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
Elder Duskin Donaldson
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
June 27, 2011
> 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
>
Monday, June 20, 2011
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
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
Monday, June 13, 2011
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
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.
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
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
June 13, 2011
well thats sad to hear how big the fire is. is it still going a
little bit or not?? well im glad that everything has worked out, i was
sure ptaying a lpt for all of you this week. the fire even made the
news here. the people i eat lunch with were telling me about it. well
this was a pretty crazy week!! first off i tried to send letters last
week, but the post office is on strike indefinitely so hopefully there
back in business and i can send them today. i didn``t get any written
on monday because when we got home i washed clothes for almost 4
hours, and as it turned out ended mçup making me sick. but we worked
tuesday, and wednesday i was tired all day, i really didn+t have any
energy and felt like i was gonna pass out all day. nut it was a very
good day. we found a less active family that want to be reactivated
and they have a lettle daughter tyhat were gonna baptize next month.
when we were done teaching us they told us how theyd been praying for
the missionaries to find them and help them, so that was awesome,
especially because these people live out in the boondocks, and so to
get to there house we had to walk for 25 minutes, in the dark, out of
town, so i was beat when we got out there, but the lesson made it
worth it, most of the people here live in little huts of 2x12s, and a
lot of them dont have electrcity in their homes, and they have to hall
water to bathe, was dishes, clothes and whatever esle. so its pretty
humbling to be out here. there are the houses that have everything a
normal house would have, but the majority dont have that.. wednesday
night i didn+t sleep very good because i had a headache all night and
my kneck was killing me, thursday i had a temp of 102.7 so we stayed
home, and i was in bed all day trying to deal with a migraine. mom, i
now know how u feel with those migraines!!! not fun at all. but i got
the medicine i needed and a blessing and friday i was good to go.we
had a good baptism on saturday, lots of members showed up, and we had
some good refreshments. its always funny to me because we say, the
baptism starts at 5, but everyone that needs to be there never show up
entill 6 so we always start late. but oh well, we had the baptism and
the confirmation yesterday so thats great. one of the ward members
got his mission call. here the calls are sent to the stake center and
then to the bishop and the the person readds there call during
sacrament meeting, so that was kinda interesting. when i got to the
internet place i had the package waiting!! so im real exvited to get
homw and open theat. and i also had letters from, shawn, crick
martindell, sis beedle,sis eagar, danica grandma aunt chantelle, and
grammy and papa red, so thank u to everyone, ill get u all letters
written back in the next couple weeks for sure. well congrats for
cass!! i was hoping for a nephew, but ill be happy with a niece just
the same haha well thanks for the love and support, and ill try to get
some pics sent via emal next week. con amor, elder donaldson
little bit or not?? well im glad that everything has worked out, i was
sure ptaying a lpt for all of you this week. the fire even made the
news here. the people i eat lunch with were telling me about it. well
this was a pretty crazy week!! first off i tried to send letters last
week, but the post office is on strike indefinitely so hopefully there
back in business and i can send them today. i didn``t get any written
on monday because when we got home i washed clothes for almost 4
hours, and as it turned out ended mçup making me sick. but we worked
tuesday, and wednesday i was tired all day, i really didn+t have any
energy and felt like i was gonna pass out all day. nut it was a very
good day. we found a less active family that want to be reactivated
and they have a lettle daughter tyhat were gonna baptize next month.
when we were done teaching us they told us how theyd been praying for
the missionaries to find them and help them, so that was awesome,
especially because these people live out in the boondocks, and so to
get to there house we had to walk for 25 minutes, in the dark, out of
town, so i was beat when we got out there, but the lesson made it
worth it, most of the people here live in little huts of 2x12s, and a
lot of them dont have electrcity in their homes, and they have to hall
water to bathe, was dishes, clothes and whatever esle. so its pretty
humbling to be out here. there are the houses that have everything a
normal house would have, but the majority dont have that.. wednesday
night i didn+t sleep very good because i had a headache all night and
my kneck was killing me, thursday i had a temp of 102.7 so we stayed
home, and i was in bed all day trying to deal with a migraine. mom, i
now know how u feel with those migraines!!! not fun at all. but i got
the medicine i needed and a blessing and friday i was good to go.we
had a good baptism on saturday, lots of members showed up, and we had
some good refreshments. its always funny to me because we say, the
baptism starts at 5, but everyone that needs to be there never show up
entill 6 so we always start late. but oh well, we had the baptism and
the confirmation yesterday so thats great. one of the ward members
got his mission call. here the calls are sent to the stake center and
then to the bishop and the the person readds there call during
sacrament meeting, so that was kinda interesting. when i got to the
internet place i had the package waiting!! so im real exvited to get
homw and open theat. and i also had letters from, shawn, crick
martindell, sis beedle,sis eagar, danica grandma aunt chantelle, and
grammy and papa red, so thank u to everyone, ill get u all letters
written back in the next couple weeks for sure. well congrats for
cass!! i was hoping for a nephew, but ill be happy with a niece just
the same haha well thanks for the love and support, and ill try to get
some pics sent via emal next week. con amor, elder donaldson
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
hahahahahah wellfirst of alldad cedar got the new kitten, not cass!!
good to see that something at home is still the same!! haha well that
is great to hear about shiloh!! howd she do in long jump? im guessong
not togood since u didn`+t tell me, but im proud of her. thats great
that u got to talk in stake conf dad, obviously the 70 wanted to be
guided by the spirit, and he chose u for a reason. and when we seeek
the help of the spirit the message is carried to the hearts of the
people by the holy ghost. there have been so many times that i have
talked in a lesson, and everything seemed scatterbrained, but in the
end the person understood because this his gods message and hes not
gonna let my inability stand in the way of their conversion. i also
talked yesterday in our ward, for the 2 time. it went good, i talked
about keeping the sabbath day holy, because that is kinda a big
problem here, i felt that it didn`+t go to great, but at the end,
quite a few people tod me that it had inspired them to do better, so
thats another example like u had. well thats great to hear that the
package is on the way!! thanks for sending it, i know that it was
expensive, but really, it will help me so much, ill definitley enjoy
whats in it, but just the emotional bust it is to get it will be
great! ill probably be having a bad day, then ill get it, and it won`t
matter what happened cause ill have the package. well that foto album
should be in the corner of my room where i put all of my stuff, or in
my ooden cabinet that i made in woodshop. i actually think it is in
the cabinet. and theyre in a big black album that has all of my sports
pictures, and pictures from dances and some of my buddies. ill get to
send a letter home today with some more pictures of everything, pres
didn`t let us go last week, so we can go today. i have 7 pics or so
to send. well this was a tough week, but it ended great!! i was a
little sick at the beginning, but i got the medicine i needed and am
better now. to top off the week we put a baptismal date for the 28 of
this month!! i was so happy after we did that!! i was so tired
yesterday, the entire day, and our last lesson was with this hna. we
taught her about the restoration, e burchill gave the first vison,
then i testified to her about it, and how she ñcan know for herselff
that this is true. then e burchill commited her to be baptized, and
she acfepted!! i honestly felt so good. i walked into those first
baptisms, so i think i didnt really appreciate them, but ive worked so
hard for this, and last night when she accepted i honestly could not
stop smiling!! i just wanted to scream praises haha and after this i
had such a spiritual high that i wasn`t tired, at least not untill we
got to the house, then it hit me like a wall again haha, well
everything is still going great here, i love u all so much. deinitely
let me know hoew the wilderness is, and let me know how the potatoes
that u cary in taste!! icause i caried them last year!! hahah con
amor, elder donaldson
good to see that something at home is still the same!! haha well that
is great to hear about shiloh!! howd she do in long jump? im guessong
not togood since u didn`+t tell me, but im proud of her. thats great
