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.