So here I am, back in the United States. It's nice to be here. I've been back for a whole five days now. And really, it feels nice. But it's been hecka busy. If you don't know what hecka busy means, I'll fill you in. Hecka busy means I got home Thursday night at 7 p.m., spent the night at Kristi Brailsford's house. We fell asleep at 3:30 a.m. due to a spectacular night watching Tangled, hearing about her dating progression with Joaquin and giggling about stop-motion home movies.
The next day, we caravanned to Hannibal, Missouri, the birthplace of Mark Twain. We bought huckleberry jam and slept the whole rest of the drive. When we got to Nauvoo, the Disney channel occupied our attention. At the family dinner, I met a couple people who were all very friendly. I also received quite a few questions about how I'm still single. I just told them it was because I'd been in Guatemala for a year and a half.
That night I had the opportunity to help some little girls go to sleep, while their mom, Tami, Kristi's sister, emailed her husband Miles. I talked on the phone with siblings for a while and had some singing adventures with the girlitas. That's spanglish for little girls.
Saturday morning we ate cinnamon rolls and did Kristi's hair. Well, Caryn did Kristi's hair. I was a bystander and will testify it looked GOOD. Afterwards, I ran to the visitor's center in front of the Nauvoo temple to connect three babies with their eight babysitters. After talking with some visitor's center missionaries, the babysitter connection was made and I ran into the temple. The ceremony was beautiful.
As the designated bouquet getter, I ran to the hotel room as soon as I got my shoes back on. I tipped the kids off they should be changing into their fancy picture clothes and then ran outside into the windy Nauvoo climate. Outside, in the chilly achoo change of temperature, we all gathered, waiting for Kristi and Juaquin. They looked so happy. Awww.
We got some quality time standing around, waiting for picture time. During this waiting period, I also got set up on a date. Two days after I'd gotten home from an 18 month dating vacation and well, I was a little nervous, but excited. Apparently, he was the catch of his ward. And well, I was looking forward to a little time with a boy. With a man. But he never called me. Sooo, that just means I learned how to deal with a little dating disappointment.
On my ride home from Nauvoo with Tami, we discussed the roles of women and men in the home. I know it was an eye opening experience for me. After that experience, I realized how much excitement I've always put into my dating life. However, I am ready for that to change. I'm not going to stop getting excited, I am going to stop putting all my eggs in one basket. Which means I should probably look before I sit down, so I don't sit on any eggs. Or maybe I'll just find some hobbies.
Sunday I gave my mission recap and bore my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After church, I went home and saw my nieces and nephews. We ate together, I got some hugs, we read some stories. It was nice.
Monday I packed all day and ate lunch with little brother at Poncho's. We ate delicious burritos together and bonded. Cookie got to the house with her little girl Allyson and we talked as I packed up my life for the next couple months. That night we went over to Neal and Emily's house to eat and for scripture study.
Tuesday I got to the airport a little bit late. Emily was her usual stellar self and cut me up some fruit, then drove me through some crazy traffic. The nutella my mom sent in my carry-on bag was taken from me the second time through the metal detector. I also almost missed my flight. Running toward the flight deck, bag open, dropping eye shadow in the aisle of the plane...that was not my favorite flight experience.
Right now, I am in San Francisco. What a treat. When I finally got off BART, talking along the way with strangers, I waited for about 10 minutes outside. I finally decided I didn't want to wait anymore and started walking to America's house with my suitcases. A block from her house, I saw her whiz by in her car. With an scoop of chagrin, I turned myself around with my two red bags, and walked back to the entrance of the BART station.
It's been a whirlwind. I can hardly believe I'm back in the United States. I am very blessed. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I am looking at all the blessings I have received in the last couple days and well, I have not been forgotten. Not at any level.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Oct 3, 2011 Almost trunky
Regarding Grant's current girl interest..
Ohhh, I like her. She´s pretty. I´m sure she´s amazing and I´m glad you are spending lots of time with her and also studying. I will probably talk on the phone with her when I get home. And with you and with everyone else in the world. I just reset the forwarding on my email. Very nice. So all my gmail emails will be in their real home when I get home.
Be good and CTR and I hope you really enjoyed Conference as I also did. We ate a cake today and pizza and I had 500 quetzales eaten by the ATM. Lame. It just never gave me my money. Lame. And I thought I´d have money to give back to my mission pres. but looks like it´s going to be less than I thought. It´s raining. I have one more week in the mission. Que bendicion. Love you, can´t wait to see you, not super trunky, but getting there. Love, Hna Peterson
Dad,
My favorite was the quote about you being an older Brad Pitt. I guess I´ve been gone a while, I don´t remember ever making that connection, but I´m sure I´ll see it when I get home. I come home next week. I don´t know when, but next week...this week´s going to slip past.
We ate a cake for pday and the elders bought candles that were formed into an 18 for how many months I have in the mission. I cried. I gave them money for the cake, I didn´t know about the candles. I´m going to be sad to leave the wonderful people who live here. I´m serious. But it´s raining a lot right now. Like every day, so I probably won´t miss that.
Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Ohhh, I like her. She´s pretty. I´m sure she´s amazing and I´m glad you are spending lots of time with her and also studying. I will probably talk on the phone with her when I get home. And with you and with everyone else in the world. I just reset the forwarding on my email. Very nice. So all my gmail emails will be in their real home when I get home.
Be good and CTR and I hope you really enjoyed Conference as I also did. We ate a cake today and pizza and I had 500 quetzales eaten by the ATM. Lame. It just never gave me my money. Lame. And I thought I´d have money to give back to my mission pres. but looks like it´s going to be less than I thought. It´s raining. I have one more week in the mission. Que bendicion. Love you, can´t wait to see you, not super trunky, but getting there. Love, Hna Peterson
Dad,
My favorite was the quote about you being an older Brad Pitt. I guess I´ve been gone a while, I don´t remember ever making that connection, but I´m sure I´ll see it when I get home. I come home next week. I don´t know when, but next week...this week´s going to slip past.
We ate a cake for pday and the elders bought candles that were formed into an 18 for how many months I have in the mission. I cried. I gave them money for the cake, I didn´t know about the candles. I´m going to be sad to leave the wonderful people who live here. I´m serious. But it´s raining a lot right now. Like every day, so I probably won´t miss that.
Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Sept 26, 2011 allergies and hernias
Bonnie's old room is your "new" room...
Monday, September 26, 2011 3:06 PM
Sweet. I should be all set to work normally. My injury wasn{t from lifting I{m pretty sure, it was a vomit hernia, so I{m pretty sure I{ll be ok to work there again when I get home. The Fedex boxes aren{t huge, I just don{t know exactly how Hernias work with healing themselves etc.
Hey Neal and Cookie, how much is it to get an allergy test? I{d like to get one when I get home to find out what I{m allergic to. Do you know a good place to get it done and about how much it would cost me b-c I don{t have insurance? I{ll be home in about 3 weeks, so I{d like to set an appointment to get that. I know some times you have to make appointments a little in advance. Maybe not 3 weeks in advance, but I only check my emails once a week. Could you check that for me? Thanks a million. Love, Hna Peterson
Monday, September 26, 2011 3:06 PM
Sweet. I should be all set to work normally. My injury wasn{t from lifting I{m pretty sure, it was a vomit hernia, so I{m pretty sure I{ll be ok to work there again when I get home. The Fedex boxes aren{t huge, I just don{t know exactly how Hernias work with healing themselves etc.
Hey Neal and Cookie, how much is it to get an allergy test? I{d like to get one when I get home to find out what I{m allergic to. Do you know a good place to get it done and about how much it would cost me b-c I don{t have insurance? I{ll be home in about 3 weeks, so I{d like to set an appointment to get that. I know some times you have to make appointments a little in advance. Maybe not 3 weeks in advance, but I only check my emails once a week. Could you check that for me? Thanks a million. Love, Hna Peterson
Sept 12, 2011 Yaxha and Pizza Hut
Monday, September 12, 2011 6:15 PM
So I guess now I know Canute is going to be home before Thanksgiving.
That{s next change. That{s cool. This week I called the nurses too. I
called for cramps and feeling crappy too. I do eat lots of fruit and
drink lots of water though, so I{m not really sure what{s wrong with
me. So like Canute, if you don{t hear from me next week, I{ll be dead.
The Lord blesses us for serving Him though, so that{s the good news.
I found some hammocks today. So I{ll be bringing two home with
me...with the other stuff I{ve bought. Not too much, but some cool
stuff to make people glad I{m serving a mission.
I know the Lord wants us to share the gospel with infinite amounts of
people here in Guatemala and during our lives. So He will always give
us opportunities and the animo to do it.
It was a good week. We are having a hard time bringing people to
church, but we{re praying a lot and trying to do our part. We sure
love the people here. I also really love my companion Hna Bernardez.
Today we went to Yaxha and ate at Pizza Hut. It was my 3rd time to
Yaxha, but it{s a beautiful place, so I don{t mind going back every
couple months. The elders sitting in front of me asked what I was
doing when I came home and I started crying. It was a mini panic
attack. B-c a month isn{t a lot of time and it{s starting to hit me I
don{t have much time until I go back into the real time.
We always have guidance and blessings, so I shouldn{t be worried about
it. But you know how I am, a little dramatic at times but it usually
passes pretty fast. But yeah, I cried for a good 5 minutes in the
Pizza Hut bathroom. I feel good about my choice to be a missionary. I
had the same crying experience in Canada, right before I went on my
mission and look, I{m still alive and happy.
There are millions of mosquitos here. It rains a lot right now. Cool
that Canute{s on an island with a beach. I met a missionary new in our
zone whose sister is serving in the Liberty Jail visitor{s center. His
name{s Elder Nelson.
CTR and invite your friends to church.
Monday, September 12, 2011 6:21 PM
I didn{t get the pictures, but maybe they{re in another email. I am
glad to know Sarah is feeling better and that Bonnie got a sweet new
job. Maybe I{ll find the email about that a little further down in my
emails. Sickness is never good.
Good luck on your primary program. HEYEYEY! I got your package last
week. Thank you very much. We ate the chocolate and passed out the
child toys and I put up the notes from Aunt Pam and Uncle Gary on my
wall of love.
I also got a letter from Grant and from my comp from the CCM in Guate
that went home Sept 1. Very crazy to hear that she{s already in her
house. I{m glad I got to have a little more time on my mission.
So that{s the news in a nutshell. I hope Joshy finds time to study and
get his 36 on the ACT so he can get some sweet scholarships too. Love,
Hna Peterson
So I guess now I know Canute is going to be home before Thanksgiving.
That{s next change. That{s cool. This week I called the nurses too. I
called for cramps and feeling crappy too. I do eat lots of fruit and
drink lots of water though, so I{m not really sure what{s wrong with
me. So like Canute, if you don{t hear from me next week, I{ll be dead.
The Lord blesses us for serving Him though, so that{s the good news.
I found some hammocks today. So I{ll be bringing two home with
me...with the other stuff I{ve bought. Not too much, but some cool
stuff to make people glad I{m serving a mission.
I know the Lord wants us to share the gospel with infinite amounts of
people here in Guatemala and during our lives. So He will always give
us opportunities and the animo to do it.
It was a good week. We are having a hard time bringing people to
church, but we{re praying a lot and trying to do our part. We sure
love the people here. I also really love my companion Hna Bernardez.
Today we went to Yaxha and ate at Pizza Hut. It was my 3rd time to
Yaxha, but it{s a beautiful place, so I don{t mind going back every
couple months. The elders sitting in front of me asked what I was
doing when I came home and I started crying. It was a mini panic
attack. B-c a month isn{t a lot of time and it{s starting to hit me I
don{t have much time until I go back into the real time.
We always have guidance and blessings, so I shouldn{t be worried about
it. But you know how I am, a little dramatic at times but it usually
passes pretty fast. But yeah, I cried for a good 5 minutes in the
Pizza Hut bathroom. I feel good about my choice to be a missionary. I
had the same crying experience in Canada, right before I went on my
mission and look, I{m still alive and happy.
There are millions of mosquitos here. It rains a lot right now. Cool
that Canute{s on an island with a beach. I met a missionary new in our
zone whose sister is serving in the Liberty Jail visitor{s center. His
name{s Elder Nelson.
CTR and invite your friends to church.
Monday, September 12, 2011 6:21 PM
I didn{t get the pictures, but maybe they{re in another email. I am
glad to know Sarah is feeling better and that Bonnie got a sweet new
job. Maybe I{ll find the email about that a little further down in my
emails. Sickness is never good.
Good luck on your primary program. HEYEYEY! I got your package last
week. Thank you very much. We ate the chocolate and passed out the
child toys and I put up the notes from Aunt Pam and Uncle Gary on my
wall of love.
I also got a letter from Grant and from my comp from the CCM in Guate
that went home Sept 1. Very crazy to hear that she{s already in her
house. I{m glad I got to have a little more time on my mission.
So that{s the news in a nutshell. I hope Joshy finds time to study and
get his 36 on the ACT so he can get some sweet scholarships too. Love,
Hna Peterson
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sept 19, 2011 Haiya to my Hernia
Thanks for all the updates. I´m sure excited to see all of you in 3 weeks when I get home too. This week was kind of a crazy week. We went up to the capital for the whole week. The thing is my stomach´s been hurting a lot for 2 weeks. So I went up to the dr. to get it checked out b-c I found a lump in my hip area. But he said it was a minor hernia that doesn´t need surgery. And it doesn´t hurt anymore. So we worked for a week in the capital with the nurse and her comps. b-c I had to get 3 stool samples to make sure I don´t have worms anymore.
I got the hernia b-c of some puking after eating unpasteurized cheese in the street. I´m pretty sure, or when we had the miracle rain and I carted a million buckets full of rainwater to our sink. But I´m pretty sure it was the puking b-c my stomach didn´t hurt really until after that. Anyway, Heavenly Father knows why we were there for a whole week. The good news is I don´t have anymore worms and my hernia doesn´t hurt anymore. Very nice.
And well, we´re working hard in Poptun trying to bring others to Christ. We saw some caves today and well, walked a lot. It´s pretty rainy most days out here. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson
PS
Wow, which room is that bed in? That really does look like a real bedroom. I was planning on working at Fedex this year until Christmas, but I don´t know if that´s a good idea since I just healed from a hernia. So if you hear about any jobs I can do from October 20th to December, I´d like to hear about them. It´s super nice out here right now. 3 more weeks. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
I got the hernia b-c of some puking after eating unpasteurized cheese in the street. I´m pretty sure, or when we had the miracle rain and I carted a million buckets full of rainwater to our sink. But I´m pretty sure it was the puking b-c my stomach didn´t hurt really until after that. Anyway, Heavenly Father knows why we were there for a whole week. The good news is I don´t have anymore worms and my hernia doesn´t hurt anymore. Very nice.
And well, we´re working hard in Poptun trying to bring others to Christ. We saw some caves today and well, walked a lot. It´s pretty rainy most days out here. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson
PS
Wow, which room is that bed in? That really does look like a real bedroom. I was planning on working at Fedex this year until Christmas, but I don´t know if that´s a good idea since I just healed from a hernia. So if you hear about any jobs I can do from October 20th to December, I´d like to hear about them. It´s super nice out here right now. 3 more weeks. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sept 5, 2011 Men are crazy...but not as crazy as...
You´re area looks pretty cool Canute. Much like Grant´s area. Mine is a little different, but also cool. It´s thinking about raining, so it´s not super hot today.
This week we didn´t have water, so we prayed for rain and got it. God always answers our prayers. My comp. got mad at me yesterday b-c I told her she was anti-social. She hung up on our dl three times when he was trying to ask her about the area. So she wouldn´t talk to me. That was pretty miserable. But she is talking to me again, so that´s good. Sisters are crazy. I am glad I will be marrying a man. Who are also crazy, but not as crazy as women.
Today we tried to find some caves, but the kids who guided us last time couldn´t guide us until next week. So next week we´re going again. We just walked a lot. We are getting along with the elders in our district, b-c my comp. is warming up to the elders. That´s such a relief. The trials we have in the mission will give us great rewards later. I surely hope so. Wish we had a beach to walk on.
