Called to serve in the Guatemala Quetzaltenango mission

Monday, September 8, 2014

Hola from Xela!

Hola everyone!  This week so much stuff has happened, I am just going to jump right in to it.  Last Tuesday we left the CCM for Xela.  It was about a 6 hour drive in a little bus, but we made it there alright and they took us to a chapel to meet with the President.  They gave us some Pizza Hut, a little orientation, then we had interviews.  During my interview, President Smith asked me things about myself.  Hows the Spanish, do you have any fears, all that stuff.  Then we started talking about the outdoors and he asked if I liked the wilderness.  I told him yeah and that my friends and I went to Yellowstone for our Summer trip.  He smiled a little and wrote some things down and from that moment I knew I was going somewhere remote haha.  They introduced us to our comps and we quickly headed out for the buses. 
My companion is Elder Andy.  He's from Ecuador and doesn't speak English, so I've been using a lot of Spanish lately.  We hoped on a bus from Xela to San Francisco.  Let's just say that this San Fran isn't the same as the one you're thinking of haha.  We arrived at like 7, but it gets pitch dark here at 7.  There wasn't another bus going to my area that night, so we stayed the night with the zone leaders.  That night we preached for about two hours, which is really a lot of fun.  That night the missionaries wanted me to eat street food but I said no way!  It looks pretty good but you can tell it's not clean.  Long story short, the next morning we hoped aboard another bus and headed to San Bartolo, where we have district meetings.  My district leader, Elder Perry, is from Pleasant Grove!  That{s been really nice, he's a really great guy.  After our DM we had to get on another bus for about 45 minutes to our area, Chocqui.  Theres a pretty nice chapel there with our apartment in the back.  I have to say, it's a tough area.  Everyone speaks Quiche, with a little Spanish, there are no stores, and probably only 350 people in a 20 mile radius. I love hiking, which is good because we've done a lot, lot of that!  I've learned soooooo much in this past week.  The first day we hiked about an hour to a house of some really, really poor but soo sweet people.  This little girl came and hugged onto my pant leg, dirty as can be but super cute.  I asked here what here name was and she said Ashley.  I hope my comp didn't see me but I just started crying haha.  The people here are so humble.  

I've learned a lot this past week.  Apparently not many gringos have been in Chocqui, especially not new ones.  My leaders keep telling me it's probably because I'm meant to do something special here.  I'm learning so much patience and humility here.  There are really no people there, but I will still do my best to change this area for the better.  Oh, we actually cover three areas and this next week we have to hike 3 hours to Patalup with our stuff.  That'll be interesting!  I'm hanging in there and doing my best, that's all I can do.  I love all you guys, I promise the Church is true and we are so incredibly blessed.  Adios!

No comments:

Post a Comment