October 10, 2011

 well, the big question, did  i get transferred..... no.
for the 4 transfer ill be here in `paititi and ill be will elder
castro too"!!! so itll be good, ill get to finish training him, we had
3 baptisms on ssaturday"!!! so that was really good.  we have 3 more
for the 22.  and we`ll find 2 more for the 29 so that we hit out goal
of 8 for the month.  im really excited ffor my new district, they are
all excited to work hard and as a district we should finish with 13 or
14 baptisms this month.  the other good thing about staying here is
that it means for sure ill be in the same place for the transfers for
my birthday, and christmas so there shouldnt be problems with my
packages.  well this week was really good, we found some really good
people and we hope to plan more baptisms for november and december.
right now ive had 18 baptisms here in paititi, and i want to finish
with 25, so well see how that goes.  that would be more people that
had been baptized here in the last 2 years, so we are really happpy
about the people that the lord has blest us to find and that have been
baptized, i feel like ammon in alma 26¨:12  im just happy that we are
turning the mission around, especially the zone of trinidad.  its now
one of the best places, where it was one of the worst.  the mission is
getting better,  there is an energy here that is very good,  earlier
in the year we were wanting every companionship to have a baptism
together every transfer, now it has grown to 4 baptisms in every
month!! so we are happy with the progres that we are making.  im
excited to read the liahona of this month, i got one yesterday at the
church, and read a bit, it is awesome!!! it will clear up a lot of
doubts about the book of mormon and will help a lot of people get
baptized i think.  i will get a package sent home before the month
ends so that it gets there on time.  when i get back to santa cruz ill
be able to get the book of mormon cases made and shipped over there,
but untill then ill get some cool stuff from trinidad sent.  i think
everyone will enjoy the things a lot.  did evan get home this last
week? i thought that he was gonna finish in oct? and this is the last
transfer for spencer"!!! haha a letter tyhat he sent me 4 months ago i
got today haha the mail system from mexico to bolivia is not that
great i guess haha  good to hear that everyone is doing well there, i
hope my next comp speaks a little english so we can practice before
christmas because im rusty haha theres an old timer from texas
visiting in my area, he lives on this street that i pass every day and
he knows the missionaries, and so he likes to speak english, so ive
chatted with him a little, hhahah at first it was hard, and i still
have to focus when i speak english, it should be very interesting in
another year to see how i am.  i should get another letter sent out
next week.  well, the rains have started here, we have to hide a
cou`ple times every day because when it rains here it pours, luckilyu
weve always been in a house when it starts and we can wait it out, but
the weather is crazy right now, its either 100+  or it gets cloudy and
rains for and hour of two, and after the sun comes out and scorches
everything, and the humidity is terrible!! but we`ll survive"!"!!!
have a great week""!! love elder donaldson

August 15, 2011

welll sounds like everything there is going great!!!  i cant believe
that another school year has started!! well hopefully it goes well.  i
cant believe that its almost time for u guys to go to alaska!! doesnt
seem like a year ago that i was there!! dang, in a year ill only have
3 transfers left in my mision... time is going by really fast.  well,
itll be exciting to hear where danica gets her call, and how the hunts
in alaska go, and the new calling and everything.  tell courtney i
said congrats, thats pretty cool, i cant believe spencer is almost
ready to finish.  well, this week was really good, i baptized one of
our investigators, and next saturday well have 4 more, so thats great,
our zone is gonna have a white night because we all have baptisms,
there should be 12 to 15 baptisms this night!! im excited that the
mission is getting a lot better right now. we`re making some changes
and focusing on some other things and are haveing more success.  ill
definitely be looking forward to this letter, i hope i get it before
transfers!! transfers are next wednesday, so they might hold it in the
offices untill after transfers.  well, we gotta go so we have time to
go fisshing!!   have a great week!!! and i did get aleter in the mail
last week tooo. con amor, elder donaldson

