March 11, 2013

Hey flam! haha that sounds like flan...

Sounds like you guys have had a buisy week! ? haha that sucks that that happened but I find it a little funny... okay I find it really funny.When are you oging to send me those!? And what about the new suburban!? 

This week I havent tried any new foods... I know, sad. They eat a TON of refried black beans and tortillas. But they`re different than the ones in mexico, they`re a lot thicker. Those chicken and tamales and these things called Paches (like tamales but with potatoes). I was sick with the flu for 2 days so we didnt leave at all! BORING. But I was able to read a lot of the book of mormon and do a lot of studying so that`s okay. But our baptism date fell through because C. didnt go to church. With his work schedule and General Conference I dont think that I`ll be in this area to see him be baptized... 

Elder E. is progressing a lot! His training has been going well and we get along really well! He`s like a hipster without being a hipster. If there is something that a lot of people like, he automatically doesnt like it. Like English. Everyone here wants to learn English but he doesnt... But if he doesnt want to learn than its not my fault that he doesnt understand when I talk to the other Latinos in english right? haha but yeah he`s a good kid.

This week our ward made a ward mission plan! YAY! We are going to put it into practice this week slash month to see how it goes! Its like this, Every family has to choose 1 of 12 plans everymonth and do it. The plans are like Give a book of mormon to someone with the missionaries present or have a family home evening. I am really excited to see if this can help us out! Becuase all we do is street contact, because we have knocked on a TON of doors and that simply doesnt work here. So we street contact and ask for references. References work WAY better!

Oh I almost forgot to say, that Elder G. is in my zone! We went to the ZL`s house on tuesday to leave with the newbies and I got to leave with him for a day! All of our plans fell through but it was really awesome! And now he`s in my zone, so I`ll see him every monday for atleast 6 weeks!

It is soooo hot here right now! These next 2 or 3 months are the hot season and Im already ROASTING. This week we worked a lot with Family P.. We asked her why she doesnt ever come to our church and she told us her Pastor says that to go to our church is sin, and that we are Brujos or warlocks! hahahahahahahahahahahahahha  So we explained everyhting and we`ll see if she comes this next week!

Love you guys a ton, but Im really happy to be here in this area! haha I wouldnt rather be anywhere else! The Book is Blue, the Church is True! Love you!

Alex

March 18. 2013

Hey famblibly!

So today I was talking to the newbies about The Hobbit... I NEED TO SEE IT... that`s all! Oh and we were talking about Batman... HOLY GUACAMOLE I LOVE THAT SHOW!!! When I grow up I wanna be Batman, but if im bad that`s fine! I`ll just be Bane ( to make this dream come true could you guys send me the rubberband slash door workout thingy? with instructions becuase I have no Idea how to do anything with that bad boy! I wake up early to exersize but have no exersize equipment!!)

This week has been.............................. Uneventfull... I feel like Im getting bored of walking around the same streets and hearing the same crappy poopy excuses! Ahhh but that`s okay, if IM here its for a reason right!? Yup! This week The Elders from Kennedy (they live in the same apartment complex) didnt have water because the bank messed up their payment so the have been showering in our bathromm for this whole week! SHUCO!!! DIRTY!!! My house is a mess so I think we`re going to buy our food really fast so we can go clean!

I really am not sure about what I can write about, AHHH now I know! Nicks bamd.  I am so jealous that you guys are going to DISNEYLAND!!!! AAHHHH I NEED DISNEYLAND!!! 

Oh yeah I got your pics you sent me today! haha these are so funny! I was wondering why one is HUGE and the other ones are normal haha the one with nick giving jade a piggy back ride, Is it so we can see the old lady in the background holding a cat!? hahaha Everyone says that you all look like latinos and were wondering what happened to me!