Thanks for the update. It´s pretty hot here with lots of mosquitos. We try to drink lots of water and eat lots of fruit. My comp. is teaching me how to make delicious meat and not just plain chicken. I told her you would be pleased and that I grew up eating plain meat. So I´m learning some Honduranean tricks. I wrote them down so I don´t forget.
Love, Hna Peterson
P.s. Cuanto mas cambios tiene? Uno o dos?
This week we didn´t have water, so we prayed for rain and got it. God always answers our prayers. My comp. got mad at me yesterday b-c I told her she was anti-social. She hung up on our dl three times when he was trying to ask her about the area. So she wouldn´t talk to me. That was pretty miserable. But she is talking to me again, so that´s good. Sisters are crazy. I am glad I will be marrying a man. Who are also crazy, but not as crazy as women.
Today we tried to find some caves, but the kids who guided us last time couldn´t guide us until next week. So next week we´re going again. We just walked a lot. We are getting along with the elders in our district, b-c my comp. is warming up to the elders. That´s such a relief. The trials we have in the mission will give us great rewards later. I surely hope so. Wish we had a beach to walk on.
Thanks for the update. It´s pretty hot here with lots of mosquitos. We try to drink lots of water and eat lots of fruit. My comp. is teaching me how to make delicious meat and not just plain chicken. I told her you would be pleased and that I grew up eating plain meat. So I´m learning some Honduranean tricks. I wrote them down so I don´t forget.
Love, Hna Peterson
P.s. Cuanto mas cambios tiene? Uno o dos?
August 15, 2011 Braids are da bomb!
Well, I was sad to hear about KS{s corn crop. That{s not good. And well, sorry you lost your camera. I bought a sports jersey of Barcelona for 45 quetzales. That{s like 5 dollars. Very nice. I asked about hammocks and I said I wanted one of an American flag...they will do them with flag designs and I didn{t know what flag you would want. I said if I got a good deal I{d buy two. So if you want a different country{s flag, let me know.
I didn{t know Sarah was expecting, but maybe it{s in one of the other 10 emails I haven{t checked yet. I{m sure she would{ve gotten around to telling me sometime. I figured that news was due..cough cough. But it{s going to be sweet to have some more babies b-c they{re all grown up while I{ve been gone. So good job Deane.
This week was hot. My comp. is amazing. I{ve been eating lots of fruit. My comp{s from Honduras and she{s black. She does braids for me like every day. It{s sweet. I love having my hair in braids. And the best part, I don{t have to do it and my hair doesn{t look ugly every day like before. We{re in week 5 of 6...one more change, and then I come home. To see Kristi B. get married. I prob. will work for Fedex from Oct. to Dec, b-c I really don{t have that many other options.
CTR. Keep reading your scriptures. Calculus, never have had any desires to take that class. Love, Hna Peterson
I didn{t know Sarah was expecting, but maybe it{s in one of the other 10 emails I haven{t checked yet. I{m sure she would{ve gotten around to telling me sometime. I figured that news was due..cough cough. But it{s going to be sweet to have some more babies b-c they{re all grown up while I{ve been gone. So good job Deane.
This week was hot. My comp. is amazing. I{ve been eating lots of fruit. My comp{s from Honduras and she{s black. She does braids for me like every day. It{s sweet. I love having my hair in braids. And the best part, I don{t have to do it and my hair doesn{t look ugly every day like before. We{re in week 5 of 6...one more change, and then I come home. To see Kristi B. get married. I prob. will work for Fedex from Oct. to Dec, b-c I really don{t have that many other options.
CTR. Keep reading your scriptures. Calculus, never have had any desires to take that class. Love, Hna Peterson
August 29, 2011...The grossest Thing EVER
So here´s the news for the week. I had a huge worm this week that I
passed. That means I was in serious pain Tues, Wed, Thurs. And now I
just have a stomach ache. The nurses didn´t know what was wrong with
me. Monday we ate some unpasteurized cheese, so I just figured it was
that. I think my worm just didn´t like the cheese. Anyway, the mission
nurses said you usually don´t pass huge pieces of worm like that
unless it´s huge and thus doesn´t have any more room.
So I´m going to look for the parasite meds we take when we go home and
I´m going to take them now. I don´t want to have a serious stomach
ache the rest of my mission and I don´t want it to do any more serious
damage inside of me.
We had zone conference this week and our interviews. Unfortunately, my
parasite was freaking out on Tuesday, our day of interviews, so I was
in agony pretty much all day. I really hope that never happens to me
again. Second, we had a baptism Saturday. Hooray!
We were supposed to have four, but, well, we only had one. But that
happens sometimes. Hope you´re all happy and healthy and choosing the
right. One more change in Poptun with Hna Bernardez and then I´ll be
home for Christmas. And Halloween. Love, Hna Peterson
passed. That means I was in serious pain Tues, Wed, Thurs. And now I
just have a stomach ache. The nurses didn´t know what was wrong with
me. Monday we ate some unpasteurized cheese, so I just figured it was
that. I think my worm just didn´t like the cheese. Anyway, the mission
nurses said you usually don´t pass huge pieces of worm like that
unless it´s huge and thus doesn´t have any more room.
So I´m going to look for the parasite meds we take when we go home and
I´m going to take them now. I don´t want to have a serious stomach
ache the rest of my mission and I don´t want it to do any more serious
damage inside of me.
We had zone conference this week and our interviews. Unfortunately, my
parasite was freaking out on Tuesday, our day of interviews, so I was
in agony pretty much all day. I really hope that never happens to me
again. Second, we had a baptism Saturday. Hooray!
We were supposed to have four, but, well, we only had one. But that
happens sometimes. Hope you´re all happy and healthy and choosing the
right. One more change in Poptun with Hna Bernardez and then I´ll be
home for Christmas. And Halloween. Love, Hna Peterson
August 22, 2011 MMM, Cinnamon Rolls
On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 3:01 PM, Merilee Enid Peterson wrote:
Grant,
you{re wonderful and a good sport. I{m glad you did a dance for the bachelorette party. I didn{t see the video, if it was a vid, but it looked funny from the picture you took. Glad you got a nice summer crush. Welcome to my life before my mission. Thanks for training up Christian with some safe lady moves. One of my fav. stories is when Neal put his arm around Emily and totally slammed his elbow into the wall behind her. Hahaha.
Here it{s pretty regular what{s going on. I wish my life was a little more interesting. The most exciting news is we have 3 baptisms planned for Saturday. Hooray. I sure hope they all happen. Also, we made cinnamon rolls today. Excellent. Also, we have our interviews tomorrow and zone conference Wednesday. So that{s all the big news we{ve got. I{ve got a month and a half and I{ll be home. Don{t do too much crazy stuff at Provo. Wish I could be there. Maybe I{ll come visit. Love, Hna Peterson
Grant,
you{re wonderful and a good sport. I{m glad you did a dance for the bachelorette party. I didn{t see the video, if it was a vid, but it looked funny from the picture you took. Glad you got a nice summer crush. Welcome to my life before my mission. Thanks for training up Christian with some safe lady moves. One of my fav. stories is when Neal put his arm around Emily and totally slammed his elbow into the wall behind her. Hahaha.
Here it{s pretty regular what{s going on. I wish my life was a little more interesting. The most exciting news is we have 3 baptisms planned for Saturday. Hooray. I sure hope they all happen. Also, we made cinnamon rolls today. Excellent. Also, we have our interviews tomorrow and zone conference Wednesday. So that{s all the big news we{ve got. I{ve got a month and a half and I{ll be home. Don{t do too much crazy stuff at Provo. Wish I could be there. Maybe I{ll come visit. Love, Hna Peterson
August 9, 2011 Hna Bernardez is amazing!
Thanks for the week rundown. I really enjoy reading what everyone{s doing even if I can{t be there. This year, next reunion I{m totally going. When{s the next one planned for your side of the family Dad? Sorry everyone threw up...well, little Luke. Sad. But at least you only got fried. My comp. used my sunscreen the other day and I kept being reminded of our reunions. I always put on sunscreen and got fried. And when I didn{t, I got more fried. Here, I don{t even bother anymore. Whatever. We{re always in the sun and I{m still a white person. But maybe I{d be less white if everyone here wasn{t so dark. I want to play those games and build sandcastles with everyone.
Yesterday was Monday, so we went to Santa Elena..2 hours away...then we stayed the night. We saw Tikal, a place of ruins, then we went to Sam{s Burger. It{s a grand play place. So the elders played soccer, pool, and ping pong. We played some too, mostly the table games. We just barely got the rules changed so we can play sports. Our other mission pres. didn{t allow sports besides volleyball.
That means all the basketball and soccer players in the mission were sad every pday. So now they{re all happy. We ate hamburgers. Some elders told me I{m going to have to marry a younger boy when I get home to be a sugar mama, which means an older woman who subsidizes the life of a younger man. But obviously we{d be married, but still funny, b-c I could see that happening.
Kristin Brailsford is engaged and gets married 2 days after I get home from Guatemala. I{m totally going to her sealing in Nauvoo. That{s about all I have planned when I get home. And I{m pretty sure if there{s a Halloween dance I{m there.
My comp Hna Bernardez is amazing. We get along and we work. We have 7 baptisms planned for the next month. So we{re working with those people. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson
Yesterday was Monday, so we went to Santa Elena..2 hours away...then we stayed the night. We saw Tikal, a place of ruins, then we went to Sam{s Burger. It{s a grand play place. So the elders played soccer, pool, and ping pong. We played some too, mostly the table games. We just barely got the rules changed so we can play sports. Our other mission pres. didn{t allow sports besides volleyball.
That means all the basketball and soccer players in the mission were sad every pday. So now they{re all happy. We ate hamburgers. Some elders told me I{m going to have to marry a younger boy when I get home to be a sugar mama, which means an older woman who subsidizes the life of a younger man. But obviously we{d be married, but still funny, b-c I could see that happening.
Kristin Brailsford is engaged and gets married 2 days after I get home from Guatemala. I{m totally going to her sealing in Nauvoo. That{s about all I have planned when I get home. And I{m pretty sure if there{s a Halloween dance I{m there.
My comp Hna Bernardez is amazing. We get along and we work. We have 7 baptisms planned for the next month. So we{re working with those people. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson
Aug 1, 2011 Let the Sports Begin...
We have four fechas, well three, b-c one just moved to the area of the elders. But I need to have lots of faith to help them to get baptized b-c they all have the desires to get baptized, but not to go to church. That{s not going to happen if they can{t get to church. We have rules you know.
Anyway, our mission pres, Pres. Watts, who knows the new mission pres. in mom and dad{s stake, the Keyes, just revoked the no sports rule. So today we played soccer. I{m not very good, and after 16 months of nothing, my coordination is going to need some looking after. But besides that, we had some good times.
After soccer, we ate hamburgers and drank lemonaid slushies at a food place called the fonda, and bought some home made wheat bread. Amen to that. That{s going to be delicious.
Hna Bernardez and I are getting along really well. 10 more weeks together and I{m going home. So there{s lots to do out here, but we{ve still got some time.
It{s been rainy...and well, I{ve felt the past week like I drank sploosh b-c well, my intake is usually followed pretty fast by outtake. So I have high hopes that ends. Who knows what in the crud is going on with my crazy bod. However, I think I{m probably lactose intolerant and I{ve been eating lots of fruit. So that prob. doesn{t help. But other than that, it{s all good out here. Glad to hear you{ve had some success. You{re the best. Love, Hna Peterson
Grant,
I{m positive I had Canute b-c I got him something in Germany and gave it to him before and America gave me something before my mission too from Cutco. But I don{t have any idea. Soooooooo I guess I{ll have Christian in another 10 years and I{ll give him something cool. I think Sarah just sent something to Canute b-c he was serving a mission. But whatevs.
Hope you{re having fun making and watching movies. We got a dvd player to show training movies. Very nice. All the elders like to ask to borrow it. But I am not stupid, so it will never leave my house. I don{t think you{re too picky, just keep looking. I don{t think it{s your fault there are only 14 yr olds chasing you. Love, Hna Peterson
Anyway, our mission pres, Pres. Watts, who knows the new mission pres. in mom and dad{s stake, the Keyes, just revoked the no sports rule. So today we played soccer. I{m not very good, and after 16 months of nothing, my coordination is going to need some looking after. But besides that, we had some good times.
After soccer, we ate hamburgers and drank lemonaid slushies at a food place called the fonda, and bought some home made wheat bread. Amen to that. That{s going to be delicious.
Hna Bernardez and I are getting along really well. 10 more weeks together and I{m going home. So there{s lots to do out here, but we{ve still got some time.
It{s been rainy...and well, I{ve felt the past week like I drank sploosh b-c well, my intake is usually followed pretty fast by outtake. So I have high hopes that ends. Who knows what in the crud is going on with my crazy bod. However, I think I{m probably lactose intolerant and I{ve been eating lots of fruit. So that prob. doesn{t help. But other than that, it{s all good out here. Glad to hear you{ve had some success. You{re the best. Love, Hna Peterson
Grant,
I{m positive I had Canute b-c I got him something in Germany and gave it to him before and America gave me something before my mission too from Cutco. But I don{t have any idea. Soooooooo I guess I{ll have Christian in another 10 years and I{ll give him something cool. I think Sarah just sent something to Canute b-c he was serving a mission. But whatevs.
Hope you{re having fun making and watching movies. We got a dvd player to show training movies. Very nice. All the elders like to ask to borrow it. But I am not stupid, so it will never leave my house. I don{t think you{re too picky, just keep looking. I don{t think it{s your fault there are only 14 yr olds chasing you. Love, Hna Peterson
Sunday, August 14, 2011
July 25, 2011
Canute,
Yep, Elder Ryan was totally in the MTC with me. Good times. This week{s been a good week. Hna Bernardez is amazing. She{s a hard worker and we{ve been trying to be good missonaries.
We{ve been running every morning. We{ve been teaching lots of people. We do have the two hour comp. study, so that{s kind of crazy. We have good structure in the program though, so it passes really fast. This area has a great need for lots of visits, so we{re pressing forward with lots of faith.
We{re trying to get our investigators to church more than once. We{re trying to get them to bond with the members. We get along well, so that helps. The people here are very special.
I heard about some hammocks. I know mom wants one. Mom, I heard we can get an American flag hammock, or a Costa Rica flag hammock. Or specific colors? I don{t know what you want, but they{re about 35 dollars each. So, let me know in the email I{ll get next week what you would like. And if you would like, if you haven{t sent me that package yet, please put in there some shoe inserts. I realized I could use some more of those in my last three months and they don{t have them here. We walk a lot. I copied my pics onto the zip today. The other zip, very small, didn{t fit many pics. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson
Yep, Elder Ryan was totally in the MTC with me. Good times. This week{s been a good week. Hna Bernardez is amazing. She{s a hard worker and we{ve been trying to be good missonaries.
We{ve been running every morning. We{ve been teaching lots of people. We do have the two hour comp. study, so that{s kind of crazy. We have good structure in the program though, so it passes really fast. This area has a great need for lots of visits, so we{re pressing forward with lots of faith.
We{re trying to get our investigators to church more than once. We{re trying to get them to bond with the members. We get along well, so that helps. The people here are very special.
I heard about some hammocks. I know mom wants one. Mom, I heard we can get an American flag hammock, or a Costa Rica flag hammock. Or specific colors? I don{t know what you want, but they{re about 35 dollars each. So, let me know in the email I{ll get next week what you would like. And if you would like, if you haven{t sent me that package yet, please put in there some shoe inserts. I realized I could use some more of those in my last three months and they don{t have them here. We walk a lot. I copied my pics onto the zip today. The other zip, very small, didn{t fit many pics. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson
May 25, 2011...a little out of order
Sheralyn Peterson
cookie Martin
Neal Peterson
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011 11:58 AM
Message body
I didn´t write yet this week b-c we didn´t have pday until today, Wednesday. We had our interviews, our last interviews with this President, then we had a zone conference. It was good, as they always are. Something I took from it was I need to be better about telling people, my family, investigators, members, less actives, that I love them, God loves them, and they can feel that love stronger when they´re doing what God wants them to do in their lives. So that´s something I learned.
