Week #77: Birthday, Christmas Videos and True Love = Beef Jerky

   



 Anxious is the life, but good is this the life of the anxiously engaged. This week has been a week of being all over the place and data and experiences that cant be expressed in paper or virtual paper as is the case.

     It's Christmas time which always means extra work especially when we have to teach everyone why they are celebrating Christmas. Last year I didn't really notice just how few people understand why we celebrate Navidad but now it is so obvious that I don't understand how I could not have seen it before.  Maybe this shows my own state of mind, where my head, hearth and spirit are in this Christmas season.
      As the assistants of the mission have instructed we have been doing activities in every area sharing the new Christmas videos. The first activity was in Pedregal. Here we decided to go to the maxi despensar which is kinda like a Walmart here in Guate or at least as close as it gets.  There with the equipment from the office we set up a projector and the laptop with some nice big speakers and then became missionaries and brought family by family to see the videos and share quick little messages with them. We did an activity like this in every area in the districts of every zone of every mission. Everyone of this activities went well for the most part. then came ours....just like always anything that can go wrong will go wrong. so ours was actually quite a bit more complicated than any other activitys. For one it was in a finca that doesn't have any real roads to it. 2) has absolutely no electrical power. 3) it is out of the way and to bring everyone together out there when no one has a phone is something very very hard. After much work we arranged for a truck to take us there. A generator to be borrowed from a member in the stake and as normal all of the the office equipment with us.  After what seemed like the slowest truck ride of my life we made it to the finca and just as we get all of the bugs worked out with the equipment and sound and generator on queue it starts to rain.....however after all was said and done, the activity was still a success and everything went moderately well.   After the activity was over we were walking back to Asintal with some of the people who had come from another finca....Turns out this other finca is in just about the same situation that is, Bunch of people no church and they all are more or less feeling like something is missing in their lives.
    There really are not any holidays in the mission.  That is one thing I have come to accept or maybe its not that there are not holidays, but that holidays just don't feel the same here in the mission.  Sin embargo, this was a special birthday I was able to celebrate here.   There is a family here in the branch that really is our family here. Like we go over here whenever we don't have food to eat, if we need to go and teach with someone or if we need to set up skype calls with our parents for the Christmas. I like this family so much I share my beef jerkey with them (and that is true, eternal love when you share your beef jerky) they are our family and its awesome being around them. As normal Friday night we didn't really have any food so we went over to their house ate and then they broke out a nice ice cream cake...(which is the first ice cream cake I have seen here is Guatemala). it was amazing!

Thanks to all for the special birthday wishes, and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

We always ask how his shoes are holding up...looks like they are starting to show their wear and tear...but rocking the socks.

Week #76: Ha nacido un Salvador

 

    Well another week come and gone. Time only goes faster and faster the older you get. But there are some hints of technological progress in the mission. I guess with the all of the new videos coming out in the last two years someone thought it might be a good idea to have some way to share these beautiful videos that the church is letting out.  You are probably thinking, 'The Missionary Department's iPad program has finally made it's way to Guatemala?!'...no that is not quite the case...
       Wednesday we had yet another meeting to get us ready for the Christmas season and the new videos that the church has launched....speaking of that I have to change the homepage of all the computers in this Internet cafe.....one sec....alright. So https://www.mormon.org/spa/navidad?cid=HP_SU_11-29-2015_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_ is being put into every Internet cafe that every missionary goes to throughout this month.  This didn't come down by any formal direction, it just seems like a little something we can do "outside of the box".    This is in part as always to get the church better known and Christ in the minds of all as they go throughout this great season were we focus on him and his life. In addition every district leader has been given a DvD player to use to share these new videos and to use during district meetings so that we can better inspire the missionaries in the mission to work and work and work.  It kind of feels like cheating to use videos to teach. But I guess that is the way the world is moving and pretty soon missionaries that can teach are going to be replaced with missionaries that can push buttons.
     This week has been a beautiful week. I don't really understand why it is so easy to forget where I am and the incredible simple beauty that this country has, that I am actually here in Guatemala. But there there are weeks like this one were we go and find an area so beautiful and its just like wow....I cant believe we are actually here. It is something so....I don't know somethings just cant be expressed.
     Friday we made a little trek out to the finca [ranch] with a good chunk of the zone.  It was kinda funny because none of us knew where this finca is so we had to rely on a 11 year old member to be our guide and take us to where we needed to go. By some miracle we made it and as we walked down the path we split off in twos to go and teach each of the houses. When Sunday came around 28 of them came to church and stayed until the block was over.   They are some good people.
    I have learned some knew life skills here on the mission.  I will let the pictures tell you the thousands words about such life skills.
    Well things are weird this change.   Wednesday we have changes and then starts a full two month change. There was some kinda problem sending people home and bringing them into the mission so close to Christmas time.   I don't think I or my comp will be having changes [transfers], which is great as we still have much work to do and  for crying out loud we just finally got moved out of the old moldy house and into the new one house!
    Anyways its my birthday this week and I thought I would celebrate Guatemalan style! Tamales and Fireworks! just need to find someone to make some tamales!   Thank you all so much for your birthday wishes!

The life skills one learns in Guate!

Watch out Colonel Sanders..we are coming for you!