Compost of the mouth

Post office plague

2012-01-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

I wen to the post office again today. While there, I was completely surprised to hear zero snide comments from the people behind me. Huge surprise! The last time I went to the post office, I heard the people behind me slamming post office employees saying they were the laziest workers on earth. Not true.

Close second to the rudeness of last month, when I was mailing 15 packages and a lady talked to all the other people in line about how long it was taking. Both times I wanted to turn around and give those people a piece, but didn't.

Stupid people expecting service at the post office when they're being rude. I just wanted to ask if people went to their work and said rude things to them. Anyway, it made me angry. Mutter mutter.

As a response to Aman on my last post, chest hair, lots of it, poking out all over the place from the inside of his shirt...I almost threw up a little in my mouth. That's probably a deal breaker. I'm just saying. Anyway, I figured if I just fixed it in the post, nobody would see it, so I said it in this latest post to get the word out.

Alright, I got my car smog tested today. I also had the car alarm go off like five times. Stupid. That means the alarm goes off when I put the key in the door. It's soooo obnoxious. I don't have time to take it in AGAIN. I took it in last week and they said to get my engine mounts fixed I'd have to pay $2000, not even worth it. I also had it taken in and the break pads replaced.

That's the business my friends. I rocked it out at ultimate frisbee today. I rock. I have cleats now, that's my excuse.

I know, I'm a slacker

2012-01-13T18:13:00.000-08:00

I've been home three months and I really don't have an excuse for being this slackery. Except, well, I've been busy. I got home in Halloween time and I went to two dances, I got a job in a week, I am now the single's ward relief society president, and I got two weeks at home with my family for Christmas. So here is an interesting, or maybe semi-interesting item I worked on last week during work. I would work more on it, but it's a miracle I even finished this list as it is. I know, more later.

Deal Breakers-
1. Mullet
2. Liar
3. Cheating
4. Never brushes teeth
5. Beater
6. Doesn’t go to church
7. Bad BO
8. Smokes
9. Terrible breath
10. Deliberate rudeness
11. A rule breaker on his mission
12. Men who wear skinny jeans
13. Doesn’t floss
14. Runs really weirdly
15. Hates my family

Surprisingly not deal breakers
1. Rat tail- He’s probably just doing it to get a rise out of me anyway and it’s not going to work
2. Mustache
3. Designs shaved into his hair
4. Wears knee highs when plays sports

Encouraged
1. Reading
2. Working out
3. Learning about cars
4. Intelligence
5. Hilarious
6. Likes games
7. Good at surprises
8. On time

So yeah, all you foxy boys interested in knowing my gears, there are a couple interesting factoids.

On a different note, it's my birthday. So, Happy Birthday to me. I got business cards today, so Happy Birthday to everyone else in the world who may now receive my contact information. Love you all. Thanks for reading and writing. I hate arithmetic, but I know it's necessary. Hope you're being good. Also, if you have ipads, you should look into ConnecTV. It's the company I work for. It's an ipad app. you can download for free that connects you to tv shows and gives you something to do while you're watching. So I'm the office manager and put out orders for stuff we need in the office.

Today they told me to order lunch and I sent out an email asking everyone in the office what they wanted. Then they told me it was just for the people at the meeting. Oops. So I asked if I needed to send a followup cancellation email for lunch and they said it was ok. How embarrassing. And Happy Birthday everyone! For my birthday the company bought everyone lunch. Yippee Hooray! Love, Mer

I'm BAAAACCCCKKKKK-

2011-10-18T17:25:00.001-07:00

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.

Oct 3, 2011 Almost trunky

2011-10-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

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

Sept 26, 2011 allergies and hernias

2011-10-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

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

Sept 12, 2011 Yaxha and Pizza Hut

2011-10-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

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

Sept 19, 2011 Haiya to my Hernia

2011-09-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

Sept 5, 2011 Men are crazy...but not as crazy as...

2011-09-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

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?

August 15, 2011 Braids are da bomb!

2011-09-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

August 29, 2011...The grossest Think EVER

2011-09-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

August 22, 2011 MMM, Cinnamon Rolls

2011-09-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

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

August 9, 2011 Hna Bernardez is amazing!

2011-09-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

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

Aug 1, 2011 Let the Sports Begin...

2011-09-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

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

July 25, 2011

2011-08-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

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

May 25, 2011...a little out of order

2011-08-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Sheralyn Peterson
cookie Martin
Neal Peterson
14 More...

Message flagged
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

July 18, 2011 laughing from Honduras

2011-07-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

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

july 11, 2011

2011-07-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

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.

July 4, 2011 Merilee's rockin'

2011-07-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

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

June 27, 2011...Hangin' in there

2011-07-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

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

June 20, 2011..trouble in Dodge

2011-07-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

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

June 13, 2011.."old, new comp"

2011-06-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

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

May 30, 2011

2011-06-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

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

May 16, 2011 Love those cold showers....NOT

2011-05-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

Thanks for the love...May 9, 2011

2011-05-19T13:12:00.001-07:00

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

May 2, 2011-Happy with Hna Molina

2011-05-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

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

April 25-Hoppy Easter!

2011-04-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

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

April 18, 2011. Ehhh, What did you say?

2011-04-21T04:30:00.000-07:00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

April 11, 2011 Congratulations, Bonnie!

2011-04-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

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

April 4, 2011 Trip to Tikal

2011-04-17T05:52:00.000-07:00

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

March 28, 2011

2011-04-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

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

Hna Callejas, Mar 21, 2011

2011-03-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

A tuk tuk, Mar 14, 2011

2011-03-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

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

Gimme a little kiss, Mar 6, 2011

2011-03-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

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

Feb 28, 2011

2011-03-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

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

Feb 21, the week of the beans

2011-02-22T05:50:00.000-08:00

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

new in Peten...Feb 8, 2011

2011-02-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

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 dídn´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

Jan 24, 2011

2011-02-02T05:39:00.000-08:00

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.

Jan 31, 2011

2011-02-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

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

She's 27!

2011-01-20T06:04:00.000-08:00

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

January 10, 2011...Happy Birthday, Merilee!!!!

2011-01-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

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.

The new Year in Guatemala

2011-01-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

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

Christmas in Guatemala with Merilee

2010-12-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

Mom's idea of cleaning the Church as a family?...That sounds like an awesome Christmas if there ever was one. I would be totally down with cleaning the church next year for our Christmas service project for the ward. Someone has to do it, why not us? I think more service would be a good idea. This morning we totally helped a family build a stairway to their backyard and dig a septic hole. It involved moving lots of rocks and clay, but was very rewarding.

We don{t have money in our accounts yet, maybe Wednesday. I{ve still got my cough. Bleh. It{s ok if you didn{t go iceskating this year, we{re going next year and it{s going to be awesome. Yeah, our Christmas will be a party. I{m glad everyone played games and had a good time. It was nice to hear everyone and talk to everyone.

I called Sarah for about 15 min. too. That was nice. I can wait until Mother{s Day...and then my mission{ll be pretty much over...b-c September will come on rapido.

The church is true. Service is always a good idea. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

Re: the Christmas family call, Yeah, the other microphone was way better. You got the day off for Christmas? We totally didn{t. We just worked like crazy all Christmas and Christmas Eve. We got 50 lessons, that was our goal for the Pres. for everyone this week. We were the only comp. to get it in our district. Our percentage of animo, which is like an equation to say how hard you worked was 111 percent. That{s more than 100 percent. That{s awesome! Anyway, we had a good, busy Christmas.

But we had to be inside by 6 pm, that was lamesauce. Everyone invited us to eat with them and we ended up lucking out and our neighbor gave us tamales to eat that night. Tamales are delicious. That and we drank a bunch of punch. It{s like wassail with coconut, apples, raisins, papaya, and pineapple chopped up and dropped in. It{s way good. I totally sugared out though. Not super awesome to be sugar bombarded when sugar makes you feel like crap. But yeah, I{m trying to cut back. Somehow.

We didn{t get to see a Christmas movie. But overall it was good. And I{ve got a gringa comp, so we talk in English. That{s the best Christmas gift ever. You{re the best. Keep working. Love, Hna Peterson

Grant, I totally realized life is way better with sleep. With my new comp I{ve been talking more and sleeping less, but I{ve been totally paying for it. I{m so tired. But it{s awesome to be out of the spanish box. I{m glad you all had a great time for Christmas. I can{t wait to see your skinny jeans. That{s funny you don{t care. I think it{s weird to see skinny jeans, but it{s the style, so maybe we all have to get used to it. All the little boys are HUGE! I can{t even believe it.

And guess what, Bonnie{s hair is totally longer than mine. Which is crazy. But mine{s way ugly right now, so I{m growing it out. You saw the pictures right? I mean, it{s not terrible, but it{s not my fav. I know, right, crazy I only have one more call until I come home. It{s so suerte Canute and I come home about the same time.

Yeah, service is so great to do. You feel so good after. Let{s plan some huge service projects for our whole family to do next Christmas. We{ll have a ton of people to help those people out. You{re the best. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

Almost Christmas

2010-12-20T17:45:00.000-08:00

Dad, Math is a nice thing to be good at. I{m glad you had a fun auction activity. We had a Christmas activity in the town square last week. We dressed up in our Israelite clothes and walked behind Mary, who rode a donkey, led by Joseph, to the mall. It was a nice reminder of what Christmas is all about. Afterwards, all the missionaries in my zone acted a silent scene of what happened in America with the signs of Jesus{ coming. I heard it went well, but we all felt kind of foolish doing it. It was really long and drawn out. It definitely could{ve used some work. The church is true.

MOM wrote: "Grant sat next to me while they were playing games and I was waiting to read scriptures and say family prayer. He said, "MOM, will you give me your sweater? I want your sweater.." I was wearing my Christmas sweater/ green, black with Christmas motifs and sequins, etc. Grant continued, " I want your sweater because I could win every ugly sweater contest I entered at BYU with that sweater...."

That{s really funny. Oh, sorry mom. Sweaters are great. And warm. I bought a black one this week. B-c it{s cold outside and I{ve had a deep cough for two weeks so I thought that would help me.

I got your packages. Thank you. I really appreciate the chocolate, the drink mixes, the vitamins, the stickers, and all the love you put into those boxes. You{re the best.

We had changes today. My comp is now Hna Endicott. My first North American comp. in the field. She{s really nice. I hope she wants to work hard. My last comp. wasted a lot of time in front of the mirror. I don{t know how, but we lost hours to her mirror time. I just want a comp. who wants to find and teach people. I hope having a NA comp. doesn{t hinder my spanish. I hope in one of the 12 messages I got from you there{s a phone number and time for me to call for Christmas. I have an hour to talk.

This week we had a manger scene activity in the center of Coban. We didn{t do much work this week or teach many lessons because of this activity. This week we{re going to work hard. I{m going to have a great 24 and 25 of December. I also got some new clothes from Sarah and some stickers. Bless her giant heart. I no longer feel like a bag lady when I dress myself.

The Lord answers all our prayers. I see miracles, personal miracles, in my life, every day. Love you, Merry Chrismas!

Grant,

Thanks for your indepth news. As usual, comprehensive and interesting. I surely hope our call goes well, as I know our phone su..is not the best. And well, I don{t know how well reception from Guate is. So yeah. I{ll call home and if they want me to call the computer from my phone, I can do that too, but tell them to have the number ready. I{ll call like 12. Maybe. I got a NA comp. Very cool. I hope. I just want to work. I don{t want another slacker comp. I{ve had a lot, I just want to bring people in by the busloads and the only way to do that is work. Hard work. I want to. Please.

The church is true. Heavenly Father loves us and answers our prayers- always. And Wow, I{m jealous of a Christmas at home. But here, we{re working hard. Or hardly working. I think my Christmas will be like every other day, b-c Christmas here is the 24th. But having a NA comp. will definitely change things. At least in our house. I{m a little relieved to not have to stay up until midnight the 24th. B-c that would be lame. I need my sleep. Especially with the phlegm cough I{ve had for 2 weeks. It{s disgusting. Yum.

You{re the best! CTR. Enjoy those cookies. I want me some delicious cakes and cookies. Here the sweets are...a little bit gross. Love you! Hna Peterson

Almost Christmas, Dec 13, 2010

2010-12-13T16:28:00.000-08:00

Grant, Excellent. I{m glad you have a big tv. That will make up for my lack of tv. I had a dream I came home from my mission and could only remember the first half..prob. b-c I{ve only served the first half. Sarah was mad at me for not saying hi to her. We had a bake sale. It was a weird dream. They always are. I{m glad you got my letter. I finished another to you, but I won{t be sending it until next Monday.

HOpefully we can start this letter writing business for real. I{m seriously pleased you didn{t forget my advice and seriously displeased my car wouldn{t start for you. Lamesauce. Why is my car stupid? What did I ever do to deserve that curse? I don{t know. Boo to cars and boo to insurance for cars. What a pain in the apple.

Glad you{re writing a song for Bonnie. I want a song too. If you want to write me one. But I probably won{t be able to listen to it until September when I get home, so you{ve got some time. I sent the family a sweet Christmas package with something for everyone. The downside is I sent it Friday, so it{s going to get to MO prob. in January sometime so mom{ll have to mail everyone their gifts instead of handing them to them. Lame. But I think everyone will be pleased with the gifts.

Also, there are some pictures inside, one actually has pictures of my hair. Or two or three. I don{t remember. All with me have hair. Just how much. I saw a picture of me in Austria and my hair was really long and looked great. Why did I curse my self with short hair again? I knew better. Boooooo.

Good luck with finals. CTR. Don{t be preoccupied with girls. Tell mom I need to know the phone number to call Christmas. I need to know if it{s Sarah{s phone, mom{s phone, whoever{s, but I need the actual number and then I can plan when to call. But I need to know who to call.

Also, we have a manger scene in the city plaza this week, called the Pastorela. It{s going to be awesome we hope. Two weeks until the Pastorela, the guy planning told us he needed our suggestions for ideas. What? In two weeks you{re saying this is going to be ready? So pray for us.

Love you, Hna Peterson

Dec 6, 2010

2010-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks for writing Deane. I appreciate it. Yeah, I know your life isn´t exciting, but mine isn´t either, so we´re about even. And I think about how I should´ve written all my siblings more on their missions. That´s about it.

Yeah, funny that Christian had the same experience as we had with the Romneys...running into them on Thanksgiving. How ridiculous we were and well, sometimes are. Hah, boys. Sometimes I think about how weird it would be to be married. And I realize I´m still not ready for that. But the elders here are great. Sometimes I´m surprised at how demanding the sisters are. How embarrassing. I´m trying to be a good sister and be a good missionary. I´m glad you had lots of movies for Luke to watch, because otherwise your trip would´ve been a nightmare.

Greg brought games you didn´t like on purpose? He would. I´m glad you at least saw half of Alice in Wonderland. I liked it. You should see the other half. My comp and I have realized we´re missing about 800 quetzales together. That´s a lot of money. My emergency fund from my desk...so we´re pretty sure our neighbor, landlady is stealing from us. What can we do? Not much. Not take our money out of the bank. But how do we use it if we can only take money out once a month from the atms? YEAH, crappy. I put my valuables in my suitcase and locked it. I hope that will keep her out. Otherwise, I´m not going to have any money or any way to pay our bills.

We got to see the Christmas devotional yesterday. I remember times when I could´ve seen those specials and didn´t want to. Now it´s a little different. Now I want to see them. I saw it in spanish and got most of it.

Remember how Josh always did pushups? Yeah, well, I guess it continued on. But yeah, I´ve seen pictures and it´s weird, but I´m sure he´s popular with the ladies and I hope he´s being good. All our brothers are giants.

Christmas is going to be weird in Guatemala. But good weird I hope. You´re the best sister ever!

Yeah, my hair{s not looking so hot, but it{s got some time to grow. Mostly, it{s prob. better to have a short ponytail than a long one. Maybe, but you may call me triangle head. My hair{s cut straight into the awkward stages of hair. Love from your Sister missionary in the field...

Nov 29, 2010

2010-11-29T18:53:00.000-08:00

Dad, Thanks for the Thanksgiving news. We didn{t do anything special for Thanksgiving, but we made pupusas the next day. Tday kinda slipped past us here in Guatemala. But I saw the pictures and was supremely jealous. Sorry they resolved the case without you being on the jury...that could{ve been interesting.

Glad you had a great birthday party for mom and Sally Mae. I{m glad you{re cleaning out the house and getting ready to take a trip. Or look for opportunities. Trips are fun and worthwhile. Way to get started. Sorry to hear about Ron Bailey. Deaths are always hard. But we have the plan of salvation, so that{s always a comfort. Christian and Josh are officially giants. Like all my brothers. Very cool. Hope you{re all feeling healthy and spry. Don{t let mom make any chard pies, let her know it{s not rhubarb.

