Week 4 at the Guatemala MTC: Supervisors wanted me to move to a Latino district for my final two weeks

Hey everybody!

This week had some highs and lows, just like every week does but perhaps this week's were more pronounced.

On the 24th we had a freaking amazing day. It was P Day and we played basketball for like 3 hours, delicious tacos for dinner, and then after dinner we heard some amazing stories about seeing spirits out in the field and stuff from our teacher Hermano Ruiz.

The next day was hard. The supervisors wanted me to move to a Latino district for my final two weeks. Latino districts, of course, don't do any language study and they speak Spanish 100% of the time, and not MTC slow Spanish but legit Latino Spanish. They had two white guys they thought were advanced enough that they should move with Latinos, myself and Elder Thorne. Elder Thorne said no right away and all of the supervisors were like "You're making a terrible decision" blah blah blah. 

So then they told me that they weren't going to force me to go with the Latinos but that they really encouraged it. I prayed about it and decided that I should stay with my North American district.

Yes, I'm good at Spanish and yes I could probably have done it but I think my district needs me and Elder Flygare needs me. Hard decision though, hopefully I made the right one.

The same day our teacher Hermana Estrada went home crying an hour before we were done because she said she couldn't feel the spirit and we were hard to teach. I think this happens semi often because Latinos just don't understand English and sarcasm well so when we joke around sometimes they think we're talking about them and being jerks. It was a reality check though and we realized that we needed to be better students.

The next day Hermana Estrada returned and was happy. We wrote her letters apologizing and she explained that she wasn't mad at us. She's frustrated because she wants to be close with us but the language and culture barriers are sometimes too much.

On to some funny stuff I guess. Elder McVey asked how old Flygare's twin was so that was funny.

A girl went to the front desk to ask for two envelopes and somehow thought the word for envelope was cerveza which means beer so she asked for two beers in front of the president.

There's a club right next to the CCM and we can hear their music on weekends. They play a lot of American stuff too.

We played an activity where we threw a hacky sack around and had to say words that started with M so one of us said "Maricon" which is a slur for gay people in Latin America. The teacher was so mad but the Elder didn't realize it was bad.

Just now a white Elder named Maines in the computer lab answered the phone in here and then after a few seconds we just heard him say "No hablo Español" and then he hung up.

Latinos are weird a lot of times. Basically everyone just calls each other Mariposa which means butterfly literally but it also means like queer. 

A Latino teacher touched me on the belly the other day and asked me if I had breakfast yet. Again, Latinos don't have personal space. 

Johnson's are leaving this week so we won't have them next Sunday.

Overall everything is going well. Hard days here and there but we get through them and make fun memories. My testimony grows stronger every day and I'm excited to go out in the field and teach. Hope everyone is good back in the states. Love you all!

Elder Dawson

Glad to here everything. Thanks again for keeping me updated!

Has the time gone by there fast or slow?

The saying here is that weeks go by like days and days go by like weeks. Every day you have so much to do and it takes forever but since it's the same everyday you look back and say "Whoa, it's been like a month already?"

Do you sleep OK in that twin bed?

Yeah, by the end of the day I'm so tired that I sleep fine. I wake up to sirens sometimes because we are on a busy road and ambulances and fire trucks and stuff pass all the time. Some people say they've woken up from gun shots but i haven't heard any.

Do you use the earplugs you took with you?

No

Are you able to listen to the music you brought?

No. We had to turn in our ipods once we got here.

Have you adjusted to drinking the juice?

Yes I can drink juice and eat fruit. Both of which are super good here. We have bomb lemonade and mandarin orange juice and we have a a self serve fruit bar at every meal. The pineapple is great and I also like the watermelon and strawberries. Grapes are good but they have seeds, Latinos don't understand seedless fruit. Latinos also eat like a huge bowl of papayas with like every meal.

Are you going to watch conference at the CCM (or go to a stake center or somewhere else)? We should have sent you with a chair cushion!

Yes we are watching it here, I'm excited. We watch devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday. We have 2 rooms prepared with a bunch of chairs and a big projector. The Latinos watch everything in one room in SPanish and we watch everything in the other room in English. I have a really sweet study journal prepared for it General Conference. I have it organized alphabetically by topic and have like 150 topics. It's a 400 page journal I bought at the little market they have on P days at the CCM.

