¡Oh Que Rico!

Hey Family,

Everything is still good here. No problems since we last talked. It was way good to talk to you guys. I`m glad you all had a good Christmas Break and Christmas. Well I guess it's still Christmas break there I guess. It's still hot here believe it or not.

Well this week my highlight was......... Receiving your package!!!!! Ha yeah I got it the day after Christmas. It was waayyy awesome. Literally it was everything I needed haha. 

The scriptures are perfect. I'm glad it's a quad so that`s good. I'm probably going to send my old scriptures home because I don't want to lug them both around and I'm using my old case for my new ones. It's not too expensive so whatever. Just put them away with all my stuff. 

Everything was really awesome too. My comp loved his stocking and I kept hearing from the other room ¡Oh Que Rico (Oh, how delicious)! The dog thing is funny (we sent him an ultrasonic whistle that emits a sound to keep dogs away) and actually works pretty well. Yeah so thanks for everything. I also got a bunch of letters so thanks to everyone for those!! Yeah so Mom you can calm down the package was all there with the Drugs...oh I mean Hot Chocolate and everything. (Okay, an explanation about the drug reference. Eric didn't get his package in time for Christmas. Brenda was discouraged about it and wondered if she shouldn't have sent the homemade hot chocolate mix - a powder - as part of the package. She was concerned that authorities could have mistaken it for some kind of drugs initially.)

Other than that this week was kinda slow. Oh well it`s still really good here and we just got a bunch of new investigators from references from members. So we definitively have our work cut out for us. One though I'm not sure is interested cause we came by and he said sorry I don`t have time I'm listening to music haha. So we'll see. 

We also had my baptism! I had to say it twice though. It wan`t my fault though!! I asked his name and he told me. When I used what he told my and finished the whole thing the Bishop stopped me. Apparently on the paper his name was different. So I ended up having to use the name on the paper which was weird...not the name he said was his so whatever. 

Afterwards I got baptized too!! The plug was broken so I had to get in and fix it haha. Oh and I realized we're really spoiled in the states. We have nice warm water in the fonts but here it`s freezing!! Oh well that's not important I guess. Other than that nothing really happened that I can remember. I basically told you everything on the phone.

Thanks again for the awesome package and all the candy. The ties are awesome. I was really excited for that third tie until I opened it and realized it was just service gloves....psh. Ha oh well I'll probably use them and they're really nice. I could have used them awhile ago when we dug fence posts and I got a blister on everyone of my fingers. And who knows I'll probably use them mostly for goalie gloves when we play soccer. Alright thanks everyone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TODOS!!

Merry Christmas!

It kinda stinks that I didn't get your package but oh well. I got the one from Aunt Angie so thank you soooo much! It`s really weird it`s Christmas Eve already. Tomorrow besides talking to you guys I`m not doing anything. Today though apparently my comp scheduled 4 dinner appointments and so we`re going to try and do that....But yeah it should be fun. I really want that snow!! It`s really hot right now and snow looks way nice. I've never missed snow and cold before but Curtis enjoy it while you can. I also miss all the Christmas food. Here it`s just the same eggs beans and tortillas. But hey we can call them Tortillas de Navidad. 

Well as this week goes it was alright. It was a lot of the same stuff. Just teaching people and contacting. That`s always good though. The other Elder`s had their Christmas Dinner in the ward and they invited us. We found out the only reason they invited us though is so we could sing with them in front of everyone. I've just kinda got used to that now though. We have to sing like everywhere. 

Oh yeah also the kid with a baptismal date had his interview this week and is going to be baptized this Saturday!! And he told our District Leader he wants me to do it!! So it will be my first baptism ever. I'm really excited. Mostly because that means I probably won`t have to confirm him. It's going to be awesome. 

We also got a fecha with a girl who we've been teaching for awhile. She`s going to be baptized the 13th of January and she came to Church this week. She has a friend who is already a member but inactive. I'm thinking we might get them both to come to church but I guess we`ll see. 

I forgot to mention this Sunday an older man came to church with one of our members. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to get baptized! Ha yeah so that`s really cool too. We haven't taught him yet but I'm thinking he`ll be pretty open to the Gospel. I swear we need to contact more to replace all these investigators we're baptizing. Haha ok just kidding but talking about contacting I got dad's letter today about his advice and yeah that's a good idea. We`ll have to try that more. 

Also tell Grandma that I'm getting her letters. Well I think. If dad is still writing me every week I don`t know because I only got one today. I guess the Guatemalan mail system is just really bad. Oh well I'm sure I'll get them eventually. Well that`s pretty much my week. nothing insane happened...Oh well that I can tell you guys hahaha.

