Hermana Alicia Nicole Thomas: April 2013

The long awaited email has arrived, and it's no surprise, she is wonderful!

Hey familia!!! So I have officially made it one week down here, and what a week it has been!!! I absolutley love it down here! It is so warm, and all the peope are so friendly! So flying on the plane was a lot of fun, I didnt know what to expect when I got on, but it wasnt too bad. There were about 44 missionaries flying out to the MTC (CCM) by the time we reached LA...so there were plenty of missionaries to sit by on both of the flights over to Guatemala. ;) I have a couple of experiences to share about this week. The first one is pretty cool. When we landed in LA, we were wondering what we could do with our 3 hour layover. I decided to pull out my Spanish el libro de mormon out, and my english book of mormon out. I gave the spanish one to the elders, and us sisters kept the englsih one. I challenged both groups to give away these book of mormons to someone in the aiprort in one hour. We gave away both of them within the hour, and there was an elder who brought like 20 book of mormons, so overall we probably handed out about 8-10 books. Most of the people there were spanish speaking, and were flying out to Guatemala as well...so all we could speak was spanish, which was great. The lesson learned there was that team work is essential in the mission field. If my companion and I dont work together as a team, we wont get anything accomplished. The second lesson learned there is to open your mouth. Never be afraid to bear your testimoney of the trueness of the Gospel.

When we got off the plane, we all waited outside of the airport to be picked up by bus to go to the CCM (MTC). As we waited, a Guatemalan man came up to us asking us if he could please shine our shoes for 1 dollar, so that he would be able to feed his family that night. A few elders let him shine their shoes...and I stood there in amazment at how humble these people live. I take so much for granted, and complain about things that really dont matter. That experience humbled me so much, and as I thought more about it later that night I wept. I will forever be grateful for what I have, and the blessings I have recieved in this life.

So I guess I will say, my companera is pretty awesome!! Her name is Hermana Peterson, and she is going to my same mission. Not only that, but she is one of the four girls I met on facebook through the missionary group...so I have known her for awhile. We get along great, and we seriously are best buddies! And do you want to know what is funny? So you know how I have a flipper because of my missing tooth? Yeah, well she does too..so this companionship was meant to be! jaja all the missionaries here are amazing. We have a total of about 160ish missionaries here, so it is a lot smaller that the provo mtc, but it is great because everyone knows everyone! it is interestig because we have this really tall fence bordering the MTC so that no one else can get in. There are actually guards that stand out there 24/7 with guns to protect us, so I feel extremley safe! Although it was a culture shock at first, (not to freak you out or anything) but we do hear gunshots here regularly at night. Oh and the traffic here is crazy! People seriously do not every stay in their lanes. haha so grandma kathy, you can never ever complain about my driving again! And Britt, you are so right...drivers really dont yield to pedestrians. Believe me, I know now because when we were walking to the temple, we had a sister who almost got hit!

The language here has actually been a lot harder than I thought. As far as language study goes, this week has ripped me apart! Its almost like school, because we have language classes that go all day long, everyday. I have signed up for tutoring every week so I can get as much language down as a can before the 6 weeks here are over! So we will see how I progress.

In my district we have actually been given an investigator that we have been teaching all week. His name is Alejandro, and he is a very nice man. He was interested in the Gospel because he loves how it makes us so happy .He has a friend that is LDS, and he says that his friend (as well as his family) are always smiling and happy. Alejandro did not understand why, so he came to us for an answer. We have focused on teaching him the plan of salvation, and how God can bless our families. He is very open to learning more. We had some elders in our district invite him to be baptized. He said he would have to think about it, and that he wants his family involved, so I will keep you up to date on what happens with that.

Well, it is time to go! But I love you all!! My p day is wednesday, and my email time is 10am-11. As far as pictures go, they took our cameras away, and they can only be used everyother pday in the MTC. So sorry, no pics this week. They keep them so that no one will have the temptation of stealing them haha. But I will send you a picture of all the sisters here in the MTC. I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all, and cannot wait to hear from you soon! Te amo y hasta luego!

Love, Hermana Thomas

Front row, third from right... gold shirt :)

I have felt dazed and confused today... a little lost really, until 5:37PM when I got this cute e-mail message which put my mind and heart at ease and a smile on my face!!!! I thought I would share it with you all:

Hola mi familia!! I only have a few minutes to email you all. It is not my p day, but they are allowing the missionarys to email home, to let you know that we have all arrived safely in Guatemala! We arrived here at around 7:30 this morning and it has been busy ever since!

I am loving it here already though, and the atmosphere here at the MTC is great! Guatemala is absolultey gorgeous and I cannot wait to get out into the mission field in 6 weeks. I feel like I have learned more spanish today than I have my entire life! I already have a few really neat stories to share with you, but that will have to wait until I have more time on p day. haha but yo tengo mucho sueno! ( i am extremely tired) Anyway I need to get going, but I will email you all more in detail on my next p day! I love you all so much, and thank you so much for the letters...that really means a lot to me!! And also for all of your love and support, I have felt everyones spirit here today. Te amo mi familia! I will talk to you soon! :) Love, Hermana Tomas