I checked eating zampopos de mayo off my bucket list this week!

This week was kinda rough, but also really good.  Hna W always keeps me happy, even when we're falling behind in our goals.  I'm so grateful for that!

I checked eating zampopos de mayo off my bucket list this week!!  It was so exciting!  I think I had told you guys about how there are these giant ants with wings that are only here in may called zanpopos de mayo (turns out they're here for longer than just May, but then they turn into zanpopos de junio, as a little girl from the primary so kindly explained to us).  They had told us that you can eat them and they're super good.  So, on Friday we went to a members house for lunch and their daughter had found a TON.  They taught us how to make them and we tried them on tortillas with salt and lime.  Oh my gosh.  It was so good!!!  It tasted like chicarron or maybe burnt popcorn (which sounds gross.  but it wasn't gross.  that's just the closest thing I can think of that it tastes like.)  I'm definitely going to have to do send a 'How To' on this one.  It was hands down the weirdest thing I've ever eaten but it was delicious.  I ate bugs and I liked it.  I'm not even ashamed.

Speaking of trying weird foods...yesterday I found a new favorite food...curry!  Hna W's parents sent her some and she made it for us yesterday.  It's so good!  We decided to turn it into curry chapin style.  So we bought some tortillas at the end of the night and put curry on our tortillas.  It was SO good!  Just funny that I had to come all the way to Guatemala to try curry that was bought in an American grocery store.  We'll have to try zanpopos de mayo with curry.

Yesterday I almost felt like it was snowing, which was so weird!  A storm came in and it was cold (and by cold I mean like normal spring weather in Colorado.  I'm going to die coming home in February.) and rainy.  And it was Pday so we just took it easy for a while.  It felt like it was a snow day or something.  It made me happy!  It was just hard for my brain to accept the fact that it was cold, like at home, but I was still in Guatemala.

There're one street in our area that is just so PILAS!  It's crazy.  Everyone we teach on that street progresses and gets baptized.  And since there are more members, they have more and more support.  It's so cool!  We decided that there's only one explanation.  We're really pretty sure that the Anti Nefi Lehits must have buried their weapons there.  That's just what makes most sense.

I have a surprisingly long time left before I have to get off the internet.  So I'm trying to think of what to say.  I'm not used to not panicking while I write my big letter home.

Yesterday someone asked me where I was from and I asked him what he thought and he said Russia.  So that was kinda funny.

We also have a question.  So here, people salute each other by kissing each other on the cheek.  But what do we do in the states to greet each other?  Hna Wises first guess was bow, but that cant be right.

The world cup starts soon.  I don't know if it's like this in the states, but here there are World Cup promotions for EVERYTHING...phone companies, candy companies, ice cream shops, McDonalds (oo.. sad news.  coco chocolate McFlurries aren't sold at McDonalds anymore.  We'll have to get more creative with our racism strike.).  I'm sure that it will get super crazy here.  It will be a miracle to get lessons in I'm sure.

This last week we saw a huge miracle.  So in March, a little girl got baptized that I was teaching.  Her mom wasn't ready to get baptized then, and that always worried me because I didn't want it to be hard for her to get to church since she's the only member.  Her mom slowly stopped wanting to listen to us and I had always felt really uneasy about it.  But last Sunday the mom came to church!  And when we taught her she accepted to be baptized!!  It was such a miracle.  It really helped me see that Heavenly Father has a reason for everything.  I didn't feel comfortable just baptizing the little girl, but it obviously had to happen so we could keep in touch with that family.  Its so amazing to see how the mom has changed and is ready to receive these blessings.  I'm thankful that Heavenly Father knows better than we do and always helps us have good, lasting fruits of ourlabors.

Thank you for all your love and emails and packages!  Its fun to hear from everyone.

Love you!

Hairy Legs = Sinning

This weeks email will be way better.  I promise!

First of all...I don't have changes. WOO!!  I'll be here until July 10th at least.

