Happy Birthday to Me

20 YEARS OLD..... Man I'm older then dirt now. I´m not even a teenager anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!!!!!! How do you feel parents, now that there is only one teenager left in the house? (Thought I'd throw that one in there.)

Well I'm thinking about going and eating some place special or something good because literally, I live like an hour by bus away from the city so I can´t really carry a cake up there. Maybe I'll just get some of my money and buy some ice cream up there. :) Hopefully things will work out. It's my birthday for goodness sakes!!!!!

Already the super bowl..... Man time is flying by. When I look back at what I've done it's really flown by, but when I look ahead I still lack 18 months so not a huge deal. Still time to get everything done. =P But at least someone besides the Patriots won the super bowl. It's all good. But I miss corn dogs soooooooooooo much!!! I explained to my comp the other day what they were and man I am craving them soooooo bad and you ate them during the super bowl!!!!!!!!!

Well tell Megan that she is going to have to carry the team so that they can win. =P Or tell her that her big brother is going to beat her up when he gets back. Maybe you guys could like video a game and save it so I can see her play. Just an idea..... =D

A translator for grandma & grandpa in Mexico?? (hahaha) Well grandpa better know that translators aren´t cheap, I mean I know a fantastic one that is going to have 2 years of real life experience talking to people - can read really well and loves to talk in Spanish. =P We´ll see if he can afford this guy.. =P But I would love sooooooo much to go to Mexico and see all the differences between my Spanish and theirs there. It's like totally different sometimes. There are words here that only exist here and words that only exist there!!!! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!!!!!

AWE!!!! Tell grandma that she is awesome for my birthday money, and someone give her a huge hug from Elder Sutton in El Salvador. =)

1 - Since your area appears to be closer to Guatemala (further north) what is the weather like?

The weather, let me see................. FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Literally it's the coldest part ever!!!! I have to sleep in pants, t shirt, sweatshirt and two covers every night!!! Then when I wake up, oh man, I have to take a shower!!! Okay let's do a comparison right now. It's compared to going out in the middle of winter, turning on your hose and getting under it. How does that sound to you, mom?! Today I splurged and heated up my water which took like an hour of heating up water in a pot and putting it in a jug. (hahahahah) I'll work on sending you some pictures and all that really super soon. I sent some last week and this week but I don´t think you got them.

2 - Did you realize that there is a different volcano outside that city as well? (your dad suggested another field trip - haha - maybe)

Well I don't know about another volcano because as a zone we don´t really do a lot of fun stuff. They are a bunch of party poopers here. But my comp and I are going to do something fun at least.

3 - What is your new companion like?

My comp is called Elder Marin. =) He is from Costa Rica or they call them "ticos" here, and he is super sweet! He has like 23 months in the mission so I'm probably going to kill him. I´m thinking about being in this area for 2 or more changes. (haha) but it's alright that it's only a branch here and super tiny. Like the assistance (membership) of the ward was 44 people yesterday. Then after our church we went to our other area, Jujutla, and had a sacrament meeting over there with our branch president and because one member was having a baby there were like 5 people in that sacrament meeting. =P So if that gives you a little idea what it's like here.

EVERONE here cuts coffee and works all their life. Sometimes it's really sad to see, but I know that what we have will bless them forever. :)

4 - Have you received your card or your birthday box?

I haven´t received anything!!!!!!!!!! I just thought that I fell off the face of the planet and no one wanted to talk to me. I bet they are having problems with the office and getting us our stuff especially with the changes and stuff.. =( I´m going to make some phone calls and all that and see what's going on. If not, then I'll have two birthdays. =P

5 - How is the new ward/branch?

I kind of explained that a little bit. We all get together in a house that the church has rented. But in Apaneca (which is the bigger of the two) there is a plot of land that the church has bought and is just waiting for the assistance (membership) to be around 80 people for 6 months and then they start building on it. Sadly that hasn't ever happened here. I want to see this place grow, and I talked to my comp - we´re going to do it. You´ll see. =) Plus there is no baptismal font so we baptize in rivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( hahah) I hope I get a baptism. =D

6 - Megan is trying to plan a "sweathearts" day date and needs ideas.... any memorable day dates?

I wasn´t ANY GOOD at doing that back in the states but let me think.... Well you could go to Crystal Hot Springs - if that isn´t too weird. If I was a guy going, I for sure would want to eat something good and go mess around doing something active. Laser tag, paint balling, you could make ice-cream sculptures with boxes of ice-cream. =) Just remember, if it involves food guys are all on board!!!!!!

Well I'll definitely remember about having 3 birthday parties or at least 3 times the fun. =P We might go today to eat at a place that's like KFC... (hahaha) - not many choices here in Ahucahpan. BUT it's my birthday for goodness sakes. I have to do something!!