In my interview, I´m pretty sure Pres. Torres was thinking about how he won´t be there to counsel me about marriage when I finish my mission, so he took some time to tell me during this interview. He told me I was a commodity, not to settle, and that I´d find someone special soon. But that didn´t mean I´d find someone on the mission. Thanks Pres. Then he told me I should find someone who was mission president material. He told me all sorts of stuff about marriage.
He said he knew he´d never talked to me like that before. When I told him I still had some time on the mission before I worried about that stuff, he kind of shook out of marriage counsel mode, and said, right, then went on about my investigators. Kind of funny.
Last Tuesday we stayed inside all day. It was because some druggies killed 27 workers of a drug plantation looking for the owner so they could get their money. Peten is in a time of sitio right now. That means everyone enters their house earlier than 8 every night. That means we enter the house at 7. For Zone conferences, they usually drive on the roads, but they couldn´t drive this time, they flew in a plane to get here, to stay off the roads.
So changes may just be internal, which means I prob. will be with my comp. another change, which is just fine with me. My comp. got bitten by a dog this week. It was a mute dog. It just walked up to her and bit her. She was like, ¨Hey, ow¨. And we were all like what just happened to you? And she told us that dog had just bitten her. I know it was a bad comp. thing to do, but I laughed. It was just so unexpected.
Thanks for sending me another package. I just got Cookie´s and Neal´s Easter packages. I think I will be eating this candy for the rest of my mission. Actually, I gave half to my comp, who already ate all of it. And we´ve been passing it out at church and stuff, so it prob. won´t last me. There was tons of candy though, so maybe it will. Thank you so much for the panty hose and mascara. The knee highs will definitly last my whole mission.
We took some pics at the zone conference, so I´ll try to put some on. Usually the computers don´t accept my type of camera, but if this one will, I´ll try to update you. I just sent the family a paper letter today. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
cookie Martin
Neal Peterson
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011 11:58 AM
Message body
I didn´t write yet this week b-c we didn´t have pday until today, Wednesday. We had our interviews, our last interviews with this President, then we had a zone conference. It was good, as they always are. Something I took from it was I need to be better about telling people, my family, investigators, members, less actives, that I love them, God loves them, and they can feel that love stronger when they´re doing what God wants them to do in their lives. So that´s something I learned.
In my interview, I´m pretty sure Pres. Torres was thinking about how he won´t be there to counsel me about marriage when I finish my mission, so he took some time to tell me during this interview. He told me I was a commodity, not to settle, and that I´d find someone special soon. But that didn´t mean I´d find someone on the mission. Thanks Pres. Then he told me I should find someone who was mission president material. He told me all sorts of stuff about marriage.
He said he knew he´d never talked to me like that before. When I told him I still had some time on the mission before I worried about that stuff, he kind of shook out of marriage counsel mode, and said, right, then went on about my investigators. Kind of funny.
Last Tuesday we stayed inside all day. It was because some druggies killed 27 workers of a drug plantation looking for the owner so they could get their money. Peten is in a time of sitio right now. That means everyone enters their house earlier than 8 every night. That means we enter the house at 7. For Zone conferences, they usually drive on the roads, but they couldn´t drive this time, they flew in a plane to get here, to stay off the roads.
So changes may just be internal, which means I prob. will be with my comp. another change, which is just fine with me. My comp. got bitten by a dog this week. It was a mute dog. It just walked up to her and bit her. She was like, ¨Hey, ow¨. And we were all like what just happened to you? And she told us that dog had just bitten her. I know it was a bad comp. thing to do, but I laughed. It was just so unexpected.
Thanks for sending me another package. I just got Cookie´s and Neal´s Easter packages. I think I will be eating this candy for the rest of my mission. Actually, I gave half to my comp, who already ate all of it. And we´ve been passing it out at church and stuff, so it prob. won´t last me. There was tons of candy though, so maybe it will. Thank you so much for the panty hose and mascara. The knee highs will definitly last my whole mission.
We took some pics at the zone conference, so I´ll try to put some on. Usually the computers don´t accept my type of camera, but if this one will, I´ll try to update you. I just sent the family a paper letter today. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Thursday, July 21, 2011
July 18, 2011 laughing from Honduras
Thursday, July 21, 2011 2:15 PM
Hey Elder Canute, you{re the best. I was wondering if you{d do me a favor and think about drawing the stuff that{s in Revelations 4. It{s not for anything in particular, but your artistic mind would be amazing to try and plot out where God lives. I{d like to get a better visual myself. If you ever have time. So yeah, maybe it will have to wait a little. Sorry your comp was so sick, that{s just like Grant and Christian huh? Well, kind of. I don{t think they got sick b-c of cake.
So I got my changes. My new hija is named Hna Bernardez. She{s from Honduras and she{s black. She{s hilarious. She laughs all the time, and I think this next 3 months is going to be the best 3 months of my mission. I{m pretty stoked. We got in last night and today we started the new study program... That means we are going to have 2 hours every day of comp. study. I thought it would be harder, but it actually makes comp. study really easy. Sweet thing is revelation.
For our time in the cap. we stayed with the mission nurse. We had some good times. There were 7 new sisters and we{re going to be with our newbies for 2 changes, that means I{m going to end in Poptun...that{ll be 9 months here, very nice.
My comp. stole another sister{s fancy planner while we were in the temple. So while my comp. was in the shower, the other sister looked in her bag, and what do you know, she found her fancy leather cover with El Salvador{s temple on the front. Wow. Double pecado stealing in the temple. But at least she got it back. My comp. also stole my favorite grey dress, which happened to be my the only article of clothing I liked. When I asked if she{d seen it she said no, but if it made me feel better, someone stole two of her skirts on the mission. No that doesn{t make me feel better.
Anyway, I cried the whole change conference, so I have no idea what I{m going to do when I actually go home. Hna Urizar went home, she was one of my fav. comps. So I cried about my other comp{s vice, and Hna U going home, and how I only have 3 more months to preach the gospel to all the world. So maybe for my final conference I will be ok and won{t cry at all. Doubt it.
But we{re going to be great. I thought about something Caryn told me a couple years ago, about never ever ever being an hermana, and a laughed a little while. B-c the mission is sure hard, but it{s so worthwhile.
First of all, I{m glad Grant{s trying to get indy into your (josh's) name again. I don{t know how well it{s going to grab, but surely something can and will be done. I am excited to hear about the reunion even if I{m not going.
I know about hard work and the importance of college too. I learned that somewhere in between McDonald{s and milking the goats. Glad you{re enjoying your time, I was pretty sure I had Canute last year and Christian this year, but Sarah told me I was confused, so I{d like a reminder, b-c in the next 3 months I need to buy something for whichever male in our family I have. Love you!!!, Hna Peterson
Hey Elder Canute, you{re the best. I was wondering if you{d do me a favor and think about drawing the stuff that{s in Revelations 4. It{s not for anything in particular, but your artistic mind would be amazing to try and plot out where God lives. I{d like to get a better visual myself. If you ever have time. So yeah, maybe it will have to wait a little. Sorry your comp was so sick, that{s just like Grant and Christian huh? Well, kind of. I don{t think they got sick b-c of cake.
So I got my changes. My new hija is named Hna Bernardez. She{s from Honduras and she{s black. She{s hilarious. She laughs all the time, and I think this next 3 months is going to be the best 3 months of my mission. I{m pretty stoked. We got in last night and today we started the new study program... That means we are going to have 2 hours every day of comp. study. I thought it would be harder, but it actually makes comp. study really easy. Sweet thing is revelation.
For our time in the cap. we stayed with the mission nurse. We had some good times. There were 7 new sisters and we{re going to be with our newbies for 2 changes, that means I{m going to end in Poptun...that{ll be 9 months here, very nice.
My comp. stole another sister{s fancy planner while we were in the temple. So while my comp. was in the shower, the other sister looked in her bag, and what do you know, she found her fancy leather cover with El Salvador{s temple on the front. Wow. Double pecado stealing in the temple. But at least she got it back. My comp. also stole my favorite grey dress, which happened to be my the only article of clothing I liked. When I asked if she{d seen it she said no, but if it made me feel better, someone stole two of her skirts on the mission. No that doesn{t make me feel better.
Anyway, I cried the whole change conference, so I have no idea what I{m going to do when I actually go home. Hna Urizar went home, she was one of my fav. comps. So I cried about my other comp{s vice, and Hna U going home, and how I only have 3 more months to preach the gospel to all the world. So maybe for my final conference I will be ok and won{t cry at all. Doubt it.
But we{re going to be great. I thought about something Caryn told me a couple years ago, about never ever ever being an hermana, and a laughed a little while. B-c the mission is sure hard, but it{s so worthwhile.
First of all, I{m glad Grant{s trying to get indy into your (josh's) name again. I don{t know how well it{s going to grab, but surely something can and will be done. I am excited to hear about the reunion even if I{m not going.
I know about hard work and the importance of college too. I learned that somewhere in between McDonald{s and milking the goats. Glad you{re enjoying your time, I was pretty sure I had Canute last year and Christian this year, but Sarah told me I was confused, so I{d like a reminder, b-c in the next 3 months I need to buy something for whichever male in our family I have. Love you!!!, Hna Peterson
Sunday, July 17, 2011
july 11, 2011
Yeah, well, I{m eating again. So that{s cool. It{s raining pretty crazy recio right now, so that{s cool too. I didn{t bring my umbrella. Yeah, go ahead and sell her to Aunt Amy. I{ll buy a new car with the money when I get home. Just look for a good car for me too while you{re looking b-c I{m going to need one too. Or maybe I[ll look for one in TX. Or maybe I[ll tell Sarah to look for one for me. I was going to buy another car anyway. I miss pizza and cherries. We ate pupusas and threw water balloons for our 4th of July celebrations. They don{t celebrate anything here. Just Christmas, but really, not that either, they just do lots of noisy firecrackers. That{s not Christmas.
Yeah, tell Aunt Amy it{s fine. No hard feelings. I{m on a mission, so I{m going to blessed right. Love, Hna Peterson
Tell Christian to get well soon.
Grant wrote: I have very unfortunate news. Your car is lying on it's deathbed.
Merilee replied: Aw man. I thought I{d get at least something for my car. Guess I should{ve sold it before my mission. Oh well, I guess now I have a testimony of spiritual instead of money blessings on my mission. But that{s ok, b-c we can{t take anything with us can we?
We saw a river and a castle today for pday. Very cool.
Yeah, tell Aunt Amy it{s fine. No hard feelings. I{m on a mission, so I{m going to blessed right. Love, Hna Peterson
Tell Christian to get well soon.
Grant wrote: I have very unfortunate news. Your car is lying on it's deathbed.
Merilee replied: Aw man. I thought I{d get at least something for my car. Guess I should{ve sold it before my mission. Oh well, I guess now I have a testimony of spiritual instead of money blessings on my mission. But that{s ok, b-c we can{t take anything with us can we?
We saw a river and a castle today for pday. Very cool.
July 4, 2011 Merilee's rockin'
Thanks for the 4th of July email. We threw water balloons and ate pupusas for the 4th of July. Happy Birthday Tina and Jim. I{m glad you{ve all got the fencing and gardening bugs. Very nice. Well, bugs, not really, mostly the desires to finish all those projects before I get home. I{d like some apple crisp and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies when I get home. It rained today, so it{s not super hot. I{m all wet b-c as a district we played water balloon drench. Or something more official sounding if you can think of it.
Very cool Canute. Glad you got all that stuff figured out. We have our interviews Friday. We didn{t work much last week b-c my comp. gets migraines. Or she doesn{t drink enough water and it{s hot, so she won{t leave the house. That was rough. So I just read the Liahonas I have and prayed a lot.
We also had a service opportunity with that house of orphans, or abused children waiting to find out where they{re going to live b-c their parents abuse them. We broke rock and shoveled rock...with sledge hammers, shovels and pickaxes. We did it from like 930 to 2. We also ate, so we didn{t work the whole time, but yeah. I was super tired the next day and the day after. I worked hard. My comp. sat on the side. All the kids came and worked and the other 6 elders. They worked hard too. When we went home, she slept for a couple hours and we got in one lesson. So yeah, another productive day on the mission.
I just wish sometimes I could do more to find people. Maybe I{ll train the next change and we{ll get some stuff done. I don{t like being a slacker missionary, but if your comp. won{t leave the house, what can you do? Anyways, if we worked all the time we should be working, we{d get some baptisms. But yeah, right now, nothing. And my comp. doesn{t leave people with commitments. She just says maybe sometime if you want you can go to church. If you want. Pah. That is not a commitment.
Anyway, CTR. I told Grant I had a 6 pack and he said I beat him b-c he only has a 4 pack. I realized I still only have a 4 pack, but the bottom two are ever so close, I just had to tell the people I have 6. Very soon. I can feel it.
I{m hoping I never have to take another math class, but I probably will have to.
Grant,
Thanks for the confidence. We{re working hard during the day, I just get nervous for my stuff at night. I have no idea why she stole my tag, luckily I have 2 more, one from America, and my other from the MTC. Maybe she wants to tell people afterwards I gave it to her. She would do that.
But the good news is, I{ve got a six pack. I{ve never had a 6 pack before. It{s AWESOME. However, like I said, it may not last long after my mission. I{m just enjoying it while it lasts. And trying to hechar ganas a comer. I don{t know why, but eating{s been rough for me these last couple weeks. Cuesta. It should be easy, I{ve been doing it since birth. However, maybe it{s b-c I{m sick of eating the same stuff. If I go anorexic, I could prob. still live until the end of my mission. I hope, b-c I cannot handle any more eggs, beans, platanos, and ham sandwiches every single day.
Yeah, I woke up at 3 am the other morning, and sat there for 3 hours awake and at 4 I watched my comp. go through the stuff on my desk for money. I lock my suitcase with the rest of my money, but if I leave it in my agenda or whatever, it leaves in the night. Or sometimes during the day, when I{m in the bathroom or whatever. So I{ve started putting it in my bra, out of necessity. Yeah, lame.
She{s going home a change early though, that{s my one comfort, she only has 3 more weeks to steal from me. That{s a nice feeling. Just 3 more weeks. Drink all the Dr. Pepper you can without losing all the calcium in your bones.
Lots of love,
Hna Peterson
Very cool Canute. Glad you got all that stuff figured out. We have our interviews Friday. We didn{t work much last week b-c my comp. gets migraines. Or she doesn{t drink enough water and it{s hot, so she won{t leave the house. That was rough. So I just read the Liahonas I have and prayed a lot.
We also had a service opportunity with that house of orphans, or abused children waiting to find out where they{re going to live b-c their parents abuse them. We broke rock and shoveled rock...with sledge hammers, shovels and pickaxes. We did it from like 930 to 2. We also ate, so we didn{t work the whole time, but yeah. I was super tired the next day and the day after. I worked hard. My comp. sat on the side. All the kids came and worked and the other 6 elders. They worked hard too. When we went home, she slept for a couple hours and we got in one lesson. So yeah, another productive day on the mission.
I just wish sometimes I could do more to find people. Maybe I{ll train the next change and we{ll get some stuff done. I don{t like being a slacker missionary, but if your comp. won{t leave the house, what can you do? Anyways, if we worked all the time we should be working, we{d get some baptisms. But yeah, right now, nothing. And my comp. doesn{t leave people with commitments. She just says maybe sometime if you want you can go to church. If you want. Pah. That is not a commitment.
Anyway, CTR. I told Grant I had a 6 pack and he said I beat him b-c he only has a 4 pack. I realized I still only have a 4 pack, but the bottom two are ever so close, I just had to tell the people I have 6. Very soon. I can feel it.