So lately Hermana W and I have decided to take a stand against the racism in our area.  People always call us white girls (Which I honestly had stopped noticing until Hna W came here fresh from the States.)  So one day we set a goal, that if 10 people yelled white girls to us on the street we would buy ourselves McFlurries and fries (Guatemala is awesome because they have coconut chocolate McFlurries with real chunks of coconut...and McDonalds delivers).  And sure enough we reached our goal.  So that night we proudly ate our Mcflurries and talked about how fat we're getting, just like American girls should.  So take that racism.

We also had a crazy discovery this week.  So there are two parts of our area that are seemingly close together but the way the roads are set up it takes like 40 minutes to go between the two.  We always had this feeling that there had to be a faster way.  So this week we did some exploring and sure enough there is a very secret path.  This is how you get from point A to point B on the path...  Enter this nice neighborhood.  Go down to the last street to a random sketchy fence.  Hope that the fence is unlocked.  Walk through the super tall tic infested grass.  Jump over the gutter.  Step over the barbed wire fence.  Walk through someones front yard.  Open your umbrella to scare away the crazy pack of dogs.  Walk past a bunch of kids playing soccer in another little street of houses.  And walk out of the path on the other side of the neighborhood like you live there, so no one gets suspicous. We were so excited when we figured this out.  Its quite the adventure everytime.

This week was also a little sad because I saw 2 Broncos hats and a Rockies shirt.  Come on Colorado people. Keep your sports gear!  But then I saw a very confident teenage boy wearing a 'Number 1 Grandpa shirt' and that made me feel better.

Hna W and I have been finding so many ways to keep ourselves pampered.  For example, my ingrown toenail has been really bad lately so now I get to soak foot twice a day.  We just call it my pedicure.  We've also been really lazy about shaving our legs.  But last night we had the realization that we need to get better at that.  If we don't shave our legs, we are not as aerodynamic and we can't walk as fast.  If we can't walk as fast, we can't have as many contacts and lessons and we're not as diligent.  If we're not diligent, we're sinning.  So we came to the conclusion that if we don't shave our legs, we're sinning.  Sister missionary beauty tips at their finest.

Sunday was a cool day in our zone.  It was called Dia Blanca or White Day.  Everyone who had baptisms went to the stake center.  The stake president had a really cool presentation and it was so amazing to see all the converts in white.  It is such an awesome experience to see the members of the whole stake come support us.  Just goes to show how necessary this work is.  I love it.

Thanks for all your love and prayers!

Hermana Haymond

a colonia in our area.  we have tons of investigators here

Us eating Coconut Chocolate McFlurries and fries.  Mcdonalds delivers here.  Its the greatest.

B!!!
Shes 18 and so cute!  Her boyfriend (now exboyfriend) introduced us to her.  Shes awesome

dia blanco!

we decided we're going to try a fun fruit every pday

this one was pretty good.

this one is super good!  Its like a giant pea pod with little fuzzy fruit in it. its like banana cotton candy  

this one is good too.  kinda like a pearish taste

Our district!!

Ah

There's not much time today.  But I'm doing good.  Every day is so fun with Hna W.  I'm sure she explained our funny adventures this week on her blog... Loving the Lamanites.

Last week we had our last interviews with President Brough which was so sad!  It's really hard for me to picture this mission without him but I'm excited to see what happens with the new President.

One night after planning Hna W and I had some extra time.  So we watched the DVD the restoration and played 'What language is it?' That DVD has like 20 different random languages so we took turns guessing which one it is.  I guessed Taglog and Cantonese on the first try.  Woo!  Oh the things we do for fun.

I'm trying to think what else we did this week.  But I can't think of anything besides how little time I have left to write. 

We're always seeing lots of little miracles, like finding old investigators or having extra lessons with members or finding people we've been wanting to teach for a long time.

Thanks for all your love and support!  Keep praying for me.  I need all the help I can get. 

Love you all!

