Monday, February 23, 2015 -- Day #7 Guatemala MTC

10:12 pm
Today was great! I got a sunburn on the side of my neck from the sun during sports, I am so white! It was crazy because we were playing volleyball as a zone (distritos mateo y jeremias) and some latinos joined in and it was fun, but the latinas are much more shy and didn't play with us. But I got the sunburn on my left side, that was towards the sun during the game, and my forearms are covered in these little sprinkles of pockmark bruises from hitting the ball so hard, but I am really good at serving, and it was nice to be outside in the sunshine.

I did laundry today, so it's nice to have most of my clothes back and clean. It's fun to see all the sisters' new outfits for the first week or so, I'm sure I'll start seeing the same clothes again sometime soon as we only have a few outfits to wear. But I'm happy and comfortable in mine, I am thankful I have such pretty clothes!

There's an ice cream brand here called Saritas, and they make the creamiest, smoothest, most yummy ice cream!  We are allowed to have one a day during almuerzo (lunch), and that is always a bright spot in my day.  My favorite is the little cup kind with strawberry and sweet cream....es muy delicioso!

Tonight we taught Daniela for the third time and we committed her to a baptism date! March 5th, and that's her birthday as well. These lessons are difficult because we are a trio, so we need to split up time and parts more, and Hermana Kleinman doesn't know any Spanish, but she tries so hard and we help her and she is like a little sister and I love her so much and want her to be so successful and I know she will be, so Hermana Brady and I usually carry most of the conversation with Daniela.

But tonight was so special because that was the first time I really felt the Spirit bring things to my mind to say and lead my thoughts and send me to scriptures and be able to give explanations that I had no previous plan of doing, all in Spanish, it was amazing for us to have that experience.

We've been talking only in Spanish all day, that's everyone's goal in the CCM for the week, and it has been just so interesting, because even though we have a very limited vocabulary, we're able to see how much we actually know, and we can communicate quite well, actually, and it felt kinda empowering and comforting to know that I can speak Spanish! I'm not fluent, but I can speak with clarity and I am learning so many new words everyday, and it is frustrating and overwhelming but I am just so proud of us, we're doing amazing things.

Guatemala MTC Branch
Here's me! Hna Kleinman is to my left and Hna Brady is on my far left.
I love them!

Today we took pictures with our rama (branch) in front of the CCM, and Saturday we had district pictures outside the Guatemala City Temple. Tomorrow we can go to the temple because it's our P-day (Preparation Day), and I am so excited! I've missed the temple, even though it's only been about a week since I went my last time in San Antonio with my parents and grandparents, I am so excited for tomorrow!

Also our showers are always cold, maybe getting tepid for the last 20 seconds, and we need to brush our teeth with water-bottle water, even though the water here is safe, it's to get us in the habit for when we're in the field.

I'm also translating the national anthem into Spanish for our latinas for fun, it's not a perfect translation, but I think it's pretty fun and it's good to have to rethink an idea into another language so that it's still understandable. It makes the hymns make more sense because I've always noticed that there's slightly different meanings, and I like having both English and Spanish so I can get both meanings.

I haven't been dreaming hardly at all, that's still kinda strange, we have such long and hard days that I hardly feel like I've slept at all, but I'm still OK and can stay awake!

Sunday, February 22, 2015 -- Day #6 Guatemala MTC

10:17 pm
Today was our first Sunday, day number 6! It feels like we've been here a month! But it's been good. The only thing I wish was a little more consistent is the schedule. We spend a good 30-35 min or so planning the next day and writing all these goals and things, and then they just change it on us and don't let us know what we need to bring or where to go or anything. So that's a little annoying, but I guess it teaches us to be patient and flexible.

In personal study, I read through 3 Nefi 11, and the fact that Jesus had glorified Heavenly Father's name stuck out to me. In Moses 6:57 He has the name "Man of Holiness," and I just thought that by Jesus taking on his Father's name and honoring it by being obedient and holy and accomplishing all the things he was asked to do, and not abusing it or doing anything not aligned with His will, Jesus really did glorify his Father's name, and that's the example we need to follow as well.

We also watched a missionary address from Elder Scott from April 26, 2013, I think, and it was amazing and comforting to hear! Elder Scott is so gentle and earnest in his counsel to the missionaries, and I felt more comfortable and at peace with my being here in Guatemala and Honduras for 18 months.

We also accepted the commitment to only speak Spanish this week, except in our letters home, so that's gonna be interesting! But I look forward to it, I think it will help me grow so much and get more comfortable with the language. It's starting to click better now, we had a break through with the latinas during lunch today, and we talked so much and laughed and it was just so fun, I love them, and am sad I only have 1 more week with them.