I{m hoping I never have to take another math class, but I probably will have to.
Grant,
Thanks for the confidence. We{re working hard during the day, I just get nervous for my stuff at night. I have no idea why she stole my tag, luckily I have 2 more, one from America, and my other from the MTC. Maybe she wants to tell people afterwards I gave it to her. She would do that.
But the good news is, I{ve got a six pack. I{ve never had a 6 pack before. It{s AWESOME. However, like I said, it may not last long after my mission. I{m just enjoying it while it lasts. And trying to hechar ganas a comer. I don{t know why, but eating{s been rough for me these last couple weeks. Cuesta. It should be easy, I{ve been doing it since birth. However, maybe it{s b-c I{m sick of eating the same stuff. If I go anorexic, I could prob. still live until the end of my mission. I hope, b-c I cannot handle any more eggs, beans, platanos, and ham sandwiches every single day.
Yeah, I woke up at 3 am the other morning, and sat there for 3 hours awake and at 4 I watched my comp. go through the stuff on my desk for money. I lock my suitcase with the rest of my money, but if I leave it in my agenda or whatever, it leaves in the night. Or sometimes during the day, when I{m in the bathroom or whatever. So I{ve started putting it in my bra, out of necessity. Yeah, lame.
She{s going home a change early though, that{s my one comfort, she only has 3 more weeks to steal from me. That{s a nice feeling. Just 3 more weeks. Drink all the Dr. Pepper you can without losing all the calcium in your bones.
Lots of love,
Hna Peterson
June 27, 2011...Hangin' in there
Thanks for the strength and pep talk mom. I know sometimes it{s hard to hear the rough times we have, but I know this time is a really good time to grow. I{ve felt really close to my Heavenly Father in the past couple weeks. That happens when we don{t feel like we can talk to anyone else about our trials or how we feel.
I know I can be a stronger person and I really appreciate that my Heavenly Father loves me enough to give me growing experiences. I know He listens to me. The greatest part is that I can hear him in my prayers. That makes me hopeful and gives me more desire to share what I have with the people I talk to every day. It{s rough, but I{ve only got 4 more months right? And if I{m poor now, well, I guess I should get used to it. The people here are really poor.
Thanks for the private letter. It{s nice to know people actually read when I write these ...
Mom wrote....Merilee, are you on?
Yeah, I{m on right now. I have another half hour actually. Well, I don{t know if I need anything really. I{ve got knee highs until I finish. I am working on loading pictures right now, but there are a trillion, so still there are only the Christmas pictures loading, b-c I have a million pics on my camera.
I should probably delete some of them. B-c it takes forever to load them.
Ummm, there really isn{t any news this week. I{ve started putting my money in my bra, but besides sweaty money, that{s not really news. I look forward to the next couple months b-c there are lots of people that need to change their lives and we{re here trying to help them do that.
We made rootbeer floats today. That was awesome. First time I{ve used that rootbeer stuff you sent me forever ago. Thanks. They were delicious.
Thanks for the confidence. We{re working hard during the day, I just get nervous for my stuff at night. I have no idea why she stole my tag, luckily I have 2 more, one from America, and my other from the MTC. Maybe she wants to tell people afterwards I gave it to her. She would do that.
But the good news is, I{ve got a six pack. I{ve never had a 6 pack before. It{s AWESOME. However, like I said, it may not last long after my mission. I{m just enjoying it while it lasts. And trying to hechar ganas a comer. I don{t know why, but eating{s been rough for me these last couple weeks. Cuesta. It should be easy, I{ve been doing it since birth. However, maybe it{s b-c I{m sick of eating the same stuff. If I go anorexic, I could prob. still live until the end of my mission. I hope, b-c I cannot handle any more eggs, beans, platanos, and ham sandwiches every single day.
Yeah, I woke up at 3 am the other morning, and sat there for 3 hours awake and at 4 I watched my comp. go through the stuff on my desk for money. I lock my suitcase with the rest of my money, but if I leave it in my agenda or whatever, it leaves in the night. Or sometimes during the day, when I{m in the bathroom or whatever. So I{ve started putting it in my bra, out of necessity. Yeah, lame.
She{s going home a change early though, that{s my one comfort, she only has 3 more weeks to steal from me. That{s a nice feeling. Just 3 more weeks.
Love you! Merilee
I know I can be a stronger person and I really appreciate that my Heavenly Father loves me enough to give me growing experiences. I know He listens to me. The greatest part is that I can hear him in my prayers. That makes me hopeful and gives me more desire to share what I have with the people I talk to every day. It{s rough, but I{ve only got 4 more months right? And if I{m poor now, well, I guess I should get used to it. The people here are really poor.
Thanks for the private letter. It{s nice to know people actually read when I write these ...
Mom wrote....Merilee, are you on?
Yeah, I{m on right now. I have another half hour actually. Well, I don{t know if I need anything really. I{ve got knee highs until I finish. I am working on loading pictures right now, but there are a trillion, so still there are only the Christmas pictures loading, b-c I have a million pics on my camera.
I should probably delete some of them. B-c it takes forever to load them.
Ummm, there really isn{t any news this week. I{ve started putting my money in my bra, but besides sweaty money, that{s not really news. I look forward to the next couple months b-c there are lots of people that need to change their lives and we{re here trying to help them do that.
We made rootbeer floats today. That was awesome. First time I{ve used that rootbeer stuff you sent me forever ago. Thanks. They were delicious.
Thanks for the confidence. We{re working hard during the day, I just get nervous for my stuff at night. I have no idea why she stole my tag, luckily I have 2 more, one from America, and my other from the MTC. Maybe she wants to tell people afterwards I gave it to her. She would do that.
But the good news is, I{ve got a six pack. I{ve never had a 6 pack before. It{s AWESOME. However, like I said, it may not last long after my mission. I{m just enjoying it while it lasts. And trying to hechar ganas a comer. I don{t know why, but eating{s been rough for me these last couple weeks. Cuesta. It should be easy, I{ve been doing it since birth. However, maybe it{s b-c I{m sick of eating the same stuff. If I go anorexic, I could prob. still live until the end of my mission. I hope, b-c I cannot handle any more eggs, beans, platanos, and ham sandwiches every single day.
Yeah, I woke up at 3 am the other morning, and sat there for 3 hours awake and at 4 I watched my comp. go through the stuff on my desk for money. I lock my suitcase with the rest of my money, but if I leave it in my agenda or whatever, it leaves in the night. Or sometimes during the day, when I{m in the bathroom or whatever. So I{ve started putting it in my bra, out of necessity. Yeah, lame.
She{s going home a change early though, that{s my one comfort, she only has 3 more weeks to steal from me. That{s a nice feeling. Just 3 more weeks.
Love you! Merilee
June 20, 2011..trouble in Dodge
Wow, I didn{t know Emily broke her arm. What happened? I{m glad you{ve been keeping busy. Do you think the projects will ever end? I{m sure every one of us is grateful we{re not there helping. Sorry. Just being honest. I know you{d really appreciate help.
Why do all the keyboards here suck? That´s my question. And why does the question mark only work sometimes? Weird. Ok, so I got Hna Cabrera as my comp. again. We were comps in Coban. She´s a picky person. Like the only girl in a family of boys who always got everything handed to her picky. But we´re eating different foods...like we´re cooking separate and we should be good. I´ve never done that before, but I imagine that means less rice. Excellent.
I had an interview with my President yesterday. My comp. stole 100 quetzales from me and my mission tag last week. In Coban, I lost 750 quetzales to her. That{s about the same as losing 750 dollars. We get along, we just have serious trust issues. Well, I do, I{m sure she trusts me. It{s hard to teach with someone who is hypocritically not trying to be like Jesus Christ.
My mission Pres. just listened to me, told me to be strong, and that the Lord told him I was the only person he could put her with. So this is her last change. She{s supposed to have two changes more, this and the next, but she{s going home at the end of this change. At least I won{t have her as a comp. again, I feel very paranoid all the time. I don{t like feeling paranoid or scarce on money, but that{s how I feel right now. But only a month more right?
And I cried a lot, b-c I don{t know how to help her, but he just said we{d let the Lord take care of her and to hide my stuff. And we never do district activities, we just stay home b-c she hates elders. So that{s kind of lame, but at the least, we get along and she walks fast. So outside the house we{re alright.t at the least. She told me Thursday if I told Pres. something about her, she would tear my hair out. Hypothetically of course. But yeah, she{s crazy sometimes. Other times, quite normal for a clepto.
Hope the gardening{s going well. CTR. Love, Hna Peterson
Why do all the keyboards here suck? That´s my question. And why does the question mark only work sometimes? Weird. Ok, so I got Hna Cabrera as my comp. again. We were comps in Coban. She´s a picky person. Like the only girl in a family of boys who always got everything handed to her picky. But we´re eating different foods...like we´re cooking separate and we should be good. I´ve never done that before, but I imagine that means less rice. Excellent.
I had an interview with my President yesterday. My comp. stole 100 quetzales from me and my mission tag last week. In Coban, I lost 750 quetzales to her. That{s about the same as losing 750 dollars. We get along, we just have serious trust issues. Well, I do, I{m sure she trusts me. It{s hard to teach with someone who is hypocritically not trying to be like Jesus Christ.
My mission Pres. just listened to me, told me to be strong, and that the Lord told him I was the only person he could put her with. So this is her last change. She{s supposed to have two changes more, this and the next, but she{s going home at the end of this change. At least I won{t have her as a comp. again, I feel very paranoid all the time. I don{t like feeling paranoid or scarce on money, but that{s how I feel right now. But only a month more right?
And I cried a lot, b-c I don{t know how to help her, but he just said we{d let the Lord take care of her and to hide my stuff. And we never do district activities, we just stay home b-c she hates elders. So that{s kind of lame, but at the least, we get along and she walks fast. So outside the house we{re alright.t at the least. She told me Thursday if I told Pres. something about her, she would tear my hair out. Hypothetically of course. But yeah, she{s crazy sometimes. Other times, quite normal for a clepto.
Hope the gardening{s going well. CTR. Love, Hna Peterson
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June 13, 2011.."old, new comp"
Re: Bye, Bye, Boys..
Thanks for all the news. I´m sure it´s going to be a little more boring without the little boys around, but also a little less hassled. Sorry I didn´t send a pic, I didn´t bring my camera. However, my comp´s Hna Cabrera. She was my comp. in Coban too, so we know each other from before.
I love the people here and am glad I get to teach them a little while longer. I hope we can continue working hard and completing our purpose as missionaries. I bought lots of fruit to eat this week.
I just got the conference edition of the Liahona. It´s very cool to read it again. Love, Hna Peterson
Thanks for all the news. I´m sure it´s going to be a little more boring without the little boys around, but also a little less hassled. Sorry I didn´t send a pic, I didn´t bring my camera. However, my comp´s Hna Cabrera. She was my comp. in Coban too, so we know each other from before.
I love the people here and am glad I get to teach them a little while longer. I hope we can continue working hard and completing our purpose as missionaries. I bought lots of fruit to eat this week.
I just got the conference edition of the Liahona. It´s very cool to read it again. Love, Hna Peterson
Sunday, June 5, 2011
May 30, 2011
These are some older pictures, b-c I have a million loading right now. My hair is definitely shorter now, but those pictures may take forever to load. But my mom wanted pics and maybe you all haven´t seen these.
Today we visited a cave. We walked forever, but sometimes that doesn´t mean much. Just lots of walking.
J
Today we visited a cave. We walked forever, but sometimes that doesn´t mean much. Just lots of walking.
J
Thursday, May 19, 2011
May 16, 2011 Love those cold showers....NOT
Yeah, I took cold showers all my mission, until I realized that I might as well get up an hour early b-c I´m always awake at 530 and put my water to heat on the stove. So I pour it in a bucket and then add cold water and shower like that. with a bowl from a bucket. But if I didn´t wake up early, I prob. wouldn´t set my alarm to do it.
That means I do bucket showers, but they´re not cold. It´s super hot here, so if I showered at night, I probably wouldn´t heat my water. Sometimes we have water, sometimes it doesn´t come, so we always fill up the middle of our cement sink, it´s called a pila, so we have water whether it´s running or not.
I got an email from Christian. Thanks mom. I also got a package. Thanks Cookie!!!! Does anyone have any special requests for things in Guate. I know I´ve got some time left on the mission, but we don´t go touring for souvenirs very often, so if there´s something anyone wants specifically, let me know. Otherwise I´ll just bring a bunch of wood stuff home and we´ll pick one by one like when Neal got home from his mission.
I´m glad you´re reading the scriptures. Ether´s a good place to be. Our mission pres. has been talking about going home for 7 months. So he´s been ready, but he always says he´s not baggy..or trunky. But if you always mention it, it means you are, so he has been. And his wife. But the Torres´s are leaving the end of this change. Every 6 weeks we have changes. Our mission pres and his wife go home June 8. That´s when we have changes next. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
That means I do bucket showers, but they´re not cold. It´s super hot here, so if I showered at night, I probably wouldn´t heat my water. Sometimes we have water, sometimes it doesn´t come, so we always fill up the middle of our cement sink, it´s called a pila, so we have water whether it´s running or not.
I got an email from Christian. Thanks mom. I also got a package. Thanks Cookie!!!! Does anyone have any special requests for things in Guate. I know I´ve got some time left on the mission, but we don´t go touring for souvenirs very often, so if there´s something anyone wants specifically, let me know. Otherwise I´ll just bring a bunch of wood stuff home and we´ll pick one by one like when Neal got home from his mission.
I´m glad you´re reading the scriptures. Ether´s a good place to be. Our mission pres. has been talking about going home for 7 months. So he´s been ready, but he always says he´s not baggy..or trunky. But if you always mention it, it means you are, so he has been. And his wife. But the Torres´s are leaving the end of this change. Every 6 weeks we have changes. Our mission pres and his wife go home June 8. That´s when we have changes next. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Thanks for the love...May 9, 2011
On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 2:00 PM, Merilee Enid Peterson
That last picture you sent actually looks almost identical to our family couch sleeping pictures. Well done strong family. crappy my car is being a bad car. I told you to sell it. If you can find a buyer and a good price, like 2500, I would encourage you to sell it. I can always buy a new one when I get home. Or I can drive it to T x and sell it. Either way, you´ll prob. need a car. your reasoning is very sound.
I know there are some letters here that need to be capitalized, but this keyboard kind of s'u'c'k's. so that´s what´s going on right now with my chafa typing.
I´m glad you took a break to talk to me. I enjoyed talking with all the family, even though most of it was garbled and unintelligible. I still felt lots of love. and I always appreciate your pep talks. B-c really, I need them. I felt super baggy this morning. Or trunkie. You know, 5 months is an eternity and yet, it´s nothing. I do think visiting New zealand would be awesome though. very cool.
That´s a pretty sweet shirt, Grant. I´m pretty sure cabra is a bad word here. Or it means goat. Anyway, you always have Sunday night headaches. Maybe it´s from eating a lot. I know you always eat a lot on Sundays and that totally happens to me when I eat a ton. So something to look out for. I´ve become very accustomed to listening to my body here on the mission. Which is a huge pain sometimes.
I´m glad I didn´t send your letter yet, b-c you went to WA. But what´s the address there? Maybe I´ll cut open your envelope and put in a letter to Aunt Amy and Uncle Graydon´s family. I sure hope their plans for marrying you off pay off. You´re a cool guy and somebody awesome deserves you. I guess my email last week was pretty long. I figured mom would be super excited to see that. She always gives me crap for sending short emails. Oh well, sometimes there´s just more to say. It´s super hot here. Winter was Nov. to Feb. I heard and now it´s rainy season? I don´t know, something like that. I´m sick of eating refried beans and eggs, but only 5 more months of that right?
I don´t have changes, but my comp´s going to Argentina. I hope I don´t get a crazy comp. I guess we´re going to see. I hope she´s cool. There are lots of crazies out there, in and out of the mission. That´s true. Yeah, my mission pres. goes home in June. We´ve heard about the new pres, but not much.
