15 de Septiembre!!!

We had Pday of the zone.  We went to the stake center and the Elders made like 200 crepes.  It was super good.  Our zone is really cool.  Everyone is really close and its just fun to be together.

And...yesterday was 15 de septiembre....Indepence Day in Guatemala!!!!! It was the best day ever to have Pday.  There were a ton of parades in the morning!! Here it's like you get a grade to be in the parade with your school,so everyone was there.  And the other thing they do to celebrate is they have marathons and races with torches.   Like the Olympics.  When they run they have whistles and make tons of noise and all the cars honk and its a big deal.  There were a bunch of people running on the highway and tons of people got on a bridge and they threw water on all the runners.  It was a funny sight.  It was a crazy weekend and everyone was out celebrating.  Its was awesome!

Watching the parades yesterday was a really educational experience actually.  Each school  had its own presentation.  And lots of them focused on facts of Guatemala.  For example...

Guatemala had 6 different versions of the flag before they got to the version they use now.

The marimba is the instrument of Guatemala.  There are different styles from different parts of the country.  I really like marimba.

Theres a super cool bird called a quetzal.  Its on all the money.  It means freedom.

There is also a flower and a tree of hte country but i cant remember what they are.

Guatemala (and most of central America I think) gained its independence on September 15th 1821.  One year after the first vision (coincidence...I think not.)

So those are the kinda fun facts I learned about Guatemala yesterday.

This week I got called to repentance.  We had a conference with Elder Ochoa.  And he talked a lot about how we need to love people.  How we shouldn't teach people to baptize them, but to help them go to the temple and have eternal life.  He said we need to find to teach, teach to help people repent, and help people repent so that they can make covenants and have eternal life.  I really needed to hear that.  Heavenly Father has given me so much success up to this point on my mission.  But I haven't been doing what I'm doing for the right reasons.  I need to love the people more and teach more sincerely.  The difference that I've felt since I've focused on that is incredible.  I feel so much more faith in the people we teach and I understand why Heavenly Father wants them to be baptized.  It's too bad I realized this now, but I know its going to change my whole mission.

Thanks for all you do for me!

Love you all!

Its been really really really cold!  When we wake up in the morning we're so tired and its freezing.  so we do exercises in our blankets.  I got up one morning and it was SOOO cold and I was so asleep.  My half asleep self decided I NEEDED to take a picture of us doing exercises in that very moment. This is us jogging in place

This is a corte!!!!! I bought my own corte.  And I just love it.  It's the traditional clothes.  And a lot of people use it.  hna E refuses to take pictures perfectly up and down with my camera. 

 It always has to be tilted.

Hna. E.  Shes so cute!  She looks so innocent but shes a punk.  Its funny

there are two ways to carry things in guatemala.
1...put it on your head.

or....
2....strap it to your head like this.

tortilling

and this is a jacket that a really really poor member let me borrow one day when it was cold.  When I went to give it back to her she let me have it.  It was so nice!  She doesnt have hardly anything!  The things I get from people here are way better than anything I couldnt buy.

Yay for rain!
There was a drought for a while and all the crops were dying.  All the corn and the beans.  And if there's no corn, there are no tortillas.  If there are no tortillas, no one will eat.  So it really is a blessing that its been raining.

yesterday for zone activity the elders made 200 crepes. they were super good.  but when your a missionary in Guatemala you make crepe mix in a water jug.