that u got to talk in stake conf dad, obviously the 70 wanted to be
guided by the spirit, and he chose u for a reason. and when we seeek
the help of the spirit the message is carried to the hearts of the
people by the holy ghost. there have been so many times that i have
talked in a lesson, and everything seemed scatterbrained, but in the
end the person understood because this his gods message and hes not
gonna let my inability stand in the way of their conversion. i also
talked yesterday in our ward, for the 2 time. it went good, i talked
about keeping the sabbath day holy, because that is kinda a big
problem here, i felt that it didn`+t go to great, but at the end,
quite a few people tod me that it had inspired them to do better, so
thats another example like u had. well thats great to hear that the
package is on the way!! thanks for sending it, i know that it was
expensive, but really, it will help me so much, ill definitley enjoy
whats in it, but just the emotional bust it is to get it will be
great! ill probably be having a bad day, then ill get it, and it won`t
matter what happened cause ill have the package. well that foto album
should be in the corner of my room where i put all of my stuff, or in
my ooden cabinet that i made in woodshop. i actually think it is in
the cabinet. and theyre in a big black album that has all of my sports
pictures, and pictures from dances and some of my buddies. ill get to
send a letter home today with some more pictures of everything, pres
didn`t let us go last week, so we can go today. i have 7 pics or so
to send. well this was a tough week, but it ended great!! i was a
little sick at the beginning, but i got the medicine i needed and am
better now. to top off the week we put a baptismal date for the 28 of
this month!! i was so happy after we did that!! i was so tired
yesterday, the entire day, and our last lesson was with this hna. we
taught her about the restoration, e burchill gave the first vison,
then i testified to her about it, and how she ñcan know for herselff
that this is true. then e burchill commited her to be baptized, and
she acfepted!! i honestly felt so good. i walked into those first
baptisms, so i think i didnt really appreciate them, but ive worked so
hard for this, and last night when she accepted i honestly could not
stop smiling!! i just wanted to scream praises haha and after this i
had such a spiritual high that i wasn`t tired, at least not untill we
got to the house, then it hit me like a wall again haha, well
everything is still going great here, i love u all so much. deinitely
let me know hoew the wilderness is, and let me know how the potatoes
that u cary in taste!! icause i caried them last year!! hahah con
amor, elder donaldson
well i still have a littlemore time, i still needuncledrayts address
so i can get him a letter sent. i can`t believe u are going tonauvoo
andalaska this year!! that will be so great, i wish i was going again,
but therelll be time for that later. if u can send my big letter to
danica and cass that would be great. talk to danica about how to use
the dear elder, because i don`t know if i e`plained it good, but u
will stlll send me the email and ill get it exactly when u send it,
but also the church will print it out and send it as a letter, so ill
get it as an email, and about two weeks later and a letter. tell cubb
dakota, tj shorty and brett i sad hi and ill get cubba nd dakota
letters sent today
so i can get him a letter sent. i can`t believe u are going tonauvoo
andalaska this year!! that will be so great, i wish i was going again,
but therelll be time for that later. if u can send my big letter to
danica and cass that would be great. talk to danica about how to use
the dear elder, because i don`t know if i e`plained it good, but u
will stlll send me the email and ill get it exactly when u send it,
but also the church will print it out and send it as a letter, so ill
get it as an email, and about two weeks later and a letter. tell cubb
dakota, tj shorty and brett i sad hi and ill get cubba nd dakota
letters sent today
May 16, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 25, 2011
Well it sounds like u all had a great week!! im jealous that u all got
to go into the wilderness!! if u can find the camera that me and cubb
tookin last year we took some great pictures of the falls in there.
but ya, itll be nice im sure to have the trail cleaned out. ya the
forest service people are a little crazy sometimes, but whatever, i
guess they have to do there job. well, easter was really good, its a
great time to think of all the blessings we have, and of the
atonement. well, we did have transfers, i stayed in the garden of
eden!! haha and e chavez went to be zl of the biggest zone in the
mission. my new comp is e burchill, he`s from cali. half of his
family is converts, his parents are divorced ond his dad isn+t a
meber, but his mom stepdad and brothers are. hes been out for 6
months, so hes got the language down pretty good, sometimes we
struggle to understand everyone 100% but we do ok. weve found some
new good people to teach, so thats always good. its finally starting
to cool off here, so im glad for that, all the natives think its
freezing, but its about just right for me. haha before transfers i
met a lady on a bus that wanted to talk english with me, it was hard
im not gonna lie, my first instinct was to answer in spanish. its
kinda wierd, cause e burchil and i talk english in the house and when
we leave, only spanish, and when we study only spanish. so if i talk
about the church, or related things in english, its hard, but because
i haven`t talked a ton about sports in spanish i can still have a
normal conversation about sports without forgetting words. well, i
bought a trasformer last week, i finally found one, so that was nice,
and i sent letters last week to, and will today, last week i sent some
pics home too, u can use one of these for my plaque, and if u use a
scripture too use jacob 1 19. its a good one. ya but, it takes
foreer to send pics throught he internet, so what ill do is every
couple weeks print some out and send them in the mail. we got chased
by a big german shepherd and another dog the other night! my comp
herad them coming and when i turned around they were right there, i
turned aroun¡d and was ready to throw the bible at it, luckily it
stopped, but it got our adrenaline going prety good!! haha e burchill
had to get an ingrown toenail cut out sat morning so we couldn`t work.
we talked all day about basketball, and other stuff, but it was
really good. i finished the b of m in english, so im done with it, and
only read in spanish now, so thats good. i haven`t gotten any letters
from u guys in awhile.. i would like to get some more pics of u guys!
theres also one pic of me evan tj and bauer in my box, thatd be great
if u could send that, and some more of the family, or some of my
football and basketball pics. well everything here is great, last
week i got like 12 other letters swent in a big letter to u, with
american stamps, so if u could throw those in the mail id appreciate
it. thanks for everything!! and ill let u know about the call home,
were still figurinfg it out!! love ya tons!! con amor, elder donaldson
to go into the wilderness!! if u can find the camera that me and cubb
tookin last year we took some great pictures of the falls in there.
but ya, itll be nice im sure to have the trail cleaned out. ya the
forest service people are a little crazy sometimes, but whatever, i
guess they have to do there job. well, easter was really good, its a
great time to think of all the blessings we have, and of the
atonement. well, we did have transfers, i stayed in the garden of
eden!! haha and e chavez went to be zl of the biggest zone in the
mission. my new comp is e burchill, he`s from cali. half of his
family is converts, his parents are divorced ond his dad isn+t a
meber, but his mom stepdad and brothers are. hes been out for 6
months, so hes got the language down pretty good, sometimes we
struggle to understand everyone 100% but we do ok. weve found some
new good people to teach, so thats always good. its finally starting
to cool off here, so im glad for that, all the natives think its
freezing, but its about just right for me. haha before transfers i
met a lady on a bus that wanted to talk english with me, it was hard
im not gonna lie, my first instinct was to answer in spanish. its
kinda wierd, cause e burchil and i talk english in the house and when
we leave, only spanish, and when we study only spanish. so if i talk
about the church, or related things in english, its hard, but because
i haven`t talked a ton about sports in spanish i can still have a
normal conversation about sports without forgetting words. well, i
bought a trasformer last week, i finally found one, so that was nice,
and i sent letters last week to, and will today, last week i sent some
pics home too, u can use one of these for my plaque, and if u use a
scripture too use jacob 1 19. its a good one. ya but, it takes
foreer to send pics throught he internet, so what ill do is every
couple weeks print some out and send them in the mail. we got chased
by a big german shepherd and another dog the other night! my comp
herad them coming and when i turned around they were right there, i
turned aroun¡d and was ready to throw the bible at it, luckily it
stopped, but it got our adrenaline going prety good!! haha e burchill
had to get an ingrown toenail cut out sat morning so we couldn`t work.
we talked all day about basketball, and other stuff, but it was
really good. i finished the b of m in english, so im done with it, and
only read in spanish now, so thats good. i haven`t gotten any letters
from u guys in awhile.. i would like to get some more pics of u guys!
