Email 25 December 2011

Note from Mom – Posted two weeks (running behind in my life) and David took pictures of his 12 days of Christmas and even though he was nine days behind when he finally got his box (which we mailed at the 1st of November) he changed his tie for each picture for me.

Beautiful Peoples,
A late Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope it was a good one for all of you... I heard about some of it yesterday in the phone call. It was really nice to hear everyone's voices and enjoy what company I could of each of you. Just one more phone with you guys before this whole shin-dig ends. We'll see how fast it comes...
Christmas was great on my end. The entire week was fun actually!
Thursday we had our big "Mission Conference" (should just be called "Mission Party", but no...). It was awesome just to be with everyone... With Pte. Bautista we don’t get together as an entire mission ever, so it was quite the event. I got to see all my little buddies. Shaw being the most important in that regard... Love the kid.
We just had a little fireside type thing to start us off. Pte and his wife talked, along with a new Senior couple here. It was pretty cool.
For lunch we had lasagna (I think that is how you spell it) and Frutadas :), which is my favorite drink from Huehue if you remember. I did get the package as I mentioned yesterday. It was really nice of you all. I enjoyed every little bit and so did my comp, so thank you very much.
Saturday was a lot of fun too because we spent the entire day as a Zone basically. We played basketball...Made mashed potatoes. Bought fried chicken. Drank chocolate milk. At night time I watched all the fireworks... So legit.
So amazing. One thing I definitely will miss about Guate. Christmas fireworks......so great. Ate a ton of Guatemalan food too to celebrate.
Visited with members a little. It was a great little night. I was really tired for church though.
The week was really good. A lady even tried to make me some fettuccini alfredo, but with ham. It was actually really good. I told her it was my favorite, so she gave a try at making it. Nice family and lady haha.
Anyways, hope all is well. I miss you all sooo much! Glad Christmas was good... Now let's just hope the New Year is good :) Take care and enjoy yourselves. You are the best. Thanks for everything! Love you guys.
Love,
Elder Bitner!

Elder Callejas

Email 19 December 2011

Hello there my loves,
Wow... I cannot believe we are already to the week of Christmas! Time just goes by without me even noticing nowadays. Pretty legit I guess. In just a few days will be on the phone with some of you. How exciting is that? Something I’m definitely looking forward too. The coolest thing about this Christmas is probably the fact that I’ll be home for next year's now :) My last Christmas in Guatemala... Then I can go back to what I consider normal traditions. Yay! Haha.
This past week has been a little better than the last. I still didn’t feel good until Friday... It was rough on me. Waking up every morning with nothing but pure pains throughout my entire body. Not the best time in the world to say the least. Luckily after a week of unpleasant trips to the bathroom, I feel better. It is a big relief.
One thing I have truly come to hate here is eggs. Not just eggs in general, but eggs Sunny-Side-Up... Those things are disgusting. I don’t know how anyone eats the yoke like that. Drives me crazy... I can’t even really get it down my throat anymore. I have to eat a ton of tortillas or bread and cover the eggs in hot sauce and ketchup if I want to enjoy it haha. Honestly though, that is probably my least favorite food in the world. It just doesn’t make sense to me how people like it like that!
I have yet again developed more love for our Bishop Elvis haha. We had lunch with him on Tuesday. He forgot to tell his wife that he signed up for us, so once again he drove over to McDonald's and picked up some of the "good" stuff. This time he actually asked what we wanted too. We were at his house a few nights this week actually. They have a little organ in their house that I have wanted to play since I saw it, so one of these past nights I finally asked if it worked. From there she gave me some Christmas music and let me play it for a while. Great fun haha. We ate with them again on Friday. That day they just gave us some delicious Tacos. I actually preferred it over McDonalds anyways haha. Supposedly we are going to have a nice meal with him at some point this week with the Sister missionaries from the ward next to us. Nice, nice family...
Friday night we had a legit activity. Our "Ceña Navideña" as a ward. Tons of people showed up... The whole thing was fun. So for part of the activity, we had fireworks :) Ones that shot up in the air though and were pretty. Not the stuff you can buy in Target nowadays. I was put in charge of lighting a few. Awesome... I love fireworks! That is one thing I will for sure miss about Christmas here. Ridiculous amounts of fireworks haha. One that my comp lit actually tipped over and started shooting at the crowd haha. May sound dangerous, but we handled it alright. It almost took out this like 15 year old kid. He had to jump pretty high to dodge it. It was quite amazing to be honest haha. I’ll always be safe though, so don’t worry about that!
Again, I can’t believe it is already Christmas. It is really exciting for me to be honest. I’m going to do my best to enjoy this week... I hope you are all able to enjoy it as well. Whatever it is you all do... I’ll be doing the same as always. Just walking around Guatemala! haha. Please be happy and help those around you be just as happy as you are. I love you all so very much and wish you all a very Merry Christmas :) Have a good one and take care! Until the phone call Sunday!
Love,
Elder Bitner!

Email 12 December 2011

Beloved Friends and Family,
Hi :) This past week has been a long one but a good one I’m happy to say. Hopefully all is going well for you guys back home...  My companion and I got sick again Saturday due to my lunch Friday. A piece of chicken, rice, tomatoes, and onions. Welcome to Guatemala.
Anyways, we celebrated "Dia Del Diablo" this past week. It is just the day where they burn piñatas that look like the devil? I don’t understand traditions here haha. We weren’t given permission to leave the house past six, so that kind of ruined that day for us. Had some fun playing Bancopoly though (the Guatemalan Monopoly). We also had an activity this past week with our Elder's Quorum. The one we were supposed to have the last week... Went well.
On Thursday we ate lunch with the same family we always eat lunch with...but this time there was a white guy there. Erick Black. Served here like a year ago... Came to say hi and be here for the dedication. Turns out to be from Ogden. Good friends with my old comp's (Elder Shaw's) family. It was pretty weird talking to him... Fun little moment of the week though I guess you could say.
My comp and I spent some good quality time cleaning up our house throughout the week. It was definitely needed. There are some very dirty Elders that have lived there. We actually turned one of our walls into a collage of pictures we had gathered from Liahonas and such. Sadly I forgot to take a picture of it, so that will have to wait till next week I’m afraid. We even put down "carpet" (took old blankets and put them on the ground haha) in one of the rooms. Pretty awesome haha. Missionaries get easily amused. It is sad...
This week I went on divisions. My district leader came to my area to be with Callejas and I went to his area (Chiquilaja) to be with his comp, Elder Alvarado. It was pretty fun I guess... Nothing too special. I got pizza with him because he was really hungry. That was the day I was starting to get sick, so eating was rather rough on me... When I woke up Saturday, I could barely move. Felt miserable.
Saturday was the Cultural Night here in Xela. Sad to say we weren’t given permission to go to it though... Typical right? Missionaries don’t get to do "fun" things. I heard it was pretty good. President Uchtdorf talked about it a lot in the Dedication... I still plan on watching it someday...
I was able to participate in the dedication. By that I mean I was able to see it in the church... Went to all 3 sessions. It was really cool. President Uchtdorf was hilarious in all of them. Mainly because he didn’t speak Spanish... He kept speaking English to everyone thinking they would understand. Oh it was great... They were really cool to see though. The temple is officially a temple now. The ward I’m in has their first session tomorrow. Pretty exciting for them.
Played another Zone in soccer today. Got a new jersey for it and everything... Pretty fun to be honest :) We won, which makes it even better!
Completed my 500th day on Friday. Haven’t missed a day in my journal. Doing good in that department... Write some things no one should probably read though haha.
Well, I hope things continue to go well. Christmas is getting close... Pretty crazy. Enjoy this week though. Miss you and love you all! Take care.
Love,
Elder Bitner