I got a pedicure and the member who did it cut a little deep on my big toe. So she cut to bleed instead of just my dead skin. So that only really affected me for one or two days. But yeah, pulled muscles aren´t so hot. We were supposed to go to the capital yesterday night, but the ZLs told us an hour later than what the tickets were bought for.
So we got there at 1030 and our bus was there at 915. We waited until 12 b-c they kept telling us it was coming and well, yeah, the elders walked us home at 1 am.
This morning we slept in and I washed my laundry. We left my comp´s suitcases at the elder´s house. One more night in the house and one less night in the roach infested house in the cap. God loves us. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
That last picture you sent actually looks almost identical to our family couch sleeping pictures. Well done strong family. crappy my car is being a bad car. I told you to sell it. If you can find a buyer and a good price, like 2500, I would encourage you to sell it. I can always buy a new one when I get home. Or I can drive it to T x and sell it. Either way, you´ll prob. need a car. your reasoning is very sound.
I know there are some letters here that need to be capitalized, but this keyboard kind of s'u'c'k's. so that´s what´s going on right now with my chafa typing.
I´m glad you took a break to talk to me. I enjoyed talking with all the family, even though most of it was garbled and unintelligible. I still felt lots of love. and I always appreciate your pep talks. B-c really, I need them. I felt super baggy this morning. Or trunkie. You know, 5 months is an eternity and yet, it´s nothing. I do think visiting New zealand would be awesome though. very cool.
That´s a pretty sweet shirt, Grant. I´m pretty sure cabra is a bad word here. Or it means goat. Anyway, you always have Sunday night headaches. Maybe it´s from eating a lot. I know you always eat a lot on Sundays and that totally happens to me when I eat a ton. So something to look out for. I´ve become very accustomed to listening to my body here on the mission. Which is a huge pain sometimes.
I´m glad I didn´t send your letter yet, b-c you went to WA. But what´s the address there? Maybe I´ll cut open your envelope and put in a letter to Aunt Amy and Uncle Graydon´s family. I sure hope their plans for marrying you off pay off. You´re a cool guy and somebody awesome deserves you. I guess my email last week was pretty long. I figured mom would be super excited to see that. She always gives me crap for sending short emails. Oh well, sometimes there´s just more to say. It´s super hot here. Winter was Nov. to Feb. I heard and now it´s rainy season? I don´t know, something like that. I´m sick of eating refried beans and eggs, but only 5 more months of that right?
I don´t have changes, but my comp´s going to Argentina. I hope I don´t get a crazy comp. I guess we´re going to see. I hope she´s cool. There are lots of crazies out there, in and out of the mission. That´s true. Yeah, my mission pres. goes home in June. We´ve heard about the new pres, but not much.
I got a pedicure and the member who did it cut a little deep on my big toe. So she cut to bleed instead of just my dead skin. So that only really affected me for one or two days. But yeah, pulled muscles aren´t so hot. We were supposed to go to the capital yesterday night, but the ZLs told us an hour later than what the tickets were bought for.
So we got there at 1030 and our bus was there at 915. We waited until 12 b-c they kept telling us it was coming and well, yeah, the elders walked us home at 1 am.
This morning we slept in and I washed my laundry. We left my comp´s suitcases at the elder´s house. One more night in the house and one less night in the roach infested house in the cap. God loves us. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
May 2, 2011-Happy with Hna Molina
Sorry the mole´s going crazy in the rock garden. Sounds like he feels at home there. We got our call instructions. They told us we can get calls the 8th or the 10th. My comp and I decided it would be better for the both of us to do it the 8th. That´s this Sunday. So I hope that´s ok, b-c that´s what we decided and I won´t hear from you again until you call me.
According to our mission email, you have to call our phone. The number is 00-502-4025-6790. Ok, so I´m in Peten Guatemala. I´m pretty sure that´s the code...the first 5 numbers. I´m sure you can check some world phone code directory, but the last 8 numbers are to our home phone here in our house. My comp´s family is calling our house at 9, so you need to call me at 8 pm. I´m almost positive Guatemala is in the exact same time zone as Missouri, but central america doesn´t do daylight savings.
So I think MO is an hour ahead of us. Whatever, find that out too on the internet, if you can. I just need you to call me at that number at 8. And if I don´t answer, please call me again.If it doesn´t work out, I guess you could still call me Tuesday, but it will be way better if you figure out all the details and call me Sunday, 8 pm Guate time. Thanks.
I´m glad everything is going well in MO. This week we had changes. My comp´s name is Hna Molina. She´s amazing. She has super curly hair, is from Costa Rica, and is in her second change. We have lots of fun. I also found out, a family I taught in my first change, in Coban, had a dream about me. Or the wife did. She said.. I dreamt I was by two rivers. A clean river, and a really dirty river. Hna Peterson, (and she remembered my name), showed me to wash in the clean river. But I couldn´t yet. (She´s not married, so that´s why she couldn´t wash in the clean river). Very cool.
That family sells chocolate and had a trip, but Hna Varela told me they moved. So when I went back, I didn´t visit them b-c I didn´t think they lived there anymore. They said they were mad b-c I never came back to teach them. Hna Endicott told them I left for a while. So I hope they understand. They have a baptismal date. Also very cool. The church is true.
My neighbor lady told me they shot Bin Laden last night at 10 pm. I guess that would be really cool if it were true. I guess you should fill me in b-c I don´t watch the news and the sources we get news from aren´t super reliable. Love you! Can´t wait to talk to you Sunday! Love, Hna Peterson
According to our mission email, you have to call our phone. The number is 00-502-4025-6790. Ok, so I´m in Peten Guatemala. I´m pretty sure that´s the code...the first 5 numbers. I´m sure you can check some world phone code directory, but the last 8 numbers are to our home phone here in our house. My comp´s family is calling our house at 9, so you need to call me at 8 pm. I´m almost positive Guatemala is in the exact same time zone as Missouri, but central america doesn´t do daylight savings.
So I think MO is an hour ahead of us. Whatever, find that out too on the internet, if you can. I just need you to call me at that number at 8. And if I don´t answer, please call me again.If it doesn´t work out, I guess you could still call me Tuesday, but it will be way better if you figure out all the details and call me Sunday, 8 pm Guate time. Thanks.
I´m glad everything is going well in MO. This week we had changes. My comp´s name is Hna Molina. She´s amazing. She has super curly hair, is from Costa Rica, and is in her second change. We have lots of fun. I also found out, a family I taught in my first change, in Coban, had a dream about me. Or the wife did. She said.. I dreamt I was by two rivers. A clean river, and a really dirty river. Hna Peterson, (and she remembered my name), showed me to wash in the clean river. But I couldn´t yet. (She´s not married, so that´s why she couldn´t wash in the clean river). Very cool.
That family sells chocolate and had a trip, but Hna Varela told me they moved. So when I went back, I didn´t visit them b-c I didn´t think they lived there anymore. They said they were mad b-c I never came back to teach them. Hna Endicott told them I left for a while. So I hope they understand. They have a baptismal date. Also very cool. The church is true.
My neighbor lady told me they shot Bin Laden last night at 10 pm. I guess that would be really cool if it were true. I guess you should fill me in b-c I don´t watch the news and the sources we get news from aren´t super reliable. Love you! Can´t wait to talk to you Sunday! Love, Hna Peterson
Thursday, April 28, 2011
April 25-Hoppy Easter!
For Easter, nobody did anything special really, b-c nobody celebrates holidays here. We had a couple parades in the streets, some carpets...or pine needles formed into religious figures, and lots of people left and traveled over the weekend. Most of our investigators. But I heard it´s more of a spring break than a celebration of Jesus Christ and his resurrection.
Neal, you look way skinny in those pictures you sent of your family. You should eat more. But that´s what happens when you exercise a lot. I´m pretty skinny right now too I guess.
How can you let Christian skip school on senior skip day? Jk. I know he´s a good kid and has prob. never really skipped a day of school in his life. Except the day I left for my mission. That´s what great brothers do, they make sacrifices for their sisters. Thanks Christian. And sorry about the crazy grass. Good luck with that. Does Sally know she can eat the seeds in her sunflower or press it in a memory book? Some ideas to pass along to Neal and Emily.
I don´t have changes, but my comp´s going to Argentina. I hope I don´t get a crazy comp. I guess we´re going to see. I hope she´s cool. There are lots of crazies out there, in and out of the mission. That´s true. Yeah, my mission pres. goes home in June. We´ve heard about the new pres, but not much.
I got a pedicure and the member who did it cut a little deep on my big toe. So she cut to bleed instead of just my dead skin. So that only really affected me for one or two days. But yeah, pulled muscles aren´t so hot. We were supposed to go to the capital yesterday night, but the ZLs told us an hour later than what the tickets were bought for.
So we got there at 1030 and our bus was there at 915. We waited until 12 b-c they kept telling us it was coming and well, yeah, the elders walked us home at 1 am.
This morning we slept in and I washed my laundry. We left my comp´s suitcases at the elder´s house. One more night in the house and one less night in the roach infested house in the cap. God loves us. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Neal, you look way skinny in those pictures you sent of your family. You should eat more. But that´s what happens when you exercise a lot. I´m pretty skinny right now too I guess.
How can you let Christian skip school on senior skip day? Jk. I know he´s a good kid and has prob. never really skipped a day of school in his life. Except the day I left for my mission. That´s what great brothers do, they make sacrifices for their sisters. Thanks Christian. And sorry about the crazy grass. Good luck with that. Does Sally know she can eat the seeds in her sunflower or press it in a memory book? Some ideas to pass along to Neal and Emily.
I don´t have changes, but my comp´s going to Argentina. I hope I don´t get a crazy comp. I guess we´re going to see. I hope she´s cool. There are lots of crazies out there, in and out of the mission. That´s true. Yeah, my mission pres. goes home in June. We´ve heard about the new pres, but not much.
I got a pedicure and the member who did it cut a little deep on my big toe. So she cut to bleed instead of just my dead skin. So that only really affected me for one or two days. But yeah, pulled muscles aren´t so hot. We were supposed to go to the capital yesterday night, but the ZLs told us an hour later than what the tickets were bought for.
So we got there at 1030 and our bus was there at 915. We waited until 12 b-c they kept telling us it was coming and well, yeah, the elders walked us home at 1 am.
This morning we slept in and I washed my laundry. We left my comp´s suitcases at the elder´s house. One more night in the house and one less night in the roach infested house in the cap. God loves us. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Thursday, April 21, 2011
April 18, 2011. Ehhh, What did you say?
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Cool the family´s planting berry bushes in the yard again. I hope they survive. I remember the blackberry bushes in our old house and I´ve always wanted them at the house we live in now. Or that they live in now. That´s one of my fondest memories at Aunt Mindy´s..or Mom´s old house too, the blackberry bushes. Berries are delicious. I know the goats always thought so.
This week we had a lot of crazy experiences. We always do. We had our zone conference too. We got to hear a great talk Elder Holland gave at the MTC in January. It got me thinking about how I can be a better missionary. I have 5 more months to help these people accept the gospel, but I also have the rest of my life to do so.
It´s hot here every day. All the roads are loaded with dust. We had a field trip with the relief society last week. We went to a place called the Monjas. It was a bunch of water tiers. It was beautiful and we mostly just bonded with the sisters in the ward all day. And today, one of them, named Mirian, gave us pedicures. The dead skin on my feet was epic. I´ve never had a pedicure before. So that was eye opening. I´ll probably get one of those every couple months in the states...b-c my feet feel awesome now.
I just hope they don´t go ugly again really fast, b-c that´s definitely something that could happen. We got a new fridge yesterday and we got to ride from the zone conference with our mission pres. in his truck. I´m pretty sure he was falling asleep on our drive and we talked to him to keep him awake. I understand his tiredness. But I know the Lord knows what we need and he would never let a mission president fall asleep at the wheel and die b-c he´s on the Lord´s errand and he´s doing all he can to keep the work moving. So I know that´s why we rode with him to our house.
I found out he´s a middle school teacher and when he goes home in 3 months he´s going to teach 5th graders how to be bilingual. That´s a cool story. He only applied one place and had one interview and got the job. His grandkids go there. They also started their mission with 4 grandkids and now they have 9.
We have mission changes next week. That´s going to be sad, b-c my trainee is leaving for Argentina and the sisters in the capital have tons of roaches...so we have to stay overnight two nights and I´m not super excited about that. What a nightmare. Ew. I hate cockroaches.
But the zone conference was amazing and we have lots of ideas about how to be better missionaries. We´re going to work with the members here and we´re going to try harder to meet specific needs.
Also, I´m all there with Canute on the thunder thighs, but I´m pretty sure I´ve toned my whole body. So when I get home, everyone´s going to think I was anorexic on my mission, but it´s a healthy anorexia, b-c I eat lots of beans and corn tortillas. I thought today about how sour cream would be nice.
Thanks for always thinking about us here on the mission. It´s nice to hear we´re not forgotten. I know we´re not, I feel your love in every letter and every box I get. Thank you so much Mom. And the rest of the family. Sorry scouts and nursery are hard to fill. I guess it´s semi understandable. Let me know how your shoulder is doing next week.
Funny story. This week we passed by a guy who was super old with his walker. So we said hello and he emphatically invited us in. Then he said he was going around the house to pee, but I didn´t hear that, so I kept looking over b-c he was just standing there. Luckily I didn´t see anything, but my comp. told me he said that later.
We also had to yell and repeat everything twice or three times. My comp. told him we were going to share a message with him and he said he liked the sound of that b-c nobody ever wanted to share anything with him. And then he said it was a miracle, seeing how his eggs didn´t work anymore. I didn´t hear that either, but my comp. told me later that night. We started singing I´m a child of God and my comp. wouldn´t stop laughing. I was like, what?
Then I got a little frustrated and leaned forward. I couldn´t help laughing a little b-c my comp. was dying. Then he motioned like he was going to elbow me in the face. I´m glad he didn´t. Then he leaned forward to stare my comp. right in the face. And finally, in the middle of the song, he got up, told us he was bored and walked away. Not even kidding.
I know our message is important, so I´m glad we share our message with every type of person. I hope that never happens again, our message is way too essential, but this time it was kinda funny. More crazy than anything, but it´d be a lie if I said I´d thought I could escape crazy people here in Guatemala, they´re everywhere. The church is true. Love you Mom! Love, Hna Peterson
Cool the family´s planting berry bushes in the yard again. I hope they survive. I remember the blackberry bushes in our old house and I´ve always wanted them at the house we live in now. Or that they live in now. That´s one of my fondest memories at Aunt Mindy´s..or Mom´s old house too, the blackberry bushes. Berries are delicious. I know the goats always thought so.
This week we had a lot of crazy experiences. We always do. We had our zone conference too. We got to hear a great talk Elder Holland gave at the MTC in January. It got me thinking about how I can be a better missionary. I have 5 more months to help these people accept the gospel, but I also have the rest of my life to do so.
It´s hot here every day. All the roads are loaded with dust. We had a field trip with the relief society last week. We went to a place called the Monjas. It was a bunch of water tiers. It was beautiful and we mostly just bonded with the sisters in the ward all day. And today, one of them, named Mirian, gave us pedicures. The dead skin on my feet was epic. I´ve never had a pedicure before. So that was eye opening. I´ll probably get one of those every couple months in the states...b-c my feet feel awesome now.
I just hope they don´t go ugly again really fast, b-c that´s definitely something that could happen. We got a new fridge yesterday and we got to ride from the zone conference with our mission pres. in his truck. I´m pretty sure he was falling asleep on our drive and we talked to him to keep him awake. I understand his tiredness. But I know the Lord knows what we need and he would never let a mission president fall asleep at the wheel and die b-c he´s on the Lord´s errand and he´s doing all he can to keep the work moving. So I know that´s why we rode with him to our house.
I found out he´s a middle school teacher and when he goes home in 3 months he´s going to teach 5th graders how to be bilingual. That´s a cool story. He only applied one place and had one interview and got the job. His grandkids go there. They also started their mission with 4 grandkids and now they have 9.
