Buenos Dias! Week Two

November 13, 2013

Buenos Dias Mother,

It was great to hear your voice even though I can't really hear it. I miss you guys so much. Terrible to hear about Tyler. I would like his email so I can write him. I get to write today because the schedule has changed. Tomorrow is our P day instead of Wednesday and we will be gone most of the day becuase we are going to the mercado. It has three stories and all the viejos say that it is legit. We all so go to a huge map of Guatemala. One of the ones where its like half a football field.  They are going to point out locations where events in the LDM (Libro De Mormon  ;) ) took place. It will be excited because it will be the first time we actually get to leave the MTC besides walking 100 yards to the temple. We are all excited.

Tomorrow the viejos leave and on Wednesday the nuevos come. It's kinda sad because I have become friends with many of the viejos but they are excited to get out into the field. I'm excited for them. Sometimes it feels like we are in a prison here. It's a nice prison but a prison all the same. We are inside all day long except for un hora de deportes cada dia. What just happened was unintentional, I didn't mean to start writing in Spanish its starting to just happen. It's incredibly weird when I catch myself thinking in Spanish. Pretty soon I'll be dreaming in Spanish. 

I sent a picture I hope you get it. Look for the handsome elder and youll see me ;)  The days are flying by now. It's hard to believe that I have been here almost two weeks. I am really missing my guitar and listening to Jack Johnson. You don't know what you have until you lose it. 

Elder Darrow is no longer my companion, which is kind of a bummer a nuevo that was supposed to be in our group when we came two weeks ago had visa issues and only arrived yesterday so naturally the trio was dissolved and so it is again me and Elder Golledge. Things with him are getting better . I am learning to be patient. He learns Spanish so slowly so when we role play teaching investigators he never says anything and I am left to do the work of two. I talked to him about it and he is going to try to do better. I hope he does. 

There should be another picture as well. It's of my district which is David. They are all good friends. The elder next to the elder with the glasses on the couch is my companion. Anyway all is well. I'm doing fine and I'm happy to be here. I hope all is well at home. I'm glad you no longer have to worry about that class. Enjoy the freetime because that is another thing we don't get here. :) 

I love you very much mother and look forward to writing you again soon. Please check with dad and see if he is gettting my emails as well. Thanks so much.

Much Amor.

Elder Bryan

Week One

November 6, 2013

Mother, I miss you all very much. Wednesdays are my P days just so you know. We have one hour to write every P Day and i think it will always be from four to five our time. I think there is an hour difference. I'm doing well here. Today was great woke up and went to the temple and then basically had all day to do whatever I wanted. We played a lot of soccer and Basketball, it was much needed. I'm exhausted all the time. We are in our beds by 11:30 but I have 4 hispano elders in my room and they stay up and horse play until about midnight every night, it's kinda fun though. We try to communicate with each other. They teach me spanish and I teach them english its fun. We wake up at 6:30 every morning and every second of our day is planned. We are either learning spanish or studying the gospel. 

We eat three meals a day and the meals are pretty dang good. The food is always cooked fresh but I can tell I am going to get tired of eggs, tortillas, and potatoes. There are tons of kids here probably around 150 elders and 35 hermanas. The building is under construction and so there is always hammering and drilling in the background and I am now used to it. 

I was called as a District leader my third day here. It's more of a hassle than anything else just paperwork and meetings but I'm not complaining. I'm happy to help where help is needed. I started with one companion named Elder Golledge. Hes a nice guy from California. Skinny and not very athletic. I feel like he moves in slow motion and it gets frustrating. Fortunately, i just got another companion, Elder Darrow from Alaska. He is in our district and his companion went home tuesday and so the President put him with us. He and I get along swell. A lot of the same interests and we think the same way. I needed it hahaha. 

I PAID 200$ for overweight baggage!!!!! Can you believe that? Oh well. Looking back now I should have just brought two. Oh well, we learn as we go. Also my athletic shorts are not in my bag, I must have left them home. Will you check for me. Also, no letter in my luggage but I did find those ferrero rochers ;), and many little notes. Thank you so much. They make my day. 

Yes most of the teachers are from Guatemala and just know basic English. All the meetings and everything are in Spanish as well. It's hard but I'm improving. As far as allergies go I must have adapted because I am great now. The first days were miserable because of them but I'm all cleared up now. Yes, i got all of the pictures in the last email. It was great to seee everyone. They all looked great. 

Lets see......what else..... its so humid here. I sweat buckets when we play sports. We have one hour to play sports before dinner at 5:00. It's crazy how green everything is. We don't get to go out at all except for today when we walked 100 yards to get to the temple. We are right next to it. The MTC or CCM as we call it is completely gated with armed security guards 24/7. Apparantly the gangs are pretty rough around this area. Walking to the the temple we pass a gas station which has guargs standing out front with bullet proof vests and pump action shotguns. Kinda cool. 

We have one investigator right now. Thank goodness he speaks english otherwise we wouldbe in trouble. His name is Fabio Portilla. He's a construction worker here. We have met with him a few times but communication is hard and he gets confused. He asks many questions that we don't have the answers to. He's a good guy though and we enjoy meeting with him. As far as anything i need..... I think I'm basically good except for athñetic shorts I could definitely use those. Also, they told us to let you know besides the address just to put elder Nicholas Bryan on the package, but to be honest I dont really care either way. 

I love you very much mother and miss you much too. Tell all I said hi and that I'm doing great. Excited  to get out of the CCMand have a little more freedom. 

Much Love.

Nicolas Arrives at MTC

November 1, 2013

Mother!!!! It was good to get your email. I apologize on not contacting you sooner. We were supposed to be able to email you on arrival however, things are rather unorganized. We have a schedule and it is rarely followed, However, I am enjoying myself here. when we first arrived we were herded onto a bus there were about 30 elders and 10 sisters at the LA Airport!!!!!! I was the second to arrive so it was kinda fun to see them all shuffle in. 

That Tuesday and Wednesday seemed like forever. Got little to no sleep during travel and was exhausted. We were allowed to sleep from 8 to 10 the morning we arrived. I took advantage of it and was glad I did. I am now settled in and am comfortable here. My companion is Elder Golledge form Claifornia. A quiet but very nice guy. We get along just fine. I don't have much time to write so I'm trying to just tell you the basics.

My allergies are crazy here. I got off the plane and immediately started sneezing and havent stopped since. The food is  good and the showers are hot so I can't complain. All is well. I miss you all.  I love you much will be able to email again on P Day which is Wednesday I believe.  Looking forward to it.