This week we visited a lot of members, we have a new plan missional for the ward and I really hope that this will bring a little bit of support from the ward! Hey I have a question, can you figure out how to send songs through Email? I would love to have the Hobbit soundtrack! And Pirates!!! oh oh oh and Sherlock Holms! That would be the bestest! Super excited to get my package! You guys are awesome! I never feel forgotten hehe

It`s been SUPER hot lately and we have had less visits than normal so I have just been baking in the sun! This week we had it set that family Prado, Jr and Ana and their family were going to go to church yesterday. So we went to thier houses to bring them early and they told us that they couldnt. The problem Im having is that I cant think of more solutions, I have tried so many different ways to help these people but if they dont want to do it I cant force them! But this week will be better! If we have to we`ll just contact all week!

can you believe that I have 7 months this week!? Holy pooper scooper (hehehehehehehehe best catchfrase in the word) the time is passing incredibly fast! Soon it`ll be april for conference then it`ll be may for mothers day then it`ll be june my bday then it`ll be july Bday of MERICA then I have a year! holy canole! that`s insane! I have like 5 minutes on my time left but nothing to say so I may or may not just ramble on and on and on and on and on and on for a bit!

hmmm I taught elder Escobar the verb To Streak this week, Arent you proud? hahaha because they dont have a verb for that in spanish! How boring is that language!? haha jk I like speaking spanish, I think that it`s good now because I got in a fight about spanish grammer with my comp and another lat and I WAS RIGHT!!!!! hehe

Hows everyone with reading the book of mormon EvERY DAY!? I hope you are doing well with that!

Love you guys a ton! You are the bestestsest! Les Amo un monton! Ustedes son la mejor familia in todo el mundo!

Loves,

Alex

March 25 , 2013

Howdy, howdy, Howdy! 

This week we had Zone Conference! We got to go and see president & Hna. Watts and hear them talk ot us! IT was great, I love it when we have these! hahahahahahaha I have the funniest story in the world! So at the end of the Conference we all gathered in together to take a picture with everyone. I was right behind president Watts and was really excited to be there, so I sayed to this other gringo next to  me HAHA I get to be by President Watts! and he looked at me and said You should just give him a big kiss when they take the picture. RIGHT when he said that President Watts just looks back with the most CONFUSED face in the world and just looked at him. hahahahahaha I was laughing SO HARD it was hilarious! 

Then after we were all ready and excited to get out and work, so we get on the bus and get back to our area. Just as we get there it starts raining like CRAZY. The bus stop is like 4 blocks from my house, so we decided we`d wait out the rain. But it started falling harder and harder and the road was like a river, so the cars would just destroy us with water as they passed by. So we packed away our suit coats and just ran for it! It was awesome! I havent seen that much rain here in like 6 months!

That`s awesome that you guys are helping this family! That is EXACTLY what every member in this church needs to do! We are representatives of Christ and sometimes we just sit on our butts and assume that someone else will do it! WHAT! Good form family! Keep reading the Book of Mormon too! Everyday I read for at least 30 minutes in English, 30 minutes in Spanish, and 30 in Kekchi! So you can do it once in English! haha

lol pardon my strong language, I have found that being direct really helps people solve their problems! =)

This week was cool becuase Sister P. finnaly read the Book of Mormon and told us she believes that it`s all true!! Plus C. F. finally went to church so we can put a baptism date with him!!! YES!! Even though I dont think I`ll be here when it happens, because the Changes or Transfers are the 15 of April if I remember correctly! So with General Conference we have to wait 2 weeks more becuase of his work shedule so I doubt im here when he gets baptized, but that`s okay because HE`s GETTING BAPTISED!!! 

 I think when I get home i`ll have to start all my math over, and english, pretty much all my edumacation! Well just found out I only have 2 minutes left so I gotta go!!!

Thanks for being an awesome family and for doing good things! haha Im pumped for my Bday packeges!

