Futbol

     This has been a pretty good week. Monday we went to Jutiapa again to play futbol
with the other missionaries and members. We were actually planning on playing
basketball but then all the Latinos started playing soccer so we had to play that for
awhile. For the most part the Latinos kill us in soccer because we play on a team full
of Gringos. We did play a little bit of basketball though and we were able to repay
them because all the Latinos are terrible at basketball.   Some of them are pretty good
 at dribbling and ball handling but when it comes to shooting they're all terrible. So we
killed them like 40 to 0 which was pretty fun.
     Tuesday was super stressful because we had divisions with the zone leaders and
it was the first time I had to stay in our area and Elder Mann left. I was super nervous
because obviously I was now in charge of the area and with a Elder from Nicaragua who
speaks very little English. There was no need to be nervous though, our zone leaders
are super chill and we had a really good day. Other than that nothing really happened
this week. We almost had more divisions with the district leader which would have
meant that I would have stayed in our area with elder  which would have been bad
 because I probably would have ended up killing him. Other than that we set a fecha
(lesson) with a guy named Nerry this week. He seems like he wants to get baptized
but wants an answer from the Lord first which is fine by me. Its going to be hard to
teach him though because he works everyday but Sunday.

     For Christmas I'm not sure what will end up happening. I want to skype you guys but
I'm not sure I'll be able to. I do know that we will be able to talk for an hour but thats
about it. My feet don't hurt very often sometimes when we've been standing for a long
time. They hurt a little bit but its really not very much. I drink a ton of juice. They make
juice for every meal and its soooo good. I drink a ton of it at lunch and dinner. I drink
soda sometimes, A ton of people drink coke here and fanta too, Then there are a
bunch of sodas made in Guatemala, which are really cheap. Favorite scripture is the
last verse of Matthew, its really good. I don't think I'll need a jacket. Its been super hot
again this week so I've been melting again. Our gospel principles class this week was
on the gathering of Israel which was interesting and I learned quite a bit there. I have
plenty of money I mostly spend it on transportation and breakfast but sometimes I'll buy
snacks and stuff too.  Love Connor

Interesting Week

Okay so I know I've gained a little weight but did you really have to send me an XL Aggie shirt. I'm not that fat!!!

     This week has turned out to be pretty darn interesting. It started off with an pretty normal day Tuesday. I don't think anything happened that day. But then Wednesday is when things started getting interesting. I had to go on divisions again so that we could have the interview for Alejandra. It was the biggest waste of time. We went to this tiny little town and we were there for 3 hours had one lesson and 0 contacts.  The next interesting thing that happened was Thursday.   We were in this house of Evangelivos and asked if any of them could offer the closing prayer. This one lady said she would and then went around blessing every single person there like touching their heads and then putting her hands all over their bodies. It was so weird and she tried to touch me but she had her eyes closed so it was easy to avoid her. Then on Sunday our lunch was an entire fish, which freaked me out a little but I ate everything but the brain and eyes, I just couldn't do that but i did eat the guts. We had our baptism Saturday, which was good she had to be baptized twice because she came out of the water and her husband said the prayer wrong. The other missionaries had a baptism too and they had to baptism her like 7 times because her dress kept coming out of the water. 

     I got a letter from you this week mom, it was pretty old though. I think you wrote it the 30 of September.  My companion is great, we get along really well except for the fact that hes a BYU fan but what ever. There are too many tender mercies to count.  The temperature going down is probably the biggest one though. Last P-day we went to Jutiapa and played soccer with a bunch of members and other missionaries. We also went to Wendy's and a place called Mega Paca which is pretty much D.I. and we're pretty sure they do get most their clothes form DIs in the Utah because we found a ton of BYU, Utah, and USU shirts there along with shirts form High Schools in Utah. 

     We're going to Jutiapa again but we're playing basketball today. Basketball is fun mostly because the Latinos are terrible, so we destroy it. The other elders are our entire zone Yes, I know how much you love me and we can only listen to hymns and mo-tab which is a new rule that the president just put in.  He's a lot more strict than the last president from what I've heard.

     I'ts been a fantastic time and I love being here. The Spanish is much better.  I had to give a talk yesterday with 0 notice and 0 time to prepare and was able to give about a 5 minute talk on faith that was pretty good. I love you guys so much and hope things are going well and that you're enjoying the snow. The weather is amazing here. Connor

                                               The lady is Alejandra and her husband Willian

                                              Elder Mann Willian Alejandra 

                                                        This is the fish I had to eat.

Trip to El Salvador border

      Mom I did get your package this week which was awesome. Thank you for the life time supply of peanut butter but I don't really have anything to eat it with so don't send me anymore until I ask for it please. The candy was fantastic and I loved it. I shared all of it with my comp and the Utah State shirt was the best part. I've been meaning to ask you for one but it looks like you know me pretty well so Ï didn't have too. While I'm thinking about i,t if you could still send it, I could use a water proof bag to put my scriptures in so they wont get ruined. 