Okay story of the week. So I got pretty sick actually..... hahaha like I had to go and do some crazy stuff. So one day I was at a members house and they gave us some sandwiches ( I think that's what caused it) but like a few days later I wasn´t feeling good at all!!!!! This was one day before changes, and I was waiting with a different companion and I just had no energy; I didn´t eat for a few days, everything was going downhill. So I called the nurse and finally after like 4 times trying, she answered and I told her what was up and so she told me I needed to get "un examen de heces" or a stool sample!!! So this is the fun part, there was no place to do it in my area so we went exploring for a place and finally found a libratory that would do it for us. Then they asked me if I brought it with me and I said no. They proceeded to tell me that I had to bring it with me and I couldn´t do it there. At this point, I could barely walk a block without being super tired. Finally after finding a bathroom and getting the sample we got the results and that sandwich that I ate actually had amebas in it and I had amebas!!!!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!! That was the reason that I had no hunger and why I was constantly going to the bathroom... I started to take medicine but the problem was they wouldn´t start working for like 3 days!! So I got to my new area sick. My comp was being super nice and helping me and all that. I told him that I hadn't eaten in days and so he made me some rice and eggs. The little we had in our house we proceeded to eat. (bad idea!!!) I went and threw that up.... Side note..... I haven´t thrown up in years!!!! Remember this day in time, Wed. - Feb. 2011. Now just to say I'm hungry again, and still fat as ever. The only problem is the pills I'm taking now turn my pee almost black.... hahhahahahaha That was a surprise the first time I saw it. At first I thought it was just because I wasn´t drinking enough water but that wasn´t it. That's my story of the week.

Love you all. I´m working on that smiling thing. =D

Elder Sutton

Transfer Day

Well let's talk about this week for me..... hum.... Well last night we went and baptized a family that are called the family Hernandez!! It really was an awesome baptismal service. We had lots of people come from the ward and even with a few bumps it turned out really good. =) =) =)

But the drum roll !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I´m leaving my area and my comp... =( =( =( It's good and bad at the same time. In this short amount of time, I've made some really good friends here and (I'm not going to lie) I'm a little depressed about leaving them all. I´m going to be with a guy called Elder Merin who is going to finish his mission with me or as they say in the mission, he is going to "die" with me. (haha) Maybe he´ll leave some cool stuff for me. But the place I'm going is called Ahuachapan. It's like really small and completely different from this city. It's super cold at night so I'll be really grateful for the pants and sweat shirt. Thanks mom!! But it's not even a ward out there. It's a branch. So we´ll work hard and hopefully we´ll find some people who are ready to baptize. Because here in this area there are going to be like 7. My comp, Elder Winters, is going to train a new missionary here in this area so that's pretty awesome!! Lucky for him.. =( Don´t worry, I'll take lots of pictures here.

1) What type of a marker do you use to mark your scriptures (pencil or marker)?

I mark mine with pencils. I use colored pencils and try to make them kind of good looking so when I ask our investigators to read them, they pay attention. =) That's just what i do.

2) What is your favorite scripture (if you have one)?

My favorite scripture..... I don´t really have one.. hahah I really do like Moroni´s promise that he makes in Moroni 10. How if anyone wants to know of the truth of these scriptures and asks with faith, God will answer your questions. Because if the book of Mormon is true then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. That's why we try so hard on our mission to get people to read it.

3) Have you learned yet how to make pappoosas? (we know the spelling is wrong)

Pupusas? Still no....I really want to but we just have no time.... We´re always running around doing tons of stuff and never have time to breath. But one day I'm going to - promise.

4) Are you getting a suntan on your face and lower arms? (With the right farmers' tan we can get you a job when you get home - hahaha Maybe Eric's dad will be hiring.)

Definitely I have a huge farmers tan. I´m soooooo white under my shirt. Especially my chest and my legs. They are turning into ghosts. They only see the light of day in the morning and in the night... But when I get back, I'll work on that. Until then, I'm Casper the friendly ghost. (hahaha)

But I think Megan is farther than me in her reading. I´ve been reading Jesus the Christ a lot. That book is really amazing. It talks about all Jesus and his life and the things he did and the background of it all; I definitely recommend it to anyone. =)

I really do thank you for your prayers and support. Sometimes that's all I have is a good prayer and the rest is up to me to be happy and really enjoy my mission. I really do love my mission and the people that I've met here in such a short amount of time. I can´t wait to make new friends in Ahuachapan. That's where I'm going to spend my birthday for Pete's sake!!! (But - p.s. I still don´t have my package. Who knows, I'll get it sometime. I just have to be patient. (hahahaha) If anything - I'm learning to be patient on my mission.

I also sent some more pictures so I hope you guys get those in time. My memory card is being a little stubborn, but I got it to work. =)

Love you all forever!!!

The church is true. =)

Elder Sutton

Grateful to All

Okay so I live with 1 other pair of missionaries, or a total of 4 in the house. One of them is from Guatemala and is learning English so he decided to try and teach us in English and they both struggled way super bad!! It made me laugh. We talk in the house in English sometimes but usually not in "formal English" so when he went to teach it was super hard for him! (hahah) But hey, I thought this week about the day that you guys dropped me off, and we went to Olive Garden!! That's weird. I know it wasn't on dad´s birthday, but I did think about it. Our minds are linked since you went there this week!!!

Well I'm sorry to say this but I'm pretty sure that I couldn´t take the weather in Brigham either!!!! At night when it's like 75 degrees I have my jacket on and my pajamas and all that and I kind of am cold! Oh yeah! I forgot how grandma & grandpa always went to Mexico during my birthday. But now I can speak Spanish and they can´t; one day I'll go with them and be their translator. (hahah) That would be sweet!!!!!