Zone after Soccer Game

Email 5 December 2011

Legit dog of one of our investigators

Hey there,
First off, Happy Birthday to Becky this week :) Hopefully you enjoy being 31! It is weird how much older than me you are... Anyways, hope everything else is going well back there. This week has been pretty good though. Lots of fun stuff. Well kind of haha.
It was a really good week though. We moved one of our investigators (Patricia) and her daughter in with a member. We actually taught her a little lesson yesterday after helping her carry some things to her house. Also helped the lady she moved in with paint her bathroom.
On Saturday we had a lunch appointment get cancelled on us... Our Bishop stood up to the plate and let us eat with him. His wife gave us a vegetable soup that had like rice, meat, and veges obviously. The Bishop called though and found out that was what we were eating and said it wasn’t good enough haha. So...he stopped by McDonalds on his way home and got us each a Big Mac meal. As we waited for him to get to the house, his wife gave us a bowl of chocolate ice cream. It was a really legit lunch though.... The Bishop's name is Elvis... haha. makes him even more cool. I love the guy.
I met a lady from Derek's mission. She is from Mission, TX. She was here visiting family. She actually knew the missionaries that died. She began to cry telling us about them... It was pretty sad to be honest. I didn’t get her name, but she did say Bitner sounded strangely familiar. I doubt he knows her though, or that she knows him. It was cool to talk with her though. Especially since she knew a tiny bit of English.
So we were teaching the Joseph Smith vision to a guy Saturday with Smack That by Akon in the background. It was pretty funny. I sure couldn’t focus haha. "Smack that all on the floor... Smack that give me some more..." haha. Oh the mission......
I did see the Christmas Devotional last night. That was pretty cool to see since last year I didn’t get to.
So I realized something... My first night in the mission when I stayed in the hotel, a couple Elders in the office came and got Elder Bergeson and I out of the hotel and took us to an activity of theirs. Turns out I’m in that same area. The church and that street is the same one... It was weird man that I can picture myself there for what seems like forever ago haha. Just a little random thing. I was in my area that I’m in now over a year ago...
Anyways, life is good... I’m enjoying myself and success looks likely, so I’m pretty excited. I hope all goes well for you guys. Have great weeks :) I love you all so very much. Take care.
Love,
Elder Bitner

Painting bathroom

Email 28 November 2011

Hello Folks,
So surprise! I’m not actually in Totonicapan like expected. Elder King lied to me about that... haha. I’m actually in Xela, aka Quetzaltenango. Strange right? I sure didn’t expect it. I’m in an area called El Prado with a kid named Elder Callejas. This is his 3rd change... He has just about 5 months. I’m his second companion. At least he speaks Spanish haha. He is from El Salvador, but not really... He moved to the states when he was 12. Has lived in Draper, Utah ever since. For that, he knows English as well haha. Not bad right? My new Zone is called El Bosque, which is also the name of the stake I’m in. It has been quite different being in Xela to be honest. Pure city, and my area is one of if not the smallest areas in Xela, if not the mission.
Thus far I have enjoyed it though. The assistance yesterday was 112. Not bad compared to Cunen... We live in a legit house. It has a freaking water heater... I haven’t seen one of those in who knows how long. You can see the temple from my area. It may be a ways away, but it is still quite the sight at night :) The craziest part is the work. This past week has just about killed me. Walking so much... Doing so many things... It is ridiculous. My first day (last Tuesday) I walked 15.7 miles. Wow it killed me. Being in Xela means a lot more with the temple. We got many references everyday from people going to the temple. At night, our leaders would give us a new list and we would have to contact them the next day. We have gotten quite a few investigators from that...
The temple really has impacted the mission, especially here in Xela. For the two week open house, the goal was to have 80,000 people pass through. By the end of it all, 126,000 people had gone through. Crazy stuff. I was able to go again Thursday (Thanksgiving) and Saturday (the last day). Saturday was insane... So many people. Such long lines. It was remarkable in my mind. I even saw a kid from my CCM district that went to the Coast mission. That was really cool to see him. Elder Lechtenberg is his name... We had a nice time catching up and what not haha. Everyone I have talked to has loved it. They all think it is beautiful. They all just say "Les felcito", which I congratulate you guys haha. Random thing to say, but hey! At least people are noticing it.
So for Thanksgiving....... I did absolutely nothing. No turkey. No stuffing. No mashed potatoes. Nothing... I did get to go to the temple, so that made up for it quite a bit. A lady in our ward told me that I need to eat 2 meals next year to make up for. She lived in the states for a total of 30 years, so she not only speaks English, but also understands how things work there. I like her haha. I forgot it even was Thanksgiving until like midday. It took me by surprise. The only down fall of the day was losing my suit clip on nametag from the MTC. Oh well though... Next year's will be better :)
This past week I finished the New Testament. I love it...
The ward I’m in is really cool. I have already made pretty good friends with the people. I even went on divisions with this 16 year old in the temple Thursday. That was a lot of fun for me haha. We get lunches every day, and everyone is rather rich, so they are usually nice lunches. My companion has been telling me that even sometimes we get steaks, but we'll have to see how those actually are haha. I’m liking it for now. It really is kicking my butt though. Haven’t worked so much in some time now. So much to do for just about the first time in my mission. Maybe I’ll actually see some success in this area. You just never know...
Today I have 16 months. Another one down...just 8 more to go. Time is flying by as always. The mission is good for now. Life is good. Hope all is going well back home! I miss you guys so much. I hope Becky is hanging in there alright. I love you Becky :) Take care everyone. Love you all!
Love,
Elder db

