Letters dated Feb 2 - 8, 2011

Excerpts from Jared's letters to Aryan.....(I'll leave out the mushy stuff ha ha)

Just got done teaching the new Elders the rules about the residence halls (not dorms ha ha) - it was good.  They seem like good guys, except for one of them seems like kind of a loud mouth.  ha ha  But I'm sure I'll end up loving him too.
So today I really really felt ready to leave and get out of here already, but obviously that's still not happening for a while....but it's whatever.
2 Elders and 1 Hermana left for their missions, so our district feels so tiny now.  Theres 3 Elders and 4 Hermanas left, it's so sad, but I'm getting used to it.  The time seems to be going pretty fast now that we are Zone Leaders.  I feel so old, cuz we've seen so many districts come and go.  The ones that we knew when we first got here are all old news now.  Gym time sux now, cuz all I can do is sit upstairs and do push ups and sit ups and chat with the Hermana's and watch people play games :o) but it's whatever cuz my upper body is getting ripped.  ha ha  I can't do any running for now so I'm putting on weight, but it's all muscle. ha ha  I weighed 151 lbs today! ha ha  So I'm growing - not sure if I'm getting taller yet, but hopefully.
I'm not down about my foot now, I'm getting used to it, but I am pretty bummed that I will probably have to stay here an extra week or so.  Other then that, it's all good and the crutches are making my arms huge.  lol  (Jared did call home last week to tell his Mom that he had a Dr.'s apt. and his foot is NOT healing very quickly and may have to stay in the MTC another 2 to 4 weeks).
Being a ZL is good now.  Tonight was good - we taught all the nuevos and they all seem like cool Elders.  It's always fun cuz we teach them about how to plan goals and use study wisely and then talk about companionship Inventory which is just a time that we're supposed to take every week to sit with our companions and talk about things we're good at and address things we have problems with and so we always do a little role-play for them where we have like a perfect companionship inventory lol - it's fun, we're just like "so...I've noticed that we're good at teaching lessons and speaking Spanish, but we could work on getting places on time" and then he would be like "yeah it's a lot my fault cuz I sleep in" and then I'l be like "It's not just you, it's me too, so lets compromise and set out alarms 5 minutes earlier and see how that works, if it doesn't let's set it back another 5 mins, sound good?"  then we would write it own in our planners.  lol  So it was fun.
OH WOW, me and my comp just got back from the 2nd floor cuz someone told us they were playing rap music, so we had to go take care of it.  So we go down stairs and turn the corner and BAM!! 7 ginormous Tongans all shirtless and doing push ups and chin ups and working out like mad!!  It was nuts!!  So we're just like "um....heeeyyyy....what's up?" and the were like "hey!!! Wanna join us?" (and who could really say no??) So we're like "um, OK..." and we started doing chin ups and push ups and they made us keep going LOL it was crazy!!!  But they were all like DANG, you're all so strong!" LOL  It was hilarious!! But these guys were HUGE!! Seriously their pecs were so big, it looked like they had boobs!! And their body's were just ALL muscle!!
I got back late tonight because Elders Palmer and Hercules are leaving tomorrow so we walked around and took pictures with them of all the special MTC sites.  I'll miss them, they were my ZL's when I first got here and they've been here for like 11 or 12 weeks or something crazy like that, cuz they were waiting on Visa's to go to Mexico.  They are so happy they finally got them.  I'm so glad I don't have to wait on getting a Visa.
Tomorrow is P-day and our district has started going to the temple early in the morning and going to the session early and then eating in the temple cafeteria, it's sooo much better then the MTC food. ha ha  So, I'm really happy about this discovery by our district. lol :o)
Oh, so I wanna tell you a story before I forget, that's pretty funny.  OK so the Spanish word for blessings is bendiciones and this was like my first or 2nd week here and it was my turn to say the prayer in class, and I was saying gracias for our blessings, and I said "vestidos" (v makes a b sound in Spanish) instead, so I said "Thanks you for our dresses" LMBO!  The teacher told me afterwards and I was so embarrassed and the Spanish word for embarrassed is NOT "embaresada" - that actually means your pregnant.  So hopefully I won't get that mixed up sometime LOL.  I'm am learning the language slowly but surely ha ha.
It's P-day...I'm having fun doing laundry today. ha ha  Elder Ragsdale put 2 holes in a paper bag and we are wearing them on our heads.  LMBO I know we are soooo mature!!