That's sweet how Chase Petersen is going to Mexico! The only problem, I told dad this, is that the visas take like forever to get them!!! I remember in the MTC where the elders who were waiting for a visa eventually got shipped off to missions in the states until they got their visas! I'm sure that things will work out. Chase is supposed to go there. =)

That's really nice of the Terrys. =) If anything, I know that they at least thought about me during the Christmas season even if their card didn't make it to me. =)

1 - In your new area, do you do your own laundry?

Well I kind of do my own laundry. I wash my garments (if that counts), but I do it by hand. I´m not too bad at it either. =) I´ll show you how when I get home. It's kind of time consuming but not super tough. =)

2 - What special purchases did you make last week? (I spied on your account.... hahaha)

Well I still haven´t bought anything yet. I just took it out so that you wouldn't change your mind and take the money back. =P But I'm really going to get some leather things for my Bible and Book of Mormon. =) They look so cool and help with the water.

3 - Are you letting you hair grow a little or are you still trying to sport a new do?

Well it's actually super short. (hahaha) I´m changing how I'm looking right now so that I can look a little professional. I show people how I used to look before the mission and they say that I look super weird! (hahaha) It's all good.

4 - Do you have to use chapstick or are your lips ok with the humidity?

Well I use chapstick just about every day. The humidity is pretty rough at times. Especially during the day around lunch. Talk about super hot. Walking in a dusty streets sweating isn´t fun!!!

5 - Are transfers coming soon? Are you looking forward to them?

Well transfers are actually around my birthday. I think before my birthday actually.... =/ So we´ll see if I'm still here for the next change. Who knows... I kind of am looking to a change. I´ve been with my comp a while and he is getting bored of me a little and me of him.... but he is good. One pair in my district have been together for like 4 months or more. Something crazy like that! (hahaha) So who knows.

WOW!!! $80 for my birthday between you and grandma & grandpa!!!!!! Man maybe I'll just stay out here for the rest of my life!!! (hahaha) But really - thank you guys!!!!!!! That's awesome. Maybe I'll go buy a cake (we can´t make them because we don´t have an oven) !!! =D My family is awesome. If anything, I know I have the coolest family ever. =)

I really do thank and appreciate every one of you guys - (my mom, dad and sisters and tell all the people in my ward and all my friends & family too)! Everyone has had some impact on me being here. Even though it's super hard here, it's the best thing that I can ever do. The most difficult two years. =) But salvation never was easy. If it was I wouldn´t have to serve a mission. But until then. I love you.

Elder Sutton

Rice & Beans

I think that you should all take a trip here then tell me what a heat wave is!!! I'm pretty sure that the sun is actually getting closer and closer to El Salvador every single day. I´m sure it's like a crazy natural phenomenon. But I'll be missing it during the raining season. I´m really not looking forward to getting wet all day every day.. =( Plus I was thinking that when I finish my mission, I'll come back during the raining season. =( Dangit, all my stuff will be wet; but I'll probably just end up chucking it all so I can fit cool stuff in my suitcase. I found this sweet machete here! Super cool! Maybe I'll send pictures of it. =)

I want to go and have a sleep over in Provo with Amanda, too!! That's not even cool. But how does it feel to be all alone in the house? I bet really weird. Can you imagine one day it´ll be like that?!?! OH just kidding; I´m living with you all my life. That's what you told me huh mom. =P At first I was like, "who took the girls down to Amanda's house????" OH WAIT!!! Emily can drive.... HOLY CRAZINESS, time is running by faster then I can believe.... =( It's good and bad....

Megan's ditching her own father's birthday for a date??????? Wow I can see who is more important in her life.... =P (kidding - just teasing) But who is the date with?? I also sent dad a letter in the mail so hopefully if the guy walks fast enough, the letter will get to you guys in a month. LOL

1 - Is your new area still in Santa Ana or is it more in the country?

Well it's still like a city. It's really in Santa Ana but just another part. So I'm still with big homes and such but the members are better and a little more poor so this area is way cool. =) We´re working with a partial member family so that we can baptize the parents. The kids were baptized like a year ago. =)

2 - How big is your new ward & do you get to play the piano in this ward too?

Well the attendance was like 81 yesterday. Good but not super huge, and I had to play the piano but on a FLIPPIN KEYBOARD!!!! I hate them with a dying passion from the depths of Hadies!!! I decided yesterday that if I get a house, I'm going to not eat for like a year so I can buy a REAL piano. It's worth it. (hahah)

3 - Did you find a new apartment or are you still living with the zone leaders? (what's your place like?)

Well we´re probably going to live with the zone leaders for good. It's pretty close to the top of our area but our bishop wants us closer. I don't know. Maybe we´ll move. Not sure. But it's a fairly big house; a member rents it to us for way cheap because we´re the missionaries. =P

4 - What's the best thing you ate this week?

Well defiantly pancakes with peanut butter!!! Our cook makes us like real drinks! She puts apples in a blender and mangos and all that and that's super good! Basically anything that's not Beans and rice!!!!!!!! I like it tons still but come on..... Every single day of my mission is pushin it..... hahahahahaha But its better then starving. =)

Well let's see if anything cool happened this week: OH! We went up to this area called Buena Vista - or to translate it for you gringos "good view". It's literally on a "mountain" or a giant hill here and I get such a good work out walking up that. I´m sweating and all that when we get there. And of course our investigators live at the flippin' top!!! I´ll take some pictures and all that.