Temple from David's area

Elder Lechtenberg

Email 21 November 2011

Hi guys,
So I read an email from Becky today. As you can imagine, I’m a little shocked. Pretty sad too... Hopefully things work out for the best. Not going to lie, I didn’t really expect that today.
Anyways, about the week... It was actually pretty good. I’ve been really happy with it. It was my last week here in Quiche though. I have changes tomorrow morning. I’ll be going to Toto as expected. My companion will be Elder Ramirez from Peru. I’m pretty excited about the whole thing. I actually get along with Ramirez pretty well. I have heard mixed opinions on the actual area. A guy in my Zone right now actually was there a few months back so he has been giving me a lot of info on it. But yeah, I’ll be there tomorrow! I get to know another big place in the mission :) A guy from my Zone right now that was training with me is actually going to be my Zone Leader too, so we are both pretty excited about that haha.
This past week we did quite a bit of things. We went and visited this one family as we were waiting for the mom to get home; my companion and I had a dodge ball fight with the daughters haha. Except, we used flowers instead of balls. It was legit. It was the most fun I have had with a member family in a while. It was actually the same family I wrote about before. The ones that lived with no power and she told me she was happy because she was poor. You guys might remember, but maybe not... I love them though.
I went to Chichicastenango this past week to try and find some recent converts that hadn’t been ordained to the priesthood. Turned out they were busy though... Luckily Chichi is the second biggest market in Guatemala, so I bought a few things. Dropped some money, if you know what I mean. Mainly just bought things for you guys...but I did buy myself a Mayan chess set. Handmade and everything. I’m just hoping it doesn’t break in my suitcase over these next months.
So the highlight of my week was Saturday. The trip to the temple. We woke up at 4:30 to meet up with everyone in Central Park at 5. We left around 5:30 and got there a little before 8. I did the 2 hour bus ride standing up too.... Killed me basically. I was already tired because I only got 4 hours of sleep due to me preparing pictures for the Cunen members. I actually did get to see all the Cunen people :) That was really awesome. It was hard to say bye again though... They were all pretty excited to see me. They even gave Denison and me 2 breakfast meal thingies haha. It was legit. Anyways, before entering the temple they showed us a movie. We did it by groups... The movie was just about temples in general and the church growth specifically in Quetzaltenango. It was pretty cool. I want a copy of it... After the movie some kids put the little white booties on (barely fit the gringos feet), and then we entered :) It is beautiful.... Soooo beautiful. I was amazed. The baptismal font is by far the prettiest one in the church. I can’t even describe it to be honest. From the pictures I thought the Celestial room was going to be kind of ugly, but wow... That blew me away too. The paintings in the temple are amazing. Especially the two in the font. They are ginormous. It is straight ridiculous. I really just want to go back to be honest... It was an amazing place to be. I really miss temples. I haven’t been to one in some 14 months. Hopefully that changes here soon haha. Right as we were about to leave guess who showed up... Cuque! It was awesome haha. I love that guy. We ended up talking for quite some time. The temple really was amazing though. I still can’t believe how beautiful it is. That font.... Wow. We actually had a lady here in Quiche tell us that the temple was "too nice", that it needs to be more "humble because Christ was born in a manger". She made me mad... haha.
[See more Temple pictures at: Quetzaltenango Temple Open House ]
Yesterday during church there was a general broadcast throughout all of Guatemala from Salt Lake. Some special conference... Elder Clark of the Seventy spoke (he was the guy that always came and talked to our mission). Elder Holland as well. And even President Uchtdorf. Something that I didn’t expect was Holland speaking Spanish. He only started and ended in Spanish. He did his actual talk in English because he said his Spanish was horrible and terrible. Everyone laughed when he said that haha. His Spanish definitely wasn’t great, but I didn’t even know he kind of could speak. Really cool to hear him speak it. They all just talked about the blessings of the temple and such. Trying to get people to prepare themselves to enter. It was pretty neat. After church, I had a jam session with the other Elder here. He played violin and I played the piano. It was awesome... He could just listen to what I played and then just improvise something. So cool... haha.
But yeah... That was my week. It was a good one! I’ll let you guys know more about Toto next week. Hope things end up fine with Becky and hope all else continues to go well. I love you all sooo much. Take care and smile :) Have great weeks.
Love,
Elder Bitner

