Week 47

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Well, yesterday we had our last interviews with President Brough. He and Hermana Brough are leaving at the end of June. It will be sad to see them go. They've left such a legacy of obedience, diligence, and faith tin the mission. Before they came here, this mission was super inicuo (wicked, aka disobedient but they turned everything around. Now our mission is known in Guatemala for being super flechón (obedient) and for all the baptisms we have. The next mission president has big shoes to fill, but I'm confident he'll be great. It'll be interesting to see what changes he makes though. Before the interviews we got to watch the new movie "Ephraim's Rescue." It was the first time I'd seen a movie I hadn't seen before in almost a year (does that sentence make sense?), which was cool. It was actually really good, possibly even better than 17 Miracles (I've seen that movie so many times out here in the field). Both of those movies make me remember that we missionaries can't really complain about anything. We’re not really suffering that much.

When I had my interview with him, President Brough hinted that I might be here for a long time. The Elder I replaced was here for 9 months, and there was another Elder in this area who was here for a good 17 months (according to the members at least). Apparently he also became fluent in Catchikel. President Brough said that he does that because it takes so long to win the confidence of the members and it's only through the members that we can have any success here because the people are so closed. So, I've set myself the goal to learn all their names, despite being too poor at remembering names and faces. Suggestions would be welcome.

Hmm, what else. To tell you the truth, time is really flying by, far faster that it has at any other point on my mission. I'm not really sure what else happened this week. A lot of good stuff, some hard stuff too I'd imagine.

How about a cool scripture I found in my personal study a bit ago? Hmm, ok, this is a little awkward, I can't actually include the scripture in English because I only have my Spanish set so you'll have to look it up or my parents will have to add it in later. Doctrine and Covenants 109:73. 

That thy church may come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners;

Aside from this just being a super cool scripture because it says "terrible as an army with banners," it's also cool to be on the front lines of witnessing this happening. Last General Conference we got to watch part of the World Report while we ate lunch and it made me think.  Not only is the church true, it's also super cool." The videos they make now are about 32 times better that the ones they had 30 years ago (no offence). Still, for all the cool PR stuff that's going on, it won't mean anything if we don't open our mouths. We're so blessed to live in this time but that just gives us even great responsibilities.

Also, I've been pretty sick for quite a few weeks now and would really love you prayers

Finally, I've included a few pictures of our cook, Cata Per, so you guys can see how a typical Guatemalan woman dresses here. How cool is it that I get to teach these people ever day? As difficult as it is at times, I'm so grateful I got called here. It's all so beautiful. Anyway, here dress is corte and the top she's wearing is called güpil. It varies a lot depending on the city.