Thanks for your news. Your Tday was definitely colder than my Tday. We didn{t do much, mostly walked and talked to people. Oh, and Friday we made pupusas. So now I know how, pretty simple. The week over was calidad..chivo...or cool. We also taught some lessons. Doesn{t really feel like Christmas. But maybe it will feel like Christmas when more people decorate. Maybe it{s better that way b-c when it feels like Christmas, I{m going to want to be with my family. However, maybe I can block out Christmas this year. I{ll let you know. Love, Hna Peterson

Thanks for all the fun pictures. We don{t have Thanksgiving here, but the pictures were a great reminder of what it would{ve been like had I been there for Tday. Thanks. Today we went to the zoo in Tactic. It{s like 45 minutes away. there were squirrels, a raccoon, bunnies, monkeys, a lion, and a tiger. Also some other animals, but it was pretty small. The highlight was being like 2 feet from a cage of monkeys and having 4 in the cage, so when watching the others, sometimes a monkey would be right there in your face and startle you. Good times.

I got some pictures, but like I said, the readers here don{t read my camera memory. So hopefully I can send some pictures through the mail to you. Coban{s good times. We are having lots of fun, Hna Cabrera and I. We are trying to find people to teach and are getting to know the members here better. The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson

Nov 22, 2010-

2010-11-27T05:06:00.000-08:00

From:
"Merilee Enid Peterson"
It{s going well. Yesterday was awkward, funny you mentioned kissing, b-c all three of my awkwardnesses had to do with kissing. First off, did the cheek kiss and casi kissed the investigator full on the mouth. Awkward. She was lying down, that{s my excuse..but it was awkward to leave, b-c I didn{t even graze her cheek b-c I was nervous for another awkward almost kiss. Which made it all the more awkward, b-c if you don{t graze their cheek, it didn{t really happen. Awkward. Also, my comp and I were leaving a new member and her husband just got home. She-s 18, and we both turned around, just as she was greeting him with a kiss and my comp. said we were shuka for watching. I thought she{d wave goodbye to us. Guess not. Also, the third awkwardness, was on the way home, we contacted a couple and found out the lady was working in our community, so I offered to walk her home..but her boyfriend said no. It was super awkward, b-c it occurred to me afterwards, that they prob. wanted to kiss and our walking her home would completely foil their plans. So we laughed about those awkwardnesses on the way home.

It{s getting a little harder to find people. My clothes are all hideous to me. It{s getting a little cooler outside. I have a new comp, Hna Cabrera, but I{m back in my first area of Coban again. We had a really cool combined priesthood and relief society where we asked for references and got them. I love the members. I cried. Of course. Pure chillona. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010

Yeah I{m good. I{m back in my first area, Coban. I{m taking bucket showers every day..but at least they{re warm bucket showers. I also got a haircut...but it{s really short. It{s about the length of Bonnie{s and Sarah{s right now. Yay for sister triplets. Anyway, it was a ward member named Mary and I told her I didn{t want layers anymore. So she cut all my layers off. All of them. Wow. But maybe in a year I{ll have it a little longer. But I got it cut straight into the awkward stages. Now I remember why my hair was long for such a long time. B-c I feel like an ugly missionary now. Or a boy, but really, it{s not so bad.

Grant, I'm glad you have plans for Thanksgiving. I don{t get to celebrate, b-c nobody celebrates here, but I{m sure it{s going to rock. Thanksgiving. Well, I{m thankful to be a missionary. I{m thankful to be in Guatemala and for the opportunity to learn spanish and have all the lessons I{m learning from each of my companions and how to be a fun and not a crazy girl. I{m thankful for our ward members. I{m thankful for my family. I{m thankful for internet. I{m thankful for the warmth of November here, b-c the weather here is supremely awesome. I{m thankful that hair grows.

B-c I got a haircut and it{s really short. I wanted it about shoulder length, b-c my layers were looking weird and unhealthy. So she cut them all off. All my hair. Gone. I look like a man. Bless the elder who told me he really liked my haircut b-c I was feeling fugly today. Which is why I haven{t had short hair since my sophomore year in college, b-c it makes me feel ugly every day. I currently have a triangle head and it{s going to grow out and be beautiful. I{ve decided. Right now it doesn{t matter what my hair looks like, b-c I{m a missionary, but now I{m an ugly missionary.

Cool picture. Why does your neck look weird? What did you photoshop it for? Han Solo{s my favorite. Luke{s a pansy. Not our nephew. Tell the relatives hey for me. And please eat some carameled apples for me, b-c they don{t have caramel here I{m pretty sure. You{re the best. Love, Hna Peterson

However, nobody{s looking down here in Guate, so I{ll have plenty of time to not do my hair and look like a manly missionary until I get home. My comp{s great. Her name{s Hna Cabrera and she{s super. We{ve been visiting a lot of members..so our numbers are a little low this week, but we had a ton with members, which was perfecto. Also, we{re eating supremely b-c she knows how to cook and likes to, so I{m gonna get chubby.

It also doesn{t feel like Christmas yet, but we decided to do secret santas for Christmas, the month of December. So I{ve wrapped little gifts for her for December and it{s going to rock. I would put some pictures on here, but this computer won{t read my camera{s memory card, so it{s not possible. Maybe when I get home you can see it. Or I{ll try to figure something out to get pictures to MO. Glad to hear you cleaned up the playroom. I got my Halloween card. Thank you! I enjoyed reading all the little notes. Keep pushing the little boys and Dad to write little notes. Then I{ll be more driven to write them on their missions. Or maybe I{ll just write them one liners. It would serve them right.

In a Christmas package.. hmm. Mostly, if you want to put in some more dove chocolate...and other chocolate that is delicious but doesn{t have nuts and wasn{t made in a factory with nuts I will be pleased. And my comp. will be pleased, b-c she loves chocolate. We{re eating that nutella and it{s delicious. My clothes get uglier every day, but hopefully I will be able to make do until September, b-c seriously, I do not want to enter a store here with Hna Cabrera. She loves clothes shopping and I don{t want to give her any false hopes. B-c I do not like shopping. You know this.

Hna Cabrera loves pink, stuffed animals, clothes, and la obra misional. Which is supreme. I{ve realized here, I{m not a super freak for pink, but a lot of latins are. Lots of birthday parties happened this week and we tried making cards for people and the elders made little microwave cakes. Did you know you can make a full cake in the microwave? It{s super easy. You just put it in the microwave in the bowl you mixed it in..pref. plastic, and you have a cake. Very new idea I never thought of before. You{re the best Mom! Love you! Hna Peterson

Grant,
You{re the best, brother. The fast worked, and now I{m with super model Hna Cabrera. She{s a wonderful companion and I think we{re going to have a super change. I made orange juice this morning. I blended a bunch of oranges in the blender whole. Kind of nasty. Next time it{s her turn and she will probably squeeze them. I was too lazy and we had a smoothie. Not the best idea. But maybe next time we{ll have yogurt and bananas and it will be delicious. And I will take out the seeds. With seeds was also kind of gross.

I{m glad you went to the wedding reception with Bonnie and are spending time with our relations. I wish I would{ve spent more time with them in Utah, but most of the years I didn{t have a car, and when I had a car, I lived in Heber. So that was a little further. It doesn{t really feel like Christmastime here. It feels like July. It feels like July b-c the kids have their school vacation right now, so the kids are in the streets all day and it{s still pretty warm. Cooler, but still relatively warm..For November. Hopefully we{ll keep away from the rain and have a supremely fantastic summer- Christmas break.

You{re great. Hope you CTR and continue sitting on the other couch. Love, Hna Peterson

Nov 15, 2010 Back to the jungle

2010-11-27T04:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, thanks for your enlightening and uplifting letter Dad. I{m glad you{re finding creative ways to inspire the students in your classes and in your school. The ideas sound very effective.

This week we had changes. The Lord loves me. He sent me back to Coban, my first area. So I know most of the people in the ward, at least by sight, and I know the streets, etc. So it{s a little easier in this case. Very cool. I{m comps with Hna Cabrera. She{s my height and from El Salvador and very chill. I believe this change is going to be a little easier and going to seriously rock.

We ate at a member{s house this week, and Hna Cabrera didn{t want to eat anymore of the delicious salad they made...so one of the boys put more on her plate. It was really funny. The water flooded the house, and sometimes doesn{t work...so that{s kind of a pain. I{m in exactly the same house as before. Our fridge is also actively trying to be a freezer, so everything in our fridge is frozen solid. We may have to turn it off. I{m not sure what other options we have.

We had an awesome visit with our bishop yesterday and have two birthday parties this week. Very nice Coban. I{m also getting a haircut tonight. Cross your fingers for me. One never knows how a haircut will turn out, but my ends are needing a good trim. Canute, congrats on the abs of steel. Keep at it. I will try to match your abs...but don{t count on it.

I{m very pleased to have this change. I was going crazy with Hna G. But I love her. The church is true. Be good.

Happy Birthday MOM! I hope the little boys read what Canute said b-c I totally agree. Teenagers. Pah. Sorry you had to be moved suddenly from your spot, but it{s probably better this way. Now you can teach kids who are under control of themselves. Way better.

There was a bassoon in your primary program? Very cool. I think our primary program in Coban is in two weeks. Very nice to see another one, b-c I love the primary programs. And it had been a while since I{d seen one before my mission, so it{s going to be great to see another one.

Jealous of the cake. My comp and I made a cake for our ward mission leader in our microwave. It took about 10 minutes in a mixing bowl. And surprisingly enough, turned out like an oven cake. Very weird to know a person doesn{t need an oven, just a microwave to cook stuff like that. But I guess that{s why it{s named a microwave oven. Not just used to reheat, but also to actually cook things. Nice.

The church is true. I hope your birthday is magnificent. I didn{t receive my Halloween card yet. Love you, Hna Peter

Nov 8, 2010

2010-11-27T04:21:00.000-08:00

Cool, Christian´s been wanting to drive forever. The weather here is crazy. Completely crazy. I got windburned on my face Saturday from cold and 4 people at church and afterwards have commented on how burned my face is. You cannot use sunblock to protect from windburn. And my sunblock is 30, but I heard for your face, you´re supposed to use 80. Oops. Maybe when it gets warmer I´ll worry about it.

Glad to hear you finally got all my stuff I´ve been sending. I´m not a complete slacker when it comes to mail. I send letters. Pictures of the family are always nice to get. I hope you enjoy all the pictures you got, I really don´t take many. Hope you´re all being good and CTRing!

Sounds busy. We didn´t do too much this week. We were supposed to have two baptisms, but we only had one. One of them was sick Sunday. He´s old and doesn´t have the greatest health. We hope Hno Martin can be baptized this Saturday with Monica and her daughter Gerelyn. We will see...b-c we need to talk to him about it.

Last Monday was Ferriado...the day of the dead where everyone visits cemetaries and flies kites. It was a good day for pday b-c nobody was home that weekend. I heard of some elders that went and taught in the cemetary to people on their pday. Way to go Elders. Maybe I´ll do that next Ferriado... Not. B-c I´ll be home, but it´s a good idea to find people and teach the gospel to people who would appreciate the message.

We ate lots of fiambre. It´s a traditional meal they only eat on that day...or for that week. It´s a beet salad that´s really expensive. It´s 75 to 100 quetzals for a salad. It´s pretty good, but for that price, no. Beat salad with sweet pickels and a mustard sauce. Well, not terribly fancy really..With chopped up ham and those gross little corns soaked in vinegar. I threw mine away.

We got to eat it at a member´s house and were given a salad by an investigator. I ate the corns at the house, I tossed the corns at our house.

This week we were talking about how our comp. in the trio who left, hna Calderone, said we needed to be selective with our clothes Sundays b-c the member´s notice. We were talking with a newly moved in member about how we wear the same things every day etc. Anyway, 10 minutes later we were walking to an appointment and got a ride from another member. During the drive, we talked about a morning baptism. He said Martin needed to bring a different sweater, b-c the one he´s worn the last three Sundays just isn´t going going to be warm enough. It was pretty funny.

My belly button got infected this week. I don´t know how, I don´t know why. But it was gross, and with some alcohol and drying it out after showering...it´s better. Very weird.

Hno Martin during the baptismal paperwork session also said his daughters were born on Wednesday and Friday. He didn´t remember the dates, just the days. Later, when asked about his wife´s birthday, the elder filling out the paperwork jokingly said, ¨Let me guess, Friday?¨ Hno Martin said, ¨No, it was a Thursday.¨ It was also pretty funny when it happened.

We have changes, if we have changes, tonight. I think I´m going to be moved out to the jungle again. If I stay or if Hna Gonzalez leaves, we will all be very surprised. I don´t know why I feel the change...but if nothing changes, I will be surprised. I can do it. The Lord loves me and knows what I can handle.

I also love the library. Very good resource. Doing dishes is a necessary. I would say evil, but I like doing the dishes. Just do them as they come, and don´t wait for a pile and it´s manageable. There are always going to be dishes, so why not enjoy it? I wash most of our dishes here. It´s way better than having a mountain of smelly, crusty dishes with roaches crawling all over? Am I right?
The church is true and God loves you! Love, Hna Peterson

Sounds busy. We didn´t do too much this week. We were supposed to have two baptisms, but we only had one. One of them was sick Sunday. He´s old and doesn´t have the greatest health. We hope Hno Martin can be baptized this Saturday with Monica and her daughter Gerelyn. We will see...b-c we need to talk to him about it.

Last Monday was Ferriado...the day of the dead where everyone visits cemetaries and flies kites. It was a good day for pday b-c nobody was home that weekend. I heard of some elders that went and taught in the cemetary to people on their pday. Way to go Elders. Maybe I´ll do that next Ferriado... Not. B-c I´ll be home, but it´s a good idea to find people and teach the gospel to people who would appreciate the message.

We ate lots of fiambre. It´s a traditional meal they only eat on that day...or for that week. It´s a beet salad that´s really expensive. It´s 75 to 100 quetzals for a salad. It´s pretty good, but for that price, no. Beat salad with sweet pickels and a mustard sauce. Well, not terribly fancy really..With chopped up ham and those gross little corns soaked in vinegar. I threw mine away.

We got to eat it at a member´s house and were given a salad by an investigator. I ate the corns at the house, I tossed the corns at our house.

This week we were talking about how our comp. in the trio who left, hna Calderone, said we needed to be selective with our clothes Sundays b-c the member´s notice. We were talking with a newly moved in member about how we wear the same things every day etc. Anyway, 10 minutes later we were walking to an appointment and got a ride from another member. During the drive, we talked about a morning baptism. He said Martin needed to bring a different sweater, b-c the one he´s worn the last three Sundays just isn´t going to be warm enough. It was pretty funny.

My belly button got infected this week. I don´t know how, I don´t know why. But it was gross, and with some alcohol and drying it out after showering...it´s better. Very weird.

Hno Martin during the baptismal paperwork session also said his daughters were born on Wednesday and Friday. He didn´t remember the dates, just the days. Later, when asked about his wife´s birthday, the elder filling out the paperwork jokingly said, ¨Let me guess, Friday?¨ Hno Martin said, ¨No, it was a Thursday.¨ It was also pretty funny when it happened.

We have changes, if we have changes, tonight. I think I´m going to be moved out to the jungle again. If I stay or if Hna Gonzalez leaves, we will all be very surprised. I don´t know why I feel the change...but if nothing changes, I will be surprised. I can do it. The Lord loves me and knows what I can handle.

I also love the library. Very good resource. Doing dishes is a necessary. I would say evil, but I like doing the dishes. Just do them as they come, and don´t wait for a pile and it´s manageable. There are always going to be dishes, so why not enjoy it? I wash most of our dishes here. It´s way better than having a mountain of smelly, crusty dishes with roaches crawling all over? Am I right?

My comp. loves salt and sugar in our food and we can´t put the salt in after b-c it makes her feel sick. So we get really salty..the both of us...during meals. I decided I like my food plainer b-c I feel like tons of salt, sugar and grease is bad for me. Yea, I know it is, but somehow, it just doesn´t matter to Guatemalans. We found some new people to teach Sunday. That´s a good thing b-c we haven´t found anyone new in about 2 weeks. Which is part of the reason I think the Lord will give us some kind of change. Last week, when I was furious about something, silently furious, I prayed for a change..of heart or comps. Either one. If it´s just a change of heart, that´s ok too. It will do. You´re the best. Grant, Keep visiting the temple! Love, Hna Peterson

Nov 1, 2010

2010-11-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

Oh, but for Christmas, I think the sooner the better for you to send whatever you like. Nothing with peanuts or made in a factory with peanuts or nuts. Almond factory stuff is ok. Clothes, if you can find something really cute, would be nice.

I don´t know, a letter in the package..would be nice. Maybe some more music, if you have it. Or Christian could burn it. Classical, motab, little kids in our family singing, whatever. Pictures are always nice. Love. Lots of love. Thanks! You´re the best mom ever!

On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 4:28 PM, Merilee Enid Peterson wrote:

There is no and.

Christian lost his email? That explains it. I sent a huge mound of awesome emails to Christian about two or three weeks ago and you said you hadn´t heard anything. I guess that answers that question.

I don´t play hymns in church, but I can lead...and that´s all you need if you have a voice to help others sing. So I do that.Sorry you lost your first email. That´s lame.

The news, about a month ago, we stopped by the house of an inactive man who has problems with the word of wisdom. It was 6 pm and Monday. We knocked on the gate and he walked outside without any pants on. Just a tshirt and underwear. So he said, ¨Hello, come in.¨And I said, ¨Where are your pants?¨ and he said, Ï´m wearing them.¨As he looked down, at his pantslessness. So I said, ¨Nope, you´re not wearing any pants.¨ So he said ¨Come in, come is, as he walked back inside to put on pants.