The Challenge

First...I want to see where everyone is in the Book of Mormon challenge that I made before I left.  It was to read one page of the Book of Mormon everyday and finish by the time I get home.  Everyone should be at least half way done!  What have you learned?  If you haven't started (or if you started and forgot about it), it's not too late!  Since I'm half way done, read 2 pages every day.  It's not that much!  Maybe 10 or 15 minutes every day.  Whether you don't know what the Book of Mormon is or you've read it 100 times, 2 pages each day from that book will change your life.  There is power in those words!

It was really fun to talk to the family on Sunday!  I feel like I was really boring and didn't say much.  But I hope it was fun for you guys.  It still feels so unreal.

This morning we found 3 REALLY BIG zanpopos de mayo (the bugs we're going to eat).  So we've gotten a good start on that.  It's always so exciting when we find one.  Sometimes it happens during lessons and we have to stay calm and wait until after to get it.  I hope we can cook them soon though because changes are coming and I'm getting hungry.

Yesterday we had an adventure (when do we not have adventures??).  We were doing our personal study like always and all of a sudden we get a phone call.  I answer and it's an Elder from the office saying 'Hermana Haymond.   This is an emergency.  You need to be in the Church office building in 40 minutes.'  Turns out that Hna W was never taken to finish her visa info while she was in the CCM.  So we spent most of the day doing that.  It was kinda crazy, but we made it fun.  On the way there we were freaking out and saying 'T minus 13 minutes until you get deported.'  But she didn't get deported.  Thank goodness.  I don't think I could handle another mini missionary right now.

Rainy season has officially started.  It's so great!  I've missed the rain!  I'm always praying that I don't get sick of it by the time I go home.  About 2 weeks ago we were knocking doors in this really skinny ally way and it started pouring!  It went from clear skies to flash flood in about 10 seconds!  When it rains like that the streets just turn into rivers, and it's even worse in the allies where there's no where for it to drain.  So there we were drenched in this crazy little hidden street of Guatemala with everyone rejecting us, and we were as happy as could be.  Hermana W, being as awesome as she is, just started busting up laughing.  She so cleverly pointed out that in this mission, we are NEVER dry.  We're either sweating like crazy or drowning in the rain.  It's so true.  But I'm glad the rain is back.  It feels good to suffer a little more.

Lately we've used a really awesome Mormon message to help investigators and less actives and members and everyone.  And it really helps me too!  I think in English it's called Thanks to Him.  Everyone should watch it.  Or maybe even have a Family Home Evening about it.  It's really short but super powerful about how Christ give us hope.  Hope to do the impossible.  Hope to have new beginnings.  Hope to be happy.  Hope to be resurrected.  I really love it.  It talks about how we can have new beginning time and time again thanks to all that the Savior gave for us.  It applies to everyone.  We've seen it motivate a family who hasn't been to the temple and stopped going to church.  We've seen it help an investigator who doesn't quite feel good enough.  I've seen it help me remember my own conversion.  I know that Christ never gives up on us.  We can rely on Him time and time again.  Watch the video and seek Christ! 

Love you all!

Editors note- I think the Mormon message she is talking about is called Because of Him.  

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

Turns out my camera has a panoramic option.  
This is me embracing my area on our roof yesterday

this is what our residencial looks like from our roof

Livin' on a Prayer

Whoa.  I'm half way there!  I cannot believe it.  It's so sad!  I have so much more to do and so much more work and there is so much more that I need to become.  Hna W is always talking about how fast time is going and I just tell her that she has no idea.  Before I know it I will be home.  And honestly that's so sad to think about right now. I love my family.  But I love these people and this work too.  There's so much more I need to give.  I'm just thankful that I have this opportunity and I'm thankful for all that I've learned these last few months.

So Hna W got a watch a while ago and somehow set some kind of mysterious alarm.  We have no idea how to fix it.  So we decided that whenever it goes off we have to go to a tienda and buy ourselves a treat.  It went off 3 times just now, so after this we will have to buy 3 treats.  Woo!

We havent seen any scorpions lately.  But I saw fireflies for the first time yesterday!  It was so crazy!  Everyone thought we were nuts because Hna W hasnt ever seen them either.  They're so cool! Like a little strobe light stuck in a bug.

