Phone Call

Darin called today as he traveled to El Salvador. We talked for a few minutes while he was in the Salt Lake airport waiting for his flight to Dallas, Texas. He didn't have much time then. He called again after he arrived in Dallas. He had over 3 hours there so we had a great conversation.

He's excited to go to El Salvador. He's ready to teach the gospel and ready to learn more as he serves. I asked him if he was nervous and he said he wasn't. I can't wait to hear from him once he's actually arrived.

One funny thing happened while he was talking to us. He was on a pay phone and he had several other elders with him from his district. Suddenly a guy came up and asked "Are you guys all talking to your moms?" They all answered "yes". The guy said, "Smile Big!!" and took a picture of the elders on the phones. He said something about his son serving a mission too. I'm sure it was a cute picture of a row of elders all making phone calls home.

Next week there should be an email from El Salvador!! :-)

Letter dated September 23, 2010

Hola familia!

Como le va? Tengo solo cuatro dias mas en el CCM. Cuando reciban esta carta, pienso que stare en El Salvador. Estoy muy animado. Sera Imponente. Voy a socar muchas fotos. Si puedo. No se. Tambien no se si mi espanol es bueno bastante para El Salvador pero no cuido.

Looking back at my MTC experience, it actually went by fairly quickly. And since the field will be 1000X better than here, that will probably fly by. I feel like I know enough Spanish to get by the first few weeks before I get a real feel for it. I'm trying to finish strong in the MTC but it's hard because I'm so excited to leave. Our teachers have been drilling into our heads to finish strong.

The devotional on Tuesday was by Elder Paul V. Johnson of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. He gave us a ton of scriptures which could be useful. He talked about obedience and how it's required for spiritual learning. He talked about how we need to lead by example with our obedience. The investigators also need obedience to keep their commitments. If we can't get them to keep commitments, they won't keep covenants if they somehow get baptized.

So I started to actually write down what scriptures stand out to me and there are a lot. I'm in 2 Nephi 10 right now. I found 61 verses or groups of verses that stick out right now. So through 32 chapters, I have 61 verses or groups of verses. I bet if I started over again, even more would stick out. That's why the Book of Mormon is so great. There is always something new. I really like 1 Nephi 10:19, 1 Nephi 15:11, 2 Nephi 1:23, 2 Nephi 4:26-35, 2 Nephi 7:5-8, 2 Nephi 9:18 and 2 Nephi 9:52. Just some good ones, but there are a lot of great things in the scriptures.

In other news, I'm getting some shots in a few hours and I pulled some money out to cover it. You might want to go check my bank accounts. Also, I need a Hakeem Nicks jersey waiting for me in 22 months. :-) No, but seriously, I do. I already talked to George about getting me a Spain jersey. I'll probably have an El Salvador jersey soon too. And maybe a Ty Lawson one too. haha. I'm getting way ahead of myself. But can you frame my Brandon Wright jersey? And some of my UNC Championship posters. I always meant to but never did. I love you and miss you.

Love,

Elder Gilreath

Week 8

hola familia

4 MORE DAYS!!!!

Man, i'm so pumped. Oh yeah...flight plans...

I fly from Salt Lake to Dallas, and thats supposed to leave at 8:25 and I'm supposed to arrive in Dallas at 12:05 P.M. Yay time changes. I think we'll probably get to the airport at like 6:30 a.m., so I think I'll have time to call there. Then we wait in Dallas fro like 3 hours and then fly from Dallas to El Salvador leaving at 3:40 p.m. and arriving at 6:05 p.m. So yeah, I should be able call at some point. Our whole district is actually on the same plane from Salt Lake to Dallas which is is really cool. But then the 2 going to Costa Rica leave at like 4:00 or so. But the rest of us who are going to El Salvador are all on the same flight to El Salvador. So it should be really fun.

As I'm pretty sure everyone knows already, I was able to host Robbie yesterday. Honestly, I was praying pretty hard for the opportunity to see him, so let that be a lesson. The Lord answers prayers. Anyways...heres how it went down. I was helping some missionary up front get out, send him off with a host, and I just kinda randomly look up and see this red van. And i'm kinda staring at it, I can see through the passenger window, and I'm like that looks like Robs. then Robbie rolls down the passenger side and is like dude! Haha, so I'm like no way, and their driving, and I'm jogging next to the car like all the way down. More exercise there than at gym time. But yeah followed him all the way down, and so I help him out, Bro Hernandez throws a tiny spanish my way, I answer, hes taking pictures, kinda talking with them. and then off we go. It was pretty fun. So we talked all around the campus as I showed him around. He met some people from BYU I think, so he'll definitely get settled in quickly. It was pretty fun.

I don't have much to say other than I'm leaving. We had a good devotional about obedience and a lot of things we have heard a lot. They are really drilling a lot of the same stuff into us. This week was like culture, safety, what not. Pretty straight forward stuff.

I can't wait to call on Monday and I can't wait to get to El Salvador. I'm so ready. I might forget some Spanish and it might be a rough transition. But i'm so ready. Hopefully my P-days in El Salvador aren't mondays so I can update you next week. Gotta go. Love you all and miss you. Paz.

