January 31, 2011

We had a good quiet week. Yesterday we had 6 investigators that we had taught lessons to at church...part of that 6 was two families. And 3 other people we had never taught but are interested in the church =)

And the best news of the week was we had a baptism. It was a 14 year old named Wilson Larreynaga. His Uncle is the 1st counselor in the Bishopric. This kid was gold. He just started to come to church, and then after the 2nd week, he told us he wanted to get baptized. And he was asking his uncle for a white shirt and tie and scriptures too. The first lesson we show up to teach him, he tells us he has already prayed and knows the Church is true. We were like...Awesome, but we still have to teach you. So we taught him and put him in the water. Awesome, awesome kid. My favorite thing about the mission so far.

And normally I review the month...but I'm too lazy to do that this time...you can do it yourselves. :P

But besides the baptism, we did intercambios or divisions on Tuesday and I went with a ZL...Tuesday was nice, nothing out of the ordinary. But Wednesday we had to go to this little pueble called Sesori or Sesoria...something like that to get a birth certificate for some missionaries in another zone. Because El Sal is dumb, and to get Birth Certificates you need to go to the place they were born...So we went to this little town. We spent from like 8am to 2:30pm getting it. Part of it was in the back of a truck and most of it was on a huge bus. We knocked a door and left a bunch of pamphlets. When missionaries finally get there, they'll have people lining up to be baptized =) Probably not...but whatever.

And now for a funny story. We were contacting the other day, and we find this one lady. So we start talking with her, and we asked her if she had ever talked to missionaries like us before. So she asks us where we were from. We respond the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She thinks for a second, then responds...No, only the Mormons. Haha, me and my comp were like...Yeah, that's us, sometimes they call us Mormons...she was like...oh...ok..Hahah, I just thought that was funny.

Not much else to report. We have changes this week, but I'm pretty sure I'm staying for at least another change. So we'll see what happens.

Love you all,

Elder Gilreath

Obviously Wilson is the smaller one in white. The bigger one is his Uncle. The rest is his family. Love ya. Later

January 24, 2011

As for my Spanish. I wrote that letter in like 5-10 minutes when I was bored...I can get around with my Spanish. Sometimes I still don't really get what they say, but that's when I don't pay attention :) I'm pretty much just in learning-new-words mode most of the time. I know a lot, but obviously not everything. And my spelling is decent.

I miss basketball a lot.

And our next transfer is Feb 2nd...so almost mom. ya casi.

Anyways...on to the week.

First off, we went to San Salvador on Thursday to listen to Elder Jensen. We had to get up before 4 in the morning and be at the Stake Center at 4:30. And then we got on a coaster and went to San Salvador and got there at like 7:20ish. (we left at like 4:45ish.) It was fun because it was the whole mission there in one place. And before we started we got to go through a line and shake Elder Jensen's hand. The one thing that really I remember was he talked about the importance of singing to bring the Spirit to lessons. It was pretty good, and he did it all in Spanish. Sometimes it was a struggle because we had to get up so early and everyone from our zone was really tired...but it was good. Then after it was back on the bus and a couple more hours back to San Miguel. It was a long day. I think that was the best night's sleep I've had here so far, after that.

Something that isn't very big, but man, it makes you so happy, is your investigators progressing, even just a little. Like one investigator. He finally remembered how to finish his prayers. In the name of Jesus Christ. he had been forgetting that. But he finally remembered it. And his smile after he finished was so big. Such a small thing, but I was so happy. And then we gave a B of M to another investigator, just a kid of 14 years old. (His Uncle's a member). When we gave him it...his smile was so big. Again something small...but so awesome.

Haha, so we were helping Hno. Maravilla install a brake light on his car the other day. They told me to get in the driver's seat and hit the brake so we could see if it works. So I got in the seat, and then I was like...which one's the brake again? Haha...but I remembered quickly and everything was all good.

And we heard ¨Baby¨by Justin Bieber in the grocery store, so me and my comp walked around more so we could hear the song. :)

And we found a less active that had been praying for members to come visit him, and got him to come to church with us. We were just walking and he was standing outside of his house, and my comp was like, lets go talk with him. I said, yeah, ok...lets do it. And found out he had been operated on and hadn't been to church in awhile. But he was at church yesterday.

That's about it. Haha..

Love you all,

Elder Gilreath

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.