5 February 2013

Hola!
 Another week has flown by. Thank you for the dearelders. I got
some this week and they were great!
Today we got to go on a city tour field trip. COOL! I am glad that
I have this little opportunity to experience Guatemala. We first
 went to a relief map of Guatemala and talked about where events
 in the BOM could have taken place. Then we went to a market that
 was full to the brim with things to buy. And the trip was topped off
with Wendys for lunch. It was a lot of fun to get out and enjoy some
 down time. A few of you have asked about the food here. It is really
 good most of the time. Most of it is similar to mexican but not very
 spicey. I love the carne asada. We have these delicious white rolls
 with almost every meal I feel like. Breakfast always consists of eggs
 in one form or another. This is a challenge for me. The frustrating
thing is that it is considered rude here if you dont finish your food.
I have started giving away extra food to any elder who will take it.
But if I leave here 20 pounds heavier you will know why :)
 The latino missionaries here are awesome. All of them left yesterday
 for the field. Even though I have only been here fortwo weeks, it was
 still very hard to say goodbye. Hermanas Vazques and
Barrios were probably my favorite. They didnt know a lick of english
and our spanish is rough but somehow we were still able to connect so
well. I find it incredible to hear their stories. Some many of them
come from rough circumstances with finiances, unsupportive families,
or health problems. One of the elders had a permanently cricked neck.
It looked so uncomfortable that my heart went out to him. But it didnt
even matter to him. He is like the happiest, smiliest person I have
ever met! Maybe if I live around wonderful people like this it will
rub off on me. :) One of our "investigators" Noé likes to aske hard
questions. It is hard but I think it is great practice for the field.
He asked us one that was especially hard the other day. I have never
even tried to explain it in english let along spanish. But I just
openned my mouth and started to try, not even knowing what I would
say. All of the sudden a thought popped into my head of how to explain
it to him using an analogy that he would appreciate. In the moment it
didnt feel really significant but when looking back I can realize that
the Lord was there, keeping his promise to fill my mouth in the very
moment that I needed it! This was eye opening to me. It also made me
think about a talk that we have watched here several times of Elder
Bednar talking to the missionaries. Many missionaries are always
asking how to know if something is coming from the spirit or just
themselves. Elder Bednar says "Stop worrying about it! Just be a good
girl and a good boy and the spirit will be with you guiding you." he
later says that we members are under the impression that everytime the
spirit is guiding you, you will know and be aware before hand. This is
not so. Many many times you will do normal things that you think
nothing about but only after the fact or maybe even never will you
realize that that was the spirit. What an awesome talk! Well my time
is once again gone. I love you all and hope all is well.