Needless to say, we decided to visit another day. In the middle of the day. Since then, he´s also stopped smoking and drinking. We hope so.

This week we have two baptisms. That will be nice. Since that´s our purpose here on the mission.

We knock a lot of doors and talk to a lot of people. We know a lot of people here in Los Olivos who like waving to us, but don´t want to hear our message. It´s a pretty closed off world here, like living in the US. It´s Guate though.

Guatemala is apparently a very dangerous place to live. I hear a lot of stories about people being killed, robbed, and-or extorted. Not cool. So hopefully I can stay free from any such things. But we have two new people in our ward b-c of extortion in their other ward. And we need to be careful about who we talk to. Also heard there may be a man in the mafia in our ward. I sure hope not, b-c their family is really cool.

So we are trying to work hard and bear pure testimony. We eat lots for breakfast and I hate breakfast. I´ve decided. But when I told my comp, she got offended. So I try and eat everything she puts in front of me. She tells people all the things I do she doesn´t like, so I feel frustrated sometimes.

I want to throw up in the morning with all the food we eat. Ugh. I also realized people here love grease, sugar and salt. And my comp. won´t eat salt if it isn´t put in the food before it´s cooked. And she puts in a TON. So I am trying really hard to be a good girl and eat everything, but it´s hard for me.

But we´re trying to find people to teach.

Canute, My comp had a sickness like that Tuesday, so we only worked 4 hours on Tuesday, but we still knocked a lot of doors and had some lessons, so the whole day wasn´t wasted. We didn´t do anything for Halloween yesterday...but before yesterday we decorated with pumpkins and bats around our house. So that was cool.

This week we also walked around a lot. Today is Ferriado..or the day of the dead or some such thing. So there are tons of people at the cemetary and walking there with flowers.

We haven´t had many lessons, but we have two baptisms this week. One is a 9 yr old whose dad was baptized in Feb. and the other is Sunday. He´s a cool, little Guatemalan old guy. His name is Martin Salguerra. Very friendly.

I need to cut my hair and my nails. My nails b-c they´re not strong and they keep breaking off in layers. I don´t know what that means for my overall health, but so it is. And my hair´s looking scraggly. I think that´s some kind of sign I need a haircut. Maybe I should wait a couple months and then see how it fares.

Los Olivos is a great place to live. We have transfers next Wednesday and find out next Monday night if they happen. A change would be nice, my comp. is crazy. But we get along most of the time. So if there´s no change, I guess another 6 weeks won´t kill me.

The church is true. Love, Hna Peterson

Week 42

2010-11-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

This week at church we had the primary program. It was really spiritual and I couldn´t hold back the tears. Big surprise. The simple testimony of children touched my heart and I wished everyone we teach could feel the same way about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This week is America´s birthday. Happy Birthday America! I might dress up the Sunday after your birthday. Maybe. We´ll see. This week was hot. I need to drink more water and eat more fruit.

We taught a lot of lessons this week. The best part was we taught a lady named Erica yesterday. I really think she wants to know the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her mom and husband died 11 years ago. I know we say this a lot here, but I think she´s ready. I hope so.

We meet a lot of people that are ready to know the truth. But it´s hard to help them progress. Probably everyone who´s served a mission knows what I´m talking about. Commitments are important.

Help the missionaries by going to teach lessons with them. That really helps. Love you!

Today was kind of a frustrating pday. First, we were told the wrong church building to play volleyball, so we missed zone volleyball. Lame, then we got stuck in traffic, b-c they stopped all traffic to tear up the road. There were tons of cars and it was the middle of the day when they decided to do it. Lame. Then, none of the elders were at the big wal'mart store here...b-c they were playing volleyball. Last, the machines at the register at the store didn´t work for 30 minutes, so waited for that. Ugh.

We taught some lessons to an 8 yr old in our ward getting baptized. We asked how often you should pray and she said, Sin cuenta, which means without number. We thought she said, Cincuenta. Which is 50. So my comp. said, yeah, 100, 50, 10000. She cleared it up, but it was really funny.

Hna G. is really cool, but she´s kind of paranoid about our zone leaders. And all elders in general. It´s weird and a pain. She also commanded me not to speak in english to anyone b-c she´s paranoid we´re saying stuff about her or us. Lame. It´s going to be a long change. It´s only with other missionaries, other times she´s just crazy for a couple minutes. I also ran into a tree this week. That happens sometimes.

I´ve also started hitting my comp. when she startles me b-c she does it a lot and there´s no other way to stop her from doing it countless times in a day.. So yeah, that´s how I´m maturing out here. The church is true. Conference was awesome. Love, Hna Peterson

October 26, 2010

2010-11-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

I bought bananas today. I will try to eat healthier. B-c I eat a lot of sugar and my legs are getting fatter. I need a haircut. Bonnie, I was really interested to read this email again. B-c I skimmed it last week. Sounds like you are being as social as Grant. Kudos. I will be jealous of your good times today, but tomorrow...I will call others to the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit and then you will be jealous.

Very cool. I want to play that pool table game. We played pool today. It was fun. It would have been more fun, but our ZLs told me I had a letter, and then they told me they lied. So I didn´t have a letter. Then they said I had a letter. Then that I didn´t have one. I don´t like being lied to. I don´t like people playing with my emotions. So I was mad for the hour we played pool. They felt bad. Good. I felt bad first. Because they lied to me. About mail. Not cool.

So pool was unsuccessful, b-c I apparently can´t play mad. Good job, reading is important. I can´t wait to see Inception and Iron Man two. I want to. In September I will watch those movies. I may or may not dress up for Halloween.

Yesterday I killed 5 roaches, it was a warm night. When it´s cooler outside, there are less roaches in our house. I straightened my hair today. I need a haircut looks like. B-c it should have looked spectacular and it just looked so so. Yay for delicious desserts and fun times with people we love! Love you!

October 19, 2010

2010-11-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

Dad and Bonnie. Thanks for the news. I love you. I am really glad to hear from you both. Only have one minute to respond, but Bonnie, age isn´t everything. Glad you´re getting out and asked out. Dad, you work those kids to the max with fun and interest! Love, Hna Peterson

Thanks mom. I am glad you are finally done with your scouting, it doesn´t sound like it was much fun. Even though boys love to camp. Sometimes the memories are more fun than the actual camping.

I have been juicing up my water with those little packets. Thanks. I am looking forward to the next, whenever it may come. I think a little mini Christmas tree would be fun. Hna G and I cut out tissue paper pumpkins and bats to paste around our house. It´s very festive right now and we hope to do the same for Christmas. I know, it´s a long time away. But we have been hearing a lot that Pres. doesn´t want to change up many companionships, so we´re not expecting a change until after Christmas, but of course, we go where the Lord sends us. You´re the greatest mom ever! I love you so much! Love, Hna Peterson

Yeah, I had two. My first I just sent home. And the second, I kept.

The thing is, I just found out my mail has been held for three months in the office. They just changed all the office elders and they hadn´t sent anything. So at our zone conference, I saw two of the elders in my mtc district and one is currently in the office. He said I had a mountain of mail to be mailed out. Great. So that and the cd I just sent with all my pictures should be coming your way about now. I hope.

Yesterday I ate a fruit called Granaria. It´s like a brain inside of an orange peel, shaped like a little squash. It was tart and partly good, partly nasty. I don´t think I´ll eat many more of those. But it was a good experience overall. The lady who gave them to us, along with some eggs, attacked me during our lesson. She said lots of missionaries had visited her, but she was cemented in her beliefs. So when I testified to her, she basically told me I was wrong and attacked me with words. Not Hna G. I don´t know why.

Maybe b-c I asked a question about Halloween and she said it was Satan´s holiday. So maybe I won´t mention it to anyone else. Mostly, I was thinking about our pumpkin and bat tissue paper decorations and couldn´t think of any way to get her off my back. It didn´t work. She was crazy. We will not be visiting again anytime soon, even though she was downright amiable after the closing prayer. B-c she was crazy.

At the house of a member we are reactivating, with the help of the Spirit, we ate molay..it´s fried platano covered with chile chocolate and sesame seeds. Kind of strange, but in a good way. Also, we had tamales. i like tamales. A lot. They are nice to eat. We are finding people to teach little by little.

Sometimes, when we set baptismal dates for people they disappear off the face of the planet. We don´t know how or why, but it has happened to us at least twice. Lamesauce.

I had the worst dream of all time last night. I dreamt Kristi Brailsford and one of our menos activos died. Kristi was engaged to be married in the first part of my dream. I just remember crying and crying. I couldn´t go to the funerals b-c I was on the mission. The one comfort was Sarah was there, on the mission with me, trying to comfort me. I woke up crying. At three in the morning. It was terrrible. We woke up at 4 to go to the temple with our zone. We had a pday change for our temple excursion. I forgot to remove a black slip under my whites and remembered right as the session was ready to begin. Oops. Lucky the temple is small and I ran back and took it off. And I stayed awake the whole time. For the win! Yes!

So overall, it was a good week, minus my bad dream. But yeah, we knock lots of doors. And it´s getting cooler, but not raining every day like it did in September. Thanks for the love and prayers! Love, Hna Peterson

Sept 11, 2010-Dodgeball in Guat

2010-11-25T04:55:00.001-08:00

thanks for all the news. The caps on this computer don´t work on one side...so that´s the cap. dilemma. I read about Lily´s funeral and cried. How sad. I hope they´re doing ok. I fasted for them sunday.

I got your package. Thanks mom. I´ve worn the shorts and shared some the of the dove chocolates. thank goodness they didn´t have any peanut whatever..and the nutella I can eat. Woot. And the bug spray and sunblock I will use. I should´ve used the bug spray last night and the sunblock today. Oops.

We practiced a song and played dodgeball. I played, my comp. It wasn´t so bad, nobody wants to peg a sister, so they usually just caught the balls I threw to get me out. And we´re singing for our zone conference wednesday. We´re the only sisters in our zone.

thanks for the prayers. i´m using them.

This week was great. We did a lot of stuff. Mostly we walked. And talked. And I´m trying to be good. Sorry I don´t have much to say this week. Everyone was fully clothed and talked to us in a civil tongue. We visited a lot of members this week and are trying not to be too friendly with them because that takes a lot of our finding time away from us.

I´m trying to be a good girl and not hit my comp. But you can only do so much. We ate pretty healthily this week. We bought fruit today and platanos. Woot. I can´t wait to eat carameled apples next year.

Thanks for the package mom. It was really nice to receive some love from home. Everyone else, thank you so much for writing me. I really appreciate it. Getting mail and emails helps me feel the love of everyone here in Guatemala, where I am sometimes frustrated. But I know I only have another year to serve, and then who knows. Then I have to figure something else.

Thanks for the thoughts and the patience advice. I´m trying to be like Jesus. I´ll try to have the desire to take more pictures and I´ll try sending this disk home. Apparently a lot of stuff gets robbed from the mail. Maybe I´ll just try to attach more pictures. Love you all so much! Love, Hna Peterson

Sept 11, 2010-Dodgeball in Guat

2010-11-25T04:55:00.000-08:00

Sept 27, 2010

2010-10-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

I emailed people last week. Not much, but yeah, I emailed. I think I emailed Grant. Or maybe not.

I also wrote dad a story this week about an inactive here who wasn´t wearing pants when he came out to talk to us. Awkward.

First off, I also have used that letherman many times and the little bag of preparedness stuff. Thanks Dad.

Second, Canute, your lip looks gross. I´m glad you attached a picture so we could see just how gross it really is.

Third, this week we knocked at a 70 yr old inactive´s house. His named Eduardo. He came outside to open his gate in his underwear and a tshirt. He also drinks pretty heavily. Anyways, it was like 6 pm and he said, ¨Come on in hnas¨. And I said, ¨Where are your pants?¨ And he looked down and said, ¨They´re there.¨ And I said, ¨Nope, they´re not¨. So he opened the gate, told us to come in and walked inside to put his pants on. We scheduled an appointment for later in the week and earlier in the day. That is one of the many reasons you should never drink alcohol.

My comp Hna Gonzalez has also discovered I startle really easy. So she startles me about 30 times a day. It was old the first time..but she does it a lot. If it helps her stay happy, I guess it´s ok, but it´s really obnoxious. If I were at home, I would punch her. But she has very tender skin...b-c sometimes I pat her back and she says ow. So...I just think about punching her. Also, she likes to pick long grass and hassle me. The Lord loves us. I know he´s teaching me patience. Besides those two things, we get along really well.

It´s Christian´s birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Christian!

We have changes this week. Maybe. I don´t know if I have a change, but changes are happening. If I change, that´s cool, but if not, that´s cool too. We have 6 baptismal dates. With faith, they will all be baptized. More faith.

It´s getting colder and rainier here. Not cold, just colder. Christian´s bday is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Christian! Ah, yeah, I wrote like 3 emails to Christian last week. Oops, I guess he didn´t share them huh? Well, ask him to send it to you.

Sorry scouts is hard. I get lost driving places all the time. That´s why it´s probably better we have to walk everywhere here. Love, Hna Peterson

Sept 20, 2010..6 months or bust

2010-10-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

Chocolate is always delicious, with carmel and other stuff like nuget inside. If you buy me candy, please look to see if there are peanuts or are made in a peanut factory..b-c I can´t eat them if they are. So that, and any really cute shirts b-c I´m super sick of my clothes, but also don´t like clothes shopping.

This week was good. It was really hot half the time, and the other half the time it rained. We knocked doors all yesterday and found about two people to teach. We also had an investigator named Jorge go to church. Yes! It is unbelievably hard to get people to church. We also attended a baptism, which Jorge said he´d come to and didn´t. Oh well, there´s always next time. He also smokes like a chimney, but we´re working with him.

America, if you would like to Print out that smoking program for me and send it that would be great. I really don´t have time to read that long stuff here and I don´t know how many pages it is...maybe a lot. Anyway, I bought different foods at the store today, b-c the food I´ve been eating I´m sick of. And we don´t ever look at the fruit or veggies these days. Oops.

This week I found out the chubby kid who was running around saying he itched is named Javier. Hah. Also, I dropped a drop of bleach on my black sock and it has an orange spot now. Oops. The church is true. Love you! Hna Peterson

Grant,

Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:21:33 -0600

I´m glad you´re having a fun and active time at BYU. There are always good times to be had there. I had a class in the special collections place. It was called ancient and medieval manuscripts and I fell asleep in it every day. I also got my first college c. Oops. One every semester, thank you very much. I would have lost any scholarships stat. So it´s good I never got any, b-c mom wouldn´t have ever let me forget it.

I´m glad you have plenty of girls to run after..7 is about right. I always had a number to dream about.. of boys, not girls, at college. I had a dream the other night about this guy I liked my entire college existence named Brian Swindlehurst. It was depressing, b-c he never liked me back. But I´m over him..I thought, until I had that dream. But yeah, why would I want to date someone who wasn´t interested in me? Stupid.

Thanks for buying that new coolant cap. If that fixed the problem, you are amazing, b-c I´ve lost a lot of money on that stupid problem. I´m glad you´ve got the activity part of college down. Some people never do. I have been on a mission for 6 months in four days. What am I going to do when I get home? The same thing I do every night, try to take over the world.

The church is true. Sometimes I feel frustrated. With Spanish, with myself, with my comp. But that´s the missionary life. You´re the best. Thanks for your prayers. I need them. Love you! Hna Peterson

Sept 14, 2010

2010-09-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

Love you too kristi b. The shift on this keyboard is iffy. So I´m not going to worry about it. This week after church there was a..10 yr old maybe..with his arms in his shirt. the chest part. so he was yelling ¨mi pica, mi pica¨. And running in circles like a crazy. So this guy in the ward itched his back for him and he was like, ¨no, my head. my head.¨It was really funny. Chubby kid. funnier.

Second, this week our refridgerator box got wet. It´s a mini fridge and we use the box as a sort of counter. anyway, we put it outside to dry and about ten minutes later it started walking away. Not kidding. So my comp, Hna gonzalez went outside and watched it walk away. She waved me over to do something.

So I picked up the box and two six year olds were underneath. I told them I was sorry, but it was our table. The asked us to give it to them.. I said maybe in a month. We´re going to be using it in a month, but I felt bad just saying no. It was hilarious.

those are my two stories for this week. also, i´m really sorry you aren´t having much luck with the branch. If I was there right now, I´d take 10 of them for you. I know, dating is a dumb reason to attend church. And who knows who´s going to move in or have fun activities. Anyway, that´s lame.

Sorry you had trouble sleeping baby cakes. I wake up a lot because my comp throws stuffed animals at me in the middle of the night when I snore. She says I snore louder when I shower at night. So I´m not allowed to shower at night.

We get along really well though. I was nervous to just be with her b-c we had a trio before, but we have lots of fun.

Speaking of fun. I got your package today! i haven´t opened it yet, but I read the contents listing and am really excited for the prizes inside. I can´t wait to eat the kitkats and use the stationary. We have toothpaste and floss here, but thanks a million jillion for sending it! i know you know that´s important to me. Thank you!!!

