I am hereby called to....

This post is a little long in coming but it is now finally here. On August 8th I got my mission call to the EL SALVADOR SANTA ANA/BELIZE mission. I will be speaking Espanol and entering the Provo MTC on December 19........FOREVER away!!! In the mean time, I have moved home for the semester to enjoy my family and to have some time to prepare to leave. Now that I am here I love it!......but I have a lot of time on my hands. So with some of this time I decided to do a little research on the area of the world in which I will be living for the next year and a half (this research is only coming over a month late.....shhh!). My mission contains about a third of El Salvador and all of Belize so sit back and enjoy some of the fun facts that I found.

EL SALVADOR

Actual Name: Republic of El Salvador

Religion: 57.1% Roman Catholic,............0.7% Mormon (I guess I am needed)

Life Expectancy: 73.69

       Male: 70.41

       Female: 77.12

Fertility Rate: 2.04 children per woman

Major Infectious Diseases: rate of risk= HIGH  (gulp!)

Area: slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau 

Natural Hazards: it is known as the Land of Volcanoes; frequent and sometimes destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity; extremely susceptible to hurricanes.  (double gulp!)

Randoms Facts:

- El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and the only one without a Caribbean coastline.

- It is home to 65 airports: 5 paved runways, 60 unpaved runways. (oh dear!)

-The national anthem of El Salvador is one of the world’s longest.

BELIZE

Name: Belize; used to be British Honduras, renamed in 1973

Official Language: English but 50% speak Spanish and 75% speak Kriol

Independence: Granted by Britain in 1981 but Guatemala tried to claim them as a territory. Ever since there has been tension between the two countries.

Terrain: 60% over Belize is forested but some in coastal plains while some is mountainous.

Elevation: 0-3688 ft (that's going to be a change!)

Natural Hazards: hurricanes, hurricanes, and HURRICANES!! After the capital was destroyed twice by hurricanes in thirty years, they decided to move the capital to another city. (Smart!)

Crime: homicide rate in the capitol is the sixth highest in the world (another gulp!)

Fertility Rate: 3.6 children per woman

Religion: 40% Roman Catholic...15.6% proclaim to be irreligious (Mormon didn't even make it on the list!)

Random Facts:

-Area is only slightly larger than El Salvador.

-Only country in Central America with British colonial heritage; they are a parliamentary democracy but  don' t drive on the left side of the road.

-The economy of Belize is based on agriculture and tourism.

I am sure that this might have been a bore to read but I definitely learned a lot! Hopefully when I return in the summer of 2014 I be able to give a much more spiced up and personal account of these countries! 

*I would like to thank wikipedia and the CIA website for this information