Email 14 November 2011

Mario Anibal Avila Cortes

Hi,
So this past week has been interesting. It was a lot better than I imagined to be honest. Things are good though and life is good.
I ended up staying here in Quiche with my Zone Leader. I’m just his companion though... I’m not a ZL haha, so don’t assume that. I’ll most likely leave next week (at changes), but to be honest I really don’t want to. I love Quiche. Especially here in Santa Cruz where I am. Anyways, my companion right now is Elder Denison. He is from Dallas, Texas. Legit kid. Good missionary.
It was a good first few days here because we had a baptism. A guy I found with Elder King a while back in fact. This past week we taught him a couple times and baptized him Saturday. Mario Anibal Avila Cortes is his name. 33 years old... He has changed so much since the first time I met him. He lost his dad a few weeks ago now, which is sad, but at least he has the gospel in his life now. He was the brother of a less active lady, but now he, she, and her kids are all active again :) Pretty cool to be honest. Denison did the baptism and we both stood in the circle to confirm him. It was a really neat experience considering the fact that Cunen had almost no success. We might even have a baptism this week if things work out to our favor. We can only hope...
After the baptism Saturday, we had a big activity with the branch here (FYI, branch has an average attendance of 120). It went really well. It was "La Fería de la Vida". We just had a bunch of games for people to play basically. There were 6 "worldly" games and 2 "spiritual" ones. The worldly games consisted of Frisbee golf, freethrow shots, beer pong toss (my idea), bean bag throw, potato sack race, and a target shooting thing (a member constructed some weird thing that would spin a light bulb and person playing would have to try and shoot the light bulb with a nut and a sling shot). The spiritual ones were a reference game, where people had to give us names and info for people to visit and teach. The more info, the more tickets... The other was the art game, where we would show a picture and they would have to describe to us the story shown in the picture. At the start of the activity we gave everyone five tickets. With each ticket they could play a "worldly" game to win candy or something else. When they ran out of tickets, they would have to come play the spiritual games to win more tickets if they wanted to keep playing the games. At the end of the activity, all the lights were turned off...aka the world "ended". From there each person had to receive their "final judgment". If they had more than 25 tickets they got into the celestial kingdom. About one person got in I think... If they had more 15 they received their place in the terrestrial kingdom. Maybe about 6 people made it there. With less than 15 they entered into the telestial kingdom, where more than 20 people were at least. It worked out really well. The message was well understood, so that was good. I really liked that activity though haha. No one expected the ending like that. They just thought they were going to be playing all night... I love surprises when they aren’t for me haha.
So another benefit about being here in Quiche is that the Zonies' house is legit. Gas stove....Microwave...Blender... Biggest thing for me is the huge fridge haha. The house is really close to the grocery store, so I can buy legit-ish milk now :) Big ol' galloners haha. It is way delicious. I forgot how much I love milk. I might go kind of crazy on it this week, since I’m supposed to have changes next week and no other house has such a fridge haha. I’m really trying to enjoy it while I can though.
Well, the temple is open officially. Haven’t been able to go yet... Looks like I’ll be going this Saturday though with all the branches here in Quiche, including Cunen :) I really hope it all works out... We just have to find a bunch of nonmembers to take, which is our main focus this week...finding people to go to see the temple. I really hope I’m able to go. I’ve seen pictures of the inside, and it looks beautiful. It has a lot of Mayan stuff in it supposedly too. I can’t wait to see it.
Anyways, that was my week. All is well as always. Can’t complain about anything really. Actually...living out of a suitcase it kind of annoying, but it's all good. I love life. I love all of you.
Have a great week. Smile big :)
Assume the good... Doubt the bad...
Love,
Elder Bitner

From Roof of Zonies house

Our Zone before our change 

Christmas tree! Big ol' thing in the Central Park. Reminds me of Anthem.

Email 8 November 2011

Hey,

So as you realized, I didn’t get on yesterday. (Note from Mom: When I didn’t hear from him I got on the internet and searched Guatemala and saw that they were electing their President and fired off an email asking if they had been locked in because of the election - it was a close election.) They changed our P-Day to today... And yes it was because of the elections. Sunday we weren’t allowed to even leave the house. Yesterday they just didn’t want us traveling for various reasons. Mainly just in case there was protesting or something. But today I’m in Quiche and all is fine government wise.
I have some pretty big news this week... Yesterday I got a phone call from Elder Lewis, the assistant, telling me and my comp that we had changes. Nice right? They are closing Cunen for the time being... My comp will be going to Xela to be with the old assistant because Elder King (my La Viña buddy) is now the new assistant. I will be going to Totonicapan supposedly. They are supposed to put me in a trio there until changes, but my Zone Leader is in a trio right now too, so we are going to try and work something out so I can just stay with him these next 2 weeks until actual changes. Yesterday we spent the entire day saying bye to the members. I guess I never realized how much I love Cunen. Last night as this little 5 year old girl gave me a hug goodbye, I cried for the first time on my mission. I was so sad... She caught us leaving the church this morning and ran up to give me one last hug....I almost lost it again. That place will always be special to me. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone.
Anyways, about the rest of the week... We had Dia de Los Santos. That was a pointless day. Every single person in Guatemala basically just spent the entire day in the cemetery. We didn’t get a whole lot done, then again not a whole lot was done ever in Cunen, and for that they are closing it. It did happen to be Mom's birthday though. Happy birthday again mother :) Westenskow's mom's birthday was the 31st actually, so we went and celebrated, Tuesday for lunch. We went and ate at the only restaurant in Cunen. Surprisingly it was pretty good! I was a little hesitant with the bacon bit on my chicken, but I still haven’t gotten sick so high five :) That day we did visit Alvaro the "Bible Basher". He is a lost cause... We didn’t plan on visiting him ever again for various reasons, and now we definitely won’t have to. Still can’t believe I’m not going back there... Doesn’t feel real.
Wednesday we had our Zone Meeting. On the way back to Cunen from that we ended up riding the bus with 8 white people... 3 were girls from Israel. They spoke Hebrew and English. That was rather strange... 2 were a couple of guys from England and Belgium. And the other 3 were 2 guys and a girl from Australia. It was so weird haha. I talked to the British guy and one of the Australians a lot though. They were hilarious. They just asked me a lot of questions about the life as a missionary. As you can imagine, they weren’t the biggest supporters...but we did have a nice little talk. The British guy said a lot of funny thing actually haha.
But yeah, that has been my week. Not much else to even mention because I’m not going to be in Cunen anymore. A new adventure awaits me... We'll see if I end up in Toto tomorrow. You guys won’t know till next week. I’m really hoping I can just stay here for two weeks because I don’t want to be in a Trio, but we will see.
I hope all is going well back home. I miss everyone dearly. I love you guys :) Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Bitner
PS- Otto Perez won President here. I was rooting for him... He is a very intense guy. It is going to be interesting to see what happens!