I cannot believe I´ve been out almost 6 months. crazy.. six months the 24th of sept. Don´t watch anymore dinosaur movies before bed. My dreams are usually pretty vivid too. and I get chased a lot. I had an ork dream about a month ago and I was chopping at his neck but my machete wasn´t sharp so nothing was happening. scary.

You´re the best. Good luck with your job. have you seen kimberly´s baby yet? i saw a alison in wonderland advertisement at the grocery store today and thought of our good times that last week. love you so much! strengh and love! love, Hna Peterson

Sept 7, 2010

2010-09-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Dad: We keep hearing about buses getting buried in mud and other unexpected events happening in Guatemala.

Merilee: I haven´t read the news b-c it´s against the rules. I´m in Guat. City right now, so we´re pretty safe here from natural disasters and we rarely ride the bus.

Family, I´m glad you invited Sister Beck over for Labor Day. Keep on, b-c she´s probably really lonely these days. I´m also glad you´re enjoying the garden and it´s fruits...vegetables. Sounds like you´re pounding out the good stuff. Keep at it.

We´ve started having problems with dogs in some of our areas, but I now have a spray bottle with alcohol. So any other dogs are getting it in the eyes. That´s a promise. I heard it doesn´t affect their sight, it just burns. Hah.

BbQ sounds nice. We haven´t really had any of those out here yet. I bought some cool wooden masks today. Good luck with your job interview.

I also got another haircut last week. A lady we were teaching saw our hair in ponytails and asked to see it. She fixed my last haircut which was about 3 weeks ago. My hair is getting shorter and I have bangs. I´ve had 4 haircuts in 5 months. Not as hard as I thought it would be. We also visited a museum today which is why my emails are today and not yesterday. It wasn´t open Monday, our pday. I looked at some pictures of me before my mission and my face is definitely fatter.

I realized last week I didn´t put any news in my letters. Oops. I´ll try and be better about that. I got a package from Sarah this week with a cd with music and a pudding. Shout out thanks Sarah!!!!

Also, I got a wedding announcement, a baby announcement, and 4 letters. Very cool week. Especially since I haven´t received mail for about 2 months. Emails are great and so is mail. Anyway, this week was good. We´ve had lots of lessons and investigators. We´re trying hard to help them along in the gospel, but we´ve got a lot of slow investigators' better than nothing I say. Most of them have appointments with us every 15 days or so. You´re supposed to see them more than once a week.

So that´s hard to keep them all progressing. The ward is being more helpful. Hna Calderon left, and now the bishop is really open to helping us with the work. Apparently it was semi' hard to work with her. So that´s good to know.

It´s been raining almost every day now. We have chilly nights and mornings, but the weather´s pretty awesome overall. Thanks for the love. We eat lots of soup and pancakes. And bread. There´s a bread store in our little village so we get it there when it´s fresh. My face is getting fatter.

Also, every time my comp sees a plane she says, Adios Papa. I don´t know if I said this already, but I think it´s funny and sad...so I thought I´d share it again. It´s a habit the kids have b-c a lot of their dad´s leave their families to start other families. I know, right.ç

The works going. We visited a museum today, which wasn´t open Monday, so we changed our pday this week. Maybe the week´ll fly faster this way.

Also, I´m learning lots of humility these days. My comp´s helping me with verbs and I feel stupid and frustrated sometimes. But most of the time, I feel a´ ok. Also, one day I cried for about an hour out of frustration for our slow investigators. But it´s been a while, so I needed a good cry. Love and kisses! Hna Peterson

August 30, 2010

2010-09-06T05:05:00.000-07:00

Grant

First off, maybe mom´ll put all the pictures, or some on my blog and you can see them then. Also, sounds like you had some good times in MO. I´m jealous. I drove to MO from Provo by myself when I came home before Europe. What a boring drive. Mostly I talked on the phone with a million people..I was also pretty tired and almost took a couple naps but didn´t. On the last two hour leg I remember doing laps around the car at a gas station b-c I was really close and didn´t want to sleep on the side of the road. It was snowy and the roads were really crappy. And I imagined the license plates were changing in front of my eyes. Weird and probably a sign I was really tired.

Sorry you didn´t see Cortney. But what in the world were you doing hanging out at BYU with girls until 130. Doesn´t the honor code say 12? Or is it 130 during weekends? I don´t remember. Could be. I´m glad you like your roomies. It´s so much greater to be pals with people and remeet instead of the scariness of rooming with strangers. It´s so different from a mission. I sometimes wish I could walk my speed, not look like a man every day, and not have to be always with my comp.

If you get along with your roomies...that´s good. I always did. I know America had a lot of problems with roomies. And I hope you cultivate some fantastic relationships with males I might like to meet when I come home. And have FHE activities where everyone writes your sister on her mission in Guatemala. Remember, I´m really cool.

Sorry you didn´t make much money in Alaska. I got a check from the Olympics this month. Now I´ve got about 2000 in my account and 7000 in the other one. And Grandma, bless her wonderful self, contributed 1000 to my fund before she died. Dad suggested I donate it to a missionary in our ward who can´t pay for his mission. I said that would be ok. It´s money I wasn´t expecting anyway and he needs it more than I do.

I have gained 10 pounds on my mission. That´s..2 pounds a month. That´s not too bad.A member we read the BOM with made us a cake. We bought all the stuff and she made it. It was a chocolate custard cake and really easy to make... And tasty. Yes! I love cake.

Plus Grandma and the Lord would be pleased to hear it. The church is true. What should I do with my life when I get home in a year? Thanks for the news! Love, Your favorite sister,(editor's note, she writes that to all her siblings..) Hna Peterson

America,

Sorry you are stressed out with your kids. I don´t have kids. Sometimes I read your emails and am grateful. Most of the Guatemalans I meet are nice. Everyone is having a bad day.

I´m glad you are good at remaking food. We eat lots of spaghetti with vegetables here in Los Olivos. I´ve started buying more bread at the bread store. Fresh bread every day..and tamales. That´s living.

It rains a lot here. Like every day. Nope, not like every day, every day. Also, my laundry is wet...b-c it rained today and I left it outside while we went shopping for food and played pool with the elders. Oops.

I think life in every place is hard. So there it is, life is hard. Endurance. You can do it. Maybe think about calling your sisters. You can´t call me, but Sarah, Bonnie, Cookie, Emily, Mom, Caryn, Danielle...there are lots of people to call. Love, Hna Peterson

August 22, 2010

2010-08-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

Grant, Cool the guy offered you a job. That´s something to remember when you return next year even though you don´t want to. Don´t feel bad, it happens a lot. Or you can work in Juneau. The second year´s a little better. Sorry about your bad luck with people coming over for pizza.

I´m sad I couldn´t be in Alaska with you. We could´ve had a rocking summer, the two of us, eating pizza and bonding and we could´ve netted normal people to hang out with together. Hah, what a joke, normal people in Alaska.

The great thing, is now you can return to Utah and be content to be popular again. Yay!!!!!! I sent your letter to our parents with my zip full of pictures and a letter titled Happy Birthday Dad and Happy Birthday Grant. I don´t know if you´ll get it anytime soon, but know I sent it last week so it should be journeying toward you as I type.

We knock doors every day. Plus, we stand about 15 feet from the door, b-c that´s where the bell is, everyone has little entrances. It´s pretty funny at first, but I´m used to it now. But yeah, if we didn´t knock doors, we´d never meet anyone. That´s how we contact here. Love you! Miss you! Good luck buying books! Love, Hna Peterson

Ps. How crappy is it to be allergic to peanuts? Really crappy.

Editor's note: This is Grant's letter to Merilee about knocking doors on your mission:

Canute mentioned that knocking doors is useless- I disagree. It has it's uses, but mostly when prompted by the Spirit. One of my best experiences was looking around for somewhere to proselyte, and being prompted to knock doors on a certain street. My companion was less than enthused, so I was ringing the buildings. On the third or fourth building, the very top room opened up the door. Quick note: In Europe they have what we call 'quem e' boxes, which means the doorbells for all of the apartments is at the bottom of the stairs behind a security door. When someone opens the security door, you can go in and actually talk to them at their door, or start knocking the remainder of the doors in the building. Sometimes, no one opens the security door, and you just have to try and talk to people through the little speaker(hence the 'quem e? Quem e? when they want to know who's at the door...). Anyways, we hadn't had much luck and in this building, the very first bell I rang opened up the door. I was kind of ticked, because it was the top floor of a building without an elevator, and sometimes people will just open up the door, look at you, and shut it. It was a long walk up stairs. But after a moment, I realized that it was a blessing to be let in either way so that I could actually knock and interact instead of just talking through a speaker. I thanked Heavenly Father silently for the chance to be let in, and we made our way to the top of the stairs. Behind the door was Jose Antonio. He invited us right in. He was an elect. He started living the word of wisdom before we even asked him, 'cause he 'felt it was what he needed to do'. He was one of the only men in the ward to help us move in a particular family that weekend, and he wasn't even a member. He took off work to help us move them in. He was later baptized, as well as his wife and one of his sons. He actually wasn't baptized until after I left for the Azores, but when I came back from the Azores one of my first stops was through that area. I saw his wife, and she told me the news about them being members. His wife hadn't been hardly interested at all when we stopped by, but now she had a glow to her face, and she recognized me even after being gone for 6 months. It was one of the best days of my life.

Sooooo... Long story short, I have a testimony of good ol' knockin doors, even though references are certainly the Lord's most effective way to proselyte. But yea. Have fun in Guacamole!
.........................
Oo. Seminary. I think Nutella should be ok. Anyway, I´m glad you´re doing well and have tons of new things to do.

My scripture I put on the envelope of my letter I sent last week. You should get it in about a week, but it doesn´t really matter what scripture it is, right? B-c the scriptures are full of truths. So yeah, my preferred scripture is Alma...I can´t remember right now, but yeah, maybe Alma 28 about how if all men were like Moroni, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.

I think basketball shorts would also be nice in a package sometime. I didn´t bring any shorts and I exercise in pajama pants, which is kind of a pain, but doable. Yeah, hopefully my peanut allergy will go away. I hope. Love and kisses! Hna Peterson
.............................................

I don´t know if I can get my peanut allergy fixed, but I´d be willing to make a go of it if there were some chance. I have learned here 1. everything is better with peanut butter. 2. Breathing is more important than peanut butter.

But it´s hard sometimes, b-c I love peanut things and I never realized how much until just now. I know right, sweet to be still getting paid. Mom said I just got paid $700 this week. How rockin´ awesome is that? Working for the Lord and getting paid meanwhile.

Also, I realized again while telling my comp about my missionary paperwork adventure how much the Lord blessed me before my mission. I had work in Alaska, right after in MO with Fedex, and right after with Vancouver and the Olympics. The Lord watches out for us that is for definite sure!

Everyone is always ready to leave Alaska. Every year, every person. I´m glad Marcia loves me and remembers me. I try to make a great impression on people. It helps with tips, it helps your future, and it makes for a great life of friendly memories with friendly people.

I hope the zip makes it there for you to view it. I´d hate for you to miss it if you can´t wait to see it. Two weeks right? Yeah, it should be there while you´re there. I hope.

I´m glad your last week in Alaska blew by, you´re going home, maybe to see Courtney, is she still dating that youngun´? And a fake tour video with you as the star, how cool is that?

I remember praying not to wreck...at the end of every month actually, but yes, especially at the end of the summer. Amazing how your confidence picks up every year though. And maybe we could drive buses together in England for the Olympics there. How cool would that be? No, en serio.

Hauling stuff on flights in a backpack is...crappy and I´ve done it. Bonnie wants to travel Europe. You two should go together. Or the three of us. Yes! Yes for options. Isn´t it nice to have money? Did you make as much money as you hoped this summer? I didn´t my first summer, and you only had one job in Alaska, but 8000 is way more than you´d get in UT. That´s all I made my first summer. The second summer I made about $12000. What a blessing it is to have two jobs in Alaska, and way more fun, because you don´t have that many friends, but hey, you´re rich...Or richer, than other people...

Love to hang out. Have fun in MO without me. Happy Birthday son!!!! Love, Hna Peterson

...........................

Hah, one time Cookie thumbed a ride with one of her friend´s moms and I wouldn´t get in the car b-c she was a stranger, but finally Cookie made me..so we wouldn´t have to walk. Also, I´m sorry you´re having trouble getting Megan adjusted to school. I don´t remember that, but that´s probably because I was so young. Hah.

I´m with Megan and Dad. Chocolate cake and rubarb pie sounds supreme. Supreme. Sorry I picked a crappy paying major. If it helps, I still don´t know what I want to do with my life. Maybe in a year. Pray for me to figure it out.

Prayers are always nice to get right? Tell Megan Auntie Merilee loves her too.

Also, I´m doing great here in Los Olivos with Hna Gonzalez, another time around. What a blessing. Thanks for all the news. I read a twix wrapper which said they may contain particles of nut. What a crock. Love, Hna Peterson

August 16, 2010

2010-08-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

I don´t know if I sent you an email last week. Maybe I didn´t b-c you sent me two of the same one as the week before? Or maybe because I didn´t have much time b-c I checked my hotmail and mom found out I was on...so I had like 3 seconds to check my hotmail and I didn´t even get to talk to anyone b-c my time was gone. (Editor's defense...I was trying to hook Merilee up to Sarah on "instant messaging" online...and this is the thanks I get?)

Thanks for the news... I miss those awesome snowcones of yester years. I love pirate day. I hope he talked like a pirate for you. I got a haircut this week. Now I have bangs and it´s a little shorter, but not short..but I´m starting to realize long hair is hot and heavy. So maybe this won´t last for long.

We have lots of roaches here. I think we´ve been doing well about killing them, but really, they´re still all over when we come home..but the great thing is, they´re usually little. Which is great, b-c I usually scream about the huge ones and Hna G just rolls her eyes.

Changing from my trainer was awesome! She was a great trainer, but she didn´t like talking to new people, which is our proposito and I didn´t know Spanish very well. And she had crazy mood swings. You know what I´m talking about. So yeah, now I have two comps, but Hna C is leaving and Hna G has crazy mood swings too. So boo for that. I´m a little nervous about being in a comp with just Hna G, but so is the mission..

And I think I have a peanut allergy. B-c this week I had a chocolate and peanut covered banana and had a hard time breathing after. Later I had a peanut, just to test it and the same happened. So I´m nixing peanuts, which is crappy b-c I love peanut things.

I had just bought peanut butter, peanuts in salt and lime, coated peanuts, peanut butter bon bons and mr. goodbars were waiting in the mixed chocolates I had bought...for the Mr. Goodbars. Lastima. So my comps bought most of the stuff off me and have been eating peanut butter bon bons all over the place in front of me. Boo. So no more snickers for me. What a crock. And no more nutter butters. Double crock.

So that allergy news is all I´ve got really for the week. And I´ve been thinking about getting an allergy test when I get home from my mission. Oh, and a ward member told us a great face treatment for wrinkles is to wash it with urine. I wonder which is worse, to wash your face with urine every 15 days or to have wrinkles.. I think I´ll maybe stick with the wrinkles. Love you so much. The church is true! Love, Hna Peterson

It´s really hot here. This week was hot, last week, and it´s rainy. Here, really rainy. We´re emailing a little earlier this week, and I wrote most of the news in my other email. About having a peanut allergy. How horrible. I tried a peanut one day this week just to see and I´m pretty positive it´s that. Inconvenient, b-c now I have a jar of peanut butter burning a hole in my suitcase I bought last week, to go with the cocoa for those nobake cookies.

And we get snickers for our birthdays from the mission president´s wife..so maybe I´ll include something about that in my letter to the president this week. B-c I don´t think I could handle the temptation.

So I´m staying away from peanuts and I´m going to have an allergy test when I get home. I don´t know if it´s really expensive..probably is. I don´t know if I need insurance, or if it would just be the same to get it without insurance, but know I´m planning to get one when I get home and maybe ask around for tips or places I can get one. I know, a year is a long time from now, but keep it in mind.

My hair´s looking good, but it´s hot and it´s heavy in a pony tail. So I don´t know if my long hair will last. We have lots of new investigators and not many old investigators. All our investigators know they need to change and don´t have any desire to do it. Boo. We saw a video about forever families for a lesson yesterday and my comps and I cried. Thanks again for the package.

I tried making brownie pancakes again and it just doesn´t work. But I had a sugar overload when eating the load of half cooked batter I ate afterwards. Even with banana. Banana pancakes are delicious however. Just put banana in the batter with your pancake mix. Always a good idea. And french toast is excellent. Glad you had fun at Yellowstone!

My comps are working at feminizing me.
They made me start lining the bottoms of my eyes with liner and they paint my nails weekly...they do theirs once a day. Not kidding. But my nails look awesome! Not long, just look great. Also, my hair´s getting really long and I think I want to cut it. It´s frizzy here and looks terrible. I feel like Rapunzel. Any tips? I know, I´m not here to impress people, but I don´t know what to do with it and I don´t trust anyone here to cut it.