We're teaching a lot of really great people right now.  One of which is a sweet old lady.  W're afraid that she's only going to get baptized because she loves us so much.  She gets SO excited every time we visit her and always sends us off with a box of juice from her tienda.  It's the cutest most hilarious thing ever. 

Things are going so good as always.  I love what I'm doing.  Everyday we come home and talk about how it was the best day ever.  It just keeps getting better.  I'm so thankful for it because I know that not every area or change or companionship or mission is like this.  I will never be able to pay Heavenly Father back for all the blessings I've recieved on my mission.

Thanks for everything!  Can't wait to Skype you guys on Sunday!!!

Love you all!!

Hermana Haymond

Zone training meeting today

There are these giant ants here with wings.  AND THEY EAT THEM!  They're super expensive.  But you can make a paste our of their little rear ends and put it on tortillas.  Its super good apparently.  We're collecting a bunch to have a sister make them for us

One of the girls is a member.  We're working on baptizing her sister

I think I've seen this in the states.  But they were teaching us how to play this game where you jump in and on and outside on the ropes and see how high you can get.  That probably makes no sense.  They also gave me an orange.

Oh so gracefully playing this game.  it was quite an adventure in our skirts.  They thought it was cool because we're so tall.

More Golden Than the Plates

We are just having a blast here.  Hna W is so positive and happy all the time!  She is learning so fast and never complains.  She is such a good example to me.  It's great!  It's fun being with someone fresh out of the states because she points out to me all the things that are now normal to me...like how gross the dogs are, how different the doors are, how horribly I speak English. We're always talking about funny things and laughing at ourselves.

 Funny quotes from this week...

'Where's that scripture about the stupor of thought?' me while teaching a convert about the Holy Ghost.

'She's more golden than the plates!'  Hna W when she was so excited about our golden investigator that's getting baptized on the 11th.

'Hurry!  We need to do a scorpion check!'  Last week we found a scorpion in our house and ever since then I've been paranoid that there's somehow going to be a scorpion in my bed.  So now we have to do a scorpion check before we turn out the lights.  It's just part of the routine now.

'We have to take the cake!'  Our District Leader started a competition last week to see who could get the most lessons with member and most investigators at church.  The winner would get a cake. All week our motto was 'Take the cake!'  And we did!  It was delicious.

We had a pretty fun P-day yesterday.  Nothing too exciting to non missionaries but it was just what we needed.  We started off by getting ice cream donut sundaes.  It's a giant sundae on top of a donut.  Why choose donut or Sundae when you can just have both!  Then we went and I bought a new backpack (my third one.  I actually let myself spend a little more on this one so it better last!) and a new watch.  Then we went and got Buffalo wings, which were soo good.  Everyone thought we were nuts because it's super spicy to them (Someone here once described Ranch dressing to me as spicy.  It's so funny!).  But it was delicious.  

We had another successful wedding this weekend.  Thankfully each one gets less and less stressful.  The members helped us out SO much!  This is seriously probably how Zion is.  The Relief Society and Presiesthood and Primary and YM / YW all had something to bring.  Then on top of that we had members calling us and asking what else they could do, if they could make a dress for the bride, if they could lend a suit, if they could help in any way.  It was so cool!  Everyone was so excited for their boda and baptism and the whole ward was involved in everything.  It didn't matter how much time it required or the sacrifice they'd have to make.  The members just gave what they could.  It was so cool to see!  All the members were thanking us for helping this family come into the church.  But the truth is that we couldn't have done it without them.

Heavenly Father keeps blessing us.  When we're not sure who we're going to baptize next He leads us right to the people who are prepared.  We have high goals again this month and He is already helping us be successful!  We are so blessed!  And it's all because of the help of the members too.  There are always little trials, but they just help me be that much more grateful for all the miracles that we see.  We have a lot of investigators that are more golden than the plates right now.  Heavenly Father loves us!

Thanks for all your love and prayers!

Hermana Haymond

J's baptism!!!

