Hello!!
I only get an hour but ill try to put in as much as i can. To start
We got here and my companion is Elder Hall, he is from Kaysville, Utah and is
really cool. I enjoy him and we get along really well. He just graduated high
school but is actually like 12 days older than me. In the beginning one person
didn’t show up so we added another companion and had a trio, so they moved us
to a new district... i went from Amulek to Aaron.. crazy, and now I’m
in the Aaron district. His companion showed up and they are companions
know. Also i am the senior companion of the two of us so that was
fun to find out the first day. :/
Most rooms house 6-8 people
and are really cramped but ours has room for 6 and only holds 4 people, all
from the states. I wish i had some south Americans in my room so i could
practice and learn more Spanish from them but i may get that opportunity in the
next couple of weeks. We had a devotional the night that we got here and
got to really get to know President Openshaw and I have to say that he has the
most knowledge of scriptures than anyone i know. Its crazy… he knows where a
scripture is to answer any question. He truly is impressive any time he teaches
us. I could listen to him all day!
The second day i was here we were sitting in our district room and
Presidente came in and asked to talk to me. Long story short i am the district
leader of our district so get to have that added responsibility in my life. My
responsibilities include (rotating between the other district Leaders) Taking
care of Sunday morning breakfast, conduct all different sorts of meetings on
Sunday, being in charge of how we start each time we meet with
our districts, and this Sunday i am interviewing everyone in our district
to get to know them better (14 people counting me so alot! in fact the biggest
district here by one set of companions). It makes things more difficult
but i know ill be blessed for it in the end. We have district leader meetings
every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and each time he ends with a
scripture to help inspire us or become better missionaries. He told me that he
is like the stake president and i am the bishop… its crazy to hear that but it
has made me care and love each missionary in my district more. Also, if
that other missionary in our district showed up on time i wouldn’t be in
the Aaron district and maybe not the district leader. The Lord knows
what he is doing and definitely is in control here.
My district is awesome almost everyone is from Utah or Arizona
and one from South Carolina. They are all great in fact we even have a brother
and sister that got called to different missions but this CCM (Cetre de
Capicitacion de misonaries). Its crazy. The first week the days felt so long
and like there was a lot of struggle but looking back it is amazing at how much
we have learned. I now pray in Spanish, can bear testimony in Spanish, and have
memorized the most important parts of the first vision in Spanish all in one week.
We also just got back from the temple here and you can’t believe how beautiful
it is. Unfortunately the rules here don’t permit cameras except for every other
week when the Latin Americans leave so next Sunday i get an hour of picture
taking time and hopefully I’ll be able to send you some.
This building seems very
small for the amount of people it holds and it has never had this many north Americans
in it before. The Latinos here are the best!!! They are so funny and awesome
and great to practice Spanish with. I’m really sad that they are only in the
CCM for 2 weeks but that means we get new ones and I’m sure they will be great
as well. Elder Aquino is from Paraguay and he said that he thinks I’ll only
learn half of the language over the course of my two years there but we will
see. The food here is super good! They have cold cereal every morning for
breakfast, but for dinner and lunch we almost always have some sort of
meat. I’m not sure what I’ve had but i know that one of them was lamb and it
was super delicious. They had us teach a lesson the first full day we were here
to a practice investigator Rocio (rosio) and starting from the beginning every
lesson we teach is in Spanish. It has been really tough to teach cause we don’t
know how to say what we want to and what we do say we never say it right, but
our teacher just wants to be able to understand what we trying to get across.
We have two different teachers each day the first one is Hermana
Guiterrez. She served her mission in Peru i believe and is from Argentina. She
is a really good teacher and teaches the class in Spanish about 95% of the
time. Our other teacher is Hermano Avila and he lives 6 blocks away but served
his mission in SPOKANE!! He reminds me of the minion Kevin from despicable Me
2.. like exactly like him. His first area was Moses Lake for 7 months and he
said he loved the area, and he said he went on transfers to the Greenacres ward
throughout his mission. He is so cool and you can tell that he really cares about
us and is an amazing teacher. He teaches us most of our actually Spanish
lessons and speaks alot of English, although he does say he is going to speak Spanish
only really soon. Each day we get an hour and a half for Actividad Fisica and
so far I’ve played volleyball, basketball, and soccer. The Latinos are average
at volleyball, bad at basketball (except for elder campos) and amazing at
soccer. (like all of them... i cant believe some of the things that they can
do. I should have practiced more.
I definitely miss all of you and being able to listen to music. I
think about songs all the time, after walking around the temple today i heard
some Latinos drive by blaring some music and i really liked it so i may come
home with alot of Spanish music. We are basically locked in the CCM area all of
the time but on Pday we can go to the distribution center and today i went a
bought another journal so i could get some argentine pesos. They are awesome! i
cant wait to add them to my collection. I’m glad to hear that grandpas’ funeral
went well, im sure you guys all sang amazingly and that he was proud. Im happy
to know that he is here helping me be a better missionary.
The showers here are hit and miss. Today i found the best shower to
use, they either don’t have enough water pressure to keep you warm, aren’t
warm, or are next to like an open window fan thing that make the air really
cold around you. My watch broke yesterday too! i was playing basketball and it
worked before and didn’t after, i have no idea when it happened but its been tough
to live life without one. but i think president will let me in to the shed to
get out another one.
Tonight i have to lead a
district meeting and im not sure what to do for it. I’m pretty sure we will
just assess where we are at and what kind of goals we can set for ourselves.
Dad, if you have any Bishop like advice for me i would love to hear it!
Sorry for all of the scattered thoughts and typos. i have spent all
my time trying to remember everything i want to say to you and i know I’ll end
up forgetting to put stuff in that i wanted to. Please tell me all about what
you guys are up to too. i only have an hour here and have taken up most of my
time typing, but i will definitely try and respond to your questions if i can. Waking
up in the morning here is tough. 6:30am
here is 2:30 am there, but i am adjusting to it and am slowly not being as
tired each day. The spirit here is so strong! And you can feel it every day! Its
strange to think how different your life can change in one week, I’ve never
been so busy, felt so much stress and the Spirit, got closer to Christ, and
tired all in one week!! Its the Lords work though and i already love it!
I love you all so much Thanks for all your love and support!
Elder Gummersall
Tanner- How’s football??? You put on anymore weight yet? This key
board is weird down here
Kelby- Donde esta tu gatito is not acceptable for me to say anymore,
i am only supposed to use the usted form, except for in prayers, so i could ask
that i guess, or the Latinos they understand.
Mckenzie- Your birthday is so soon and you wont be able to sing Taylors
song 22 anymore..... Thank goodness… she’s not the best role model ;) sorry T.
Also, what is your address!
Dad- How’s work going, and life, and the mission in Washington...
start asking people if they knew elder Avila he got home only 5 months ago and
knew elder bentus
Mom- i miss your cooking.... we have rice with everything here.
Its good but a little over board.. i like there food but it doesn’t satisfy me
like yours did. Good luck with girl’s camp!! ill keep you in my prayers and
know that you will produce one of the best girls camps ever!
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