Hermana Haymond: Guatemala's Gringa: Waters of Mormon

Yesterday we had an awesome p-day! We had a zone activity in Panajatchel. It's a little city right on Lago Atitlan, supuestamente (supposedly) The Waters of Mormon. We were all joking that we should take some water from the lake back to our areas to sprinkle on our investigators. It's super pretty! You can see 2 or 3 volcanoes. The town is really touristy. It's cool. It's like Antigua but more laid back. It took two hours to get there and another two to get back. We had to wake up super early to do our exercises and studies. But worth it! I would totally go back and hang out for a few days after the mission. Now I'm hoping that they take out the Elders they have serving there right now and put in sisters (aka..me). I'm sending some cool pictures we took on the water. No one fell in. But someones name tag dropped in which turned out to be an adventure. We had the whole zone on the dock looking for it. We got a rake and the Zone leaders were holding each other off the dock to look for it., Finally the little guys on the boats around us called for help and a guy in his underwear came and saved it with his snorkel gear.

I don't know if the lessons have turned out like this at church back home, but we've touched on some really interesting topics in sacrament meeting, principles of the gospel, and relief society lately. I've heard about parasites (how everyone needs to cleanse the parasites out of their systems every 6 months), dating, how Sisters can't build houses and do service as good as the elders, and why we should eat soy. Church is always way interesting.

This week I also saw the Patriarch from Antigua. He's from the Branch in San Pedro, my first area. It was way cool to see him after so long! He was happy to see me too. It was weird because back then I could hardly understand or speak anything. But this time I was able to communicate way better. I'm sure that's super weird for him to see me 7 months later and I can finally talk to him. It's fun to see people like that, that know you and are happy to see you.

Time is FLYING by. I was sitting in sacrament meeting on Sunday and I realized that I gave my farewell talk 1 year ago. How weird is that! I have changed so much and I had no idea what I was doing. But it feels like it couldn't have been more than a month ago. Crazy.

In our area people have chompipis as pets. They're like turkeys but with a trunk. Google them. They're hands down one of the weirdest animals I've ever seen. But one lives in an alley where we have some investigators and it always puffs out its feathers and comes after us. It's terrifying.

We needed lots of miracles this week to baptize. But we ended the month without baptisms, which is rough. I have been so blessed on my mission and seen so many people be converted. I know that Heavenly Father needs me to learn something from the month of July. I need to remember that I'm nothing. That all my success isn't actually mine. It's because of Him. I know we're working hard and finding super pilas people. I know we're going to baptized in August.

I really love this area. We are finding a lot of new investigators and the members are really supportive, which is such a blessing. I'm happy and healthy.

Thanks for all the love and prayers and support!

Hna Haymond