theres also one pic of me evan tj and bauer in my box, thatd be great
if u could send that, and some more of the family, or some of my
football and basketball pics. well everything here is great, last
week i got like 12 other letters swent in a big letter to u, with
american stamps, so if u could throw those in the mail id appreciate
it. thanks for everything!! and ill let u know about the call home,
were still figurinfg it out!! love ya tons!! con amor, elder donaldson
Monday, April 18, 2011
April 4, 2011
well, this was a great week, sounds like u all had a great time too, i
did get some letters in the mail last monday so u should get them here
directly. some of my desires are in the letter, it takes a couple
months to get packages from what ive heard, so please wait till u get
my letter to send stuff!! haha i could give soe kids easter stuff, but
it will probabaly be closer to the 4 when i get it. i was thinking
about the wilderness the other day and it does not seem like a year
ago that we did that!! i love that trip. do u want me to send the
letter for cubb to the house? ill def get him a letter . i was
thinking about him and dakota the other day. well everyone here is on
me so we can go play soccer right now. so ill keep this short. conf
was great. we didint get to watch the preisthood sess because it was
to late here. but i enjoyed it, it was a little hard to understand
everything in spanish. i got the gist of every talk, i definitely
didnt get the jokes, but p`retty much everything else i was able to
understand.. during the first session i remembered that uncle drayt
and amy were gonna try to get to conf, did they make it? when i
thought about it i got a peaceful feeling, so im trying to figure out
what that meant.. well the blessings im experiencing in my mission are
great, sometimes its really hard, but when i become a little more
humble and submit to the will of the lord i get through it and befcome
better. i know the lord will bless u as u continue to lookk fro
opportunities to do missionary work. thanks for everything, i love u
all so much, and u are always in my prayers.co amor, elder donaldson
did get some letters in the mail last monday so u should get them here
directly. some of my desires are in the letter, it takes a couple
months to get packages from what ive heard, so please wait till u get
my letter to send stuff!! haha i could give soe kids easter stuff, but
it will probabaly be closer to the 4 when i get it. i was thinking
about the wilderness the other day and it does not seem like a year
ago that we did that!! i love that trip. do u want me to send the
letter for cubb to the house? ill def get him a letter . i was
thinking about him and dakota the other day. well everyone here is on
me so we can go play soccer right now. so ill keep this short. conf
was great. we didint get to watch the preisthood sess because it was
to late here. but i enjoyed it, it was a little hard to understand
everything in spanish. i got the gist of every talk, i definitely
didnt get the jokes, but p`retty much everything else i was able to
understand.. during the first session i remembered that uncle drayt
and amy were gonna try to get to conf, did they make it? when i
thought about it i got a peaceful feeling, so im trying to figure out
what that meant.. well the blessings im experiencing in my mission are
great, sometimes its really hard, but when i become a little more
humble and submit to the will of the lord i get through it and befcome
better. i know the lord will bless u as u continue to lookk fro
opportunities to do missionary work. thanks for everything, i love u
all so much, and u are always in my prayers.co amor, elder donaldson
April 11, 2011
well the time is flying by for me too, but i don`t have enough email
time to tell u allt he experiences i have had!! haha two weeks ago is
when i got the first letter sent to u, four pages of experinces, so i
hape that fills u in a littlemore on wht ive been doing, next week ill
try to send some pics, my phone is dead now, and i don`t have a
transformer so im gonna look for one today at the sstore. there is
only one correo in all the city of santa cruz, so i can only send mail
every tweo to three weeks, ill get u four more pages in the mail
today, i hope u start receiving them soon!! well we had trhree more
baptisms this week!! we had one family that had there wedding the same
day as their baptism, so that was pretty exciting. during the course
of the day we turned the font on to fill, and when we returned it was
overflowing!! haha so luckily all the flours are tile and we could
clean ity u`easily. we have another baptism for next saturday. a kid
that is the cousin to a recent member. they are both awesome. the
member , carlos, is 18 and comes with us everyday almost to lessons,
and his ¡nonmember cousin has come with us a couple times too. we had
a great experience with the cousein this week. he went with us to a
lesson, but when we got there the investigator wasn`t there, but we
really nedded to talk to her. so we prayed right there, and when we
finished praying the lady walked up to her house, it was great. jose
antonio couldn`t believe it, but it hoelped him out a lot, as it is
always something that helps keep me going when we have little miracles
like that happen. Mo its good to here that track is going well for u,
and keep doing your best in basketball, u can only do so much, and
next year youll be able to play with all your best friends for real.
enjoy the time u have with all your friends now, and playing sports, i
can remember when i was your age, and it seems like yesterday, and now
im in bolivia!! haha well keep up the good work. dad, good to
hear that ua re back home, and still have work. im always praying
that u can have enough work, and enough health to keep going. thanks
for always teaching me how to work. and its true, we almost alwasys
had success hunting and fishing, more than most other people. well my
house right now is one room, the bathroom is tiney, but at lest it is
tall enough so that i don`t have to squat, we dont`have hot water, but
luckily it is warm enough here that i enjoy a cold shower. the people
here are amazing. they don`t know a ton about the gospel, but they
have faith, and that is enough. i love u all
time to tell u allt he experiences i have had!! haha two weeks ago is
when i got the first letter sent to u, four pages of experinces, so i
hape that fills u in a littlemore on wht ive been doing, next week ill
try to send some pics, my phone is dead now, and i don`t have a
transformer so im gonna look for one today at the sstore. there is
only one correo in all the city of santa cruz, so i can only send mail
every tweo to three weeks, ill get u four more pages in the mail
today, i hope u start receiving them soon!! well we had trhree more
baptisms this week!! we had one family that had there wedding the same
day as their baptism, so that was pretty exciting. during the course
of the day we turned the font on to fill, and when we returned it was
overflowing!! haha so luckily all the flours are tile and we could
clean ity u`easily. we have another baptism for next saturday. a kid
that is the cousin to a recent member. they are both awesome. the
member , carlos, is 18 and comes with us everyday almost to lessons,
and his ¡nonmember cousin has come with us a couple times too. we had
a great experience with the cousein this week. he went with us to a
lesson, but when we got there the investigator wasn`t there, but we
really nedded to talk to her. so we prayed right there, and when we
finished praying the lady walked up to her house, it was great. jose
antonio couldn`t believe it, but it hoelped him out a lot, as it is
always something that helps keep me going when we have little miracles
like that happen. Mo its good to here that track is going well for u,
and keep doing your best in basketball, u can only do so much, and
next year youll be able to play with all your best friends for real.
enjoy the time u have with all your friends now, and playing sports, i
can remember when i was your age, and it seems like yesterday, and now
im in bolivia!! haha well keep up the good work. dad, good to
hear that ua re back home, and still have work. im always praying
that u can have enough work, and enough health to keep going. thanks
for always teaching me how to work. and its true, we almost alwasys
had success hunting and fishing, more than most other people. well my
house right now is one room, the bathroom is tiney, but at lest it is
tall enough so that i don`t have to squat, we dont`have hot water, but
luckily it is warm enough here that i enjoy a cold shower. the people
here are amazing. they don`t know a ton about the gospel, but they
have faith, and that is enough. i love u all
April 18, 2011
Well, it was sure great to hear from all of you!! im glad that life
is going well, and the lord is continuing to bless u all. well this
week i got a little sick in my stomach, i had terrible diarrhea, but
im over it know!! haha i got bit by a dog also, but it only ripped my
pants, nothing else. i ate chicken foot, cow utter, and a couple
other things that were kinda crazy, but usually its rice and chicken,
and something else. i really have no problem with the food here. on
saturday we had another baptism, it was awesome. a new member that
weve been teaching baptized his cousin, so thats great that they will
have the support of each other. they are both great!! someone tell me
who won the tourney!! i don`t know if it was butler or uconn!! haha
well today i will develop some pictures and get them sent home in a
letter today, i also sent some letters last monday. well im glad that
sports, work, and just life in general are going well for everyone.
