Week of March 13, 2016

Dear Mom,

The Caverns are really cool, I won't go back there again unless I get a new companion because it is one of those, you have seen it once, you have seen it all, places. I love it when I see wildlife, it just reminds me more of home because over here it is all oilfield. So it is really hard to see the actual nature of the area haha. Yeah, Elder Whitesides is a great kid, but I can not stand him as my district leader. He shows up really late to district meeting, and he forgets nearly everything. I don't know, maybe he is my test of patience and charity right now. Elder Cortez and I are doing great, we don't go a single day without trying to wrestle eachother into the running water of the shower with clothes on or wrestle on the ground over who knows what :) This week has been better with appointments but nobody is progressing just yet this week. This is a reconstruction week if I could give it a name. Sister Smith is the best but she is in Alamagordo all week so that is a bummer!

So her name is Karen Stephany Davila,(the girl he has been writing since before his mission?!) people usually call her stephany but she lets people who she cares about use her first name (I gained that privilege about a couple of months ago :) ) She is 20 years old about to turn 21 so about Hyrum's age. She is a really sweet girl who cares a lot about me and she does take time out of her busy schedule to make me videos and that kind of stuff :) She works at an English Academy and she is studying Pedalogy. We write every week, but sometimes when she is busy it takes anywhere from 2 weeks to a month to get back to me but when she does, it is with like 6 videos and 4 emails that she drafted so that she could send them when she had the chance. I didn't think that it was going anywhere until halfway through my mission so that is why I never said anything. Plus, I kind of felt like you guys kind of don't like it when I talk about my foreign friends so usually I leave them out of my conversations. ( I have 45 to be exact) And don't worry, I don't ever plan on living in Guatemala. She would come up here if it got really serious. But the thing is, America sucks when it comes to Visas. I only need to show the officials in Guatemala my passport and I can stay for 90 days automatically. She on the other hand, is in the middle of the process which has taken her a year and a half just to get accepted to maybe get a visa... My companion can verify that as he has family in El Salvador and Mexico. His aunt and grandma have been trying to get visas for years and they haven't been successful. So it appears that most of our dating will be in Guatemala until she gets the visa, but little fact... If she were to marry an American, then she would automatically get a Visa. So yeah, we will figure it out. That should be thought of way in the future but I thought I would put it into perspective :)

I am a little jealous of you guys watching movies when I am here watching the same Legacy over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over :)  This could take a while so I will stop right there :) So is pretty much everyone in sports right now? It seems that our family is more athletic than I had thought. It is a really great thing that Bryson is being influenced that way, he should be fine as long as he does that. I am really thankful that I decided to go on a mission and I have learned so much and met so many people that have changed my life forever! I love you guys so much and I can not wait to teach you guys what I know when I get back! I only have 3 months so I got to use it to the fullest! Love you

Your son,

Austin