Also, I miss the blueberries of Alaska. There´s tons of fruit here, but my comps never want it and they always say it´s too expensive when I try to buy it at the store...so I buy it when I can. Also, we picked tons in AK b-c we didn´t have many origional ideas about what to do with our time and we loved making blueberry crumb cake. Mmm. Maybe you could make it. Remember the sour creme coffee cake in the orange book at home? just put blueberries in with it. Delicious. Maybe you could call home and get the recipe. Mmmm

I was going to tell you to read Orson Scott Card, but if you´re reading the Wheel of time you´ve got plenty to read. I read OSC lots in Alaska b-c I love his books. I just started reading Jesus the Christ. Also a very cool book. I heard it´s hard to read...but so far, in chapter 2 I´m doing ok. I guess we´ve read a lot in our family and the books are necessarily easy reads. Maybe it´s pride. I´ll let you know when I´m deeper into the reading.
Sending love from the "deep" south, Merilee

August 9, 2010

2010-08-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

I haven´t seen either of those two movies....Muppet Wizard of Oz, or Inception..but I´d like to. Grant, put it on my list of movies to see when I get home. I will also need a detailed summary of how the Inception movie works. Please type it up for me and I´ll read it before I see it. Jim, it´s been a while. Glad to know you´re all still alive.

Wow, if you´re going light this year you truly are a genius. I don´t know if you will have any free time.

Christian, with Calculus, Physics and Pre-AP Chemistry, Seriously though, you think you´re going light or you´re kidding me...You´re kidding me right?ç

I ate at pollo campero today and thought of you..it´s like a Guat. Wendy´s. Or McD´s. Hola. How are things going with you and the parent projects? I hope you don´t have excessively much to do. I was going to attach some pictures today, but I don´t have time again. Oops.

Also, Mom, thanks for the package. I got it! Woot! Thanks for the cocoa. Unfortunately I got a lot of stuff covered in cocoa. Oops. So I have the zip and the other stuff, but I don´t know if it will work with all the cocoa. I also don´t know what the thing...looks like a band of stuff with stuff in it.. Is it a face mask for headaches? I don´t know. I had to wash it b-c it had cocoa all over it and now I don´t know if it´s still ok

The exciting things that happened this week are- my comp stepped in a huge pile of dog doo...hah! And my other comp opened her hair conditioner in the store bathroom today and it exploded. Not even kidding. Everywhere, all over her dress and the floor. Oops.

Yesterday it was a torrential downpour. Not cool. Plus, there were oceans of water in the streets and we had to walk through it to our ward meeting- which we weren´t needed at because they didn´t ask about the work, they just talked about stake conference and the youth conference next year. I did get a sweet umbrella though, it´s heavy duty and double reinforced for 50 Q. Very cool.

Hope your August is turning out to be as great as mine. The church is true.
Love, Hna Peterson

August 2, 2010

2010-08-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Grant, Do you have canute´s address? my comp wants to write him. She´s like 5 ft and from nicaragua, but she´s amazing, so i think i´d like his address to give to her. i would love her to be my sister in law. Plus any excitement we can get, right?

i decided last year i would choose to like doing dishes. Because nobody likes doing dishes and they´re so much easier if you clean them as you go. So I´ve decided that and it makes life so much better for everyone. Remember growing up, there were always dishes and mom always got mad about it? People always get mad about dishes. So you could maybe try that. B-c if you are the one who likes to do dishes, it´s not a big deal, b-c you like doing dishes.

i think the flight of the conchords are hilarious and yes, you would have a similar style if you and Canute made some movies together. Please do.

Pioneer day was cool. We had lots of tug of war, water balloons, rain, raw hamburgers, and good times. Oh, and I won the donut on a string eating contest. Also, I realized again how cool some elders are .. and those elders, well, maybe one day. Maybe when I get off my mission I won´t be terrified of making a bad decision about boys for eternity. now though, now I´m trying to talk to people. Sometimes it´s hard. But i banter with the spirit and then eventually talk. I know, we´re supposed to be easily entreated, especially by the spirit, but sometimes, and now it´s more frequent, I just don´t want to talk to anyone.

Wow, sounds like the house is changing for the best. Way to serve others and keep the work moving along.

I´m glad Josh Clarke is helping out so much, but why again... And wow, I saw Christian´s schedule and was shocked out of my mind at all the genius classes he had. AP English with Dr. Carter was great. Why didn´t he want it? Oh, english last year? Right, or was that history? I don´t remember.

This week has been good, but yes, ordinary. I had a dream I was going home from my mission and then I wasn´t and I was really sad. Weird, b-c I don´t want to go home. Also, I had another dream in which I was killing orks. I was using a machete but it wasn´t very sharp. I have a very vivid memory of chopping at the neck of an ork and nothing was really happening.

I guess that´s what happens when you don´t have much excitement during the day, you dream about excitement. Mommy, thanks for the package..again, I wouldn´t have drunk the water without those drink mixes. Also, my comp had a visitor at church b-c she´s from the capital and the visitor brought her a suitcase, new shoes, and a chocolate cake. Thank goodness for mothers.

I heard someone new here is the primary president and I thought of you. Also, I thought maybe if you get the chance to send some basketball shorts that would be awesome. I haven´t seen any here and usually I exercise in my Christmas pants, but I roll them up...so I think shorts would be more useful. I haven´t seen any here. And I didn´t bring any. But just something to put on the list.

Thanks for the love and the prayers. Have fun at Yellowstone and tell everyone hi for me! Love, Hna Peterson

July 26, 2010

2010-08-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for the package. I got it this week. I will love the brownies and the drink mix. I enjoyed the pictures. we didn´t have water for two days, so we had to boil it and the only reason I could drink it was because I had those drink mixes. Bad memories of weird tasting boiled water in russia. Thanks mom!

I don´t need any more stamps b-c I think I forgot to tell you the office elders said pouch changed and we have a different system. so I can´t use USA stamps like I thought. So I´ll probabaly send them to Grant so he´ll write me.

also, thanks for your testimony and all the news. we´ve taken some pictures, but I don´t have time today to send them.

My comps told me they think I´m tired all the time b-c I take a multivitamin and sometimes a vitamin c. Especially right now b-c everyone has a cold here. La grippe. I don´t know. Do you take a multivitamin every day too? B-c our dad always sleeps and he loves vitamins. They said the extra vitamins make you really tired. I don´t know, but I know I need to be healthy somehow and I don´t eat balanced enough meals to make it on my own. I don´t think. I don´t know.

Yesterday everyone was watching soccer and the streets were silent except for the cheering coming from houses filled with people. So yes, I knew the cup was happening, but it didn´t really effect our work..b-c it was Sunday and we had some appointments.

thanks for the summary. sorry, the caps on this keyboard is sticky, so the caps in my email will be out. sorry. anyway, i´m glad to be receiving regular updates from my family. Thanks.

it´s good to know the garage and neal´s house are getting worked on and emptied. I´m sure after a year of that I will be pleasantly surprised to enter it. I´m glad you got rid of those 4 boxes of paint clothes. i´m sure they hadn´t been used in years.

i´m glad to know also the garden is looking healthy. Woot. Way to go family. Also, way to go Dad for inviting your fellow teacher to church. You´re doing your missionaries and the lord proud.

Today was pioneer day and we had a capital city activity with Pres Torres. we had a lot of fun and a lot of rain, so we tried to make do. i took like 4 pictures. Sorry I´m a picture slacker. to be attached at another time. this week we had a seminary for a couple of us. there were 8 sisters and about 20 elders. We didn´t do much other work during the week, but the seminary was a good reminder of what we should be doing during our lessons. like kneeling when praying and inviting people to be baptized after every lesson.

I will try and remember everything we´re supposed to be doing. We also need to talk more. I´m getting into a rut of not wanting to talk to people. it´s a bad rut, b-c that´s our whole purpose. I love my companions. we get along well most of the time and we have a lot of fun.

Love you! Hna Peterson

July 19, 2010

2010-08-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

I know our family has a grand appreciation for good music. It´s nice to have some tone, b-c people here usually lack it. So even though I don´t play the piano, I can usually help our investigators and companionships with the tunes of most hymns.

I have a greater appreciation for fish after Alaska. Kudos. And spinach. I think I actually got the great appreciation for spinach in Germany. Gracias Danielle. Hope their family is doing well. They are in my prayers.

I am glad you are having Christian practice the lessons in Preach my Gospel. It´s always good to have some practice under your belt with those lessons. Most important is listening to the Spirit, but if you don´t have any practice or knowledge, it´s harder to listen to the Spirit.

Mom,You threw away barn shoes? Is that possible? Wow, I´m glad you´re having so much fun with the family. I´m jealous. I´m glad to hear about it anyway. It´s rainy here, but warm rain. We get hot hot sun when it´s not cloudy. It´s usually cloudy. We´re in winter now..that means January, Feb, and March are summer and the rest of the year is winter.

I´m really having lots of fun with my companions. They´re wonderful and I am really lucky to have them as my comps. Hna Calderon and Hna Gonzalez. We have a lot of fun and it´s really nice to be in a trio again.
This week was awesome. I love them. They are little. I am big. They don´t eat much...and so I am always hungry. Probably because I am huge and we walk all the time. Whatever, I´ll eat when I´m home in a year. It´s July. I didn´t see any fireworks this year. Oh well. I guess Independence does have grand fireworks, b-c I also noted the sad fireworks in Alaska.

Our investigators have doubts, but that´s good. That means when they get testimonies, they´ll be strong and never stray. Right?

We have a richer group this time around.. People here actually have floors and tvs. We hug and kiss here in Los Olivos and we wake up at 6 instead of 6´30 to read with investigators in the morning. And I haven´t had language study b-c of appointments. I know the Lord will bless me in Spanish. He already has. Step by step. Thanks for the news and the love!

Being on a mission has really changed my perspective about life. And I´m finding out how much more particular I am becoming every day. Everyone here is so chill and I´m kind of a crazy. But I´m trying to chill out and tone down. I guess it´s part of being 26 and crazy. Anyway, Grant, thank´s for being a fantastic brother and writing me. Sorry you hate Alaska. Didn´t I tell you it kind of sucks there sometimes? Can I say sucks?

The Gospel is true...write your missionaries! Love to all, Hna Peterson

Bye, Bye Bishop Beck

2010-07-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

I was sad to hear of the passing of Brother Beck. He will always be Bishop Beck in my memory as well. He was a spectacular man and will be missed. I´m sure I would have equaled your tissue use at the funeral. I am sure the service was grand and please give my regards to the family.

Again, mylds mail isn´t working for me. So it´s hotmail for the next week I guess. Please forward this to everyone...so they know to send any communications to my hotmail and myldsmail...b-c who knows which one I´ll be using next week.

My friend Adrienne had a baby girl named Megan and she sent me a picture. Adrienne, she is beautiful and I´m so excited for you and your new family member. Also, Kimberly had a baby. Congratulations Kimberly for your new addition. Yay for babies!

This week was supreme. I got put into another trio. Que Bendicion! That means, what a blessing. Our mission president says it a lot. Anyway, they are little. I feel like a giant every day. And I feel hungrier now, b-c they don´t eat as much as me and they like soup and other light things. So I think next week I´m going to seek after more food. The companionship joke is Hna Peterson is always hungry and tired. Well, it´s true.

Also,MOM, I´m glad you got to spend some time with Megan and Allyson. Happy Birthday Megan! Five is really old! I wish I could have played with all of you. I miss my family. But I know my family can be together forever and that´s the message I get to share with people every day. So I´m really lucky to know that and have the opportunity to share that knowledge with other families.

Spanish is going better. Well, every other day I feel competent. I feel like I can communicate well with others usually, but sometimes in lessons I get frustrated b-c I want to say so much but my limited vocabulary won´t allow me. I think the Lord knew if I was an English speaking missionary I would teach for too long and not knowing words forces a talker like me to seek after Spanish learning. Pretty sure that´s true.

Our P-day is Monday still. We email at about 4 here. I´m glad everything´s going well at home. Sorry the plants got plastered. Everyone loves those forgetmenot seeds. Bonnie is working a lot and not as social. That´s not as fun, but I think it helps us enjoy the good times we have in such cases.

We played billiards for an hour as a district. That was weird. I guess they asked the ZL if it was ok and they said yes, but it still was weird. I´m adequate at pool. This area is good. We talk to a lot of people. I need to keep my enthusiasm to talk to people. Sometimes it´s hard to approach people b-c you see that look of hesitancy in their eyes and you feel bad. For their eternal salvation...which is ridiculous b-c this message is important. So I banish Satan with those thoughts.

Thanks for all the news. I am looking for cocoa right now to make those no-bake cookies. I found peanut butter, but cocoa has been hard to find here. I just figured they´d have it here. I will try to find it. Otherwise, I guess in another year I´ll get no-bake cookies also. Love you! Thanks for the news and the love and the prayers. I appreciate them! Love, Hna Peterson

July 5, Transfers!

2010-07-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, today was fantastic.. until my computer time. Myldsmail won´t work. Boo. So after an hour of not working, finally my dl told me to use my hotmail. Luckily I remembered my password. So if you sent me something on myldsmail, it´s locked and sorry I´m not responding this week.

We had transfers today. I´m in the capital with some amazing sisters. And elders. My new area is supreme. We are in a trio. Hna G and Hna C. I´m really excited to serve with these sisters. Hna C helped me clean the house and we contacted people today. All three of us. It´s supreme to have helpers in the work.

And Hna C contacted a bus. It´s not terribly effective b-c buses are loud and lots of people don´t care about our message.

This morning we got up at 1, took the bus until 6´30 and then we had our transfers. My sisters are 25 and 27..so we´re all the same age. I can´t wait to serve with them here in the capital. The weather is the same and the people are great. We have a nice house, but 2 beds. So we´ll see. And I hear there are tons of cockroaches here. Boo.

Also, Hna Varela was a great comp, but it´s nice to have a change. I love her. I will miss her and my families, but it´s nice to have a change. Yes, my letters have been more upbeat. I´ve been trying to enjoy where I´m at. It´s been getting better. I hope all the people here don´t think I´m a crazy sister. Jealous of the food, yes. Jealous of the time with all the family and talent, yes.

Rock my soul in the Bosom of Abraham sounds like an awesome song. Woot.

I feel like I should have millions of things to write, but really, I just read this email from Canute and therefore would like to respond to some of the things he said. For ejemplo...lots of the houses here seem quite rugged in American standards,but are really nice in Coban.

For example, many houses have cement walls and they´re really nice. I´m pleased to report, we have a house like that. But I think everyone has roaches. Everyone. I hear we have bastante. That means endless or tons. Woot. I can´t wait to see. But I need a bed first b-c I´m in a trio and we don´t have three beds, just two.

And we don´t have many shelves. So my stuff´ll probably stay in my suitcase and I´ll zip it every day so the roaches stay out. Ughh. I hate those things. Bleck. Also, my comps are a hoot. I can´t wait to serve with them. I feel like an Amazon though, b-c I´m 5´7 and they´re shorter. Way shorter. So yes, I´m an Amazon here and I´m really not that tall.

Also, the food here is great. I need to buy some fruit today after this.
Love, Hna Peterson

Thank goodness for clouds!

2010-07-05T04:38:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, it's really not that hot here. It seems to be perfect weather all the time except when it rains. Nobody answers their doors when it rains. Unfortunate, but rain happens here a lot. When the sun shines and there are no clouds it's unbearably hot. Luckily, there are almost always clouds. I never ever thought I would say this after Alaska, but thank goodness for clouds. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

Associations

2010-06-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hna Varela and I are getting along way better now. We eat well, like queens. We talk in English more, this helps. And we joke around. It's such a relief to finally be getting along. I definitely had to lighten up. I was stressing out about everything. Now I feel way better about what we're doing. It took me a month. I hope it doesn't take me this long every time.

This week we made a cake for district meeting. We didnt have a cake pan, so we used an aluminum sauce pan. It didn't work well, but it worked. In a year I'll make brownies. I love food. Today we ate carne asada and bought a mountain of fruit and vegetables. Yes! The fresh produce here is great. I am glad we have consistent access to it. I'm trying to eat better than we ate at first. We fried a lot of stuff that first week. We're cutting back.

I also remembered no-bake cookies. Except I couldn't find peanut butter in the store we went to today...so I'll try and find it at another store. If I can't find it anywhere...that's what I'd like in my next package. Be it Christmas or whenever. We ate something bad yesterday. I don't know what it was, but we both had boo today and cramps. That's code or spanish for Diarrhea. We get it a lot, but it's not constant like it was. And...my bowel movements have never ever been so consistent. 4 times a day. Not joking. Twice in the morning and twice sometimes at night. Wow, I'm sure getting healthy here. My legs are like rocks. Or stones..Josh..or is that Grant? I don't know whose name means stone, but it's like my legs.

Now I just need a stone ab set and my body'll match. Food is my grand release in the middle and end of the day. I've never liked corn flakes so much. I don't really like cereal, but the milk I get is like evaporated milk, so it's rico..or delicious.

We have some families right now. We have some investigators. It's hard to keep them progressing b-c they lose interest really fast. I need to figure out how to not let that happen. Probably we need to visit more often, maybe at a different time with a different companion. Right now we're getting along fine and we're talking to a lot of people. It's a nice change. Thanks for the marriage tips. It's true.

I had a dream about this guy who wanted to ask me to marry him and I didn't want him to..two nights ago. I guess that means I'm still scared about marriage. Luckily I've got loads of time to get over that. Meanwhile I will try and keep a healthy relationship with food and pray for peanut butter so we can have some real cookies. We have cookies a lot for easy snacks, food. I know, it's bad for me,but fruit gets really messy on the go and sometimes it's just easier to eat cookies. Usually though, we're eating pretty healthy stuff.