Are you going to be able to take some pictures before you leave the CCM?

No. After the Jedi Counsel we're not allowed to take our cameras to the market (Normally they give the Elders and sisters cameras when they visit the market). They say they're gonna distribute the cameras when we get on the bus to leave for our mission home. So lame.

Anything we can send you?

No, but thank you!

Week 3 at the Guatemala MTC: I'm on the Lord's errand and I'll go where he wants me to go and be what he wants me to be.

Alright, let's see. This week Elder Flygare and I got 4 new roommates. Elder Anderson and Elder Bos are from Utah. Elder Lemus is from Honduras and Elder Arimuya is from Peru. The Latinos here now outnumber the white people. Most of the Latinos now are from Honduras and they speak really quickly and it's hard to have a conversation with them sometimes but they're cool. We like writing stupid jokes for Latinos based on puns and they laugh at them so it's cool to know a language well enough where you can make up a joke that actually gets laughs.

I got two letters this week, one with my birthday letters and on with a family picture (the one where my head isn't cut off) Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement and thanks to my family and Grandma for the birthday gifts.

My birthday was pretty cool. I opened my presents in the morning and at lunch the nurse who works here played happy birthday on the flute and everyone sand along and I got a Hostess cupcake with an unlit candle in it for my birthday cake. Haha.

I like playing basketball with Latinos because I'm like a foot taller than all of them so I get guaranteed rebounds every time.

With the limited free time we have here we like to play the game where you put a piece of paper with a word on your forehead and guess who you are. I'm really good and have successfully guessed Lion Fish, Joan of Arc, and Ursula from the Little Mermaid.

Flygare farted in our classroom and then some Sister missionaries came in and Flygare had to give them his chair and they were freaking out about the smell and said they didn't want to talk to him for three days so that was funny.

Elder Gurksnis told a story about a Cat Lady in his ward back home who went up to the pulpit at Fast and Testimony meeting and said that she came home to her house and her cats had ripped up her scriptures. At first she was so upset but then she realized that they were just trying to "Feast on the Words of Christ". Needless to say, the congregation struggled to contain their laughter.

Umm, what else. Oh, in the lunch line the other day a Latino came up to me and started hitting my belly like a drum while struggling to sing the words to "Another one Bites the Dust" by Queen.

Devotionals and district meetings are always great. It's so easy to feel the spirit here and everyone knows that the work is true.

My biggest struggle right now is that on a Mission you're supposed to try really hard. You're supposed to wake up without complaining and pretend like you never get tired or stressed or discouraged. As a missionary you're never supposed to crave entertainment, you never sing non-hymn songs with your companion, you don't talk about movies, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love being here and I study hard and work on Spanish day in and day out. But it's hard to adjust from the real world to the mission world. 

In high school I knew I was smart but I never wanted to be the Try Hard nerd so I just adopted an attitude of perpetual disinterest. I was good at what I did but I gave plenty of things half my effort and complained a lot. Let me tell you, in all honesty, I love complaining.

In the mission field you're supposed to sit up straight all the time. When you go to the supermarket and the supervisors say "No Coca Cola" but let other Elders buy a 12 pack of Dr Pepper you want to ask why. When you aren't allowed to take naps on P Days even though there's nothing to do you're not supposed to ask why. 

I wish I would have practiced obedience a little better before I left. Not like hardcore obedience like "Don't smoke" or "Keep the Sabbath Day Holy" because I was good at that but little things of obedience like doing things when you're supposed to or doing things without asking. It's super hard for me but I'm working on it. I'm on the Lords errand and I'll go where he wants me to go and be what he wants me to be.

Elder Dawson

sorry I have to answer these really quick

What did you get at the supermarket?

Sprite and Sour gummy worms and some study supplies (sticky notes, pens)

What is your favorite meal/thing to eat there?

tacos

Can you buy any extra treats or snacks at the MTC?

absolutely not, no food allowed. rats (they say, haven't seen one or evidence of one, we have seen giants moths though)

What have you heard about wearing/getting a rain type of boot there?  I think we should have sent you with some.

haven't heard. From what I hear East Mission is just a big desert so maybe not.

What has been your worst/least favorite experience?

First night away from home.

Has your leg pain been manageable?

