June 13, 2011: First Week Out in the Field

Hola!
Well Monday is my pday now! Thanks for your email today. I really enjoyed it. But Yeah this last week was my first week in the field! Pretty intense stuff. Im assigned to the area of Limòn in the capital. Its pretty cool. My companion is Elder Ziemann from Illinois. He is way cool so thats good too haha. But my first week has been really good. We are both new to this area so we didnt know what to do at first but we have like 20 investigators! No joke! We have sooo much haha. We also had 8 investigators attend church so that was way awesome. Then in sunday school we taught them lesson 1. That went really well. We have i think 4 baptismal dates set too. I think 3 for the beginning of next month and another for september. So that is super exciting! But one of the days i went on splits and i was with the zone leader and one of his investigators speaks english! So i got to teach a lesson and actually say a lot of stuff! Haha this guy was awesome though. He is so ready to change his life for the better. It was so awesome to see. He has had it rough. He graduated from USC and was a succesful guy and then he lost everything and got deported. But he isnt crying about it or anything. He also keeps saying he knows that God sent us to teach him for a reason and that he feels good when he talks to us. So that was really wonderful to teach him and see his faith that he has. Also its crazy! I have given so many blessings! Its insane! At least one a day and sometimes more. I usually annoint but the other day my companion threw me under the bus! He said he would help me so i sealed the annointing and then he was like go for it! What the heck? haha this lady seemed like she was in some pain and then there is me this white boy that hardly speaks any spanish having to give her a blessing. So i just went for it and it went alright! I could tell that she felt the Spirit and that it gave her comfort. So that was also a really good experience. But other than that we pretty much just walk around all day and visit members and teach some investigators. There is so much work that we have to do so we dont do too much contacting but we do some. So yeah im super busy and super sore! My area is like 4 huge hills! It seems like no matter which way we go we are going uphill! I dont know how it works but whatever. All i know is my legs are getting big! I put on my jeans today and they were super tight! Its like im losing weight on my stomach from not very much eating and a ton of walking and then my legs are getting stacked! Its kinda crazy.
But im really glad to hear everyone is doing good and enjoyed the letters. And Craig landing on his head... Psssh! Haha i know how that feels dude! Just suck it up and do another one ;) haha but i love you all so much. Im missing all of you. I cant wait to see all of you in like 22 months! Well actually a little less than 22 months hahaha. Oh well it doesnt matter. I hope to hear from all of you really soon. Love you guys!
Con Amor, Elder Gunnell

June 6, 2011

Hey! I have email today cuz im leaving for the field early tomorrow morning. So im glad this time i had an email on here waiting for me! Haha i didnt get to read all of it but it sounds like everyone is having fun. hahaha I laughed at what craig said! in spanish and in the car haha. Youre a goof dude! But hmm i dont really know what to say in this email! Not much has happened this week! Every week is the exact same here! Its pretty lame. But tomorrow my mission really starts and im sure the emails will get more exciting haha. Oh and about the sonpopos! No i didnt taste it for that long haha. I didnt think that i would eat them but i decided to go for it and they were really good! Very surprising hahaha. But anyways i gotta go finish packing still :( Im actually sad to leave here! I love my district and my companions. I hope ill be companions with some of them later on in my mission. But anyways i love you all. I cant wait to hear from all of you. Im always thinking about you all and praying for you everyday! I love you!
Love, Elder Gunnell

June 1, 2011

Hey! Im doing really good! Spanish is getting easier and im having fun. Its crazy! This is my last week in the ccm and then im in the field! Its so darn crazy! So when that happens my emails will get more exciting haha. My days are pretty much always the same here. Except this week was pretty good! So in may in guatemala i guess these huge ant things come. They are called sonpopos. Anyways we were catching them and stuff during a service project and then a worker said that we could eat them. So we caught a ton of them and asked the cooks to cook them for us. So my companions and i ate ants for breakfast the other day! They were actually way good! They kinda tasted like peanuts. Seriously haha who would have ever thought i would eat ants haha i never thought i would haha. Oh and yesterday we got to go proselyting at the park again. It was better than the first time! I understood more this time and said a little more. We made 5 appointments too! So that was definately good. But things here are pretty awesome. I love my campanions! They are all super cool. One of them skates too so thats cool we have that in common and everyting. And we always laugh hahahaha i dont think i have ever laughed so hard in my life haha. Its so hilarious! So im definately having fun. I hope my companion in the field is cool too. But its crazy i have less than a week left! Im getting pretty nervous. But excited. So yeah thats pretty much my week haha. I wrote all of you today and mom on her birthday so you guys should be getting those sometime soon hopefully. Happy late birthday mom! i love you. I love all of you and i hope to hear from you guys soon! Have fun at rocky point you bums! haha
Love, Elder Gunnell