Lots of love! The church is true! Love, Hna Peterson

Merilee and District

2010-06-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

Merilee and Companion

2010-06-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

Love those Clouds!

2010-06-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Wow,MOM, I'm glad you have a tubular calling. Sorry it's so huge, but you'll do great. I'm really pleased to hear I have a package on the way. Can't wait! I'll probably get it at our next zone conference in 5 weeks. Still can't wait!

I'm glad you and Dad are starting to do stuff together again. Sounds like it's going well. Good luck with the primary and tell Caryn I said hi. Thanks for the letters. I always love reading my emails.

I sent Cookie's family a letter in the mail today. I forgot to tell Allyson Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Allyson!

Surprisingly, it's really not that hot here. It seems to be perfect weather all the time except when it rains. Nobody answers their doors when it rains. Unfortunate, but rain happens here a lot. When the sun shines and there are no clouds it's unbearably hot. Luckily, there are almost always clouds. I never ever thought I would say this after Alaska, but thank goodness for clouds. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

June 21...short and sweet

2010-06-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

Glad you enjoyed the brownies for me. Yeah, a zipper cover would be cool. I'm glad you got the letter in time for Father's day. I wish my mail came that fast. Here are some pictures from our field trip today. Could you send them around for me?

Yeah, big families are fun, but sacrifices must be made for them. I'm glad everyone in our family is in our family. A tour bus family trip would be awesome. We should go somewhere cool.

Frozen yogurt sounds amazing, I want it. Gross yogurt chunks..had some of those in the mtc. Nothing to miss out on. Where you there with ladies in the ward? Your baby dance group perhaps?

Transfers are every six weeks. I just had zone conference last Wednesday, so in another 6 weeks I guess. Zone Conference was a blessing. I really enjoyed seeing all the other missionaries and having some tips from the Pres. I got 4 letters and a package from mom. Thanks mom! Thought there might be some candy in there but no. Either way, packages are nice to see for you, no matter what{s inside. I don{t think I need a toaster oven here.

We have a gas burner and got an electric burner at our zone conference. Everyone did. Sorry Durago died, but he definitely served his time and his creakiness made me sad. Good thing most of the boys are gone, who would protect us from tpers w-o big D? I{m glad the bishop enjoys our emails. I{m sure Canute{s has more news and mine has more drama. Figures, since I{m a girl and quite dramatic. Amen to the gross long hair Elder P. About time to cut it.

Pretty sure I do have bed bugs. I never took my pillow out of its plastic cover and if you wanted to send me a plastic mattress cover I would not complain. As long as it sealed and was worthwhile I would totally use it. I wash my sheets every week, but I get bit. We got some insecticide from our mission pres{s wife at zone conference. I sprayed it down. I don{t know how long it lasts, but a cover would be great.

Today was a rough day for me. I had a field trip with my zone and we woke up at 3 in the morning. Note' I do not do well with little sleep. Not only that, but I had to walk with the sisters. Probably the most stressful day of my life. I have never wanted to be a man before. Today, I wanted to be a man all day. The sisters just took a million pictures in the same spot of themselves. Instead of exploring like I wanted, I had to stand there and wait for them to take picture after picture. I hated it. Have you ever wanted to scream? I know America has. I wanted to scream all day. I was screaming inside.

I think that means I need patience. I think that{s why the Lord wouldn{t let me get married and have children. B-c my children, if they were like that, would not live for long. And I have to stand directly next to my companion at all times. Or she gets mad. We get along when we eat, talk about boys, and talk in English. This means we need to talk in English more I think. Yes, definitely.. I will do better tomorrow with patience. The trip was awesome. We took some great pictures. Thanks for thinking of me and telling me where Josh is.

Um, today was a really stressful day for me.

We went to a place in Guat about 3 hours from Cobon. We saw lots of really cool natural pools in tierras. Lots of people were swimming in them. We could not. I had to walk with the sisters. I haven{t never ever in my life ever actually wanted to be a man until today. Today, when there were all sorts of cool things to see, the sisters spent the whole time in three spots taking picture after picture of themselves.

Have you ever wanted to scream? I scream inside all the time here. Especially today. Today I screamed inside all day. And my companion just kept telling me to be patient. Patience hermana. You need patience. Wait another hour for the same pictures to be taken again and again and again. Remember how I hate shopping? I hate watching other people take pictures of themselves more. And it was the whole day. But the fountains were cool. I just didn{t want to miss anything cool. So I stressed about missing the cool stuff all day as we saw the cool stuff.

In other news, I woke up at 3 in the morning. That{s my excuse. I think the elders...and sister in my zone think I{m a crab. I always seem to be crabby when we have zone activities. Probably because my companion makes me stand exactly next to her at all times and tells me to talk to people. And if we are not exactly next to each other she lectures me in a language I do not understand.

Thanks for all the updates. Love, Hna Peterson

Merilee at stream in Guatemala

2010-06-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Guatemalan Missionaries

2010-06-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

Provo MTC district in front of temple

2010-06-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hot and Steamy

2010-06-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, thanks for all the news. The porch by the house looks great with all that grass. Gardening sounds fun. Where's Josh? Still living at Graydon and Amy's? Thanks for the pictures, it's nice to see them.

Guati is raining a lot too. Sounds like it's just the same in both places, but the roads are probably better there. Also, thanks for letting people know how we're doing. We're all trying to do better I guess.

Let Sarah know brownies here are about $5 a box and we get about $40 a week for food and other items, so $5 for brownies or $5 for chocolate chips isn't going to happen. But if you want to send me some love, please do. Also, I love you. Love, hna p

Sorry, the computer I was on went crazy and stopped working. MOM, Glad to know Bonnie's still alive and working hard. You just tell her I love her and she's doing great. Hard work really pays off and I know she's working hard and she's doing great. I'm glad she's calling and letting you know how she is, b-c I wanted to know too.

This week was a good week. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. I'll try to remember to take more. For further pictures on houses and stuff, look at Neal's mission pictures from El Salvador . I'm sure it's about the same. Also, Happy Father's Day this week! We have an activity for Father's Day Thursday. They had a bunch of rice they passed out in RS and the ladies in RS are cooking it. I'm pretty sure it's a stake activity.

Also, please let Sarah know we don't have an oven. I forgot to put that. I figured with brownie mix I'd just put some water in it and eat it raw. So if it's too expensive, don't worry about it. Also, I guess sunblock and tampons are expensive here, so if you want to send some of that with the maybe brownies, please do. And some of that stuff Dad talked about b-c of my sugar cravings. B-c otherwise, I'm going to be a tank when I come home.

The bugs love me. Family. I love you. Friends. I love you. The church is true. Spread the word. Please give the missionaries their contacts. They would really appreciate some. Those are the bomb! Love you all! Hna Peterson

Newz

2010-06-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Grant, and family,
Please know I love these emails I get from you. Never stop. Please send this around, I think it will be the big email for the week, or tell dad to send his around, b-c it's pretty big also. But I didn't have a p-day last week, so that's why I haven't written for a while. They have p-day on Mondays here in my mission instead of Wednesdays like at the MTC, so I sadly missed it. Boo. My favorite day of the week.

The first night I saw 5 roaches and they were huge. My comp, Hna Varela kind of rolled her eyes and said "you're not in the MTC anymore". That was a mind blower. Anyway, it took me like 2 hours to fall asleep after that b-c I kept thinking they were on me. Ugh, I hate roaches. And there's a new one every night. But we have a nice clean apartment. It's on the ground floor like everything here. We have a floor. We are blessed. Most of the people here don't have real floors, unless you count dirt as real.

Also, it's been pretty rainy here.
I don't know if you heard, but a volcano erupted close by here and we had epic rain Saturday. Which means we didn't have church Sunday and we got our 72 hour kits put together. We could have done everything normally, but you know how it goes.We had about 5 people who were going to attend church with us Sunday but it was canceled, that's hard. We didn't have church, so we just studied all morning and at 2 began the day as normal. We went tracting and had some lessons with members, investigators. But Sunday it was hot and there was no water anywhere. Weird, so we just studied until 2 and ate lunch with the ward mission leader. It had 1/4 head of cabbage, a chunk of beef, and a platano chunk, peel included. Platanos are like bananas, but I guess they're a vegetable, very good fried. Bananas, not so good fried. Blech, I tried to this week b-c it was brown and I don't like brown bananas much. Better raw.

I also found out my mail won't come except transfers, so every 6 weeks. So please still write me, even though I won't respond to those letters until 6 weeks after you send them. At least. This is going to be a mail adventure I can already tell. I also miss brownies. Tell mom the next package she decides to send should have brownie mix in it. I miss my sugar. We have lots of roaches here. One a night in the bathroom. I cleaned the bathroom this morning. I'm pretty sure it hadn't been cleaned in a month.

Grant, A second job will be amazing. Find a close one and you won't need a car. Walking is good exercise, even in the rain. If you need more incentive, go back and clean some more buses. Oh how I hated that. Please let mom know I got her May 16 dear elder on May 25. So it takes about 10 days to get to me I think. I don't know. But yeah, mail takes a while b-c they send it when we have transfers.

I have lukewarm showers, we don't have hot and cold here, only on and off. Which means I don't like showering. And I zapped myself this morning b-c I was brushing off a spider web from the pipe and I accidentally touched it. Which means my showers are luke b-c they are heated by electricity. If I don't die here, I will be stronger when I get home. I am so ready to serve people here, but a year and a half seems like eternity right now. I've only been here a freaking week.

Also, I love my companion, but it's hard to work when you don't understand 70 percent of what's going on.I love serving the Lord, but sometimes it's hard. It's hard for different reasons than I thought. It's hard b-c half the people we talk to don't speak Spanish, they speak Ketchi. It's totally different and I don't know Ketchi, and I hardly know Spanish. That makes it hard. My comp's name is Hna Varela. She has much patience with me. B-c of this patience, when I cry, she is very nice and tells me how smart I am and that I need patience. I need way more patience with myself than with other people. So far. I'm sure it'll change. My comp is a little jaded, though...I try talking to everyone and she kind of rolls her eyes and gives the minimum. She loves the members and investigators though. We'll be comps for 2 transfers at least the pres told her, so I should serve her more. She's very loving, but at times a little bossy..prob. b-c she's a trainer. It's hard when people don't have addresses.
They just have hovels of different types and colors. So you can't get addresses to contact them later, you have to follow people to their houses, or just teach them in the streets. And when it rains nobody will come outside. They don't have bells, you just yell, "Buenas". and they come or don't come to the fence to let you in.

But I'm glad to be here. Even if I cry a lot..and I've only been here a week. I have it pretty cush compared to most of the people who live here. Their entire lives they live like this. I only have a lukewarm shower for a year and a half.

In the mornings I always want to cry b-c I don't memorize well and we're supposed to have D&C 4 memorized, our purpose, and JS History.It's slow. I have most of the parts memorized of our purpose and JS first vision, but I miss parts or forget connector words. I'm the worst. I don't want to be home, but sometimes I don't want to be in the middle of Spanish speaking land either. But the people here are very loving and it's wonderful to be here. Time is slow and passes. I like the burritos and eggs we eat every day. We don't have cooks...our mission was having morality problems with the cooks and their assistants, so our Pres. canceled the food program. We still have a lady who does our laundry though.
I think the food we cook ourselves is better...another reason they don't have cooks is b-c people were complaining about hair in their food and not knowing what was in it. I like knowing what I'm eating. I try and keep my hair to myself. Mostly I braid my hair every day. I think I have bed bugs, I get at least two new bites a night, even though I'm eating B6 regularly. I don't know about mosquitoes. I don't see many, but I'm sure they're around.

I'll be here a while. It's nice here. The people are angels.
They're so humble and nice. It's nice to be here. I hope some time soon I will understand the other 70 percent of what is going on around me..I speak Spanish, but mostly gospel terms. I'm working through it.

The church is true. Love you! Thanks for writing. Love, Hna Peterson

week 4 Guatemala MTC

2010-05-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hello mom, Here's the big email for the week. I did not get a zip drive before I left, so I can't send pictures like you wanted. I have some pictures from the MTC, but they instructed us not to send pictures while in this MTC, so I can't until I leave here next Monday for the field. Then I get a new p-day. I have pictures. I will attach them in the upcoming weeks. We only get dearelders once a week. I didn't get one last week and I don't think they come regularly. I like getting them, but as you know I leave the mtc and then...just emails and letters I guess.

Christian, I was going to write you last week but I forgot. Thanks for writing me an email. I was excited about it. I'm glad you and Josh are getting all sorts of fences pulled out. That sounds like pounds and pounds of fun, like that lady Neal was talking about in the ER. I guess I have a couple pieces of news, but first I'd like to do a shout out to Neal, Grant, Canute, Sarah, and Mom for being my most regular writers. Good job. Christian and America, you can do better. Cookie, Bonnie, Josh and Dad I guess are dead. Condolences.

I'm learning how to not spell things correctly because of Spanish. Sorry about that. News{ My teacher did the punta dance for us last week because he loves us but only for 30 seconds, and not really for that long b-c he felt bad b-c we're missionaries. Lots of hips and feet. But not long, so I can't really say what it is. Hna Bunting has bed bugs. So now we both spray our beds with Deet. I hear in my mission they eat monkeys and take bucket showers. I can't wait.

We went to Parque Central to do contacts Monday and Tuesday. In the Provo MTC you never get to leave, but here you do. It's cool and a little nerve'wracking, especially the bus ride. Drivers here are bonkers. I'm sure you're not surprised. Sorry the keys are weird on here and I don't have time to fix them. They have pigeons all over and they're gross. My yellow bag I bought had tons of dye in it and stained my white shirt yellow. The shirts ok with oxy clean and the bag got soaked in salt water. My hands are yellow.I don't like chocolate covered bananas frozen, but that's what we had for snack last night...or refaccion. I learned a hand trick..put your opposite pinky and pointer fingers out and now switch them. Try doing it fast. Cool trick huh? Please send those stamps, I would love to write millions and millions of letters with them. I think I like writing them as much as receiving them b-c of the promise of receiving them later. Or the hope at least.

Love and Kisses! Hna Peterson PS . How is it having Josh home again? Also, who asked for pictures on my blog? Also, Danielle, please know that I miss you and Konnie and I thought about you much this week.

May 12 MTC in Guatemala

2010-05-16T13:02:00.001-07:00

Editor's note: This is the chit chat between two missionary siblings...

Dear Hermana Peterson,

Sucks that people get robbed there. Here people get robbed too. One time I was talking to a missionary on another island on the phone and he saw a cash-or-body happen right in front of his house while I was talking to him. It was crazy. I´ve heard stories of people getting robbed on the streets here, but it hasn´t happened while I´ve been here. One Elder did get his house broken into because his companion left their door open at night. Fortunately he only took their stuff and not their lives while they were sleeping. But the one elder did lose his camera, his proselyting bag, and his wallet. The elder that left the door open only lost his scriptures which he later got back and a bag of clothes. Elder crushes are weak. Happy birthday to the ground indeed. Btw Mer, I still never saw that video. We learned about it the night after I got set apart I think. Dang. It´s cool that you are going to the jungle. You´ll have some way sweet experiences out there. Thanks for the update.

Elder Peterson

Yeah, it's fun here. I'm glad that elder left. Now we´re trying to keep the other elders at bay by not talking to them, ever. So my comp told this elder she liked his tie the other day and he told her she had beautiful eyes. It was hilarious. I laughed for a while. Karma's a killer. Yeah, lock your doors.

In other news, I ate gum ice cream this week. It looked like strawberry and I didn't read the package. So I ate it and it tasted like a crayon encasing gum ice cream. Nasty. I finished it so I could have the full experience. I also used a paper towel to clean the wax out of my mouth afterwards. Not my fav. I called the family for mother's day. Dad took 5 minutes to connect everyone so I talked to myself. Then America went through a tunnel and we were all disconnected b-c of it for 5 minutes and then I talked for another 5 minutes. 15 minutes were all I had. So I talked to myself for 15 minutes. Family, you better have something to say to me at Christmas. Also, stamps in the US are cheaper, so mom, please send me a million or so stamps.

I'm learning Spanish little by little. We talked about Jabba the Hut and called him Habba la puebla. That was funny. Also, yesterday we were talking to some sisters about yellow, jello and hello. Those three words sound the same to latins. So she said, 'the primary colors are azul, blue, and hola?´ It was confusing and really funny. P-day last week we had to switch rooms twice b-c before I wasn't in the same room as my comps so I moved. Then I had to move back to my old room. Such a pain. Luckily it was just across the hallway. Canute, I heard about your quilt, sounds cool. I know you never saw that movie. I tell people about your righteousness all the time. Stay safe, the church is true!

Love, Hna Peterson

May 5, still in the Guatemala MTC

2010-05-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Editors note: "P" day means preparation day, kind of a day off from regular missionary duties...that's the day you do your laundry, get and receive letters, do shopping and get to do a bit of sight-seeing!

