share that horror story about myself. I am also thankful for all the Kisses I have gotten. I am eating them as fast as I can so I can bring as much of them as I can with me and still fit the 100lb weight limit. I figure, if my bags cant take the weight, I will put the weight upon myself.

Here are some of the Hermanos and Hermanas in my districto.

I don't understand your confusion with Millie's dowry. I simply wedded off Millie for her dowry!

Family,
I don't have any pictures this week, but it is really because there is nothing really to take pictures of. I am either at my desk in the classroom, sleeping at the apartment, or in the cafeteria. the language is getting better but from what I have heard is that it probably doesn't matter. every teacher I have talked to about going learning Spanish at the MTC has said something along the lines of "I knew nothing of Spanish before the MTC and by the end of the six weeks I felt confident that i wound have a problem talking to others in the field, but as soon as I got there i could't understand anything they said." I am not worried though. Most everyone  asked said they felt confident with their Spanish after the first year, but my fake investigator said that he gave it no more than 3 months before i would be able to communicate without a problem with others and 1 month until I could understand other people. He is a native speaker so I am not sure how to take it. It does look like I will be here until I go out into the field (September 16), but I am ok with that. if I left now, it would be like switching schools during your senior year. you get close with people and you don't really want to leave. My companion is good nothing abnormal. his Spanish is really coming along. we are teaching another fake investigator who is a Seventh Day Evangelist and we are having a hard time explaining why we we go to church on Sunday and not Saturday anymore. He is super pro bible and there is really any scriptures that are convincing enough to help us explain how the prophets changed the day after the resurrection. it would also help if he used the same bible as us. we could easily explain it to him IN ENGLISH, but it wasn't too effective when we took that approach. I like the guys in our apartment. they are fun and we hang out with them whenever we can, which is basically always. I don't understand your confusion with Millie's dowry. I simply wedded off Millie for her dowry! We received a life time supply (or in other words 2 week supply) of food. I haven't been able to get much mail lately because we don't really get it on the weekends and and it was "Labor day" which I guess probably translates to "missionaries in the MTC don't get mail on this day" in some other language. In other words, it is kinda a bummer but I get letters from you every day.   Before I go, I want to get some of that Shout stuff or whatever it is that  am able to spray on the collar of my shirts, and I have really been craving smart food popcorn lately, but I know that no matter how much of that stuff you send me, it will all be eaten in the same day that I get it. I haven't met anyone new and I still love pdays because I get to write home (obviously) and i get to go to the temple. I got my first haircut today (like 5 minutes ago). When you are finished, they vacuum your head (pretty strange), but it doesn't work too well because I am still shedding on the computer. Love you all, PAZ (that is peace in Spanish).

That is really cool that Millie and Joey are at BYU. I will probably go walk over and say hey to them next P-day or something...Just Kidding!

Hi,
I really like the pictures in the e-mails and the ones you send, the only problem with the real pictures is that I have no place to put them, so I just put them in my journal. The language is coming (I think), but it is just one of those things how you receive the evidence of your faith, but only after you have been faithful. I just need to be faithful and diligent in my work and God will use what I know to allow me to do his work. If not, he will make sure I learn it pretty quick in the field. I still haven't heard anything about switching and i am half way through the MTC so i doubt they will transfer me. My companion is doing well, he was just released from being the district leader, so now Elder Harris is our district leader. Elder Harris reminds me of a lot of Travis so it is nice having him around. I still get the same amount of mail, a bunch of it is from you, and then I will get some from mom, and then I got one from brother Dixon and Mr. Budo, and Erika. That is super cool about Daniel and Seth. My guess is Seth is going to the Philippines or some where like where the Mikesells are and Mary and Johnston went (an area like that in Asia). That is really cool that Millie and Joey are at BYU. I will probably go walk over and say hey to them next P-day or something. My companion won't be opposed to it because his girlfriend is over there now too. I will make sure to call you before I head over so you can tell them I am heading over, then they could just drive us back to west campus. Just kidding, I will just have them pick me and my companion up instead of us walking over. A package would be nice.  Thanks for asking!  I am out of the Kisses you sent, and I think I want an umbrella. Thanks for that! So, our older group in our district left this Monday, so since we were his favorite younger companionship in the zone, we inherited all his food. It is insane how much food we have now, but none of it compares to the delicious, wholesome taste of a Hershey Kiss.
Here are some photos. 

This is the Provo temple we go to each P-day. I really like the whole circle thing it does.

The first one is elder Seamons, Then me, Then Elder Gowans. Elder Gowans seems really familiar to me and he says he has Mechams in his family. By any chance are we related, he lives in Elko, Nevada.

This is all the food we received from Millie's dowery. It is basically a six year olds dream food storage

"IRÉ, HARÉ, Y SERÉ (I will go and do!)

