PICTURES!!!

Aaron's district in the MTC   

Aaron and his companion Elder Udall

Aaron and Elder Nelson

Aaron with Elder Nelson's Prairie Dog

Mom recieved these pictures from Elder Nelson's mom. With the explanation of the Prairie Dog.

"The story of the prairie dog is cute.  The little stuffed dog is one that my nephew who is 16 sent with Nathan.  He wanted to go on the mission with him and couldn't so this silly prairie dog represents him.  Nathan takes pictures of it with special things and sends it to his really close cousin.  I thought it was a good representation of Aaron and Nathan's friendship to have a pic with Aaron and the prairie dog!"

Three full days in the field

Hey Family,

Well, I am now in SLC South. It is weird to be out of the MTC and see different things everday. My area is the town of Midvale. It has a ton of Mexican people here which is really good because I was able to be in a Spanish trio. There were some elders that got put in English speaking and Im really glad that didn't happen. I need to use and hear as much Spanish as possible. 

My companions are E. Blanc from San Diego and E. Harvey from Dallas. They are alright. We are always busy and driving to and from appointments. A lot of them fall through but we still have quite a bit. I guess this is the highest baptizing mission there is. This month they're goal is 200 baptisms. They have gotten about 160 or so. 

When I arrived here all the Spanish I learned pretty much disappeared. The last few days I have been straining to understand what the people are saying. I was in a lesson the other day and couldn't understand anything. I don't really talk too much because 1. there is three of us and its a little harder to split it up and 2. the whole time I am just trying to translate. Anyway, I was just sitting there and then all of a sudden I understood a section of what they were saying. The lady, I can't remember her name because there are so many people, said that she and her "husband" weren't married because he never got divorced from a woman in Mexico. I have seen a lot of that here.

I gave my first baptismal invitation last night to a lady named Dolores. I was really nervous and didn't do the best. I kept stumbling through it and when I was done she said something and I wasn't sure what it was. But she said yes. Now we just have to help her the rest of the way. 

Some things about the Mexican people that I have noticed are different- They don't know how to shake hands. They just put there hands limply in yours and don't do anything. Even the guys do that. They all seem to use lotion. They say yes to a lot but a lot of times don't follow through. I have seen a ton of the virgin Mary. Their food is amazing. I had my first carne asada the second day I was here. It was so good. Yesterday we went to Hermano and Hermana Tellez's house and had tacos. I was starving! I probably had close to 15. Hermano. Tellez filled up huge cups for us of Sunny D twice. When I was done he walked over and gave us a plate of cantelope and grapes. I did actually eat the cantelope. I ate more of that there than all together in my life. The fruit really makes the spicyness go down. There is always a bunch of crazy kids running around during our lessons.

I hope everything is going great. I love and miss you all!

Aaron

Well, I forgot to tell you yesterday that I would be writing today. It was really hard to say everything I wanted to in just four minutes. It was really nice to be able to do that though. I am going to the Salt Lake City South Mission. The place we always joked about going to. Well, I know I will have a great time and just need to find those that I need and that need me. Ngatu, Nelson, Nutt, and Woodbury all live in that area so I might see some of their families. 

I'm trying to think of what happened this week. 

Elder Oaks came and spoke to us on Tuesday. It was really good but kind of short. He just talked about how important the Holy Ghost is in our lives and how taking the Sacrament the right way will help us to have its companionship contstantly. Once again none of us knew anything about a General Authority coming. I still have no clue how. 

I don't think I will send anything home yet. I will still be here in Utah so it will be easy when I have to. I have a lot of packing to do before I leave at 130, hopefully I will get it done. This week is kind of a blur so I am having a really hard time remembering anything. I will write home if I do. Sorry this is kind of short.

I love and miss you all!

Aaron

A pretty weird morning...

Ok so we woke up this morning going through our normal routine. I went to the bathroom and while I was in there, BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The fire alarm starts going off. Lanham is in the shower and I'm still in the bathroom. He screams "I’m naked!" I hurry up and walk out to the front thinking it’s just a drill and smell some smoke. We all had to get out and some security guards showed up. They're both running up and down the staircase, which was pretty funny because they weren't the most athletic or in shape guards we've ever seen. About five min. later the fire trucks show up. They think someone must have just burnt something on the third floor. We aren't really sure.

This last Wednesday and the one before, we were able to host. It is pretty fun. You just get new missionaries at the car and take them around to their room and get their stuff. It’s pretty much a two hour break. This Wednesday was really hot though (probably a blazing 62!). We were all sweating through our suit coats and pants. It was really nice to have gym after that. I hosted two people. One was from Idaho going to Fiji and the other was from Utah going to Fiji. They were both in the same district. That was pretty weird.

