Elder Castellanos - 2nd Companion in field (Daniel's tie sent from Sister Martha Jenkins)
Elder Hardy - 1st Companion in field
ok hey mom, how are you doing, this last week was a lot of fun and this next week is going to be also., haha that was so funny that you hung up on me, but man was it good to hear you guys Saturday. ha were you guys really shocked. and yeah i cant wait for this Saturday to talk to you guys. it is going to be fun. and wow what a jerk of a guy to talk to you like that, did you report that guy, what happened to him. and that is cool that Mitchell is home from his mission now. it is amazing how fast time goes out here. and i bet he feels like he barely left. so i see you got the pictures, did you like them. that is just from my first change, i want to take like 300 pics per change, it is better to have more than be sorry that you don't have any at all. oh so anyways, yesterday i got Kate's package but none else, i'm thinking that they have not got here yet, but im not sure, see if you can track where they are. i hope they didn't get lost. did you remember to put a pic of Jesus on it. or the virgin Mary. either or would work. Life is getting hard for papa huh. i hope he will be ok. keep me updated on him. that is cool that Kristen came to visit you and all the family was in town for Rachel's graduation. how long is Kristen in town for though, is she here for awhile. thanks for the address to Gage, i will be sending him a letter tomorrow. i also got a letter from nanny, and Christmas cards from Lisa and Andrea. that was nice to hear from them, and i hope that your packages get here safely. and yeah i'm not sure about Craig but i hope he gets to go to Mexico soon, Mexico is being really bad lately about letting missionaries come. but i'm not sure, the Lord has a plan and He will take care of it. anyways about Ernesto, he is a 35 year old man, and works as a truck security guard, all the trucks and buses here have guards that protect them because the people here rob the trucks if they don't have guards. anyways so he is married to a really really short lady and they have like 3 kids, the kids shine shoes for work, here in Guatemala they make these shoe shinning kits in school and then the kids go and work and do that to make money. it is pretty cool but sad too. anyways that is them, the church has helped them so much by giving them a house and food and just helping them out, but giving them work and stuff, it is really cool. so anyways the Christmas in Guatemala is different, here exactly at 12 midnight everyone lights fireworks and blows them up. so they say that the whole city goes crazy, it will be cool because we have a great view of the whole city of Guatemala so i cant wait to see it. so yesterday at the Christmas party too. that was really fun. it started with all the zones doing these skits which were really funny. we sang Rudolf the red nose reindeer remix edition. it was really really cool. after all that was over president and Hermana Alvarado said a couple words and started crying because it was their last Christmas here, they go home in June and then we get a new president. it was really cool to hear what they had to say though, they are such cool people. i want to be just like president Alvarado one day, he is such a cool man and can get people all hyped up when he walks into the room. i hope i can do that too. but yeah that is pretty much it. oh and the leaf, it was just some tamales, that is the popular food around Christmas, everyone makes those and everyday we have at least 1 or 2. but it is cool. but yes that is pretty much it, i am having a great time and am loving it here. i hope all is well at home and i will talk to you guys later. i love you so much and miss you too, i hope that you guys have a very good merry Christmas and that you can all have a nice peaceful day.
love elder daniel shipley
I have cried for a solid hour about the packages - I have sent at least six packages - three for Christmas and three others - and I'm SICK that not one has made it to Daniel. My eyes hurt so bad - I just going to pray that they arrive!!
You don't know me, I just stumbled across your blog. I just wanted to share with you that my brother served his Mission in Russia. We were having trouble getting him packages too, until we got the tip that if you tape pictures of Christ around the packages people are less likely to steal, open or damage them. It worked like a charm for us. We just picked up small pics of Jesus from places like desseret book and taped one or two to each side of the package. I hope this helps, it may at least be worth a try.
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