SU PELO!

Hola Familia!

How is everything going? I can´t even say how excited I am to read your emails! You all are so awesome, thank you so much for your examples to me! I´m not even kidding, you all are great.

Mom, I´m so glad you didn´t worry, I was a little worried that you might be a little on edge, but don´t worry I was praying for you.. haha Dad, what are you worrying about? Guatemalan girls, Bolos, emailing a day late... I´m in the Lords hands and VERY VERY rarely feel scared. If I feel a little weird about a situation or something like that, we just go somewhere else or do something else for the most part. Thank you for your advice though, you always tell me to beware of something the week after i´ve experienced it! haha There was a girl yelling at me¨KISS!¨ A KISS FOR ME!¨ or something like that, she was trying to speak english and sometimes I can understand Spanish better than English... haha Don´t worry I just kept walking, I might have blushed a little but I just kept walking.

Alright, sorry about the email last week, we tried a different Internet place, and it was BAD! I had to write my email to the President twice, because the computers were so messed up. I hope you got a little bit out of that email, I´ll be sure to do a little better.

When I said I was a little homesick in Antigua, I meant just a little nostalgic. haha Really, I haven´t had too much of a problem with homesickness, I´ve realized that as long as we´re working with everything we have, we feel so much better in so many different points of view. I´m happier, my body feels better, I´m tired (The good tired, kind of like how you feel when you have just worked out -- Ask Christopher when he gets back from the gym, i´m sure he knows EXACTLY what i´m talking about! haha), and everything is just working out great. This has been a little bit hard with my companion, he says he doesn´t have a problem with contacting, but he doesn´t like to do it at all, and when we do it he gets VERY angry... Well, my new goal for trying to contact just about every family we see this change is REALLY going to be a struggle, pray for me in this area!

My companion is an AWESOME person. Sometimes he gets stressed and angry (he´s a district leader) and at times, that gets really tough! Really though, it´s taught me so much about patience, and swallowing my pride when he criticizes the way I hold the tray when we´re receiving the sacrament, and just little things like that. I´ve learned a LOT about pride these past few weeks, and I´m so thankful to have him teaching me these things. He´s taught me a lot, and he´s a great companion!

If you haven´t already noticed, I get to stay in El Carmen another change! Wow, I´m so happy to be here! Seriously, I´m so blessed! I love El Carmen so much, it´s probably one of the most beautiful places. I´m here in an internet place with E Munoz, Douglas, and Murphy. We had changes today, and we got to go because these elders are staying with us and we get to do divisions with them today! Elder Douglas is the same E Douglas from the MTC in Provo, we´re TIGHT and NUEVOS so this is going to be awesome.

Christopher, when I hear about you having both Sister Wise and Brother Perkins, I can´t be any happier. Those two teachers taught me more than I could have ever learned from anyone else. Seriously, pay attention! It´s such a blessing out here in the field, I am remembering things I learned in sunday school and priesthood I learned SO long ago... It helps a MILLION. The spirit those two have is amazing, learn from it and use it! THE ULTIMATE WEAPON! haha You are such a stud! Thank you for your example, I was squirming when I read that article Mom sent I was SO excited!

Tanner! You have the priesthood! WOW. I can´t believe it! I feel so old. Seriously though, you are so amazing, ALWAYS remember the priesthood you hold, and ALWAYS live up to that priesthood! It is real, real power that no one else from any other church has! It is permission from our Heavenly Father to act in his name to work MIRACLES. Never forget the priesthood that you hold, and just follow Dad´s example... Talk about an awesome example of a worthy priesthood holder. Good Luck with basketball! Keep tearing it up and working hard. One thing I wish I had known when I was your age was that I really can do things. You can do things! If there is something you want to do, don´t think ahh i´m not good enough... because you are! Don´t be like me, believe in yourself.

The baptism of Oscar was awesome, such a great experience. Seriously, I felt SO happy when I found out I was going to be baptizing him. I loved it. He has 2 older siblings who have been baptized, one that goes to another church, and a few younger siblings. They live with their Mom, but their Dad lives in Nicaragua. It´s an interesting situation, but the church definitely has a big impact in their lives.

K, so about the Lion, don´t worry it wasn´t alive! I was so close to it that if it had been alive, it would have been the ONLY one alive... haha It was HUGE. The guy has something to do with a zoo or a museum or something.

So... Spanish... haha I´ve had some interesting experiences the past few days, and you might want to edit this part of the email out, because it gets a little inappropriate, leave it for those who you think will get a kick out of it, take it out for those who might be offended. I was trying to talk to a little kid, who had gotten his hair cut! I was with him and his family, and I was saying ´´SU PELO!´´ which is supposed to mean, ´´your hair!´´ Well, somehow I was saying it wrong, and I was saying over and over again ´´your fart! your fart!´´ OOPS! ha I´m trying not to offend the members, but their faces were PRETTY funny.

I gave another talk in sacrament, and things are all just looking great in the ward.

I love this work, there is NOTHING like it ANYWHERE. A missionary from quetzaltenango tried to run away and go home early, and ended up in our house with the Assistants, it was a weird situation, but when I saw him my heart was just ACHING. I can´t imagine why someone would try to give up this awesome opportunity. Don´t get me wrong, this has been one of the hardest things ever, but I wouldn´t trade this opportunity for ANYTHING.

Heavenly Father knows us and loves us, and we need to do whatever it takes not to be prideful. Dad, thanks for not ever buying us a mastercraft... ( ok I have to type that one fast and move on so I don´t go back and erase it! haha) I really can see where your humbleness has come to play in your life, and how PRIDEFUL I am. I just want to say thanks for everything.

I´m doing great, I don´t need a sweatshirt or anything, life is good! Love you all so much and i´ll look forward to hearing from you next week!

See ya soon,

ELder Melville