-Elder Gilreath

Week 7

Hey family,

Hows it going?

This week was pretty uneventful. It was a fast week and I have about 11 days left here. We are supposed to get our flight plans tomorrow, so I can tell you that I'll be taking a thousand different planes to El Salvador next week. Well maybe 4 planes. Anyways, not much happened this week. I stopped playing soccer because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and don't want to get hurt, and stay longer. I took up four square. Who knew it was so fun. The two times I played, I was King when we stopped, so apparently I'm kinda good at it. The conjugations are coming. I have been working at the most commonly used irregulars and its coming. We also started playing a game called El Nativo, where we draw cards with a person on it. If you are the native, you need to talk Spanish all day, but even if you aren't you want to talk as much spanish as possible so people think you are the native. We vote at the end of the day, and get points if people pick you, double points if you really are the native. Winner gets an all expenses paid trip to El Salvador or Costa Rica. Ok not really. We get some sort of surprise though.

Hmm...what else. We had a pretty good devotional. I honestly forgot the speaker. I'm a bad person. But he had a good message about instead of holding the proverbial line, we need to charge, and move the line forward. And to make sure that we make the next two years our finest hour to date. And he showed a video of Elder Holland talking about why missionary work is so hard. Its because salvation isn't supposed to be easy. And that sometimes we want to ask isn't there an easier way? When we do, we should remember that someone much greater and grander than us asked that very question in a garden more or less 2000 years ago. It was never easy for him. Why should it be easy for us? I think that applies to everyday life as well.

Yesterday I got to host some new missionaries, and I think I get to next week as well, so I will keep an eye out for Robs, and try to get him as someone to host. If not, just keep an eye out for him to see how things are going. Hosting is pretty fun. Get out of class, and just walk around helping someone. Pretty fun.

Mi español es progresando pero necesito trabajar mas todavía. Grámatica es mal en cualquier idioma. Especialmente en español. Muchas reglas a seguir y es un poco confundiendo a veces. Pero sé mi español es mas mejor ahora cuando comprado con mi primer semaña en el CCM. No sé si todas las cosas en estos oraciones es correcto pero es el mejor que puedo hacer.

Entonces...I can not get to El Salvador fast enough. I think I need more contacts, and the page protectors sound nice. I got a notebook but its only like an inch and half or so. I might need a bigger one. quizas. problamente. Anyways, one more week. I love you all and miss you all. I got a ton of food from your package yesterday so thanks for that. I think i'm good with foor. Definitely need more polyester ties. Idk. I miss kota. Give him a hug for me. The trick is to not get scratched. Lets see if you can.

Love,

Elder Gilreath

Letter home dated September 9, 2010

Como le va? Es un otro dia de preparacion y estoy muy feliz porque tengo dos dias de preparacion mas en el CCM. Estoy diecinueve dias de El Salvador y esas dias nesecitan ir a rapido. No se si estas palabras y oraciones ser correcto pero estoy intentando.

So anyways...the MTC is still here. We had no idea it was Labor Day on Monday until we didn't get any mail and the bookstore closed early. The whole world could go into a nuclear war and we wouldn't know. Okay, we probably would figure that out, but you get my point.

Guess what? I inherited some old shoe with signatures on it. Before I leave, I get to sign it and pass it on. I will be the 25th person to sign it and pass it on. We also got some weird figurine that grows grass for hair. We call him "little cesped". That grammar book "1001 Pitfalls in Spanish" is pretty useful. I have been reading it and will start over once I finish. I figure it will sink in eventually, right?

Being a ZL isn't too bad. I had a ton of meetings on Sunday, but two were training that I won't do again, or least here. We pick who prays, plays and leads music, does sacrament every Sunday. All we do is stare at their pictures and choose. We agree a good portion of the time who it should be the first time around without discussing it. It's kind of fun.

Like I said in my email, the devotional was by Elder Snow of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventh and he talked about choices. He told us to learn to make the right choices now so we can be examples to our investigators. He said there are tons of people just like us, members who aren't where we are. Made me think a little. Then he talked about how sometimes we don't want to follow the Lord's rules, and ask for permission from our parents to do something contrary to the laws. He said how can they give permission to break a rule that isn't their rule? Afterwards, at our District review, we talked about choices and ones we made in our life. Thanks Mom, thanks Dad, thanks to the whole family for directing me where I am. You all were great examples, who I wanted to follow and make choices to be like you guys. I've been blessed greatly with you guys. Los amo muchos. I miss you guys.

Love,

Elder Gilreath

Week 6

Hola Familia.

¿Cómo esta?

This week was pretty chill at the MTC. My plans to take over haven´t really moved forward yet, but its getting there. Its still in the planning stages. I only have 2 more P days here. That is pretty freakin exciting. Last night, we welcomed in a new district, and they seem like they will be okay, still a little shocked I think. We get to do some more stuff with them tonight. They were more talkative then we were our first day, so I guess thats good. Course we went nuts the second day, so who knows...Did I ever tell you about our first real MDT? It was nuts. Anyways...

