HOLA!                                                                                                   August 27, 2013

 Thanks for all the emails and letters this week.  I loved hearing from everyone.

First, the food is still SO amazing! Everytime I eat, I   think I need to write home about this one.  I dont know how they do it, but the food is SO GOOD! Yesterday was the main chef´s birthday so I made him an Octopus balloon, and my district gave it to him, he loved it! 

(Mom i need more octopus heads!)

So we are still having class at the capilla (church building), and last week there were a ton of families for some reason!  They come from all over, so when they come here it usually takes a few days. There is a temple house for them to stay at, and people to watch their children. The capilla is practically on temple grounds, so during class there were a TON of niños (children) outside!  We all went out and and starrted playing with them, they were so cute! One little girl gave me a sticker, there were a bunch of kids playing ball with the elders, then there was this super cute one in the chapel who was talking to Elder Jorgensen (abby, if youre reading this, jorgensen always makes me think of you cause he looks like Matt Saracen!)  I went over to them and asked the boy is he plays futbol, he said he did (cause all central and south americans do) then I realized before I had asked him that, elder J was like "lo siento.." (im sorry), but I was too focused on my spanish that I wasnt listening to their conversation. Then Jorgensen told me the little boy had just told him that his older brother was in prison, then I came in and asked him about soccer!  haha.. oops. It was really funny afterwards.  I love the kids!  They are all so sweet, and they LOVE the missionaries.  Its almost celeb status, do you think that's good enough for Nick Jonas? sorry, I had to. 

Today was my last time going to this temple! :( it was so sad, I walked around and tried to memorize everything about it, I love it so much.

The Mericado was so crazy!  We took a bus ride through the city to get to a Relief Map, which was HUGE!  A man went through and surveyed all of guatemala with just a donkey and his tools.  I can't remember how long ago, but a really long time ago, and it was 99.9% accurate!  The presidente took us and told us all about it, then gave theory of where the BOM took place.  Its cool hearing about it and seeing where it could have been. Then we went to the mericado (the market), there were so many small shops!  I bought shoes, a Guatemalan dress, and two headbands.  All of the hermanas bought a dress, hopefully I can send a pic in 2 weeks!  Everything was super cheap there, but you feel like you're spending a ton of money cause everything is 8x as much in ketzalas! 

So when I was looking for a dress, they were all just whatever, then I found this SUPER cute one! It was mint green and striped and the style was super cute!  I tried it on and the slit was too high, so I told the lady I was going to keep shopping and probably come back for that dress, (I would just sew up the slits).   I go around and there is nothing that comes close, by this time we have 10 minutes to be back at the bus, so we (my comp and 2 elders) were running through the mericado trying to find that lady with my dress, and just as we get to it, Isee Hermana Outsen, walking around the corner leaving with my dress!!  I was so sad!  The lady didn't care because she got it sold..   I was so bummed, then as we were walking out, I see down one way a dress, so I ran down to buy it.  It was half as much money, (still only $10 US dollars) and I loved the color!  It was funny afterward talking to Outsen about it..  Not funny seeing her wear it the next day.

Our 2 districts are leaving in a week, and its a tradition for us all to sing at church our last sunday, so we´re singing the EFY medley, it sounds so pretty. We were practicing yestrday and someone had the idea to do a flash mob of it in the cafteteria (oh the things you do on a mission.. flash mob to church songs) we think its super funny though, if it happens, it will be next monday! 

So we still play bumb at deportes, but us girls only stay in because the elders are being nice, so all deportes last night, one elder helped me and some other hermanas with our shots and layups for about 45 minutes, then we played bumb like a boss!  We made a bunch of shots and thought we were so cool, but the elders are still way better.  But now we dont look like girls who cant shoot a ball!

I crave milkyways daily.  It's an issue.  On sunday nights though we get chocolate, and last sunday I got a twix!  Sundays are seriously the best.  I just cry all day, especially during devotionals and movies.  All I know is Christ is our Savior, and all he wants is our happiness, which is why he atoned for our sins, so we can repent and be happy.  Not so we repent because we´re bad people. We´re not bad people, but sometimes we do things we can improve on, and thats' when we can repent.

