Giant Iguanas‏

Hola hola...

Life continues happily here in the coast of Guatemala. Life is different and awesome. I know I have to soak up these experiences, adventures, and funny little quarks.

I definitely won´t go into all the little details that make this place so different from life in Oak Harbor, but here are a few of the reasons why I will be so sad to leave Guatemala someday...
-We wake up every morning to roosters crowing, TucTuc´s honking, firecrackers blasting, and giant iguanas racing across our tin roof.
-Our shower is made up of a straight-up pipe coming out of the wall (always cold water, don´t worry) and a tied-to-the-walls shower curtain.
-We go outside to wash our hands in the pila or use the "shower."
-Everyone owns a moto, which may or may not be making me want one...

When I first got into the mission field, Hermana Wetzel told me that I needed to just be ready and realize that these 16 months in the field are more like a 16-month camping trip, they way we live at least. Well, she just gets proven more and more right as time goes on and it is hilarious and awesome.

Now for the great things about the mission in general (more spiritual...)...
-We start every lesson with a hymn. Once we start singing, usually all of the little kids that had been playing in another room or area, stop everything they were doing, walk over to where we are, and just stare and listen for the whole hymn. It is incredible.
-We, in the States, don´t know what poor is. I didn´t know what poor was in La Mariposa (even though they are poor compared to people in the U.S., too). I´m sure that despite all that I´ve seen, I still don´t even know what poor is.

-I´ve witnessed pure humility, compassion, and charity. Quick story: I can´t even describe the house of one of our investigator families, family Merida. Even if I try it won´t do an ounce of justice, but here goes... they live with one or two other families. Each family has a room about the size of a normal bedroom. Everything (walls, roof, etc) is tin. The floor, inside and out, is all dirt. All this family has is a bed, a table, and a few bancos (benches, but not really benches as we know them) to sit on, and a few other basics. The rest is a fairly large open area. There are pilas and clothes lines to do their laundry. Anyhow, they were invited to eat with a member family, family Rosales, from the branch, and we were invited also. The Rosales family live in a typical La Gomera house: pretty nice compared to what the Merida´s have. At one point, Hna Merida came up to me and Hna Angel and said, "Oh Hermanas, how sad, they don´t have a place to go in their home if they want to be outside." The Rosales only have a tiny "patio" to be able to hang their clothes, and Hna Merida felt bad for them. That moment hit me hard. The people here are amazing. Hna Merida is one of the most humble, incredible people I have ever met. I´ve got lots of changing to do.

That´s all for now :)

Love,
Hermana Marin

Where to begin...‏

Yaayyy!! Anny!!! That will be way too tempting to go and see her. Mean.

Okay...

Again... DON´T WORRY. It´s just that they may or may not have finally kicked me out of La Mariposa and sent me to the hottest area in the mission and the toughest area of the hermanas. IT´S OKAY!!! Haha...

There are not enough time or words, but here goes.. I´m in La Gomera (Santa Lucia). We technically have two areas- La Gomera and Sipacate. We live in La Gomera (which is a huge area), but also proselyte in Sipacate, which is a little more than 30 minutes away in bus and that area is pretty big, too. We are over 2 branches. The attendance of La Gomera is around 50 and Sipicate is around 20-ish (even though yesterday they had an attendance of 8 people...). You don´t even need to know all the details. Just know that we have a lot of work to do. All of the people in La Gomera and especially in Sipacate don´t have the greatest idea or impression of missionaries, so we´re going to fix that. We have lots of goals and hopes.

I really could not have been sent to a more opposite area than La Mariposa.

I´m with Hermana Angel. She is incredible. She has about a year in the mish, is from Santa Ana, El Salvador, is 22, has the best attitude, and is cute. I´ve already learned a ton from her and know that it will just keep coming and coming. We think she´ll have changes either this change or the next (June 29 or mid-August), but we are hoping for August... or longer if possible. There´s just too much to do before she leaves! Of course, we never know changes for sure, but we are guessing that I will be here a while, again, 4 or 5 changes.

I have actually been to La Gomera once. I think it was in January or something. I came here for one day on divisions with other sisters, but that one day did no justice. Also, I have been with Hna Angel on divisions one day in La Mariposa.

