"If you labor all your days and bring one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy" D&C 18:15

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I'm not the new guy anymore!

I'm not the new guy in the MTC anymore! We finally got some new missionaries here. Last Tuesday we finally got to leave the CCM. We took a way sweet bus through the ghetto city of Guatemala! Let me just say that the people in Guatemala are crazy drivers! They just pull out whenever they feel like it and then stop in the middle of the road whenever they feel like it! And of course the pedestrians don't have the right of way... like there was this group of school children crossing at a cross walk and our bus driver sped up and split the group of kids in half! I thought we hit at least one of them. We took our first stop at this map of Guatemala where this group of surveyers surveyed the land of guatemala 107 years ago and this map is 99 percent accurate. It was way cool. It showed the elevation and everything and I got to see where Quetzaltenango was and ya there are just mountains everywhere there haha! President Nicholieson also told us storys about how they are pretty sure the Book of Mormon stories played out in Guatemala! He said in a tiny village they found this stone in a field and it talks about the 7 groups, and in the Book of Mormon there are 7 tribes and then on the rock is the sign of Lehi! So that's pretty cool to find some hard evidence about the Book of Mormon! After that we made our trek to the old part of the city, and that really humbled me to see how old the buildings were and how the people were living. We finally made it to the markets to barter, and lets just say, I'm a pro at that stuff! I got a bag, a wallet, two pens, and the most colorful hand made blanket for like 150 quetz. Ya I'm a pro! It was sweet. The market had 3 floors and the top floor had all the souvineers and then the 2nd was like a food market and there were stands full of raw meat it was awesome! We asked one of the guys if we could take a picture with the meat and he made us come inside his stand to take the picture! It was so funny! Then after that we finished off the day with some Wendys. I can just say that I've never tasted anything so good in my life! A baconator with large fries and a large coke... oh my gosh I want more! After that we went to the temple and the temple is always amazing!

Can I just say that I have the coolest district ever... haha at the little stand a couple weeks ago we bought these cool ties... like the coolest ties ever and we called them our district tie. We were gonna wear them for foto de groupa but they caught us and made us change so we all wore blue ties... We wont give up though. Next time we will be more clever about it. Also did I mention I'm the best barter? Oh ya I did. Well every Friday night we have tie trading night. I went to the stand and bought this 2 dollar tie that was shiny and pink and yellow. When the new missionaries got here I told them about tie night and I told them about how I might trade the starburst tie that night. I got them really excited for this tie. That night they all kept making offers and I kept declining them until the end so I could decide what tie I wanted. But this one elder said I have more ties in my room if you want to check them out. So we went into his room and he had all these way nice ties, so I traded my tie for his tie. His tie was a 40 dollar tie and mine was a 2 dollar tie. I WIN!!!

Because of the new missionaries we have to walk all the way to the capilla every day! but I like it because every time we go we get to walk through the temple grounds and I love it! It was crazy on saturday the temple was packed! There were people who traveled days just to come to the temple! It made me feel so blessed to live in Utah where there is pretty much a temple in every city!

Also I found my favorite scripture It's Alma 29:9. I love it, and thats why I am serving a mission! Also in the package I would like starbursts and more tide to go. That stuff is amazing! And because people are crazy drivers in Guatemala, I dont need my license haha! Well I love you guys! Im glad everyone is doing well in Logan!

Elder Corbett

Elder Corbett and Elder Dickson at the market

Elder Corbett and Elder Dickson in front of the large map of Guatemala

Monday, July 22, 2013

Second week at the CCM

hola familia!

My time in the ccm is going by so fast! but the days last forever! The elders say the days last like weeks and the weeks last like days. I am in the ccm for 4 weeks, and on Wednesday I will officially be here for 2 weeks. Although I feel like I've been here forever, I'm loving it and its going by way fast! The food is still great but lets just put it this way, if you dont watch what your eating, and you eat everything!....It doesnt come out very well. But trust me I learned my lesson and now I'm watching what I eat haha!

