Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Week 3 MTC, more of the same

                                      Connor's MTC group.  He is 5th from the left, back row
     I'm honestly running out of stuff to write you because not that much happens here. This week president cox came back. Hes the president of the CCM but he was gone due to health problems. He's a super laid back guy and all the elders love him. It was his birthday so during lunch we had some cake and a mariache band. My companion is pretty good the only thing I can complain about it that he calls me an idiot all the time but i know its out of love so I don't let it bother me to bad. The best thing I've eaten so far is impossible to decide. They have so much good food here. the fruit in the cafeteria is pretty amazing and the meals are all incredible. We have eggs every morning without fail. They usually have all sorts of different stuff on them but its still eggs every day. Mom you'll be happy to know that since being here I have developed a like of guacamole. They serve it quite often and so I started eating it and guess what? Its pretty good. My Jolly Ranchers are my salvation. I would fall asleep in class every single day if I didn't have them. Haven't done any tie exchanges although we had a latino in our room who wanted to trade really bad but i wasn't willing to give up any of my ties. Health's been good I haven't had any stomach or bathroom problems. I think this is probably one of the healthiest time of my life. I still don't think I've gained any weight but I haven't lost any either so that's good. This computer is driving me crazy right now becuase Its set in spanish so its says all of my words are spelled wrong. I keep forgeting to tell you about the great and spacious building we have next door. Its this little resturant bar club thing that plays music all the time. The first week we were here it played everynight and it was loud so we didnt really sleep very well. They haven't played nearly as much since then and the Elders in my district look forward to the nights they play because they play a lot of american music and that's one thing we all really miss.

                 This is Con's district in the MTC
       Our teachers only speak to us in spanish and Its pretty rough. Hope you guys are liking all the rain you're getting it rains here all the time. We have two investigators both of them are our teachers one of them is super hard and its a little discouraging but i know that's how it will really be in the mission field so I appreciate it. The other one is really good we have a baptism commitment out of her and that's a great feeling.  Yesterday one of the new guys in my room had to get new sheets becasue there were bugs in his last ones so now I'm paraniod our room is infested...

     Yesterday the elder who is having a hard time with spanish asked my teacher if he was texting little girls during class and the teacher looked really offended for a second then we all teased him about it. There are lots of little stories like that. Ya we went to the temple today and it was probably the best temple visit I've had so far. Okay thanks. I was hoping I would get you a picture of my district but they didn't send them to us. Everything is going good here and I cant complain about anything.

     Last week I got to go to a couple of stores in this mall type place.  I only bought some candy but it was pretty cool to get outside and see even just a little bit of the culture.  I think that everything here is a bit more expensive but not by very much.  I don't think I'll have a problem getting anything I need because I'm in the city.  Mom, I saw peanut butter today.  I can't even begin to tell you how much the lord has helped me since I've been out here.  Everytime I feel down he always lifts me up even higher than I was before.  I've been able to see his hand in my life everyday.  My testimony is constantly growing and I know I won't be the same person when I come home

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

CCM Week 2-Happier

     Hey guys this week has been so much better. I'm not stressing about the language as much anymore and Ive just felt way happier this week. The weather this week was better than it has been lately.  You don't need to worry about me being cold. Its super hot here everynight and Ive only had to sleep with covers on twice this whole time. I was worried I wouldnt have very much to write to you about because our days are all pretty much the same here but i have a ton of stuff to say. First off we had an awesome lightning storm the other night there was a bolt like every ten seconds and it would just light up the sky. Second we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie Sunday and that is probably one of my favorite movies of all time I always feel the spirit. On Sundays we have sacrament meeting at 9 and then regular church until noon then we eat lunch. The rest of the day is personal study and devotionals so its a lot of sitting but we all love it because its a day off from spanish. 

     One of the elders in my district is having a really hard time with the language but hes getting there and we're all trying to help him. I have to tell you guys how much I love my district. This is an amazing group of guys and Ive grow to love them all over these two weeks. We are all perfect for each other and keep each other going. Everynight before we go to bed we sing a primary song and its one of the strongest times i feel the spirit. There are only four elders form my district going to my same mission all the other are going to retaluauh.  I really like a kid from Arizona.   He's really funny. We had to say goodbye to all the latino elders and a bunch of kids going out this week. It was weird but Id grow pretty close to the latinos in my room and was sad to see them go even though we couldnt really talk to each other. The best part about this week was the Joseph Smith movie on sunday.  I think the portion sizes are getting smaller here because I am always hungry and I think Im starting to get fat because you cant see all my sweet muscles any more and ive been working out more than I used to so. You'll probably be pretty happy about that though. 

