Elder Josh Skousen

SOOOOOOOOOO I could've sworn that somebody said somthing about writing me... you guys are lucky i even decided to write anything to you... haha my original plan was to just send 1 sentence saying that if you wanted to here from me write me a freakin letter but whateves. But seriously i was promised lots of letters and other than mom's and the 2 lines jared wrote me I have gotten ONE letter! Thats right ONE person has written me which made my day by the way... you know who you are. ;) So yeah the DL is in charge of picking up the mail twice a day and I die a little inside I look through the stack of like 30 letters and find none for me. theres only 10 people (soon to be 8 cuz the dominican elders are leaving for the dominican mtc) in my district! so its always awkward when i tell my district how many people i have writing me when i dont get mail. I'm running out of excuses... anyways enough about mail... So I made it to sunday with not TOO much difficulty and it was pretty good but not all it was cracked up to be. probably just because i had meetings all day but it was a long day. My Branch President is President Larsen and he is awesome! and so is one of his counselors Brother Jolley. I cant remember the other one's name but he just got in on sunday so he's brand new. anyways the first time I met the presidency i went to shake hands and they just pushed it aside and hugged me. It was kinda weird and then i realized how awesome it was and the love that these guys already had for me and they hadn't even met me! it was the best hug i'd had since wednesday. anyways sunday night there was a devotional/fireside thingy but there was no speaker it was just the mormon tabernacle choir/ orchestra that did a tribute to 9/11. It was really powerful and it made me feel really patriotic and sad and stuff... hard to explain. If any of you watched it you know what i'm trying to say. So yeah i was doing well until Monday hit, and it hit HARD... so we taught our "investigator" monday and he just punk'd us bad. as you know its all in espanol and while we were teaching he was asking us really hard questions just picking stuff apart and its hard enough to answer in english but with my limited vocab it was a mess so i just tried to bear (is that how you spell it?) my testimony and he cut me off and started talking about the virgin mary and how his grandma prays to her and gets answers and has had miraculous things happen from the virgin mary, and that is a pretty difficult thing to recover from in english but i couldn't even understand or say anything back. the word virgin isn't in my spanish vocabulary and well yeah.... all you need to know is that we failed miserably and was extremely dis heartened especially when the rest of the district reported a very successful lesson. Im not sure but i hope it wasn't just me, i think he might have gone hard on us cuz we did so well the last time. but not sure. then later that day i was really hoping for mail but didn't get any but there was a package for me so i was like YAY FINALLY! turns out there is another elder skousen (not craig) and the package was for him... and to top it off, on saturday elder tovey from my district went home. he said that there was some stuff at home he needed to take care of. I felt really bad like there was something else that i could've done for him. he was a really cool guy. in fact could you do me a favor and add tanner tovey on facebook? just maybe keep me updated on what he's up to. anyways so enough about all the bad stuff cuz lots of good is happening now. my district and i are all really good friends now and i love all of them. my comp elder buxton is from idaho he's a total stud. nicest guy ever. oh yeah elder whitlock from nephi was my other comp but since tovey left, he's with tovey's old comp elder lee. so anyways the language is going really well. we have 6 hours of classes (2, 3 hour classes) a day which consists of language, gospel principles/docterine, and missionary skills. we also have 2 hours personal/comp language study which is good and bad, because there is no teacher, some people get off task and im easily distracted so my comp and i usually go somewhere private. but its good cuz we get to study whatever we want. we also get usually around 2 hours of personal study to study whatever we want. Im staying mostly in the book of mormon and preach my gospel. i am reading a little bit of D&C and i love it. there is soo much good stuff in there i never realized! we also get 1 hour of gym time, well 55 minutes... anyways we usually play basketball but im trying to get people to go outside and play soccer or anything! i dont get how they want to stay inside I AM SOOOO SICK of being inside!!! I want to do something cool but i can't. Anyways so It might seem like i've written a lot of negative stuff but its really not that bad. I just have to remember why i'm here and it makes it all worth it. I hate to have to give up all of the people i love and all of the things that i love to do for 2 years but its because my mission is worth it. I really can not wait to be able to bring this message of happiness to other people! right now thats all I can think about is just how badly i want to bring people to christ so that they can feel the way i do. I went to the temple today and got to stare at the big picture of christ for a few minutes and it just reminded me how much i love my savior. its all about him! thats why im here! its soo worth it! :)

haha i realize that i sound like one of those missionary kids now which i always thought was weird but in the mtc it helps you get your priorities straight. its cool to see el don de lenguas in action! I really have learned so much spanish its rediculous. I know that im still going to get down there and not understand a word but this is a really good start. anyways sorry this is such a long letter which is weird cuz i feel like nothing much happens these days but anyways so you'll never guess who came to the devotional on tuesday... Elder M. Russell Ballard and spoke and it was awesome! he spoke on missionary work and some of his experiences on his mission in post WWII England. he said when a burden is placed upon you, round your shoulders and bare it. and defend the kingdom and lots of inspiring words that i dont have time to write about and also i forgot my journal so i cant tell you everything. it was just sooo great! anyways the weeks go by slow here, and fast at the same time but slow... please at least dear elder me cuz I dont have time to read your emails and type my own! also tell peeps to write me! im sick of no mail! also i didnt get any today which is what mom promised in her letter soo yeah... anyways just to try and answer a couple questions... siera the food is good but gets old really fast... its like eating at a good school cafeteria breakfast lunch and dinner. also congrats on all your wins! thats way awesome! keep me posted on those and jakes football games and jared's MMA classes or whatever that is your doing? BJJ? Nicole... im dissappointed in you... you wrote chris before you wrote me? :'( i still love you but write me. also tell nick, lindsey, and shawn to write me. and tell them i wore the tie they got me and got compliments :) I sleep with my missionary bear every night so tell lauren and lindsey thanks for me and to write me. and my pillow case with all my memories is awesome! Dad i wore your tie to the temple today and thought of where i was last wednesday morning. with you in the temple. it was great. also if you could send me my consecrated oil thing and fill it and consecrate it for me it would be awesome so you could be a part of any and all blessings that i am doing. :)  also please send lyrics to the gaston song on beauty and the beast... its killing me i cant remember them....... :D its also another excuse to get more letters. thats all i think gtg k byeeee :) love you all!