May 25, 2011

Hola! Sorry i dont have time to read the email and then reply to it! So ill just write and tell you about my week! So i got a couple letters yesterday which was way good! I got one from Dad, Liz, and Summer. So those are the only ones i have gotten from the family i have gotten 3 from Summer so yeah its good! Thanks for writing me. Also i love the emails you send mom so thankyou. This last week has been so long! It is getting more crazy now! Now my district is the oldest in the ccm so we are expected to ALWAYS be speaking spanish. Its pretty crazy. But its good because i can tell im picking up on it a ton. If i sit there and think about something i can pretty much say whatever i want. So its way cool. I also had a dream that was in partial spanish! That means im defnately picking it up! So im excited. Oh and i did a temple session in complete spanish last week! It was crazy! I actually understood a lot though. But the guy i had at the veil spoke only spanish and had no teeth so i had no clue what the heck was goin on! It was crazy! But it was a good experience. Oh and i go into the field in 2 weeks! Its crazy! And i have almost been out for 2 months! In like 2 weeks or so itll be 2 months. Time is actually going really fast! Its pretty crazy! Sorry i dont know what else to say! I wrote a letter to the family that ill send today so that took all my thoughts haha sorry. Oh but yeah i did go get my eyes checked and im getting my glasses tomorrow. Its my left eye that is worse. haha well i love all you so much and i miss you! Ill talk to you all soon!
Love, Elder Gunnell

Mission Home Address

So this is the best address to send letters to right now, and probably will be his whole mission:

Morgan Gunnell
Guatemala, Guatemala City North Mission
5a Avenida 5-55 Edificio Euro Plaza
Torre 1, Nivel 12, Oficina 1202B, Zona 14
Guatemala City
Guatemala

They said not to put "Elder" on the mail, just his name.

May 17, 2011

Hola! So this week is a weird week so thats why im emailing today. its just for this week. itll be wednesday for the next 3 weeks. How is everyone doing? good i hope. So today was probably the most fun day of my mission. We got to get out of the ccm and class and we went to this topogrophical map of guatemala and see the land features and everything. it was way cool. We also went to this market where they sell super cheap stuff. So i got some stuff for almost everyone of you :) im not sure when ill be able to send it so we will just have to wait and see. And after that we went to the mall and got to eat fast food! Mcdonalds never tasted so good in my life haha. It was awesome. And then we got to go to this super cool museum where we got to see a bunch of different cultural guatemalan things. It was way cool. Ill write a letter telling you all more. i dont have too much time to email haha. Anyways just a couple other things i gotta mention.. My eye sight isnt very good anymore! From where i sit in the classroom i cant read the board. One of the elders lets me borrow his glasses sometimes so i cant read it. So i am gonna see if i can go get some glasses of my own so i can actually see better. Just letting you know incase i gotta pay with my card. I wouldnt get them unless i need them and i do! And for some worse news.... i got made district leader :( nooooo! i was pretty bummed. I just found out today. Im not excited for some reason haha. just thought yall would wanna know. Sorry i havent sent any letters in a while. ill be sure to send some soon. probably at the beginning of next week it might be better if you are sending anything to just send it to my mission home cuz it takes a while to get here. So thanks! i hope everyone is doing good. im doing better! The language is definately coming. its pretty intense. Oh and for sacrament we did a musical number! it was pretty sweet. Anyways i gotta go. I love you guys so much! Talk to you soon!
Con amor, Elder Gunnell

May 11, 2011

Hey Family! I dont have time to read your email and then reply so im just gonna print it off and read it later. It was so awesome to talk to you all on Sunday! It was so great to hear everyone is doing well and that Mom and Dad had fun on their trip! I wanna see some pictures from it if possible! So on monday we went to this central park and we did some proselyting. It was insane! The latino that i was placed with spoke no english so it was rough. But we did really good. We both gave our Books of Mormon away and also some pamphlets. Everyone we talked to seemed super nice. Its funny how in the Stated people get annoyed when missionaries talk to them. But here people seem happy to talk to us! It was a super good experience though. I cant wait till i can communicate better. Its pretty hard. My comp did most of the talking but i threw in a little testimony here and there haha. Other than that not much has gone on. Its the same thing everyday.. We get up at 630 work out or play soccer and then sit in a classroom ALL DAY. Its just sooo fun... haha. Oh but i was out of cash so i took a little money out of my account. At the atm here it only gives us quetz.. Guatemala money. And i think its like 7.5 quetz to 1 dollar. So ill probably take a little more out soon just to have cash to be safe. Just letting you know. Thanks i appreciate it. Well i love you all so much! I hope everyone is doing good. Oh and did you guys say you have sent letters? I havent gotten any letters since i have gotten here :( haha its all good. But you can write me on Dear Elder as well. But anyways i gotta go! I love you all!
Con Amor, Elder Gunnell