How are all of you guys? Hopefully things are going like they usually do. For me, things are good. I’m really starting to get the hang of being in Guatemala. I think it has finally hit me that I’m in another country haha. Guess I just never wanted to really welcome the idea, but here I am and I know it! Being in a different country really helps the language come. I feel like I have gotten a pretty good grasp on the español. I still mess up and get frustrated, but it is improving quite well. Just got to work on all the different words! haha. I had a mess up this last week in fact that was pretty funny. We went to eat nachos in Ixta... The owner was talking with us. He asked us how we were, and I responded, "Bien pero estamos casados." There is a slight mixup there... I wanted to say the word "cansados", which means tired, but instead I said the word "married". I told the man that we were married. Cool right? haha. We fixed that one pretty fast though... Most of my dreams are actually in Spanish now. Blows my mind...
Monday night we celebrated the fourth of July. Bergie and I, along with a few other Elders, bought some fireworks. Went and lit them off at their house. It was awesome... haha. There was one we were a little sketched out about, so we let this old man do it for us. He was crazy with it though! He held it in his hand and just let it fly out of his hand. We all ran while he lit it and he stood there all nice and calm. People here are crazy when it comes to stuff like that.... It was a pretty good July 4th though. We made what we could of it.
Anyways, this past week has been good. When has one of my weeks not been good? haha. I’m way too positive out here. I did finally get to meet the new President. I was really worried to meet him at first because we found out one of our friends here was going home. We were thinking the guy was very strict, but it turned out to be the kid's choice. We had a conference with the new President on Tuesday. He turns out to be a very nice guy! I actually like him a lot so far haha. One thing we all had mistaken... We all thought his Spanish was going to be perfect... It sure isn’t even close really haha. He only learned it back when he was on his mission in Paraguay. Now he is trying to remember it. He knows some, but it just isn’t good haha. It is actually very funny to listen too because we can’t understand it the way he says it. He has lost any accent he might have had, and now he is trying to regain it all back. So yeah, he can speak a little bit, but that is it. His wife speaks absolutely nothing haha. One of the Sister missionaries translated for her.
On Wednesday, President Bautista actually came up here to Huehue to have interviews with each of us. They were only 10 minute interviews, but they were nice. I was one of the first to go since we live the furthest away, so we had no idea what was going to happen in it haha. Did it though, and it was great! Speaking in English just makes everything so much better. In the interview, we just talked about my mission thus far, my family, where I’m from, etc... He actually said that he just drove through Glendale recently. He went to some Mitsubishi Dealership. Pretty random... haha. He asked us to share with him one of our favorite scriptures we had recently. I shared D&C 101:36-37. Like it a lot... He is a very nice guy though. I like him a lot! Things seem like they are going to be quite fun still. He is pretty strict, but that is normal. I’m really excited to have him as my President. I have a good feeling that I’m going to enjoy it dearly :)
We had a couple bad days this past week. Bergie got pretty sick... It started Monday after we ate breakfast at McDonalds. He just had some bad crapping issues haha. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday it was just a little thing. Didn’t bother him... He was able to walk around and such. But then on Thursday.... Wow. It hit him hard. The whole day he was doing it every hour. We didn’t leave the house. We walked to the tienda below our house to get some drinks and snacks, but that was the only time we left. He was in major pain. Friday was a little better, but still not great. Morning we left and did some things, but when it came to the afternoon it got bad again. We had to go get him some pills and stuff from our friend's pharmacy. It was bad. We ended up going to Huehue Saturday actually to get him checked out. He had to poop in a little cup and stuff haha. It was pretty funny. When the lady gave us the results we thought everything was okay with him. Then she told us that he an infection in his intestines, which is exactly what I told him. We went and got a bunch of medication for him and stuff from a pharmacy. Called the mission nurses when we got home. They told him to not to take any of the pills they gave him if he wanted to save his insides haha. Luckily he is feeling a tad bit better. He is going to buy some Metamucil today, and supposedly that will help him more than the pills. We'll see what happens I guess. He is pushing forward though, so that is good...