ill write some more letters explaining everything in more detail today
becasue i forget a lot of stuff i wanna say while emailing. well i
really didn`t see alaska happening this soon again!! haha but i know
youll have a great time!! i need the new mailing address of uncle
drayt!! well, transfers are wednesday, so im hoping i stay in this
area!! we found some great families yesterday that i know will be
baptized!! the languageis coming great still!! im just having the
time of my life here, time is flying by!! happy easter to everyone!!
im so greatful for the wonderful family that i have!! yesterday i
talked in church too mo!! for about 10 minutes about prayer, it went
really well!! i almost started crying, but luckily i didn`t. love u
all, con amor, elder donaldson
is going well, and the lord is continuing to bless u all. well this
week i got a little sick in my stomach, i had terrible diarrhea, but
im over it know!! haha i got bit by a dog also, but it only ripped my
pants, nothing else. i ate chicken foot, cow utter, and a couple
other things that were kinda crazy, but usually its rice and chicken,
and something else. i really have no problem with the food here. on
saturday we had another baptism, it was awesome. a new member that
weve been teaching baptized his cousin, so thats great that they will
have the support of each other. they are both great!! someone tell me
who won the tourney!! i don`t know if it was butler or uconn!! haha
well today i will develop some pictures and get them sent home in a
letter today, i also sent some letters last monday. well im glad that
sports, work, and just life in general are going well for everyone.
ill write some more letters explaining everything in more detail today
becasue i forget a lot of stuff i wanna say while emailing. well i
really didn`t see alaska happening this soon again!! haha but i know
youll have a great time!! i need the new mailing address of uncle
drayt!! well, transfers are wednesday, so im hoping i stay in this
area!! we found some great families yesterday that i know will be
baptized!! the languageis coming great still!! im just having the
time of my life here, time is flying by!! happy easter to everyone!!
im so greatful for the wonderful family that i have!! yesterday i
talked in church too mo!! for about 10 minutes about prayer, it went
really well!! i almost started crying, but luckily i didn`t. love u
all, con amor, elder donaldson
Monday, March 28, 2011
March 28, 2011
thanks for all the leters!! thats awesome that nathan is going on a
mission!! he will never regret this decison. who helped him get
ready!! anyway this was another great week, the language is still
coming great, im working hardest at understanding native speakers
right now, i just have to focus 100 on what they are saying and i can
do it, its all about faith. we had 5 baptisms on saturday, i did four
of them!! it was sdo awesome, it was a family of ayoung kids 15 13 10
and 8. all of them were really excited, and u could see a change in
them immmediatly after the service, i forgot my camera but ill get a
pic with them later. suday the 8yr old girl did not awanna leave my
side, that waspretty cool. ill gt the letters in the mail today
actually, the mail here is crazy and we have strict rules, i haven`t
ñgotten the first letter u sent yet mom, i should this week or the
next though, i sent a list of things that u can send if u can find.
well of cours there are difficulties in the field, my trainer got sent
home the other day and so i ahve a new comp. we get a long good, and
he loves sharing the gospel, the other night we had a cool eperience,
he had knocked this door for 8 minutes, we had already contacted the
wife of this family and we had a lesson scheduled, we could see
people inside but they would not answer the door!! i got a feeling to
pray, so we prayed right there and asked for someone to open the door
because ourr only desire is to share the gospel with them, we
finished, i knocked again, and immeditaely the wife answered. god
answers our prayers, we only need to show faith. con amor elder
donaldson. please forward this to danica and cass, and the other
family!!! love ya tons!!
mission!! he will never regret this decison. who helped him get
ready!! anyway this was another great week, the language is still
coming great, im working hardest at understanding native speakers
right now, i just have to focus 100 on what they are saying and i can
do it, its all about faith. we had 5 baptisms on saturday, i did four
of them!! it was sdo awesome, it was a family of ayoung kids 15 13 10
and 8. all of them were really excited, and u could see a change in
them immmediatly after the service, i forgot my camera but ill get a
pic with them later. suday the 8yr old girl did not awanna leave my
side, that waspretty cool. ill gt the letters in the mail today
actually, the mail here is crazy and we have strict rules, i haven`t
ñgotten the first letter u sent yet mom, i should this week or the
next though, i sent a list of things that u can send if u can find.
well of cours there are difficulties in the field, my trainer got sent
home the other day and so i ahve a new comp. we get a long good, and
he loves sharing the gospel, the other night we had a cool eperience,
he had knocked this door for 8 minutes, we had already contacted the
wife of this family and we had a lesson scheduled, we could see
people inside but they would not answer the door!! i got a feeling to
pray, so we prayed right there and asked for someone to open the door
because ourr only desire is to share the gospel with them, we
finished, i knocked again, and immeditaely the wife answered. god
answers our prayers, we only need to show faith. con amor elder
donaldson. please forward this to danica and cass, and the other
family!!! love ya tons!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 21, 2011
Hey, sorry for the shor leter last week. this week my computer is
really slow, but im writing u first, and i told people that aren`t
immediate family i can`t email them any more. well this was a very
productive week. before i forget i do need u to check on my
scholarship, i turned in everythng but i don`t know if it went
through. anyway i have a very long leter for u, that ill get in the
mail today hopefully. there isn`t a postoffice in my area so i guess
it is very hit an miss when i can send mail cause the president has to
approve it. but this last sunday we had 20 investigators in church,
which i s awesome, and we have 13 people with baptismal dates, which
is also great. this last saturday we didn`t baptize cause they all
got moved back to the 26 of this month, i think we have 6 and then
like 10 more for april. well i guees my companion was using the phone
too much or something cause we had an emergencyu exchange last night
and i now have a new companion. this will be intereseting because
neither of us know our area very well. but he is another really cool
elder. i really liked my other one too, and we accomplished a lot of
good things together and he taught me alot, but hes in a place outside
the city now. oh well. we have been teaching this lady that is 21,
and has a young baby, her sisters family are recent converts, and she
lives with them, this last week we had a great time with her, at the
beginnign of the week we had a great lesson, but at the end, she said
she didn`t want to be baptized, and didn`t think that there were
prophets , but a couple days, and lot of prayters later, she had a
change of heart. i think it helped that her baby was sick so we gave
it a blessing and she got better. the following day we had another
great lesson for her, and she committed to be baptized and saked me to
do it, so i was really excited about that. i explain this story
better in the letter, but theres not a ton of time for it on here.
anyway, everything here is going well, i love the people, the food, my
comp, and the language is coming more everyday. and tell the young
mens president, i can`t remember his name!! but tell him that i take
the first shower every morning haha hell appreciate that. he was my
mission prep teacher, kinda big guy, you know him. any way, tahnks for
everything.elder donaldson
really slow, but im writing u first, and i told people that aren`t
immediate family i can`t email them any more. well this was a very
productive week. before i forget i do need u to check on my
scholarship, i turned in everythng but i don`t know if it went
through. anyway i have a very long leter for u, that ill get in the
mail today hopefully. there isn`t a postoffice in my area so i guess
it is very hit an miss when i can send mail cause the president has to
approve it. but this last sunday we had 20 investigators in church,
which i s awesome, and we have 13 people with baptismal dates, which
is also great. this last saturday we didn`t baptize cause they all
got moved back to the 26 of this month, i think we have 6 and then
like 10 more for april. well i guees my companion was using the phone
too much or something cause we had an emergencyu exchange last night
and i now have a new companion. this will be intereseting because
neither of us know our area very well. but he is another really cool
elder. i really liked my other one too, and we accomplished a lot of
good things together and he taught me alot, but hes in a place outside
the city now. oh well. we have been teaching this lady that is 21,
and has a young baby, her sisters family are recent converts, and she
lives with them, this last week we had a great time with her, at the
beginnign of the week we had a great lesson, but at the end, she said
she didn`t want to be baptized, and didn`t think that there were
prophets , but a couple days, and lot of prayters later, she had a
change of heart. i think it helped that her baby was sick so we gave
it a blessing and she got better. the following day we had another
great lesson for her, and she committed to be baptized and saked me to
do it, so i was really excited about that. i explain this story
better in the letter, but theres not a ton of time for it on here.