Love

Alex

Talking to people.. some cool, some crazy

¿Que Pasa familia? It sounds like you guys are doing a lot of fun
stuff! I love autumn when the trees change color! Its the best
temperature too! Its really hot here today and ive been playing soccer
for a couple of hours so im reeeeaaally sweaty right now! Jajaja lol
(mexican hahaha) ME GUSTA! haha anyways, a lot happened this week!
Monday we got to go out and talk to people, they gave each of us like
5 folletos (pamflets) and a Libro De Mormon so we could go and talk to
people and maybe teach a lesson! So we piled on this bus ( ill have to
take pictures of the busses here, they´re so crazy, talk about pimp my
bus!) and it was so full we couldnt close the doors so we had to hang
on! Oh yeah and my favorite part about this ride! You know how in the
Dominican kids pee on the side of the road and stuff? well...
appearantly adults do that here too! Only it wasnt pee...... hahaha
did not expect that to happen right off the bat! Then we got there and
it was a very VERY poor part of town, so there was a lot of hired
security guards around nicer buildings. Anyways, some poeple who were
horrible at spanish got latino comps. but me and Elder Jacobs speak
enough that we didnt get to :( so we walked around and tried to talk
to people, but they had either talked to other missionaries or they
didnt want to talk. Even worse than not being able to talk to people,
this INSANE old man talked to us for probably 30 minutes. He kept
mumbling and saying he was a Jaguar and growling at Elder Jacobs,
which was funny, but also scary! So when we had about 30 minutes left
we ran accross this guy. He said he didnt believe in any gospel
because he thought catholics were wrong and no one else was right
either. So i gave him a L de M and told him to read it and pray to see
if it was true. Then we talked a bit and I got his address and his
phone number so that the missionaries in the field could contact him.
He was very excited and said that even though he didnt believe in any
religions, we were like angles fighting off the devil, because we help
people make good decisions. It was really cool! I really want to know
what happens with him! haha it was funny, my compañero doesnt speak
much spanish, and he has a really hard time following conversations,
so the guy would ask him something and he would just look at me like
WHAT? it was really fun! Its a lot like mexico and the dominican here,
i havent really seen the run down parts of the Dominican, but its a
lot like the poor parts of mexico ive seen. But its way green! After
we prosolited (i know i cant spell¡ :) ) we played volleyball in the
pooring rain! It was soo fun. Then earlier this week my visa came
through so I went to some government building and signed stuff and had
a picutre taken! YAYA Done with that stuff! I hope! oh and some other
good and unrelated news, in Spanish there are 2 past tenses Preterit
and Imperfect. They have confused me since the dawn of time, but this
week, I FINNALY GOT IT! it was the best! Spanish is hard but its
slowwwwly commin! For our Pdays we have personal study in the
mornings, then we have breakfast in a bag, then we have free time
until 1 i believe. And there is a bunch of vendors that come and sell
stuff, so I had to buy a Guatemala jersey today! Plus I bought a
leather book case for my scriptures, They are hand made to order and
you get to pic the pictures that they burn into the front and back, so
mine has a picture of The Title of Liberty on the front and a mayan
ruin that they say could possibly be the tree of life picture on the
back! ITS GOING TO BE SAWEEET! so excited! Its nice to hear you almost
have a functioning primary! That is going to be great! Also i miss
american food sometimes, we had fried chicken this week and it was
heavan! Its so weird to think that i only have like 3 weeks left here!
WHAT? where has the time gone! Oh yeah and thank you so much for the
package! I got it on wednesday! I love all of it! The playdough
especially! and all of the halloween candy! Plus the pictures, i
havent had any pictures this whole time so its very nice to have them!
Thanks for all the support from all of you, im glad to hear that you
are all doing great! AH i only have a minute left! okay love all of
you! I love doing all of this work for the lord! THANKS FOR
EVERYTHING!

