Elder Josh Skousen

Hello family and friends :)

como estan? bien? as you can tell i've learned loads of spanish... haha so anyways this has been a pretty good week! first things first though thanks for all the letters!!! seriously it made my life! On wednesday i went and got the mail and everyone was waiting around getting excited cuz there was tons of mail and so i started reading it went some thing like this "Buxton, skousen, Skousen :) Skousen! :D, Poulson, SKOusen! SKOUSEN! SKOUSENNN!!!!!! then i shouted for joy and everyone in the mail room looked at me funny but i didnt care cuz i was king for a day! (FTSK reference... rourke konnor and maybe jared might appreciate not that rourke and konnor read my letters...) anyways so yeah i was way stoked and stuff i had 9 letters from 13 people! and i tried to discipline myself and ration out my letters to open them 1-2 a day to prepare myself for the long winter ahead but i have the patience of a 2 1/2 year old... its whatever i loved it. i guess i have lots of writing to do.

so in other news, Russel M Nelson spoke at our devotional fireside thing onn tuesday! it was so awesome! noone was really expecting an apostle because we had one last week and its so close to general conference and stuff but he came and it was awesome. oh wait rewind a little bit, about 2-3 days prior they gave us all the new october ensign and said the speaker had asked us to read it before tuesday. its actually a really great ensign! you probably don't have it yet but i guess thats one of the perks of being a missionary! Its awesome though, the entire thing is centered on the book of mormon and EVERY member of the 12 has contributed to it. I don't think that has ever happened? im not sure but anyways its pretty amazing. you all need to read it and study it when you get the chance. i'd say my favorite part is the last paragraph in the whole ensign by Jeffrey R Holland. read it. its good.

so in other news, the spanish is going pretty well, i felt like we plateaued (idk how to spell) for a little bit but we are on the up and up :) one of my teacher's hermano Wilkes is totally awesome. he's way good at teaching and is super funny and makes it interesting. im learning all the conjugations of tenses and its kinda confusing cuz they have different things that english doesn't have. but its all good its starting to click. my spanish is probably better than most in my district, not bragging in any way im just trying to help you see where im at? that probably sounds bad but i mean it in the nicest way possible. (by the way i know all my spelling and grammar is awful but im rushed so don't judge me).

other good news is that the watch you gave me was great for a couple days but then it stopped working... such is life i guess. it might just need new battery but i think its toast. but thanks for sending it, it really helped for a couple days. other good news, I see chris a lot, he is in the same residency building as me so sometimes we "hang out" at night haha thats what we call it. just like old times. its usually for like 10-15 minutes when we have time in the evenings but its still nice to get to talk to him. I still see craig every once in a while, i love craig. we got together after the devotional with zach meyers ( idk how to spell) and got a picture with the guys from the ward. it was cool cuz zach was leaving the next day. he's a stud he'll do awesome. too bad i dont have a camera else i'd send you the pictures. hopefully craig or zach's family has them? not much time left but my comp elder buxton and i have grown really close this week. he's way sick. i just found out yesterday that he likes the same books as me haha he just didnt want me to know but it turns out we're both nerds... its cool he's such a nice guy too, he's helping me with my laundry right now so i can write super long emails. so yeah there isn't much else goin on around here. i started playing sand volleyball outside. thats pretty fun. also a little soccer. its just nice to be outside and exercising. too bad everyone in my zone kinda stinks at sports. actually its not that bad. elder buxton can dunk it. so when we play basketball i just oop him.

Im sad to hear about siera's knee :( I hope that goes well with everything and just fyi i am praying for you :) i always have been. also you should totally go to the halloween dance if theres somebody that you want to take! im not a huge fan of going stagg to dances but thats just me. plus theres tons of guys that are dieing for you to ask them. just dont pick the losers!!!! i know you know but i have to say it anyways. so keep killin it in soccer and you'll get there. good luck :) love you:) thanks for your letters :)

Sorry im out of time. mom thanks soo much for your letter too it inspired me and reminds me of how much i love you. Im lucky to have such good parents. also read dad's letter cuz your included in it. anyways i dont have time to keep writing and express all the love that i have for all of you, just know that its there :) and that i really love hearing from all of you, its what keeps me going when it gets hard. and trust me it gets hard sometimes.

gtg love you alll :D