      On sunday they call a bunch of elders out of the crowd at random so we have to have a talk written every week in spanish and we may or may not be giving it to everyone in the branch. They showed us a presentation on health this week and it scared the crap out of me they had all these nasty pictures of missionaries with worm and all sorts of crazy diseases. They showed pictures of dog bites and these terrible flys that bite you and lay there eggs in your skin. They scared the crap out of us was stories about the water and food you buy off the street. I think Itll be worth it to just not eat for two years. I appreciate your prayers and love you all so much. Love Connor

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The First Week

     Holy cow this has been the longest and the shortest week of my life. The first few days were really hard.   I missed you guys so much and there is so much i need to tell you. We got a nap the first day which was awesome but now its just been classes for 15 hours everyday, yuck. The food here is amazing. I'm still not eating much for breakfast but the rest of the meals I eat a ton. My companion is from Utah and his name is Elder Mattson. He's a quiet guy but we get along pretty well. I got made the district leader so that's fun.I have to go to a district meeting every Sunday and make sure my elders are following the rules but there isn't really very much I have to do. By the way my p day may not always be Tuesday.  It could switch weekly to either a Wednesday or a Thursday
     We do language study all day with only an hour of sports time. The CCM is pretty much like God's prison. The first day they shaved all our heads and the basketball courts are straight out of a prison yard. There are armed guards all the way around the CCM and we're only allowed to leave when we go to the temple and on market days which will  probably be in 3 weeks.
      The language is not coming easy and its kind of frustrating. We had to teach an investigator on the second day we were here and we've had to teach everyday since then. Tomorrow we can't use notes and tha'ts scary. I was super home sick and discouraged but 'Ive turned my attitude around and now I'm doing good. We had an elder in my district that was constipated for the first week and it wasn't pretty.  Another one of my elders accidentally wandered into the girls hallway and got in big trouble.
      The lord has blessed me so much this week with small and simple things and its amazing to see how much he loves me. My district is amazing and I love them so much. The coolest experience we had this week was on Sunday a couple of the elders were really down so they asked for blessing to help them out. I got one and Elder Mattson said exactly what I needed to hear. It was simply amazing. Kenna, I got your letter and It almost made me cry. I will miss watching movies with you too. Katie your letter got me too, but Chase's wasn't even close. The Obagy's package came Friday, so that's about how long it takes for them to get here. I haven't received your letter yet mom.  I just want to get out in the mission field and out of this place but I've got to learn. It was great to get to go to the temple today.  Luckily the session was in English so we could understand. I love you all and miss you soooo much. Love Elder Wallace. 

P.S. Sorry no pictures they took away our cameras.

Con sent this second email with some things for forgot in the first one

A brief description of my companion is that he is 6 foot 4 and covered in muscles. The weather here has been great. It gets pretty hot during the afternoon but not any worse than anything in Utah. Its rained a couple of times and when it rains here, it rains hard, I love it. My teachers are all great and I enjoy learning form them. 

I flew ouy of Salt Lake with about 30 other missionaries and then we picked up about 10 more in L.A. so we had a pretty big group flying out. The flight was really long but I slept for most of it. 
                                                                                              Love Connor

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

It's Official, Con's an Elder

Monday. Aug 4th at 8:30 our kind stake president came and set Connor apart as a missionary.  It was the most awesome blessing.  We then had all day Tuesday before he flew out.  To be honest we weren't sure what to do....He had a father's blessing from Mike.
 Then Mike's dad called and said he had tickets to the Ogden Temple open house.  What a blessing.  We were able to go to that with Mike's parents.  It was awesome, other than my dare eyes were leaking all day.
 Mike's parents also had a bar-be-que at their house.  They fed Connor some steak for his last U.S. meal and let him say good bye to his cousins.
 By the time he got to the airport, he was just ready to go.  It was hard to watch him walk through security
 but he was excited and ready and had already met some other Elders going to his mission.

Here's Connor's first official email.  Hopefully from now on the blog will be all him.  Not sure what to think about this.....real Guatemalan experience?

I made it here safely. Its been the longest day of my life. The guy who pick us up at the airport told us if we ever see anyone get shot to not worry, it happens all the time...Elder Wallace