We have mission changes next week. That´s going to be sad, b-c my trainee is leaving for Argentina and the sisters in the capital have tons of roaches...so we have to stay overnight two nights and I´m not super excited about that. What a nightmare. Ew. I hate cockroaches.
But the zone conference was amazing and we have lots of ideas about how to be better missionaries. We´re going to work with the members here and we´re going to try harder to meet specific needs.
Also, I´m all there with Canute on the thunder thighs, but I´m pretty sure I´ve toned my whole body. So when I get home, everyone´s going to think I was anorexic on my mission, but it´s a healthy anorexia, b-c I eat lots of beans and corn tortillas. I thought today about how sour cream would be nice.
Thanks for always thinking about us here on the mission. It´s nice to hear we´re not forgotten. I know we´re not, I feel your love in every letter and every box I get. Thank you so much Mom. And the rest of the family. Sorry scouts and nursery are hard to fill. I guess it´s semi understandable. Let me know how your shoulder is doing next week.
Funny story. This week we passed by a guy who was super old with his walker. So we said hello and he emphatically invited us in. Then he said he was going around the house to pee, but I didn´t hear that, so I kept looking over b-c he was just standing there. Luckily I didn´t see anything, but my comp. told me he said that later.
We also had to yell and repeat everything twice or three times. My comp. told him we were going to share a message with him and he said he liked the sound of that b-c nobody ever wanted to share anything with him. And then he said it was a miracle, seeing how his eggs didn´t work anymore. I didn´t hear that either, but my comp. told me later that night. We started singing I´m a child of God and my comp. wouldn´t stop laughing. I was like, what?
Then I got a little frustrated and leaned forward. I couldn´t help laughing a little b-c my comp. was dying. Then he motioned like he was going to elbow me in the face. I´m glad he didn´t. Then he leaned forward to stare my comp. right in the face. And finally, in the middle of the song, he got up, told us he was bored and walked away. Not even kidding.
I know our message is important, so I´m glad we share our message with every type of person. I hope that never happens again, our message is way too essential, but this time it was kinda funny. More crazy than anything, but it´d be a lie if I said I´d thought I could escape crazy people here in Guatemala, they´re everywhere. The church is true. Love you Mom! Love, Hna Peterson
Sunday, April 17, 2011
April 11, 2011 Congratulations, Bonnie!
Heyyyyyy, Why were you in Utah? Did you see Bon´s graduation? Very cool. She´s going to live with America then after all? I hope they worked everything out for that. So they can all be happy.
Along with Canute, I wonder what the states missionaries do too. We went to some awesome caves today. Very cool. At the mouth of the cave, we got a call. They said we had to go right then to the bus station. Then they said we could do it tonight. My comp. and I have to go tonight at 10 pm for her Argentina paperwork. So that´s going to be crazappy, b-c we prob. won´t sleep very well. The bus ride is like 10 hours. But stuff like that happens sometimes. And luckily, we get to finish out our pday in peace.
And was Conference not amazing? I mean, yeah, it´s always amazing, but this one was fantastic. And yes, we get to talk to our families in another month. Crazy, b-c it´s our last phone call until home in October. We had a baptism this week and have another in two weeks. I don´t know how, but here in Peten, people come to us. It´s so much easier that way. But it doesn´t always happen, it happens more here than in other places I´ve been though.
Thanks for the news. Oh, and if you haven´t sent that package from America yet, can you put some mascara...not waterproof and not Maybelline(the pink bottle) b-c I think I´m allergic to it, it makes my eyes itch...into the package. And some of those shoe inserts you sent me like 4 months ago? That would be awesome. And those knee highs. Hope your vacation was amazing! Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Along with Canute, I wonder what the states missionaries do too. We went to some awesome caves today. Very cool. At the mouth of the cave, we got a call. They said we had to go right then to the bus station. Then they said we could do it tonight. My comp. and I have to go tonight at 10 pm for her Argentina paperwork. So that´s going to be crazappy, b-c we prob. won´t sleep very well. The bus ride is like 10 hours. But stuff like that happens sometimes. And luckily, we get to finish out our pday in peace.
And was Conference not amazing? I mean, yeah, it´s always amazing, but this one was fantastic. And yes, we get to talk to our families in another month. Crazy, b-c it´s our last phone call until home in October. We had a baptism this week and have another in two weeks. I don´t know how, but here in Peten, people come to us. It´s so much easier that way. But it doesn´t always happen, it happens more here than in other places I´ve been though.
Thanks for the news. Oh, and if you haven´t sent that package from America yet, can you put some mascara...not waterproof and not Maybelline(the pink bottle) b-c I think I´m allergic to it, it makes my eyes itch...into the package. And some of those shoe inserts you sent me like 4 months ago? That would be awesome. And those knee highs. Hope your vacation was amazing! Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
April 4, 2011 Trip to Tikal
Tue, April 5, 2011 9:23:05 AM
Re: Next package
From:
Merilee Enid Peterson
To: Sheralyn Peterson
A tidy sum? Well then, I would like to see like 15 pairs of knee highs, if that´s possible. Black and brown pairs. B-c I only have like 6 pairs, and 4 of them are white. And they make me look like I´m 5 yrs old and stain really easily. But what other options do I have.
I got my Easter package. YAY! Thank you so much! I really appreciate all the time and love you put into sending us packages. It´s really nice to receive things from the people you love. I will use everything in there, especially that bug spray and chocolate. And the Pirate´s Diary.
I would also like to see some recent pictures of everyone, especially Cookie´s kids, America´s kids, and Bonnie. B-c Bonnie sent me like 10 pages of pictures, but most of them were a little dated and I know those kids look different. Neal´s always good about sending pictures and Sarah too. But recent pictures, so I can see how they look now. B-c I have older pictures...I know what they used to look like, when I was there.
I took a trip to Tikal with my Zone yesterday. It´s a cool place with lots of tall pyramids. I got some sweet pics and we walked a lot. It was hot. A 50 yr old tour guide asked me if I could have a boyfriend while I was on my mission, in the line for buying drinks. I said no. He persisted. Why are old men always so creepy? I am not desperate to go for 50, even 40, sometimes even 35, even if I wasn´t on a mission. Creeper.
On a different note, Conference was incredible. I heard the priesthood session was great too, but we didn´t get to see it. Sounds like maybe not just I had dating problems before the mission. Sounds like the boys out there got some cincho. Which means, they got reamed and told to start looking to get married.
Thank you so much Mom!
I love that my brothers all love Mr. Dierking. He´s a cool guy, even if I hated trig. Horrible class. We had a crazy storm this week, in which we decided to walk home even though it was raining really hard and super windy and there was lightening and thunder everywhere. We thought we were going to die. Luckily, we didn´t. It was only like 2 hours of crazy, but when we were almost home this lady invited us in. So we taught her a lesson. Turned out she didn´t want to change, but she wants her niece to listen to us.
We went home and changed our clothes. Then we went out again to work for another 2 hours. Weather´s so weird. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Re: Next package
From:
Merilee Enid Peterson
To: Sheralyn Peterson
A tidy sum? Well then, I would like to see like 15 pairs of knee highs, if that´s possible. Black and brown pairs. B-c I only have like 6 pairs, and 4 of them are white. And they make me look like I´m 5 yrs old and stain really easily. But what other options do I have.
I got my Easter package. YAY! Thank you so much! I really appreciate all the time and love you put into sending us packages. It´s really nice to receive things from the people you love. I will use everything in there, especially that bug spray and chocolate. And the Pirate´s Diary.
I would also like to see some recent pictures of everyone, especially Cookie´s kids, America´s kids, and Bonnie. B-c Bonnie sent me like 10 pages of pictures, but most of them were a little dated and I know those kids look different. Neal´s always good about sending pictures and Sarah too. But recent pictures, so I can see how they look now. B-c I have older pictures...I know what they used to look like, when I was there.
I took a trip to Tikal with my Zone yesterday. It´s a cool place with lots of tall pyramids. I got some sweet pics and we walked a lot. It was hot. A 50 yr old tour guide asked me if I could have a boyfriend while I was on my mission, in the line for buying drinks. I said no. He persisted. Why are old men always so creepy? I am not desperate to go for 50, even 40, sometimes even 35, even if I wasn´t on a mission. Creeper.
On a different note, Conference was incredible. I heard the priesthood session was great too, but we didn´t get to see it. Sounds like maybe not just I had dating problems before the mission. Sounds like the boys out there got some cincho. Which means, they got reamed and told to start looking to get married.
Thank you so much Mom!
I love that my brothers all love Mr. Dierking. He´s a cool guy, even if I hated trig. Horrible class. We had a crazy storm this week, in which we decided to walk home even though it was raining really hard and super windy and there was lightening and thunder everywhere. We thought we were going to die. Luckily, we didn´t. It was only like 2 hours of crazy, but when we were almost home this lady invited us in. So we taught her a lesson. Turned out she didn´t want to change, but she wants her niece to listen to us.
We went home and changed our clothes. Then we went out again to work for another 2 hours. Weather´s so weird. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
March 28, 2011
I would like to have some choc. chip cookies. Maybe in October. I´ve got a year in the mission. Conference and Easter are coming up. Very cool. They don´t really celebrate holidays here. Or maybe it´s just not the same. Either way, it´s different here. Keep cooking and perfect those cookies for when I get home. Bonnie might be living at home again. Woot. Love you mom! Love, Hna Peterson
Monday, March 21, 2011
Hna Callejas, Mar 21, 2011
My new comp. She´s a native. Her name´s Hna Callejas. She´s from here. I love her. She speaks spanish. Very nice. I know, being an example is hard sometimes, b-c we´re trying to work hard and some days it´s hard to get home by 9, but we´re working on that. We live far from most of our investigators.
She cries a lot, just like me. She´s tall and skinny and eats a ton. She´s funny. Her bday is Jan 11, mine is the 13th. We´re pretty much mission twins. She´s going to wait here for her visa, b-c her mission is really in Argentina. She´s a hoot. I´m so lucky to be her comp.
I know I´ve been really blessed with my comps b-c I hear the crazy stories and am not having those terrible things happening to me anymore. It´s wonderful to be able to work hard and to have the opportunity to teach people the gospel every day.
I´m glad you had fun at Sarah´s house. I wish I could´ve been there. I´m glad the little boys went to the Cinderella ball even though they didn´t want to. The girls of the stake thank you for urging them. Glad you got home safe. You´re the best. Love, Hna Peterson
She cries a lot, just like me. She´s tall and skinny and eats a ton. She´s funny. Her bday is Jan 11, mine is the 13th. We´re pretty much mission twins. She´s going to wait here for her visa, b-c her mission is really in Argentina. She´s a hoot. I´m so lucky to be her comp.
I know I´ve been really blessed with my comps b-c I hear the crazy stories and am not having those terrible things happening to me anymore. It´s wonderful to be able to work hard and to have the opportunity to teach people the gospel every day.
I´m glad you had fun at Sarah´s house. I wish I could´ve been there. I´m glad the little boys went to the Cinderella ball even though they didn´t want to. The girls of the stake thank you for urging them. Glad you got home safe. You´re the best. Love, Hna Peterson
A tuk tuk, Mar 14, 2011
Re: Houston ahoy!
Wow, you have a lot to do. I miss my long hair.
We eat lots of cornflakes here. We´re going to have to eat differently b-c I am sick of what we´ve been eating. We got emergency changes today. They told us at 9 am we didn´t have changes, and they just told us we have emergency changes. Hna U is going to the cap and I´m training here. I´m pretty psyched. I hope I am a good mommy. I will pray a lot to train this newbie and help her start her mission time happily.
We walk a lot. Sometimes Hna U says, ¨We walked a lot today¨. I usually say ¨We walk a lot every day sister¨. Because it´s true. But I weigh the same, it´s just muscle now. So I am like an empala. The animal, not the car. I wish every day we had a car. Every day. Or a tuk tuk. That´s like a mini car, they drive around the whole of Poptun. They are useful when you are in a hurry, but they usually can´t be found when you need them. You know how that goes.
Sounds like you all have crazy fun stuff to do at Sarah´s house. I want to go. You´re the best. Love you so much. I didn´t get your letter- package yet, but they usually take forever to get. Thanks for the pictures. Sarah´s hair is so cute. I will have a year on the mission in 2 weeks. Wow. Time flies when you´re having fun. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Wow, you have a lot to do. I miss my long hair.
We eat lots of cornflakes here. We´re going to have to eat differently b-c I am sick of what we´ve been eating. We got emergency changes today. They told us at 9 am we didn´t have changes, and they just told us we have emergency changes. Hna U is going to the cap and I´m training here. I´m pretty psyched. I hope I am a good mommy. I will pray a lot to train this newbie and help her start her mission time happily.
We walk a lot. Sometimes Hna U says, ¨We walked a lot today¨. I usually say ¨We walk a lot every day sister¨. Because it´s true. But I weigh the same, it´s just muscle now. So I am like an empala. The animal, not the car. I wish every day we had a car. Every day. Or a tuk tuk. That´s like a mini car, they drive around the whole of Poptun. They are useful when you are in a hurry, but they usually can´t be found when you need them. You know how that goes.
Sounds like you all have crazy fun stuff to do at Sarah´s house. I want to go. You´re the best. Love you so much. I didn´t get your letter- package yet, but they usually take forever to get. Thanks for the pictures. Sarah´s hair is so cute. I will have a year on the mission in 2 weeks. Wow. Time flies when you´re having fun. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Gimme a little kiss, Mar 6, 2011
Spring break would be nice. I´m glad to know Christian was being a good uncle and watching Enchanted with the princesses. I would´ve liked to see it too during spring break. Maybe during Halloween break. Glad Josh is finishing up on his paperwork to be a high flying eagle.
The news...every week someone cuts in front of us in the supermarket line. Every week, ridiculous. My comp. Hna Urizar had a little time when she thought I wasn´t closing my eyes during prayers. She thought I wasn´t praying...I don´t know why. She was being paranoid about it though. Weird. I always want to pray.
My comp saw some people kissing in the street and she said, ¨In Guatemala, we call that eating in front of poor people.¨It was hilarious. A couple weeks ago we were in the street and two, not kidding, three yr olds were walking the other way. One had a big stick and hit me with it. Then he said to me in Spanish, ¨Gimme a little kiss.¨What? No. I was completely shocked. Welcome to Guatemala. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
The news...every week someone cuts in front of us in the supermarket line. Every week, ridiculous. My comp. Hna Urizar had a little time when she thought I wasn´t closing my eyes during prayers. She thought I wasn´t praying...I don´t know why. She was being paranoid about it though. Weird. I always want to pray.
My comp saw some people kissing in the street and she said, ¨In Guatemala, we call that eating in front of poor people.¨It was hilarious. A couple weeks ago we were in the street and two, not kidding, three yr olds were walking the other way. One had a big stick and hit me with it. Then he said to me in Spanish, ¨Gimme a little kiss.¨What? No. I was completely shocked. Welcome to Guatemala. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Feb 28, 2011
Dad, thanks for the great email, I enjoyed reading it all. Sounds like everyone in our family is exceling at autonomy. I hope I may also exel at that when I get home from my mission.
It´s hot here. Our neighbor has a pig and it stinks. Thanks for staying strong and never letting mom have a pig. Every day the smell is there. Nasty.
I don´t know the Bells at all. Maybe find another family with boys my age. HaHa. Joke. I know that´s semi impossible. We can have all sorts of family activities over Christmas. We could also think of some menos active families to invite over too. That would really help those people have a desire to go to church and activities more.
I´ve realized after this haircutting that I really don´t like my hair short. Or at least how it is now, so I´m growing it out. It could be half due to the fact I´m in Guatemala and the haircuts were terrible. But still, I think I´m learning my lesson.
Sounds like you´re having good times in MO. It´s hot in Guate. We went to see some ruins yesterday, so we´re emailing today. We got to walk around on a bunch of stone pyramids. Very worthwhile. My legs are a little tired today, but nothing I can´t handle. Our pet lizard Frank left us, or is hiding somewhere outside. I hope he still tries to eat all the roaches. Yeah Frank!