Spanish is coming along... I think

Hey Guys! It seems like you are all doing awesome! How was mexico? The
bathroom seems to be moving along pretty fast! Dad seems to be
traveling a lot! New York now!? That is one place i want to go to some
time, and definately see a ball game. Wow I dont even know what Jaydes
room would look like if it were clean! haha just kidding! And kenzie
is in lake powel? And you dont even know who with¡¿ haha thats funny,
didnt she start weber state this year? I remember when Weber got to be
the cool school when i was there, it was a party, That would be so
cool to be on TV Nick! What kind of competition is at Utah State¿ is
it school or just nick? So I thought I learned how to make spaces for
paragraphs last time but I was sorely mistaken! Sorry for the big run
on! Um lets see, we have awesome food everyday, and to  be honest I
usually have no idea what it is! Not Mac and Cheese! But its
delicious... mostly! haha one night we had ratatuilli(?) definately
mispelled that but it was so good! Plus we get icecream for every meal
so thats a plus! Yes we got to go to the temple this week! It was so
cool, we went to a spanish session and had to have the earphones and
say EVERYTHING in spanish so it was Really Crazy! I also found out
that There is, infact, no temple in my mission! So i need to soak it
up while im here! The temple here is in the Guatemala City South
mission, appearantly its the nicer area. And yes! We do get to watch
conference! No class for 2 days! haha and i am pretty sure it´ll be in
Ingles! So that´s good!  Spanish is comming along, usually. Some days
we give lessons and It comes out perfectly, and others i cant put a
sentance together, but it´s improving! A lot of times only about half
of us in the class know what our teacher is talking about so watching
peoples confused faces is always funny. Our teachers always teach us
bad words that sound really close to everyday words that we say a
lot... so that helps! Lets see, Monday we are going to go prosoliting!
I thought we´d either go with latinos or missionaries in the field but
it turns out that we just go with our compañeros! so im pretty nervous
for monday, we have 4 hours to find people! Everyone here speaks so
dang fast, its going to be so fun but really really really hard!  Oh
and we only get mail on Thursdays, so i havent got your package yet!
But hopefully it will be here next week! I Dont need anything yet I
will let you know if i do! And YES PLEASE PAINT MY ROOM! I hated
living in a white asylum! and new bed stuff is always good.  You guys
are awesome! I love being able to write every week! Love you! P.S.
They announced that Utah beat BYU, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! haha Best news of
the week!
Alex

Welcome to the GUAT!

Wow! It seems like i picked a good year to be gone! Both my teams are
going to suck it uppp! haha It was great to talk with you guys! It
seems like forever ago already! Have fun in Mexico! You guys should
just keep driving and meet me here hahaha, its only a 49 hour drive! I
wish I could have seen Nick play! Nick you are a fantastic drummer,
you realize you´re only a junior? You are going to become such a great
preformer, dont worry about a competition that you dont win every now
and then! I wish i could have a bike on my mission! I think Id go with
the same thing mom got, Do you think people would talk to me if i rode
that around? This CCM (MTC) Is sooooo great! We got to have a 2 hour
nap the day we got here, and then we got to go to bed 2 hours early!
the food is great! We have our own chef! And my teachers are great!
Hermana Reyes and Hermano Bonella, Bonella is a goofball. He learned
English from watching TV so he can speak pretty well, but every friday
night from now on we sing this song he calls The Pirate song, Its a
Himno that might only be in spanish, but in the chorus we have to
swing our arms like pirates. It is hilarious to watch him get into it.
AND they´ve already let us go
out and talk to REAL people! In provo we did this thing called TRC,
its when members volunteer to come and let you talk to them. But here
they dont have a lot of volunteers i guess, so they let us walk around
the temple and talk to people! SO FUN! Me and my companion Elder
Jacobs, talked to this old couple from Honduras. they are serving a
temple mission here and were incredibly nice! But so hard to
understand! We did pretty well though so it was good! It makes me so
excited to go out into the field! I love talking to the natives in
here, they just laugh at me sometimes but they are really nice! Oh
yeah and speaking of natives... The teachers here took everyones
passport and cameras because they have a tendancey to get stolen, so
no pictures for a while! You´ll have to tell me about mexico when you
guys get back, I emailed mom earlier this week so you guys get 2! hmmm
¿Que mas? This has been such a great experiance already, I can see why
everyone says it fly´s by! Ive learned a lot! You guys should start
reading Jesus the Christ, Its a pretty tough read but it has some
really crazy things in it that you wouldnt even think of! I just
barely started reading it but it is great.  Im not sure how to make
spaces for paragraphs on this keyboard so this is a bit of a run on!
Oh yeah! and for the mail here, they say its ran by a canadian so its
pretty reliable haha so it should take things about 10 to 15 days to
get here. Make sure when you write or send packages you write Elder
Alex Johnstun on it, otherwise i might have to pay taxes on it! Which
leads me to the money thats here "Quetzals" i think is how you spell
it, they look like monopoly money and someone said you cant rip them!
The ratio is about 6.5 to 1 US dollar.