Yep

What about a Wifi camera?

I'll think about it

Is it called the MTC or the CCM? 

Either really. CCM if you're speaking spanish. MTC if you're speaking english. CCM is Centro de Capacitaciones Misional I think. Most of the time we speak Spanglish so we probably CCM more often then MTC. Leaders will refer to it as the CCM. 

Foto de grupo Guatemala CCM

Cason and I are wearing the same tie

I'm on the top right

Week 2 at the Guatemala MTC: Rules are Super Serious Here.

Hey guys! Thanks for the emails this week to those who sent them. After the first week you start to get into a groove at the MTC and things get easy and fun.

We have two fake investigators now whom we teach, Ana and Mario. We switch who we teach everyday and Elder Flygare and I tear it up with the lessons. They're all in Spanish which makes it hard of course but we got both Ana and Mario to commit to baptism on the first lesson. Now obviously they just work here but the other companionships didn't get baptism commitments so we're on the ball.

The Latinos and the North Americans who had been here for six weeks already left yesterday. We packed 88 people into a a bedroom for six people last night and sang as loud as we could to send them off. All four of our roommates left yesterday and I already miss them. Latinos are hilarious because what would be considered rude in America is just normal in Spanish Speaking countries. The Latinos who just left called me "Estruden" or something which, after a laborious translation process, we figured out was the name of the fat caterpillar/butterfly from A Bug's Life. With the limited english they know they also called me "Fat Worm". Now obviously if you called someone that in America it would be offensive but they just think its normal because calling someone fat isn't mean. They also call Elder Flygare Dumbo (although they say it more like Doom-Boh) because of his large ears.

I had a lesson with a two Latinas the other day and I was acting as their investigator. They were teaching me about the Book of Mormon and how it contained the fullness of the Gospel and everything we needed to know about our purpose in life and how to get back to our Father in heaven was in that book. They said they weren't selling the book but wanted to know how much I would pay for it, knowing how much valuable information it contained. Now, mind you, I'm trying to listen and figure out what they're saying at the same time and then they ask me how much I would be willing to pay for it and I'm like "Okay well they're not going to understand dollars so I have to tell them in Quetzales" and then I realized I was taking to long to think so I blurted out 50 quetzales, thinking that that sounded reasonable. So, posing as an investigator I said that the most I would be willing to pay to have all of the knowledge I needed on this earth, the maximum amount I would pay to have all the answers I needed for my eternal salvation, was about $6.50. They were laughing so hard because it had been so serious up to that point and I just totally goofed up haha.

Today we went to the temple which was cool and then to the local supermarket to stock up on whatever we needed. Things here like wallets and woven bags and hacky sacks and stuff are super cheap. I can buy handmade leather wallets that say "Guatemala" all over them with cool designs and stuff for like 8 quetzales which is like a little over a dollar. Hackysacks are a dollar too. When we go to the big local market we can haggle and get soccer jerseys for like 10 bucks, thats in like two weeks though. Let me know if you want me to look for something for you.

The city is actually really nice, I don't know if I mentioned that in my last email. We don't get to see a lot of it but outside our windows there's a lot of tall residential buildings and stuff. On the mountain/large hill that's like a mile away from us there's like a bunch of big apartment complexes that look awesome and they're like in the middle of the jungle because there's not an excessive amount of development on the mountain thing. You see a lot of Audis and Mercedes and 2015 cars and stuff driving around but you also see a decent amount of crappy cars too.

Walking to the temple and the market is super fun because you just say good morning to everyone. Mostly everyone is friendly, one time a guy wanted to practice his English with us which was funny. According to a Latino from Nicaragua who I talked to, most people in Central America make around like $400 a month but if they speak English they make around $600 a month, no joke. So tons of people here want to learn English and most people in the City seem to understand English pretty well because most of the building signs and stuff are in English. 

You see other weird stuff too while you're walking around. They have security guys everywhere in our area because I guess that's just a more common job or something and they carry around pistol grip shotguns. The cops here have military rifles and stuff too.

