February 2nd, 2016 - First letter from the Guatemala MTC

February 2^nd, 2016

First Letter from the MTC in Guatemala

Hello everyone!!

How're you all doing?? This week was crazy, but super cool. Tuesday we flew all night. I flew out with 1 other elder from Gunnison and then 2 hermanas from Utah and Nevada. In LA we picked up 7 more elders and sisters. In total there were 8 elders and 3 hermanas. There are 2 other elders in my distrito going to my same mission. Also Elder Dipko is my age and graduated in my class at Westlake.

So Tuesday was the longest day ever. We flew all night long and landed in Guatemala at 6:45 a.m. here. We went back to the CCM and ate, met with Presidente Morris and su esposa Hermana Morris then we took naps. After, we had lunch, classes, dinner, more classes then sleep. Usually we have deportes in the morning for an hour and a half then shower, breakfast, personal study, learn, lunch, learn more, dinner, learn more then bed time. That's most days for us. Thursday we went to the distribution center and bought our Libro de Mormons. Our teacher in the morning is Hermano Garcia. He's the coolest guy ever. We had a sub this past week in the night. Thursday we learned how to pray in Spanish and how to teach people how to pray. Friday we memorized the invitation to be baptized and our purpose. We also learned how to bear our testimonios. We also taught our first investigator which was just our teacher. As you can guess, all in Spanish. Saturday we reviewed, taught our next investigator and reviewed the baptismal invitation. Sunday was so cool. We had district class then priesthood then sacrament then we watched videos and talks the rest of the day. The spirit was so strong in our district class. That was in English and also priesthood was too. 4 elders in our district including myself, passed the sacrament which was cool. Yesterday we learned how to teach the Evangelio de Cristo or the doctrine of Christ, in Spanish.

And today! Today was amazing. We woke up at 5:30 and walked to the templo which is like 3 minutes away and did a session at roughly 7:15. It was super cool. After, we came back and ate breakfast then we went on a city tour! The people here drive so crazy and people just walk down the middle of the busy roads. There are also sooo many motorcycles and people love to honk. Also we see and hear sirens and ambulances driving by about every 20 minutes so that´s cool. Also people love fireworks here. On the tour, we went to the market which was cool and also the food market, on a tour of the oldest church here in el Ciudad de Guatemala and then to the plaza to place LDM´s or BOMs in English. Our district was the first one to do that so soon. It was sooo cool! Me and my companion Elder Huber placed both of ours. After, we went to Wendy’s and then back to the CCM to do laundry and write you guys! In my district there is myself and Elder Huber, Elder Westra, Elder Purcell who is the District Leader, Elder Brooks, Elder Beck, Elder Dipko, Elder Cole, Hermana Berry, Hermana Becraft y Hermana Rowley. Our district is the bomb. Also the Latinos are so cool. There was a district that was so cool but I don´t know their name. We are Distrito Isaias. So these Latinos love to laugh and joke and they love my jokes haha. Sadly, they all left today except for all the Nortes, or North Americans, and the Ketchi elders. Ketchi (?) is a weird dialect spoken in Coban, Guatemala. Also the food here is amazing. We have fresh fruit every day with fresh fruit juice and then whatever the entree is which is always good. Also Elder Lloyd is in the branch presidency here and he knew Great- Grandpa Loveless and him and his wife know Margie really well. Also just so you all know, I can´t send pictures while in the CCM and I can only email immediate family so email Sister Killian and let her know. Don´t send any packages!! I won't get them. Also the gift of tongues is real!!

Yo sé que esa iglesia es verdadero y la Expiación de Jesucristo es real. Yo sé que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero y es la palabra de Dios. Yo testificó que Jesucristo es el Salvador del mundo y muerte para nuestros pescados. Yo sé que José Smith es una profeta de Dios y que el Don de Lenguas es real. Yo digo esas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

I love you all!! Have a fantastic week. Also P-day is every Martes.

-Elder Loveless

**He also said that his companion is from Idaho and that he looks like the guy with the motorcycle on the movie Freaky Friday!

**The worst thing about the week:  "Not getting enough sleep."

**Favorite thing about his week: "Everything is so great!  The food, the native elders are so cool, my district is awesome, learning Spanish through the gift of tongues."