La Gomera has the reputation in the mission as being the area for those who need/are receiving punishment. Also, everyone says this little tale, "Here´s heaven, the Earth, Hell, and below that is La Gomera" Haha... The first few days were hot, hot, hot and I was loving it. But the first rain was on Saturday night and it makes it lots cooler. Let me just tell you about this rain for a sec... it pours. Like Louisiana pours, but it stays consistent like Washington stays consistent... all day.. or at least for a few hours straight.

Leaving La Mariposa... Hermana Wetzel said it perfectly... "It´s probably a good thing no one tells us how hard it is to get your heart ripped out so many times on the mish by everybody - but it´s all worth it because of Alma 28:8" There could not be a more perfect scripture. Leaving La Mariposa killed, like Hna Wetzel leaving me killed. I just love that area and the people there too much.

But believe me, life is amazing. Last week was pretty painful and heartbreaking, but I´m moving on and I love it here. We have a lot of work to do and changes to make, but it´s exciting. I fell in love with the area within the first 30 minutes.

My prayers are with you all and I´m hoping all is well ;)

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Marin

DON´T WORRY ;)‏

Oh... what a week... and it´s still coming. There is just not a boring day on the mish.

We got robbed. DON´T WORRY! Everything is just fine. Someone stole our keys, but we are pretty positive that we know who it was, we got the locks changed, and they only took a few things. All is well. They took our cameras, hair straighteners, my (really, Mike Lemme´s - SORRY MIKE!) ipod, and a couple earrings of Hna Rizo. Luckily, that morning I had taken my memory card out of my camera and put it somewhere else, but Hna Rizo´s memory card is gone. That is sad, sad, sad. The whole 17 months of her mish were on there. I can tell it hurts her pretty bad, but we´re okay, calm, and happy. I´ll tell the story in full detail someday.. it´s a good one. But really... all is well!

We had an incredible visit with the Obregon last night. I just love, love, love them. We put a goal date for their baptism last night, so we´ll see :) They are just intensely incredible. I will definitely be coming back to Guatemala when they get sealed in the temple... if anyone would like to come with me.

We had divisions again. I went to El Esfuerzo in Escuintly. And it was amazingly hot! And amazing.

We find out about changes tonight. I don´t want to leave La Mariposa, but am ready for whatever and know it will be the right thing! Divisions really helped, because it reminded me that I will love wherever I am and whoever I am with and the people and everything... within minutes.

I hope everyone is happy and well. Sorry this is short!

Love,
Hermana Marin

7 or 49 more days?‏

Well,

We find out about changes next monday. They are the 18th. So, I may just have 7 more days in La Mariposa, or 49... we just have to wait and see.

I have to wait another week to find out where Anny is going! Ugh...

It was great to talk to everyone yesterday!

2 of the most humble, amazing women got baptized yesterday.

We have been without a phone since Wednesday, because it just completely died.

I get to see Hermana Wetzel tomorrow.

Gave my second talk in Sacrament yesterday (the first was when I had 2 weeks in the field).

A woman in the ward is trying to set me up with her son who gets back from his mission 2 months before me.

I love my recent converts.

Life is fantastic.

Thanks for the pictures Sara, President, Mom... ! Keep ém coming.

Ciera... I love you and you all will be in my prayers.

Love,
Hermana Marin

Week of May 2, 2011 (Pictures are posted on last weeks post)

Okay...

Another week in the wonderful Mariposa!!

We had our first for real rain - 2 times this past week, but they both only lasted about an hour.

Awesome scripture - · Nephi 5:13

We had amazingly incredible lessons this week, but I don´t have time to write about them, So.... until next week :)

Love,
Hermana Marin

Pictures‏ (They weren't attached....I'll update when I receive them)

Hola, hola...

Ok, ok, we´ll start with the day in Antigua with Hermana Wetzel! It was an absolute blast and (very, very sadly) WAY too fast. We hardly did anything (just shopped ;) of course). We tried to catch up on everything, but there wasn´t enough time. Everyday, I just realize more and more how much I learned from her. It´s crazy. I´ve never learned that much from one person in that short of a time period. It was sad (AGAIN!) when we had to leave, but we´ll see eachother on May 10th for the "Hermanas Only Activity."