Let's see, what else happened. Oh, we had an Elder get sent home last week because he punched his companion in the face so that was interesting, he came here on the plane with us too. Several other Elders almost got sent home too because they kept their cameras and when the other Elder got sent home he reported them for having cameras. They got asked to turn their cameras in and when they turned them in they had pictures on them of what looked like weird Satanic rituals. Now, what was really going on was that they were periodically meeting as a "Jedi Counsel" and would put a blanket over themselves and turned on flashlights and wrote in their journals and talked about what they were praying for and stuff. But rules are super serious here and the MTC Pres had to send their Jedi Counsel pictures to the First Presidency to see if they needed to get sent home. Our MTC President is serious about stuff.

I see Dick and Jennifer every Sunday which is cool. Jennifer is in charge of my district meeting class and Dick is usually in my ward and he gives devotionals and stuff. Two days ago they showed me a picture of Wes leaving for his mission.

Keep the mail coming, I love to hear from you all!

Elder Dawson

Week 1 at the Guatemala MTC: If I can be honest without bragging, I'm certainly the best Spanish speaker in my district.

So after I said goodbye to everyone at the airport Elder Flygare and I headed to our terminal. There we met Elder Aubrey who went to Highland High School and is going to the same mission as us. On our flight to LAX the flight attendant was Mormon and she hooked us three Elders up with snacks and drinks and stuff for free, it was super chill. At LAX the rest of the Elders eventually joined us so we could all fly to Guatemala. There's probably 25 or so of us, 22 Elders and 3 Sisters. 9 of us are going to the East Mission.

The Flight to Guatemala felt really long, it was so hard to sleep, and I sat next to an old Guatemalan man who would randomly yell and it's funny now but on the flight I was pretty uncomfortable haha.

When we arrived we had to fill out some documents and then head to our bus. Outside the terminal there was a midget with no legs riding on a skateboard (no lie, thats how he moves around) trying to sell pens. There was also a guy selling shoe shines for a dollar so Elder Flygare figured it was worth it to get his shoes shined.

Our bus was an old school bus and we loaded our stuff in the back and got on. In Guatemala there are essentially no rules when you drive. People just honk basically continuously so people know they're there and then proceed to do whatever they want. We got within a few inches of motorcyclists and other busses every like 10 seconds.

They have Mcdonalds and Taco Bell and everything in Guatemala. The city is beautiful and surrouded by green mountains. You get used to the humidity quickly and then once you do its the best weather in the world. It rains just about every afternoon but the rain isn't cold and the droplets are small so if you're outside when it rains it's awesome, especially because it usually rains when we have sports time so we play Speed on the basketball court in the rain or volleyball in the rain.

Anyways, when we arrived at the MTC we got paired up with our companions and I'm with Elder Flygare! We share a bunkbed and it's super dope, I'm basically his new twin now.

When we arrived in the MTC we got to take a nap (The only one so far) and then we got to work.

Everyday we wake up at 6:30 and shower and get dressed. At 7:30 we have breakfast and then at 8:00 start personal study for our hour but at the MTC you meet with your district to do "Personal Study" so we do study but we end up talking a lot too.

The next hour is language study. Elder Flygare and I try to study Spanish together using the Spanish For Missionaries books that they gave us or by reading the Book of Mormon outloud or any other techniques we can think of. After Language study our teacher comes. In the morning we have Hermana Estrada and in the afternoon we have Hermano Ruiz. Estrada is Guatemalan and just recently got back from Her mission to Honduras. She's strict sometimes but we joke with her all the time and she laughs at all of our antics. She speaks English pretty good but needs help with certain words sometimes. Hermano Ruiz is like the chillest guy I've ever met. He knows all of our pop culture references like the "Bruh" vine thing and some others. He went to LA on his mission and also did English immersion programs in elementary school and stuff so he speaks English perfectly and if you talked to him you would just think he's a California bro. We spend most of the day learning things with them and Hermano Ruiz also pretends to be an investigator in the evenings and we teach him lessons in Spanish.

My district is so chill. There's 8 of us, me, Elder Flgare, Elder Aubrey who's from Gilbert, Elder Chabries who went to West Point for a while and is a few years older than us, Elder Kanold from San Diego who reminds me so much of Nate Lemieux but way less spazzy, Elder Jarvie who is kinda shy and bad at Spanish but is super nice, Elder Gurksnis from Texas who was going to play baseball for BYU and is just kind of a laid back southern guy, and Elder Duncan our District Leader from Bluffdale Utah who is really spiritual but not in a "better than you" way and he's the best story teller I've ever met.