Also washing clothes by hand is quite fun. Like getting the soap and scrubbing yourself and then rinsing it and hanging it up to dry. Quite the experience. So what do we learn from this??? Never complain about putting the clothes in a washing machine!! Deal? Deal!!!!

Well, I love your prayers and your support always.

Love Elder Sutton

Emergency Change

Well today we went and played soccer and football on a turf field that the stake president owns here, and it was soooooooooo hot.. hahah You guys don´t even know. I´d trade you guys in just like 3 seconds. I can just imagine how much I'm going to freeze when I get home. I just can´t even imagine how cold it is. I´m turning into a Latino. Like at night, I put on my sweatshirt and my pajamas because it drops like a few degrees and I freeze to death!!! (ha-ha) I´m going to die in the snow.. :(

Wow Box Elder actually beat Logan for once in the whole world?!?!? I hope that there was a huge party and that everyone celebrated! I remember back in the day when I was a senor and we would always lose to them, but look at us now!!!

Yeah so I heard about Amanda getting a new bed!! Lucky little girl. I still have my legs hang off the bed every night. (ha-ha) I remember my old bed (which I think Megan stole) where I could actually lay out flat!!

1 - What was your favorite thing that happened this week?

OKAY so here is the super craziest story of the week!!! SO surprise I'm in a new area. =) I moved last Friday to La Libertad. (hahah) They called us Friday in the morning about 11:30 and said pack your bags and clean your house you have emergency changes.... I was like what?????? My comp kept on asking them if we did something wrong, but we didn´t!!! Okay so the reason for the emergency changes was that the area I was in right used to be where the sisters were, and one night some gangsters came and painted gang signs on their house and knocked on their door. So the president took them out the next day and put us in there. (Hahha - I was like thanks president. Putting us with the gangsters..) But really it was just bad for the girls.. I'm still with Elder Winters and all that but we didn´t get to say goodbye to anyone!!!!! My whole mission was in that area and then they took us out in two hours!!! I only got a picture with the cook and one member and that was it.. We have to look for a new house and all that. For now we´re living with the zone leaders, (ha-ha) but it's awesome. We already have 2 baptismal dates and we've had 3 days; and we found 16 new people to teach. So opening an area isn't that bad of a thing. =)

Story number two... Okay so yesterday after church a member called us up and said, "hey you guys can speak English right?" We said yeah. Well he continued to say that he found an oriental family that could only speak Spanish so he wanted us to go with him and translate. So we went to this house and then knocked the door and a girl that was oriental came to the door and my comp said "Hey do you guys speak English?" she said not really and she brought her brother and immediately he was like "Hey guys; what's up?" So we started talking for a few seconds and then he started speaking to the member in Spanish with us and SURPRISE he could speak Spanish too. They all could!!! (ha-ha) We then were let into the house and there was a huge courtyard like in Asia and tons of people and a lady at a chalk board. They were giving Mandarin Chinese classes in Spanish! So we were like - heck yeah!! We sat through it and learned some stuff. So I can say that I was taught Mandarin Chinese in Spanish.. (hahahah) But it's so legit!! We stayed after the class and invited them to mutual - all 10 of their family. I´ll take pictures with them but most of them can speak like 4 languages and the dad like 5 or 6. It was awesome!!!! They told us about their culture too. So legit.

2 - How is your Spanish coming along?

Spanish is really improving. The only problem is I still ask a lot of questions and my comp kind of gets annoyed with them all. (ha-ha) Oh well, I'll keep doing it anyway. :)

3 - Are your nights quiet so you sleep well or are things noisy and you're always tired?

Well they are really actually quiet in this new area. We live like in front of this patriarch´s house and it's a quiet neighborhood. hahah

4 - What's your favorite part of the day?

My favorite part of the day... well that's a tough one. Probably lunch. Our new cook is so sweet and awesome! The only thing is that we need to kind of wake up this ward that we´re in. The missionaries before weren´t super excited and all of that so we´ll work this all out. But this new area is sweet! Like we´re doing way good now.

I hope this week was exciting for you guys too, and that my stories weren´t boring. (ha-ha)

Love you all,

Elder Sutton

Happy New Year

Laser tag for New Years Eve - Oh really now!?!?!? You all decide to do fun stuff now that I'm in Central America for new years!!!! I´m mad! But I can imagine you guys playing laser tag! I´m really impressed though! Running around and what not!? I hope that you took some sweet pictures!?!?! Where ever is Boondocks - is that the one by the freeway on the way to Provo?? or idunno...

Dang, Steve Darais is already back. I remember him being around and playing with Chris and I, and then once he left on his mission it felt like last year. That's cool how Chris called on New Year's so that the whole family could talk with him instead. So did he really like his mission then? Steve? I don´t know of any missionaries that return that didn´t like it but still...

So the temp here is actually good today because there is like a breeze thingy going on, but the other couple of days have been super super hot. Like just walking around the block we both would start sweating. But so is the life here in El Salvador. hahah - mom would like it though. =)
It sounds like to me Amanda is learning to be quite the handy woman. Maybe by the time I get home she will be able to make me some ice cream out of snow too!!! hahaha

1 - Did they also have fireworks for the New Year's celebration?