Tomorrow we get to go to the markets to barter. I'll have to test out my skills. So ya and just to let you know I'll probably take out 50 dollars tomorrow so that will be 400 quetzals. Gracias! Tomorrow we also get to go to Wendys! I have honestly been craving a good old burger. Last week we had a hamburger? Well at least it looked like one, but then it tasted like jerkey? It's fine. I still ate it and my stomach was fine with it, so we are good! Still nothing beats those good old beans and rice I had for breakfast. I'm hoping I have them again.. but we will see!

Its crazy! Tomorrow is the last day for 30 nortes and all the hispanos are leaving! Time goes by so fast here! It's so funny because all the hispanos love me and so the guys in my district call me famous! I will walk down the hall or into the cafeteria and I will hear all of them yell ELDER CORBETT! I'm going to miss them, but we will get new ones haha! And all of them made me give them my email address so when I get extra time I guess I can email them back and practice my spanish!

Its crazy how fast you learn espanol here! Last week I gave a whole lesson in spanish! And that was with no notes and answering my investigators questions! Haha I felt like a hispano!

Yesterday was my 2nd Sunday in the ccm! Sundays go by so fast! You wake up and go to a devotion that the president of the ccm gives and then we watch a movie right after... and lets just say I use that time to catch up on some sleep! I looked at the clock before the movie started and when I woke up an hour and 20 minutes went by.. maybe that is why sundays go by fast! But during the week you have to prepare a talk and at sacrament meeting which is in solo espanol, they call up random people to give talks! They usually pick one person out of each district, but since I'm the district leader and I go to all these meetings I'm hoping that they are nice to me and don't call me up! Haha Next Sunday we will be the only district that isn't new, it's gonna be crazy! We are expected to get 35 new nortes plus new hispanos!

Don't worry mom I'll get you some pictures! The first day in the ccm they take your ipods, passports, and cameras cause people steal them I guess. Kind of weird with a place full of missionaries. But tomorrow for my P day I will get my camera to take pictures of the city and the market and then right before we turn in our cameras I will just take out the memory card and work my magic haha! Also Hermana Nickolieson the President's wife had shoes for me so we are all good!

It was a way cool experience last P day we had the opportunity to go to the temple. The temple is so beautiful here and the background is this big green hill with trees and houses. We have a perfect view of it from our class room windows! I will try to take a picture! But anyways the temple is half the size of our church back at home and it was a great experience and the spirit was way strong! We get to go back to the temple tomorrow after the markets!

Well I love you guys and I'm glad you are all doing good!

Elder Corbett

The Elders at the CCM - July 2013

The Hermanas at the CCM - July 2013

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

First week at the CCM

HOLA MI FAMILIA!

The ccm has been great! Each day keeps going by faster and faster, and I can't believe that I am done with 1 week. They definitely keep you busy the whole time, but its actually fun stuff like learning the language or personal study time. Although at sometimes the ccm can feel like a prison, with its 15 foot walls and with its armed guards, but when we get to go to the casa de cre(a computer lab by the temple) we get to leave the prison and go for a small walk. Besides the meals, and deportes, that is what we look forward to.

The meals here are muy rico! usually the meals consists of rice and beans with chicken or something else. My favorite meal was actually for breakfast (hard to believe). It was beans and rice with chips covered in salsa. It was el mejor! (the best) as you can tell my espanol is really improving. It is what we do most of the time in the ccm. What really helps, is talking in espanol to the hispanos! They are my favorite! The hispanos are the funniest guys at the ccm. One hispano Elder Anderson, (we laugh at his english last name) loves Lebron James and he makes us call him Lebron! haha I love the hispanos! In our room we have 2 hispanos and 2 elders who are now on the third week.

Its really cool, on our second day, we got the opportunity to teach a real investigator! There are 5 companionship's in our district and each companionship gets 20 minutes to teach her, she is a cook in the ccm kitchen. On our first time, me and Elder Dickson weren't very prepared and it was pretty difficult to teach her. We learned that when we prepare a lesson, even if we don't give our lesson, because we never end up giving our lesson, but when we prepare, we end up teaching with the spirit, and that is the best thing you can do. We actually got her interested in baptism and she is leaning towards it. I'm sure we will eventually get to her.

It's crazy how true my patriarchal blessing and President Wallace's blessing are. I was called as the District Leader. It is really hard, because when we have meetings for the district leaders it is only in espanol so I am trying really hard to learn the language so I can teach my district. I got called as a district leader on my birthday, haha, I guess that was my present from the Lord.