Lets see, umm the first night was hard because I was finally coming to terms with how long 2 years really is. It's hard work here and as fun as it can be there's not a whole lot of time to mess around and just chill. I was missing reading Harry Potter to Madi and I was missing having Netflix or League or something else to just let me escape reality for a while. On a mission its just you and your thoughts, All the time. There's rarely distractions other than sleep and so you really have to come to terms with who you are as a person and you have to become comfortable in your own skin and in your own brain.

If I can be honest without bragging, I'm certainly the best Spanish speaker in my district, perhaps out of all of the one-weekers in the MTC. People always ask me for help and I'm glad to give it. I'm not perfect though and I still have my struggles with the language.

Talking to the Latinos is great, like 30% of the people here are natives of Spanish Speaking countries. They are all so funny and chill and they'll talk with you and be patient with you and tell you stories and stuff. They like to give people nicknames too. Elder Jarvie, the shy one from my district, has been named "Woody" by the Latinos and whenever they walk by they salute him and say "Sherriff" in broken English and occcasionally attempt to sing "Youve got a Friend in me" (also in broken english) whenever he is around.

I want you to know that I love you. I'm having a great time here but I'll always have a piece of myselft back home.

At the MTC the spirit is so strong and it's amazing to be here. The church is true. The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet and Thomas S Monson is God's prophet on the earth today. It is such a blessing to know these truths. Please cherish the gospel and remember the Lord in all you do.

Love

Elder Dawson.

Glad to hear you guys are doing well! I'll write a separate email with all the details of my week but first I'll answer your questions.

What do you need?

I dont think I really need anything. If you guys want to send me handwritten letters though then that would be cool :)

Oh and also If you wouldn't mind giving some of my friends my email that would be cool too. 

We can send you anything. I'm thinking we should have sent you with some vitamins. What do you think?
If you want then that would be fine but I'm sure I can get them in the field.

Did they give you a filtered water bottle?

Not yet but they have like five gallon water and ice style water dispensers everywhere and we just use juice bottles to fill up with clean water. They said they would give us the filter later.

Did they give you a pillow when you got there? I know you took one, but was just wondering.

Yes so now I have two which is nice.

Do you get to take a Walmart trip? I never put sunscreen in your bag. Maybe you buy sunscreen there if you can.

Not yet but eventually we're supposed to go I think. The only time we go outside is for sports time and it always rains during sports time anyways so I wouldn't really need sunscreen. Its overcast here anyways all the time its super sick.

When do you go to the temple and the market?

I went to the temple today and it was awesome. We could do everything in English too which was nice. The temple here is beautiful and its like two doors down. We can see it outside our window. I would show you the picture I took but they had to take away our cameras a few hours after we got here because people have taken pictures of sisters and stuff and they dont want people to have cameras in the CCM any more.

Love you!

Elder Dawson

First day at the Guatemala MTC: The church is true in Guatemala and it's true in America!

Theyre giving us five minutes to write so this might be fast. im doing well, sorry about my grammar we have spanish keyboards and all the keys are in the wrong spaces so i dont know how to type capital letters or apostrophes haha. Cason is my companion so thats neat. the flight was long and i didnt really sleep but we got to sleep for like 3 hours when we got here. i havent seen the johnsons yet but ill let you know if i do. the city is beautiful and the drivers are crazy! Im having a good time, dont worry about me theyre treating us all very well. our mtc president and his wife are super chill. my spanish teachers are cool too. they keep us busy and our schedules are packed. the food is good and they have really good juices but you cant drink too much right off the bat or the nurse says youll get diarrhea haha. ive been feeling good though, just tired and a little bit rushed but things are settling down. there are six elders in total in my room, three bunkbeds. everyone is super chill and nice. i love all of you guys and hope you are doing well. The church is true in Guatemala and its true in America!

Love,

Elder Dawson

P.S Who wants lasagna

i dont have a question mark so the joke didnt get its full effect but i think you got the intention

LAX Airport on the way to Guatemala

Someone took this pictures of  the missionaries as they met up at the LAX airport!

Airport Goodbyes

Elder Flygare and Elder Dawson had the same flight!

Don't let the smiles fool you!