Email 31 October 2011

Cunen

Hey peoples,
Things are still going well still. Today is Halloween... No one here really celebrates it for those of you that have forgotten. Tomorrow is a Holiday though... "Dia de Los Santos". It is kind of like a Memorial Day in America. Everyone just goes to the cemetery and visits deceased loved ones... Tomorrow is also Mom's Birthday. Happy Birthday mom! Hope you enjoy being 54... I’ll be home to see you become a senior citizen at least haha. That will be funny... Anyways, on to the good stuff.....
Last P-Day after internet, we managed to get our hands on the board game Clue! We played it for a good while. I almost won... Didn’t though. I forgot how much I liked that game haha. That night we actually played spoons too for a family home evening. That was a lot of fun haha. Related it to Faith, Repentance, Baptism/Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. It was a fun little event haha.
I hit 15 months this past week... I’m in the single digit club now. Weird to think about. It just keeps flying by!
Wednesday I went on divisions with Elder King. That was a lot of fun... We met him and his comp in a little place between Cunen and Quiche called Sacapulas. From there King and I rode on the top of a microbus back to Cunen sitting on top of boxes, holding on to little bits of string. It was a scary at parts... Especially because we were above the clouds most of the drive. Good times... He and I did a few visits that night when we got back. I really like working with him... We are able to have a lot of fun with people because his Spanish is legit. It isn’t fair. The whole purpose of the divisions was to go contact a reference we received in this far away place that missionaries haven’t been too. It is a small little city called Chajul, and it is about 2 hours north of Cunen. It was awesome... Thursday morning we left Cunen. Traveled through Nebaj and then kept on going to Chajul. The drive was sooo beautiful... Tons of huge mountains for many miles... Just covered in trees... It was sooo green haha. Nice change from the dirt of Arizona. We got to Chajul and went to the central park. There the reference met us. His name is William and he is 16. He walked us back to his house so we could visit with him. On the way there he said that his family was preparing lunch for us haha. Pretty legit reference if you ask me. Once we got to his humble abode, we met his parents and 3 sisters. His dad began talking our ears off. Lovely man though. We found out that he was a pastor for an evangelical church for 20 years. He served missions for the church in Africa, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. He knew a lot of stuff, so that made teaching a lot easier. We taught them about the Restoration. Left them 2 Books of Mormon and some pamphlets. They were pretty positive surprisingly... They then gave us lunch and sat there and watched us eat. I have a feeling they spent most of their food money on us that day. Very kind people... As we visited with them, we found out there were ruins in Chajul and Quetzales (the National Bird, which are very rare). I’m hoping to be able to go back there before I leave Cunen so I can try to find one of them haha. The visit went really well for us... Better than we imagined it would. I’m going to call them later today to see if they were able to read anything we left them. He told us he was looking for a new church where he could be some kind of leader. If we could get him baptized...the church up there would spread like crazy. This guy was legit... We can only hope though right? On the way back to Quiche, we stopped in Nebaj. I found a Dbacks shirt in a paca. Bought it for 60 American cents. The only problem is...it's an extra large haha. One of you guys will get it because it isn’t going to fit me...
Friday we had a big activity for our branch. We actually are going to have another this coming Saturday. Cunen is starting to do things! Miracles do happen once in a while... That Hilary Duff is a smart girl. Anyways, this activity we had was legit. A bunch of people just came to play soccer and to buy food. The branch is trying to raise some money, so they can go to the open house. Sadly, it isn’t working very effectively. At least they are trying though... That is what the activity Saturday is too. They are going to make Tacos and then have people come buy them for dinner. I’m really excited for it because the tacos in the country (Cunen specifically) are delicious. It is going to be a good day :)
I did get pouch this week. That was an exciting day. 2 packages! One from the family and one from a friend. Both were great packages... haha. My new backpack is with me right now. I like it for the most part. The pockets are semi-inconvenient, but it does the job. I’m not sure how much I like the blue factor of it. Just black would have been better, but whatever! haha. I’m happy with it. Thanks for the USB and what not. I was a little sad the memory cards didn’t have my pictures still. I was looking forward to seeing my pictures from Colo again. No biggie though... Rachel's little "surprise" was awesome haha. "Pancake Lover". I’m just glad no one understands that but me and her... The package from the friend had a bunch of candies and such. I was really happy about it too haha. You guys did forget peanut butter though... I would like that for Christmas if possible :)
Our shower broke this past week. It is only cold water now. We have to buy a new head... Hopefully we can get the mission to pay for it. We'll have to see I guess. If not, this is going to be a miserable couple weeks haha.
I gave a talk on Faith yesterday in Church. Fun stuff... haha. The Branch President called us Saturday night and asked us both to speak because he forgot to ask other people. Went alright I think... We had one of our investigators come for the first time yesterday, so that was neat for us :)
Something I forgot to mention about Halloween... Today I dressed up as President Monson. Wrote on a piece of paper and taped it over my plaque. Fun stuff haha. Missionary humor really sucks... haha.
Well, that has been my week. I think I have quite a few pìcs to send, so I better get on that. Again, I hope you have a very happy birthday mom! I love you all so much! Have great weeks.
Love,
Elder Bitner/David :)

Central Park in Chajul

Email 24 October 2011

Dearly Beloved,
Happy to say this past week has been a lot better than the previous. Didn’t throw up :) haha. Hopefully Rachel and Bobby enjoyed their anniversary. For some reason, I thought it was Becky's too. I’m getting confused on dates I guess. My bad... That is life a million miles away from home though. Anyways, about the week...
To start things off, I saw something quite interesting Tuesday afternoon when we got back to Cunen. There were a ton of people gathered in the park...so we wanted to see what was going on. We found out that a guy was being whipped. He was caught breaking in the graves of people and stealing all that was in them. The clothes people are buried are really expensive, so he was probably making some pretty good money doing it. But also, according to beliefs here you have to take money in your casket with you to buy things in heaven, so people sometimes put up to 3000 quetzales. He was caught though, and "Mayan Law" is a pretty hardcore thing in this country haha. Got to love it :) 60 whips for grave robbing. Could be better than jail?
We are teaching this guy named Andres and his wife and kids. He is actually the one we had the baptismal date with. That doesn’t exist anymore though... He isn’t married to his "wife", so that complicates the whole thing a lot. We taught them Wednesday night. Things went really well for the most part... At the end of everything he asked us to share with them something we did in our families that may have made us be so blessed in our lives. We began explaining little things that we each did in our families, so they could realize how important the families really are in our church. It was a cool little thing to be a part of. I think one day he will be baptized. I just don’t know if he will be able to before I leave the area. We shall see I suppose.
Wednesday morning we went to Uspantán. That was a fun little adventure. The people we visited actually have come to church two weeks in a row now, so that is progress! haha. We did a little "Paca" shopping... I found a legit Boston Red Sox hoodie. Something you would buy for 50 or 60 bucks in the states... I got it for 2 bucks basically. I love pacas..........
Friday we went to Xela for a "Training Seminar". That was fun I guess... They just talked about how to ask for references from member families. We have been learning a lot about that lately. Kinda weird haha. It was good to practice and see though. Sister Bautista gave us homemade carrot cake. It was delicious. I have started to like cake kinda in this country... Who would have thought that Guatemala would make a white boy like cake? haha. As we were just chatting around in the parking lot of the church, President Lorenzana showed up haha. He was dropping off his wife for some activity.
Saturday night we had an activity. We had it in another city though... 10 of us packed into the back of a member's little Toyota pickup haha. It was cold... The rain is going away, and the cold is coming. Not a bad trade off for now. Luckily for me, I love just about all types of weather. The activity went well. The guy didn’t have a message prepared... So that left it on who??? My companion :) hahaha. I obviously talked a lot too, but I let him lead the way. Worked fine. The lady did make doughnut holes for the refreshment though. Those were delicious haha. I was excited.
So I know this is a little shorter than normal. Not much to say though.. haha. This morning for P-Day we went and played a few little sports at the church. We had a competition to see who could throw the football the furthest. I won :) Hit a bus actually doing it haha. Pretty legit if you ask me...
Life is good though. Hope all is going well for you guys... I miss you all and love you all sooo very much! Have great weeks :)
Love,
David
or Elder Bitner

