January 17, 2011

We had a multizone this week and I finally got that last package that you sent. The caramel corn was so good...I think you need to send more...NOW!! Haha...but seriously, it was/is awesome. E. Hardman, my comp in the MTC, gave me a Hershey thing at the multizone and it was honestly one of the greatest things ever!

And I got the letter with all the cards that people wrote to me at the wedding. That was pretty fun to see. Tell the Khaters that I'm learning Spanish, not Arabic.

Last P-day we were playing volleyball outside at the church. And one time I hit it over the fence...like the highest part too...It was pretty funny. Here I thought I was getting weaker and losing muscle...but that might have been my hardest hit ever without trying.

And now, an uplifting story. I haven't really told many of here. I have them. I just don't tell them. And I was reminded of it yesterday at church. This happened the first couple weeks I was in Occidental, so it was back in Nov., I think. Anyways, we were doing divisions with the members and E. Cordero tells me I'm going to visit Hno. Gil (like Hill in English). I'm like...Who is that? He responds...less active, he's having some health trouble. So as we are walking to his house, I'm thinking what can I share with him, and suddenly I know what to do. So we get there, and we start talking with him, and we invite him to church, and he's like idk...i'm having these problems, etc. So then I share the message. I went to D and C 122 where Joseph Smith is in jail, and the Lord says whatever happens, it's for your benefit. And I was like yeah, it's a trial what you're going through, but it's for your benefit. Then I read the verse that says that the Lord has descended below all, are you better than him? And told him that the Lord knows of his pain and that if he truly wants it, he needs to pray for the strength to attend church. He was like...yeah, that makes sense, but he still wasn't sure about going. So we finish and leave. Sunday rolls around, and to my surprise, here come Hno. Gil...and he lives a good distance from the church. And he hasn't missed a Sunday since then. Yesterday in church we talked about sacrifice. He answered how he sacrifices by coming to church, and how he is always praying to receive strength so that he can make the journey to church. I was soooooooo happy after that.

So that's my story. Fun huh?

This week the whole mission is going to San Salvador to hear Elder Jensen of the 70 talk. Should be interesting. We´ll be getting up real early.

Love you guys...and miss you

Elder Gilreath

just a picture of me and my homies...and the medal thing I got at Christmas....

January 10, 2011

To answer your other question Hno. is abbreviated form of hermano or brother.

Anyways...on to the week...

Nothing really to report. I got capacitated by President Perez with other relatively new people Wed and Thurs. It was actually really fun because 5/6th of our MTC district that came to El Sal was there. Basically we just learned how to teach better and in different situations. What to do here, how to explain this, etc. Stuff like that. It was pretty fun and I thought I did alright. I definitely was doing better than I thought I would for most of it.

Probably the most interesting thing was that we accidentally locked ourselves out of our house the other day in the morning. Luckily the owner lives across the street, but he didn't get back til 11 Am...so we spent a couple hours with members because we weren't going out to teach when we left. We were going to breakfast...haha.

And something funny I have realized is that bichos means kids here. And it also means bugs. Like mosquitos. Or other little annoying bugs. I thought the Salvadoreans were the smartest people ever after I realized that. And it was even funnier when I saw Raid for bichos. Haha.

And we had a little mouse in our house the other day. It was hilarious watching my comp chase it, yelling at it in Spanish...and he actually caught it with a plastic bag. He's magic.

Lets see...we got a Multizone this week...and hopefully a baptism...keep your fingers crossed and we´ll see.

Love you guys and miss you,

Elder Gilreath

January 3, 2011

Its only 19 months...only 19...we are in the teens. haha

How did Michael get an internship with Disney World? I have been thinking about trying to get one there when I get back. Maybe he can help me.

And Jesse is back? crazy.

As for the list...rice krispy treats...I´ll add to that...but man, I want some right now. maybe more cookies...idk. haha.

