April 18, 2011

That's freaking crazy with the tornadoes. That is some sad stories, especially with the one trailer where the tree just came down on them. That's crazy...I miss a lot of big things here. Snow, tornadoes. Maybe I need to come back to put the weather back in its place...haha...jk. But I'm glad you all are safe. Haha...Uncle George and Aunt Kelly are crazy...just sitting there watching tornadoes pass by. Cool experience...but they are nuts...they fit with the fam obviously :)

And El Sal...doing its thing. Transfers are the 27th, and I plan on staying...but like you said...who knows really. The investigators are good. We found a lot of positive ones this week. They have a good shot of progressing and getting baptized.

No Easter package yet.

And Easter will be a big thing...I'm just not sure how big yet. I already saw some people walk by with a statue of Christ walking with his cross singing...I really have no idea what they were doing. Kind of fun to see. And yesterday was a big catholic Sunday. Domingo de Ramos or Rama...the day Christ entered Jerusalem...I have no idea what they do.

As for Anne (Petty) and scripture study....HA she got cheated. You don't have to wake up til 6:30 in the mission. And believe me...you want to sleep longer than that. And really scripture study starts at 8. But it goes good. I'm never falling asleep during it. Some days I'm more diligent than others...but I'm always learning something.

And I'm thinking for my 22nd birthday we are gonna do it big. I'm not sure how....but we are gonna do it big...

This week we did service for the District Pres and moved a ton of wood. It was a lot of fun actually...and good exercise. We moved a ton. We mostly just threw them into a wheel barrow and moved it to his house and stacked it up. I saw the pile later...it was taller than me. I had no idea that we had moved that much wood. It was crazy.

Oh yeah...it rained...Tuesday I think. It poured in the morning and at night. But luckily, it somehow didn't get muddy at all. It just dampened the roads so there wasn't dust at all. It was so awesome haha. I was thinking...freak...it's gonna be super muddy and it's gonna suck. But no. I did almost slip once on some mud...but I still got some balance in me, and didn't fall at all. Haha.

And some nice old grandma gave us hats...haha. Like for snow that she had made...but oh well...haha. Nicest thing.
Well got to go. Love you and miss you

Elder Gilreath

P.S. These are pics from a members party for her 1 year old

April 11, 2011

First off....sorry...I was gonna send pics...but I'm at a bad comp and the USB port doesn't work...so yeah...maybe next week.

Ok...that's cool with the contacts. I got a few left. Maybe a box...or a little less. I can't remember. But thanks mom.

Not gonna lie...I'm glad I wasn't there to do yard work :) haha.

Good luck with seminary.

And wow...that's really cool about Anne Petty. You never told me she was going on a mission. But Brazil...that's real cool. Portugese. Like Spanish in some ways. It's a pretty similar language. If I remember correctly, when I was in the MTC, the missionaries going to Brazil had a real hard time getting visas. To Brazil and Mexico. The hardest places to secure a visa when I was in the MTC.

And as for Mothers Day...idk. I'll think about it more...we could just do it in the afternoon. Or maybe in the morning. I'll have to talk with my comp...but we'll have changes before. The comp I have right now is super chill and will be fine with w/e. Maybe I'll get a comp who tell me when to do it. Haha. Who knows.

Thanks for the $$...

And as for Usulatan...

Last P-Day we went to some place called Shulton Park. That place probably used to be really cool. Not so much now. We went there to play soccer. It was so hot. It's supposed to be like a family park...so it has soccer courts, and play places for the kids...and some place that looks like a dance floor. Like I said...it probably used to be really cool. Not so much now.

And mom, you'll be proud of me. I ate fish. Even though it was staring at me. Like the cook just kind of fried that sucker up and gave it to me...I was like...what. What do I do? But it wasn't bad. I didn't touch near the head...haha. And it didn't have the guts or organs either. The scales made it kind of crunchy...I didn't eat too many of those haha. and man...those bones are kind of sticky. I have no idea what type it was. But it was pretty good.

And a funny story. Saturday night we were walking around and my comp sees two girls. He kind of looks at them, and is like...I think they're daughters of some member (I can't remember the member's name)...let's go talk to them. SO we go to talk to them and he asks them if they are the daughters of said member and they say no. I start laughing cause my comp was so sure about it. So my comp is kind of embarrassed and asks...do you know this member. and once again...no...they had no idea who it was. So I start cracking up and my comp is real embarrassed and is like...oops. I was wrong. And the girls start cracking up because I'm cracking up and even my comp was just like laughing at himself. It's probably one of those you have to be there moments...but it was funny. trust me.

That's about it really. The investigators are doing their thing. Frustrating us to no end. Haha...kidding. Only some are doing that.

Anyways, love you and miss you a ton.

Elder Gilreath

Letter received April 4, 2011

3-7-11

Hola padres miso!