anyway, everything here is going well, i love the people, the food, my
comp, and the language is coming more everyday. and tell the young
mens president, i can`t remember his name!! but tell him that i take
the first shower every morning haha hell appreciate that. he was my
mission prep teacher, kinda big guy, you know him. any way, tahnks for
everything.elder donaldson
Monday, March 14, 2011
March 14, 2011
heyy!! i finally made it to bolivia and enrything is good here. mycomp
is from peru and has 4 months left hes a gfrat elder. we taught 11
lessons the othere day, and have 8 bapts lined up for this month and a
couple otheres for april. so im very excited about that, my area is
called the garden haha kinda ironic, my house is one room with a
bathroom, its small but it works. the people here are so humble!!
they hel`p me so much!!! the languafe is still coming, but needs to
get a lot beter. that is good to here about everyone doing well in
there activities!! well i really dont have a ton of time, i promise
ill write more next week, but everything is good here, con amor,
elder donaldson
is from peru and has 4 months left hes a gfrat elder. we taught 11
lessons the othere day, and have 8 bapts lined up for this month and a
couple otheres for april. so im very excited about that, my area is
called the garden haha kinda ironic, my house is one room with a
bathroom, its small but it works. the people here are so humble!!
they hel`p me so much!!! the languafe is still coming, but needs to
get a lot beter. that is good to here about everyone doing well in
there activities!! well i really dont have a ton of time, i promise
ill write more next week, but everything is good here, con amor,
elder donaldson
Sunday, March 6, 2011
February 27, 2011
Dear Family,
I had another great week. Only about ten more days until I get to Santa Cruz!!!! This week in my classes we just reviewed. Hermano Garcia, one of my teachers, served in Santa Cruz and got home six months ago. So he has been sharing a lot of cool stuff with us. He said he only served in the city for four months. And while he was in the jungle he saw a lot of crazy stuff. He saw anacondas and gitche (another kind of big snake) quite a bit. And tarantulas that are 10" in diameter. And kinds of little bugs and parasites that you have to be extremely careful of or they can put you out of commission. He told us that in one of his areas he had to cross a river that went up to his chest every morning in his church stuff. But it is so hot that in 10 - 15 minutes he would be dry. He said that quite often he would have snakes in his room and in some areas it was like "The other side of Heaven" movie, where rats would chew on your feet if you left them uncovered. Hearing all of this was kind of startling me but I am still very excited to get out and teach the people there. I was kind of worried with this new group of Latinos coming in because our last group was so awesome, but this new group is growing on me. Most of them are so humble that it is hard not to like them. There is only one elder from Argentina that is prideful but other than that I am really enjoying this group of elders. Tracting this week went pretty good, not as good as two weeks ago but definitely better than the first time I went out. We contacted quite a few people that we referred to the missionaries and taught two good lessons. Apparently the place we went to "Los Lobitos" was a pretty dangerous place. They wouldn't let us wear any watches or carry any money. This area looked pretty scary too. So every group that went out had a teacher or a member with them. This is a first time I ever had a teacher with me while tracting but it was pretty nice. He helped us out a lot. So the first guy we talked to was named Cesar. He was a middle aged guy who lived with his parents and family. His dad has been sick for a5 years so I think that it helped him to be submissive. He said that he had talked with the missionaries before, but he thought that we would not eat meat so we told him that was not us so he agreed to listen to us for a little bit. We taught about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was hard for me to understand because he was talking so fast and my companion and teacher talked most of the time. The spirit was strong but when i really started to feel it strongest is when i got to testify of the Book of Mormon, and we had already talked about how i was from the states, and i just told him that i have read and prayed and know that this book is true. That is why i am here for 2 years. He committed to read and pray so that is always a great feeling. the other good lesson we taught was to a lady named Yajaira. She was probably around 30 and she talked to us on the street right before lunch. We did not have time to teach her a lesson then so we went back after lunch. It was a really cool experience being able to teach her. She had attended one of the churches by her house before, but she didn't have a great knowledge of church things. She had faith in God and wanted more in her life. We taught her a quick lesson. My companion said the opening prayer and at the end we tried to teach her how to pray. Apparently we weren't specific enough because she said, " padre celestial, te agredecimos, te pedimos, en el nombre de jesus christo, amen." haha. So we tried to explain that a little better. She committed to read and pray and attend church the next day. That was awesome. Today has been kind of crazy. I blessed the sacrament for the second time in a row and because i gave a talk the second week i was here, i thought there was no way that i would go again because there are eight other people in my district who haven't gone once. Luckily i threw a couple thoughts together in English before sacrament. Low and behold i was chosen again to talk, kinda crazy. I was the last youth speaker and my district sang a special number, then in our combined district meeting i had to teach with another Elder, and tonight at the Devotional we have another special number. So needless to day i have been bussy. I hope everything is good there because it is here. Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
I had another great week. Only about ten more days until I get to Santa Cruz!!!! This week in my classes we just reviewed. Hermano Garcia, one of my teachers, served in Santa Cruz and got home six months ago. So he has been sharing a lot of cool stuff with us. He said he only served in the city for four months. And while he was in the jungle he saw a lot of crazy stuff. He saw anacondas and gitche (another kind of big snake) quite a bit. And tarantulas that are 10" in diameter. And kinds of little bugs and parasites that you have to be extremely careful of or they can put you out of commission. He told us that in one of his areas he had to cross a river that went up to his chest every morning in his church stuff. But it is so hot that in 10 - 15 minutes he would be dry. He said that quite often he would have snakes in his room and in some areas it was like "The other side of Heaven" movie, where rats would chew on your feet if you left them uncovered. Hearing all of this was kind of startling me but I am still very excited to get out and teach the people there. I was kind of worried with this new group of Latinos coming in because our last group was so awesome, but this new group is growing on me. Most of them are so humble that it is hard not to like them. There is only one elder from Argentina that is prideful but other than that I am really enjoying this group of elders. Tracting this week went pretty good, not as good as two weeks ago but definitely better than the first time I went out. We contacted quite a few people that we referred to the missionaries and taught two good lessons. Apparently the place we went to "Los Lobitos" was a pretty dangerous place. They wouldn't let us wear any watches or carry any money. This area looked pretty scary too. So every group that went out had a teacher or a member with them. This is a first time I ever had a teacher with me while tracting but it was pretty nice. He helped us out a lot. So the first guy we talked to was named Cesar. He was a middle aged guy who lived with his parents and family. His dad has been sick for a5 years so I think that it helped him to be submissive. He said that he had talked with the missionaries before, but he thought that we would not eat meat so we told him that was not us so he agreed to listen to us for a little bit. We taught about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was hard for me to understand because he was talking so fast and my companion and teacher talked most of the time. The spirit was strong but when i really started to feel it strongest is when i got to testify of the Book of Mormon, and we had already talked about how i was from the states, and i just told him that i have read and prayed and know that this book is true. That is why i am here for 2 years. He committed to read and pray so that is always a great feeling. the other good lesson we taught was to a lady named Yajaira. She was probably around 30 and she talked to us on the street right before lunch. We did not have time to teach her a lesson then so we went back after lunch. It was a really cool experience being able to teach her. She had attended one of the churches by her house before, but she didn't have a great knowledge of church things. She had faith in God and wanted more in her life. We taught her a quick lesson. My companion said the opening prayer and at the end we tried to teach her how to pray. Apparently we weren't specific enough because she said, " padre celestial, te agredecimos, te pedimos, en el nombre de jesus christo, amen." haha. So we tried to explain that a little better. She committed to read and pray and attend church the next day. That was awesome. Today has been kind of crazy. I blessed the sacrament for the second time in a row and because i gave a talk the second week i was here, i thought there was no way that i would go again because there are eight other people in my district who haven't gone once. Luckily i threw a couple thoughts together in English before sacrament. Low and behold i was chosen again to talk, kinda crazy. I was the last youth speaker and my district sang a special number, then in our combined district meeting i had to teach with another Elder, and tonight at the Devotional we have another special number. So needless to day i have been bussy. I hope everything is good there because it is here. Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