Riding on top of microbus - please be safe Elder

Email 17 October 2011

Beloved Family and Friends,
How are all ya? Hopefully well... This past week has been one of my worst to be honest. Probably the worst of my mission in fact. Things like that happen though... You’ll understand why by the end of this email haha. It has been rough, but here I am. Breathing and living. Couldn’t ask for more really.
I said bye to two more people this past week. I hate watching people go home. It is just not fair I guess you could say... haha. Once we were done using internet Monday, we went back to the Zone Leader's house and didn’t leave basically all day. We played "Scum", which is just a card game for those that don’t know. That has turned into our new P-Day thing. Gets intense... We had to go back to Cunen Monday night. That is what happens change week though!
So, we visited the "Bible Basher" on Tuesday... We didn’t have much to do, so we chose to do that. Since he came to church and such the past Sunday, we thought it was a good idea. Things actually went really well there. Got a lot accomplished with him. It went really well surprisingly. He asked us some questions, and we asked some as well since we did go to his church and everything. At the end of the visit he asked us to sing a hymn to close us out. We didn’t have our hymn books, but we did our best to remember a verse from "Nearer My God to Thee". After the prayer, he asked us if we would be willing to sing in his church on Sunday. We agreed to do so, if he came to our church again. We had it planned out and everything, but he didn’t show up in the end. It was sad... He came after church though haha. Said he was sorry he couldn’t make it and asked if we were going to be able to sing still. I straight up told him no. We have plans to go sing there this Sunday now though. Our plan is to sing Nearer My God to Thee in Spanish and then Joseph Smith's First Prayer in English. How legit would it be to sing about Joseph Smith in an evangelical church? It would be amazing... Hope it happens.
Wednesday, things started to get weird. There has been a hurricane passing through Guatemala. It has been weird to say the least haha. Just tons of rain....and I mean tons..... Throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, we received 6 phone calls changing the plans on us. Once it was to tell us that we had to go to Quiche. Another time it was to tell us we weren’t allowed to leave the house. Then it was that we could work, but not travel... The weirdest one was when they called and said we had to go buy food to last us a week and then not leave the house until further notice. 30 minutes later....they called and said we could work but not travel again. It was hectic. All the rain has definitely done a lot of damage. There are a lot of landslides from here to our area. We passed one point this morning where there was just a huge hole in the road. That was rather strange. It rained for a straight 14 hours at one point too. That was intense haha. Really cool though.
A visit Thursday is what ruined everything for me. We visited a less active member in a small little place outside of Cunen. She wasn’t there when we got there though, so we had to wait a good while. As we waited, her daughter that was visiting gave us a couple oranges to enjoy. They tasted good, but came back to haunt me the next day. Friday morning when we woke up, my companion was feeling terrible. After lunch though, I basically died haha. I had strong desires to throw up. From the period of 5:30 until 10:30, I threw up 14 times. It was not pleasant and it was not fun. It was the first time I have thrown up in over 2 years... Didn’t enjoy myself. Saturday I felt just as terrible. Luckily didn’t throw up, but was in no way able to move from my bed due to pain and just straight weakness haha. It was horrible.
I was able to participate in our Activity we had Saturday night though, so that was good. We had more people showed up to the activity than to church. Frustrated me a bit haha. We had 40 at the activity and 37 at church. 6 non members at the activity. 1 at church. Why is that? The activity went well though. Everyone enjoyed themselves. I was in charge of the game Do You Love Your Neighbor. All of them loved it haha. It was pretty funny to be a part of.
Yesterday after church I got my haircut. A guy in our branch saw that I wasn’t looking/feeling very well Saturday night, so he offered to cut my hair the next day. He blamed my sickness from having long-ish hair haha. I let him cut it, even though he has had no training cutting hair. It went pretty good I think. It feels like my favorite haircut of the mission surprisingly. I really do hate cutting my hair here. I’m excited for a Becky haircut one of these days haha.
That was basically my week. Friday and Saturday is what made me completely miserable. Ruined my week... Luckily I’m feeling better. I do not plan on eating an orange in this country ever again though, nor do I recommend it to anyone.
Hope all continues to go well. I really hope Lindsey gets better. I’ll definitely be thinking about her throughout this week. Keep me updated on what happens with all that. Hope you all enjoy yourself. Especially the service project Saturday... haha. Sounds fun. President Bautista won’t be coming to work with us till next week now if he does, so we'll see what happens with that.
Anyways, take care everyone! I miss you all and love you all sooo very much :)
Love,
Elder Bitner
PS-Tell Brian hi:) haha

