First week in the mission

La Tinta is about two hours from Coban

Date:  January 27, 2014
Area:  La Tinta, Guatemala
Companion:  Elder Aguero from Peru
Week 6

First off if you wish to send me mail you need to send it to the mission home and then they will forward it to me.  I forgot to bring the address with me to the interent face, but it shouldn't be too hard to find the address of the mission home somewhere.

I have been sent to La Tinta, it is northeast from Coban.  We rode a tourist bus to Coban from Guatemala City and then from Coban to La Tinta we rode a chicken bus, about a two hour ride.  I stayed Tuesday night in the zone leaders of Coban areas house and we woke up at two in the morning to get on the chicken bus to go to La Tinta, which was actually a pretty miserable time because of standing in the rain and carrying all my stuff around.  I know fully understand the need to go around lightly.  I know you can find it on a map.  It is pretty quaint here and there are lots of mountains around us.  All of which are covered in green.  My living area is pretty much a concrete room with a tin roof.  That makes it sounds worse than it actually is but that's pretty much the best I am able to explain it.

My home - My bed is the red.

It takes a long time for photo's to upload here so I'll only be sending a few.

The first thing I want to tell you guys is that here in La Tinta I have to speak two different languages.  First is Spanish of course and the second is a native language called Q'eq'chi, or Kekchi.  Not sure which spelling is correct.  My Book of Mormon says one way and my grammar book says another.  It is a great opportunity for me to learn two languages.

My new companion and Father, in the mission, is Elder Aguero.  He is from Peru and has been out for sixteen months, I think.

My desk

I'm working hard to learn the languages.  I only speak Spanish to Elder Aguero, as he doesn't know too much English.  Actually, he knows quite a bit, we just speak Spanish and we work on his English sometimes in study.

I've been learning how to be patient with myself as I know embark on a journey to learn two different languages.  We've had two lessons in Kekchi, I've only been learning it for three days so I understand nothing.  It is so cool to listen to and really I am striving to learn it.  We'll see where I'm at with it the next time I get to talk to you guys.  My Spanish is coming along.  I need to speak it constantly in and out of the apartment so I have a lot of practice now.

We walk pretty much everywhere and I seat a lot but I am staying hydrated.  We have a nice little store that we can buy pretty much whatever we need in the way of food and some other small items.

Hopefully I will be able to send more pictures in the future.  It takes a while for things to upload at the interent cafe.

We rode in the back of a truck to get to church on Sunday.  Church is the next town over right now as the church in La Tinta is being rebuilt.  The members here are awesome and really really kind.  I've had some wired drink, one called tortilla coffee, which isn't actually coffee but is a darkish color and I have no way to describe the taste of it.

There are still things I need to adjust to, but I'll get there.  I love all of you and I send you the best. Maybe you can find pictures of La Tinta online or something.  It's really something different from what I'm used to back home and even back in the CCM.

My last day in the CCM I received four letters.  One from the family, one from Grandma Mary, one from mom, and on from Amber.  So awesome!  I have also added my sticker to the plaque of history and I'll send a picture of it next week.

Thank you all for your support and you can be expecting more physical letters from me in time to come. Just remember that you need to send any mail to me through the mission home.

- Elder Norte

If you write Elder North it costs $1.10 to send a letter. You do not need any special stamps or envelope you can just use regular stamps equal to $1.10 or you can go into the post office and buy $1.10 stamps. You can also go to www.dearelder.com and send a letter for free.

Elder Jered North

Guatemala Cobán Mission

6a Avenida 2-36 zona 1

Cobán

Alta Verapaz

Guatemala

Pictures from the CCM

A giant relief map we got to see on one of
our outings at the CCM

Guatemala Temple a picture out the CCM window

Elder Oliviera from the CCM

Here is some more information about the Q'echi language Jered will be learning.  So excited about this opportunity he is having to learn not only one language but two.  Keep him in your prayers as he adjusts to pretty much everything new in his life.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/qeqchi.htm