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

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

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

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