2014-01-20: Time is flying by

Hey guys another week finished here in Guate.  Well to answer some of Morgan's questions, my favorite dish here in Guat probably a thing called Queso con Arroz.  It is seasoned rice, but with a certain cheese in it.  But I like all of the foods here.  I really like their tortillas here too, they are not that big, but they are thick and about as big around as a spread out hand.  I haven't eaten anything exotic here yet, just the normal chicken, tortilla, beans and rice... but every time we eat at a member's house it is a guessing game, because they always offer a drink.  Now if they open a can or bottle we know we are safe, but if they just come out of their tortilla shack with 2 glasses of juice, chances are we are gonna get Boo.  The phrase Boo means diarrhea and I mean real bad diarrhea.  If you don't see an agua pura jug in their house you know that your stomach is gonna be destroyed by the time you get back to the house at night. 

No I didn't really have a culture shock.  When I came in my first lesson was in a tin roof, dirt floor, and mud wall shack, but I just made sure to just come in and accept it.  I can't change the living conditions I will be serving in, I just have to go in there and have a Christ like attitude that these are my brothers and sisters that have been born in different situations than we have been born in. 

This past week we worked hard, but nothing too exciting happened.  I got to try to drink milk straight from the cow this Tuesday, and I could not get past the froth at the top... I think the warmness brings out the smell or something... But other than that, just another week in the grind here at Palencia. 

This month is going by way too fast. It seems just like yesterday was new years.  Well today we got stuck in traffic going to Metro Norte, so we spent 2 hours stuck in a cramped, hot, city bus. So we didn't get to do anything today.  Tomorrow we are having a mission wide meeting so we are fasting as a mission until tomorrow.  Then Wednesday Elder Cook is coming to Guate for a meeting/devotional with the central, south, and east missions, so everyone is looking forward to that.  Then Thursday our zone has interviews with Presidente Watts.  All our people that were planning on getting baptized didn't come to church this past Sunday, so they can't get baptized on their planned day.  But we can't change that, so Elder Farr and I are working to prepare them and others so that February will be a baptizing month for Palencia. 

We figure the comps that get along well are never together for too long, so we figure that one of us will be getting changed next month on the 5th.  So we are just going to work hard and let things run their course no matter who is here next month.  I Love it here, and sometimes things get hard and things don't go your way, but that is life, and you have to work to climb that ladder.  I love you guys and have a good week!

This was the rabbit in our house. 

I got to try to milk a cow again, but failed so a hermana filled up a glass and tried to get me to drink it straight from the cow, but i couldn't get past the froth.