One thing we started to enjoy was Mac and Cheese. The Kraft, blue box type. They had it at the place we buy food, so we loaded up on it. We bought 12 boxes of it.... We ate two of them Tuesday night, and we can’t even look at the other boxes. We feel like they might have made Bergie even sicker. We have been trying to sell the 10 we have left haha. We don’t know what to do with them... Velveeta is so much better in every way imaginable. Miss it.
I sang a drunken guy with a drunk on Friday night haha. It was great fun... Don’t Matter by Akon. It was crazy haha. He enjoyed it a whole bunch though. I’m really starting to get sick of drunks. So sick of them... It gets very old quick haha. They pet my hair too. I just want to punch them most of the time! We saw a big old quarrel in the street in front of our house the same night. A guy pushed another drunk very hard, and he fell to the ground and couldn’t get up. We thought he was dead, but he eventually got up and walked away. There were about 7 gun shots from the same group of people. Not sure what those were about, but it was sketchy. I love my area... haha.
Before we left to Huehue on Saturday, we were waiting for a truck to pass by... While we were waiting, this truck came speeding down the road. Crashed into a kid on a bike so hard. He attempted to brake, but way too late... The kid hit the street so hard. Scared me. I thought he was going to have broken bones and all that. The kid got up off the ground holding his head, speaking a lot of mam, and sat himself on the side of the road. Everyone got out of their cars to see if he was alright and such. We tried to talk to him and help him because we were right there next to him during the whole thing, but he wouldn’t talk to us. We ended up just walking away. It was pretty intense though...
I got a jersey from a guy here. Says Colo-Colo. It is the basketball for the team in Colo. The one I got is very old, but it is legit. It is like an American flag haha. Makes me laugh when I look at it. I’m going to wear it all the time at home haha.
So about my package home. I gave all the stuff to the guy... His plane leaves on Wednesday. My guess he will call you Thursday or something to try and meet up with you guys. He is very nice to be bringing it all. There is quite a bit... You should probably get him a gift certificate or something. He is going back to AZ to see his daughter get married. I don’t know how long he will be there, but he'll have time to take his wife out to eat I’m sure. He is a cool guy though. Speaks pretty good English, so you should be able to understand him :) I gave him the house number and both of your cell phones. So just be expecting a call sometime this week, alright :) Hopefully it all works out okay!
Ill tell you a little about yesterday... We were going to go to Ical for church, but a truck never passed. We decided to go to Colo for Sacrament and then head up to Ical for the last hour. At the Colo church there was a lady that had been coming with the ex-bishop and his wife for a few weeks. Our Bishop pulled us aside and asked us to talk to her for a little bit. We talked to her and set up an appointment to come by after we were done with our church duties. We showed up to the appointment and we began to talk with her... She told us she wants to be baptized on Saturday! So guess what... We have a baptism this Saturday if all goes well haha. She is like 80 years old though, so it is a bit strange. Never thought I would be baptizing a great grandma on my mission. She is a nice little old lady though, and I guess everyone does need their salvation one way or another. We had to go up to Ical to help a kid that just got his mission call. They sent the part where it says where you are going in English, so they didn’t understand a lot of it. I went and translated it all into Spanish haha. He is going to the Perú Lima East Mission the 6th of October. The kid is really poor, so I’m hoping he is able to get all he needs... Plus he doesn’t speak Spanish really, so it will be quite the adventure for him! haha. Oh! Also, at the Colo church I had a dog sleeping underneath my chair the entire time. Didn’t realize it until we got up to leave haha. Everyone wears cowboy hats to church too. I think they are confused on who exactly they are... Their people fought the cowboys, they weren’t the cowboys.
Last night our friend Diego bought Pizza for us haha. We went to his house to eat and talk with him. It was fun. Really nice guy. Just the pizza was strange. Had mushrooms, hamburger meat, hot dogs, ham, pepperoni, peppers, onions.... Very strange. I felt pretty sick after eating a couple slices.
Life is good. The Gospel is perfect. The people aren’t...but God does work in mysterious ways to make them willing to do what may seem impossible to us. He knows all. He loves all. And I love him. The earth is ready to harvest. Everyone grab a tractor and let's get to work haha. I’m just happy to finally have another baptism... I’m excited :) Hopefully everyone back at home manages to continue to be happy. I miss you all and love you all so very much! Until next week :)
Love,
Elder Bitner
Smile folks :) There is hope in everything we encounter.
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