I still have another 3 weeks in the MTC, but it"s running by, so I"ll be there in no time at all. Canute, I think your outings sound awesome! Yesterday we went to a cool relief map of Guatemala and a museum of a pyramid and an undergound market. The elders in our district got robbed by a guy on crutches.. But not really b-c they were contacting and the guy with them told the guy something in a really low voice and walked away. The thing about getting robbed here is it happens all the time, but they don"t have weapons, they just walk up to you and say for you to give them your money. Dumb. But the elders said they would"ve just kicked his crutch and run away. Chiste ( joke). Our teacher said he had his cell out and this guy told him to give him his cell but he was really short and he was like, 'what?' and the guy was like 'give me your phone' and he couldn't hear him b-c he was little, so finally he heard him and he ran away to a policeman on the corner. The policeman said he thought the guy was his brother. Hah.

Naps are supreme. Tuesday morning was horrible b-c the sister who keeps the lights on in our room did so and woke up at 2 to 3:30 am to get ready and then came back in. She messed with her hangers, talked, turned on all the lights, and was filing her nails. Then at 5 the last sister in my room left and I finally got to sleep. I was so tired yesterday. However, I did get a blessing from our elders last night b-c I was completely exhausted and I haven"t been sleeping well. I slept like a rock last night. The church is true.

This week was exciting. I actually have two funny stories. One, an elder in our district accidentally pinched a sister's buns in our district. We were doing a direction game in Spanish and he thought he was behind another elder. So he slowly reached out his hand...he had a tie over his eyes..and pinched. Which is funny b-c Hna Clah is way shorter than E Francks and b-c he was super embarrassed. We all laughed for 15 minutes and our teacher switched us to elders and elders, sisters and sisters. Also, there was an elder here who had a crush on me and he sent me a keychain in an envelope via another sister. Happy Birthday to the ground. Then Hna Bunting picked it up from the floor and told me I had to tell him thank you and goodbye b-c he was hanging out outside out door. After much pouting and ranting, I went out and said thanks and he gave me his contact info. Happy birthday to the trash. I think I will be in the jungle. I hear they eat monkeys there. I certainly hope not. Alright, I must respond to others, Grant, send this to everyone. Love you Elder Peterson. The church is true!

Love, Hna Peterson

April 28, "P" day

2010-05-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm doing ok. I got sunburned when we went out contacting last week. It was supreme. I feel the heat and I don't think I'll be in a visitor center b/c that's usually in the call. The Guatemala City temple is across the street from us in the MTC. Seriously. It's closer than the Provo Temple was. I can see the temple from my room window and every time I walk up and down the stairs. Pretty neat. We get to go to the temple on P-days. Also, I don't know if I can, but most of the sur (that's south) and centeral Guat missionaries get to visit the temple on their pdays. I think mine's further b/c I will be in the jungle. Crazy! Also, there are two languages I may have to learn when I get there. I will definitely need to pray more for those problems later. I heard a devo from Elder Holland yesterday. It was cool. He said not to pray to have an easy mission b/c it won't be easy and all our trials bring us closer to Christ- how he felt and how we can be closer through prayer. Very cool. I mostly get what's going on here. I read the BOM but the binding on my book is getting fixed right now, so I don't know what's going on when I read. I've been studing the Bible instead. The church is true. Keep going strong! Love, Hna peterson

It's P-day....Wednesday

2010-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

To my family and friends.
Family, please send this to everyone: it's the emails I sent Grant and Canute and I ran out of time. Neal, I wrote you a letter in our family letter. Christian, thanks for the advice. I will try and do those things you said. Julia' I'm so excited you are going on a mission to Peru. You will be the best missionary ever. Give me your address so I can write you. Advice? I would just say read your scriptures because you won't get as much time to get friendly with them as you think b-c you have so much to do here. So cross reference and talk to people you know and date and do whatever you want, because you will love your mission!!!! Love!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????Elder Peterson, I am super glad to hear you don't eat your boogs. Please never start. It's a disgusting habit and will never help you in your dating life. Or any other part of your life.

I do get your emails, but we skipped our p-day last week, so we didn't have the greatest contact pattern last week. Not the greatest. Sorry about not writing you any letters so far and sorry if these emails seem caged together, the enter on these keyboards doesn't work, so the paragraphs on my emails are going to be ginormous. I only wrote about five letters today. I actually write letters all pday, which is why I have no idea where all my time goes here on p-day. Well, you know how it goes.

I'm glad the elders were glad to tell you they knew me. I'm surprised myself that I'm 26. Sometimes I think..is that right? Then I shrug it off as age..

Man, I never knew how slow days could go until I got to this MTC. I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles with sleep. I fall asleep in class and I feel like such a bum. It's never for long and I know I'm here for the right reasons. So yeah, I hope it wears off eventually. Here I sleep better since it's warm and cozy all night long. It's like summer night weather all day. It's soooo nice. However, I still wake up in the night to pee. It's good to drink water, but some parts of it are annoying. Guatemala is a cool place.

I'm in another trio..which means I've been in the MTC for four weeks and had four comps. These comps are great too though, so I've been getting lucky all over the place. They laugh all the time and we have good times...at the right times. Today though, I prayed with thankfulness for letting us write bodies instead of letters. That was a rough prayer to end with reverence. I tried to do it fast, but my comps had already lost it. I also enjoy the elders in my district. There's Elder Tanner, Hale, and Francks. Francks was in the army and hates me. Tanner asks a lot of questions we laugh about about and Hale's a good Elder who tries hard. I love my teachers here. They are so patient with us. It's so sad and kind of sick how dependent we are on them. And the Lord really, when it comes down to it. Maybe sick isn't the word. Very different...which means I'm in a good training program.

Food here's pretty good. I did drink a juice this morning that tasted like I'd already drunk it, and thrown it back up into the cup...so I really couldn't make myself finish it. I just couldn't. don{t forget to look at that stuff I left in my room for you. We have had great food. The sisters here said to beware of diarrhea and constipation at the same time...or in unending cycles. I haven't had to worry about that thus far. I could eat prunes. And die. I despise prunes. However, maybe I'll be ok. I have been ok thus far and been drinking tons of water. Which is why I wake up in the middle of the night now. Yeah, my spelling's getting worse, which hopefully means I'm on my way to native spanish speaking. I'll let you know how it goes.

I sprained my ankle last Monday. It's black and bloated but doesn't really hurt much and never really did. S, o when I push my finger into my foot at night the indention stays for about a minute. I've put a makeshift sling into the bunk above me and put a tower of pillow-sheets at the foot of my bed so it can drain at night. No real aches, and not comfortable, but I don't want a perma'kankle. Something a girl here said her friend got after spraining her ankle. ARGHH! Not my favorite. It doesn't hurt much anymore though. I sprained it doing the sister step aerobics. I know, I'm the coolest.

That's the scoop I guess. Thanks for writing me. Keep me informed and I'll try keeping you in the letters. Love you!
Love, Hna Peterson

I'm in Guatemala!

2010-04-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

Also, can you send an email to julia hess saying how freakin excited I am that she put in her papers and is going to peru- That´s so super awesome! Tell her to pray a lot and read her scriptures and the Lord will do the rest. And I want her mission address so we can write each other. Thanks. Love, Hna Peterson

On 4/15/10, Merilee Enid Peterson wrote: Thanks for the pictures. Very cool to see them. Wish I was there. Did you get to listen to my phone calls¿ I called at the airport and it was during school. Oh well. We didn´t get out to Guatemala when we thought because the plane was broken. After 3 hours of sitting on the plane, they told us we weren´t going to fly. So we headed back to the MTC. It was nice to get back to the MTC b-c we hadn´t been able to pick up our scriptures from the bookstore before we left and it was going to cost us $70 to get them out here and we might never have gotten them. It was really nice to stay one more day with our great district and zone. Very nice. It´s nice to be here, but we speak a lot of spanish here. The Lord loves me, but sometimes I feel very tired. I only get mail once a week. But I guess it will be exciting to get it. I can´t send pictures from this mtc. Sorry. Love and kisses! Hna Peterson

week 3 at Provo MTC

2010-04-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hello there everyone-

Grant, I got your email and it turns out I didn't email you b/c I didn't have anyone's emails. Anyone...so I couldn't email you b/c I didn't have your email address. Sorry about that. Mom just sent me a list of the emails that didn't work..very helpful. So now I hope everyone who is getting my emails knows all about me.

There is mucho candy here. Many treats all day. I'm going to be la vaca in...well, now. But I'm exercising, so maybe not a big cow. I have been practicing basketball, so I feel better about my skills. I'm not the greatest, but I'm better than I was in 8th grade. A huge improvement.

I haven't been able to fall asleep for an hour every night before bed. I lie awake from 10:30 to 11:30 and wake up at 5:45 for the special sister exercises. I do it for my figure and sanity, but am often tired. From what I hear, I'd be tired anyway. So not a big deal right? Also, last night I think it was only 30 min, but now I'm getting used to this MTC and my body's not freaking out, I'm going to Guatemala Tuesday morning. I hope it doesn't start all over again.

Pday today. I'm getting my name on my scriptures and getting my Preach my Gospel laminated.

I'm spelling things dumbly lately. Not cool. I've only been out 2.5 weeks. I also found out I know 3 people in my age bracket who eat their boogers. Very gross. Very. Love, Hna Peterson

Week 2 at Provo MTC

2010-04-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

Mom- I'm glad you've gotten my contact. I've been busy, but it's going well. I'm glad the crying is genetic, at least I'm not the only one crying. I got the tank tops today. Thank you SOSOSSo much. I really appreciated getting them b/c now I can wear all my clothes instead of only some. Very nice.

I got my flight plans for Guatemala today.I'm leaving for the Guat MTC April 13. So I know time is of the essence. Sorry. I didn't think it would matter that I wasn't there to transfer registration on my car. I'm jealous about the 80 degree weather. It's been pretty cool out here. Last week we prob. had 60's but not much warmer than that. We're not outside much, so it doesn't really matter.

Today is P-day and we got to the temple..my second time ever. Very nice. Much better on a full stomach and when you know what to expect. We get letters and dear elders every day they arrive...but we can only respond on P-day, so it's a good thing you sent that dearelder today b/c otherwise I couldn't have responded until next week. Today is Friday..so that's my P-day. Until we go to the Guat MTC and then it will change. We leave for that MTC April 13..the time here just flies. It has already been a week and I have a lot to learn about teaching people.

I am in a trio. My comps are Sis. Evans and Sis. Forsyth. They complete me and we get along, but we don't know each other very well yet. We study a lot, so there isn't much time for girly giggling..plus they told us to leave childish things behind and I usually bond with girls about boys..so I'm trying to figure out new ways to bond with sisters. We have fun. We pray a lot. I can only pray in Spanish these days...a teacher challenge..which occurred our second day here. Love and kisses! Hna Peterson

2010-03-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Elder.com---this is free to the MTC, write Merilee there at no charge!

First MTC week-

2010-03-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Family. Hello. I cry every day here at the MTC. Mostly it's a happy Spiritual cry, sometimes however, it is an overwhelmed cry. I am sure all the Hermanos y Hermanas here think I am loco. Which is completely true. So it's ok.

My companions are Hermana Forsyth and Hermana Evans. They are sweet sisters and I love them. We get little time for ourselves..which is perfect and ideal, but also takes any time we might use as personal time and changes it into study time to help others. Meaning it would be very selfish to take that time to read or even respond to letters. So we don't get much time. However, it is nice to know one is loved.

I know I am loved, but missionary studying is hard. Mostly because you have lots of language to learn and they start you on hard goals the first day. We are only to pray in Spanish-ever. Tomorrow, first Sunday ever, we are to have a talk ready on Obedience. In Spanish.

Every sister and elder here is extremely kind. All the elders and sisters are serving one another all the time. It is fantastico! The elders take our trays..very nice of them and let us cut in line for meals and stand up when we sit...because they are told to do so the first day. It does wonders for me. I feel very loved because of it.

I feel hurried all the time, but it is a good hurry. We do not have time to waste. There is much work to do. I wrote this in my letter, but America took every single one of my tank tops out of my suitcase. I thought she would leave one of each. Shows how much I know. Now I cannot wear half my shirts because of a little corner of white showing underneath. Mother, please go into the plastic tub in the loft...second one down and send me a brown, black, and white tank top. Please. Thank you, I need them.

Spanish will come. I know it's true. My companions love me. The Church is true. I have only met two of my three teachers. Hermano Shamo y Hermano Hadley y Hermano Crapo. They are very knowledgeable and push us. Very good for me. Love you! Hermana Peterson

On the way

2010-03-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Merilee at the KCI airport on Tues eve, March 23, on the way to Provo and the MTC.

Well well my dears!!!!!

2010-03-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Provo tomorrow, so this is the last blog I'll be writing to all of you for 18 months. My mom will try and keep this updated for me though. Here is my contact information again, for those of you who forgot where my other information was typed. I hope this shows up ok. I love you all! The church is true! Love, Merilee

The address at the Provo MTC is:

Sister Merilee Enid Peterson
Guatemala Guatemala City North Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

The address for the Guatemala MTC is:

Guatemala MTC
Bulevar Vista Hermosa 23-71
Vista Hermosa 1, Zona 15
01015 Guatemala
Guatemala

Pouch letter address:

Sister Merilee Enid Peterson
Guatemala Guatemala City North Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150
USA

To
prevent possible fines please only send: postcards and letters that are
single sheet, folded into three-panels, and taped at the top only (no
envelopes) may be sent through the pouch. No packages through pouch.

Packages may be sent to the mission office:

Sister Merilee Enid Peterson
Guatemala Guatemala City North Mission
5a Avenida 5-55, Edificio Euro Plaza
14 avo. Nivel, Oficina 1504, Zona 14
Guatemala
Guatemala
Phone: 502-2385-3386
(phone for package sent with private courier)

My mission email: merilee.peterson@myldsmail.net

ESPN NCAA-

2010-03-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

My brother Neal does a family/friends bracket every year. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly interested in basketball, so I never do very well. My bracket comes from selective random guesses that normally take the complete wrong team to the top. Oh well, not a huge surprise, since I don't follow basketball. It does remind me every year of a flashlight I got one year from my father's company bracket I filled out completely guessing everything. I don't think I ever used that flashlight. I'm a bum like that, but seriously, who ever uses flashlights?

We went to Houston last week. America and her two kids, my mom, and Christian piled into the car with me and we watched the broken dvd player that kept unplugging and restarting about 2/3 of the way. It was too frustrating for me, so I couldn't watch it. Others did. Bless their hearts.

America's kids have lots of energy and affection. I'm very glad I don't have any children yet. I don't think I could handle that 24 hours a day for years at a time. We went to the Galveston beach one day...my mom, me and the kids. It was full of dog poop and the birds attacked me because I was eating a sandwich. Not a fun day.

We played lots of games, some of which I won. We went through my mission clothes and Sarah said they were acceptable. Later America went through my clothes with me and told me they were all unacceptable. Dumb.

For anybody wondering about my boy situation, I don't really have one. I mean, I got back from Whistler and the 19 yr old wouldn't even sit by me, so I guess that's over. I thought maybe I'd get some man affection right before my mission, but it no longer seems feasible. We might hang out a bit before I leave, but sitting across the room from each other, of course. Anything else would be inappropriate for prospective missionaries.

I'm sure it's good for me or I wouldn't hate it so much. Neal said I shouldn't be dating anyone younger than 22 anyway. I guess that's a matter of opinion but I can guarantee I will not date anyone younger than 21 when I get back from Guatemala. I cannot handle anymore premission drama. Plus, 27.5 is too old for a girl to wait another two years to see if a boy may or may not like her when he gets back. These things change- as we all know.

If I dated anyone my age he would've freaked out about my mission decision, so I think 19 was the only way to go before I left. Just so you know I didn't regret it a bit. Not one. And bits are very small.

I'm getting nervous for my mission, but I leave next Tuesday for Provo, so no surprises there. I need to get some stuff and pack some other stuff. I think I'm about halfway there. I need to stop bumming around though and get it done. It's so easy to do...

Larger than life-

2010-02-26T09:16:00.001-08:00

Everyone knows that true stories are often more interesting than fiction. An event happened to me last week that quite shocked me. And well, my life seems to be a win. So here goes.

I was transporting an older man from a venue to our community village. He had a slicked back blonde mullet and a mustache. We talked about many things on our 20 minute trip. I can say with full confidence we were not flirting by any standard, I was talking to him as a bored bus driver to a rider.

Anyhow, we got onto the subject of my mission. He said, "Oh, so you're mormon." He then talked to me about his daughter who dated an LDS guy for a while who wasn't against a beer every now and then. I told him an active member would not do that. He then asked me how sex figures into all that.

I said it didn't really because we didn't do it outside the bonds of marriage. He said, "Well, don't you ever get curious." I said, "Sure, but that doesn't mean I can't exercise some self control until I get married." He then said, "So it would probably be out of the question for say, sometime later today?" I said, "Yeah, most definitely out of the question." He hopped off my bus, because we were at Rainbow Village and I sat there. Stunned. WTH?

I think that's the most blatant proposal I've ever gotten from a complete stranger. He was probably about 45 years old. Wow. Anyway, I didn't report him for sexual harrassment because I don't know his name and he's never talked to me before or after that. He waves at me when I enter the cafeteria. I wave back and plow to a different table. Creepy.