They hand TONS of fireworks for the New Years; I´d say almost more then there were for Christmas. The funny part was that the next day the streets were even more covered in papers from the fireworks and NO ONE was outside. Like literally NO ONE! I am in the second capital of El Salvador and the streets were bare! I was thinking that if a giant bomb went off last night and everyone got turned into zombies, that would be how the city would look. But we still had to work. SO we went out tracting and sadly no one wanted to talk to us... =( probably cause they all had hang overs still... hahahahahha That night we just hung out with a member family and played scrabble with dice... in Spanish... hahahah It really wasn´t fair, but I didn´t get last place??? haha

2 - Any sign of your new pet (rattitui)?

Well no more rats that we know of.. We put out some traps and such so that if he did come back through our drain we would get him. =P SO no rats only cockroaches. =P

3 - What is the biggest animal you have seen? (from Amanda)

Well the biggest animal.. hahaha a cow. =P Okay so we´re in the city and there are cars and tons of busses and all that jazz and some guy around here has a wagon and cows and rides though town!!! It makes me laugh every time I see him because it's this huge city and then these huge cows!!!

4 - Did you make any new year's resolution/goal?

Well I kind of did, not really any terribly serious ones but one of my goals is not to get fat. I definitely don´t want to do that. If I come home fat someone has to make me join a weight loss group or something. hahahah

5 - What kinds of food do you actually have in your refrigerator? (from Amanda)

Food in my refrigerator... Well right now not a lot because its p-day; we´re going to buy. A big pitcher of cool aid, a pound of frozen beef, some drinkable yogurt that are almost gone, some cups of water, some left over lasagna from a member, some month old onions, and some baby potatoes. =) That's our food!!!!!!

Well there weren´t any crazy cool stories this week sorry fam.. =( but New Year's fireworks kept us up way late!!! My comp started to yell at them to be quiet but it didn´t work. hahahaha

Well I'll make a poem:

Roses are red

The church is true

The mission is great

But I really want food!!!

LATERZ FAMILY!!!! (and my large fan club)

Elder Sutton

Christmas 2010

Wasn´t that crazy talking over Christmas. I feel like it wasn´t even real. When I hung up I was just like "wow, I just talked to my family on the phone...." (hahaha) Then after, I was going to ask you more questions because I forgot to ask but decided against breaking the rules. I´m such a good kid huh... (hahahhahhahah) But yeah, talk about weird. I could just imagine all of you sitting at the table talking on the speaker phone. How weird. =P

Well the way you're telling me, it sounds like you didn´t do anything super fun for Christmas because I wasn´t there!!! I know that's a lie but thanks for the thought. =P Eventually something fun has to happen while I'm gone so you can´t hide it forever. I´m just teasing. But I really like the pictures that you sent me. I have the pictures from last year's party at the PEAK. Good times. It's weird to think that I'm going to be in El Salvador this WHOLE year! The mission kind of messes with your mind, but the good thing is that I'm going to stay super busy so supposedly it's going to go by fast.. =) But just for the record I loved all the presents that each of you gave me! I´ve played with/used them all!! It made my Christmas feel at least somewhat like it.. hahaha =)

1 - How did the baptism go on Christmas day?

Well now that is kind of a sad story. I had all my baptismal clothes at the church and all that jazz and the sisters showed up without the girl who was supposed to be baptized. They proceeded to say that she is in San Salvador in a hospital and super sick! So NO BAPTISM... sad day for us... but we´re hoping in January!! (if she gets feeling better) Pray for her.

2 - What did you end up eating for you special Christmas dinner/food?

Hopefully these pictures will all work but yeah we had the whole mission party thing called The Multizona Navideña. where everyone in our mission went to a huge stake center and ate. We all got some cool soccer jerseys for Christmas then at the end we went and watched movies that the missionaries had made for Christmas. It was super cool!! Then we had a dinner that a rich member made for us like the 23 or something... hahah Then on the 24 (aka their Christmas) we ate at a members house! =) So I'm all fat and happy from Christmas. (hahaha)

Well I'll tell you guys a cool story that just happened last night. Deal!

Well about like 10:20'ish last night my comp got off the phone and was in his bed praying and I was laying out in our cool hammock writing in my journal about all the stuff we did when all of a sudden I heard some weird scratching coming from in our room; I thought it was my comp just scratching himself (haha - we found out he might be allergic to something here and has all these spots that are super itchy on his body) when all of a sudden from out of our room comes this HUGE RAT!!! I sat there still in my hammock watching it. This thing was huge though! Not like our other one that we killed but huge! So I told my comp and the rat went and hid among the boxes in our back corner. We both decided - we´re not going to sleep with this thing alive so we started to take out the boxes really slowly so not to scare it. My comp had this huge shovel and when it bolted we almost killed it. It ran out and into our drain and was sitting in there. So we tried everything to get it out. We used my peanut butter, tried throwing things at it but no. So at this time it was way late so we decided to block it off and kill it tomorrow (Today) So we got these huge bricks and put them in both the entrance in our house and in the drain in the street... So this morning my comp checked and someone stole the brick from the street and it escaped!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone took a BRICK!!!! Man, everything here gets stolen!!!!! (hahha) That was the most resent and quite a long story but that is funny...

Well, it was awesome talking to you on the 25th and really I appreciate all that you all are for me. You all help me in a special unique way. Thank you.