Thanks for the 20 dollars mom. Today for p day they have a stand outside and I bought 2 way cool ties for 5 dollars and for 15 dollars I got these way cool scripture cases that are kinda like dads but with bright Guatemalan colors, they were 15 dollars and they came with a triple combination case, a matching bible case and small hymn book case. So today after the temple at 2 50 our time, we get to go to the distribution center and I'm going to get espanol scriptures for my case. I need them and I will use them for my mission!

Also I love my district, there are 5 elders and 6 hermanas. All of us elders are way close and we do everything together. One of the elders is Elder Godderidge, Kristen's nephew, haha. We are all way good friends and we eat and go and do everything together. The coolest part is that we are all going to Quetzaltenango, so maybe I'll get to be campanions with some of the elders from my district. Also I finally met a hispano from Quetzaltenango, haha.  He was way nice and he told us to write our names and emails down, and he will tell his family to email us and cook us some comida! haha So that will be nice!  Yes dad' there are people from all over such as Honduras San Salvador, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.  They are all going to places like San Salvador and Nicaragua.  I even met one hispano who is going to Buenos Aries Argentina. So its pretty cool!

Also I left my nike shoes at home... so I have to play deportes in my nike sandals it sucks but oh well haha I will pick up some shoes either at the market next week or at Walmart in 4 weeks, haha.  Also I forgot to tell you about church! It was pretty cool! Everyone has to prepare a talk and they call up 5 or 6 random elders a hermanas to speak and it has to be under 5 minutes and all of it has to be in espanol, haha. I love my teacher, he was going to add me on facebook so be watching for that. He just got home from his mission in Peru! He is a champin! I wrote the talk in english and then he helped me with in espanol!  yo se que la igleasia es verdarerro Well I love and miss you guys, and Im already lovin the mish! Time is going by so fast and I can't wait to be fluent in espanol and to finally get out of the ccm (the prison) haha jk.Well until next Tuesday!

Love you guys!

Elder Corbett


Monday, July 15, 2013

Hola Familia

Guatemala is the coolest place ever!  Its so green everywhere and I even saw the volcano as we landed. It was pretty funny when this old school bus came and picked us up at the airport. The city is huge!  We did drive past a McDonalds, Dominoes, and Burger King! The ccm is way cool. All the elders there are way nice. My companion is Elder Dickson, so that was pretty cool to find out. So far we have just been learning the rules of the ccm and we have been learning some spanish. I am actually picking it up pretty well.  Yo soy un misionario de la iglesia de jesús christo de los santos de los últimos días!

I have already eaten breakfast and lunch here. The food is the best! We had breakfast sandwiches with this sauce over it and for lunch we had pollo con arroz and the rice was delecious! I could definitely get used to it! I also ate this messed up fruit thing called a leecha. You'll have to look it up.  The only thing that has sucked so far, was the plane ride to Guatemala. It was only 4 hours and 20 minutes but it was so crowded. There was a ton of turbulance and everyone was freaking out! I enjoyed it and if you wanna know how I felt, you could watch the 2nd episode of lost where it shows the plane crash! Haha another funny thing was when we landed, all the Guatemalans clapped and cheered! I was thinking that its probably because most of their planes crash so they were happy to land haha jk!

But ya I am already loving it! So apparently every other week we go on a field trip, and yesterday some of the elders were telling me about their adventure to Walmart... haha my first fieldtrip is next tuesday at the flea market! I can't wait to go barter with the Guatemalans! Also I guess you can buy stuff through the fence at the ccm with native Guatemalans? I dont know how reliable that is haha.

Also its hilarious, there are guards everywhere! and these police men in trucks with their sirens on came cruising past us, and there were like 5 guys in the back of the truck packin ak 47s! You will have to tell josh all about that!

Well thats all thats happened to me so far! I love it! and I miss and love you guys, but I'm so excited and I know that I am suppossed to be here! My preperation day is on Tuesday so that will be when I email you next! and we have the same time right now so thats cool. Guatemala doesn't have daylight savings... well love you all!

Elder Corbett