Preach so hard Catholics wanna stop me...

New letter from Elder Walton a few days early.

Hola!

 

So usually we write our letters on Wednesdays, but since it is transfer week, we are writing them today!

This week went a lot faster than last week, and I have been enjoying every second of it. It gets a little frustrating at times because we teach and practice lessons like four times a day, but we dont know enough spanish yet. I feel like they need to get our spanish better, before we teach. BUT we taught a less active on thursday, and the Gift of Tongues is amazing. I honestly said and preached stuff i do not remember learning and did not know I had it in me. My companions spanish is getting better, which is good because I was doing a lot of the talking in the lessons until now.

 

The spirit is really strong here at the CCM. We watched a devotional from Elder Holland in Provo back earlier this year, and I felt the spirit the entire talk, which is the longest i have felt it continually. How crazy was last Sunday?? The Lord definitely wants the members to pick up their game and start doing their job when it comes to missionary work. I imagined mom crying the whole time when the showed the segments of the missionaries around the world, and it got me even more excited to get out in the field and teach!

 

I have never prayed so much in my life. I pray so hard, and for everything. Trust me, everyone I know back home, Ive prayed for. Especially the fam, my homies on the mish, and my best girls. Good luck to all my bros headed out soon and within the next couple weeks, I promise you it is the hardest thing ever, but the happiness youll feel is exponential. Im so happy all the time it is sort of weird. Sometimes i get super frustrated with the language, but then i remember, oh, at least im not learning Japanese or Bulgarian or Russian or anything besides spanish... no joke. Spanish is probably easy compared to everything else.

 

The senior missionaries serving in the Temple and the CCM are so cute and I know theyre doing the best.. but BLESS THEIR HEARTS they are some of the most boring people i have met. They teach our lessons on Sundays and I pray to not fall asleep, but God decides not to answer those prayers. Jokes.

 

We get pretty insane here and come up with crazy stuff to keep us entertained at night after class so here is a few stories.

We got a trash can and put it at the end of the hall, and then took turns Peyton Manning a LIME we picked off the trees and trying to make a basket.. that was fun until someone dented the wall...

We play volleyball everyday during Deportes and my companion Elder Tingey has lost 2 volleyballs! They go over the 25 foot fence, and then onto roofs of the buildings on the other side. It is not really his fault though because he is just trying to dig some hard spikes and it richochets over the fence. Since weve doubled the amount of vballs theyve lost in the last year, they made us pitch in to buy a new ball... haha.

 

My and Elder Tingey decide the best way to get rid of home sickness is to sing songs that remind me of home. My favorite is Les Miserables.. I bust out my voice all day eery day.

 

This is random but they have this brand of juice here called Naturalisimo, and it is unreal. They stock the fridges with Mandarin, Orange, Mango, and Lime jugo and it is delicious. Since it is latino, there isnt much sugar and it is great! Also, we decided a fact about the latinos. They like their hair, shoes and girlfriends all the same... black, shiny, and greasy.

Bad joke but it is true.. they are the only people that shine their shoes, and do their hair for who knows how long!

I am getting pretty good at ironing shirts too, because I have to do it every morning and fast too because we only have one iron on our floor.

 

LONE PEAK represents! Besides me, I just found out there are 3 Hermanas here at the CCM from LP. One is Eliza McGills sister, and we didnt make the connection until we were on the same vball team a couple days ago.. oops.

 

The roads are crazy here next to the CCM. Cars go 90 swerving in n out of lanes, and we dont know how we havent seen a crash yet. There are crashes though because we hear about 10 sirens drive past the CCM a day... which is kind of scary. Tomorrow we are going on a 40 minute bus ride across town to a market for Pday, and i am praying we make it safe! also random fun fact, but the CCM and temple happen to be in the GC south mission, which is pretty cool because it is so pretty around here.

 

The week went great, and my spanish is getting better everyday. I understand a lot of gospel and class vocabulary and talk, but it is hard to follow some of the latinos conversations throughout the day. The latinos here right now leave tomorrow and i am pretty glad. 1) because we need new latinos to practice our spanish with 2) because they all slept in the hall way last night and joked around until 12 and i couldnt sleep! Yeah, they are not very good at following the mission rules when it comes to bed time.. but that is their choice i guess.

 

Im excited for this week because we get the new transfer of kids, and im hoping we get some cool guys, because a lot of cool guys leave this week and so these newbies got big shoes to fill.

 

My testimony grows bigger everyday, and i cant wait to get these next 4 weeks over and head out into the field! good luck with everything, and have fun on Trek fam! Hope you have a good safe time, and dont go crazy. I dont have much else to say because i kind of forgot what has happened because it is all a blur. Love you all! Good luck to all my bros who leave on the 26th, and welcome to the real world.

 

Love, Elder Walton

 

ciudad guatemala sur misión

They call him Latino Blanco

Elder Walton has been in the CCM (MTC) for exactly one week.  Here's his letter detailing his new life as a missionary.


Hola!
 
You all dont know how excited I am to be writing you finally... Im literally shaking. First off, this latino keyboard doesnt have apostrophes or quotation marks, so just know that I still have good writing.
 
I dont know where to start. The flight here to Guatemala was crazy, there was about 40 of us misionarios who met up from different places around the country at LAX airport and flew down to Guate together. I sat next to some latinos and didnt understand a thing, and I was surprised how much spanish I DIDNT know. BUT, Im getting better. We arrived at 630 am at the CCM (MTC) and the misioneros helped us with our bags and took us to our rooms. They gave a us an hour to unpack, eat desayuno, and get ready for the day. Lets just say that the first day was the longest day of my life, and it honestly felt like a year.
 