     To answer your questions first, its not raining nearly as much. I don't think its rained in a week, which is really nice. The people here are really nice.   Right now we have a couple investigators we're really working with. One is an English teacher, so he really likes to talk with us in English which I'm not going to complain about. The other has a baptism date for the 29th and lives clear out in the middle of nowhere but shes really nice. The other is named ? We don't know what to think. She's not sure she wants to be baptized but then she came to church on Sunday, so we don't really know whats going on there. The people here are really nice. Almost everyone is willing to talk to us because we're teaching the word of God so they'll listen. That's probably the hardest thing here, everyone just says there's one God and it doesn't matter what church you go to as long as you believe in him. Its a pain. Bearing testimony isn't too bad because its one of the first things we learned how to do in the CCM so I'm pretty good at it by now.  

     Breakfast this week was cereal every day. Sundays are just like every other day. We leave and pick people up for church. Then we go to church, study for an hour after, go to lunch and then work like any other day. My favorite person is this convert named Marcos. He got baptized like 2 weeks ago but he's amazing. He always has a ton of references for us and he practically teaches the gospel doctrine class. Our miracle of the week was thanks to him too. Yesterday we were just walking around contacting people and he called us and said he wanted us to come teach someone in his family, the cousin of his wife I think. Anyway we went and she's super promising because she had been taking lessons from missionaries in the US and then had to move back here and now were going to teach her and I'm sure she'll get baptized soon. 

     Weird culture thing is that they're already listening to Christmas music here. They don't have a holiday between Christmas and Halloween so they just jump right in.  Dad, I read a lot and only read the BOM and PMG in Spanish. Everything is going well here, mom I don't have a stove just a hot plate. I love you and hope everything is going well and it snows soon. Love Connor.

P.S. Mom in your letter you said I better be using Bug spray. The truth is I haven't used it once and nobody in the mission does and I don't get that many bites.

         Elder Valladares Elder Solorzano Elder Zunago Elder Mendez Elder Mann Elder Harris

                      Elder Valladares Elder Solorzano Elder Zunago Elder Mendez Elder Mann Elder Harris

Dia de Muertos

     It has been a pretty good week. It was a little bit sad to miss Halloween because nobody really celebrates that here.   I kept forgetting that it was Halloween and then I would remember and be sad all over again. The Day of the Dead was pretty cool though. We got to go to the Cemetery Thursday or Friday, I can't remember, to help a member paint the grave of his father in law. The graves here are all above ground and are these huge stone boxes with usually two or three or more people inside of them. Everyone paints the graves for the day of the dead, so it did look super cool because they paint them all sorts of bright fun colors.   Mom you would have loved to see it.
      I have seen the kids flying kites. Its gotten really windy this week, so there have been quite a few of them. The kids are freakin pros too.  They can get the kites up super high. They're just these tiny little specks in the sky and what's more impressive is that to get them up there they have to thread the kites through a ton of dialectical wires and all that. I see kids quite a lot but most of them are pretty shy and don't really talk to us that much.  
    The Spanish is going well. I can understand pretty much everything and now just need to work on speaking up more. I don't have to pay to get packages.  They go to the mission office and then the zone leaders get them through the pouch every week and give them to us at district meeting. We try to work with the branch members a lot but its hard because they're always working and can't leave with us which is frustrating but I guess they have to make a living.
      I've tried some new foods I guess. We eat these things called papusas a lot which is pretty much two tortillas with cheese and beans or this stuff called chicharon in it.   They're really good though. I had some pumpkin stuff the other day that was really good but other than that the food isn't that weird, Mostly rice, beans, and eggs. The dogs here don't really bother people so I haven't been chased and if they do get mean all you have to do is pretend to pick up a rock and they run for it.
      This week we had a lot of first lessons. For some reason almost everyday of our schedule was completely empty, so we did a lot of tracting and found some new investigators so this week is looking better. The weekend was pretty rough because everyone was in the cemeteries so we couldn't leave with members and no one was home anyway so it didn't really matter. Dad, I pray a ton for every meal and in every lesson and before we leave and after we get back and before every study session so ya, its a ton. I love you guys all so much and hope you have an awesome month. Mom Happy Birthday.   I sent you a birthday letter a couple weeks ago, hope it gets there. One weird thing about here is that they sing happy birthday in English.   T

   The crocodile is from last week when we hiked the mountain. It's just some random crocodile living in a tiny village, so we went to see it and I got to touch pretty cool if I do say so myself.

                                            With my companion

   My shoes after the hike.  They were wrecked but I've cleaned them and now they're as good as new. I think were going to the border today, finally, so 'Ill send you some pictures of El Salvador next week.

  This one is of me and my comp and then the companionship that shares the branch with us. the Latino elder left this week and now we have a new one. Elder Chunga Elder Warth Elder Mann

 These are some pictures of our apartment just so you can see where I'm living. No pictures of the bathroom which I know you really wanted to see but my comp was showering when these were taken so ya

hat threw me off guard. Anyway love you all. Love Connor