June 27, 2011

man, i cant believe that all of those guys are getting home.  tell
> jeff i said hi, am im greatful that he was always a good friend and
> example to me.  i know thatll itll be hard when i get home, luckily
> robby will already be home so we`ll be able to bumb together.  but ya,
> to be honest it would be wierd to be home right now, i think i could
> adjust, but id be different.  i know after another 18 months im gonna
> be really different, and it will be really hard to adapt.  know that
> ill be thinking a lot of everyone the 4, be sure and tell them how
> much i love and appreciate them.  ill get another letter sent out
> today with some pics, and im gonna send some in an email after this
> message.  i always on the internet from 10-11 bolivia time if anyone
> wants to get on and we can chat a little bit.  ok i have a question,
> what would happen if i washed a pair of dry wash only slacks? could i
> use a wet rag to scrub them or sonething? cause there isnt a dryclean
> plave here, but they are super dirty.  ya. but this was a great week.
> we had a fun time last monday, ill send some pics.  yull be surprised
> haha and this week we taught 52 lessons, the most that ive taught in a
> week in my mission, so thats great.  we have a lot of investigators
> progressing and well have several baptisms in july.  one thing that we
> have to do is always share the gospel, we can`t be afraid to share
> what we know is true.  we dont need to be offensive about it, but
> people need to know waht we know also.  im sure the horses will love
> the barm, one thing i do miss is shooting all those rabbits, but
> marshall can have that privilege as long as he has to work too haha
> well i cant believe that ive been out so lomg either, before u know it
> ill be home.  i love u all so much and hope that u have a great week,
> and can get everything ready for alaska in time,,, i mean the nauvoo
> trip haha   oh ya, i had to talk in church again yesterday.. for 20
> minutes!! they left me a lot of time, so i kinda had to throw a
> coup`le extra experiences in there to take all the time, but it was
> good. well thats about it, gonna try to get some pics sent.  con amor,
> elder donaldson
>

June 20, 2011

well its good to hear that everything is getting back to normal.  i
really enjoyed the pics. i got the letter from aunt kate and the news
cli`about teren and brandon today, thats great.  well we had a good
week, im staying healthy ç, so thats always good, and i wouild
definitly say that praying for me to stay healthy would probably be
the most important right now, the language is going well, im not gonna
get in a fight with my comp, and so ya i would appreciate the prayers
for my health, and i can already see them helping me, really.  well i
dont have time to send pics today, but i did get some mail sent last
week with some pictures i believe, and for sure next week ill get a
letter out with some pictures, and i should email some pics too.  man
i would love to have some moose steak!! i have been enjoying the
package a ton. i made up some potatos the other night, i didnt have
any buttert, but they still turned out good.  ive been enjoying all of
the candy, and especially the cereal because theydont have cereal
here, well i cant find it. in my last area we could go to a store that
was basically a wal mart, but here there isnt anything like that.  we
have to shop in am open market.  well ive started loosing weight here
to a little because i dont eat as much and because its hotter and a
lot more humid.  well, we had a pretty good week,. it would be better
if the members were a little more willing to help us out, but we get
to speak next sunday so were gonna try to start a fire under them.
there are more than 450 members in this ward because thte area is so
big, but about 100 or so are in church sunday.  and most of them show
up only for the last hour because the schedule here is like for pap
red.  they start eith priesthood and end with sacrament.  well have a
great time at the nauvoo pageant!! and think of the people that u will
be helping directly or indirectly, always have great atitudes!! con
amor elder donaldson

