Hello family! thank you for the emails. i love hearing from you guys!
Today we just had an awesome adventure outside the MTC. We went to a
stake center and played games and then WE GOT TO GO TO WALMART!! haha
we onlygot l like 20 minutes so we were all running around but it was
great. Then we went to the mall and eat luch at the food court. There
are so many Nortes now so we were this huge pack of missionaries
walking through the mall. It was a great sight to see!
Spanish is coming pretty good. For now i can mostly understand when
teachers are talking slowly. Hermana Koelher and i are getting pretty
good at teaching together in spanish so thats fun. This week we
continued practicing teaching our teachers and we also got new
investigators. We all got paired up with another Hermana in the
district and we are acting as people we know who arent members. I am
with Hermana Bond which i am soo happy about because she is so awesome
and a great teacher so i already have learned a lot from her. She got
baptized a little over a year ago so she actually is acting like
herself. So yeah i am teaching her acting like herself just about a
year ago. It is so awesome. The spirit is so strong while we teach
each other. I hope that made sense.. but this makes me so excited to
find people like her who are so ready to hear the gospel. It is also
great spanish practice so that is great!
Lets see im not exactly sure why we lived in casa 6but now since in a
couple weeks is Holy Week so many poeple are coming to the temple so
we moved to the CCM today. And i think we were over there because part
of the CCm was under constuction but now everything is opening up
tomorrow. And i think so many new missionaries are coming so its going
to be crazy!
Okay and yes my clothes are all great! i have made a list of a few
things that i need tho for when you send a package and you can send it
to the mission home because i will be gone by the time it gets here.
Man time has gone by so fast. I already see how my tesimony has grown
so much. I am so grateful to be here. Everyday i thank Heavenly
Father. I am surrounded by amazing people with amazing teachers and
the spirit is always here. I do miss you guys a lot but i am so
thankful for this oppertunity. We wartched the most amazingh
devotional from Elder Holland that he gave at the Provo MTC and let me
tell uou sdome of the highlights becvauser it really was amazing.
While pointing to everyone in the audiance he told us "Dont you dare
comine home without the gospel engraven in your soul." (wow gave me
chills even now just thinking about it. "When you come home yfrom you
mission you better continue to act like a missionary, look like a
missionary now and forever" "You are never supposed to go back to the
way you were. We want you to have seen more, loved more, learned more.
Even if you were terrific before, you better come back an even more
terrific you" "Pledge your heart and soul to this work now and
forever" "we expect at least one convert on your mission. YOU" and
then he pointed at us again and talking for the brethern he said "Dont
let us Down"
Man it was just all amazing. It gave me even more desire to be the
best missionary i can be everyday. He said we are all God
investiagtors in our own place along to road. We said if we want our
investiagotors to pray harder and read the scriptures more diligently
then God wants us to the the exact same things. Okay sorry it was just
a really good devotional.
I love you all so much and i am glad to hear the trip was fun! thank
you for your prays! i love you all so much! love hermana Skousen
okay some things i need... Sharpie pens(the thin pens that come in the
pack with all the different colors... My contact solution.. They didnt
have the kind i use at walmart... Maybe some perfume i dont know why i
didnt bring mine ha.. the lace sock liners we bought are so perfect
and if i could get a couple more that would be great.. a white binder
1 inch will be good. We get so many papers here.... okay and then you
dont have to get this one but Hermana Bond has these best journals
they come in packs of 3 at barnes and noble. They are about the size
of a spanish book of mormon. you normally find yhrn near the register
on ther own kiosk. pack of 3 soft cover, graph paper, cost is 12.95
she said.. haha thank you so much. I love you all so much!!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Week 3 and loving the CCM
hello family! it is so great to here from you! i love pdays when i get
to read all of the emails! it is so great that everyone is doing well.
So fun that you are going to rocky point. we can go when i get back
and i will be able to help dad with all the translating. all is well
at the ccm. i love everyday. i have only been here for 3 weeks and
this experience has already changed my life in so many different ways.
tell the Bawdens i say hi and i love them! Tell the Tingeys that i
send my love and prayers. i want to see COP and Sam and all of them!
tell her to write me and send me a picture of the fam! tell robert and
jessica i say congrats. Lets see Rachel thank you so so much for the 2
letters! i will write back today! they make my day! tell everyone
thank you so much for the dear elders! we get them every week on
thursdays nights so it is the best when i get some. I love my
district. it is so great being surrounded by these amazing poeple who
have the stongest testimonies. i learn from them everyday. All of us
girls live in casa 6 which is inbetween i the temple and the CCM dont
worry there are like 8 security guards all along the path that we walk
everyday and they drive us home everynight. the house it super nice
and all the girls in my distrct sleep in the same room so we just have
a sleep over everynight. The food is really good so thats a plus ha.