Como le va? Ojala que todo este bien. Domo esta la casa win ningun nixo? Problamente super raro. Y hay esta su leccion de espanol para hoy.

So today I found out that UNC destroyed dook. The crazy thing is that by the time you get this the ACC tournament will be over and the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. I hope I only get good news the next 5-6 weeks. I feel like God is testing me. I might have to break my foot so I can watch next year's team in action (kidding.......slightly)

Sorry I have been really lazy writing letters. But at least there is email. Honestly P-day is my favorite day because I get to read your emails. And mess around. I'm slightly improving in soccer. I normally score every week now. I might actually be decent when I get home. I scored today and flashed the "Black Falcon". No one really understood it but that's ok. It's my new celebration when I score.

What's really weird is I'll have 8 months when you get this. The time has gone by fast. It's just weird. I have had to put down my worldly desires (watch UNC) and focus on spiritual things. It's been hard. And I don't know if I'll ever fully put it away. But I have grown up a lot. But I think I'm still the same really. Just with a little better knowledge of the scriptures. I still hate making my bed. I still hate organizing. Same old me.

I saw Dr. Pepper the other day. It was taunting me so much. Mom, Dad, I'll need a month's supply of Dr. Pepper when I get back. (I feel like Dad got excited reading that.) Maybe you should start saving money now to pay for all the stuff I'm gonna want to eat or drink when I get back. And then pay for the first month of a gym membership to work it off. haha

Well, p-day is almost over. So I'm gonna end this letter. I love you guys and miss you so much. Go Heels!

Love,

Elder Gilreath

April 4, 2011

Darin with tamales--which he usually doesn't like--but he liked these!

Conference was good. I watched mostly in English. But some in Spanish...all good man....all good. And we get the Liahona...but some are in English...not that it really matters. I read it in Spanish too...so that's not really important.

We had some gators at conference, but not as many as we had hoped. And this time our cook just brought us food and we ate in the church. Cause we were at the Church in our area.

Yes...that's our house. Two rooms. Four pictures. each room twice from different angles. And yes, those were coconuts. Weird looking ones I know. And honestly...we don't do much. Like there are a ton of mountains and volcanoes that you can see. But I haven't visited any. And most of the rivers have a bunch of garbage in them. I like going to different areas because I see more of the country. Which is super chill.

Why did Annie go to Ecuador? Just helping out there or what? That's cool though. Apparently Ecuador is amazing. Course I heard that from an Ecuadorian...so of course he'll talk good about his own country. Haha. But no we don't have mosquito nets. We just have fans. If you don't use the fan out here in the oriente, you wake up sweating a ton, and it sucks a lot. So always have your fan on at night. But I have gotten attacked quite a bit by bugs. In my first area, it wasn't bad. In San Miguel yeah. I got a lot of little bites on my legs...but they don't itch...so everything is all good. I think I'm pretty lucky I didn't get some super crazy disease actually now that I think about it.

Anyways....so not a lot happened this week.

On Tuesday, we fixed a roof for some members. It's not as hard as it sounds. Their roofs are metal sheets, then you add tile. And we only did part of it. But we pulled off all the old metal sheets and put on new ones. Then some roof tiles. It was honestly pretty fun. The roofs are super easy to fix here. Haha. Especially with 8 missionaries.

Then one day some crazy drunk guy was talking to me in English. He insulted me and said I couldn't speak English because I wasn't from England, but he can because he lived in L.A. for 33 years. When you figure out how that works, let me know. I'm still trying to figure out how that works. But it was sad...when I was talking to him English...I kept mixing my Spanish and English together...haha. It was bad. Super Spanglish going on.

And then Saturday night...so we are sitting, waiting for the priesthood session to start, and the District President comes in at like 6 and is like...uhh...I got an announcement. We can't watch the priesthood session here. Apparently he forgot to do something, so we couldn't get the signal. So we were like...ok, what are gonna do...and then the District Pres was like...Who wants to go to Jucuapa? Us missionaries were like...uh...yeah...we do. How many are you? 10. Alright, Lets go. So 8 of us piled into the back of his truck, and 2 smart ones actually in the truck. And off we went. In the back of his truck, going down the highways of Usulatan to Jucuapa. Like a good 30-40 minutes away. Going like 50-60 kph. I have no idea what that is in miles...but those were the speed limit signs I saw. Funnest thing ever. Mom might want to kill me. But man, it was fun. Yes, I was in the bed of the truck. In my defense, I was one of the last ones to hop in...so the inside was already taken. So we got there at like 6 45 or something like that. Watched conference. And came back. Haha...super fun.

(Elder Hardman--he was in the MTC with Darin)

Anyways...that was my week. Hope you all have a good week. Love you guys, and miss you.

Elder Gilreath