Week 1

Hola! These first three days have been crazy! The days are so long here that it feels like I've been here for three weeks. Anyway, we have a special half P-day today, which is kinda weird. But over the next few weeks, my P-day will be on Friday. Ok, I guess I'll just start from the beginning and work my way to Saturday. Hopefully I can talk about everything!

The first day actually wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. They have hosts for all the new missionaries, and everything is really well-organized. I met my companion, Elder Hebert, like 20 minutes after I got here. He's from southern Indiana and just finished high school this past year. We got along right away too! I'll keep my fingers crossed that I have companions like this for the rest of my mission. It's also been a big adjustment having a companion. We basically have to be attached at the hip, and we didn't even know each other last week haha. The most annoying part is when one of us has to go to the bathroom and the other has to wait outside. But it's all good. Elder Hebert and I also share a room with Elder Cannon and Elder Underwood. They're both from California and are some of the funniest guys I've ever met! Anyway, I met the rest of my district that night. There are ten of us, eight going to San Pedro Sula and two going to Guatemala. Our teacher also sprung the bad news on us that we aren't going to the Guatemala MTC! So I guess we're stuck here for the whole nine weeks, which kinda sucks. I was looking forward to Christmas in Guatemala...

So our teacher is Hermano Davis. He just finished his mission in Argentina five months ago, and he is a total beast! He told us this one story of how he and his companion baptized a family of 22! And apparently they just went to the temple for the first time last week! Anyway, he has a pretty sweet accent. Our district makes fun of him for the way he says "ahead" because it sounds like he just learned English. But he is one of the best teachers I've ever had. Not only does he teach Spanish really well, he really knows the gospel.

Ok, I'm already getting a little low on time. It's weird to have a timer going while I write letters- I feel like there is a lot of pressure. So I guess I'll tell you guys about my favorite experience of the week. We taught our first lesson yesterday to Adriana, our first "investigator." Hermano Davis told us she knew broken English, but she didn't understand a single English word we said (or she acted like it anyway). We had to teach the whole lesson in Spanish, which was a little frustrating. None of us know very much Spanish, so it would take us a few tries to get our point across. For example, Elder Hebert and I were inviting her to come to church with us on Sunday, but we both forgot the word for Sunday. We remembered Saturday though, so I just said "el dia despues de sabado." Haha we had to use a few creative things like that just to communicate with her. But in the end, we had a pretty successful lesson! We committed her to read one of the missionary pamphlets and come to church, which was pretty sweet! The other elders had really funny stories though. The first companionship said they had an eight-minute silence while they tried to think of something to say haha. The coolest story was from Elder Cannon though. I heard their lesson went well, and they committed Adriana to read the Book of Mormon. Elder Cannon said he had no idea what he was saying for most of the lesson though. That's just proof that the spirit can do miraculous things and can help us learn Spanish.

My other favorite moment was the testimony meeting we had with our new Branch Presidency. Everyone just poured their hearts out during the meeting. There were lots of tears, some laughter, and I felt we got a lot closer as a district. It was the most powerful testimony meeting I've ever been a part of. It's almost like that all the time here though. The spirit is just constantly there, and I feel amazing all day, even though I'm super tired sometimes. It's a hard feeling to describe.

Anyway, I hope all of you are having a great week! It's definitely been a great week for me! I even know how to say prayers and bear testimony in Spanish now, which is cool. Ok I gotta go. Nos vemos!