Pictures
Me wearing the gifts for Goose, Toph, and Izy before sending them :)
Baptism of one of the boys in our ward. The familia Morales.. they are incredible and always helping us!
Baptism of Sonia. We´re still teaching her 3 teenagers.
Our ward trip to the temple!! It was awesome. Someday, I´ll tell all the stories of each of the people in the picture to you :)
Baptism of Cinthia (yesterday). Don´t worry, she´s way cute in person. I don´t know why she decided to smile every other moment besides in the pictures ;)

Semana Santa (the week of Easter) is HUGE here. Everyone books it for the beach, because no one works or studies all week, so it was a little dead here in La Mariposa. There are lots of processions, but we didn´t see anything because nothing is done inside the colonia here, just out in the pueblo. We ended up having to travel 3 days in a row to Escuintla (normally an hour away), so that was insane (the prices for the rides sky-rocketed and there weren´t as many buses as usual - it was interesting seeing economics at work). We went on divisions with some other hermanas in the coast. I was with one of the Latinas that I entered with from the CCM. It was awesome. I learned a lot from her and she is an excellent missionary, and, again, it was fun showing off La Mariposa.

When they want to get places here... they FILLLLLL the cars, motorcycles, and buses. 2 adults, 2 teenagers, and 1 baby on a motorcycle. At least 15 people in the bed of a truck, etc. It´s awesome and crazy....

Hna Rizo is from Nicaragua. She has only been a member (almost) six years, but seems like she has been one her whole life. She has 3 brothers, but only her, her mom, and her oldest brothers are members. What else? Her mission is over the end of June, but don´t worry, she´s not real baggy, yet.

Love,
Hermana Marin

:)‏

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Life in La Mariposa is still amazing. Everyday I just become more and more sure that I started out in the best area.

Hermana Rizo is fantastic. Things are very, very different, but I´m learning lots and we´re both adapting and getting along great. She has sixteen months in the mission, so she will be finishing in La Mariposa at the end of June (this change and the next). Because of that I really have no idea if I´ll be leaving at the end of this change. It would make sense for me to leave, but at the same time be weird, because Hermana Wetzel had 7 months in the area, I will have had 5.5 months, Hna Rizo will only have 3, and if I leave the Hna who would come in after me would only have one change of getting to know the area from someone who only had 2 changes until she would have to show the area.... I´m sorry, I´m sure that´s all sorts of confusing... I just don´t know what´s going to happen! If I stay this change, I would probably end up being in La Mariposa until August (which would be amazing), or they would take me out at the same time as Hna Rizo and replace us with Elders.... vamos a ver...

Anyhow... awesome experiences this week:

- Miracles: two less active members that Hermana Wetzel had never seen in church in her whole 7 months came to sacrament meeting yesterday.
- Yesterday was ward conference and our ward went all out for the whole week:
- Monday: special family home evening theme that all were supposed to do in their homes.
- Tuesday: Self-esteem lesson for adults 18 and older in the church
- Wednesday: Casa abierta with different rooms for different activities (Mission work, food storage, etc.)
- Thursday: Ward temple trip (we got to go!!!!) - 50 adults, teenagers, and kids in a school bus bus to the temple :)
- Friday: Everyone came and cleaned the church
- Saturday: Excursion for the teenagers in the morning. Afternoon: all of the stake and ward leaders made visits to various ward families
- Sunday: Ward conference.
Incredible. I´m telling you... the people in La Mariposa are amazing.
- We didn´t have running water for a day (which really is not that big of a deal here at all, but it just caught us by surprise - supposedly they had gone around the colonia announcing it), so we bathed with baby wipes :)
- This didn´t happen this week, but I forgot to mention it from the last week that Hna Wetzel was here. I finally became a "real missionary." The custom here is to greet everyone with a kiss on the cheek, but as sister missionaries we just kiss women on the cheek. Well, I was talking to a guy my age (which is always hard, because you never know if they´re interested in you or in the message) on the bus and when Hna Wetzel and I got off he gave me a kiss on the cheek. We get pretty good about dodging the kisses and putting our hands out, but it just came out of no where! It was pretty hilarious. Writing this out makes me realize that this story is probably really lame for everyone else, but for us it´s a big deal ;)

It´s interesting, because as missionaries we are so immersed in the world, but at the same time we are trying to live with very high standards and do things differently. I have seen and heard more crazy things here in the past 4 and a half months than I have in my whole life (and it´s not like I was super sheltered before), but we try to live our lives so that we can always be in tune and listen to the Spirit, which is essential.

Good news: we´re going to Antigua tomorrow as a zone, so I´m going to see Hna Wetzel!!!

Happy early birthday Dad and Nicole!!!!

Love,
Hermana Marin