Hola hola!!!
Amazing week. I´m getting a lot more comfortable with our area, the people, our routine, and everything - except for maybe talking ;)
Did you watch the Cmas devo with the First Presidency of the Church? I loved MoTab´s "Come, Let Us Adore Him" - it was amazng.
There are millions of ants here. It´s crazy. Tiny ones though, so that´s better.
Cmas time brings fireworks. Everyday, you see fireworks in some part of the area. All day you hear fireworks going off all over the Mariposa. Loud ones, too. The best is every morning between 5 and 6, when they set hundreds off at a time.
Remember that blog I found and read of the Elder serving in my mission - "Samuel Among the Lamanites"? Well, he´s my district leader... How crazy is that? My comp thinks it´s hilarious, but I don´t think that he´s the biggest fan of lots of random people knowing all that stuff. He´s a great missionary. Our district is great. It´s just us two hermanas and two sets of elders.
On Thursday I received cards/dearelders from Mom, Anny, Crystal, Ciera, Nicole, and Laura Lantz. Those were ALL incredible and such good surprises. Gracias to everyone! Plus, I LOVE little details. I love when people tell me just random things that happen or what they´ve been up to. Seriously. Those are my fave parts of letters. Tell me all the awesome, random details. They make it more real and personal! And I´m so sorry if I never write back. I probably have time to write 1 to 2 letters every week. It´s pretty stressful.
All of the food people give us are in bags. It´s awesome, hilarious, and pretty genius. Even the drinks are in bags. Not zip lock or anything - more like mini-size plastic grocery bags without handles.
I have said SO many prayers in the past 3 weeks. I´m not complaining. I just think it´s so funny and typical that the newbie - who doesn´t talk much - gets asked constantly. It´s good practice and I NEED to be praying lots!
I am loving my big "camping adventure." Have I mentioned that? One of the first few days, Hna Wetzel told me that I just have to look at the next 16 months as a big camping trip. Hand-washing clothes, cold showers, tons of dirt in the house, using a broom with a shirt on it as a mop, ALWAYS wearing shoes - even inside, line drying clothes (which really doesn´t make them smell that great here), washing dishes outside... all sorts of goodness. It really isn´t hard. It´s a blast, and I´m sure I will just get more and more used to it.
I´m excited to talk to you "all" this weekend! Okay... here´s the deal. I only get 15 min for Mom and 15 min for Dad. Sorry. And we don´t have a time set for calling on Saturday, but sometime in the late mañana/tarde - ish. Sorry. I will call from a payphone and then you´ll have to wait a few minutes to call me back on our home phone. Our home number is 502-4045-5703. I´ll let you figure everything else out ;)
We found two amazing families this week. We have very high hopes for them. Both families were so willing and wanting us to come visit with them. I have to tell you the awesome story of how we met one of them... We were walking up one of the streets of the Mariposa and there is a family walking down - 2 parents, a cousin our age, and 2 young kids. They were about to walk around us, so Hna Wetzel just said the first thing that came to her mind to catch their attention. To the mom she just said "I love your earrings!" they went on talking about her earrings, where she got them, etc. While they are talking, the mom is taking them off (we figure, just so we can look at them) and GIVES them to Hna Wetzel. She couldn´t believe it and tried to give them back, but the lady was so insistent. We only talked to them for a few min (they were on their way somewhere) and asked if we could come visit them, help them with anything, and share a message. The lady was not hesitant AT ALL. It was just incredible and unbelievable. I wish I could describe it better. Another amazing part - we usually never do door-contacts or contact on the street, but Hna Wetzel just had impressions to contact two different families this past Sunday and they are now are two amazing, progressing families. The earrings- bright pink, as big as your ear, heart earrings. Hna W has worn them at least twice - not exactly what missionaries are supposed to be wearing, but they are incredibly special and definitely going in her mission scrapbook someday.
René Gonzalez is getting baptized this weekend. The 25th actually. We have seen such an amazing change in him. He is the 60 year old that I said commented on my mouth last week. He still tries to get us to come into the house when there are no other women there (it sounds kind of creepy, but it´s really not - if you just met him for a minute, you would understand), but he is becoming more and more humble and desires stronger faith every time we see him. His prayers are some of our absolute favorites (he has never before prayed in his life). He´s super interesting and we are so excited for him and his family.
Here in Guatemala, the 24th is the main celebrated day. We have at least 4 different dinner appointments with members for that night that we are stoked for. Tamales and lots of goodness await. They usually eat around midnight the night of the 24th, but we still have to be in by 9, so they are making special exceptions for us (they´ll probs just end up eating twice)! We also have a bfast invite for the morning of the 25th.
Life is excellent. We´re healthy, optimistic, strong, and all that goodness. We are having a super pday on wed with half of the mission, so that will be a blast.
Con mucho amor,
Hna Marin
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