Sorry!  No pictures this week, I left my camera in the classroom. I have heard nothing about my visa or when i got to the Guatemala MTC. I went to ask the information desk about it and they didn't appreciate it to much. The language is fine. I am focusing more on grammar than words so i don't know how to say more, but i can say more things right. My companion, Elder Hill, Is from Twin Falls Idaho and is 18 like me. Everyone in my apartment left a girl so i make fun of them all the time. my favorite one is one that the branch presidency told us (kinda). He said "We call each other Elders, not Guys. Elders are here do the Lord's work and the Guys are back at home making out with your girlfriends." I really like sacrament for the most part, because it is always based on something we need to know. One thing they have us do every week is make a five minute talk for sacrament. what they do is randomly select names to give a talk and you don't know if you have to give it until it is time for you to give it. It is kinda like how they draw names from the hunger games except no one can volunteer as tribute. I have not met anyone new that i used to know, but a few people have left that i liked. It is weird seeing the kids that already know Spanish when they come here, because they come in after you and leave before you. It is funny to see the kids faces who about to leave when they here the kids who know Spanish talk to each other. It is just a big, fat reminder of how unprepared they are to talk Spanish to people where t is their native language. The more i look around though, the more i think that me and my companion are the only ones going to our mission, are even Guatemala in general. Thank you for the package. i have already started my giant pile of kisses' wrappers and informed everyone in my apartment to not touch the pile and to leave it and all its glory alone. My piles are meant to be acknowledged and appreciated from a distance, not to be touched or thrown away. Thank you for your letters, it is great when i go get them mail with my companion and half of the letters are mine out of all the districts mail. I also have a new favorite quote (it is my professora's missions theme) "IRÉ, HARÉ, Y SERÉ"

Please tell Mr Budo I get his Dear Elders.  AlsoI heard from Cameron Dixon which is very nice.As far as your diet coke failure... well you study the word of wisdom and i will pray that you will honor your promises to me. I think that will help you kick off that addiction. Life's good, i love all the dear johns you send me, my companion is awesome, i am good on food because of my apartments companions food and the packages plus i get three all you can eat meals a day, i love the MTC, and i go to the temple every p-day. i have to log off, i am over my time.  I love you, bye.

(Christine's note...I told Bret I would try to kick my diet coke habit while he was gone, and that I would faithfully have personal study every day.  I have had about 4 diet cokes today, but have kept my study promise.  I will kick the DC habit before he gets home!  The Hershey kiss pile is something he and I have joked about for years.  He thinks I should never throw away his wrappers.  Also I send him dear elders not dear johns!  Oh Bret!)

I think the food here is great, but a lot of others don’t agree with that. We are the sub campus so we get the scraps from main campus.

I love the MTC and my companion. His name is Elder Hill and he is from Idaho Falls. He is our district leader and has a sister named Millie too. He is my age but two months younger. I am doing alright at the language; is definitely helpful that I had taken two years of Spanish. On the first day here they had us teaching fake and/or real investigators. By the third day they had us teaching a fake investigator in ONLY Spanish. I am picking up the language pretty quickly I can tell it is only because the Lord is with me at all times. It is weird; I just remember stuff that I normally wouldn't. My companion is going to the same mission as me and everyone else is going to the Meridad, Mexico mission in our district. I was supposed to fly to Guatemala yesterday (at least that was my estimated time to go) , but I haven’t even gotten my flight plans yet. I think they are just going to ship me off at the same time my companion is and he turned in his back ground check this last Friday. His estimated departure day is August 19. A missionary in our district is leaving today, he super doesn't want to be her so now there is only going to be 11 of us in our district but I think we are getting more on Wednesday. They have given us so much to do here there doesn’t seem to be enough time to do it (they have us watch stress relieving videos), but since the Lord is with me I seem to be more efficient and don’t have a problem doing what they ask us to do. The real problem is that everything they ask us to do (which seems to be everything they had to do and everything they thing we should do) we have to do in Spanish too. I love my campus (west campus) because it is the Spanish speaking campus. Everyone speaks Spanish to us all the time. Class is in Spanish, talks in church for the most part are in Spanish. I haven’t gotten any real news on my departure date though besides a small piece of paper saying my estimated time to leave is August 11th. I met someone from my lacrosse team but for the life of my I can’t think of his name (he was the one that went out with Millie for Sadie’s junior year. I like my teachers, but they can only teach for three hours a day and the other three hours is for teaching a fake investigator (and preparing the lesson), and the last three hours is us doing personal, companion, and language study. I think we are going to get another teacher this week so we will have six hours of language study instead of only three. (I have heard rumors that our fake investigator is going to be our new teacher. I think the food here is great, but a lot of others don’t agree with that. We are the sub campus so we get the scraps from main campus. In other words, they get an all you can eat and they make a lot more stuff for them and we will get sometimes an option between two meals and only get one of each plate, but I really don’t care about that at all. I do need a watch and an alarm clock of some sort. I usually wake up when my companions do but they feel like they have to wake me up and they don’t like to do that (they have alarm clocks), and I have no idea what time it is ever. I just kind of do whatever other people are doing and some people have a watch and i can ask them. There are no clocks on the walls here except on the TV. in the cafeteria. My P-days are Tuesdays and yes I have gotten your letters. I am not sure how well hand written mail is working but I get dear elder mail the day you guys send them. I love my life here and don’t miss my life back at home but I do miss the people I had back at home.

By the way- It was super cool to see Millie before I went into the MTC.  I loved that picture of us and it was good I got to see her one more time.
Yo amoro tu. Adios.  (Christine's note:  His Spanish is a little rusty.  I think that is supposed to say- I love you, Bye!)

Here are some MTC photos Bret sent:

Every one in my apartment (Me, Elder Hill, Elder Harris, Elder Neilson

Nice scenery

New friends

My district