Ok well I just want to say thanks to everyone who has sent me a letter and say MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Have fun in the states where Christmas means so much more than just Fireworks at 12 tonight. It actually means something of significance. 

Ok well that's everything. I can`t wait to talk to you guys tomorrow! I hope you like your new area Briana and tell Herrmana. Longoria I say hi from Guatemala. That really is weird she is your companion. (Eric was with Briana's companion while he was in the MTC.) Oh also have fun in Disneyland. Bye everyone and enjoy the holiday`s without me!! :)

The Good Life in Zacapa, Guatemala

Gorgeous night view of Zacapa from Eric's apartment balcony

Hello family. It has been good here in Zacapa. It's a weird feeling it being December and all but still using short sleeves and sweating every day. I definitely kinda miss snow but hey only two winters here so not too bad. It`s weird my first change is already over. I was only a five week one though but still it was fast.

Well this week was a good one I would say. We did divisions (companion exchanges), and me and Elder Tuckfield and survived!! We taught a couple of good lessons to new investigators and they seemed to go really good. We were able to answer all their questions and everything so I`m happy with it. The one thing is I definitely like my area much better than his. It`s far away and even hotter cause there`s no shade anywhere. Oh and none of the streets are paved. Oh well. 

This week was our Christmas devotional too. The President came and we watched a slide show and stuff. It was pretty cool. This week we had our first baptism! It was really good....Well OK, no one showed up for an hour and she forgot extra clothes to change into so she had to run back home, and by run I mean walk really slow cause her leg isn't the best apparently. But it ended up being really good I think. People showed up and it was good. 

Eric's response to mom - she asked why his bed wasn't made in another pic

Later that night was the ward Christmas dinner. The food didn't show up for a really long time and so me, my comp, and two other missionaries had to try to fill the time just by talking about Christmas experiences and stuff. It was interesting but ended up being pretty good. The food finally showed up and we had two new investigators there who seem pretty interested. One that night how he could become a missionary! Pretty cool. 

Alright Sunday was the worst. OK it wasn't terrible but it was interesting. We went up to confirm her and I was told that the Bishop was probably going to do it. But when he asked her who she wanted to do it she looked right at me and said "Èl" (Him). I kinda freaked out but luckily I had kinda practiced the first part before. But it was really hard when I did the blessing part because I've never even done one in English. Now I had to do one in Spanish in front of the entire ward. 

Well all I can say is it was kinda short and wasn't the best probably but all that matters is I did the first part right. That day we had a lesson with one of our other investigators and got another Baptismal date! It`s for the 29th this month and I definitely think he`ll be ready. I`m excited but I`m just hoping I don`t have to confirm again.

The Elders ran into Santa and this off-limits elf

That night me and my comp got a picture with a street Santa which was funny. I`ll send the picture. He wasn't expecting the elf to put her arm around him so his face is kinda funny.

Oh yeah I completely skipped a part. Sunday after church we went to a funeral for someone who had died in another ward. The service was good but after was weird. Everyone went outside and then we all slowly walked down the street behind the car with the casket all the way to the cemetery  I guess that`s normal here cause no one seemed too mad when we completely backed up traffic for really far. I don`t think we could get away with that in the States. The graveyards here are different too. No one is buried but they have all these house looking things that they`re put in. It`s kinda cool but literally looks like a neighborhood that is really really religious. Well that was pretty much my week.

I haven`t gone to the city or anything and no one has brought packages. So I have no idea if it has gotten here. I should get it this week though but we`ll see. I was told we got them at the Christmas devotional but no one got anything cause no one brought them. The easiest way to call is I`ll probably call Christmas eve real quick just to get a time. On Christmas I`ll call again just to let you know I can but then you need to call me back on that number cause it`s really expensive here. Hope that works. Why didn't you do cool gingerbread things when I was at home?!?! psh whatever just save all the fun for Curtis haha. 

Christmas here is definitely different. A lot of people do decorate their houses though which is cool. Even our building has a bunch of lights on it. I haven`t seen a nativity really but I think they`re probably normal. The different thing is a lot of people think Christmas is the 24th because they stay up all night that night and then at midnight they do a ton of fireworks. The fireworks are super cheap her and super big so there`s a lot. Every night we get a show haha. Well that`s about it. I`ll give you some pictures which are pretty cool.    

At the Chapel

Holy cow since when does our ward do missionary work?! OK just kidding but that's crazy there was seven confirmations in one Sunday (plus another one earlier in the week).

