A P-day away from La Tinta

Five of my tags on, 2 Spanish, 2 Kekchi and 1 English.

Date:  March 10, 2014

Area:  La Tinta, Guatemala
Companion:  Elder Aguero from Peru
Week: 12

So, it´s earlier than when I usually write, by about six hours, so in truth I didn´t have too many emails to read, probably because fellow missionaries that I replied to last week have not yet had the opportunity to write me back, kind of sucks because I will probably have to wait for another week to even reply to things. Oh well, life goes on and such.

Let´s start with some prominent happenings that have happened during this week, first off, changes went into effect Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

Landlord fixing the leak.

It rained a lot more than usual this week, enough that some water got into our house by dripping off a beam on the wall all the way to the floor, we
woke up to a great big puddle, my stuff is far against the wall so it didn´t get wet and I have a towel I use as a little carpet when I´m at home, so that helped protect my stuff, but some of Elder Aguero´s stuff got wet. It can rain hard here, I´m kind of excited to see how I handle the rainy season.

Some of the water from the leak.

Not too much more happened outside of regular lessons and such, investigators of note right now, Amairani, Maribel and Hector and a new one Stephanie. These are investigators in line for a baptism date and hopefully we can get them set.

 

Amairani is not set for any date anymore, she´s not reading and therefore I think that she´s not praying either so she´s not progressing as quickly, but I know if she does the steps she´ll get there.

 

A normal house with it's gate and fence of barbed wire and bushes

Maribel is a fine lady with two children with her ´spouse´ Julio, they´re not married, but we had an awesome lesson and she accepted the baptism date for the 12th of April, but we can´t count it until we get a marriage date. Maribel is praying and stuff and she is awesome, but with the question of marriage Julio is being hesitant for some reason.

 

Hector and Stephanie are a little younger than I am and both are smart and are on their way to baptism, not much to report but that.

Elder Glover with some chicks.

So, yeah, I´m not in La Tinta at the moment, we´re having this P-day in Cobán, it is quite a bit different from my little mountain town, more stuff, first off, there´s McDonald´s and stuff. It was the breakfast menu which was a bit of a bummer because I really wanted a cheeseburger, some beef, different then the chicken that is always in La Tinta.  It was still good.  Good living, a bit on the expensive side though.

 

To get to Cobán we wake up really early in the morning and take a bus thing, it wasn´t a chicken bus, so that´s why I´m emailing so early as well.

No mail this week, that´s a bummer, but the time soon cometh that I receive some. I know it. I can feel it.

To answer questions that I have been given.

I do not make pancakes that much, probably about once a week, and I didn´t make any this week.

Chapel in La Tinta that is under construction

Elder Aguero and I just clean stuff as needed, not much too it and home checks are not often and are usually done by the Sykes. They´re our doctors out here.

 

I do not know how far Téleman is.

In my district there are three English speakers, Elder Glover, Elder Perez and I.

We divide about once a week because Elder Aguero as District leader needs to conduct the baptismal interviews for the people in our district, things aren´t too much different with him as District Leader.

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Spiritual stuff, because I feel the need to share more spiritual things.

bvans we usually use to get to the other areas in Polochic

So, in one of our lessons we were talking about how God wants us to return to him with bodies and such, that´s pretty common knowledge for people in this church and some outside, but I say this to the parents who have missionaries out. Look how you feel about your missionaries and how you want them to experience all there is out on their mission, but you want them to return to you safely. Now reflect on the love of our heavenly father and reflect your feelings with his.

A lovely pair of coconuts

Another one. I have the fantastic opportunity to sweat a lot here. I don´t like it that much, Cobán is great because it is nice and cool here, anyway. I had a moment of reflection during sacrament thinking about the Atonement and how he bled from every pore. I know a bit better how that would look and feel like, but of course that experience is still way out of human comprehension. So I ask, have you thought about how great that sacrifice was for us? If not, take the time to study it and reflect on it and come to know the love he has for us.

Elder North and a coconut

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Thank you all for your support, letters, prayers and everything else you do for me and the other missionaries out in the field, it´s not easy, but as I like to say, we weren´t called to do something easy, but we weren´t called to do something too hard for us to do. Keep heads up, look forward, make plans and goals, strive to achieve them.

And read a couple scriptures while your at it.

--
Elder Norte 

 

 

 

We have a shower head but not enough water pressure so we let the bucket fill up and then take a bucket shower.  No we do not have hot water.  Not sure I will know what a hot shower is when I get back.

Our sink

Bathroom

 

 

Marshmallow man?

writing in his journal

At his desk

Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers.  Jered really appreciates it.  Please if you have time he would love to hear from you.  He doesn't get mail often and so when it does come he really appreciates it.  He enjoys hearing how things are going with everyone and getting to read his language as he is submersed in learning two others.  It costs $1.10 to send a letter to him.  That can be done with just a regular envelope and stamps to equal that amount.  Just a card saying your thinking about him would bring a tremendous smile to his face.  If you would rather type then please use the dear elder service.  It is free!!!  All you have to do is type a letter and hit submit and they will do the rest.  Just go to dearelder.com.

Elder Jered North

Guatemala Cobán Mission

6a Avenida 2-36 zona 1

Cobán

Alta Verapaz

Guatemala