Dear Family and Friends,
What’s up? I have been good since the last time I wrote you! I have so much to say so here goes.
Mom, if you want to send me a package that would be cool, I haven’t gotten one yet. You could send some Beef Jerky, some Nature Valley Honey and Oat bars and candy would be nice, and then I could share it with my companions. Could you also send me some pictures of the family and my friends in the mail too so I can show my friends here about my life back home? I have been receiving letters from my boy Hardy as we will remain in contact for the next two years and share with each other our spiritual experiences! I just got a letter from Scott the other day and it was pretty funny, I’m so glad he wrote me. I also have been getting letters from girls that I knew at college and back home. It’s always a good feeling when they pass out mail at the end of the day and you see that you have one and someone cares about you!
Spanish is going great! I’m not fluent yet ha-ha but I’m striving my best to learn the language. Our teachers in the MTC say that our whole district speaks Spanish very well, but it isn’t likely that I will leave here before nine weeks. The native speakers, who are already fluent, leave within 3 weeks of being here and I’ve already been here about 3 weeks. My whole district is going different places. Four of the guys are going to México, my companion, Elder Larson is going to Salt Lake City, and the four Sisters are going to Bolivia, Peru, St. George and Seattle. I met all the other guys that are going to Portland and they all seem pretty cool, the only reason I’m not in there District is because they are in the beginner Spanish class and thanks to Mom I am in the intermediate class. Thanks Mom! There are about 8 of them; it’s crazy because they are sending so many guys to Portland right now.
My companions and I have decided to try and not speak English anymore, only in case of an emergency. Anytime you get caught speaking one word in English, you have to do 10 pushups. If you speak a sentence, you have to iron someone’s shirt. If you completely give up, you don’t want to know what we have planned. We have been doing this for about 5 days now and we will continue on for another week. I can see my Spanish improving everyday as I do this and my pushups too. I’m learning so much here about the gospel and the Spanish language. It truly is a miracle that I can stay awake for 16 hours a day studying and still wanting to study more. I have stopped doing pull-ups for now because I get a huge headache. I don’t know why so I have been taking a break from pull-ups. I still think I can win the tie contest at the end of the nine weeks though.
The other day my companions and I had some free time and so we went for a walk to the Book Store. Before we got there we were asked by a lady to help out with carrying some suit cases for some senior missionaries. After we were done helping them out, some old guy that served a mission in Japan started giving us some awesome advice for our missions. He told us that attitude is everything! He said “If a lot of people say no, one will say yes”! He also told us that he got in a bad car accident in his life and went into a coma for 3 months, but after he got out, he took the same positive attitude he used on his mission to recover. He was a thug! His name was Elder Rowe or in Japan they say Echi Rowe! After talking to Echi Rowe, I will continue to have a positive attitude no matter what happens in the mission field.
I have been playing softball during gym time and that is always fun, I always merk the ball! We also have a thing called tie Tuesdays too, where we trade ties with everyone each Tuesday. I have gotten some pretty sweet ties so far!
I have also made a pact with the guys in my district to not look at girls more than once. It wasn’t that hard in the beginning, but now it is becoming extremely tough! All the girls are starting to look like super models. But as Elders, we cannot focus on that so we have made a pact within our district that if any of the guys catch you looking more than once, they get to punch you in the arm! You know how the saying goes, look once you’re a man, look twice you’re not a servant of God! Anyway, that’s helping and it’s helping us to further focus on our purpose here. We have decided instead of saying “that girl is fine”, we say there goes another daughter of God, or there goes a Sister of Zion. Crazy, but it helps to stay focused.
We taught our second lesson in Spanish and it was amazing! The Spanish was a little bit iffy but the Spirit was so strong. One thing that I keep remembering here is what Dad told me, that people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Service was awesome this week again as we laid cheese on trays in the cafeteria. We started singing hymns again and really made the lunch ladies happy; they were applauding and requesting songs again. I’m glad we get to help out in the cafeteria!
Last Sunday I was having a pretty bad day, my head hurt and little things were bothering me. It wasn’t the people that were the problem, it was me. So I got on my knees and prayed to the Lord for help. I pretty much poured out my soul to Him telling Him about all my worries and concerns. I know that He answers my prayers and I know that He has helped me since Sunday. I am no longer frustrated as much with the language and have been able to exercise more patience. I love the Lord with all my heart and I know He loves me too. Talking to my Heavenly Father is one of my favorite things to do and the Spirit I feel is so strong when I talk to Him! I know I can go to Him whenever I have any problems.
I watched the movie “The Testament” a while ago here and even though the acting wasn’t the greatest, it was still a great movie! There is no denying that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, I know this with all my heart!
I am out of time so have to run. Peace out!
Give my love to everyone,
Nathan
