Week 5 MTC - Final Week

Sister Ramos served with Courtney in the Mexico City Chalco Mission & now teaches at the Guatemala MTC.

Some excerpts from Dallin from this past week !! If you have a chance, I am sure he would love to hear from you as he leaves the MTC.  He is definitely nervous about it ... understandably.  Thank you for all your support !!  We appreciate it !!

1. The language is going pretty well.  My teacher said I am doing really well and I should be able to speak and understand within a month or so.  I can pretty much talk to most latinos (except dominicans who talk 10000 mph) and understand what they are saying.

2.  Last week was the usual bomb p-day.  We played ball for over an hour but it just got too hot.  The rest of the day we just studied and relaxed.  

3.  I have felt super nervous this week about leaving the MTC.  It shows because I my stomach hasn't felt well at all and the bathroom and I have been best friends at times hahaha.  I am fine, though.  

4.  I heard a talk by Elder Bednar, where he bore his testimony that we could do this, and that spoke pretty strongly to me.  We also heard a devotional by Elder Ballard where he told us to think of what Joseph Smith went through in Liberty Jail and to stop feeling sorry for yourself (my paraphrasing).  I need to get rid of my fear and have more faith.

5.  My progress can not even be fathomed, honestly.  Before I got here, I thought I knew quite a bit about the Gospel and Spanish (I knew a fair amount) but I wasn't even close !!  After these weeks here, my testimony has become stronger where it practically didn't exist in some ways.  I came here on faith, and the Lord has blessed me because of it.  I feel like I have also been blessed with the gift of tongues, and I can communicate pretty well in Spanish in 5 weeks.  It's sometimes just a matter of putting your foot over the line and having faith that our Heavenly Father will help you past the first step. 

6.  I leave at 2 am on Tuesday and fly to San Pedro Sula.

7.  My goal is to strive to be a great missionary and I will love the people and my companions.  As for my legacy, I want to be a missionary that works hard and puts forth all my effort and leaves no regrets like Carlan, Court and others.  The stories that Bishop Jones shared with me have really stuck with me.

8.  I love to hear from all of you.  Sometimes, it gets lonely.  Pictures and emails are welcome.  Don't worry though, I am doing well.  Please tell everyone HI for me, especially Sister Brandt !!  I love you all.

9.  See you all next week from SAN PEDRO SULA HONDURAS !!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Cox

Week 4 The MTC Continued

I only have 15 minutes, so I will say as much as I can !!  I love you !!

The "old" guys (fellow Elders with a whopping three more weeks of experience than Dallin) left last Tuesday.  We were pretty bummed.  It's been weird this last week without them.  We have already planned a post mission party with them so that's good !!  We are the veterans now, teaching the young kids what to do.

We left the CCM at 8 am that same morning and headed to downtown Guatemala City.  We rode a bus to the market, where they sold a bunch of handmade goods.   I bought an awesome sweater and a hacky sack.  Both really cheap of course. 

We went to the plaza and gave out copies of the Book of Mormon to people  We gave out the 2 copies that we had in 25 minutes.  We actually received 1 referral. 

One guy from the US cussed us out and was pretty mad.  We just ignored the guy and kept going. 

We were able to go to Wendy's.  It was pretty much a taste of heaven even though Wendy's here has breakfast and the meat and meals are a bit different.

We also went to this massive Catholic church (biggest in Guatemala City) and looked around.  It seemed that there was a lot of focus on Christ's death instead of his life.  It was a sad feeling.

That night, President Duncan came to talk to us. He is the President over Central America for the church.  He and his wife are awesome.  I was able to shake their hands.

The newbies arrived the next day, we got 3 in our room.  Half of them didn't show up until the following day because all the guys from Salt Lake City had no pilot show up.  They had to go down to the Provo MTC, spend then night, and then come the next day.  Elder Roscus, Elder Giles, and Elder Horning are our new roomies.  One is from AZ, other 2 from UT. 

Strange facts ... I have been missing music the last week or two.  Also, I have also noticed that we are really good at teaching women but not quite as good at teaching men.  

We fasted for 24 hours this last week.  Everyone in the CCM has had constipation and the runs so the lines to the baños have been miles long.  I have been handling my issues well and it hasn't affected me much.

It was a long week this week because of transfers.  I really didn't have a ton of time to write everything.  

I want to thank everyone for their emails, they always mean a lot. 

I hope all is well with all of you in the States.  The first month has gone really fast.

I have been feeling the Spirit strongly, especially in the temple.

I have missed all of you, especially Carter.  I think about him a lot.  I love all of you a lot.

Thank you for your examples.  

Love, Elder Cox