Hey guys glad to hear that you guys are doing good! I am doing well here too, but like dad said, things are starting to get a little rougher. The greenie effect is wearing off and I am getting used to the fact that I am here for four more weeks, but two days ago I just hit a wall with the Spanish. haha I know it is going to be hard but I was doubting myself that night... questions like why am I here, I am so unqualified in Spanish to do this, or I’m never going to learn the language, but I thought about it as I went to sleep that night, and I just remembered what Jason said about you will have days that are good and days that will treat you like hell, but you need to work through it and man up. So I am really hitting the books in Spanish language and study as well as the Libro De Mormon. My roommate is the district leader so my companion and me pray at a lot of the meetings either opening or closing. I guess I am doing okay, because before this week I didn’t know a lick of Spanish, but I just have to keep working.
You know how I told you about that investigator we placed the book of Mormon with? Well he committed to baptism on the 15th! Too bad at the CCM they find it funny to pair you up with a so called real investigator and make you think the whole time that you are potentially saving a soul. Noel Rivera is my new teacher. We taught him for a full week and got him to commit to baptism, and we were so happy and elated that we found someone to baptize! But when he came in the room one night, we asked what he was doing and he said that we were teaching him and that let him get to know us for the rest of the time at the CCM. So don’t tell Elijah this because they might do this when he goes on his mission. You don’t want to know if he was fake because everything you feel when teaching him is real. I felt true genuine love for him as we taught, all the times we were teaching and felt the spirit, the feelings we got from teaching were all so real. I was so happy and excited that I would be feeling like that and teaching with that kind of conviction, that when they broke the news that our investigator wasn’t real, I wasn’t mad or confused at all because that exercise was one of the greatest they could have done for me. That solidified my thoughts on the kind of work I am doing, and how I will feel when doing the actual thing.
The food here is great. The gringos kinda are hesitant to eat some things but I just gobble it up! They give you the option of ice cream after every meal, and the food is good. The juice is the real culprit in the cafeteria though. It is pure juice from mangoes etc. and it is only the juice and water. The first few days was good drinking the juice because it’s tasty, but all at once everyone except the hispanos gets niagra falls coming out of their anus! I would sit in class and end up running to the bathroom, and sit down just in time for a tsunami of diarrhea to come out.. My poop is starting to solidify now though.
It feels a little like I am in jail here. We stay in the CCM all day and never leave except for field trips, temple, and email. The people here are friendly and good though. That is funny that you found her {Sister Robertson] blog. She sits right across from me in class. I feel so inadequate to be here right now, but I know that in time I will get the language. We go to Wal-mart tomorrow so I will buy the stuff.
The days are starting to melt together. I don’t know how to explain how time goes on a mission. Sometimes you sit in class and feel like time is going slow, and then at the end of the day you can’t remember what you did that morning because it went so fast. Or another way to say it is the days go fast but the weeks go slow. It feels like ages since I left Hawaii and it has only been 2 weeks. You wake up and it feels like you just went to sleep. The hardest part of my day is 3-6 pm because I hit a wall of tiredness.
I look at everything with a different perspective now... I don’t know if it is all of this spirituality, but I am just really happy all the time. No matter how tired I am or what I am doing, I am happy. I love it here, there is nothing else I would rather do now than to be here. I can’t wait to get out into the field and serve the people of Guatemala.
I gave my first blessing yesterday. A sister in our district needed comfort and asked me for a blessing. I was nervous but I managed to say the right thing in the beginning, but what happened after was such a powerful experience. After I said the opening it was like I went on autopilot. I don’t know how to describe it, but I said things that I never expected to say, and said things that I never planned or even thought I could come up with. After I closed, I was so amazed because I never had that kind of thing happen to me before. I feel honored to have the priesthood because it is there to help and serve others.
It is really interesting that you would bring the topic up about how I will be working among the descendants of the people of the Libro De Mormon. We watched a video about Central America and all of the proof and evidence that they have that proves that the Libro De Mormon took place here. They talked about the possible locations of different cities from the Libro De Mormon, the river Sidon, the narrow neck of land etc. and it is really interesting. I feel so blessed to be able to preach and walk among the people and on the land that the Libro De Mormon took place.
I love You guys and I know that I am doing the Lords work! haha find something to do on Saturdays! Don’t worry about me, I am learning and growing in ways that no other experience on earth could teach me! Tell everyone that I said Hi. Like I said: start preparing now. I wish I could go back and change so many things in my life.
I never realized this until now, but I know for a fact that daily scripture study, and prayer, will effect your day in no other way. To have the Holy Ghost with you all the time is a great blessing. When I am teaching, it is so much easier to talk with the guidance of the spirit because things just come to you. I challenge you to read the Libro De Mormon all the way through, and to build your testimony. You will feel great happiness in the gospel. I Love You Guys!
-Hunter
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