Dad guess who gave the devotional last night! Brother Mask! at first
it didnt register but then we started mentioning Mesa and how he was
the temple presidetn and it clicked! so i went up to him after and
told him my name and that my dad was Mike Skousen and he said oh yeah
i know Mike he was the best seminary student! so yeah that was awesome
and he said to tell you hi. His devotional was so great about how it
is our privledge to be serving in central america and be teaching the
poeple of Lehi and how it is a blessing that we will be companions
with the Latinos. very good devotional.
Lets see on sunday me and hermama Koehler taught sunday schoool and we
taught about the atonement. i started by telling dads classic river
rafting story and relating that to the atonement and everyone LOVED
the analogy so that was great. thanks dad!
So our teachers Hermana Garrido and Hermano Bonilla act as
investigators Laura and Noe. So one of the lessons this week with
Laura we were teaching her about baptism and it was the best lesson we
have taught yet! it was so best feeling every. i was able to think of
the things i wanted to say in spanish and committ her to come it
church and everything. it was awesome. i know that the Lord if helping
me every step and i wouldnt be able to do this on my own. I am so
thankful for Hermana Garrido she is just the best teacher and i love
her so much.
I cant believe how fast time is going here. i love it so much. there
are definetly a lot of hard moments but the really good moments make
up for it. I love you all so so much. Thank you for the prayers and
love and support. I am so lucky to have a family that supports me and
loves me. I have met so may latinos who are the only members in there
families and they dont have anyone writting them. i am just so blessed
to have amazing parents and amazing siblings and friends and ward
family and everyone. i love you all! have a safe week!
to read all of the emails! it is so great that everyone is doing well.
So fun that you are going to rocky point. we can go when i get back
and i will be able to help dad with all the translating. all is well
at the ccm. i love everyday. i have only been here for 3 weeks and
this experience has already changed my life in so many different ways.
tell the Bawdens i say hi and i love them! Tell the Tingeys that i
send my love and prayers. i want to see COP and Sam and all of them!
tell her to write me and send me a picture of the fam! tell robert and
jessica i say congrats. Lets see Rachel thank you so so much for the 2
letters! i will write back today! they make my day! tell everyone
thank you so much for the dear elders! we get them every week on
thursdays nights so it is the best when i get some. I love my
district. it is so great being surrounded by these amazing poeple who
have the stongest testimonies. i learn from them everyday. All of us
girls live in casa 6 which is inbetween i the temple and the CCM dont
worry there are like 8 security guards all along the path that we walk
everyday and they drive us home everynight. the house it super nice
and all the girls in my distrct sleep in the same room so we just have
a sleep over everynight. The food is really good so thats a plus ha.
Dad guess who gave the devotional last night! Brother Mask! at first
it didnt register but then we started mentioning Mesa and how he was
the temple presidetn and it clicked! so i went up to him after and
told him my name and that my dad was Mike Skousen and he said oh yeah
i know Mike he was the best seminary student! so yeah that was awesome
and he said to tell you hi. His devotional was so great about how it
is our privledge to be serving in central america and be teaching the
poeple of Lehi and how it is a blessing that we will be companions
with the Latinos. very good devotional.
Lets see on sunday me and hermama Koehler taught sunday schoool and we
taught about the atonement. i started by telling dads classic river
rafting story and relating that to the atonement and everyone LOVED
the analogy so that was great. thanks dad!
So our teachers Hermana Garrido and Hermano Bonilla act as
investigators Laura and Noe. So one of the lessons this week with
Laura we were teaching her about baptism and it was the best lesson we
have taught yet! it was so best feeling every. i was able to think of
the things i wanted to say in spanish and committ her to come it
church and everything. it was awesome. i know that the Lord if helping
me every step and i wouldnt be able to do this on my own. I am so
thankful for Hermana Garrido she is just the best teacher and i love
her so much.
