December 19, 2011

Well...my comp says that he is going to talk with his family at 11 utah time. I think that's like 12 here in El Salvador if I have that time changes figured out. He says he'll talk about an hour...hour and a half the max so I guess around 2:30 in NC, I should be able to call.

As for Skype...idk...if I could do it an hour...maybe But phone calls are fun just cause it's longer and more personal kind of. And if we can skype now we can probably skype mother's day. And I might not care so much because I'll be home in like 2 and a half months like you said. Plus aren't the Keatons and the Mitchells coming over? That's a lot of people for only 30 minutes. Mother's day will just be all like 8 of you...10 with Delainey and Sallie...the fam is kind of big now!!

this is what you get on a mission....2 pancakes with pudding in the middle. yay mission!! (I asked him if he still had a cook. He does, but his companion doesn't eat the food. He's had a harder time transitioning to the food than Darin did so he does a lot of cooking. Darin says that sometimes he joins in...)

I do have some interesting stories but I'll just save them for Sunday. It has to do with the last pday...drunk people and the branch Christmas party None of those are really related...so don't worry--drunk people didn't crash the Christmas party of the branch.

And changes are like the 3rd of january. Thats all I got...talk to y'all sunday!!!

Love,

Elder Gilreath

December 12, 2011

I got some interesting news....we have been approved to use Skype here this year. We can do it on Saturday or Sunday but obviously if we do it Sunday, I have to try and find a member with a computer and web cam and get their number and all that to send to you guys. I will look around this week but...idk...it's a small branch. I wish they had told us earlier.

Anyways...this December is good...it's going by fast.

Seminary...wow...I kind of miss it.

All the Christmas things are happening this week. We have our branch Christmas party this Friday. We are in charge of two games so it should be interesting...

In the branch...things are happening; there is movement. We now have a Ward (Branch) Mission Leader and there is a new president of the Relief Society who is very animated about the work and wants to help us a ton. SO some good changes are happening here.

Well...the phone call, I still don't know and with the Skype news, this makes things interesting. Haha...you will just have to sit on the computer all day next Monday =P But right now I think a 2 pm phone call your time works.

The hunt for the Christmas Nativity is on. Hope I can find one.

Love you

P.S. The scorpion isn't from my house...

December 5, 2011

The creche is already over...weird...it seems so early....

Onto Christmas...our church is at 9 here. Ithink it will only be an hour...I think that's what I heard. But even if it's not, we finish by 12, so I think I should be able to talk at 1 here easily (2pm there). I haven't been able to talk my comp about it but I'll get it sure thing by next Monday hopefully. The stocking works for him...just give me more stuff :P

haha...so...I can't really think of anything else to put on the Christmas list...so I guess that list is done.

Elder Martin is doing good. He is progressing fast. He will be a great missionary here. He obviously has things to improve on but that's normal and honestly there are always things to improve on as missionaries.

The gators are alright. We are having to leave a lot of what we had found...they just don't have the desire to progress. It's just not their time at this time. I hope in the near future it will be.

Haha...fat Kota...put him on a diet...

Anyways...the most exciting thing this week was that we had a Christmas Party with President Glazier. We made cookies and decorated them and played games and ate an awesome lunch and ate brownies and ice cream and read the scriptures and it was just super fun. I felt like I was in the States...we might have to do a game or two that we did with him. It was a fun way to spend a day. He said he had a gift for us but its on its way still so we just have to wait and see. The Glaziers shared the traditions that they normally do with their kids...they did it with their mission kids haha We were the first zone to do it. I liked it....it was a pretty personal experience with President Glazier and Sister Glazier. They have sent us some pics so I'll try to forward those to you.

Anyways...I hope you have a good week...love you

This is from when we went to the temple a few weeks ago...it's 2 zones...not 1

November 28, 2011

Sounds like good weather.

And you can count on me to help with the community Christmas thing next year...I might regret writing these words next year...but oh well...haha.

The investigators are good. They are willing...just with their own special problems. It kind of sucks to meet great people like this and then sometimes we have to leave them...it's the worst.

As for the phone call...apparently church will only be one hour because Sunday is Christmas...that is what I have heard anyways..so we should be able to call really whenever on that day. I'll talk with my comp a little bit and see what he thinks...but also tell me when everyone can get there so that I can talk with them.

Mrs. Schick is excited to see me?....cool.

Let's see...so my comp kicked his first dog in the mish...

And also a funny story...maybe it won't be funny in writing...but oh well...

So my comp was chilling in a hammock....and I'm talking with another missionary (we had gone over to their area for P-day to chill...they have the beach to take pics and stuff...) so anyways...we are just talking and we kind of hear a thud...we are like...what was that...and we look over and somehow the hammock has fallen...it was still tied up and everything it was like the ropes extended or something. And so now the hammock is touching the ground but still swinging a little bit and my comp is still in it...and he just says...sucks....and just keeps laying there...I realize this is one of those had to be there things...but it still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Lets see...we went to Puerto again as mentioned above...so I got some new beach pics...

idk what else...we have had some really good weather here.

and the one pic with the guy in a shirt is one of my best friends from the mish..or was....he went home this week. He finished...he's done....symbolic picture right there...i'm still like a missionary and he's in normal clothes...(it was P-day so he can be like that).
That's about it for this week...miss you all...

