Erik's first area (Coatepeque) (4/6/2009)

Hola-Its been two weeks since i could email you. It is quite the life I'm living right now. I'm in Coatepeque. Its really nice here. Its hot, has mosquito's, pure water from a bag, everyone speaks Spanish. I like it. Its about 2 hours from Xela. And Xela is about 5 hours from Guatamala City. The ride to Xela was really beautiful. It was mainly all green. We got to the mission headquarters and had breakfast and met everybody. We met President Lorenzana and he doesn't speak any English really. Its all good though. We had lunch and then the assistants assigned us our trainers. It was the start of the next chapter. My trainer is Elder Savage and hes from Dallas. Hes been out about 6 months and hes a really great missionary. Always positive and he is first time senior comp and dist leader. He put me in charge of the area book. It was pretty unorganized from before. It seems like were on the same page already. We want to strength the members first and get them motivated in missionary work. And then out conference Elder Perry talked basically about that same thing. So well see how it all goes. I love it here even though my Spanish is none existent. Our house is a little messy but were cleaning it. They had a chicken before but we just gave it back a couple days ago. All is well here. Its way different. Powdered milk, cold showers (if we get water that day). Its great. haha. Our area is rocky and and i get lost all the time because the streets look the same. Elder Savage has been here i think for 3 months now so he knows the area really well. I'm so grateful for him. We went to the stake center to watch conference. If you could send me the ensign that would be great. we had to watch a couple of the talks in Spanish because a lot of people came but it was all good. We have a laundry and cook lady. She lives right next door. Staying busy. Doing a lot of contacting and working with the branch leaders. So i got your package. It was full of all kind of surprises. Thank you. I liked it all. So it would have been nice to see Eric King but I'm glad i didn't. Its against the rules and I'm trying to be 100 percent obedient. We were at Las Colinas that day too. But ya tell him thanks for doing that. So you have to tell me where Michael and Chad are going. I have to know.That's so exciting. Its sounds like everyone is doing great. I'm sorry about Chris but it sounds like you're doing ok. So i would really like the missionary socks because the other kinds i have slide around and don't have a great grip. Thank you. Other than the socks and the ensign I'm doing fine. I haven't gotten too sick. I'm so glad. Hopefully i wont get it that bad. I'm definitely working on my character. That's for sure. Take care mom. Love you all.Elder Larson (oh and if my English was bad I'm sorry. I'm in the process of working on Spanish haha)

Hey mom-You like my smile? haha its so bad. I'm working on it. I can't remember my favorite Latinos but my roommate Elder Miran and i became really good friends. He's amazing. If i remember I'll give you the names next week. The CCM was great and now into the real world. Its a lot different. No pretend lessons anymore. We have a fecha(baptism date) for this Saturday with these 8 and 10 year old little girls. Hopefully that goes through. My Spanish is getting better but i can't say a whole lot. I can put words together that i hear but its heard to make sense of it all. but it will come with time. Its hard but its fun. I really want to hear about those 3. The 3 Amigos from Folsom haha. Coatepeque is in Guatemala. Ill let you find it. I know you'll like that haha. Elder Savage and i are staying really focused. Its been fun. I'm working on pushing myself late at night because you know me, I get tired really early sometimes. but other than the Spanish and that I'm doing fine. Thanks for everything mom. Love you.Elder Larson