Anyways...on to the week. This week was fast. I do not know why. But it was. First off was proably New Years. They go nuts with fireworks. I actually fell asleep but woke up a minute or 2 before 12. How do I know that? Because a minute or two later was the light show. I didn't get out of bed, but I could hear it and see the lights through the window. It lasted probably a good 15 to 20 minutes. And the next day, there was nobody in the streets. There were more police than people walking around. It was so weird. Because streets that normally had a ton of people had nobody. They were all recovering. Haha.

And as a zone we got together at the Stake Center and played games in the morning. Nothing big, but man, it was fun. Like a mini P-day.

AND ITS SO HOT HERE!!! I was dying yesterday. Luckily I didn't. But man, I could use some cold.

So Hno. Maravilla is building a house. (I can't remember if I told you this.) And we are helping him with it. So we were digging where some walls will go. It has obviously been awhile since I held a pick, cause I got some blisters real fast. It sucked for a day or two. But everything is all good now.

That was my exciting week. The holidays pretty much made it hard to do anything.

Love you guys and miss you.

Elder Gilreath

December 27, 2010

Still mad about the snow.

Todo suave con todo las cosas. We had some gators at church, some are progressing, we tracked a few references, etc. You know, the normal stuff. I'm cautiously optimistic for January and what we can do.

And yeah, I figured out that I'll have 6 months at the end of this change. It's crazy. And I think we get to visit the temple in January too. So that should be fun if it happens.

I have not met an Elder Brooks yet. Doesn't mean he isn't in the East. But who knows.

And yeah, I'm fine with whatever. Delainey can have a bed, I obviously don't need it. And I think right now the plan is at least the first semester at home. But obviously that's 19 months away before I need to use it, so things might change.

And that's cool they got to go to an NBA game. Haha, I can see Clark being a huge Boston fan because that's where he served. And yes, Dean likes the Magic because of Dwight Howard. I bet hes happy that Turkoglu is back. Now I want to go to an NBA game. I bet it was really fun.

Lets see...its the end of the month...I should do a month in review...but I don't have anything to remind me what happened. And I just talked with you. So I'll give a brief bulleted overview.

• Baptisms.
• The Christmas Devotional of the First presidency
• Macheteing grass
• The terrible paint job that the hermana was so proud of.
• The Stake Christmas Devotional
• Changes (no effect on me or my comp)
• Familia Alfaro- officially dry members. I think they´ll go in the water in Jan.
• Isabel-Shes awesome, her husband not so much
• Esthela - Shes nice, in medical school, so not a lot of time
• Yanira - Nice lady, but struggling with gaining a testimony
• Jasmine - Been away visiting family, but she is positive.
• The Mission Christmas Activity- The water balloon fight was the best part
• The other week we did a thing with the 5 parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring). I got to participate blindfolded. Waiting in line to begin, Elder Hunter and I played blindman rock, paper, scissors. Then the activity was a trust fall (faith), obstacles after spinning me around (path of repentance), water getting dumped on me (baptism) they kind of skipped H.G. and then endure to the end we ¨went¨ to the temple. It was actually really fun.
• TALKING WITH YOU GUYS ON CHRISTMAS!!!! (Fastest 2 hrs ever)

That's about it on this end. Hope you all are doing well. I miss you a ton. And love you guys a lot too. Thanks for all your support. Happy New Years. Its almost 2011. Crazy.

Love you guys,

Elder Gilreath

Darin as Santa

Ho ho ho...check out the leg. I jacked that suit up sitting down. I guess that's why tissue paper isn't good for Santa suits.

December 20, 2010

I can't believe its snowing so much there. WHHHHYYYYYY???????? I love the snow. And the one year I'm not there, it's snowing a ton, and in December too. All I have is hot weather that drains you real fast and you have to drink a ton of water.

Sounds like Delainey was a crack up. As always.

And don't worry about me getting married fast after I get home. I'm not planning on it for a couple years after. But who knows, you never know what's going to happen.