February 20, 2011
Dear Family,
This last week has been a blur, I can hardly remember what happened this week because time is going so fast. Much has happened this week. This was my last week with Elder Cumes as my companion. It was kind of sad to think that I might not see him again in this life. Last Tuesday I had to wake them up at 4am so they could prepare to leave at 6am. I think I woke everyone in my room up everyday for the past three weeks because none of them would set an alarm and get up when it went off. So it was a cool morning to get them up again for the last time and watch them leave. It is a tradition before missionaries leave, to sing God Be With You Til We Meet Again. It is awesome because all of the elders are just belting it but I can still feel the Spirit. I also finished the Book of Mormon this week. Granted I started in Alma 26 in Provo, but it has been awesome to really study the scriptures and learn so much from them. By praying everytime before I started reading, the Spirit directs my thoughts and I am able to see scriptures in a different way. And am able to learn by the Spirit. The scriptures will teach us so much if we will pay attention to what they are saying. I have also realized that depending where we are in our lives, different scriptures will stick out to us, I already realize that as I go over chapters that I have already marked, and I find profound scriptures that I hadn't noticed before. I wish I had a lot more time to study because one hour is not close to enough. I need an hour for English Book of Mormon, one hour for Jesus the Christ, and an hour a piece for Preach my Gospel and scriptures in Spanish. You'll probably think I am crazy when 40 minutes of study of the Book of Mormon isn't enough but it isn't. Anyway, we had to go on a tour of Lima. It was kind of stupid because our buses windows were blue and we couldn't see out of them, and we stopped at a lot of random places and wasted time. Finally we got to down town Lima where the capital buildings are. The biggest Catholic church I have ever seen was right next door to the capital building. It is no wonder there are so many Catholics here. They have huge churches everywhere. I will try to post some pictures that I took. But Elder Hansen (Thatcher) and I went around looking at stuff that was around the town square. We ate at McDonalds but my Big Mac wasn't great but it was amazing to have good french fries. After we were done eating we went around to some of the guards that were by the capital building and were getting pictures with them. When Elder Hansen was getting a picture with the guard, this bigger girl that was scantily dressed came up to him and was trying to get in the picture with him. It was so funny. He was trying to get away from her but the guard was on the other side so he was kind of stuck. It was hilarious because we are in the "shake hands with girls mode" so anything more than that is startling. So the tour was kind of fun but I would have rather stayed at the CCM and done my own thing. My new companion is from Lima. His name is Elder Aquino and I could actually hold a decent conversation. Thanks so much for the stamps I will definitely use them. One other cool thing, Elder Neal A Maxwell's granddaughter is in my district. She is really cool and obviously knows alot about the gospel. Anyway I will get back to you next week, Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
This last week has been a blur, I can hardly remember what happened this week because time is going so fast. Much has happened this week. This was my last week with Elder Cumes as my companion. It was kind of sad to think that I might not see him again in this life. Last Tuesday I had to wake them up at 4am so they could prepare to leave at 6am. I think I woke everyone in my room up everyday for the past three weeks because none of them would set an alarm and get up when it went off. So it was a cool morning to get them up again for the last time and watch them leave. It is a tradition before missionaries leave, to sing God Be With You Til We Meet Again. It is awesome because all of the elders are just belting it but I can still feel the Spirit. I also finished the Book of Mormon this week. Granted I started in Alma 26 in Provo, but it has been awesome to really study the scriptures and learn so much from them. By praying everytime before I started reading, the Spirit directs my thoughts and I am able to see scriptures in a different way. And am able to learn by the Spirit. The scriptures will teach us so much if we will pay attention to what they are saying. I have also realized that depending where we are in our lives, different scriptures will stick out to us, I already realize that as I go over chapters that I have already marked, and I find profound scriptures that I hadn't noticed before. I wish I had a lot more time to study because one hour is not close to enough. I need an hour for English Book of Mormon, one hour for Jesus the Christ, and an hour a piece for Preach my Gospel and scriptures in Spanish. You'll probably think I am crazy when 40 minutes of study of the Book of Mormon isn't enough but it isn't. Anyway, we had to go on a tour of Lima. It was kind of stupid because our buses windows were blue and we couldn't see out of them, and we stopped at a lot of random places and wasted time. Finally we got to down town Lima where the capital buildings are. The biggest Catholic church I have ever seen was right next door to the capital building. It is no wonder there are so many Catholics here. They have huge churches everywhere. I will try to post some pictures that I took. But Elder Hansen (Thatcher) and I went around looking at stuff that was around the town square. We ate at McDonalds but my Big Mac wasn't great but it was amazing to have good french fries. After we were done eating we went around to some of the guards that were by the capital building and were getting pictures with them. When Elder Hansen was getting a picture with the guard, this bigger girl that was scantily dressed came up to him and was trying to get in the picture with him. It was so funny. He was trying to get away from her but the guard was on the other side so he was kind of stuck. It was hilarious because we are in the "shake hands with girls mode" so anything more than that is startling. So the tour was kind of fun but I would have rather stayed at the CCM and done my own thing. My new companion is from Lima. His name is Elder Aquino and I could actually hold a decent conversation. Thanks so much for the stamps I will definitely use them. One other cool thing, Elder Neal A Maxwell's granddaughter is in my district. She is really cool and obviously knows alot about the gospel. Anyway I will get back to you next week, Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
Thursday, February 24, 2011
February 23, 2011
Everything is still going well here, the language is starting to come
a lot better and i can kind of teach in spanish now depending on what
we´re talking about. our tour was ok, it efficiently wasted a lot of
time, but we saw some pretty cool stuff, ill send some pics next week,
e cumes is serving in gauyaquil ecuador north. start sending letters
to bolivia now, my address is on my facebook page, my new companion is
from lima, we taught in the trc the other day and did a really good
job, lots of things that we could get better at, but we did really
good for our first time. his name is e aquino. thats to bad about
taylor, i definitely never would have missed a game. anyway, howd the
boys do? or have they not started state yet? well theyre starting to
be a little stricter on our time, so i can´t write a ton, but i did
send u a letter on monday, and i did get the stamps and pics, thanks
so much! i think there was one pic of me evan tj and bauer, if u find
that i would like it too, but if not its no big deal, thanks so much
for everything! i love u all so much and appreciate your prayers,
they help me so much!
a lot better and i can kind of teach in spanish now depending on what
we´re talking about. our tour was ok, it efficiently wasted a lot of
time, but we saw some pretty cool stuff, ill send some pics next week,
e cumes is serving in gauyaquil ecuador north. start sending letters
to bolivia now, my address is on my facebook page, my new companion is
from lima, we taught in the trc the other day and did a really good
job, lots of things that we could get better at, but we did really
good for our first time. his name is e aquino. thats to bad about
taylor, i definitely never would have missed a game. anyway, howd the
boys do? or have they not started state yet? well theyre starting to
be a little stricter on our time, so i can´t write a ton, but i did
send u a letter on monday, and i did get the stamps and pics, thanks
so much! i think there was one pic of me evan tj and bauer, if u find
that i would like it too, but if not its no big deal, thanks so much
for everything! i love u all so much and appreciate your prayers,
they help me so much!
