The Blog Title (Above) Has Been Realized

We did not hear from Christian this past week.  He left the training center before the day of the week when he would usually write home and apparently arrived in Honduras after their weekly "preparation day" had already passed.

So we will have to wait a few more days to hear his first impressions of the place where he will spend the remainder of his two years abroad.

We did receive an email from Sister Carlisle, the wife of the Mission President on Tuesday to let us know he arrived safely that morning.

She attached a handful of pictures of Christian and the other new missionaries being greeted at the airport, and she told us that his first companion (and trainer) will be an elder from Peru.  He and Christian will serve in a place called Palermo.

One Foot Out the Door

Hey family,

Last week I didn`t write a lot, partially because I was having trouble thinking of stuff to write about, and partially because that p-day i was the day I had a bunch of responsibility given to me pretty quick and I didn`t really know how to say how I felt without sounding super negative. 


Last p-day pretty randomly I I was told I`m the new district leader and I had to lead a BOM devotional that night, so I needed to be prepared for that. I think Giod gives us challenges to build us, and the devotional went great, but I spent a lot of the time I should``ve been emailing reading the Book of Mormon and trying to prepare what I was going to say and `ve felt kinda bad about that this week, so I`m gonna try and repent and write more this week. 


I tried the hot chocolate It was pretty good, it had a kinda christmasy apple-cinnamon-oatmeal flavor instead of a really chocolatey flavor. 


This week we had a super good lesson one of the days, Elder Lorscheider and I. We went in with nothing, no notes, no plan, anly a solid resolve that this was the lesson we would find the need. I was super worried that we`d be sitting there in silence with our teacher, but that didn`t happen at all. In fact, because we made it a conversation instead of a lesson, we ended up having almost no silence the whole visit, and we were the fist companionship in the district to find the need, so we felt really good afterwards.


Guatemala MTC Group Picture II
(The blur in the sky is probably a pigeon, but the blog editor says it is an angel ... or at least a dove.)

This is our last week hare at the CCM, the next time you get an email from me I`ll be in Honduras! 


I`ll bet nearly every missionary has this same experience, but after 5 weeks (going on six) I am so excited to get to the field and put into practice what I`ve learned here, even if my spanish is far from perfect. 


Something abopu tbeing here in the CCM is that even though I`m in Guatemala, it kinda feels like I`m in Utah. We`re in such a sheltered bubble here, I wonder what will happen when I get asked a real life question from someone besides my teachers or a member. I hope when that day comes (in six days) I`ll be in tune enough with the spirit that my shortcomings won`t make a difference, and the person I`m talking to will be able to feel the spirit.

love you guys,
-Elder Stoddard  

CCM Veteran

Hey family,

Things are still good here. I thought my Spanish was getting pretty good, but then they started introducing more and more grammer and now I know there´s a lot of work I still need to do to improve my spanish. I´m starting to get to the point where if the person talks slow I can understand everything except for a few words I don´t know.

I think all of us in my district are kinda worried about not knowing enough spanish when we leave. Whenever I get a little bit down or upset I just think how cool it is that I have to opportunity to be here in a different country learning a foreign language, and helping people in the same way the savior would. That always puts a smile on my face.

I didn´t know about the pictures from the CCM, but it´s cool you got to see them, because I haven´t gotten to. When we get out of the CCM I´ll be sure to send some pictures.

Guatemala MTC Group Picture
(Christian is in the middle row; 3rd from left)

You might not believe it, but things are starting to get a little repetitive here, too. I can´t believe I´ve already been out for a month.

Nothing super exciting has happened this week. We got some new people and it was kinda fun giving them the same advice we got from the older generation.

Last week was super exciting, this week has been pretty relaxed. I´ll write more next week, we didn´t havew as much time this week.

- Elder Stoddard