Anyways...a quiet fast week here in San Miguel. We had a Christmas thing with 4 other zones on Thursday. That was real fun because I got to see some Elders from Soya and other Elders from the MTC. We put on skits (ours was army of Helaman) and had a lunch with mashed potatoes, turkey, rolls, some veggies and some store bought brownies with juice. And Pres gave us some bags of stuff. And some medal. It's actually pretty slick. Has the temple on one side and basically the mission logo of Jesus being baptized on the other. Best part. I got 3 of the packages that you sent. And while I didn't meet Elder Harvey, I did see a package addressed to him. Oh yeah, we played a bunch of games too. Zone against zone. And I think Soya started a water balloon fight. I can't remember which Zone.

Anyways, so that night was a ward missionary activity. And I got to be Santa because as they put it ¨Santa is a gringo¨. But they didn't have a suit. They bought tissue paper to make the suit. And they put some stocking on my feet. And stuffed balloons up my shirt. Needless to say, I was a ridiculous looking Santa. The young women in the ward who made it had a real fun time with it. And the guys chilling in there (my comp and other young men) had a good laugh too. I remember thinking that last year, I would have never done something like this. Anyways, they took me to the rocking chair and I kind of tore the suit sitting down. By the end of the night, it had a ton of holes in it in different spots. But the kids were playing games, and would randomly come by and say Hi Santa and shake my hand. Then run off..and come back and do it again. It was pretty cute actually.

And then we had a baptism on Saturday. I'm not going to lie, it's got an interesting story. For goofs of missionaries or ward members, this person was a member without a record. It was lost. Nothing in the church system. Nothing at our house. Only a picture. But she couldn't remember who baptized her or the date or any of that. So we asked her to be baptized again. And she had no problem with it. So she was baptized by the Patriarch, and confirmed by the bishop and has records now. And I was thinking how easily she could have taken offense to something like that, and been angry with us, and the church and just left. But there was none that I saw. Just a girl who wanted to get baptized again because she knew it was right. It was actually a pretty cool experience, and a great lesson to learn.

And we are looking good for a baptism or two this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed.

Love you guys and miss you a ton.

Elder Gilreath

P.S. I have met Elder Otten....already, and we have talked.

P.S.S Haha, I'll still write the Hemmings. Quite possibly my favorite family in the ward. Don't worry about it mom, they don't do a whole lot in basketball even with talent like Kevin Durant...only the 2nd round of the NCAA...so just let them enjoy a good victory. They don't do it a lot.

December 13, 2010

First off...I'm glad Dean actually came to Clark´s talk. I think I thought about that every day this week. And with pouch...who knows when I will get it. Tell that to Dean so when he doesn't get a response real fast, he isn't like ok I see how it is. Pinche not writing me. (pinche...a fun word...jerk more or less)

And I love the Delainey stories. She sounds so big. And holy smokes, Jamie is almost married. And oh yeah, what are the plans for Christmas...like when is everyone getting together?

Anyways...this week...

Tuesday we did some service cutting grass. And i´m not really sure why we were cutting grass...but we were. And you know with?....Machetes. Yup machetes. I will never ever complain about mowing the lawn ever again. And i´m buying a machete (I was actually already planning on that) and I swear i will just have a patch of grass that i don't mow, and when my kids misbehave, they have to machete the grass. Or i´ll just take them to some field and randomly machete grass...i´m not sure yet. And this punishment wont work for like forever anyways.

Then the next day we painted a members house. And man, they have some really crappy paint here. And they didn't buy enough for two coats of paint. So some spots looked like we didn't paint at all. But they seemed to like it...so...yeah...I kind of want paint my room when I get back now...but that will probably pass...

And Saturday we had a Stake Christmas devotional. That was fun. First there was a primary one where kids did skits. And it was hilarious because like our primary did the good Samaritan, and the adults would clap for whatever little thing. So when the kid just walked by looking at the guy, they started clapping. They are really good at building self-esteem I guess. Then after was the more formal one. But after that, they had like Christmas songs which was kind of fun. I got some videos from that.

And we had divisions and I stayed in my area. That's not a big deal. The big deal is that I didn't get us lost!!! I´m learning!! Haha, that was honestly the only big thing with divisions.

That's about it for this week. We have a baptism this week so hopefully it doesn't fall through...keep the faith...haha.

Love you guys and miss you

Elder Gilreath