Saturday, February 21, 2015 -- Day #5 Guatemala MTC

3:52 pm
We have deportes (sports) everyday for an hour, and they are so fun! We played volleyball as our 2 districts (mateo y jeremias (my district!)....we're the nortes, "northerners" and it was so nice outside. Also I do bike, elliptical, and stretching, and I love it!

And the Latinos are so tiny! I'm not that big of a person, but I feel like a giant white person when I am next to them. They are very shy and don't speak hardly any English, but most of them are very patient and try to help us with words when we try to talk to them at meal-times.  Hermanas Cabrera y Zelaya usually sit by us so we can practice our Spanish.

Last night we had our first investigator discussion all in Spanish (Hermana Giron, our female instructor for Distrito Jeremias was role-playing) and it was so hard!  It didn't go very well, but now we definitely know what we need to work on to be able to be successful in the future. We will teach at least 1 or 2 lessons every night, which will be a lot of work, but we will get to be so good at teaching and understanding the language, and I am so excited to be an amazing missionary!

9:36 pm
In class today we watched a video from Elder Holland about how we should be held to higher standards of teaching, and how we can't expect our investigators to do things that we don't already do. Good to hear that, helped make more sense in my mind of how I should think and act and feel towards missionary work. He also talked about the difference between testimony and conversion. Testimony is "I know it," and conversion is "I live it." Good to think about.

We went over how to use ser y estar in language study today, and it started making more sense of how to speak Spanish, since they are used in almost every sentence, so I was very happy about that. Just have to see the charts in my mind and remember the correct conjugations. I have a lot of work to do, but I'm on a good start!

Also, our second lesson tonight went so much better! I was so happy! We got Daniela to pray with us and promise to read 2 Nefi 31 to learn about the importance of baptism, and she seemed happier and more interested. We're supposed to pick her up for church tomorrow, and we invited her to be baptized. Also, we set a tentative appointment with Victor y Monica for Monday evening, so we'll see what we can do with that.

We used the phrases from the books we have and the lesson went so much more smoothly and we had a better train of thought than our first lesson last night, I feel good. We are getting more used to working in a trio while teaching and I love mis companeras! I love my 2 teachers and our 2 companionships of guys in our Distrito Jeremias! The gospel is a beautiful thing and such a great blessing to have.

Distrito Jeremias
My district! E Roth, Cox, High, Ang, Hna Brady, me!, Kleinman

Friday, February 20, 2015 -- Day #4 Guatemala MTC

3:47 pm
We need to write a 5 min talk and prepare a 10 min lesson as a companionship for every Sunday, in addition to our daily lessons for investigators and language study and everything else.

We had pancakes in our breakfast food, and it was too sweet! Weird how your palate changes....the breakfasts here are more substantial, almost like a lunch. We also had pasta with alfredo or some white sauce for dinner last night, and I didn't like it as much as I usually do at home. American food is strange now! It will be interesting to adjust back when I come home, I like the food here a lot.

And the fences are covered with what I think are morning glory plants, the flowers are huge and very beautiful, dark purpley-blue and purpley-pink, almost as big as my hand? Very nice.

Thursday, February 19, 2015 -- Day #3 Guatemala MTC

9:37 pm
So today was like having a fire-hose aimed at me, or being in a giant wave pool 20 feet deep and being expected to swim! Crazy! But it was good.

The food here is amazing, there's a little sweet pastry or something with each meal, and it is so good, our only sugar all day and it is so sweet!

We sit by the latinas at mealtimes, and we each try to speak to each other in the other's languages, it's hard! They are here for 2 weeks, we are here for 6 weeks. We are growing closer together as a companionship and have strengthened each other and helped each other become better people already.  During one of our meetings, we watched a video and it talked about how we need to know our investigators as people, and children of God. There was a quote somewhere along the lines of: "God sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming."

God has faith in us! I hadn't thought of that before. We are also learning to pray in Spanish today, it is hard. I also bought a set of scripture cases for my escrituras en espanol, they are so colorful and beautiful! They took our cameras (will be returned when we leave CCM) so I will have to send pictures sometime after I leave, but Guatemala is a beautiful place, although the streets are absolutely crazy!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015 -- Day #1 Flight to Guatemala

2/18/15 (technically) 2:42 am
So, this is gonna be a very long flight to Guatemala, but at least I'm on it now. I am so totally exhausted, I'm gonna write this stuff down and go to sleep!