Running out of time!  I dont know if I get to write next week, because this time next week i'll be in RETALHULEU!   Am I excited, YES!  But then I take a warm shower here, and eat a steak sandwich then think.. I could stay here a while longer.

Love you all!

Hermana Terry

PS, Send all letters to the mission home now!

Week 4 CCM Guatemala

Hola!! What a week. I cant believe I only have 2 more weeks at the CCM, and I've already been out a MONTH!  (only 17 more to go mom and dad, you can do it).  So my stomach has been very bipolar since I arrived at the CCM. One minute it's best friends with the cooks, the next, it's best friends with el baño.  Hopefully it will make up its mind soon and only be friends with the cooks. Speaking of which, THE FOOD IS SO GOOD!  

Aubrey, Tayten, Emelia, Bradie, Abby, and Cyndi Crawford, WRITE ME! 

I need updates pronto.

(I asked Jaclyn a question about the CCM and the guards).  She said...

  "I am locked up. There are literally people with guns lining our way to the capilla".

This week was really fun.  In class we were learning something about spanish, and everyone had to draw a picture from a Bible or Book of Mormon story, then we split into 2 groups and each acted out a few of the pictures in spanish. It was so funny.  I love my district. The other district who came here with us, is also in the capilla for class, so we opened the wall and acted out Noah´s ark for them.  It was so funny.. oh the things you find joy in on the mission.  Like on Sunday, we watched Legacy and The Testaments, and all were excited about the small love story.  We were like.. are we allowed to be watching this? haha. btw I LOVE THE TESTAMENT VIDEO!! so amazing. Family, watch it for FHE por favor, especially since it was filmed in Guate and im sure thats where it takes place.  

So fun watching it here.

At lunch one day, it got out that I do hair.  Ive done 6 haircuts this week and 1 blowout.. 

Don't worry Jen, Prodo is Way better than me.

 I love cutting hair!  I always get a hispana that knows english to traslate what the girl wants her hair to look like, because I dont want to 

 traslate what the girl wants her hair to look like, because I dont want to guess their spanish on something like a haircut!

When we walk to the temple or the capilla we always see little kids going up to cars asking for money.  Its so sad, but they always get money!  Almost every car gives them some!

Accross from the CCM, they just changed a billboard to an ad for the Justin Bieber Believe tour in october. I always have Baby stuck in my head now, its very distracting.  

I love the CCM because songs circulate so fast. I'll start whistling a song in the hall then, someone will pass.  We and start singinging it, then I get downstairs and someone else is humming it.  Its so funny.

i paid my guy teach to get some.. haha.we arent supposed to do that.. shh

My teacher came and gave me a hug from you the other day Mom!  Then I warned her, my mom is obsessed with me, if you write her back, she wont stop and probably ask you to do things. Haha. then she came up to me later and told me you asked her to send a picture! Shes not allowed to. I love her, shes so sweet.  

I forgot to tell you, I obtained 2 milkyways this week.  I am so happy when I have Milkyways.  i paid my guy teach to get some.. haha.we aren't supposed to do that.. shh.

I think I still hold the record for Dear Elders. 5 again,  Thanks guys!  Mom, you should send one to my friend Hermana Phillips.  She doesnt get any, shes the one who brought balloons too.  She's going to my mission. 

 Etranny, I got yours too!  It made me laugh, email me so I can email you back!

The rain is so loud here. Our class meets in the gym sometimes for planning, and it rained so hard the other day we had to yell to communicate, and we still couldnt hear.  It's rediculous!! it just pours.  It usually starts when we have to leave the capilla to come back to the CCM, so it pours on us the whole way  back.  I never bring my umbrella, but I do always have my rain jacket because im always freezing in class (they blast the AC).

The rain is just a small taste of what I will get in Retalhuleu.

