Querido Familia, Gracias por sus cartas. Thank you Mom for your questions. It makes it a lot easier to write back. My companion is Elder Justin Jacobson from Syracuse Utah. He is a way nice guy and we get along really well and teach well together. From what I have heard about Dear Elder, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get here so after next week you will probably want to address it to the mission home. The MTC here is great and it is a lot more personal. We have about 4 different progressing investigators so we have the oppurtunity to prepare lessons to meet their needs instead of just going in with a generic lesson. You get a little stir crazy here because it is pretty small and we cant really leave. We were supposed to go proselyting in the main square yesterday but there was a demonstration going on so we are going to do it tomorrow. Im way excited for it and to actually teach real people about the gosple. The food here is great and I haven`t had any problems with it. It better even than the Provo food. It is traditional guatemalan food with slight americanization (I don`t know if that is the word). The juice here is amazing. It is strait from the fruit. The other day we had this banana flavored juice and I had about 4 cups. On p-days I usually spend half the morning playing soccer and then the other half preparing for the next week. In the afternoon we go to the temple which is in english and then after cena, classes resume. My spanish has been going great. I am actually in an advandced class in the morning for those that know more spanish. Last friday we went to the temple to talk to the members and I was able to have a conversation with them. It was really cool. Last night we had Elder Martin speak to us for devotional. He is in the Area Presidency for central America. It was really cool to meet him and he gave a really powerful talk on what it means to be a missionary. It is weird to think that I have been here for two weeks already. next tuesday the latinos and older north amreicans will be leaving and we will be the oldest here. We can choose to get a latino companion then if we want which I think I do. I forgot to tell you last week I was called as district leader for my district. It has been a humbling experiance and has helped me grow a lot. This whole CCM experiance has helped me grow a lot. I love this work so much. I love the Church. I love the people here and I love the Missionaries including me. :) Love you all so much.

Love Elder Matthew Truman Thorley

P.S. For Sam, Tom, Chris: what soccer team jersey should I get besides the Guatemalan National Jersey?