Everyone feels like it's just past midnight, but I'm still on Texas time (same zone as in Honduras and Guatemala) so I'm having a hard time, dozed off in the airport waiting for my flight. They just gave us little ham and cheese sandwiches and a brownie on the plane, which was nice, I was starting to get really hungry (haven't eaten since pizza time). Turns out that little lost looking guy was an Elder, another one came running by like 5 min before boarding to go to Los Angeles--they both look so young!

In LA there was a group of like 10 Elders and 5 sisters that descended upon me, taking all these group pictures and wanting to talk... I was too tired to deal with it all so I gave some quick answers and fell asleep on a chair. Finally got on the plane and had to fill out an immigration form that I didn't know what to do with, I did as much as I could, I'll try to figure it out in the morning when we land.

They also gave us bright red Delta blankets, which was nice, gonna try to sleep with that, I'll use my snowflake one when I wake up cold. Onward and upward, my friends!

9:22 am
Alright, that was rough. Slept fitfully for all that time, could not for the life of me get very comfortable, was blessed because I sat next to a sweet Guatemalan man. Turns out he didn't speak English, and I didn't really speak Spanish. He scooted over to the window seat and I curled up kinda on the aisle and middle seats.

Flying over Guatemala

Landing at Guatemala Airport

In our bus to the Guatemala MTC

Finally made it to Guatemala, we flew in just as the sun was rising, there's a huge volcano nearby and the land is very mountainous. The houses and buildings are square and colorful, like the pictures. The people here are a lot more Aztec-looking than the Mexicans back home, hard eyes, but kind faces. In LA I met up with 9 Elders and 6 other Hermanas, I'm rooming with Hermanas Kleinman and Brady and they are amazing!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015 -- Day #1 San Antonio to Guatemala

4:58 pm
Well, I got safely to the Salt Lake Airport! I'm waiting my 5 hour layover, will depart for Los Angeles at 9:56 pm, if all goes well. Eating some late lunch, trying out my new AlphaSmart keyboard (thanks for the Christmas present, Dad!). I found a pizza place near my gate and got a personal pepperoni pizza and a milk, also bought a water bottle for the flight. Pretty delicious.

The goodbye at the airport was somewhat tearful, I'm gonna miss my family, they are so awesome! But this is gonna be a super awesome experience and I am so excited! I feel all "missionary-ish" in my button-down shirt and skirt, hiking around in my flats and backpack. Super stylish, I know! But they're pretty comfy so far--my watch is still taking some getting used to.

I'm glad they let my AlphaSmart through security, that was the easiest run through I've ever had, I think. Slip shoes off, backpack in bin, walk through and strike a pose, hold for 3 sec, walk off with my stuff. Sweet. Hopefully everything else goes smoothly, today is not really a good day for my flights to get messed up! My flight from San Antonio to Salt Lake was good, I will say that 3 hours seems like so long when you aren't doing anything but sitting. I didn't bring my phone or any books or other activities because I'm a missionary now. The guy I sat next to was the definition of a hipster male: shades, brown felt hat, soft, off-white t-shirt, very short, dark hair with a fabulously full, 9" long beard, skinny jeans, and brown leather boots. Looking good! He was listening to some music with earbuds, with the volume so loud I could hear the bass and percussion, interesting effect for the entire flight. Oh, and also reading some document on his Apple computer about becoming successful and using positive affirmations or something along those lines. Overall, a pretty swell guy.

Hopped off the airplane and made my way over to where I'm at now, a mighty good little walk, I think, popped in B terminal, hiked over to C, finding a phone to call Momma to let her know I got there alright and then went to find some food. Also saw a guy with his mom that looked missionary-ish, heading the other way from where I was going, so we'll see if I find any buddies while I'm here, still got a while until my flight. So that's where I'm at now. Taylor Swift is playing and I'm eating a pizza. I'll check back in a little while before my flight leaves. 
P.S.  The AlphaSmart doesn't have a delete key, and the send button is where it would be situated, so I keep hitting it by accident.

P.P.S.  My kangaroo pouch is fantastic, just FYI, nice little pocket thingy, very comfortable to have on ya, I put mine in the small of my back. It's especially helpful considering my skirts don't have pockets.

P.P.P.S.  I wonder how much text this can hold! Haha!

7:45 pm  Well, I'm still here waiting. A lost, younger-looking guy wandered into the waiting area for my gate in a suit, perhaps he's a missionary? Looked kinda dazed and confused.  I've also developed a headache, took a Tylenol and drank some water. I hate headaches.