I cant wait to share the gospel with everyone.  How amazing is it that we can be with our families forever.  God is too good to let us die and not reunite us with those we love most. Our whole purpose on this earth is to develop our families. I love you all so much and am so thankful for your love and support on my mission. It means so much to me.

Jesus the Christ is an AMAZING book!  It goes through everything we know about Christ's life.  Everyone needs to read it to gain a better understanding and a testimony of Christs atonement.

Last Monday we got to watch a live devotional from the Provo MTC!  Usually we just watch taped ones.  It was the first time they'd ever done it live to all the other MTC's. 

 It was so good.  All the devos we watch are so amazing.

Sorry that was so scattered.  My mind is a little crazy.  I leave in 2 weeks!  Tomorrow we get to go see a Guatemala Relief Map (google it), then to the Mericado!  (the market), I hear its crazy and there is a ton of fun things.  I want to get a guatemalan dress i've seen some of the older girls wear. 

My norte roommates leave tomorrow! :( 

I'll be in the older group when they leave!  So crazy.

Wilkes came when I did!  I met him at the SLC airport.  He's in the other district that we hangout with all the time.  He is gonna be such an amazing Missonary!

Thank you all for wrtiting.

 love yoU!

Hermana Terry

Wow, what a week!

After I e-mailed saying I was about to kick my cold, it got so bad!  My disticto said my companion and I looked like death. 

Tuesday we had our big Walmart trip! 

Can i just say people are CRAZY drivers here!

The prices are so weird, I had no idea what I was spending. They didnt have a good chocolate selections, BUT THEY HAD MILKYWAYS!  I bought two bags, and a regular bar. They taste SO MUCH BETTER here!  Idk if  its because i've been milkyway deprived, or if its just because they´re delicous. 

 Mom, they also had Kinder Suprise!  I bought one of those, it was so good. I ate it in the store. The toy was an alligator. I'm saving it for ninos in the field.  I bought a pillow there, now I sleep with two. 

 I'ts amazing, after Walmart we went to a mall food court for lunch.  Their mall is super nice. They have a store called "Always 21".  All the hermanas took a picture in front of it because its like Forever 21. They had a PINK store too.  We weren't allowed to shop at the mall, but we could go inside the stores.  I was so curious.  I went inside and some of the stuff is similar and a lot of it is... cheaper. 

They were playing Maroon 5 payphone!  I was so happy.  I ate pizza hut and taco bell at the food court. 

(Mom, the pizza looked old, so I used an old trick I learned from you.  I asked for a piece they had to make fresh.  I had the best piece ever). 

When I had to pay for it, I  had no idea what the lady was saying.  I just held out all my money and she picked what she wanted and gave me change.  I need to learn how to speak money!.

Wednesday the new Nortes came!  It was fun greeting them. There are a TON of them!  

Recently, the water here is having problems.  It shuts off so we have to use the banos (bathrooms) by the gym outside. Wednesday night was no exception.  The water was shut off, so we couldnt shower after deportes (oh, we have deprtoes at night now).  One new norte was showering when the water shut off, so two girls dumped a bucket over the shower for her.  About 10 minutes after everyone went to  bed, I heard a loud noise.. it sounded like it was raninng again.  

(When it rains it POURS here).  I sleep by the window, and it wasnt raining.. we got up and opened our door to the hall, there was a waterfall coming from the ceiling!  Water was flooding everyone´s rooms!  luckily the floor slants and the water went accross the hall to the other room, not ours. It was so funny, the water was so powerful.  A maitnence guy ran up and fixed it.  We closed the door and put sheets under our door and went to bed.  Everyone else had to stay up and get it out of their rooms.  It was such a funny night? 

 Welcome to Guatemeala new Norte´s!

By the way, I feel like I hold the record for Dear Elder Letters!  I got 4 Dear elders and 1 letter in one day!  All from Mom and Brianne haha.  I LOVE GETTING THOSE!  SEND ME SOME!! 