Aha! I figured out how to make a space! So Im sending you guys a
letter today I think so you can test out how long it takes from my
end! Well ive only got a couple of minutes left, so ill email you guys
again in a week! HAVE fun in mexico! Oh yeah and good luck to Kenzie
with her Surgery, I hope that It takes care of her problemas! Love
You!
    Alex

Last week in the US of A

Hey Padres/Fam!

Im responding to several Emails so if it's a little scattered or I miss something sorry! Just ask me about it again! haha

I loved getting that package! It was soo cool! I'll have to write a letter about everyone in mi Districto pero i dont have time right now! There was a huge problem in the mail room so I didnt get the Package untill wednesday! EVERYONE is extremely jealous about the legos. Turns out, they're amazing! And the Flaming hot Cheetos were a gift from Heaven!  haha I got my travel plans like 4 hours after I wrote you guys last week! But I dont have them with me so I am just going to have to tell you what I remember, we leave for the airport on Sept 11 at 4:30, our flight leaves at 8:45. Then I think we have a 3 hour layover in LAX before heading to G town! So I have to go buy some phone cards before I go so I can call you! Hopefully we can time it so It's not during Nicks thing! Maybe we can time it so I call before and after so I can talk to all of you! That's so cool Nick is doing that, He's going to be an awesome drummer! He sounds like a busy kid, and wakes up earlier than I do! That's great that he can do that because waking up at 6:30 is awful if you ask me!

I am so Excited to be going! A little bummed out cause the guys in my district are so fun, but at the same time it's going to be so cool! We teach at least once a day here to our teachers and then once a week volunteers who speak spanish come in and we get to shoot the breeze with them, which was a little scary at first but it was soo fun! Spanish is comming hmmmm pretty good! I think of something in English and realize i can say it in spanish so it's pretty cool. Being surrounded by spanish will make it come super fast though so I'm way excited. It seems like all of you are seeing more and more missionaries, haha that's fun! I love the story about Kenzie hugging that Elder, I bet he was a little freaked out at first, SO FUNNY!

Biking sounds so fun! We need to go around Bear Lake! I would love to go down to San Fransisco to do that! It would be so fun! And we also need to go kayaking! I love doing that! Probably one of the best things you can do on water, I've been working out on this rowing machine here and it is sooo much fun! We need one of those too!

                 Im Pumped to see the bathroom when it's done! That thing is so gross, and it'll look SO GOOD redone! Oh and I just realized I have never talked about the food! The food here is hit and miss, a lot of the time they will have a meal with 1 AWESOME thing and the rest is terrible! but it's edible so it works! They say that we'll have better food down there because they have less people to feed.

the 2 and 1/2 weeks here have gone by so fast! It's like I just got here, so it's a little weird that we're leaving. Nothing really seems like it ever changes here, all of the days just blend together so time just flys by.

I love hearing about what is going on on the outside world! We get ZERO news here about what is happening! I heard that Neil Armstrong died! Any other news other than political? Both of them are clowns!

We get about 40 to 50 minutes of exercise time every day, so we play sand volleyball or basketball everyday. It's pretty hot out but the only time wer're out other than gym is in between classes so we dont notice too much! Next time I'll have to write down things/stories I have for you guys because I can't remember hardly any of them by the time Friday comes around!

Love you guys! Miss you tons, but this is great! I'm learning so much! I'm going to the temple to do Sealings in the temple today, I heard it's pretty cool so I wanna do it before I cant understand it!

LOVE YOU!

Elder Alex Johnstun