Email 10 October 2011

Hey all,
How is everyone doing? Hopefully this past week has been rather good... and everyone is doing well. I really hope Grandma and Granddaddy continue to heal alright. At least they have both had the surgery now.
Anyways, this past week has been pretty good for me. Lots of things happened haha. Hopefully I’ll cover everything.
We'll start off with the most exciting thing though. On Saturday, we were getting our shoes shined in the park. The "Bible Basher" guy from a couple weeks ago was there. He actually came up and talked to us surprisingly haha. We made a deal with him there. We told him that if he came to our church, we would go to his. Sunday morning, he showed up... haha. It was quite the surprise for us. It was testimony meeting, so everything went rather well. He realized that just anyone was going up, so he asked me if he could go up. I didn’t want to, but something made me say yes. He made his way up there and shared a fable of some sort and then asked everyone if they had Bibles haha. He then read some really random scriptures (Psalms 101 and Matthew 24:40-41). It was really strange... I’m just glad he didn’t share the scripture about false prophets like he did with us haha. Because he actually came, we had to go to his church. An Evangelical Church.... "La Iglesia De Dios". It was interesting to say the least. Walking in was the weirdest thing for me. Greeting people of another faith, while I’m representing ours... Not normal. We were seated on the third row. I’ll just point out a few random things about the services. Every time they read, they stood up. They did everything in the "name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost." They prayed numerous times... Some of their prayers brought people down to their knees. Some brought their hands up high in the air. Everyone would pray at the same time... It was crazy. They clapped during all their songs... I joined in on some haha. They sang one song that was the exact same thing as "There is Sunshine In My Soul Today". That was pretty weird haha. They sang another song where the girl just kept singing to "shake hands and give hugs". The entire congregation walked around doing just that. It was like a primary for adults. It was kind of a cool experience though. Not something many missionaries do I assume. However, I was able to :) They actually even tried to "save" my comp at the end.
As for the rest of the week... Had a conference Tuesday. Got a package from Cuque there. Dr Pepper :) Awesome. Got two letters from Jenessa and Kaylene, and that was it. Hopefully I see your package here soon. The conference went well though. I was able to see and talk to Shaw :) That was legit.
Wednesday we had our Zone meeting. A couple Elder's last one in fact. We made them share how they were going to propose to their future wives haha. That was a funny moment. Our closing prayer, we all knelt and interlocked pinkies (slightly apostate). It was a lot of fun.
Wednesday night, a less active showed up to the church at like 10. He was drunk and wanted to talk... I think that is all he really needed. It was just weird hearing someone screaming Elders at 10 at night.
Ate some delicious Tacos Thursday for lunch. Our lunch lady is an amazing cook...
Saturday we did a very intense service project. Hauled dirt from a river to a house... It wasn’t a short walk haha. We had fun doing it with the family though. Skipped rocks... Did cartwheels... Played some other little games. I really like the people in Cunen... They are a lot of fun. Just not the strongest members I guess you could say haha.
Our Branch President and his wife invited us over for dinner Saturday night. That was a good time. Had rice, beans, and meat haha. Typical food I suppose. I’m excited to eat Mom's food someday. I could really use some chicken crescent rolls. They sound delicious.
That is basically my week. Probably skipped on some things, but I have to hurry today. We are going to the Ruins to play Frisbee and what not for the two Elder's last p-day. Don’t want to be the last one like usual haha. Hope all is well though. I miss you all sooo very much. Love you guys dearly :)
Love,
Elder Bitner!

Email 3 October 2011

Hey there everyone...
We had our weekly activity last week. That was rather fun :) A lady in the ward was supposed to be in charge of it all. We helped her and everything because she was pretty nervous about doing it. She ended up having a last minute meeting with the Community because she works in City Hall of Cunen. Therefore, she asked me to give her message. It was about a talk from last conference by Paul V. Johnson... It was about trials in general. It was a good one. The members participated a lot, so it was easy for me thankfully. Afterwards we put on a little "game". We blindfolded everyone with ties and then put marshmallows throughout the world. They then had to search them out while not being able to see. Then they took off the blindfolds and did the same thing... Just this time they could see. We related it to prophets, and how with prophets we know what is both good and bad. Without them, our vision is kind of blocked. We don’t know how to find the "blessings", or marshmallows, without them. It was a lot of fun. I also played tag with the little kids. I fell pretty hard and got grass all over me haha. It was nice. I really enjoyed that activity...
As some may have noticed, I hit my 14 month mark this past week. That was pretty exciting haha. I love moving up time wise. It is still going by really fast... I guess that is all I can really hope for! My companion bought me ice cream. That was nice of him. He hit his 3 month mark the next day. I bought him a doughnut haha. Seeing how much time he has makes me realize how much closer I really am to getting home. Weird...
It rained a butt load this past week. I can’t even describe how much... It was crazy. We worked in it though because it wasn’t going away, and we had the desire to try and accomplish something haha. The streets turned into rivers... I was walking through inches of water no matter where I tried to walk. On top of that I was carrying an axe haha. As we walked by everyone in the middle of the rain, holding an axe, people were staring. They were all underneath shelter to keep them from getting wet, but my comp and I were going straight down the road. Two big whites with an axe in pouring rain... I’m sure we scared some people.
Did a bunch more service as always... Improved my wood chopping skills. Enjoyed that dearly. The strange service we did was washing a dog. Not something you do very often... haha. We asked jokingly, but they took it seriously and accepted haha. It was fun. Made me miss Dodger a bit. Hopefully he is still hanging in there. While we were at that house washing the dog, I played with their parrot a bit. I was taking a video of it and it decided to attack me! It flew at my camera with its beak haha. It was awesome. I have it on video too, so that makes it even better haha.
Conference was a really good time as you guys have mentioned. It is something I love watching so much now... Luckily, the mission has truly taught me to enjoy it :) I drank Dr Pepper during it... Watched in English... Ate lots of candy and such.... It was a great time :) Saturday's afternoon session gave us here in Xela a nice surprise. Maybe you guys didn’t catch on, but President Uchtdorf will be the one coming to dedicate the temple. That is really exciting for me because he is my favorite haha. We all got super excited when we heard President Monson try to pronounce "Quetzaltenango" haha. On Sunday, after the morning session, we all went back to the Zonies' and made Nachos :) Tons... Salsa and beans as well haha. It was legit. Tasted soo good... I just wish I would have been home for it haha. 13 people from Cunen went to the morning session here in Quiche and that was it. Kind of sad how some people don’t have the privilege of watching it like we do back at home.
I really did enjoy conference though. I liked hearing everyone talk to us about certain things. They were all really good talks. Anyways, the week has been good. Hope all is well. I love you all so much! Miss you guys too... Have a great week :) Talk to ya next Monday.
Love,
Elder Bitner

