Greetings from Guatemala

Here's the email we got from Alexis today.   She made it to Guatemala at 6 a.m. this morning.

Hola familia-

Just figuring out this spanish keyboard. So we made it here safely and got all our bags and stuff through customs.  When we got outside we waited for about a minute and then this man came up to ask if we were going to the mtc and we said yes.  Then this super sweet school bus came and took us here.  It was about a 20 min drive and there are lots of american things here, even Chuck E. Cheese.  Sweet.  Then we had breakfast- eggs, ham, bacon, and bread which was good. Then we had about 3 hours to unpack, shower and nap which was nice.  We have had a couple meetings- one about rules and the other was a welcome from the President.  He is very nice and they are from CA.  I will look for the Fillmores and Hubers.  There are 3 groups of people here- the old north americans who have been here 3 weeks, the latin people who are only here for 3 weeks, and us new north americans.  So, I am assuming that they only get new people every three weeks.  I have a new companion - Sister Crandell from Heber, AZ.  She was the sister you saw get on my flight in PHX.  She is cool and I think we will do great.  We will also get a Latina companion to eat with and exercise with so that we can learn more spanish, so that is good.  I have bottom bunk now, which is fine since the bed is easier to make.  The beds were numbered and I got number 5 which is the bottom.  The rooms are nice and the bathrooms and showers are too.  There is bottled water in the bathrooms and hallways to drink and brush our teeth with.   Last week they just put in tile in the bedrooms so it is nice.  I think there are about 60 missionaries here.  The temple is right here and one of the senior couples goes with us each week to make sure it all goes well.  My p-day is still wednesday, but today is not a usual pday but we still get to email.  We had chicken with rice and broccoli for lunch.  They have ice cream too.  I will have to pick and choose what to eat so I do not get too much since we are supposed to eat what we get and not waste.  The food is good, so I do not think that will be a problem once I adjust to the new setting here.  I am doing well.  The people are so nice.  Two of the head workers are learning english so that is nice to know that they know what we are feeling.  It is poor here, but I think it will be something you just get used to.  Here at the CCM (MTC in espanol) it is a great facility.  The traffic was crazy and our bus just stopped on the busy road to back into the CCM driveway.  People were honking, but it was kind of funny.  There is an elder with us who had never been on a plane before and he was fine with that, but he was a little nervous with the crazy traffic.  We will definitely learn how it all works. So I think all the mission presidents from the area will be in town tomorrow, so we can meet them all which will be exciting.  And on Sunday, Elder Hinckley and Clark and the Area president will be here, which does not happen all that often.  So, all the sisters coming to central america do the split training and all the elders going to guatemala come here too.  They do not have enough room for all the elders going to central america here.  It was so great to talk to you last night.  It seems like it has already been a while since that happened but that red eye flight makes the days even weirder.  The president and his wife live down the hall from us and our teachers are sisters, maybe twins.  They look a lot alike.  On their name tags is says sister so and so 1 and sister so and so 2.  They were really happy here to get piano players.  I played at the welcome meeting and another sister plays too.  That was fun and the piano was real nice.  I am so excited and happy to be here.  It feels alot homier here.  We still have a busy schedule, but there are just so much less people.   I have like 4 minutes left, but I just want to tell you that I love you soooooooooo much and that is was so fabulous talking to you.  I am excited to learn so much here and the people are so good to us.  I am excited to be here and to eventually get to Nicaragua.  I know that it will be great and that I will just love the people.  I love you soooo much! 

Love, Alexis 

Thanks for being the bestest earthings on planet earth!