He was supposed to be there at 5:30 on Friday and didn't show up until 6:30.  He doesn't have a phone to call so needless to say we had a heart attack.  But he showed up and got baptized and confirmed Sunday.

J & P's  Boda!!!!

Each wedding get less and less stressful

F and P's youngest daughters.  C and G.  They are so cute!

Baptism of F & P!  yay!!

Another sister found them in December.  She kinda stopped teaching them because they weren't coming to church.  But we kept with them when I got here and they started coming to church and Love it!  He's a pro soccer player from Honduras and they have 6 kids.  Their daughter in the picture was baptized a few weeks ago.  Another one is getting baptized the 11th.  They're an awesome family.

I survived Semana Santa

I want to make that into a T-shirt for every missionary that has served here.  Semana Santa was a adventure.  Everyone was out of town.  And the people who were in town weren't from here.  But it turned out to be a good week!  Almost every single night there was a procession.  And they decorate the streets with really pretty colorful designs.  Everyone goes and looks at them before the processions late at night.  I should have taken pictures but I didn't. Dang.  There are processions for each part of the Holy Week when Christ was taken to be tried, when he was taken to the tomb, when Mary was looking for Him, and when He raised from the dead.  It was pretty interesting.  They also have a tradition on the Friday of Semana Santa where they make giant dolls (kinda like a scare crows) that are super ugly and scary to represent Judas.  They go around trying to sell the dolls like Judas betrayed Christ.  Then at 6 pm Friday everyone burned their dolls.  The traditions here are so interesting!  Totally different for an Ester Bunny, egg hunt, colorful baskets kind of day.  But two of my converts are so sweet adn are always thinking of me.  They found a little plastic egg and gave it to me.  Inside was a little bracelet that says "Sister Haymond".  Ah! I can't explain how much I love these people.  It was a fun little taste of an American Easter.

So I have a new companion!  She's from Utah and is so awesome.  Fresh out of the CCM!  She is doing great!  Ten minutes into our companionship I made her contact a bus and she id it like its no big deal.  She contacts like crazy and is always diligent.  It's great!  I am learning so much and being pushed to be better and better.  She is learning so fast.  her Spanish gets better every lesson.  It's going to be a great change.

We have suffered a little though.  This weekend we got food poisoning.  We're both fine now but man it was a rough weekend.  For a solid day and a half we were throwing up in the middle of lessons and in members houses and calling the nurse a million times.  Ah, We suffered and smiled through it.  That's just what ya do in the mish.  But it was a good bonding experience.  And a good way for her to get to know the members really fast.  And we didn't even have to throw up at the same time.  Count your blessings : )

The suffering on the mission never goes away.  There's always something going wrong.  But you just get used to it and learn to love it.  It's all for your good.  I really am happy.  I've never lied in my emails saying I'm happy when I'm really not.  You just learn to be super thankful for the crazy things in life.  We are doing super well with our goals and our investigators are doing great.  We'll have lots of baptism pictures next week!  I know that it's all because we've been able to learn form our challenges we had this weekend.

I love Easter. I know that Christ lives.  I love telling people that he Lives and directs this Church.  I know that he atoned for our sins and sorrows and afflictions and sicknesses and weaknesses and everything we could ever feel.  I know that He chose to do it because He loves us.  I  know that He rose from the dead and that we will too.  I love the meaning of Easter because Easter wasn't the end of Christ's life.  It was the beginning of our eternal life.  And I wish everyone could feel the joy that comes from coming unto Christ through repentance and baptism.  I'm so thankful to be his representative.

Hermana Haymond

My hija. She is from Orem Utah.

Say hello to Herman W.  Straight from the CCM!

LOOK WHO'S IN MY DISTRICT!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED I ALMOST CRIED WHEN I FOUND OUT.  I have been companions with every sister in my district. District meeting today was a party!  (Hermana G trained with Alexis and then when they were done training their trainer left them and they were left together as companions.  Alexis loves Hermana G)

Gross bug that flew into our house.
'They make huge and make really loud  wierd noises. Its like its from a movie.