November 21, 2011

Changes are this week. But we already know and I'm staying with Elder Martin one more change...basically the month of December is the change. So I'm locked in for Christmas in Zaragoza unless something changes in the next little bit.

So Brian (Barker) is going to SLC? nice for him. He'll love it...and he'll get taken care of. And baptize a lot...SLC is legit.

Anyways...so in the 3 days since I last wrote...not much has happened. We did find some Americans from ATL here. It was an interesting conversation...they are here doing service as a mission thing...they come down for 2 or 3 weeks 4 or 5 times in the year. They definitely had differing views on things and tried to make us question what we know...but that's not happening. I have never been so sure of the truthfulness of the Gospel in my life. And I told them that...I said, ¨I don't really care what you tell me, I know these things are true and I'm not going to change¨. There was one thing I did like from the conversation, (all in English by the way); the guy said that we should all do a self examine of our heart and find out who is leading our life. He was trying to use it in a different way...but it's good advice...every now and then we need to step back and look at ourselves and ask who is running my life right now?

That's about it for this week. I don't have much to say. Love you guys

November 17, 2011

That would be ¿toda vía guapisimo?....and the answer. claro.

Spanish...it was interesting with that starting sentence...that's for sure.

The temple was great. We had an interesting time getting there. The coaster we were on broke down after like 10-15 minutes and we all had to get out...so there was a bunch of people chilling waiting for buses. And we are on the highway still. So we start walking a little so that we can ask for a ride. And we get one super fast...but it's a guy in a super beat-up van. So we get in...and sure enough...that stops working...but he got it going and took us to Santa Tecla. Then we just found a taxi that got us there super fast and cheap...which was good because by that time we were running out of time. Crazy morning.

The sessions in Spanish are good. I understood everything and it was all good. I forgot a few things but not too much.

Things are good here. The investigators are kind of driving me crazy...so everything is normal :P

Changes are next week. In 6 days. I'm pretty sure that I won't be going...but who knows. It's possible. Just not likely.

Anyways...that's all I got...love you all...peace


He had a little more time so he sent this later...

Bueno pues. Tengo un poquito tiempo más para escribir....y ya he contestado todas las cartas...entonces...escribiré una carta en español. Hoy es jueves el 17 de noviembre en el año de 2011. Casi estamos en el mes de diciembre. Llevo como 16 meses más o menos. Me faltan 6 cambios más en mi misión. No sé porque estou escribiendo como una historia ahorita pero....está bien.Hoy fuimos a Little Ceasars para almorzar. Casi comí una pizza entera. Me gustó mucho. En como un mes voy a hablar con ustedes. Por Navidad. va a ser tan divertido. que más....el temple fue divertido. Me pregunto cuando regresaremos. ¿Cómo está el barrio? Todo bien. Espero que sí. Ya me voy a ir. Salud pues


Loosely translated it says:

Well. I have a little more time to write .... and I have answered all the letters ...so I'm writing a letter in Spanish. Today is Thursday 17 November in the year 2011. We are almost in December. I have like 16 months or so. I need 6 more changes in my mission. I do not know why I'm writing this as a story now but .... we went to Little Caesars for lunch. Almost ate a whole pizza. I loved it. In a month I'll talk to you. For Christmas. It will be so fun. The temple was fun. I wonder when we'll return. How is the neighborhood? All right. I hope so. I'm going to go. For health.

November 7, 2011

I won't have P-day on Monday next week. It will be on Thursday...so when I don't write back on Monday...it doesn't mean anything. It's because we are going to the Temple on next Thursday and so President switched that to our P-Day. Fun, huh?

Its still weird to me that Sister O won't be Sister O...where are they gonna live? In NC or somewhere else?

El Sal...it's doing good. We had some hot days last week. It was kind of weird...but so normal too...

We also had a multizone that was pretty good...I liked it a lot, and learned a lot.

For P-day today we actually went to a volcano...but it just had a big old crater that had a bunch of trees...obviously it's not active.

And we also went to a point where we quite literally saw all of San Salvador.

And we could see the temple from way up there.

It was weird because we could actually see like almost all the zones of the mission. Except for like 4...I had honestly forgotten how small El Sal is....but that reminded me. El Sal is a tiny country.

And send me goldfish...por fa.

As for BYU...that interest kind of died now...my interest in transferring to UNC is still alive though. I will not lie about that. But I think I want to stay in NC...I love it too much. I think everything I need is there...so don't worry mom...

hope you all have a good week.

Love Elder Gilreath