Early Letter

Hello!

I found out yesterday that I would be writing today. I would have let you all know sooner if I could have.

I leave the CCM tomorrow morning at 8am. I have been assigned a new companion for travel since Elder Najarro isn't going to my mission. My new companion is Elder Mendoza, and he is from Nicaragua. He and I appear to have quite a bit in common, and he's really nice. He'll probably only be my companion for a couple days, since we'll both get trainers on Wednesday, and actually go to our assigned areas.

My time in the CCM has been great. I've become really close with my district, and we're already making plans to meet up after we all get home.

Sister Forman was the only one in our district serving outside of Guatemala, so she left today. She's going to the Managua Nicaragua South Mission. The rest are going to my mission apart from two, who are going to the Guatemala City South Mission, so the rest of the district leaves tomorrow.

Last night, we continued the tradition of singing hymn #88 in the Spanish Hymnal, "Placentero nos es trabajar," to the elders who are departing that week, which is me this time. This song is pretty neat, and the words to it were written by a couple of missionaries in Mexico. The title means "it is pleases us to work" and it's only in the Spanish Hymnal, not in any of the others.
We've sung English hymns a couple times as a district, to enjoy our last little bit of time to sing in our mother tongue. The spirit always comes really strong when we sing, and it's really cool. I find myself thinking more about the meaning of the hymns when I'm sing in Spanish, because I'm translating them into English as I sing, whereas in English, sometimes they're just memorized words and I don't think about their meaning very much.

I've been feeling sick for the past few days. It just feels like a bad cold, and I got some pills so it's not really a problem.

I'm excited and scared to go out to the field. We had a presentation about security and safety last week, which made me a little nervous, but I think everything will be fine. I'm nervous, because it's an unknown, but I know there will be help for me to be able to do the hard things that the Lord is requiring of me.

Yesterday was really good. We got to go take pictures at the temple, and the spirit was really great during our church meetings.
To be honest, I'm just sort of rambling. I don't really know what to write about, because it doesn't feel like much has happened since Wednesday.

And I told you, I'll send some pictures as soon as I get the chance, they won't let us hook up any cameras to the computers here.
It's hard to believe that I've been out here for two months today. It's been going fast, yet in a way it feels like it's been going really slow.

As soon as I find out President Brough's rules for e-mailing people, I will let you know. I will email you again on my next p-day.

Thank you for your love, your thoughts, and your prayers. You are all awesome.
Sincerely,
Elder Nicholas Banks