Love Elder Sutton

December 20, 2010

Goodness goodness goodness...... Where in the world did December go?????????? Like literally I remember getting your package at the beginning of December and thinking, "Man, christmas is forever away. I don´t need to even worry about it" and now it feels like I was transported to the week of it!!!!!!!!!! Flippin crazy if you ask me.. Well we have transfers tomorrow and here is the news with me.............

=============================News==========================

We officially don´t have changes. Both me and Elder Winters are going to be together for another change!! =) I´m pretty excited but at the same time kinda bumbed I didn´t get to a new area. But literally it's going to be great spending Christmas here in my area and then also his birthday and maybe my birthday. He kinda is feeling like my brother that I never had... (thanks alot parents =P) I hope he doesn´t mind being with me another change. hahaha. Plus we get to go to people´s houses on Christmas and Christmas eve and all that such. =)=)

OKAY, I´m going to explain the Christmas season here and what everyone does. =)

Alright so first off all they try and make everything all pretty by painting the trees in the side walk white.. It just turns out looking funny but they try. Some people have like one string of lights. Like the most lights that I´ve seen here is one string on someone´s banister of their house. hahah they would be blown away if they went to the states and saw ours..

Next they all party! Like that's what they do. Like in the states it's a little more reverent and all that. Here they have HUGE fireworks like every night and huge dances and all that. So like the 24th is when they do everything. Open presents. Party. you know the whole thing we do on Christmas back in the states... lol Well then Christmas is like the day that everyone rests. Me and my comp call it the day that they sleep off their hang overs.. hahahah But yeah basically it's a reason for them to party!! hahaha but it's all good. hopefully a member will feed us and we won´t have to be in our house all Christmas then go out and work..... =) but it's all good!!!! =)

OKAY. update with the temple here. they almost have finished the outside. Like they even put up the angel Moroni and all that stuff! One member here works on the site and showed us the pictures. It's so cool. He is in charge of all the electrical and all that stuff here. =)

Man it's crazy to think that christmas is this week. But I´m glad that I´m here and going to experience this. It´ll be all for the good. =) and Jayda??? What??? no one bothered to tell me that April was even that pregnant! But now we have someone else in our family. Cool! Someone should send me pictures of the party!

hahaha Megan on a date. That just sounds funny to me!!!!! Does she even have a facebook yet? Lol I remember her wanting one all the time but mom wouldn´t let her. It's crazy to think that she is going to be a Senior when I get back. hahaha

1 - Have you been enjoying the 12 Days of Christmas?  Anything stand out as being more fun?

But yeah we have been enjoying the 12 days of Christmas!!! Literally it's like the highlight of our night! My favorite so far is the coloring book... hahah I´ve already colored like three of them... lol I do it while my comp is calling his district so don´t get to worried. hahaha

2 - Details for our upcoming chat with our favorite son?

Well details... Um... I´m going to call in the morning on Christmas. I think that is like set in stone but I don´t know of anything else. There are still a lot of options and I´m going to go get everything in order so don´t worry too much. If there is anything you wanna talk about write it down so you don´t forget. haha I know mom is super organized so she might already be doing that. =P love ya mom... Besides that I think we´re good. I don´t really want a lot of people. hahah if anyone really wants to they can talk but yeah you know. =)

3 - Will you ask the mission president's wife to add us to facebook?  (Dixie said she actually posts things once in a while so I think that might be neat - even in Spanish)

Well I´ll try and ask her but I dunno if she will remember. Like I´ll talk to her when we all get together for the multi zone activity this week. It should be pretty sweet. =)

4 - Are you still on track for upcoming baptisms?

Well those baptisms fell.... =( =( like we don´t know what happened but they decided that they didn´t want to be baptized anymore... we think they talked with some other people about it but it's okay. The work still goes forward. We found a girl this week who had been taught by other missionaries before and almost was baptized but just didn´t feel ready. So we´re working with her to baptize her. =)

Well I can´t think of anything more to write you guys.... =( I know that I´ll remember something as soon as I send this letter but it's all good. =) There is always next week. Hahah remember I´ll be here for two years. =P hahaha 

Feliz Navidad a todos y espero que todos disfruten esta epoca a recordar nuestro Salvador y Redentor. Sin el somos nada en esta vida y después tambien. Un buena escritura a leer es Lucas capitulo 2. Sobre el nacimiento de Jesús. Que Dios les bendiga siempre y les guarde.

Elder Sutton

December 13, 2010

Feliz Navidad! Honestamente no puedo creer que casi es la navidad.  Realmente el tiempo está corriendo como loco!!!   Haha-  well just a little Spanish to throw into you guys.  Really easy translating so you can have some fun with that.  (hahahaha)  Man we´re going to be talking on the phone in like two weeks.... It feels like I just got here!!!  Literally, the time is running away!  But yes, don´t worry, I got the most wonderful package from you guys ever.  I love the rice crispy treats with people´s comments on them.  :)  :)

Wowwwww!!!!!!!!!!!  Look at our house!!!  Where did our dungeon go?????  Like I totally can remember there being nothing down stairs and I didn´t recognize our basement for like 20 minutes!  I thought that you were in some other room or something!  Then with the huge television and the leather couches and all that..  Man!!   Why didn´t anyone tell me that we were rich?!?!?!   I would have bought tons of stuff growing up like an I phone!!!!   (hahaha)

 I miss petting dogs like it's my job!!!!!  It's a rule here that we can´t touch pets of any kind!!!!  But I'm going to confess that I have pet a dog before... :(   I´m a sinner....  But p.s. I love your pictures so much!!! One day I'll be back there with you guys.  :)

So you actually received my memory card????? Legit!!!  That's awesome.  I was hoping that it wouldn´t get stolen or anything like that.  I just sent it through regular mail..   My old companion was crazy; I'm not going to lie. 