 I felt bad cause I was given the pile of letters for the girls in my district to distribute, and I was holding a lot of them, but they were all for me.  GRACIAS MOM AND BRI!

Mom, send me pics of the boys! JEN-tell the babies i love them!

I'm usually cold here. Reu is different though.
 Everytime I tell a latina where im going on my mission, they fan their face and say "hace calor!".
First thing, everytime.  It's so funny.

I´ve learned being here that mom knows best. Mom, you know how you always tell me what I need to do, bring, etc., and I shut you down?  Well everything you had me bring that I didnt want, ive been so grateful for.

We found out the people think the CCM (guat mtc) is a Correctional Center for Missionaries haha.  We are gated in and have guards all over.  I can see why they think that.

We have class in the capilla (church building) by the temple now.  I love it.  Only one other district has it in there, so we have the banos pretty much to ourselves.

I came up with a very pronound quote on sunday.  I feel like it needs to be used in general conference. "You might not always be prepared, but you can always have the spirit, and the spirit will prepare you." -Hermana Terry.

The food here is amazing, as always.  ITS SOO GOOD.  I love it at the CCM.

Keep writing!  I appreciate it :)

love you all,

Hermana Terry

A thought I had today:  Why is everyone´s biggest trial obedience to god?   Read 2 ne 31!

Oh yeah, the epanol is coming along.

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Week #2

First off, I am so sorry for the worst missionary letter ever last week!! This one will be better.

 I´m writing to day because tomorrow for Pday there is a Big Wal-mart trip planned. Its seriously a big deal and everyone is looking forward to it.

Since coming to Guatemala I have been super humbled.  Not because im in a third world country, I have hardly seen any of Guatemala.  For some reason I thought the mission was going to be SO EASY!!  Wake up call was last week, as you all saw.  Language is hard, but I have changed my attitude about learning it.  Im getting better, its gonna be fine.  I´m not here for myself, at all. I was being so selfish last week.  This mission isnt about me.

I LOVE THIS MTC!!! THE FOOD IS SOOO GOOD!!!  Avocado's arent expensive here, so they give us guac ALL the time, and its delicious.  We literally eat like kings.  Im gonna be sad to have to make my own food when I leave.

Mom- Thank you for sending me balloons!!

Everyone is pretty fascinated with it.  My cute friend Hermana Phillips brought balloons too! She can make a dog and a giraffe.  I made my roommate an octopus for her birthday yesterday, im pretty proud of my work.  My fish needs some serious work.

They are re-doing a lot of the mtc so there is a bunch of construction. 

Its gonna be so nice.  They just finished they entry way for the hermanas entry way and a bunch of classrooms.  We´ve been having class in the cafeteria and sharing with the other district sometimes, so it will be nice to have an actual classroom.

I totally offended a Latina!!!  She´s my favorite one, and we always joke with each other.  She always jumps out and scares me and me laugh.  The other day I passed her in the hall and she pretended to scare me so I was all sassy and said "latina" cause I could't remember to pronounce her name.  We were being funny about it, then later her friend told me she was really mad at her and thought I was talking down to her, so I went to apologize and she kept running away from me.  The next day she apologized with a flower made out of napkins and a note.  It was really sweet.  I felt so bad!  I learned that you have to be VERY careful about joking with latinas.  

We did olympics last week, it was sooo funny.  When the two districts came out, all of us happened to be wearing reds or blues, so we split up into teams by colors.  Then the elders began singing the national anthem and we all joined in.  One of the elders was actually wearing red white and blue, so he grabbed onto a pole and another elder grabbed his feet and was moving him like a flag, so we all sang towards him, we were laughing so hard, it was so funny.  Then we just did relays back and forth.  Best deportes (sports,excersise) ever!

We got to go to the temple on pday, and we get to go tomorrow.  It is SO TINY!!  We did an english session, it was really special.  I get to go to the new Guat temple in my mission.

