CCM!

Hola Familia!

How is everything there in Utah? Everything is great here, as usual. Of course, there are some times that are so hard! Things can be so frustrating, but like I said the first email, whenever anything gets hard, I just know that something awesome is around the corner, and that's what gets me through! ha I´m not sure if this is something you can gain a testimony of, but I´ve done it, I´ve gained a testimony of smiling. When things are tough and you´re not sure how you´re going to get through something, all we need to do is keep smiling. Everyone kinda gets a kick out of me here, they call me ´´Smiley´´ and things like that. Really though, It´s helped me so much. It kind of symbolizes in my mind that when i´m smiling i´m trusting my Heavenly Father. No matter what is coming up next, just smile! It shows our trust and gets us through even when we feel like all we have is a smile... Really we have our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ backing us up. That´s all we could ever need.

Things have been awesome here. I´ve just been working hard here in the CCM! Studying hard, working on the ESPANOL and what not. I basically feel like a bruddah being surrounded by all these Tongans all the time. OH! That reminds me, we got 4 new missionaries from Provo... 2 Gringos... and 2 more polynesians! Can you beleive that? I couldn´t believe my eyes. It´s kinda like a Tongan gang here in the CCM, it´s pretty funny. They are so laid back! Which is such a good thing, it´s helped me so much, but at the same time, they don´t really care about rules. This has been a huge struggle for me, because I feel like i´m always the bad guy breaking up their party when I go to get my companion to go to class and all. I say that but truly they are awesome to be around, they have so much love and i´m so thankful for that! Dad, How did you deal with disobedient companions?

Mom, I´ve basically given up on wearing my contacts, they´re bugging my eyes again. SO, I´ve just been wearing my glasses and i´m kinda geeky but it´s all good! haha We´ve been eating great, i´m just packing on the pounds! All of these Frijoles(beans) are treating me right! haha I´ve just been keeping up on my allergy medicine and everything is working out fine.

We have SO many latinos here now. My spanish has gotten SO much better just in the last few days. I love hanging out with them so much, They have big happy smiles and are just so dedicated to the work! They are a really good example for us gringos! I´ve made friends with a bunch of them and they are the coolest. These Latinos are serious about their missions. A lot of them have gone to school, and could be making a good amount of money, starting a life for themselves, but they´ve chosen to go on missions! Last round one was a Lawyer, and this round i´ve met a Dentist! ha They are legit professionals, and they´ve given all of that up for now to serve their Heavenly Father. How cool is that?

So, Only two more weeks in the CCM! How exciting! I feel like I need to improve my spanish SO much more, but I am so excited to get out there and start doing some real work! Being an assistant has brought a LOT more responsibilities, so things have been pretty hectic, but It´s been such an awesome experience!

Christopher and Tanner, You two are SUCH studs, I think about you a lot, and i´m SO proud of both of you! You both are so awesome, I can´t even stand it! Start preparing now for your missions, don´t go crazy about it but you know, make sure you´re praying and reading your scriptures, it will make all the difference! I´m always telling everybody here how cool you are! All the latinos that have seen my family picture say that my family is so ´´Hermosa´´ haha I´m not COMPLETELY sure what that means, but from what I got out of it I think beautiful? ha Who knows.

Keep me updated on everything! Try sending things through regular mail, I think it´s going faster than the pouch nowadays...

Oh, we were in the south mission for splits! it was so cool. I forgot to tell you about all the dogs, chickens, cows, and tons of animals everywhere! It was the CRAZIEST thing ever but I loved it! I can´t wait to get out there!

I´m so thankful for your awesome examples to me, I love you all so much! Thanks for everything! Keep being awesome, remember Christ in all that you do, I´ve been trying to do that and it has helped me so much. I love you all so much, Just know i´m doing awesome, and I couldn´t be any happier here in the CCM. I STILL love it! My emails must be soo cheesy but it´s true, I just can´t get enough! Love you all.

I got a lot of emails and i´m so thankful for that! Just so everyone knows i´ll be writing them letters back! So it might be a few days... Or weeks... haha