What a week, I don't even know where to really begin. We arrived in Atlanta at about 3:00 and it was so busy. I guess the Atlanta airport is one of the biggest airports in the country? And it was extra crazy because of Thanksgiving so that was fun, but we made it out alive. We only got lost once. We had dinner at the mission president's house and slept there that night with all of the new missionaries. The next morning I met my companion, Elder Castillo. He is awesome and we get along great. He was born in Ecuador, Grew up in Spain, and then recently lived in London where he learned English. So his English has a mix between a Spanish and British accent. It is kind of funny but he doesn't like when I tease him about it. Later that day we were driving to a dinner appointment with a family in the branch and we were just making small talk and talking about soccer. He said he liked to play defense and I said I liked to play as the goalie, then the conversation kind of ended at that. Well, while we were eating, the mom's brother, Ernesto, came over and he isn't a member. We got talking to him and he said he was playing soccer with some friends but he was frustrated because they didn't have a defender and a goalie for their team... My companion and I looked at each other and offered to fill the missing positions for their pick-up game. The next morning we showed up to the field and quickly learned that it was not just a little pick-up game. Apparently every year the Latinos have a big Thanksgiving day soccer tournament with about 18 teams and a grand prize of $3000, and that is what we offered to be a part of. I was terrified. I was the only white person in the whole tournament. Every team had their own fake replica jerseys that they made of their favorite teams. We were Barcelona and they gave me a keeper jersey that was 2 sizes too small. Our team lost but my companion and I played pretty well. Other teams were trying get us to join their team. They asked us what college we played for and everything and we said we aren't here for school but to share messages and help people come unto Christ. It was a neat experience to share our message with some of those people at the soccer field. Ernesto was pretty interested but he doesn't live in our area so we tried to set him up with the other missionaries. Thanksgiving was a blast. We had 3 different appointments and all of the meals consisted of Turkey and gravy, and rice and beans. It was awesome. I can barely understand what anyone says when we meet with people but that's okay. I am working really hard on my Spanish. I had to bless the sacrament and bear my testimony in sacrament meeting and that was a little scary. People would come up to me after the meeting and ask where I was from and I would say Utah and almost every person had the same response... "ah you're the missionary factory". It made me laugh. I have already had some interesting food. Yesterday we were eating at the branch mission leader's house (we call him and his wife "Mami and Papi" because they are basically like our parents) and she made some chicken and rice soup. I was excited because it looked just like the soup Mom would make. I saw a big piece of chicken so I tried to split it in half with my spoon. After it wouldn't break, I looked closer and saw that it was a chicken's spine. I looked at everyone else's bowls and saw that they all had some various pieces of chicken body parts in their soup. It has been really fun and amazing out here. I love serving the Lord. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that I do not speak Spanish. But in our lessons the spirit is there. The spirit speaks all languages and testifies of the truth. Even though the language is a struggle right now, the spirit is still there and testifies the same way. I love you all and love receiving your emails!

Elder May

Ernesto is the small guy.

The Koreans we play soccer with.

President and Sister Foote

Branch President "Papi"