Letter received dated Feb. 15, 2011
Well today (Sunday) they gave us a couple hours to write letters because all the Latinos leave on Tuesday so they have an extra meeting right now. It is great to hear that Shiloh is still doing well even though the varsity teams are struggling. I was really glad to get your letter cause I hadn't got one since I'd been in Peru. But two days ago I got yours and Shawn Peters and yesterday I got the ones that got sent back to you from Prove. Hopefully you continue to stay busy. I'm pretty sure things will pick up. I can't believe that Mo is 12, I bet he was walking around a little taller after that haha. Well everything here is going well. The food still gives me problems occasionally but I'm still alive so I guess it isn't too bad. The first Saturday we went tracting I was feeling a little sick, and before lunch it was pretty bleak finding people who would listen. After lunch I had a better attitude and we found two guys to teach. So that was cool. But I didn't talk very much. So for this next time I committed myself to teach more and have a great attitude and Elder Cumes and I set higher goals. This Saturday went a lot better. We were in a poorer part of Lima, and it started off bad again. About the first ten houses we knocked everyone said, "Estoy Ocupado" and wouldn't listen. My comp got a little down from this, but after each time I was like, it's ok. Let's go find more people to teach. We were blessed. As we were walking down a man chased us down and told me he wanted a BofM. He was on his way to work so we only taught him for five minutes or so. He was very interested though. He was Catolico but he was receptive to other churches and wanted to learn more and wanted missionaries to come teach him more, so that was great. Then as we knocked more doors we found an 18 year old girl and taught at her window for 45 minutes and she committed to read and pray. So that was great too. As we taught about child baptism I told her about Sage, and that I know I'll see her again. The spirit was strong too. So hopefully that turns out well. On our way back for lunch a man started yelling at me. I had no clue what he was saying and he pointed at his wife whose face was all bloody. Apparently she had been drinking and not watching her kids, so he beat her and he wanted me to tell her she should stop drinking. I told him to talk with my comp. So we started talking to his wife who was still bleeding and told her that our bodies are a temple and other things. And the guy got mad again, he didn't want us to teach the gospel, only tell her she was wrong, I guess. Luckily two other elders showed up and had a teacher, so we let the teacher take care of it and left. It was pretty crazy. After lunch we went back to tn area we hadn't knocked before lunch. I always have a good feeling after lunch about the first person we teach, or house we knock, and so far both times I've been out those have been my two hardest rejections, but directly after that we've found investigators so it is way worth it. So the first house we knocked the people shut us down. But the next house was 25 yr old girl. I'm pretty sure we broke the rules cause we went in her house to teach. I thought she's said more people were home, but there weren't. It wasn't a bad environment and either so we taught her, and she alreacy believed God and Christ had bodies of flesh and bone, even though she was Catolica. So that was cool. Co we tought her a lot and she was receptive and as I was testifying of the bofM and Joseph Smith her phone rang, so that kinda took the wind out of our sails. Luckily it was just her mom who was coming over. So when she got over we started teaching her and again I used Sage as an example and my companion shared about his mom who'd died of cancer. (I didn't even know this) and we testified to them and promised them blessings as the read and prayed with faith, real intent, and sincere heart that they wouyld know these things are true. They both committed and wanted the missionaries to come over again. And the mom told me she knew my promises would be fulfilled. It was great. I know the spirit touched them and helped me with my spanish. Well that's enough for now. Thanks for your letter , I love You,
Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
Thursday, February 17, 2011
February 17, 2011
Duskin finally sent some pictures, I will do my best to put them on here.
He didn't label any of them.
February 9, 2011
dear mom, did mo get his b doy card? they told me that those take two stamps usually after i dad already sent it, so i hope it got there. i also dropped a letter in the mail for u on monday, i didn{t have enough stamps so i sent u a couple letters for u so send to my friends if u could do that for me please. things here are getting harder, the language is getting tougher and they don{t give us a lot of time to practice, on saturday we went out tracting for 6 hours, it was crazy. we were in the richer part of town so a lot of the people didn{t want to listen. it was really hard to understand, and before lunch i was really frusrtated, but i knew i needed to be possitive so we prayed on our way to lunch, our area was about 45 minutes of fast walking from the chapel we hasd to eat at, and asked for patience and help. aafter lunch we were able to contact two younger men who were interested and we taught them for like 40 minutes abd gave them books of mormon. it was really cool. untill i heard that my friends who went to the poor areas placed 6 bom and got into houses and all kinds of cool stuff. the poor people were a lot humbler. elder schafer was in an area tracting in the slums when a guy got shot and killed like a block away, it was crazy, then another couiple missionaries in my district contacted a man, and asked if they could start with a prayer, and when they finished and opened therir eyes he was gone! haha so u never know what to expect down here. on sunday things went really good, im thinking u were fasting for me cause i was able to start understanding native speakers a lot better,, i understood the man in out devo really really well, so whatever u were doing i liked a lot! haha well, this is my last week with elder cumes before he hits the field and i get a new comp. ive learned a lot from him. anyway, everything here is good, if u could also send some pics with dads letters that would be great, go through my boxes and send pics from dances, friends family sports, anything u could fing, and i would love one of sage. and could u forward this to people like cass danica and others that woudl want it, i don{t have time to type long ones for everyone today. thanks, i love u so much, con amor, elder donaldson
February 16, 2011
Hey!!
well i actually won´t get my new comp till tomorrow because he is
from lima aand so they dont come in till thursday morning. it was
pretty sad saying by so elder cumes, he was awesome, and i really may
not see him ever again in this life. I was so blessed to have him aas
a companion tho. im glad mo got that card! i thought it´d crack him
up haha, well i sent some mail y our way on monday with lots of
updates for the blog, and i hope there are some stamps in the mail
heading my way cause i really need some, i can use them all through my
mission so send as many as u want, preferable at least 40. well,
everything here is going pretty well, can´t complain about anything.
in a couple hours we get to go on a tour of lima for about 5 hours,
then we have a couple more hours of free time so im excited for that.
hopefully the boys don´t choke, so is this like first round of
playoffs? thats cool, and then they need to beat fh again. well its
always good to here from you, con amor, elder donaldson.
He didn't label any of them.
February 9, 2011
dear mom, did mo get his b doy card? they told me that those take two stamps usually after i dad already sent it, so i hope it got there. i also dropped a letter in the mail for u on monday, i didn{t have enough stamps so i sent u a couple letters for u so send to my friends if u could do that for me please. things here are getting harder, the language is getting tougher and they don{t give us a lot of time to practice, on saturday we went out tracting for 6 hours, it was crazy. we were in the richer part of town so a lot of the people didn{t want to listen. it was really hard to understand, and before lunch i was really frusrtated, but i knew i needed to be possitive so we prayed on our way to lunch, our area was about 45 minutes of fast walking from the chapel we hasd to eat at, and asked for patience and help. aafter lunch we were able to contact two younger men who were interested and we taught them for like 40 minutes abd gave them books of mormon. it was really cool. untill i heard that my friends who went to the poor areas placed 6 bom and got into houses and all kinds of cool stuff. the poor people were a lot humbler. elder schafer was in an area tracting in the slums when a guy got shot and killed like a block away, it was crazy, then another couiple missionaries in my district contacted a man, and asked if they could start with a prayer, and when they finished and opened therir eyes he was gone! haha so u never know what to expect down here. on sunday things went really good, im thinking u were fasting for me cause i was able to start understanding native speakers a lot better,, i understood the man in out devo really really well, so whatever u were doing i liked a lot! haha well, this is my last week with elder cumes before he hits the field and i get a new comp. ive learned a lot from him. anyway, everything here is good, if u could also send some pics with dads letters that would be great, go through my boxes and send pics from dances, friends family sports, anything u could fing, and i would love one of sage. and could u forward this to people like cass danica and others that woudl want it, i don{t have time to type long ones for everyone today. thanks, i love u so much, con amor, elder donaldson
February 16, 2011
Hey!!
well i actually won´t get my new comp till tomorrow because he is
from lima aand so they dont come in till thursday morning. it was
pretty sad saying by so elder cumes, he was awesome, and i really may
not see him ever again in this life. I was so blessed to have him aas
a companion tho. im glad mo got that card! i thought it´d crack him
up haha, well i sent some mail y our way on monday with lots of
updates for the blog, and i hope there are some stamps in the mail
heading my way cause i really need some, i can use them all through my
mission so send as many as u want, preferable at least 40. well,
everything here is going pretty well, can´t complain about anything.
in a couple hours we get to go on a tour of lima for about 5 hours,
then we have a couple more hours of free time so im excited for that.
hopefully the boys don´t choke, so is this like first round of
playoffs? thats cool, and then they need to beat fh again. well its
always good to here from you, con amor, elder donaldson.