1 – Are you calling home on Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) or on Christmas Day?  Have you purchased your phone cards yet?

Well, I'm going to call you Christmas morning and I hope with my companion, Elder Winters, so then you can hear him too.  But yes, we´re talking to the members about finding the cheapest way to call - like buying phone cards or all that jazz.  Don´t worry, I'm figuring it all out.

2 – Where did you come up with your wacky, first companion?  We were just awed at him in his special music video…..(Josh Groban sing-a-long). It’s all fun!

Hahah - Elder Choc............. He really liked Josh Groban, but he had no idea what he was saying.... Definitely a......................... Special missionary.................... hahahahahahahah

3 – Have you bought anything for yourself for Christmas? (I put $100 in your account just in case you want a machete or something…. J)

Really??? So I can like buy something with the money?  Like maybe I'll buy some egg nog cause it's like $4 for a little.... I miss it.... =(  

HEY!!!! Remember to take pictures of the party and send me them. The Christmas parties.... =)

4 – Is there anything you want us to tell the family at the Wiggins’ Christmas party at the Peak this next Saturday? 

Tell them that... I miss them very much...  Everyone. Cheyenne, DeeDee,  The Harveys... all of them. Tell them that they all should have tons of fun for me and remember that with our family we can experience some of the best times in your life.  I know I have.

5 - How about the Suttons whom we will be hanging with on Sunday at their party?

Well maybe tell them that I miss them..  Tell grandma that I think about her too.  And I hope that she got my letter.  That I´m trying to have some fun too but that I'm working really hard to make everyone proud of the Sutton name. =)

Well I'm going to sign off so I can go and buy food for the week....  I just want to say how much of a deeper gratification I have for the Christmas season this year.  All the other years I guess I just took it for granted like just for the presents.  Now this year when I don´t have nearly as much (thankfully some, love you mom and others!!) I just realize that it's not about presents.  We hear that all the time but until you don´t have it, you don´t know. I love everyone of you guys..

Love you all friends, family... Megan, Amanda, mom and dad (even Maggie). 

Smile for me and remember to have some fun for your little brother in Central America. 

Don´t forget that I love you. really

Elder Sutton

Derek and the Volcano

Thanksgiving in Elder Winter's old area

The crazy volcano we hiked to in our suits

The district

Elder Winter's and I in front of our house

December 7, 2010

Well hopefully you guys got my 3 pictures that I sent to you.

- The first photo is of us when we went to Elder Winters’ old area for a baptism. His bishop then went and got a turkey and the whole ordeal for the missionaries - that was my Thanksgiving!!! It actually wasn´t bad. (hahah) I still missed the real one, but my companion was really missing it. Every single year his family goes to the dunes and has Thanksgiving there with all his family and this was his first year not with them. He and his family are HUGE riders, 4 wheelers, motorcycles, etc. I tried to cheer him up. J

- The volcano of doom was the next photo! Man, I still feel tired from that trip and it was a week ago!!!! That was an experience that I’m not all that ready to do again. This next p-day we´re going to be chilling in our stake center playing ping pong and lacrosse and maybe get some food. (hahah) You should have seen us coming off that mountain. On the way back in this small village in the mountain there was a store, and we all went and cleaned the whole place out buying soda and chips and everything this guy had!! J

- This photo is us in front of our house. We had to take a picture for the Christmas video that the zone is making. I thought it was funny so I sent it to ya’ll!!!!!

Well guess what??? We have a baby Christmas tree that my companion got from his ex-comp - it’s pretty legit. In our house we have a corner of Christmas stuff and lights. I think it’s pretty cool. It’s a lot better than other missionaries at least.

December 18 for Megan’s date? That should be fun!! Hopefully on that day we should have some baptisms! (cross your fingers) I remember the good old days of dating.... Sometimes I miss it and then at other times, I’m way happy I don´t have to deal with all that garbage!!! J

Why haven´t you sent me a picture of Maggie in her new hair!! For all I know she is dead!!!!!! Man, I’m dreading one of these emails where you tell me that she is dead.. I think you should just lie to me and tell me she is forever alive and just buy me a new dog in her place! (hahahah - kidding kidding....)

OH, speaking of dead - my comp smashed a rat´s head in yesterday with a broom! Okay so here is the story. We have this giant whole in our house and two drains so that the water can leave when it’s raining. A rat came into our house through that whole.. My comp was on the phone when I saw it and so I was quiet and once he got off we got this ancient trap from inside our house and tried to set it up. It was too old to work so my comp decided to be Rambo and I gave him a broom, and he proceeded to chase after it with that broom until he finally trapped it in the corner and then proceeded to swing at it and making the funniest sounds I’ve ever heard. I can only compare them to like a ninja or something. I was laughing so hard. On my camera I have pictures but that’s at the house so another day you can see it.

