Scottie at the State Capitol 

Hola!

So this is what the past week looked like:

Monday:

Today was an awesome P-Day (preparation day)! We went downtown for email and afterwards we went out and ate lunch at Benihana, haha; haven't had that in a long time! We stuffed ourselves and then got some froyo....I didn't eat for the rest of the day haha. We then ran over to the Utah State Capitol building, which is beautiful and set up on this hill with mountains all around it, it's a really beautiful sight. And the inside is completely marble so it's just impressive. I'll try and send some of the best pictures we took. We went back home, did some quick grocery shopping (chicken, fruits, and vegetables haha) and then we visited with the Sandoval family, which is always fun. We turned in some reports online and that about summed up the night. I'm pretty happy right now, it was a good day.

Tuesday:

He looks cold!!

So we had a great and exhausting day today. Got up at 6:30 and started the day off with a 2 mile run to the Pleasant Green cemetery. It was like 35 degrees and super cold but so worth it, cause I felt great all morning. Good studies followed by some online things and afternoon visits. We spent a good bit of the afternoon dropping off volantes (flyers) for the cultural celebration coming up on the 25th, La Hispanidad. We had a great lesson with Dixon, he's an awesome kid and really progressing in changing his life. We ate dinner with Sarahi Mercado and her brother Juan, who are super cool. They made us pollo y arroz y frijoles all covered with mole poblano, which is basically this super traditional Mexican sauce that's like peppers mixed with some sort of chocolate. Sounds kinda weird, but tasted awesome and I ate tons of it haha. Then Ernesto came over and dropped off an invitation to their wedding this Friday, ahhh we're so excited for them! They've worked really hard for this and they deserve to be happy! Then we went out and had awesome lessons with the Sandovals and William with Pres. Castro (President of the Spanish congregation he is assigned to) helping us out. That man is a spiritual giant and really explained the gospel incredibly, he's a good man and a great example for me out here. Now I'm super tired and ready for bed!

Sights from his run!

 Wednesday:

Up at 6:30 again this morning, I wanted to go running but Burgin (his companion) wasn't up for it. I did some ab workouts, ate breakfast (banana, apple, and peanut butter) and then did personal study and read some of the past conference talks in Spanish for my language study. I cleaned the kitchen up and then made some oatmeal + banana for lunch and then we went to do mini-exchanges. Elders Burgin and Bragg had a choir rehearsal so Elder Terry and I stayed here in Magna and did some afternoon visits to some of the people they're working with. We met up and re-exchanged and then did some more afternoon visiting. Hermano Tomas Carrasco's took us to his daughter's house and she made this huge dinner of chicken, rice, salad, and one egg. I don't know why one egg, it was kinda random, but it was all super good! And we were super grateful that she shared with us all, fun time. We visited with the Sandovals again, and then we met up with a new family: Luz Maria y Leo Mesa. Leo was just getting back from work, but we got to talk with his wife for a while and they've only lived in the area for like  9 months so they're relatively new. Both from Chihuahua, México, and super nice to us. We taught William and then Hno. Carrasco dropped us off back at our apartments. Again, I'm super exhausted, and ready for some sleep!

Thursday:

Super solid day today. Up at 6:30 and another successful run to the cemetery and back. We came back and ate breakfast then ran on down to Mara Carrasco's house to pick up our bikes, since we thought we might need them this afternoon. We were supposed to be helping Hermano Carrasco with service but that kinda fell through because the person we were going to help move in never showed up haha. Pres. McLean (branch Pres. in Burgin's old area) picked us up and we went downtown to temple square to teach one of Elder Burgin's recent converts from back home actually. We had a super powerful lesson about eternal families and the importance of a gospel-centered family, it was very powerful. I bore my testimony of how thankful I am for my family and the plan of salvation, and it was just amazing. Fun fact, in the middle of the tour we walked right by Mitt Romney haha, pretty cool. We came back to Magna after that awesome experience and ate carne with the Rodriguez family, and then had a correlation meeting. Now it's  time to turn in, and I'm exhausted. Oh, and I got an awesome package from Aunt Tammy today with treats and a letter and such, it was a very nice surprise and I truly appreciate her support. Can't wait for this upcoming weekend, so much good stuff coming up!

Friday:

Today was a great day. We started off with a District meeting from Elder Burgin about Christ-like attributes and how we can apply them to our lives. Some of those attributes include charity, patience, humility, faith, and hope - so all really good things. It was a powerful meeting and none of us out here in the mission field are perfect, but that's no reason to ever make excuses and stop trying to be better, so I'm gonna work really hard to implement those things more in my life. We all went out to Subway for lunch and made some afternoon visits to pass out more Hispanidad volantes. Then we came to the highlight of the night: Ernesto and Melissa's wedding!! Ahhh they've been working towards this goal for a really long time, and they truly deserve to be happy. It was a really cool ceremony and our branch president, Pres. Castro, presided. It was super sweet and all of their kids were wearing matching ties and suspenders and they had a mariachi band come out and good food and it was cool to see how happy they were. I think they're gonna be really happy together, and they'll help each other keep Christ as a part of their lives. Then, to top of this awesome day, I checked the mail right as we were getting back from the wedding and I found the awesome package you sent me (with the recipes and food, thanks so much!!!!) so I was just a pretty happy camper haha :) Good day.