Elderes Alvarado y Layton

Oh and that's insane Katie is going on a mission! I never would have thought but that's awesome. And Brazil too. Well seems like a lot is going on in our ward which is cool.

Just in case you forgot what they looked like from this angle

So Zacapa was about 4 hours away by bus. Not too bad but definitely not a trip we can make every P-day. I think we get to go back to the cap this week or maybe next. I really want to but oh well we'll see.

Not sure, but this may be the chapel and font in Zacapa

Tomorrow through Wednesday I'm going on my first divisions (companion exchanges - the word is "divisiones" in Spanish). It`s with another North American who is being trained Elder Tuckfield. And it's in his area so I'm going to be completely lost. Oh well should be fun. 

Nothing super special happened this week. We had a lot of meetings for some reason every day so we didn't  have a lot of time to do stuff. We had interviews with the President here and that was good. We were at the chapel all day waiting to have them but we didn't really have a choice. That day we really didn't t do anything. Hmmm well really nothing else that sticks out. We had a dinner in Chiquimula last week for a thanksgiving Christmas combination thing but we have another Christmas one coming up which will be fun. 

 Well I can't think of anything else really. I`ll be on for another half hour if anyone is out there. Tell Sean good luck for me if you talk to him (Sean's going into the Air Force tomorrow) and tell Curtis to get out of my bed.

Also I was going to use Skype for Christmas but apparently if I do we only get 40 minutes to talk cause there's only one computer with a camera. So I`ll probably call. Well bye family and have a good week.

First Baptism

Elder Layton with 2 companions in the Guatemala CCM

All right this week was kinda insane. Hmmm where to start. Well how about here. I got my first baptismal date! And like Briana it's on the 15th of December. 

Her name is Hermana Consuelo and her husband was a member before he died. We have been teaching and she always comes to church. We taught her about the temple and eternal families and after that she really wanted to be baptized. 

I'm not actually doing it but my comp. I also think we'll have maybe three more this month but I guess we'll see. I'm way excited for it. 

We contacted a lot this week and didn't have any success. Most everyone here is either Catholic or Evangelico. Basically everyone believes in God but we don't get in to teach a lot of lessons. We do have a good amount of investigators so we still teach a lot of lessons to them. 

We're not sure if this was taken in Guatemala City or in Zacapa

OK what else this week. Oh yeah don't freak out mom or anything but I got pretty sick haha. It was kinda fun. OK well not at the time. I kinda threw up in the streets of Zacapa. It was actually pretty funny. I think a bunch of people thought I was drunk...Oh well we can find them later and teach them the Word of Wisdom. Well that was Saturday and I'm almost better now. I still don´t have an appetite but oh well I'm fine. 

I swear mom if you write the First Presidency or something about this just cause I told you you won't ever hear good stuff again. 

OK well Sunday was good too. It was testimony meeting and I think our investigators really liked it. Oh yeah and I had to lead the music. It really wouldn't t have been that bad but there isn't a piano or anything so I had to sing the first part of the song by myself to the whole congregation!! Well by whole congregation I mean like 50 people but still. Ugh it was worse then the throwing up... OK maybe not. Well I survived believe it or not. Did I ever tell you our Bishop is only about 25 years old_ Yeah it's weird but he's a really cool guy. He's about as tall as dad and knows a little English. Yep fun fun...what else.

Eric's Fish Dinner with Rice, Tomatoes/Cucumbers and Lime

Oh the food here is actually pretty good. Nothing is too weird and actually it's not way different. The weirdest thing was the fish which there is a picture of. I was actually really really good but still had everything on it. Other then that we just eat chicken beans rice and eggs. Oh yeah and the only thing I hate is the cheese here, blech. (I think he's talking about a hard, dry white cheese called cotija. If that's what it is, he'll learn to love it. MMMMMM!) 

Also Dad I eat Pan Dulce all the time. It's great. That and Pan Galleta. Yummy. But really the food isn't as different as I thought it was going to be. And here's the lame thing. The only time I tried to eat something American I think that´s what made me sick. I had cereal and milk and I think the milk was bad or something which is weird cause it was the first time I had opened it. Maybe cause they never refrigerate it something happened. Well I don´t know, I'm kinda scared to eat more of it cause I have a ton...

That's awesome Curtis was in the Christmas parade. I laughed really hard at his picture in the uniform though. No offense to you Curtis I just remember how much I hated those uniforms. Glad to hear the store is going well and Dad's doing good too. OK well I got nothing else...Thanks for the letters everyone.