The CCM is so fun, I dont know how to describe it. Since this is my first letter, I guess all just get all the basics down.
My compañero is from Mesa, Arizona and his name is Elder Tingey. He went to a year of college at ASU and.... we get along really well. Im so grateful because there are a few misioneros here that I knew I would have trouble getting along with, and Im so grateful for Elder Tingey. We both are here for the same reason, and we are patient with our decisions.
 
Things are really different though.. for ejemplo, SHAVING. Ive never had such a consistently clean shaven face. Its weird. All the Elders who have to shave everyday are me, and the latinos. Most of the norteamericanos can go a day or week or month without shaving and I envy them so much.  The food here is AMAZING. Like no joke, Ive ate everything theyve served me. The CCM has a professional staff and because there is only about 110 missionaries, they can make a lot of food without losing the goodness. BTW, my letter is probably really poorly written... because my englesh is already turning into spanglish.
 
I made it to about Sunday night before getting hit with the diarrhea. You basically praised if you walk out of the baño and yell down the hallway SOLID! Thats all Ill say about my bowel system.
 
The language is really difficult, but Im progressing. I didnt realize how much I had to learn, and how long of a process it could be. By about the 4th day I understand the majority of spanish, and the latinos help us with our vocabulary at desayuno, almuerzo, y cena (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). I love ALL the latinos. They are so funny, and really patient with our intense gringo ways. We joke around with each other a lot, and even though we have a language barrier, we know we are all here for the same reason. Our favorite joke is walking up to the latinos, looking down on them and saying QUIERE MORIR? Which means YOU WANT TO DIE? Also another favorita is TIENE MIEDO? which means YOU SCARED? I dont know if youll find that funny... but all the Elderes love it. There are latinos from all over central and south america. The two latinos in our room are Elder Estevez from Republica Dominicana and Elder Bonilla from Honduras. Elder E is honestly the funniest and craziest latino in the CCM. He walks around singing Demi Lovato and Michael Jackson, but speaks no engles. He randomly pulls out full sentences of perfect engles like PUT YOUR HANDS UP, ITS THE POLICE we asked him where he learned that and he said SWAT 4.
 
Mi distrito (District) is fantastic, probablemente the best one here. We all have a good time together and laugh and enjoy each others company. Its 6 elders and 6 Hermanas. I dont know if they mix genders in Provo, but they do here, and its kind of a distraction. But we are learning and helping each other progress.
 
My other two roomates are from Boise, and Arizona and they are going to El Salvador. They are great and it feels like ive known them, and Elder Tingey my whole life. One time we all got a cup of cold water and and dumped it on Elder E who was singing Demi in the shower. I dont know what he yelled back at us but it was a good time.
 
The schedule here is pretty structured and we all have somewhere to be. They give us an hour for deportes (sports) everyday and we all go play volleyball. Yesterday during our P-day we played a vball game, latinos contra norteamericanos and it was crazy. It got super intense and I think someone yelled QUIERE MORIR every 20 seconds. They also have a small gym and a bball court, but all the rims are bent and no nets... sorta gheto, but welcome to Guate.
 
Even though the language barrier is everywhere, the Spirit doesnt have that barrier. Its easy to feel the Spirit even when you dont understand what the speaker is saying.
 
The temple here was great, but SUPER small. I loved it, and cant wait to go every week.
 
The only way to show your personality and fashion for the Elderes is thru your corbatas (ties) and the other night everyone threw a couple ties around their neck and went down the the second floor and we had EL GRAN CORBATA TRADE. These are some of the funnest times in the CCM, and it reminds me to have fun.
 
The weather here has been a lot better than I anticipated.... RAIN RAIN RAIN is all I heard about before coming, but it only sprinkled once this last week... until yesterday. The streets were flooded, and we barely could walk up the sidewalks to the templo without drowning.
 
Im glad to here all is well back home. I have so much to say, but only 45 minutes to write emails. I love you all so much, and remember the Lords hand is always in our lives. My testimonio has grown so much just in one week, and i know Im here for the right reason. I think everyone is, because everyone is really positive.
Stay close to the evangelio (gospel) and keep praying for me, because its not easy.
Everyone says how hard there mision was, but i never realized HOW HARD IT IS. There is a lot of pressure, but ive never been happier.
I miss you all lots, and love you so much. Hope fathers day was great dad.
 
Btw, when and if you send packages to me, make sure to write ELDER nathan walton, because the customs dont check the packages when they see elder. No need for stickers of Jesus or Mary.
 
Love you all, and cant wait to write you again and tell you more!
 
Love, Elder Walton
 
ciudad guatemala sur misión

Elder Walton arrived in Guatemala

Hola mi familia!

 

The big group of 40 missionaries made it safe to Guatemala

I am just writing this to say I made it safe. I´ll write you on P-day next semana when I have computer time.

Love you all!

 

Elder Walton

Hola mis amigos!

This is Elder Walton, and this is my mission blog.
My sister Courtney is going to keep this blog updated for the next two years with some mission letters and photos, and good stuff like that. If you'd like to see how my mission in Guatemala is doing, feel free to check here every now and then.

I'm so excited to serve The Lord, and am grateful I get to teach and be with the people of Guatemala these next two years.  I have felt the blessings of this gospel in my life, and have a testimony of the church. I can't wait to leave and get to work! I fly out this Tuesday, June 11th to the Guatemala MTC.  I'd love to receive letters and emails from all of you, and my MTC address and missionary email is on the right.

I love you and am going to miss you!
Que le vaya bien.

Elder Nate Walton.