WEEK 2

Hello everyone!

 

How are you all doing? I have been busy, but doing well. I apologize for not updating you all as I should have. There was a couple inconveniences last week in using e-mail. First, about four other missionaries and I came to the computer room. I had forgot to pack jeans so I came dressed up in slacks and a white shirt while the rest of them came pretty casually. An instructor then paused us in the middle of our e-mail writing to tell the other few to go back to their residence and dress in proper attire and they can then come back. However, they were pretty upset and decided not to. Later in the day as I was doing laundry, all of the computers were used up. Not only were my clothes done but we were about 25 minutes already into dinner before I finally got to sit down. I thought I would have had the chance to send the draft later that day, but that wasn't the case. I had to take the remaining time to study with some new companions as we had a scheduled appointment to teach a role player named Alyssa.

 

That appointment went well, but there's always room for improvement. I am just coming from lunch now so I am hoping when I send my next e-mail, I will have my notebook with me and I can relay impressions and whatnot about the people I have taught thus far. In my first e-mail, I mention how my companion had to get his appendix removed. He's back and doing well though. :) We have been helping one another when we have the strength to. Because of his surgery, he cannot do any real heavy lifting and he sometimes tires easily because of the pain medicine he is on. I have woken up with migraines at least twice thus far, but thankfully they're short lasting. I do not know if it is camp-like bunk beds or what, but I am doing great.

 

Aside from teaching we have been able to visit the temple a couple of times, which was a really nice experience and the walk there is just as good with the view of the mountains and the trees with all different colors of leaves. Speaking of sights briefly, I had the pleasure of waking up to snow but it had already fallen during the night and it melted pretty quickly. Regardless, it was still a pretty sight and I hope to send pictures by the time I get to California. We received our travel itinerary and we are to prepare to leave on Monday, November 8, 2010 at around 5 AM. Back here, they feed us really well although I feel as I eat a bit too much at times out of fear that I might be living off nothing more than Ramen when I get out to California. Also, the ice cream (and toppings) are pretty delicious to deny.

 

The classes go great. I am lucky to have good classmates with unique personalities and when we come together we form a pretty great team and create some good class discussions. I touch briefly on my classmates in my first e-mail, but I will have to go back and read it another time in order to fill in any gaps or missing bits of information. Our instructors are good at what they do. They teach effectively and are still helpful even when they know they are teaching someone a few years older than them. :) Well I have about four more minutes to finish my e-mail time. This is just a small bit of what I have been doing here. We've been overworked more than most missionaries since they get to go back to their residence by 9 and we finish class at 9:30, but I believe the extra studies have paid off.

 

I hope to write more of my impressions on paper so that my future letters are more thought out and so that I can relay more in the short amount of time that I have. I hope that you all are doing well and that you are all in my thoughts and I love you all in your own ways (even the pets). 'Til next time!

 

- Elder Gallegos