I went to a concert by the Frey last week. Pretty cool to be right there, but I've never been an avid concert goer. I like concerts, but it's freezing cold outside. I've been going to them because it's a great opportunity. Barenaked Ladies-didn't go, had to work, The Frey, All American Rejects, Galactica, and many more, all a 10 minute ride on the shuttle and completely free. I think tomorrow we have Usher performing. Very cool.

Since I usually work the 4:15 or 4:45 am shift, I have afternoons and nights free to see the cool programs they have to offer in Whistler. They have musicians playing pretty much all day every day.

Yesterday, instead of napping, I saw Galactica- a jazz band I'd never heard of. I went with Chris Hebb b/c he said they were awesome. They were good and also very loud. We knew some people drinking at one of the outdoor heated cafe areas and they convinced us to come sit with them. I didn't have my id with me, just my accredidation with my picture and job title-bus driver.

You can't be a driver until you're 21 years old, but the guy still wouldn't let me in. The guy turned his head to talk with someone else and his co-bouncer let me in. Then we sat down and didn't order anything, so the waittress told her cohort who was two feet away from me they'd just gotten two squatters. So I felt uncomfortable and left. Chris wanted to dance, so he went to the square which made it easier for me to leave.

The band was really loud. Their instruments: a keyboard, two electric guitars, a saxophone, and a trombone. So that's the fillet from my day.

Emily and Me Vannies'

2010-02-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

Bathroom humor-

2010-02-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

The other day Zach Migel was walking into a portojohn next to the bus stop at Whistler town center. It didn't have a lock, so he wouldn't use it. I said I would, "Stand watch." Zach said, "But I don't want you to stand and watch." Funny Zach.

Then Emily went in and I stood watch. A guy tried to go in. I told him it was in use. He asked if I was going to use it. I said, "No, it is currently being used. There is someone already using it." Then he asked if he could use it. I held the door and said there was a person using it. Then he walked away and I suspiciously stood guard for a little longer.

The next day, I was in the cafeteria. I needed a drink of water. I walked back to one of the cafeteria bathrooms around the corner. Much to my dismay, there was a man in the release position with the door wide open. I had one foot in the door, one foot out. I thought, "I should go." My weight changed feet.

Then I thought, "But the door's open, I'm thirsty. SURELY he wouldn't care if I just filled up my cup." Weight changed to other foot. Then I thought, "Merilee, it doesn't matter, he is standing there, peeing. Get out." Finally, only after my weight had changed four times, and my mind had walked me through this all, did I leave. Awkward. Shouldn't I have just bolted? Yeah. Figures.

Piles of rocks mean magic-

2010-02-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

This morning Emily and I went out into the circle and saw two huge piles of rocks. These rocks were brought to fill in any mud holes made by all the rain we get here and to cover the mud. Obviously. This may surprise you, since I live in Whistler BC and we should be getting lots of snow because the people upstairs know the Olympics are here this winter. However, it seems the rain has taken over the clouds and it rains almost every day and has snowed twice since I've been here. I've been here about three weeks.

It seems the snow is getting slushy and less desirable to ski and snowboard in. That's ok for me, since I'm not a winter sports fanatic, but sad for the Olympians who will have to make do until some white help comes. I've also heard they've been helicoptering snow in to improve conditions for Olympians. Good luck with that Olympic committee.

I would like to do a shoutout to the many beautiful women I know who are having babies this year. Adrienne, Amanda, Ali, Kimberly, Emily. I'm pretty sure Aman is closest to having that baby..something like today. Aman, I cannot wait to see that baby. Cutest baby in the world no doubt. Emily is due next week. Emily, Sally will be so excited to have a little brother she won't even care he's getting all the attention. Babies can't make snowmen with their daddies after all.

I can't imagine all the tiresome days and sickly mornings and wish you all the happiest wellness in your baby harvesting endeavors. Everybody loves the fruit of those labors.

On a completely different note, I saw an island called Victoria last week. We went for three days and stayed in a hostel. Emily, Seth, and I went instead of going to Seattle. My reasoning was since we're in Canada, we should see a bit of Canada. We got a new shipment of drivers, so we had a couple days off the schedule so they could learn the ropes.

As previously guessed, we have been working about half as much as we were before. We still get paid for working 5 days a week, but we usually work about 2-3 days a week. I'm not working until 10:45 tonight and I'm only doing one run. Which will total about an hour and a half of work for the day. Sunday we had off. We missed Church because the connecting bus doesn't go to the stop we needed on Sundays. Instead I volunteered to prepare a lesson and we talked about Prayer.

Oh, Victoria. We took a bus to a bus to a ferry to a bus. Seven hours later we were in Victoria. That morning bus I sat behind Sarah-Dawn, the new driver, to give her some direction on where to go. The guy sitting next to me kept telling me stuff. Like he told me he needed to take his coat off. Ok. Then he told me he needed to eat something because he had a long shift and had missed breakfast. Ok.

He said he was going to the toilet in the back of the bus to eat. Ok. He climbed over me, three times. He came back and told me he needed to nap but there were plenty of seats in the back of the bus which were empty. Ok. I wanted to say, "Listen Man! If you want to sit yourself in the back of the bus, do it, but quit giving me a play by play of your life and stop telling me to move. OK?!!" What I actually did, was go to the back of the bus until the end when I needed to help SD drive into Vancouver.

Which I don't know why I bothered because 4 other people were telling her directions. Thank you, yes, we all know there are millions of streets in Vancouver down which you may take a bus. I got soooo frustrated with all the idiots that we missed our turn because some guy was directing her to the wrong place and another driver finally sat right next to her on the ground and told her the turning directions so the others were background directors. Ugh. I hate stupid people. I dislike men that think I am inept because I am a woman. Ugh.

On the bus in Victoria we sat by a high schooler who was talking on his phone to fellow students about drug dealing. Apparently he was their dealer and he was getting frustrated about the sacrifices he was making for naught for them. So sad. Also, on our trip we saw many people doing drugs. Very sad.

We also saw an owl pellet while walking through the woods. Very cool. Picked up some rocks on the beach. Nice. Saw the tallest totem pole in the world. It had a bald eagle on top of it..roosting. We ate at a Thai restaurant, the Sour Pickle for breakfast, a noodle place for dinner, and then Floyd's. The food we had was good. The noodles were not super the day after we got it, so we ended up tossing them.

We walked through many streets and saw many cool totem poles, fiberglass eagles, and whales. See Seth Coombs' albums with me in them on facebook. Neat.

I guess that's about all we did in Victoria. I spend a lot of time with Emily and Seth. When someone has a long shift and we have nothing to do, we'll sometimes ride along with that person. It's the cool thing to do. We watch many movies and eat a lot here. It's like an MTC for slackers. We eat all the time and instead of being terribly busy, are terribly bored. I try to enjoy it now though, since when I'm in the MTC I will surely be tired all the time.

Hosting a burnt marshmello party-

2010-01-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

I ate some icecream today. I've been wanted icecream for months. Well, usually I don't really care about icecream, but here in Vancouver I have a fantastic roommate named Emily. She's 6'1, writes poems, is a babe, and we get along famously. She's like my favorite mission companian. And I'm not even in Guatemala yet. She went on a mission to France. Deane, I told her to call you and talk in French. You will love her.

We had caramel rolo chocolate icecream. I quite enjoyed it. In a waffle cone. A great decision, because I started something beautiful last night and wished to make up for the joy of it all. With a heating pad and later, icecream.

Working in Whistler has its ups and downs. Firstly, I miss Dallin Sims like crazy. Yes, the 19 yr old baby. We are an item. Can you believe it? I am working out the kinks in my long distance relationship history...or rather making a history as we speak. I've never even wanted to continue a relationship from far away, because really, wouldn't it be easier to just start from scratch where you are? But I figured I'd have to start sometime, so why not now, when I've met the man of my dreams and am leaving for Guatemala in two months? It's going to be tough, there are many cool guys out here. What we have is fantastic. Like icecream. With a waffle cone. Quite delicious.

Whistler is a cold place. I don't know why it's named that, but this city could be named because of the freezing winds whistling through the trees. Or because people here whistle. Either one.

Work: I work here every other day. We just got cell phones, so people now have a way to call if their buses break down, or we can get called for our schedules etc. Also, if any of you, my readers wish to call me and have a Sprint or Nextell phone plan, we can talk for free! But who has that type of plan anyhow? If you do though, ask me and I'll send you my phone number and we'll talk for hours about Canada.

We do get paid for 5 days on, 2 days off. So we get paid whether we work or not. That's kind of nice. We also get to live in trailers for a month and a half and get three free meals a day. We had sandwiches for lunch in Vancouver, that got old pretty fast, but now we have different meals from cooks. Yay for not living in Vancouver. Plus, in V we had single rooms. Lame and lonely. I don't like having to hang out by myself. I'm no loner goon.

Vancouver has pretty narrow streets too and they're really only working one day a week, so that's doubly boring. I guess they have a ferry to ride if they want. We get free transportation in the city- it's an Olympic worker perk. Whistler's not so bad. We've gotten to church the last two weeks, but last week we accidentally went to a Spanish ward. It was in the same building as an English ward, but it was at a different time. Oops. I enjoyed it, but didn't get too much out of the talks.

Our rooms are pretty small, but I guess we don't need much when we just sit in there all day and watch movies. There's a workout place, but it's not open yet. The Olympics start Feb. 12, so that should make what we do more exciting. At least we'll have more people riding the shuttles, we're plenty slow right now. Boo. I'm sure I can rustle up something to do.

We the people-

2010-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

We've got Chris: He's the boss and terribly high strung right now because nobody above him in line knows what's going on. We change meeting times all the time. It's hard to know what the times changes will be so word of mouth is gold here. Overall Chris is a chill guy, so I'm sure he'll be alright when everything goes back to normal.

Did I tell you we don't have radios? We're supposed to have cell phones but they won't work because they're American phones with Canadian sim cards. So they keep asking for a special code and we can't use them. If we get lost, we are pretty much screwed and we've only been training by driving routes for two days.

There's the Bellingham group: Tara and Justin, Josh and Ashley, and Ben. They talk mostly to each other, but they're pretty chill and funny.

There's the RCT group: Seth, Nick, Jeremy, Kersten, and Ree. They are more friendly and talk to everyone but mostly they hang out with each other.

Tyler, Rod, and Timothy are cool. They're lifelong friends and I watched Hot Rod with them. Timothy went to Russia on his mission and the other two have girlfriends. They wear beanies and are very musical. You would like them.

The older crew is: Vic, Alberto, Gregg, Rita, Neil, and Owen. Owen is from England so he has a cool accent. Rita often hangs out with the RCT group and with Gregg. Most of the older crew is married, but left their spouses at home.

The next group includes Matt, Adam, and Kevin. Kevin doesn't really look like any Kevin's I've ever met, so Emily and I were trying to figure out an alternative name for him. They are good times and all go to BYU.

The second wave of drivers comes at the end of January. Our bosses are Gail, Sue, Lloyd and their underlings are Pam, Tyler, Chase, Sarah, Alana, and Jen.

Lloyd sweats buckets and loves to talk. Gail is always sunshine and bananas. She gets us lunches and is always doing something productive.

Sue is crazy and really chill. She's like a ski supervisor. Not literally, but she kind of acts like it. Tyler runs marathons and I don't know much about all the others, but they seem nice. This was a good name practice for me. Thanks.

Now all I need to do is review all the crazy maps and turn by turns they gave us so I can drive tomorrow.

Oops oops. I forgot about Emily. Emily is my roomie. She's chill. I like her very much. We have been watching movies together and hot tubbing and being bored together. She writes in her journal and blog all the time which is why I referred you to her blog.

Vancouver-

2010-01-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

It's pretty chill here. The first day of training, we were told to stay 10 feet from the outer perimeter fence because 10-12 drug needles are thrown over a day. Apparently they leveled some abandoned warehouses these homeless people were living in and they're angry about it. I heard they were throwing needles at people inside the fence too. Wow. I can't wait for the real action to begin.

I'll be staying in a city by Vancouver called Whistler. We learned some routes yesterday. They seem pretty easy and it's a relatively small place. We're going to be living in stacked shipping containers..I haven't been inside, but that's what our rooming looks like. We're currently living in a hotel downtown.

We should get our credentials- id badges today. We get free food and board. We get paid by the day. Pretty sweet for all the half days we're doing, but I'll let you know how awesome it is when we're getting long days. I think I need some snow boots. It's pretty slushy out here and it hasn't snowed that recently.

I'll be driving around security personnel instead of athletes or tourists, so I probably won't have any crazy stories about meeting famous people on my buses. I've heard they have tons of free events out in Whistler and in Vancouver. I'll try to make the most of this little vacation.

Also, if you want more specific stuff about what we've been doing out here look up the dramastic blog on the side of my blog because my roomie Emily is way more regular about writing on her blog. So you can hear all about everything instead of just the little tidbits I remember at the moment.

I'm off to see the Wizard-

2010-01-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

Or just off to see Vancouver. I'll be leaving Missouri Wednesday, aka my birthday, to fly to SLC Utah. Then I'll be driving a bus to Vancouver. I don't know my exact plans, but that's the general outline. I'm turning off my phone from Jan 15 to Mar 3. I'm parking my car at my brother's house, since my parents have more snow than is healthy for my little 2000 Saturn.

Today was a grand day. I gave my farewell talk about our Heavenly Father and His love for us. I cried a lot. Seems to be the current trend and will be for the rest of my life. Some things never change.

After church we ate lasagna at my parents house. My brother Neal and his family and Cookie and her family came over. Her husband Jim couldn't make it because he had to work. He fixes heating and air condition units, so he's been working a lot lately. We played Risk after eating lasagne and delicious chocolate cake made by Emily.

Tomorrow will be the first day my parents and brother have been back to school since the start of Christmas vacation. We had loads of snow and cold out here, so school was canceled and our entire driveway is currently covered by a 6 inch block of ice. We also shoveled the entire driveway at least twice this week after snow to keep the driveway block from getting any thicker. One byproduct of this driveway water stash was a sleepover Friday night.

A couple weeks ago I posted a poll blog called 18 vs. 25. I gladly received numerous comments on this blog and kept those comments in my heart. The boy I referenced in that post exists as the man child Dallin. He happens to be 19...and a half, as he often reminds me.

We've been talking on the phone, Facebook emailing and spending quality time together. He usually comes to my house, since he is wonderful and because I feel like a weirdo going over to his house. It may have something to do with his age. And when I went over to his house, his mother asked me how old I was these days and what I was doing with my life. I felt like a fogey. And, let's be honest, I'm a lazy old lady. So Dallin comes over to play games, watch movies, go sledding.

Thursday we went sledding and he kept pushing me into the snow. Every time we walked up the hill he would push me down. After significant contact with the snow, my gloves froze over and I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to go inside, but my hands were frozen. So I said my hands were frozen. Sweet Baby 18, SB, made me switch gloves with him. Very dashing of him, since his hands were then freezing cold. He put on my gloves, but promptly removed them since his hands were colder with my gloves on than off.

Besides pushing me into the snow every time we trekked uphill, Dallin also rode the sled downhill with me. Turns out you can fit two almost grown ups on a longish cheap plastic sled with minimal discomfort. In case you were wondering. I kept thinking he was going to kiss me because he would sidle up to me, but he's a baby, so why would that be my expectation?

After sledding we watched three movies in a row and played some games. The man child is good at winning. I'm not accomplished in this thing, so I have not taught him much with my considerable wisdom.

Friday he took me on a date. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday. I got a burrito supreme and enjoyed it immensely. He got orange chicken and threatened to flick a chunk of it on me. I think if he had I might have tackled him in the restaurant. The world will never know what would've happened, because I snatched up that chicken chunk and tossed it onto the napkin under our table. We also ate some Cheesecake. What a nice way to celebrate a birthday.

After dinner we headed off to my home where we played cards until midnight. While turning around in our driveway, SB got stuck and after 30 minutes of pushing. I steered, he pushed, the car had moved one foot and nothing else had happened. Him pushing, that was kind of hot.

He called his parents to let them know what had happened and then..I found him a toothbrush and some sweatpants. Then we sat in the living room reading our scriptures, my dad grunted and pointed to his watch, and I went up to bed.

The next day we watched another movie, because I'm a movie-a-holic and they're such an easy activity to plan, and my dad reprimanded me for sitting with my feet in SW's lap. He said something about keeping both my feet on the ground. AWKWARD. Oops. I guess I never realized how inappropriate that is. I mean, have you seen my legs and feet? They're definitely on the sexy list. Here's a picture of them when I fell out the back of that FedEx truck and was all banged up from all the unloading I was doing.

My brother in law saw this happenstance and also made a comment about it to my sister. If I had known about the scandal I would cause with my seductive actions I would never have dreamed to pull in an innocent baby right before my mission. We weren't kissing on the couch my friends, my feet were in his lap. Whelp, now I guess I have something to look forward to when I get married. And not before.

The kissing, the kissing is good. The boy is adorable. He will be missed while I'm in Vancouver. Although he loves torturing me, we have good times. He's as good a hand holder as can be gotten. He tells me how nice I look, how great I am, that he's mad at me for leaving. These are all good things to hear.