We have two baptisms the end of this week, very cool. Fabricio, who was supposed to get baptized 2 weeks ago, but smoked, and Maciel, who is an active member whose records they cannot find. So those are the baptisms.
I´ll probably get those packages you sent in the beginning of April, but thanks. I´ll try and send a disk of pictures this week, if I can burn them onto the disk. I´ve heard that´s better than sending zips in the mail, b-c zips get stolen more often.
Play sounds awesome. Wish I could´ve seen it. I´m glad Josh is finding his niche in the world. Love you all! Love, Hna Peterson
It´s hot here. Our neighbor has a pig and it stinks. Thanks for staying strong and never letting mom have a pig. Every day the smell is there. Nasty.
I don´t know the Bells at all. Maybe find another family with boys my age. HaHa. Joke. I know that´s semi impossible. We can have all sorts of family activities over Christmas. We could also think of some menos active families to invite over too. That would really help those people have a desire to go to church and activities more.
I´ve realized after this haircutting that I really don´t like my hair short. Or at least how it is now, so I´m growing it out. It could be half due to the fact I´m in Guatemala and the haircuts were terrible. But still, I think I´m learning my lesson.
Sounds like you´re having good times in MO. It´s hot in Guate. We went to see some ruins yesterday, so we´re emailing today. We got to walk around on a bunch of stone pyramids. Very worthwhile. My legs are a little tired today, but nothing I can´t handle. Our pet lizard Frank left us, or is hiding somewhere outside. I hope he still tries to eat all the roaches. Yeah Frank!
We have two baptisms the end of this week, very cool. Fabricio, who was supposed to get baptized 2 weeks ago, but smoked, and Maciel, who is an active member whose records they cannot find. So those are the baptisms.
I´ll probably get those packages you sent in the beginning of April, but thanks. I´ll try and send a disk of pictures this week, if I can burn them onto the disk. I´ve heard that´s better than sending zips in the mail, b-c zips get stolen more often.
Play sounds awesome. Wish I could´ve seen it. I´m glad Josh is finding his niche in the world. Love you all! Love, Hna Peterson
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Feb 21, the week of the beans
Week update... Monday was a terrible Vday. Tuesday was the day we had our beans spoil b-c we left them in water three days and they smelled bad and grew roots. We wanted to feed them to the pig out back, but Lolli told us we couldn´t b-c he´d get hiccups. So we threw them out for the chickens and she made us some. Wednesday I saw a roach in the platanos which startled me and I threw up my arms and spilled about half the beans onto the fridge, the floor, and the wall. Not cool Hna Peterson.
Thursday we saw an iguana lizard in our house, like a mini volossa raptor. Very cool. But we named him Frank and sometimes he startles me b-c I looked somewhere and he´s just chilling. Like in our bookshelf, or on our microwave. We can´t catch him, he´s too fast. So we just told him to eat all the roaches.
Friday we did service and painted some wood with used motor oil. They told us to. Saturday we found an orphanage or home for abused girls and it was a really spiritual message. We are organizing some activities with the RS and YW to do there. We also had a baptism. Sunday we found a bunch of people to teach.
I cannot believe the little boys have other plans than the 8 stake laurel and priest event. In reality, that sounds like a dream come true for when I was a laurel. Too bad I´m too old, and on a mission, and that my brothers are chumps and won´t be going either. Who are the girls going to dance with if none of the foxy priests attend? Good question. Other foxy priests I guess.
Sounds like you´re all having good times in MO. Keep at it. The church, its family centered activities, and the scriptures will keep you on a spiritual high for your entire earthly existence. Keep on keeping on. Love, Hna Peterson
Thursday we saw an iguana lizard in our house, like a mini volossa raptor. Very cool. But we named him Frank and sometimes he startles me b-c I looked somewhere and he´s just chilling. Like in our bookshelf, or on our microwave. We can´t catch him, he´s too fast. So we just told him to eat all the roaches.
Friday we did service and painted some wood with used motor oil. They told us to. Saturday we found an orphanage or home for abused girls and it was a really spiritual message. We are organizing some activities with the RS and YW to do there. We also had a baptism. Sunday we found a bunch of people to teach.
I cannot believe the little boys have other plans than the 8 stake laurel and priest event. In reality, that sounds like a dream come true for when I was a laurel. Too bad I´m too old, and on a mission, and that my brothers are chumps and won´t be going either. Who are the girls going to dance with if none of the foxy priests attend? Good question. Other foxy priests I guess.
Sounds like you´re all having good times in MO. Keep at it. The church, its family centered activities, and the scriptures will keep you on a spiritual high for your entire earthly existence. Keep on keeping on. Love, Hna Peterson
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
new in Peten...Feb 8, 2011
Canute, Thanks for the ugly dog pictures. We have a lot of ugly dogs here too and they always chase us. I will be buying some poison this week and feeding it to the dogs. I hate dogs. I got a new area this change too. I also got a new comp. Her name´s Hna Urizar. She´s amazing. She´s from Quetzaltenango Guatemala.
She works hard, so we get along amazingly. We have been running in the mornings, so that´s probably going to be good for us, if we can keep at it for the whole change. We had our zone conference yesterday, hence my pday email today.
I am in a place called Poptun Peten. Peten is supposedly the hottest place in the mission and the furthest. And here I am. The streets are a lot flatter here. The people here speak Spanish, so I don´t have to learn Ketchi. That´s a relief.
Our house is also gigantic, three bedrooms, a back patio, a giant living room, a giant kitchen and a tiny bathroom. The elders helped us by cleaning the rooms while we unpacked our stuff. They also unpacked the fridge, microwaves, and made our beds...we opened up a new area out here so we dÃdn´t have anything in our house.
We walk a lot here...the church is 30 minutes walking from the house, and we have a giant area, so we´re trying to figure out where our members, minus activo, and baptism dates live. Pray for us. For our zone conference, Pres-Elder Martino came up and told us we need to strengthen this area by buffing up the priesthood membership. ´We´re a in a branch..But they had an assistance of 90 last week, which isn´t too bad.
Anyway, we´ve got a lot of work to do, but we also have a lot of faith we can do it. I´ll send pictures some time.
Mom, I got my birthday package. thank you. I prob. don´t need any more clothes b-c I´ve received a lot of great stuff to wear from my beloved family. Nor sunscreen, b-c I have 3 bottles of it, which will def. last for the rest of my mission. Thank you very much for the chocolate and music cd. More music was very much needed. If you send me another box, more music, more chocolate, and bug spray would be useful.
The climate out here, in this part of Peten, so far is rainy, but I hear it gets super hot, so I´m counting my blessings. We didn´t have water this morning, so I bathed with a pitcher of water and a little bowl. Our water heater doesn´t work either.
Good luck with the primary and CTR. I´m always jealous to hear about what you eat with the skills of Emily out there in KC. We´ve made a goal to make sandwiches to take on the run with us b-c we don´t have time out here to go home for lunch every day...it´s a 30 min. walk and we need all the time we can get to put this area on a running path toward success.
The church is true. Love you all! Love, Hna Peterson
Grant, you are the best. I want you to know...I´ve had the same epiphany about boys, and that is when I felt a lot less stress about boys and a lot more fulfillment out of life. I don´t know if I actually got more dates, or if my life just felt fuller b-c of other things. But you will be happier with a more balanced life.
On the boy-girl topic, my comp had a talk with our ZL, Elder Toolson about boys and never getting asked out. She´s gorgeous. I´m not even kidding you. Every day, without even trying. I would set you up, but she´s from Guat and therefore, it would be really hard to take off with that. She´s a music major and we get a lot of work done. We´re having an awesome time out here. Anyway, she was just always busy, so she said she´s never been on a date, she just had a lot of boys take her out as a friend. Lame. But I remember saying stuff like that to get boys to take me out. B-c they´re always like, Really? How´s that possible, you´re beautiful, and funny, and fun.
Anyway, I´m nervous for all that when I get home. I wrote Dallin every week, but he wrote me like once a month. So I think maybe I¨ll just do what he does, and write him when he writes me. I totally sent him a package for vday, with a belt, army guys, a poem card, and a cool scorpian made out of walnut shells- very cool.
So whatever with him, if he forgets about me there are always other options right? And I´m too busy to think about all that right now anyway. I´m 27, I have tons of time to find someone terrific. I got your letter from Christmas. Thanks. I´ll be writing back soon. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
She works hard, so we get along amazingly. We have been running in the mornings, so that´s probably going to be good for us, if we can keep at it for the whole change. We had our zone conference yesterday, hence my pday email today.
I am in a place called Poptun Peten. Peten is supposedly the hottest place in the mission and the furthest. And here I am. The streets are a lot flatter here. The people here speak Spanish, so I don´t have to learn Ketchi. That´s a relief.
Our house is also gigantic, three bedrooms, a back patio, a giant living room, a giant kitchen and a tiny bathroom. The elders helped us by cleaning the rooms while we unpacked our stuff. They also unpacked the fridge, microwaves, and made our beds...we opened up a new area out here so we dÃdn´t have anything in our house.
We walk a lot here...the church is 30 minutes walking from the house, and we have a giant area, so we´re trying to figure out where our members, minus activo, and baptism dates live. Pray for us. For our zone conference, Pres-Elder Martino came up and told us we need to strengthen this area by buffing up the priesthood membership. ´We´re a in a branch..But they had an assistance of 90 last week, which isn´t too bad.
Anyway, we´ve got a lot of work to do, but we also have a lot of faith we can do it. I´ll send pictures some time.
Mom, I got my birthday package. thank you. I prob. don´t need any more clothes b-c I´ve received a lot of great stuff to wear from my beloved family. Nor sunscreen, b-c I have 3 bottles of it, which will def. last for the rest of my mission. Thank you very much for the chocolate and music cd. More music was very much needed. If you send me another box, more music, more chocolate, and bug spray would be useful.
The climate out here, in this part of Peten, so far is rainy, but I hear it gets super hot, so I´m counting my blessings. We didn´t have water this morning, so I bathed with a pitcher of water and a little bowl. Our water heater doesn´t work either.
Good luck with the primary and CTR. I´m always jealous to hear about what you eat with the skills of Emily out there in KC. We´ve made a goal to make sandwiches to take on the run with us b-c we don´t have time out here to go home for lunch every day...it´s a 30 min. walk and we need all the time we can get to put this area on a running path toward success.
The church is true. Love you all! Love, Hna Peterson
Grant, you are the best. I want you to know...I´ve had the same epiphany about boys, and that is when I felt a lot less stress about boys and a lot more fulfillment out of life. I don´t know if I actually got more dates, or if my life just felt fuller b-c of other things. But you will be happier with a more balanced life.
On the boy-girl topic, my comp had a talk with our ZL, Elder Toolson about boys and never getting asked out. She´s gorgeous. I´m not even kidding you. Every day, without even trying. I would set you up, but she´s from Guat and therefore, it would be really hard to take off with that. She´s a music major and we get a lot of work done. We´re having an awesome time out here. Anyway, she was just always busy, so she said she´s never been on a date, she just had a lot of boys take her out as a friend. Lame. But I remember saying stuff like that to get boys to take me out. B-c they´re always like, Really? How´s that possible, you´re beautiful, and funny, and fun.
Anyway, I´m nervous for all that when I get home. I wrote Dallin every week, but he wrote me like once a month. So I think maybe I¨ll just do what he does, and write him when he writes me. I totally sent him a package for vday, with a belt, army guys, a poem card, and a cool scorpian made out of walnut shells- very cool.
So whatever with him, if he forgets about me there are always other options right? And I´m too busy to think about all that right now anyway. I´m 27, I have tons of time to find someone terrific. I got your letter from Christmas. Thanks. I´ll be writing back soon. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Jan 24, 2011
Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 10:41 AM
Canuteface. I{m glad you{re working hard. I know sometimes it{s hard, but we can always be better. I{m working on being a good luchador. Hence the photos. However, I can{t see these pics, so I hope they{re some of the good ones we took.
I wish we could play soccer. When I get home I{ll play soccer. We have changes in a week. I{m pretty sure I{m getting a change. Love you, stay strong. Love, Hna Peterson
I included pictures of my district and our zl{s at our district meeting for my and Hna Echeverria{s bday. The water heater that we couldn{t uplug that we almost killed ourselves getting out. We had a guy in the ward get it out. My face shoved in cake for my bday and Book of Mormon Luchadores. Me and my comp destressing. Believe me, we needed it.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Jan 31, 2011
Thanks for the rehash of God{s plan at the end of your email. I enjoyed reading it and finding out what you{re learning. I didn{t really realized that was the woman{s big part in the plan until I came here on my mission and read Preach my Gospel a bunch. And Jesus the Christ.
I{m glad you enjoy your classes. I always thought it was super weird when boys didn{t wear their rings. B-c of the ring check. I always did it. Ridiculous. I feel the same way, they should totally wear their rings. However, maybe for projects it{s just easier without their rings. I{m glad you have a plan B. Thanks for filling me. It{s nice to hear what everyone{s doing.
I just found out I{m getting a change. I{m changing areas. That makes me sad b-c I like my area right now. Everyone{s great here and I like my comp. But I{m either moving around to another part of Coban, or going to the Polochik and learning a new language called Ketchi. It{s totally different from Spanish and English. And after my mission, I{ll never be able to use it again, but at least I{ll always have spanish. And knowing three languages would be cool.
That{s about all that{s going on here. The changes happen Wednesday morning. It{s super sunny outside here. Weird for February. Pray for me to get a good comp. Please have a fantastic Vday in two weeks. Good luck with the mens, I know there aren{t many in your classes, but they{ve got to be hiding out somewhere. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Ps. I totally know about the Senioritis. I totally had it. Luckily my last semester was an internship and no classes, so it wasn{t as bad for me I don{t think. Love you! Mer
PPS. Also, for the rest of the family sending me letters, make sure and send them to this email. I got on really quick to my hotmail to make sure it didn{t get closed down from nonuse and it looked like there may have been one or two sent there that weren{t sent to my mission account. And I{m not really supposed to check that email ever. I just go on every six months or so to keep it alive.
Grant,
Sorry you fractured your collarbone. That bites. One time, in my ski class, I was going down by myself and totally rotated my knee when falling. Sometimes it still hurts. Stupid ski class. I{m always nervous to go down fast b-c of things like that.
I can{t believe you said you squeaked by with a 90 percent. That{s not squeaking by, that{s soaring past the expected...for me. Usually. It{s a miracle I graduated from college. It{s always nice when you don{t have any plans. I usually go to sleep when we don{t have any plans either. But that{s usually around 9 or 930. Or 10 or 1030. So yeah, that{s the gist of it all.
I know about the key phrase thing. Definitely happens sometimes, but I agree about the mass email thing. Sometimes it{s just better not to. My hair grew this month. I{m pretty sure. So in a year, it may be on it{s way down. To my shoulders. We{ll just have to see. I got a change. Sad, b-c I liked my comp and my area, but Heavenly Father loves me. So I trust Him. And his decisions. Pray I get a good comp. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
I{m glad you enjoy your classes. I always thought it was super weird when boys didn{t wear their rings. B-c of the ring check. I always did it. Ridiculous. I feel the same way, they should totally wear their rings. However, maybe for projects it{s just easier without their rings. I{m glad you have a plan B. Thanks for filling me. It{s nice to hear what everyone{s doing.
I just found out I{m getting a change. I{m changing areas. That makes me sad b-c I like my area right now. Everyone{s great here and I like my comp. But I{m either moving around to another part of Coban, or going to the Polochik and learning a new language called Ketchi. It{s totally different from Spanish and English. And after my mission, I{ll never be able to use it again, but at least I{ll always have spanish. And knowing three languages would be cool.