I cant believe how fast time is going here. i love it so much. there
are definetly a lot of hard moments but the really good moments make
up for it. I love you all so so much. Thank you for the prayers and
love and support. I am so lucky to have a family that supports me and
loves me. I have met so may latinos who are the only members in there
families and they dont have anyone writting them. i am just so blessed
to have amazing parents and amazing siblings and friends and ward
family and everyone. i love you all! have a safe week!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Another Great Week!!!
We look forward to getting these each week!! We Love You Hermana Skousen!!!!!!!
Hello family! how are you all? i am so excited to tell you all about
everything! sorry last weeks emails was short i wrote a letter and
sent all the details in the mail. lets see we just got back from an
amazing city tour! we went to this cool map thing that is like a life
size map of Guatemala and President Nicolysen told us where poeple
think everything took place in the book of mormon so that was so cool!
then we went to the market which is crazy. there are so many people
selling everything you can think of! there is a floor with every kind
of food with raw meat hanging all over the place haha it was awesome.
We got our cameras for the day so i took tons of pictures! after that
we went to wendy for lunch. Ordering in spanish was an adventure but
it turned out good. Then the best part of the day we got to go into
the plaza area and we found poeple to talk to about the gospel and
give them Books of Mormon that we wrote our tesimony in! the first
lady hermama koelher and i went up to didnt really care that much but
then we went up to a man named Juan and he was so sweet and nice and
right when we started talking to him he recognized us as people that
could help him. So he started telling us all about his problems and
how he has been sturggling and stuff. We werent really able to
understand him but we were able to bear tesimony to him and promise
him that if he reads the Book of Mormon he could find peace. It was the
coolest thing. He was so grateful that we talked to him.
Lets see the food is really good in the CCM we have tons of fresh
fruit everyday for every meal which is amazing and then different
types of meals everyday. I love Hermama Garrido so much! there are so
many amazing teachers here at the CCM I am so lucky! We had people
filling in for Hermana Gorrido on saturday, Hermano Estrada and
Hermano Lopez and i just learn so much from all these teachers.
For sunday school Hermama Bond, Belnap, Holland, and Hastings taught
about the atonement and literally the entire meeting the spirit was
so strong. I had been kind of getting down on myself for not learning
spanish very fast and then in the lesson I realized really how much I
just have to completely rely on the Savior and His atonement.
So sadly all the latinas left to there missions today. It was so sad
saying goodbye because i have grown to love them all so much. Funny
story, Hermana Fuentes came up to me and Hermana Hansen in the
cafeteria one day looking so excited and she says hi where are you?
hahah for a second we were confused but then we realized she was
trying to say hi how are you in english. hahaha i realized that that
is probably how funny i sound to them everytime i try and have a
conversation with the,. We took lots of pictures last night but i cant
send them home until i am out in the field.
I am doing so great! we taught a couple fake investigators and we were
able to get through the whole lesson in spanish. We had to read a lot
of our material but still we got through so we were really excited
about it! Okay i used to ATM at the CCM today and took about 30
dollars out i think so can you check on that and make sure everything
looks ok?
I am so gratful so be here. It is amazing to be part of this work and
to be surrounded by amazing teachers and missionaries. I love you all
so much! Rachel thank you for the letter you are the best! That is so
amazing to hear that you bore you tesimony at church! good job! and
Brooke and Meagan for the emails and mom and dad and everyone i love
you all! The church is true!
Hermana Skousen
Monday, March 4, 2013
First week was great!!!!
Hello family! Thank you for the emails i loved them all! I have
written 2 emails and they both have deleted before i send them so next
week i will try to write a long one with all the details! I love my
district! i love my teacher Hermana Gorrido she is the sweetest lady
in the world. My companion is Hermana Koehler and she is great we work
good together. We got to teach a real investiator in Enlgish and then
twice in spanish and he committed to be baptized on March 17. It was
amazing the spirit was so strong. I love the Latino Hermamas so much.
They are all so fun and we eat all meals together! we had exchages and
my companion was Hermana Escortia and i love her. The spirit is so
stong here. The spirit has witnessed to me many times that this is
exactly where i am supposed to be with these poeple. The church is
true and i am so happy here. I love the gospel and this oppertunity to
represent Jesus Christ! Love you all! Love Hermama Skousen
written 2 emails and they both have deleted before i send them so next
week i will try to write a long one with all the details! I love my
district! i love my teacher Hermana Gorrido she is the sweetest lady
in the world. My companion is Hermana Koehler and she is great we work
good together. We got to teach a real investiator in Enlgish and then
twice in spanish and he committed to be baptized on March 17. It was
amazing the spirit was so strong. I love the Latino Hermamas so much.
