Tuesday, December 14, 2010

First day in Guatemala!!

Hello dear sweet family who I LOOOOOOVE!!!!!!!!

We arrived in Guatemala last night around 8:15 and got to the CCM
 about 10 pm. haha it was CRAZY!!!! I am so exhausted. My body did not
 like the flight. It feels SOOOO super sick. But esta bien :) I am
 SOOOOO happy to be here!!!

I sat next to a man on the plane last night who spoke VERY little
 English and I thought PERFECTO!!!! I can practice my Espanol!!!!! haha
 it was SO fun. We talked for about 30 minutes all in Spanish. And of
 course there were lots of hand motions and things trying to figure out
 what we were saying but I think he understood me for the most part,
 and if he didnt he was just extremely nice haha. Then after that half
 hour my stomach started feeling sick so I tried to sleep as much as I
 could but it just wasnt happening.

As we were about to land everything was completely dark outside, and
 then we saw it. All the magnificent lights from Guatemala City!!!!! It
 was BEAUTIFUL! I was so anxious to get off the plane, out of the
 airport, and onto Guatemala ground :) The Elders I was with were
 cracking me up because they were nervous to go outside. It did look
 kind of sketchy outside the airport, but you know me and I was SOO
 excited! :) They kept saying maybe we should call the CCM and find out
 where the person picking us up was, but I was like "No! They Said
 someone would be here. Lets go check out Guatemala!!!!!!!!" and so I
 became the leader haha and led the group of 6 elders outside. It was
 nice, hot, breezy, and humid and I loved it. We couldn{t understand
 what anyone was saying and a man came up and asked who in the group
 spoke spanish and none of the elders said they could so I told him I
 could a little bit, and he helped us get to the right bus and the CCM
 leader.

The streets we were on were pretty normal Im guessing, but they do
 drive FAST haha. And we came around the corner from the airport and
 there was a HUUUUUUGE Christmas tree all made of lights and it changed
 colors!!!! I LOOOVED it and I instantly thought of how Kristilyn and
 Talia would scream with joy... so I did for them! The elders probably
 think Im so weird but I am just enjoying myself. haha there were TONS
 of American fast food places: Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Wendy{s, McDonalds,
 etc. etc. I haven{t seen a Taco Bell yet but I{m sure I will. And
 sorry for all the weird symbols I don{t know where the apostrophe is
 on this weird keyboard and dont want to waste time finding it haha.

I knew wed reached the Guatemala CCM when I saw the
 TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was beautiful and glorious and there are huge
 hills behind it. But what you can{t see in the pictures is that there
 are also huge buildings right behind it haha so its just all of a
 sudden there in the city. But every time I go up and down the stairs
 here I see it and just love that its right there. I cant wait to go
 next Wednesday :)

Oh ya, PDays here are Wednesday FYI :)

When we arrived at the CCM all the missionaries in the CCM ran to
 greet us. And they cheered and clapped and yelled Bienvenidos!!! haha
 it was so great :) There were only 9 missionaries here when we arrived
 last night - all American who came from the Provo MTC and one of them
 was even in my zone!"! haha the elders sent me with pictures for him
 so when I met him I gave him the pictures and said hi for Elder Palmer
 and Elder Lundstrom and he was like "YOUU just MADE my DAY!!!!" haha
 and then an Hermana from TUSCON ARIZONA greeted me!! She gave me a
 huge hug and said shed been waiting for me all day. She was the only
 Hermana in the MTC. All the Latinos had left that morning. So she is
 sort of my companion for the next 3 weeks, but not really since she{s
 in the older group. So we will eat together and go to gym together,
 etc. but we never will study together or anything. My companions in
 my district are actually two elders hahaha. Kinda weird. That would be
 WAY against the rules in Provo. But it will be fun :)

One Hermana arrived last night right after we crawled into bed and
 shes from Domican Republic. Very nice :) The rest of the Latinos
 arrived this morning and will keep coming throughout the day. I think
 by the end of the day there will be about 80 of us here :) SOOOO FUN.

