Well last weeks email was great. Elder Smith's opening sentence included: "I love it more and more each day!" I would have to say that so far the experience in the Guatemala MTC/CCM has been nothing less than amazing for him. It is also definitely a bonus that he gets to play soccer for hours on P-Days :) His group visited the temple this past week to talk to the members there so they could improve their Spanish. Josh and his companion Elder Boyer love the group of Spanish Missionaries they room with. He said they are the greatest companeros de cuarto of all time! Apparently one of his roomies Elder Sierra is referred to as the Justin Bieber of Honduras! :) Elder Sierra is Josh's companion on Sunday's and they get to go into the real world and teach which Josh was pretty excited about. He is getting A lot of teaching experience which will be very helpful, they teach about 3 lessons a day. Josh has been out now for a little over one month and happily I can report that he said the time is flying by. He really loves the people he has met and he thinks the CCM president is the greatest. His name is President Nicolaysen. Not sure what country he is from. It is the rainy season in Central America but Josh say's so far it hasn't been bad. It rains a little about 2pm every day then it is fine. We are grateful that his experience so far is so positive. We feel really blessed as a family that Josh is able to have this wonderful experience. We know there will be some hard times coming but for now it is all rosie in Guatemala!! We love him very much and know that Heavenly Father will look after him and allow him to have the experiences he needs to help him grow. Bye for now :)

Happy Mothers Day!

What a great week! Several emails from Josh and two phone calls. We had a full 30 mins to chat with him today and we could of gone on and on :) He had so much to tell us, it is very exciting! He loves the Guatemala CCM, I think his exact words were this place is heaven, the best place he has ever been! The CCM has a big wall around it and they have guards with rifles readily available keeping them safe. He isn't worried at all, it seems to be just the way things are there. They are surrounded with mountains and Josh said it is beautiful. Today was P-day and he played a full 4 hrs of soccer :) I believe his team are now the reigning champs! It did take a while for him to adjust to the ball though, it is smaller and heavier but all is well! He really likes his companion who is from Utah and sadly none of us seem to remember his name. whoops! They share a room with four hispanic speaking Elders that speak little English so it is difficult to communicate but today they had a breakthrough and found a few things to talk about. Josh said He has learned so much Spanish and can now teach a lesson :) yeah! They went out into the city the other day and helped clean the streets for service. It is very different but he loves it. The food at the CCM is everything he had been told and more. This makes him very happy :) They have a chef and the food is delicious. It is of course mainly hispanic food but for Josh this is great because it has always been his favorite. The missionaries have to eat all the food given them or it is considered very rude. Josh has had no problem with this whatsoever! He loves the feeling there and thinks it makes the MTC in Provo seem, well let's just say, not so good! All in all Elder Smith is the happiest I have ever heard him. We are so proud of him and know he will continue to learn and love the people there. I wish I could see him as a missionary but this is his experience and I get to let him enjoy the ride!

Elder Smith called from the airport on his way to Guatemala. He is excited and ready to go! :) There are four missionaries heading to his mission. He seems to really get on well with all of them. We are so happy for him. We all hear great things about the Guatemala MTC. It only has approx 150 missionaries at any one time and it has a really small family feel. Apparently the food is great! Josh does not know who his companion will be yet but he thinks he will have an American companion and then they room with two Spanish speaking Elders. I'm sure this will help with the language. The Temple is right next to the MTC and they will continue to be able to go once a week. What a blessing! Elder Smith is also excited about the prospect of playing soccer. He has been playing basketball at the Provo MTC which he also enjoys but his feet are ready to kick a ball around again :) Well. I will let you know when we hear from him again. Thanks everyone for all of your help and support. Eventually we will get pictures!

First photo's of Elder Smith from MTC courtesy of Elder Park (he is in Josh's district)

We love Tuesdays! Who would of thought that a boring old Tuesday could suddenly become so exciting! It's Josh's P day and we received our second email! :)  He sounds like he is still doing really well.  He really appreciates all of the letters and packages and feels quite spoiled! Thank you everyone :)  He is helping to teach a couple of spanish investigators (people interested in the church).  As you can imagine this is a challenge as his Spanish is still in the early stages!  Josh continues to learn a lot and seems really excited to go to Guatemala next week.  There he will be absolutely immersed in the language and culture. He has his flight plans and it looks like a long night of travel, leaving SLC in the evening and not arriving in Guatemala City till early next morning.  He can handle it :)  Security has been tightened  at the MTC in Provo due to some folk exercising their freedom of speech.  It's all very exciting!  Josh is quite impressed with how the MTC is handling it.  He has run into some friends from Southern Virginia University that are going to serve in various places.  It's always great to find some familiar faces among the thousands of new ones.  Josh's letters so far have been very positive and enthusiastic.  He said time is flying by.  We are so excited for him to have this opportunity.  Thanks again to everyone for your love and support! Thats it for now folks!