The Devotional was by Elder Snow of the 2nd Quorum of the 70, and he talked about choices. It was a really good talk about how we have made certain choices to get where we are, and that there are people just like us that aren´t where we are. Talking about it after, I realized that a lot of my District came from a lot of different places and and have made a lot of different choices. But we are still here, so obviously we have all made some pretty good ones.

Entonces, mi español es mejor pero necisito practicar más. Mi gramática is el peor pero tngo memorizar muchas verbos hacer oraciones. El parte duro es poder conjugar en mi mente y hablar lo que penso. He leido muchas libros en español y entender todas los cosas. (jajajaja es un chiste). Pero entiendo muchas cosas cuando leer. Las escrituras son muy difícil entender porque usarlo extraño palabras. En verdad.

Anyways, yeah, my Spanish is a little better. I still cant conjugate or make a gramatically correct sentence. But people can understand me if they know English and Spanish. Yay! That will be useful in El Salvador. Not really. But apparently knowing English is pretty big down there, so I´ll get to teach my comps some íngles. I´ve noticed my spelling is going downhill fast.

Oh yeah, Devin guess what? I got two shut outs in MTC soccer. Or my team did. Scores of like 6 to 0 and like 4 to 0 with good attackers on the other team. Highlight of my week. Seriously. And the beach sounded fun.

Oh yeah, I get to host a new missionary next week. It will be fun.

Congrats Jenna, no more sitting around drinking sonic.

Congrats Jamie, wish I could be there.

Anyways, I got to go. I love you all and miss you.

-Elder Gilreath

Week 5

Hola mi familia.

This week was a pretty chill week except for the fact that I'm slowly working my way up to control the MTC before I leave. If you have no idea what that means...it means I'm a Zone Leader effective Sunday. I'm still District Leader right now since they havent called anyone else, but receiving training from the Zone Leaders who are leaving. At the right I'm doing this, I'm should be in control in about 2 weeks. Mas o menos. The other interesting thing is that my companion Elder Mandler isn't the other Zone Leader, its Elder Hardman, one of my room mates. So we have switched companions. I already had a "transfer" and I haveen't even left the MTC yet. Elder Hardman is the one from Highland Ranch, Colorado which is really close to Denver. I really like him a lot and I feel like we will work well together. What else besides slowly taking over....hmm...

We had the TRC this week in all Spanish. That was interesting. Luckily the lady we had talked really slow, so I could understand it all, and unfortunately, my comp Elder Mandler (This was Tuesday afternoon, I found out I was a ZL and we were switching companionships Tuesday night) kinda blanked on me for good parts of the lesson, so I did a lot of talking. My Spanish is getting better. I still can't conjugate to save my life, and I'm not always sure about the sentence structure, but I can spit out words that make sense to the people who can speak Spanish and English. So I'm half way there. I think. I'm working on mastering irregular congujations, and getting down when to conjugate, so we'll see how that goes. But for 5 weeks I guess I'm in a pretty good spot. Elder Hardman and I have decided we need to be examples to the District and Zone and try our hardest to only speak Spanish most of the time. We'll see how it goes.

On Tuesday night, our Devotional was by Elder Richard G. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Seventy. Last name is familiar right? Hes a lot like his dad actually. Its was kinda crazy to watch the things he did, because its exactly what his dad did. He has the same sense of humor too. Funny man. I'll probably go more into what he said in my letter, but I think it was in Doctrine and Covenants 50:25 he quoted the last part that says something about chasing darkness away. Thats kind of what we are doing. Chasing darkness away and bringing light into the lifes of the people that we come in contact with.

Other than those few things, its been a really normal week at the MTC. Lots of studying, lots of class, and not enough sleep. We have a ton of free time (ok not free time, we still have to study, but we pick what we study) now because out schedule changed because we got a new teacher, Hermano Frandsen. Hes a real cool guy from Washington. I want to say Seattle, but I'm not sure. He served his mission to Ecuador. When we met him for the first time, Elder Maylett said "Nuevo carne", and Hno. Frandsen said bring it. It was pretty interesting. And it was Elder Hardman's birthday on Monday and he got a card that would sing "Celebrate". Quite possibly the greatest thing ever. We play it now and again for real music and dance for the solid 20-30 seconds it plays. Life saver.

Which brings me to requests. Some weird. Some not. First off, and I'm fairly serious about this. Anyone want to send me a card that sings? Or multiple cards that sing? They do wonders for us. Its weird. And maybe not now, but when I get to El Salvador send sheet protectors for letters I get. I started doing that, but I can buy them here. Not sure about there. Opens from the side preferably. Can I get a birthday list? I can remember most everyone. I dont want to forget anyone. Por favor. And silly putty. Never mind, I dont need silly putty. But can you look into small Preach My Gospels. They look so cool and handy. And easy to carry. Muchas gracías.

Anyways, I´m running out of time. But cool with the hurricane. Sounds weird, but I like them. Bad Marvin. Oh well, life goes on. Stupid tutor. Oh well, life goes on. I´m not there haha

Anyways, I love you guys and miss you. I love the letters and things that I get. Paz.

Love,

Elder Gilreath