They are all so fun and we eat all meals together! we had exchages and
my companion was Hermana Escortia and i love her. The spirit is so
stong here. The spirit has witnessed to me many times that this is
exactly where i am supposed to be with these poeple. The church is
true and i am so happy here. I love the gospel and this oppertunity to
represent Jesus Christ! Love you all! Love Hermama Skousen
Letter #1
We sent Mackenzie off on Tuesday night!! Hard for all of us, but very exciting!! Thank goodness she emailed us the day she got there so we could all calm down. She is happy and very excited for her new adventure!
Hola familia!!!!! I have made it safely to the CCM! The flight was
great. I was by myself for about an hour in the LA airport and then
all the sisters from Salt Lake arrived. The flight to Guatemala was
good i was able to sleep the whole way. When i woke up the sun was
just rising so that was a great view to wake up to. We went through
customs and made it out of the airport where we met Miguel Salazar and
we got on a school bus and they brought us here! It is a beautiful
day. Definitly humid but very beautiful. The view outside the windows
of the CCM is the temple which is beautiful as well. We have 8 sisters
and 3 elders in my district. My teacher is Hermama Gorrido and she is
awesome and i can tell it is going to be so fun and she is going to be
great! She is a Guatemala native and she speaks spanish to us most of
the time and i actually can understand her better than i thought so
thats a plus. I am already having so much fun here. Learning spanish
is going to be fun with these girls in my district. Breakfast this
morning was a little rough. It was very interesting and aparently you
are supposed to eat everything you are given or the cooks will think
you dont like it and they will be offended, but the older sister with
us let us all put our left overs on her plate and she was a saint and
took the blame for all of us. However lunch was very good so i am not
too worried about it. We had a meeting with the MTC president and he
told us that every 2 weeks we get to go on fieldtrips to downtown and
to the mall so i am really excited about that. Also we will get to do
a few sessions which will be great as well. Right when i left you guys
it was pretty tough but i instantly felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost
so i hope you guys did too. I dont know how to shift down on this
computer so this is all one paragraph haha. I love you all soo soo
much! I am having so much fun and its only the first day so i cant
wait to learn more. i dont have time to read over this so hopefully it
makes sense. when you respond send me dads email because i forgot it.
love you!!!! Hermana Skousen
Hola familia!!!!! I have made it safely to the CCM! The flight was
great. I was by myself for about an hour in the LA airport and then
all the sisters from Salt Lake arrived. The flight to Guatemala was
good i was able to sleep the whole way. When i woke up the sun was
just rising so that was a great view to wake up to. We went through
customs and made it out of the airport where we met Miguel Salazar and
we got on a school bus and they brought us here! It is a beautiful
day. Definitly humid but very beautiful. The view outside the windows
of the CCM is the temple which is beautiful as well. We have 8 sisters
and 3 elders in my district. My teacher is Hermama Gorrido and she is
awesome and i can tell it is going to be so fun and she is going to be
great! She is a Guatemala native and she speaks spanish to us most of
the time and i actually can understand her better than i thought so
thats a plus. I am already having so much fun here. Learning spanish
is going to be fun with these girls in my district. Breakfast this
morning was a little rough. It was very interesting and aparently you
are supposed to eat everything you are given or the cooks will think
you dont like it and they will be offended, but the older sister with
us let us all put our left overs on her plate and she was a saint and
took the blame for all of us. However lunch was very good so i am not
too worried about it. We had a meeting with the MTC president and he
told us that every 2 weeks we get to go on fieldtrips to downtown and
to the mall so i am really excited about that. Also we will get to do
a few sessions which will be great as well. Right when i left you guys
it was pretty tough but i instantly felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost
so i hope you guys did too. I dont know how to shift down on this
computer so this is all one paragraph haha. I love you all soo soo
much! I am having so much fun and its only the first day so i cant
wait to learn more. i dont have time to read over this so hopefully it
makes sense. when you respond send me dads email because i forgot it.
love you!!!! Hermana Skousen
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