Saturday:

Super busy day today! We started off getting up, working out and grabbing a quick breakfast before Hermano Carrasco picked us up and we went to the Jordan River Temple again, because someone in the branch was going for the first time. That was a really powerful experience and then he took us to that Chinese buffet again, which destroyed my eating healthy for the day haha. We visited a few families in the afternoon and then it's our stake's (a group of area congregations) Stake Conference, so we were invited to the 4pm leadership session which was pretty good, dealt a lot with home teaching. Right afterwards we went over to the Letona's house and had this super good chicken and rice dinner, then we went back over to the church for the 7pm session. Naturally, it was all in English, but we had our members from the branch there too, so Pres. Kessler (stake president) asked me to translate. I thought it was gonna be just like on Sunday's when I sit on the stage with the little mic and headset and just translate, but they actually had a room set up in a storage closet upstairs (see pictures) with a little tv feed of conference and a broadcast headset haha, so that's where Elder Burgin and I sat during the entire thing. It was kinda cool, like our own private little booth, and I felt like I was on the translating team at General Conference. And it was definitely a task, because I was translating from English to Spanish for over 2 straight hours! Man, I'm exhausted now, but it was really fun and we had a great conference that focused on hastening missionary work and sharing the Gospel, so lots of awesome things were said. Now it's time to get to bed, cause I'll be translating the session tomorrow too :)

Translation Room for Stake Conference

His Spot for translating

Sunday:

Another in a long string of super busy days! We were up at 6:30 and we studied conference talks and then I made pancakes from the recipe you sent me...thanks again, they were super good and I miss traditional breakfast food haha :) So then we went to the morning session of our stake conference, and I was up in our little room again to translate for another 2 hours straight. One lady talked so fast that I thought my tongue would fall off but it was awesome, and translating like that definitely keeps me paying attention. Pres. Swain (His Mission President) was even there to speak, and since he's a future general authority for sure haha, it was super powerful. We came back to the apartment, ate lunch, and then went back out to pass out a ton of volantes for la Hispanidad. We had a great lesson with Dixon and read the Book of Mormon a little with him, 2 Nephi 31 about the doctrine of Christ. It was great. Then we went to eat dinner with the Esiponiza family. Wow, it was one of the best meals I've had on my mission, but hands-down the spiciest! It was cauliflower and stuffed calabaza (pumpkin) in a red sauce combined with stuffed jalapeños. Jalapeños are usually alright but they'd left all the seeds and veins in and wowzer, it was super super spicy, but I loved it and ate all of mine and Burgin's (he doesn't do too well with super spicy food haha). It was great and then we went directly to the mission president's devotional (monthly thing, always spiritual). I hung out with one of my good friends out here, Elder Rosdahl, and it was a ton of fun. Then we came back and now we're starting exchanges, Elder Curtis came into our area with me so we'll be together tomorrow. I'm excited and ready for some sleep! It would normally be a P-Day tomorrow but since we have a temple day on Tuesday that'll be our p-day!

Monday:

Busy day on the exchange today! We got up at 6:30 and worked out and then showered and had solid personal study (Alma 32 about faith, awesome scripture). Then the other elders asked us to come with them to help with some service. We went to a farm that had like 500 rabbits and had to shovel all of their poop. It smelled awful, but that was nothing compared to the sight of a little bunny that had it's feet eaten off it by a wild cat. Sooooo disturbing, and then Elder Jacques killed it to take it out of it's misery. Not my favorite service. We came back, did comp study on faith, and then ate lunch. We had some salsa and I fried some tortillas to make tortilla chips (turned out pretty well for just cooking off a hunch haha). Then we spent 4 straight hours walking around and passing out flyers for La Hispanidad. Wow, I was getting tired. We ate dinner at Rancho market and then Bro. Carrasco came out with us to visit the Salinas family and Bro. Ortiz. We met back up and re-exchanged, and now it's time for bed. I'm tired but excited for temple/p-day tomorrow!

Today (Tuesday) was mission temple day, so we were there with a bunch of elders. That's why our p-day was today! The temple was awesome, 2 times in 4 days so I'm spiritually charged :)

It was so good to hear from you! I'm working really hard out here, I really hope I don't get transferred (even though I have a feeling I will haha) because I love this area! But It's an awesome experience. It's really hard being away from y'all.

I love you guys! I hope you're doing well, have a good week, travel safely, love you!!!!!!!

Scottie

(From his email to his Aunt Tammy:)

The box was so awesome! Thank you so very much for sending that, it means a lot and I sent you a picture of me using part of it haha :) Thank you again!

Scottie and his "artwork"!

My companion and I get along super well, we're really good friends (24/7 with someone for 3 months....I'm lucky we get along haha). And yeah, we are always together. But I've heard missionaries say when they get back (home, after their mission is over) that not having a companion and doing things on their own seems weird haha.

Our word for the week can be aferrar, which means to hold on to. If we hold onto the gospel and the teachings of the gospel and our families and the good things in the life, we can build our own refuges from the crazy turmoil in the world. That's definitely a blessing.

I love you tía Tammy and I hope you have a wonderful upcoming week!

Love,

Scottie Man