Cut & Paste:

1 – Did you ever get cookies from your Grandma Carlene? (she sent something else off to you yesterday for Christmas but I said you hadn’t mentioned it…..?)

Nope... I haven´t received anything from Grandma Carlene yet. It’s probably in the mail as we speak. J But I’ll look forward to an awesome package from her sometime soon!!! HEY plus I sent you guys my memory card through the mail, let’s hope that it doesn´t get stolen!!! J J J

2 – Have you taught your companion how to use a lacrosse stick yet?

Of course I’ve taught him how to play! What kind of companion would I be if I hadn’t? (hahaha) He actually likes to play it so that’s even more of a bonus. One day we went out in the street and threw the ball. He wasn´t too good but the people were definitely watching us. J

3 – Are you getting to be a shoe shining fool?

Yeah I’m definitely a pro at shining my shoes. Man I almost do it every day because I want my shoes to last longer. I don´t want to have to go get new shoes for a while... because A. I don´t want to spend money on shoes and B. they aren´t all that great quality shoes here. (hahah) Oh but this week we tract into a guy who makes shoes. He was making them as we were talking to him. He had been doing it for like 50 years!!!! He definitely was pro at it.

So it must be true that Megan is starting to like basketball more than soccer right now. She must be doing good at it.. J I never was excellent at basketball so maybe all those genes went to her... THANKS ALOT PARENTS....... (hahahaha)

Well, we watched the Christmas devotional yesterday too. That kind of made me baggy (homesick), but it wasn´t terrible because it was in Spanish. I´m definitely improving because I understood a lot more than last time I watched conference. When it came time to sing the words were in English so my comp and I were the only ones singing; we sang loud!! J

Well I just want to say that my family is the best.. Like I told you before my comp is what we call rich...... (haha) and he has always had all that he has wanted all his life and I just feel like I appreciate things a lot more than he does. I´m grateful for that!

So I’m throwing out ideas, but I might want to go out of state for college. Not too far but like maybe Arizona, California, or somewhere. I´m sure mom is opposed to that, but I just want to get a feel for real life out of flippin’ UTAH. (hahaha) Tell me what you think.. J

Love you all..
Elder Sutton

November 30, 2010

Man do I have some stories this week but I don´t want to type it all… J I´m working on trying to get my hard drive and my pictures on the same but this computer I’m using is terrible and I’m probably just going to go to a members house where their computers aren´t 50 years old! I´ll answer the questions right now so that I can tell all the stories!

1 – Do you and your companion have a cell phone or a house phone (either)? How do you communicate with zone leaders, etc.?

Well only the zone leaders and the assistants get to have cell phones so that is sad, but we actually have like two phones; one is a set line and one is a ¨tellular¨ (it’s like a cell phone but bigger like a regular phone). We usually use the land line because its tons cheaper!

2 – What time do you get up in the mornings – leave to tract – come home in the evening/night?

Well we get up at 6:30 every morning and we eat, shower in the cold water and study until like 11ish then we go and do all the work until 1:00 and eat. We eat dinner at like 9:30 when we come back. That’s not always the most fun but sadly it’s a rule not to eat dinner until we come back at night. L

3 – Have you done anything fun on your p-day (checked out some topless babes or anything)?

Well really we haven´t done anything super crazy but our volcano experience. I’m going to write about that in a minute. J

4 – How was your interview with the mission president? (did he give you a promotion?)

Well it was really boring. He sat us in there and prayed, asked if there were any questions and then we bore our testimonies in English (I think he wanted to practice his English) then he shared an experience in Spanish then sent us on our way. Nothing really special. I don’t know, maybe I just haven´t done anything wrong. But it was lame!!! (hahaha)

(Hahah) Black Friday! I forgot totally about that! I definitely don´t miss doing that! It’s more of a girl thing then a guy thing I think. I still am not that all into shopping. J

Well let’s start off Sunday. First we went to my companion’s old area because he got to baptize his old investigator and so we went to our sacrament meeting then ditched to go to Atikisia. That was really legit! (It was tons of fun going to his area.) We went to see members and friends he had and all that, but it literally was a jungle! Like dirt roads and bridges and cows and farms and all that in the mountains! Then we went to the church building and it was tons nicer than the one that we have here!!!!! (hahahaha crazy) That night was the best. We ate Thanksgiving dinner with the bishop over there! Like turkey and potatoes and all that! It was our own Thanksgiving! J

Okay so yesterday we went to hike the volcano near Santa Ana! It was really legit the only problem was that it took us like 4 hours to get to the top and we got lost on our way up! Our so called ¨guide¨ got us lost and then some parts we had to crawl on our hands and knees! To top this all off, we were wearing church clothes because it is a new rule in the mission to always be wearing church clothes!!!! Let me tell you we all almost died. We didn´t plan for being out there all day long! We left at like 8 am and got back at like 6:30! (hahaha) I got some pictures! But everyone is dead today! Let alone my shirt is super super super dirty!!!!! Man, this story doesn´t even give it justice what we all went through!!!!!!

But all in all we got a great story and some pictures!!!

All is good here though. Christmas is coming up and we´re seeing Christmas lights and all that more and more every day. It’s crazy to think about how long I’ve been out on my mission already.. (hahah)

Love you all.

Elder Sutton