We still have no clue where we will be going or when. We are all anxious to get out of here.

Yesterday was in field orientation. They just explain some of what the actual field will be like. It was mostly just us all sitting in a room the whole day. Luckily there were some cool teachers.

One told us about one of his mission experiences in Honduras. They knocked on a door and the lady opened the second story window and asked what they wanted. They said they just wanted to give her a little message. She said she was taking a shower so it wasn't a good time. Then his companion, who wasn't good at Spanish and had heard his Sen. Comp. say this a lot and thinking she had just said her house was dirty, said "We can help you!" I really hope that that never happens to me. It was really funny though.

We have just been reviewing Spanish this last week and are waiting for our plans. I can't think of much else that happened. I will write home if I do.

I love and miss you all!

Aaron

March 9th 2012 (Handwritten)

Hey Family,

Ok, so I never extended my drivers license so is that going to be a problem? I don’t know if it is going to make it more difficult to get back home. Michael I’m sure would know about what happens there.

Sorry my weekly e-mail was so short. I had written to a lot of people but really couldn’t remember what happened this week. Then I had Nelson crying in my ear to hurry & finish. We had been in there for about an hour but I still had a bit more. 

Oh, you should have Dean tell Daniel that if he writes me back to use dearelder before I leave. That way I can get it & maybe write back.

Everything here is the same as the last weeks. With the ironing, my shirts are the wrinkle free & if I hang them up soon enough they don’t need ironed. I’ve only dry-cleaned my suit only & it got dirty in about 2 days. It’s 6 bucks to do that. Pants I only ironed once & they wrinkle right when you sit plus I probably won’t iron them in Mexico anyway. I don’t know. What did Michael do?

Also, tell Matt to quit worrying about whether he should go or not. Of course, the answer is yes. So just get out here!

My companion has gotten a little better. He has started joking more. We work better together on the lessons & have been doing pretty good. I guess Lanham tore a ligament in his ankle about as far as you can without breaking. I’m sure it hurts.

We are all getting along well & are just hoping to go straight to Mexico. We didn’t do very good on speaking as much Spanish as we could (HSI)—speak your language. But now we are doing much better. I don’t feel at all comfortable enough to go yet though. We’ll see how it goes.

Glad to hear Sadie is still getting exercise. Give her another hug for me. Have you taught her any other tricks after twirl?

I love you all so much!

Aaron

Give Ciana a hug & tell her I love & miss her. Don’t let her forget!

Ok this is going to be a short one probably. 

I have been sick this week just a sore throat and clogged nose. I didn't get to sleep here one night until about 2 in the morning. It is getting better though. 

Same thing everyday. We have had a couple snowball fights but they didn't last long. The snow here is just like Idaho. It snows and melts in a day or two.

Everything else here is going alright. I want to get out though. I am pretty nervous but just want out. We were supposed to get our travel plans yesterday but didn't. We aren't sure when we will now. We just have to keep waiting.  We don't know if we will be transferred somewhere else or what. I just want to know! 

The pillow room is awesome. It really makes this place a little easier. It is so comfortable in there no matter what position you are in. 

I really don't know what happened this week. We had a speaker come on tuesday. Alex Boye. He was pretty funny and was telling a bunch of black jokes (he is black). He was a good motivational speaker and could bring the spirit when he needed to. We had just watched his little mormon message before the devo. That was pretty weird.

Remember to pause music at the very bottom of this page.

The district ahead of us only has a few more days left. It will be really weird when they are gone and we are the next to leave. 

Time has gone pretty fast here. I am glad about that. We are so close to being out. I am getting nervous because I don't feel ready at all. My Spanish is no where near what I want it to be. I don't know if I will be able to understand and talk to Native speakers. We shall see

I can't remember much else but will write home if I think of more. Sorry this one is short.

I love and miss you all!

Aaron

Answers on some of the pictures...

I don't know when I will be getting my haircut. I'll take a look at the schedule today. Its hard because you have study time and stuff to work around. We were supposed to get travel plans yesterday but didn't. So, we have no clue what is happening with our visa's. Hopefully we can go straight to Mexico. We should know within this next week. No I don't iron, haha. I have once but that was just pants. they get all wrinkly in an hour so I don't really care.  

The old guy is Brother Warren. He is really nice to have around here. He is in the presidency but isn't as serious as our Pres. One of them come and talk and check up with us at night. At that moment he was teaching us how to moon walk. He is an amazing skier. He coaches at the olympic level and coaches coaches how to coach. I guess he has even won a national ski jump competition when he was a teen. He goes all over. He works at one of the mountains around here so maybe I'll be able to get some free passes when I get back. 