Elder Holland is possibly the best speaker in the entire world.  I don't think anyone can deliver a message the way he can.  Try to find this video on Youtube PLEASE and (post it on my blog if you can find it mom), Its called " Missionary work and the Atonement" by Elder Holland.  It was given at the MTC a few years ago. Its so amazing.  One of my favorite talks on Christ probably ever.

Our district is always really goofy in class.  The babies (elders) are still kind of immature and they make jokes all the time.  At night when i'm really tired and we´re in class I think they are soo funny and just laugh all the time... but now I laugh at them during the day too.  I think my IQ is going down.  Actually im positive.  A couple days ago an elder brought popcorn to our class (we have a microwave cause we have class in the cafeteria) and shared it with everyone.  Someone mentioned something about where they grow the seeds and I asked "what kind of seeds do they use?"... popCORN..

 Then at dinner one night we found out an elder is from the mountains of Reu, and speaks Ketche(?) the language I would speak if I serve in the mountains.  I tried calling him over "Hermano, hermano!" he finally came over and I noticed his tag said "Elder" and not "hermano", I told hermana Phillips, I think he´s going stateside, and she looked at me weird. Then his companion came over and his tag said "Elder" too!  I was like "I think they both are going stateside!"  Then is dawned on me.. all of the tags say Elder.  So I know the CCM is helping with my espanol and patience.. but thats about it.

I´m a pro at speaking spanglish now, but I realized it's not going to get me very far.  I had to teach a latino in espanol, and he doesnt know any english, so I cant use the spanglish i´ve mastered.  It was cute for a second, but its not gonna cut it in the real world.

Mom and Tammi, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE DEAR ELDER LETTERS!!!! It totally made my night when they brought them to me!! Everyone, go to dearelder.com and write me:)

It rained the other day durning deportes, IT RAINS SOOO HARD HERE!!  It was SO loud and rained so much for like a minute, then it stopped.  It was just a little taste of what I will get in Reu.

My companera y I got sick a couple days ago.. its my fault though. In the morning she was like, "my throat hurts, does yours?"  I was like "no." then durning breakfast I was trying to be a nice companera and let her have a taste of my OJ... then I got sick with a sore throat, and now its just a cold.  I think its in its final hours though.  I doTerra´d the heck out of it (THANK YOU FOR THE OILS!)   No one really wears scented perfumes her, excpet the latino elders and some of the latinas, so when I have the oils EVERYONE asks what it is, because they aren´t used to smelling anything.  I smell like Teresa and Roger´s house lol.

Last night my comp and I were feeling awful and were so tired, but we decided to be obedient and go downstairs to watch the devotional (we watch old devos given at the Provo MTC with a few american districts) let me just say, the Lord blesses obedient missionaries. It was devotional from last year, we started with a song, then a special violen musical number, then they were like, "and now we have another special musical number" (by this point we were like, come on, on with the talk) "by Elder David Archuleta"... lets just say Isolated missionaries + David Archuleta= BEAMING hermanas and annoyed Elders.  We were so excited!!  He sang "The Sprit of God", and sang the second verse in espanol!  Thats one of my favorite hymns in espanol, we sing it all the time (and Sisters in Zion because the elders think its so funny) it was so cute!  Then he got emotional at the end and all the hermanas were loving it and the insecure elders were laughing.  But let me tell you, it was definiatly a treat.

Also, yesterday we had a class from the doctor here about how to stay healthy.  It's safe to say he scared everyone, and no one will be drinking water that isn't from a water bottle.

LOVE YOU ALL!!  THANKS FOR THE EMAILS!  Send pictures!

DyC 59:23

"But learn that he who doeth worksof righteousness shall recieve his reward, even peace in this world..." I love this. If you are having trouble finacially, family related, spiritually, etc, wouldnt you do anything to feel hope or peace? I love the promise of peace in this world, because as the last days approach, I feel like the blessing of peacewould be worth anything.

love, Hermana Terry

ps.. i dont think ive ever heard my last name so many times in my life.

Kevin and Chris, Thank you for the check, that was so nice!  I accidentally brought it with me to Guatemala so i´m going to send it  home.  THANK YOU!