Monday, October 22, 2012

Oct. 22

Dear Mom,
I did get your package. I got it just barely, right before I read your email, and opened it up, and had a couple of Elders swarm over to see what it was so I shared with them. But its good that inside it has been disguised in a Bible box, so that everyone else thought that I just got a book, and isn´t asking about what it is more...
I didn´t have to pay anything as far as I know. It is possible that when it got to the mission office, they had to pay and just took it out of my account, which is fine, but I´m not exactly sure right now. I think that I can get most of the things that I want here, if there is ever any time to go shopping-Pdays are already pretty busy... But I don´t want to waste a lot of your money in sending big packages. A couple of things that I can´t get down here that I would like is the Thorlos socks, which I know are expensive, but honestly they are the only socks that I will wear, even if I have to repeat days with them now. Other socks don´t feel good with sunday shoes, and start to hurt my feet if I wear them. Anyways, yes I am now a huge fan of the Thorlos socks now, and I would like a few more pairs of them, so that the ones that I have right now don´t get too stinky from wearing them all the time. That also might be something to pass on to like James and some of the other people who you know are going on missions. They are worth the extra money to save your feet from getting all beat up from walking all day every day in uncomfortable shoes. The socks just add protection and comfort to any of the uncomfortable shoes that you wear. Anyways, so that was my big long story about how much I love my socks... haha. Also, I might want my old Camelbak from home that I had. I haven´t seen any good backpacks here, and I think that I will need a good one for when I go to the southern areas of my mission. But I´m not dying for either one of those things, just thoughts of things that I might want. I´ll try to think of more, and maybe sometime I could just get a bigger package of all the stuff that I want at one time to save some money on sending packages. Umm, and also, I was wondering if you could try to find a talk that Elder Bednar gave in the MTC I think it was the Christmas of 2009 or 2010. It is called ¨The Character of Christ¨. I watched it when I was in the MTC, and I really liked it, so I was wondering if I could get an attachment of the article in an email or something of it. I tried to find it on LDS.org in the MTC, but I couldn´t, so I don´t really know exactly where you could find it, or if there is even access to the general public to talks given in the MTC or anything like that. Another thing that I wouldn´t mind that could be sent through email is piano music. Sometimes we have free time when we can practice, but I want to learn other stuff than just simple hymns. I was wondering if there was some sheet music that you could like scan onto the computer and email to me to print off and practice. One in particular that I was wondering if you could send to me is ¨Winter Wind¨. I don´t know why, but I wanted to learn that one recently... Anyways, that´s all that I can think of right now that I can´t get down here.
So anyways, life is good here. Just continuing to learn and teaching and talking to people and normal missionary stuff. My companion and I get along pretty well, its working out pretty well to be with him, and I am learning a lot from being with him. We normally walk everywhere. Our area is pretty small, but it is on a hill, so its getting me in shape a little bit more. I´m trying to exercise more, but sometimes I just dont have time or motivation in the mornings. We occassionally, if we are going somewhere else in the city out of our area, like for district meetings, zone conferences, pday, shopping, if we need to go to the mission office, etc., we will use a taxi or a bus.
It´s crazy to think that its already Halloweentime. They won´t celebrate Halloween here, I was talking to this kid who was probably about 6 years old, who was trying to talk to me in English, who was telling me about how Barack Obama celebrates the day of the witches (Halloween) and that Halloween is the birthday of the devil. It was interesting, and confusing to try to comprehend his English, haha. He then went on to ask me about the soil of the US, and was talking to me about how the soils were different between Honduras and the US, and was talking about the soil levels in Miami Florida, specifically, and how it changed the ways that the trees grow in the US. It was super random that he was telling me about it, and went on about it for a good 5 to 10 minutes while we were in his parents car, who they didn´t understand what he was saying, they dont speak English. But after talking to that kid, I began to wonder if in the English classes they were teaching the kids geology classes in English, it was very strange, so that was interesting. I think that most of the nicer schools try to teach English here, but not too many people learn English here. A lot of the people that I talk to, especially all of the teenagers talk about how they want to save up money, learn English, and move to the US. Like, a lot of the people. I think that it´s crazy. We have been talking to some teenagers who we are teaching about this, and have been teaching them a little bit of English, along with the missionary lessons. They came with us to play soccer today too. I just think that its crazy how many people want to leave here.
lot of the other things here are similar or the same. I was telling arissa today in an email about how a lot of the labels on the foods at the store are in English, and that the music they play in the stores are all in English, and songs that I know, and were popular in the US. I think that it will be fun to go to the South part of the mission, and not have any of that, and be in like mud huts and some of the other stuff that the missionaries talk about living in in their other areas. But I´m sure that that time will come.
Anyways, I have to go, but I hope that everything is good there in Utah!
Love,
Elder Ward

Dear Arissa,
I wish that I could have gone to Moab with all of you too, that would have been fun! I enjoy Goblin Valley especially and all of the other hikes and stuff that is there. Utah is a cool place, very different from a lot of places in the world, you are lucky to be in such a cool state. I´m sorry that school is difficult and that you are so busy with your schoolwork... But if you are learning a lot then that is good too. The weather here is very nice. I am in the city part of my mission, so the temperature is pretty nice, most of the time. We have 2 seasons: dry and raining. Right now it is in the raining season, so we get wet every once in awhile. It´s a little bit hot right now, but not too bad. It will be weird not having any winter though... The stores are good. They are very similar to the United States. There are a lot of products that are imports from the US, and so a lot of the stuff in the stores are in English. Some is labeled in both English and Spanish, and some is just Spanish, but I didn´t really expect to see stuff like Cap'n Crunch and name brand stuff like that here, just like from the states. Also a lot of the music here is the same music that you could listen to back in the US. Especially in the stores, they will play american pop music, which surprised me at first. They don´t mind that they don't understand the lyrics, they just like the music. Anyways, everything is good here.
I hope that all is good at home!
Love,
Elder Ward