Ngatu drew the pyramid. I think I just drew a tree. I don't really remember much else. 

Bartle made the cake thing for E. Nutts birthday. 

Ok, now my weekly email. Love you!

PICTURES!!!!

Climbing the wall, just one of those things each missionary has to try! 

He's picturing himself on his snowboard...

Tuxtla Gutierrez , MEXICO

Big boy in a little sweater!

Good buddies from home!

Great friends both going to MEXICO!!

Besides all the goofing around... there IS a little studying to be done!

The finished product. 

Watch out!

Aaron's living quarters...

Dad, Aaron & Mom at Boise airport saying their goodbyes.

March 5th, 2012 (Handwritten)

Hey Family,

Well I’m just sitting in the laundry room waiting for my clothes to dry & trying to think of something to write. I haven’t e-mailed yet so I don’t know what I’m going to write in there. Everything is going alright here. We still only have 5 districts here. It’s really weird! We have gotten to know the district right ahead of us a lot better. They are probably my favorite district.

Thank you for sending me the brace & more deodorant. Both of those will help. My ankle feels fine but I just wear it for precaution. I’ll probably send this letter with the SD card but of course you’ll already know if I did that or not.

We get our mail every day after lunch & dinner. 

We found a cool room in our residence. Well, we were finally told about it. It’s where they store all of the pillows for the building. We call it “The room of requirement,” like in Harry Potter. 

Nelson & Aaron

“The room of requirement”

It’s pretty fun and has broken up the monotony, (Not sure if I spelt that right) of this place. We just run & jump & stuff. I took some pics which are on the SD card. Someone said you can’t send SD cards out of here in just an envelope so if this is in a package envelope that is why.

Everything is going alright over here. I am wanting to get out but at the same time, I’m kind of nervous to do so. I can understand Spanish ok & speak alright but I still have a ton to get into my head. I know it’s going to be totally different in Mexico too. It’s still the conjugations & where to put the words in the sentence that I have a hard time.

Keep playing with Sadie. I want her to be in good shape when I get back. Sorry this letter isn’t that great but I have to go & take a shower then get ready.

I love you all!

Aaron 

Hey Family,

This week was alright. The district ahead of us got their travel plans. They're missions are all in the US anyway so they of course are going straight to their missions. It is going to be really weird once they leave. The younger district did take Spanish before they came here. I think the most was four years. 

Oh, here is a good story. So Lanham was the one that hurt his knee last week or so. Then this week he sprained his hand in Vball and had it wrapped up. I don't think his pain tolerance is very high at all. Well, yesterday guess what he was doing. Playing basketball! I have no idea what he was thinking. I had no clue he was playing but Bartle and Woodbury told him he probably shouldn't play but that it was his choice. He couldn't even button his own shirt the day before. The first time I saw him playing was when they were getting him into a chair and wheeling him into the health area. I just kept playing because it was just Lanham getting hurt once again. 

Well, it was a little worse than the other injuries. I guess he went up to rebound and landed bad on his leg and went straight to the floor. They gave him a blessing and were thinking that he broke it but took him to the hospital to get an xray. We had no idea what was going on but went to bed. While we were laying there we heard Lanham scream in pain. We went to see what the verdict was and it was luckily just a severe sprain. They said it would be about 6 weeks to heal. I guess he was screaming in pain for about a half hour until the medication kicked in. His foot is pretty big and blue and yellow. Oh, then this morning we all went to the laundromat and he was walking with crutches over ice. He hit a slick spot and put his bad foot down and screamed again in pain. He might be over playing it a little or really can't take pain at all. I don't know.

Lets see, what else has happened.Oh, Elder Holland came and spoke to us. We had no clue that an apostle would be coming. Which is pretty rare around here because usually someone gets wind of something and then it spreads like wild fire. We were just sitting and waiting for the devo to begin and then everyone stood up. It was pretty cool. He gave a really good talk about never going back to the person you were before your mission and that we had no right to let the church and especially the kids down. He spoke for about an hour and 20 min. He had people go up to the mic. and explain what the manner of the spirit was. Everyone was saying bold, simple, and stuff like that. Then Bartle got up to the mic and we were thinking it was going to be something big. All he said was "the spirit is nice" Elder Holland laughed and said well that just about sums it up. It was pretty funny. A lot of people were laughing.

Oh, I almost gave Pres. Brown a high five this week. We were walking out of class and he said hey elders and stuck his hand up kind of waving. When we walked past him he still had it up so I went to do it but right before, he put it back down. I was so close. Well, I really can't think of anything else this week. If I do I will hand write it home.

I love and miss you all,

Aaron