June 6, 2011

Well, thats sad to hear about the fire.. im definitely keeping all of
you in my prayers, and that area also.  well, the next email wouild be
great to get an inform of the wilderness, thats crazy that u had to
shoot a rattler again, and great to hear that those kids had a great
time, i wold like to hear everyones experiences though.  did cubb go?
howd he do? or who all went from the family? well i had a great week.
elder burchill and i had a great first part of the week, and transfers
came, and i am now in trinidad, bolivia.  the hottest most humid part
of the mission. there are only 8 missionaries here, and chances are
ill be here for about six months or so, because the mission has to pay
for us to fly out and back, so we usualyy stay out here for awhile.  i
have some great pics to send, ill get them in the mail in a week or
two hopefully. ill get some sent today.  i still havemnt goten the
package yet, bit probably what happened is it got there right before
transfers and so they held on to it untill after tranfers to know
where i`d be, and ill probably get it next week.  all the stufff has
to come on a bus, its and 8 hour trip on bus from the city to here,
luckily i flew in a little jet.it seated about 20 people.  sitting in
my seat i could touch the with my elbow, and the other side of the
plane if i leaned into the isle a little.    with elder burchill on
tuesday we were walking on a sidewalk, and when i stepped on one part
it crumbled and i fell like two feet into this hole, ill send a pic,
and then on the plane we could only take 20 kilos, or 40 poundsabout.
so right now im with the stuff that i absolutely meed, and sçnothing
else.  nut its great.  we had training with pres and hna calderon
friday all day, it was awesome, i learned a ton how i can get better.
usually these meeting have 80 missionaries or so, and because it was
in trrinidad there was only us 8. so it was great.  saturday from 8 to
1 we had the second part of the training, and pres crayk of the temple
in cochabamba was there, and me and my comp, elder bustamante taught
him and pres calderon( they were our investigators) and it went
awesome i learned soo much, i told pres crayk about the driggs and he
wanted me to tell them hi, i got a pic with him too.  sunday was stake
conference and pres and hna calderon spoke, pres crayk, and elder
Cabrera of the 70.  the best stake conference i have ever been in.
probably because im in missionary mode so i paid attention to
everything, but i really enjoyed it.  pres calderon has the gift of
teaching. he can teach the gospel better then any person i know, and
hes a convert too.  every time we have training with him he teaches us
a ton.  well ill fill u in on the area and my comp now.  ( outside the
city we get an hour to email!!!) ya, my comp is elder bustamante from
cochabamba.  this is his last transfer in the mission, so obvisously
he knows a ton, hes really training me right now all the stuff that i
didn`t know, but need to know. will have a great transfer together.
hes a hard worker, and doesn`t mooch my stuff either, so we`ll have a
great relation in every phase.  we have a baprism scheduled for this
saturday, amd more for the 25 of this month.  Trinidad, Beni Bolivia-
in the jugle of bolivia, my area has no limit, if we wanted we could
walk out of town all day into the jungle looking for families that
live out of town.  dad will understand this, its like a tropical
alaska with all the growth.  all of the plants and shrubs are 7 or 8
feet tall, so when your on the ground u cant see much.  theres little
ponds or swamps throughout our area, ive already seen a little
alligator, probably 3 feet long.  there are sloths here!! they move
like robots, ill get u a pic sent.  there are anacondas, and vipers(
poisonous) so we gotta watch out for that.  there are parrots and
mccaws everywhere, and the only transportation is motorcycle!! haha so
we are always using moto taxis.  i almost got hit the other day cause
my driver ran a red light!! haha it was pretty crazy, but don`t worry,
the lord will protect me, i have plain confidence in that.  thanks for
everything, i love u all so much.  con amor, elder donaldson

June 1, 2011

man that i would like to be on the wilderness right now!! well i gues
not, but ill be ready for it when im done here.  im sure youll all
make it with your heavy packs, and youll definitely enjoy all of the
food!!!! hahah well this week was a little crazy.  monday the zls told
me that the package was here. unfortunately theyre both latinos and
somehow read chrisstopherson and donaldson...... so its still not
here. but itll get here, and ill be more grearful when it does.  on
tuesday we had a great day, untill 1015 that night and got told i had
an emergency transfer to riberalta, which is out in the boondocks,
like really in the jungle, right next to brazil. so i was up till 2
gettin all my stugff  put togother. and then the nect morning they
called again and said they couldnt find a plane to take me out there
so ill be here till wed when we have transfers, i feel like ill get
transferred this time around, i would love to stay, but i dont see it
happening.  then wed and thurs e burchill was sick so we were in the
house all day, i read the entire our search for happiness in those two
days. its really great.  i can open pics on here so that would be
great to get.  i talked with brandon and the kid from thatcher at the
rouind ball tourney.thats sweet that he got baptozed.  well we got
another baptism on saturday!! it was awesome!! e butchill baptized
her.  ill get some more pictures sent the next time i can go to
correo.  we found several other people that willl get baptozeed for
sure inthe next transfe, so thats exciting.    well i love u all,
thanks for everything  con amor elder donaldson.  ps  tell dad to read
alma 13. i sspent 45 minutes reading 11 vs.