Friday, February 4, 2011
January 25, 2011
(I received this letter on 2/4/11)
January 25, 2011
Well, this week seems like I've blinked and now it's over. I can't believe that I'm flying to Peru tomorrow. (Wednesday, 26th) I'm excited to go down there. I'm sure it will help me a ton with the language. I should be able to pray for more than my teachers, friends, and family after I'm down there for a while. I never thought it would be weird to hear someone pray in English, and sound normal for someone to pray in Spanish, but that's about where I am. I've caught myself trying to read English sentences in Spanish and I'm like, I have no idea what that means! When I realize it is written in English and not Spanish. Haha Well, I was able to teach two lessons to mock investigators again this week. They both went well. The first lesson we taught was to an older couple and we taught about the plan of salvation and we only had 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure we could've taught for a couple of hours on the plan of salvation. Anyway, the lesson went well, we could feel the spirit, however, I talked a lot more than my companion and kinda rushed the lesson a little to make sure we covered every principle. It wasn't bad, it just could've been better. Luckily that lesson was in the morning so we had all day to evaluate and game plan for Friday. Both teachers taught about how to ask inspired questions on Thursday night so Elder Schafer and I really thought we could use inspired questions to help our lessons. We basically learned that we have to always be in tune with the Spirit and let Him guide the lesson. So in our lesson on Friday we tried to do just that. We had never met with our investigator before so we talked with him for several minutes and got to know him. As we started teaching I taught for a couple minuted, then my companion taught. While he was teaching I was able to have a prayer in my heart and ask what I needed to be asking. The spirit prompted me with what to say and as we continued this routine for the rest of the lesson I could feel the Spirit so strongly. Afterward our investigator told our teacher that he had also been able to feel the Spirit, so that was pretty awesome. This week has been pretty hectic besides that,I've been to gym twice maybe because they make us pack during that which is really dumb. And I had to say bye to both of my teachers, two best teachers I've ever had. But oh well, one of my buddies here told me a mission is basically 2 years of goodbyes, I'd have to say that's about right. Well, thanks again for all you've done, and still do for me. I wouldn't be here without all of you.
Con Amor,
Elder Donaldson
Thursday, January 27, 2011
I made it to Peru
Well we got to Peru late last night and got settled in. it was about an hour bus drive to the ccm from the airport, we drove through some pretty run down poor parts of town, i don't think u can know what i mean unless u actually see what a poor part of a third world country looks like. makes me really grateful for what we have. the ccm here is pretty nice tho, much of it is better than the provo one. except the basketball court is so bad i won't play on it cause its so slick ill get hurt, so i ended up playing soccer. the food is all home made, and is really good. its definitely not mexican food, but it is still really good. well, my new comp is from gautemala and doesn't speak any english so we can't really communicate very well right now, i guess on saturdays we get to go out and contact real people and stuff, its pretty cool. and my comp has only been here for 1 day so he doesn't really know about teaching, haha well everything is going well here, on p days here we get a lot more time to email because there are not as many elders, there's only 150 here right now including the hermanas. . you can take whatever u want from this and blog it, i'll have my specific mailing address next time, but they said we should probably just email everyone cause the mail is so slow, and mail doesn't go out till monday so thats when ill get those other letters in the mail for u. tell mo happy bday for me. thanks again for everything. and u can tell other people they can email me at least for these six weeks.
con amor, elder donaldson
Duskin's email address is duskin.donaldson@myldsmail.net
con amor, elder donaldson
Duskin's email address is duskin.donaldson@myldsmail.net
Monday, January 24, 2011
Heading to Peru
Duskin will be heading to the Peru MTC on Wednesday, January 26, 2011. His new address will be:
Elder Duskin Donaldson
Centro de Capacitacion Missional
Malgarejo 159
La Molina
Amazonas 12
Peru
He loves getting letters from everyone. Thanks for your love and support.
Elder Duskin Donaldson
Centro de Capacitacion Missional
Malgarejo 159
La Molina
Amazonas 12
Peru
He loves getting letters from everyone. Thanks for your love and support.
Friday, January 21, 2011
January 19, 2011
Well, I now realize how nice receiving letters is, much nicer than emails. I would much rather receive letters, at least till I get out of the MTC. Once I'm in the field I don't think there is a cap on your time. Right now I just can't express myself well in emails cause I don't have time. So this next section will just be a big general letter that you can type up and forward to those who want to hear from me.
Well, my first two weeks at the MTC have been great, besides the fact that I got strep throat after being here for two days. But I'm over it now so it's all good. I know you were all thinking I would put on a bunch of weight here, but I haven't! Haha, probably because I lost weight when I had strep because I basically didn't eat for two days because I couldn't swallow. I literally felt like I had been hit in the throat with a 2X4. But I received a blessing from my companion and after seeing the Dr. I was 100% better in 2 days. While I've been here we've had 3 devotionals, and in one we were able to hear from Elder Holland. It was very powerful. He told us we must be the best missionaries the world has ever seen because the world is more wicked than it has ever been. Seems almost impossible when you consider the sons of Mosiah, and some of the other great Book of Mormon missionaries. I know most of you probably won't believe this, but I have been singing in the MTC choir, the first choir I have ever sung in. Every member of my district wanted to go, so I kinda had to, but I actually really enjoyed it. The directors are hilarious and probably spend half the time joking around and telling stories. I have had the opportunity to teach 2 mock "investigators" which was an awesome experience. The spirit was so strong. I have an awesome companion who is a great teacher and so both of our lessons so far, I feel, have been very successful. Well I would love to hear from you all. If I had more time to email I could get ahold of you that way, but they only give us 30 minutes, which is not enough time. So my address is
Elder Duskin Cole Donaldson
MTC Mailbox #217
BOL-SC 0126
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604-1793
If you could shoot me a letter I would love to write you back. Thanks again for all of your love and support.
Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
Well, my first two weeks at the MTC have been great, besides the fact that I got strep throat after being here for two days. But I'm over it now so it's all good. I know you were all thinking I would put on a bunch of weight here, but I haven't! Haha, probably because I lost weight when I had strep because I basically didn't eat for two days because I couldn't swallow. I literally felt like I had been hit in the throat with a 2X4. But I received a blessing from my companion and after seeing the Dr. I was 100% better in 2 days. While I've been here we've had 3 devotionals, and in one we were able to hear from Elder Holland. It was very powerful. He told us we must be the best missionaries the world has ever seen because the world is more wicked than it has ever been. Seems almost impossible when you consider the sons of Mosiah, and some of the other great Book of Mormon missionaries. I know most of you probably won't believe this, but I have been singing in the MTC choir, the first choir I have ever sung in. Every member of my district wanted to go, so I kinda had to, but I actually really enjoyed it. The directors are hilarious and probably spend half the time joking around and telling stories. I have had the opportunity to teach 2 mock "investigators" which was an awesome experience. The spirit was so strong. I have an awesome companion who is a great teacher and so both of our lessons so far, I feel, have been very successful. Well I would love to hear from you all. If I had more time to email I could get ahold of you that way, but they only give us 30 minutes, which is not enough time. So my address is
Elder Duskin Cole Donaldson
MTC Mailbox #217
BOL-SC 0126
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604-1793
If you could shoot me a letter I would love to write you back. Thanks again for all of your love and support.
Con Amor, Elder Donaldson
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
It's finally here
I have finally started a blog for Duskin's mission. I will try to post his letters weekly as we receive them. I'm sure I will get better at this as time goes on and learn how to do pictures and everything else. Please be patient. We do know that Duskin is loving the MTC and he loves his companion. He sang in the MTC choir for a fireside by Elder Holland. He said most of his spiritual experiences so far have come from music. He will only be in Provo for another week or so and then he will go to the Peru MTC.
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