Email 26 September 2011

Hey there :)
How is everyone doing? Lots of stuff has happened this past week... Bobby's surgery. Cole's first soccer game. New entertainment center. Legit stuff. Can’t wait to see some of it in the next 10 months haha. Especially Cole playing soccer.... I can’t even imagine it. Him in something organized? Doesn’t sound like him.
Anyways, things are going pretty well. Nothing too new or exciting has happened this past week. We found out that the guy we put our baptismal date with started drinking again. That is going to cause some problems... Who knows what will happen now. We weren’t even able to meet with him this past week. Part of the mission. Investigators fall...they just have to learn to pick themselves back up like Batman ;)
We went on a small adventure this last week. I promised my comp that I would show him the big waterfall, so we went to it haha. Wednesday afternoon we hiked out there. It was a lot harder than the last time I went. The paths were way overgrown... We got our clothes and persons very dirty. The river was a lot bigger too from all the rain, so that was pretty cool. After a while, we made it to the beautiful site. Being here in Guatemala has taught me to appreciate the world a lot more. Coming from a place where I see nothing but brown year round....and now only seeing green everywhere. A big change. One that is awesome to adapt to haha. Waterfalls? Can’t complain about that. While we were there though, I just sat there and stared at it. All sorts of things were running through my mind. It felt so good. I love nature :) On the hike back to Cunen it began to rain. That was unfortunate... A man accompanied us on the walk back though haha. It was pretty funny. We crossed paths and he was just like, "Let's walk together!" Had a nice conversation about Obama and Bush haha.
Mom, you would be proud to hear that I cleaned my bathroom this past week :) Being in the church, it is pretty nice and clean already, so luckily it wasn’t a difficult job. It looks really good. Did at least...
I have created a new hobby... Chopping wood :) I don’t know how or why, but it is something I just love doing now. A really poor lady that lives in front of the church got a bunch of wood this past week, so we have been helping her with it since she is single and such. Helped her a few days last week, but this week we will be helping her a lot more. Service is legit. Especially when it is service that makes you feel like a country cowboy guy haha. I can’t wait to chop again this week. I think I’m going to have to live somewhere where I have a need to chop wood haha. That might be a little too extreme though.

So last night we did something kind of fun. We had our branch president over for dinner. Him and his family. We fed ourselves and 7 others... Kind of crazy haha. Usually missionaries are getting dinner appointments, not making them. Bautista asked the Elders in Quiche to do it though, so we did. It went really well in fact. We just had breakfast burritos, toast, and lemonade (crystal light :) ). I also gave everyone a Reeses at the end for dinner haha. We showed them pictures of our family... Talked about how they met... Just had fun basically.
Cunen is a tough place though. It is really hard to find things to do sometimes... The church has been here some 40 years and the average assistance is like 40. That is one person a year basically. Not a very successful place obviously. I’m still loving it though. Coming from Colo made it easy for me to get used to this. They are basically the same to be honest... I love the mission though. I know I’m supposed to be where I am at.
I’m really excited for Conference weekend. We'll be coming down to Quiche to watch it... Staying the weekend here haha. It is like a 4 or 5 day vacation. Pretty intense haha. Conference is something you really learn to appreciate in the mission. This will be my third one :) President Bautista called me this morning... He said he is coming to Cunen the 20 of October to work with us...... Not sure what is going to happen there haha. I’m nervous but excited at the same time. Should be good. He plans really far in advance though haha.
Well, that was my week. Hope all is well with everyone back home. Bobby, feel better. Cole, kill some people in Soccer. Granddaddy, keep working on that knee. Grandma, good luck with that knee. Everyone else, keep smiling :) Find the good things around you.
I love you all so much! Miss you guys.
Love,
David :) aka Elder Bitner

Email 19 September 2011

Central Park in Cunen

Dear People,
Another week down... Time just flies by. I can’t get over that. It is one of those miracles in the mission. Time seems like nothing...
Well, about the week.
I started a new Monday night tradition. Zone Abs haha. Two other Elders and I do an intense ab workout together, while listening to EFY music haha. It is pretty hardcore. This past Monday after we did it, we came up with the idea to make a music video... We made one to a song from the Charly Soundtrack haha. It is hilarious. I’ll have to show some of you when I get home. We had a guy in our branch make it into a legit DVD and such. I’m pretty embarrassed by it, but proud at the same time...
Tuesday we had a "Zone Conference" with President Bautista in Xela. It was our Zone of Quiche and one other Zone in Xela. He talked about getting references and such like I explained last week, so nothing too new or exciting happened there. The lunch was good though. Each companionship shared a pizza and then Sister Bautista made chocolate cake, which was quite good. I like a lot of things I didn’t like before the mission now... Not sure how I feel about that to be honest haha. Guess who was there though at the meeting we had... My old Latino companion, Solorzano. It was really fun to see and talk with him and see how his family is and such. He told me he is going to ask President to have me as his last companion because he goes home in February. I don’t know if it will happen, but I wouldn’t mind. At the conference though they handed out mail. I got Brylee's Birthday Party invitation. Cute job with that :)
So this past week Guatemala celebrated their Independence Day! Celebrations outside of the states are way more legit and intense. Here, it is all day... Parades, drinking, games, dances, etc. It was kind of crazy. The night before we weren’t allowed to even go out because of the drunks and what not. The actual day they let us go out though... Who knows why. It was a very pointless day. We taught one lesson I think, so at least we had something to show for it haha.
We were cleaning the other day in the church... In our room is this bookshelf with all kinds of different reading material. As I was going through it, I found the 6 discussion booklets haha. That was pretty fun to look at.
That Bible Basher guy I talked about last week... We had another visit with him again on Friday. We talked about a bunch of different things again. The only thing he could really say though was that "another testament is not allowed." He brought up Job and the duty of Deacons trying to get at us. I have no idea what he was thinking...
We did have a cool experience with an investigator though. We have been teaching this guy named Andres... We have taught him 3 times now. Saturday was our third time with him. While we were there, he really opened up to us. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, so he could kind of understand that a little more. Towards the end of our teaching I felt the impression that we needed to invite him to be baptized, even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to for a while because he works every Sunday. I asked Westenskow to do it, since he had never done it before. He asked, and Andres accepted. We had to set the date for the 5 of November though because he won’t be able to assist until the last week of October. He seemed like he was serious about his answer, but from my experiences thus far a date put that far in advance doesn’t usually work out. The only thing we can do is have the faith and hope it will come to pass... Just got to keep visiting him and such. It was a very neat experience though :) Especially for my companion.
Yesterday, we spent the majority of the day visiting members asking for referrals. I’m not sure what will come of it, but one visit felt extra special. I don’t know if I have ever felt so good... I was just so happy. The family we were visiting was in tears... I was almost in tears... All from just a simple movie and scripture. The spirit is real and it is oh so powerful.
That was my week though! It was a good one... I can’t believe how fast each week is going nowadays. It amazes me. I’m very happy about it though ;) haha.
Hopefully all continues to go well with all of you back home! I miss you guys soo very much. I love you all :) Have great weeks! Smile big :)
Love,
Elder B.-aka DaViD:) ha

Fruit - no one knows the name of it - but it is good

A colored chick haha. Legit...