May 23, 2011

happy birthday mom!!! i really remambered that your birthday was the
21, and i was gonna say something today if u hadnt said anything.  im
really glad that u got me a letter written, i would have been pretty
down if i didn`t get anything from u.  the zone leaders have the
package, so ill get it from them today!! ill sure be greatful for
everything in there.  i still don`t know how much it cost, but i know
that e burchills family sends him some that are about 8x8x14 and weigh
a couple pounds, and sending it regular speed costs about 30-33 bucks,
so next time that might be a good idea, i know i asked for a ton of
stuff, so u couldn`t send it all in a small box, but thanks for
everything and know that i will deeply appreciate everything in there.
 i got some letters from sis eagar, danica, mariah, and danny last
week, they all helped me out a ton. i love christmas, and am really
greatful that u always sacrificed to give us a good christmas, but
getting letters on the mission rivals christmas day. it is just always
great to get a letter and here how everyone is doing.  i got letters
sent to cubb, u guys, and  both sis eagars last week, and i sent some
pics too. probably next week or in 2 weeks ill get some more sent,
with mnore pics, and ill get trevin and the preists written too.
well this was a great week.  we still have our baptism scheduled for
this saturday, so we+re stoked for that.  we`ve had some great lessons
with her, and her lds friend has done a lot to help her get ready.  so
im always greatful for references from the members.  we have another
investigator, gustavo, hes about 40 and has his family and they are
all catholic.  a member family that he knows referred us to him. weve
worked with him for about a month now. when we started, he told us
that he didn`t want to change religions, but he wanted some help with
his life.  he goes to church every sunday, prays, reads the bibnle,
but feels that something is lacking in his life. so we were able to
teach him about christs church and the restoration, and fianlly we got
him to pray about it, and he got an answer, but we haven`t had a visit
since then, our next one with him is tomorrow.  our last lesson we and
a convert that was catholic with us and he shared his conversion story
with gustavo, so that was great.  this convert had a dream about the
church, and how it was decorated inside.  so he looked for it for a
month, and finally found the lds church after visiting other catholic
and evangelista churches.  the spirit was so strong, and gustavo
committd to pray fervently about the restoration. his son was also ver
very sick, so we gave him a blessing. the next day when we called his
son was better, and he had an answer, so im really excited to meet
with him.  we also have  another great family that is progressing, the
rodriguez family, the dad was excommunicated, but he wants to be
baptized again with all of his family becasue he got married after his
excommunication.    well, i can`t believe u cussed mom, haha jk that
made me laugh im not gonna lie. and u wouldve worried if u saw how
late i was out im sure.  i had many 2 am mornings with robby, and we
were always driving back and forth from thatcher from games really
late, but ya, i got out here so thats the most important.  thats great
to hear that youre taking those two boys on the wilderness trip dad,
im sure they ll love it.  tell cub i said hi, and that he needs to get
me a letter sent.  i love u all so much, and thankds for everything,
oh one last thing, we had a night of talents at the church for the
entire ward, and we sang some classic love song from bolivia haha they
all thaought it was pretty funny, and i also got updated about the
playoffs from one of my buddies that isn`t a member always updates me,
well my time is up!!!!! have a great week love u all tons!!! con amor
elder donaldson