This CCM is more like a great big house. It is so much more inviting
 than Provo and the Hermana from Arizon (cant remember her name) says
 she absolutely LOVES it here! So I{m really excited and I know I{ll
 love it too :)

My stomach really hates me right now. Hopefully that goes away soon.
 There is one elder who is sick in bed and I{m guessing he feels about
 as yucky inside as I do but I{m trying to stick it out as long as I
 can.

I{m not sure what else to say since I havent even been here 24 hours
 yet, but it is beautiful here I can tell already. Its so green and
 lovely and the air feels great. Its loud at night because of the busy
 street next to us but I was so tired and sick that I didnt really
 notice last night.

It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good to talk to you yesterday!!!!!!! You
 gave me all the encouragement and love I needed and I{m ready to keep
 on trekking :) I am so sorry to those I couldn{t call yesterday and I
 hope that they know that. Mom send them all my love!"

AND I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!!!!!!!
Hermana Keele

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Here's Jenny's last week in the MTC! She left for Guatemala yesterday!!!  Don't forget to write her :)


Hello my sweet and wonderful family! :)
 
I'm so happy to hear that you had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!! Sorry about Wade's nose. Thanks for all the gorry details (haha I don't think I spelled that right... oh well!) haha But I'm glad you made it home safe after the 8 hour drive through Nevada! Elder Keele and I laughed at that. That's awesome Mike L. paid for the gas since you took movies with you. Randy emailed me and said Josh and Sam still seemed uneasy around him. Tell them next time they see him they have to each give him a huge bear hug for me, mmkay?! :) haha
 
I'm SOOO excited to talk to all of you at the airport tomorrow!!!!! It made me laugh that you gave me certain times to call each person so I will follow that :) :) :) :)
 
Please send me addresses for Gma & Gpa Ricks, Gary, Gpa Sticht, and John & Lynette when you can. I need to write them back soon :) Also, Elder Keele and I can't open any youtube links or online greeting cards that Gma Ricks sends so we appreciate the sentiment but we have no idea what they are of haha
 
Thank John & Lynette's family and Grandma Keele for me please! I loved the goodies they sent this week...and so did my district :)
 
And a HUUUUUGE thank you to you!!! I LOOOVE my Christmas package and I'm SOOOO excited to open the gifts on the dates you marked :) :) That made my LIFE!! Thank you again for the photo book. I love it SO much and everyone in my zone (even the Elders) all wanted to look at it haha. And we especially loved the GRASSHOPPER cookies! Yummmm my fave :) and thankkkk youuuuu for the camera! Elder Keele and I took our pictures last night and he loves his and so do I :)
 
I sent a few of my things through our "post office" this morning but they have this special service where if we have a relative in Orem/Provo they can take it to another building and they'll call that person to come pick it up. Hopefully Grandma Keele can pick them up cuz I put her name on them :) But in the brown box is my Christmas present to you among other things I don't need for Guatemala. They should be calling her today or tomorrow to pick it up and its free!! For me and her haha :)
 
I don't have much time left. the red clock is flashing. AHHHH but Thanksgiving here was SO great! Elder Holland came for a morning devotional and brought his whole family with him :) He said his family was ours that day :) His grandkids sang to us and it was just so special. I loved it!!!!!!!! Then that night all the missionaries participated in a service project and we made over 3000 bags for school kits!!! WHOOOO!!! So fun :)
 
As a side note, I still haven't been getting any of Jessica or Jordan's emails. Pleeeeeease forward them to me next week :)
 
Elder Keele and I have seen each other LOTS and I LOOOOVE IT!!!!!!! Especially on Thanksgiving :) I'll tell you lots more tomorrow on the phone cuz my time is about up.
 
I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART! I loooooove being the Lord's missionary and I know he's looking out for me. I'm being the best I can be for him and for the sweet Guatemalan people I'm about to meet. I'm really looking forward to my new MTC experience starting tomorrow, but i will miss this MTC. I've loved my zone and district here so much. But i love you I know this church is TRUEEEEEEEE and I LOOOOOVE my heavenly Father and Savior!
 
Hermana KEEELE