November 15th, 2010

Hey Family,

Holy smoke, I don´t know where to begin. This week has been utterly the craziest week of my life. Physically, Mentally, Emotionally. It feels like forever since I talked to you. This is a whole different world out here. Lets see I will just start from where we last talked. After we talked I boarded the plane, had a nice 5 hour flight down here (which was so cool!) you could see Belize and all its islands. We were all stolked. We got off the plane had to go through customs, talked to the lady in spanish for a bit. I was way cool.

My mission president was waiting for us there with his assistants. We boarded this ghetto bus and we were off. It isnt as humid as I thought it would be actually. We landed at around 7 at night. The drive to the mission home was about an hour and this place is NOT the US. the presidents house was really nice though. We had dinner there ate papusas and they were pretty good. Stayed the night at the assistants house. Woke up in the morning and had meetings till about 2. I got my comp, his name is Elder Bonilla and he is a native from El Salvador. We had meetings on what we can eat, stuff about money, and safety of course. We then went to buy groceries and after we got on the bus and the assistance were like seeya. I was like, "I guess we are going to our areas?" thinking it would only be about an hour or less. We ended up driving 5 hours! it was crazy. My eyes were wide open the whole time. I got to see pretty much the whole mission. I didn´t think the culture shock would get to me... but it is really different here. Tin houses everywhere. Dirt floors, there is no carpet anywhere, we have to wear shoes or atleast flip flops at all times. It is definitely a really poor country.

But now I have my area. It is two areas in one. Its called Trebol/Las Aradalas. I am like in the outer part of Santa Ana. It is a really good place though. The Members are so so increbly nice, well everyone is. We teach in tin houses all the time. I wish you could see our house. It is one of the nicest in the area, but you would never see something like in the US. Cold showers(which I really don´t mind, wakes me up haha), but we have a pretty cool view of the city.

The first day out proselyting went so great. A miracle happened. We went to a recent converts house and were talking to them. A white lady walked in and I was actually suprised to see a white person. We started talking to her and she was answering really slowly. Said she was married to one of the members and was baptist. She said she was from North Carolina and so I asked if it would be easier if we talked in english. She said ya so i talked to her. We talked about our beliefs and she was talking about how angry she has been lately. I read her some of my favorite scriptures and she started to ball. Said she didn´t have any order in her life. I taught her how to pray and asked that she would. She accepted. I gave her a book of mormon and she said she would read it. Asked if she prayed, read and knew it was true if she would get baptized and she said yes. I will be baptizing her on saturday!

We have taught her everyday I have been here and she is ready. She is like the Golden Investigator. We have taught a bunch of good people though. We have 5 progressing investigators. But yesterday we had church and only 3 showed up.

OH man church is so different here. Seriously everyone just gets up, walks out. Talks, the microphone sucks. It is crazy. But we have the coolest member ever. His name is Juan Carlos and he is the mission leader. He is like a 5 foot 6 stalky guy but is my favorite person. He is also our cook, he makes the best stuff ever. We pay him 20 dollars a week to make the best lunches ever. I am like eating better here, for lunch, better than at home.

It is really hard at times having a native comp. There definitely is a language barrier and we both come from two different worlds. We are really trying to work on patience.
I do really stick out here, I have already had a family ask to take a picture with me because I am so tall. It was pretty funny. But standing out really helps. Everyone here thinks the english language is so so interesting. It is a nice way to start conversations.

I have already gotten like a bigillion misquito bites all over my arms and stuff. and there are stray dogs everywhere.

As far as E-mail and mail. I would stick to email. I get to do it every monday. Mail is confusing and takes a while, But i only get to email family. so my friends I have to do mail. I do get a lot more time here though which is good.

Well sorry this letter was so long lots to tell. Ugh it has been difficult though not gonna lie. LIving in this different country is a struggle. The language hasn´t been a problem with me at all, I contact a lot of people and that is fun. This has probably been the hardest week of my life.

I love you all so much and thank you for all the support. Kels I hope the play is a blast. I think that your last show should be tonight. Break a leg! I can´t wait to hear from you all.

Sending love from El Salvador,
Elder Gillette