That{s about all that{s going on here. The changes happen Wednesday morning. It{s super sunny outside here. Weird for February. Pray for me to get a good comp. Please have a fantastic Vday in two weeks. Good luck with the mens, I know there aren{t many in your classes, but they{ve got to be hiding out somewhere. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Ps. I totally know about the Senioritis. I totally had it. Luckily my last semester was an internship and no classes, so it wasn{t as bad for me I don{t think. Love you! Mer
PPS. Also, for the rest of the family sending me letters, make sure and send them to this email. I got on really quick to my hotmail to make sure it didn{t get closed down from nonuse and it looked like there may have been one or two sent there that weren{t sent to my mission account. And I{m not really supposed to check that email ever. I just go on every six months or so to keep it alive.
Grant,
Sorry you fractured your collarbone. That bites. One time, in my ski class, I was going down by myself and totally rotated my knee when falling. Sometimes it still hurts. Stupid ski class. I{m always nervous to go down fast b-c of things like that.
I can{t believe you said you squeaked by with a 90 percent. That{s not squeaking by, that{s soaring past the expected...for me. Usually. It{s a miracle I graduated from college. It{s always nice when you don{t have any plans. I usually go to sleep when we don{t have any plans either. But that{s usually around 9 or 930. Or 10 or 1030. So yeah, that{s the gist of it all.
I know about the key phrase thing. Definitely happens sometimes, but I agree about the mass email thing. Sometimes it{s just better not to. My hair grew this month. I{m pretty sure. So in a year, it may be on it{s way down. To my shoulders. We{ll just have to see. I got a change. Sad, b-c I liked my comp and my area, but Heavenly Father loves me. So I trust Him. And his decisions. Pray I get a good comp. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Thursday, January 20, 2011
She's 27!
Thanks for the birthday wishes and the news from home. I don{t miss the snow, just the snow days. I had some cakes for my birthday. One of them covered my face...as pushing people into their cakes is a tradition here. So yeah, I{ve got some pictures of that. I looked like a clown. The baby cried.
It{s pretty warm here still. I don{t think it{s going to get cold for me this winter. That{s ok with me. It was cold the other day. I heard it snowed for like 5 minutes in the middle of the night. But overall, it{s pretty awesome weather here in Guat. Hope you all feel healthier this week. Love, Hna Peterson
It{s pretty warm here still. I don{t think it{s going to get cold for me this winter. That{s ok with me. It was cold the other day. I heard it snowed for like 5 minutes in the middle of the night. But overall, it{s pretty awesome weather here in Guat. Hope you all feel healthier this week. Love, Hna Peterson
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 10, 2011...Happy Birthday, Merilee!!!!
Merilee,
Of course, the big event this week will be YOUR birthday...
in your email, tell us what your favorite birthday dinner/breakfast would be, and we will eat it in your honor...MMMMM! Happy Birthday!!! Hope you liked ( and got) your birthday packages! Love, YOur Mama
Not yet, but I{m hoping to get it in the next two months. Yeah! Happy Birthday to me! I would eat pizza or lasagne and brownies and icecream. Enjoy. Love, Hna Peterson
Thanks for the news. It was always nice to hear school was canceled. We don{t have snow days on the mission. We don{t have snow. But we did have a monsoon canceling of church one time, even though it was a beautiful day the next day. Sounds like the boys are doing well.
It{s going well out here. It{s roasting hot again outside. I{m sorry to hear you missed seeing Cookie.
This morning my water heater melted into the plug and we can{t get it out. I hate Guatemala sometimes. So we tried really hard to get it out and couldn{t. Luckily we didn{t get electrocuted.
We got a paint bucket and it had some paint in it. I put a bag over my hand to scoop it out and it ripped. So I had oobleck on my hand, it was green, and I felt like I was in a Dr. Seuss book. I couldn{t get it off. It was oil based. So my comp. brought out some oil and I used that to get it off my hand. We were ready to leave too. So she had to wait for me to wash my hands.
Yesterday we saw a pregnant dog climbing a hill. I said, [if that pregnant dog can do it, we can do it.[ So I climbed up, but Hna E. fell. There were also like 5 natives standing there watching, and another guy telling her to take the long way b-c she wouldn{t make it. She ended up getting a mud stain on the front of her white tshirt and hurting her arm. Oops, next time we{ll just take the long way. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Merilee,
I hope that this week you do something special for your birthday. You also can probably expect more miracles and increase your faith. It will be awesome. 27 is a great age.
I love you. Happy Birthday!
Sarah
Thanks Sarah Deane. I don{t know if I ever told you thank you for my Christmas package. But THANK YOU! I really am enjoying having new clothes to wear, my treats to eat, and the fantastic adorable stickers you sent me. Thanks. I will pray for more faith and miracles in my life. I already have seen a ton. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Love, Hna Peterson
Ps. We changed our district meeting from Wed. to Thurs. in honor of my birthday. It{s also another sister in our district{s birthday. We{re going to play a game like pin the tail on the donkey, but it{s called get the investigator to church. Hah.
Of course, the big event this week will be YOUR birthday...
in your email, tell us what your favorite birthday dinner/breakfast would be, and we will eat it in your honor...MMMMM! Happy Birthday!!! Hope you liked ( and got) your birthday packages! Love, YOur Mama
Not yet, but I{m hoping to get it in the next two months. Yeah! Happy Birthday to me! I would eat pizza or lasagne and brownies and icecream. Enjoy. Love, Hna Peterson
Thanks for the news. It was always nice to hear school was canceled. We don{t have snow days on the mission. We don{t have snow. But we did have a monsoon canceling of church one time, even though it was a beautiful day the next day. Sounds like the boys are doing well.
It{s going well out here. It{s roasting hot again outside. I{m sorry to hear you missed seeing Cookie.
This morning my water heater melted into the plug and we can{t get it out. I hate Guatemala sometimes. So we tried really hard to get it out and couldn{t. Luckily we didn{t get electrocuted.
We got a paint bucket and it had some paint in it. I put a bag over my hand to scoop it out and it ripped. So I had oobleck on my hand, it was green, and I felt like I was in a Dr. Seuss book. I couldn{t get it off. It was oil based. So my comp. brought out some oil and I used that to get it off my hand. We were ready to leave too. So she had to wait for me to wash my hands.
Yesterday we saw a pregnant dog climbing a hill. I said, [if that pregnant dog can do it, we can do it.[ So I climbed up, but Hna E. fell. There were also like 5 natives standing there watching, and another guy telling her to take the long way b-c she wouldn{t make it. She ended up getting a mud stain on the front of her white tshirt and hurting her arm. Oops, next time we{ll just take the long way. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson
Merilee,
I hope that this week you do something special for your birthday. You also can probably expect more miracles and increase your faith. It will be awesome. 27 is a great age.
I love you. Happy Birthday!
Sarah
Thanks Sarah Deane. I don{t know if I ever told you thank you for my Christmas package. But THANK YOU! I really am enjoying having new clothes to wear, my treats to eat, and the fantastic adorable stickers you sent me. Thanks. I will pray for more faith and miracles in my life. I already have seen a ton. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Love, Hna Peterson
Ps. We changed our district meeting from Wed. to Thurs. in honor of my birthday. It{s also another sister in our district{s birthday. We{re going to play a game like pin the tail on the donkey, but it{s called get the investigator to church. Hah.
The new Year in Guatemala
Grant, I loved your pictures Mr. Ease. I had a Christmas and New Year{s equal to...every other day of my mission. With a couple tamales thrown in here and there. We just taught a billion lessons. Or 50 to be exact. That{s our new mission goal. It used to be 30. Probably because we had 32 emergency changes last change. So Pres. is trying to get us working and to not have time for anything else. I think most of the emergency changes were for gossipers on the phone. So I{m pretty sure half the missionaries in our mission aren{t allowed to touch the telephone. Bah hah.
Super jealous you got to go to a dance, even if the dj was lame'o. I believe it. That happens a lot, but I{m sure you rocked the place, as I would have if I had attended. Also, next year, we will put the place in blazes with our dancing talent and Canute, Christian, Bonnie, and Josh face. The good times will possibly explode all other people to nothingness. And so it should be.
I also haven{t had money for about two weeks. But now...I have money. I will try to be better with my money, and leave it in the bank. In the bank my comp or landlady can{t steal from me. I{m pretty sure. My comp. now is American. She{s from California, she{s a 29 yr old lawyer, and she is half polynesian. If you didn{t hear on the phone call, Aiven{s her cousin. She said all the Aionos are her cousins. They{re all attractive and bad news she said. Funny. We have a lot of good times. Her mom{s from New Zealand. Her boyfriend{s serving in one of the other missions in Guate and they{re getting married next August.
She and I are having a blast. We{re completing our goals, first time ever, and working like crazy. I finally feel like we{re reaching our full missionary potential. Our district{s on fire right now. Very nice to see. Christmas was kind of boring and lame for us. We{ve been in our houses at 6 every night for the past two weeks and we have two more weeks like that. We have something called a Sitio going on right now. It{s a big drug bust month. For our safety, this whole month, we are doing the 6 o´clock thing. Very boring.
New Year{s Day seemed like more of a holiday than Christmas. Lots of stores were closed and there was hardly anyone in the street and at home. And I{m pretty sure school started today. Ha hah. So glad I{m not in school. And there were tons of fireworks on New Years and Christmas. That{s about it. No presents. I got my packages from Sarah and Mom, but not from Cookie. I hope I get it. I{m sure there was lots of cool stuff and candy in it. I know Guate has a bad rap about [losing[ things in the mail. Or people stealing from the mail. I hope that didn{t happen to my package. Or my letters.
I{m glad you had loads of fun but are probably supremely tired from your week of having fun.I know we all have our times for that. I{m getting a nice break b-c I{m with my American comp. But sometimes we talk into the night and then we{re tired. We haven{t done that lately though, b-c we{re so tired from our walking all day and working ourselves to death.
It{s soooooo nice to be with a normal crazy American. So nice to speak English and express myself. I feel like my spanish is pretty good. I understand more or less everything people say to me and I can express myself more or less. I need to keep studying, but I{m more comfortable. That means I{m going to have some kind of emotional storm or trial in the upcoming weeks, b-c I{m so happy right now. My comp. and I are pretty sure we{ll get split up in the next change. But it was a nice Christmas gift from Pres...and from our Heavenly Father. Thanks.
On to the next couple weeks and months. Weather{s still boiling hot, rainy cold every other day. Ridiculous. I cut my hair again. Or Hna Endicott, my comp. cut it. Oops. I{m not a triangle head anymore. But now it{s going to take forever to grow it out. Oh well, I{ve got another year. It{s like the shortness of when I was in high school. Yeah, no more haircuts, but it{s cuter than when I was triangle head.
I{m pretty sure my hair is easier and foxier right now. I{m not going to lie. Foxier now in the mission than before when I had it in a ponytail every day. But before the mission, when I did it, it was foxier than now. Therefore, I{m caging the fox and waiting until next spring to bring out the tiger. Hide your baby friends. Joke..Dallin Sims is still writing me and I{m going to see where that goes. And he{s totally worthwhile. I could wait another 6 months after my mission for him. If he{s even going to want to date me when he gets home. Probably not. I{m going to be 27 next week. I can always dream.
Why{s Cort{s hair brown? Girls are crazy. Do you still want to date her? I know you always had a soft spot for her, I{m glad you got to see her over break, but don{t forget about your eternal family goal. You{ve got to flirt to convert and break her up from her baby boyfriend first. Then you can move in for the kill.
I{m super jealous of your lasagne and enchiladas..and probably everything else you ate over break. I love tamales, but you can only so many. Right? Also, good luck hooking it up with Makaila. I always met one or two hotties at those dances, but nothing ever came of it. But she{s in Merilee{s ward and you guys hang out, so that should be a cinch. You{re the best. Don{t buy jeans any skinnier. Especially if they get super skinny at the feet. B-c that kind of pant is weird.
The church is true. Heavenly Father answers all our prayers. Love you! Love, Mer
Super jealous you got to go to a dance, even if the dj was lame'o. I believe it. That happens a lot, but I{m sure you rocked the place, as I would have if I had attended. Also, next year, we will put the place in blazes with our dancing talent and Canute, Christian, Bonnie, and Josh face. The good times will possibly explode all other people to nothingness. And so it should be.
I also haven{t had money for about two weeks. But now...I have money. I will try to be better with my money, and leave it in the bank. In the bank my comp or landlady can{t steal from me. I{m pretty sure. My comp. now is American. She{s from California, she{s a 29 yr old lawyer, and she is half polynesian. If you didn{t hear on the phone call, Aiven{s her cousin. She said all the Aionos are her cousins. They{re all attractive and bad news she said. Funny. We have a lot of good times. Her mom{s from New Zealand. Her boyfriend{s serving in one of the other missions in Guate and they{re getting married next August.
She and I are having a blast. We{re completing our goals, first time ever, and working like crazy. I finally feel like we{re reaching our full missionary potential. Our district{s on fire right now. Very nice to see. Christmas was kind of boring and lame for us. We{ve been in our houses at 6 every night for the past two weeks and we have two more weeks like that. We have something called a Sitio going on right now. It{s a big drug bust month. For our safety, this whole month, we are doing the 6 o´clock thing. Very boring.
New Year{s Day seemed like more of a holiday than Christmas. Lots of stores were closed and there was hardly anyone in the street and at home. And I{m pretty sure school started today. Ha hah. So glad I{m not in school. And there were tons of fireworks on New Years and Christmas. That{s about it. No presents. I got my packages from Sarah and Mom, but not from Cookie. I hope I get it. I{m sure there was lots of cool stuff and candy in it. I know Guate has a bad rap about [losing[ things in the mail. Or people stealing from the mail. I hope that didn{t happen to my package. Or my letters.
I{m glad you had loads of fun but are probably supremely tired from your week of having fun.I know we all have our times for that. I{m getting a nice break b-c I{m with my American comp. But sometimes we talk into the night and then we{re tired. We haven{t done that lately though, b-c we{re so tired from our walking all day and working ourselves to death.
It{s soooooo nice to be with a normal crazy American. So nice to speak English and express myself. I feel like my spanish is pretty good. I understand more or less everything people say to me and I can express myself more or less. I need to keep studying, but I{m more comfortable. That means I{m going to have some kind of emotional storm or trial in the upcoming weeks, b-c I{m so happy right now. My comp. and I are pretty sure we{ll get split up in the next change. But it was a nice Christmas gift from Pres...and from our Heavenly Father. Thanks.
On to the next couple weeks and months. Weather{s still boiling hot, rainy cold every other day. Ridiculous. I cut my hair again. Or Hna Endicott, my comp. cut it. Oops. I{m not a triangle head anymore. But now it{s going to take forever to grow it out. Oh well, I{ve got another year. It{s like the shortness of when I was in high school. Yeah, no more haircuts, but it{s cuter than when I was triangle head.
I{m pretty sure my hair is easier and foxier right now. I{m not going to lie. Foxier now in the mission than before when I had it in a ponytail every day. But before the mission, when I did it, it was foxier than now. Therefore, I{m caging the fox and waiting until next spring to bring out the tiger. Hide your baby friends. Joke..Dallin Sims is still writing me and I{m going to see where that goes. And he{s totally worthwhile. I could wait another 6 months after my mission for him. If he{s even going to want to date me when he gets home. Probably not. I{m going to be 27 next week. I can always dream.
Why{s Cort{s hair brown? Girls are crazy. Do you still want to date her? I know you always had a soft spot for her, I{m glad you got to see her over break, but don{t forget about your eternal family goal. You{ve got to flirt to convert and break her up from her baby boyfriend first. Then you can move in for the kill.
I{m super jealous of your lasagne and enchiladas..and probably everything else you ate over break. I love tamales, but you can only so many. Right? Also, good luck hooking it up with Makaila. I always met one or two hotties at those dances, but nothing ever came of it. But she{s in Merilee{s ward and you guys hang out, so that should be a cinch. You{re the best. Don{t buy jeans any skinnier. Especially if they get super skinny at the feet. B-c that kind of pant is weird.
The church is true. Heavenly Father answers all our prayers. Love you! Love, Mer
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