Email 9 July 2012

Hey, Well... It is over. It really has come to that point. I just had my final interview with President and now I realize that I'm going to actually be home. I mean, it is really hard to believe still, but it amazes me. Amazes me big time. The interview was good though. Just talked to me about dating and finding the "Mrs Bitner" more than anything. It was kind of funny haha. Some things did happen this week, but I think it will be fun to talk about it in person rather than this, so I'm not going to say anything right now. 3 days though... Basically 2... It's done and I couldn't be happier. I look forward to Thursday so much. Thanks for all the support these past 2 years. It has been a good ride, but now it is time to start the real life. Hopefully I can start it and finish it good. I love you all. We'll see you on Thursday :) Love, Elder Bitner...for the last time.

Email 2 July 2012

Okay Guys, I’m starting to trip... I’m going to be home in just 10 days now. Doesn’t even feel real! Next week though, we will see that it is very, very real.
This past week has been weird because there have been a lot of white people here in Nahualá. There is a group from some university in the states. One of them is even a member...He came to our church yesterday and bore his testimony in Quiché. That was pretty cool. He is one of about 12 in that group and then there is the professor guy from BYU with his grandson. Tuesday morning we had a special meeting in Xela. We actually were able to do something for P-Day today. Got together at 8:30 to play soccer. My last time... Weird. Sad. But good at the same time :)
Right after that meeting, I went to the mission home to have an interview with President Bautista. I got my recommend renewed and am now ready for the temple on Tuesday. I’m very excited about that. It has been 20-something months since I last went to the temple. This one will feel real good. The first thing President asked me when I walked into his office was, "So have you decided on which career you are going to follow?" I forgot about that question... Now it is back on my mind again. He's right though, I do need to figure that one out soon.
That same day, I got the package too. Thanks for doing that again... The tie...is....nice. I’ll be wearing a different one though. The candy...awesome:) Thanks for that. Thursday I hit my 23 months, and I ate fish again. This time I took pictures (I ate fish for lunch today too. Didn’t like it as much.) It tasted pretty great. I just don’t like eating around all the bones that are inside the thing. It is kind of crazy how many there actually are in the fish they give us. I stabbed the inside of my mouth a good number of times haha.
My favorite day though was Saturday. We took an adventure. Went out to see some more waterfalls here... Our buddies that took us got lost a few times, but we eventually made it. We just had to make our own trails with machetes a lot haha. Plus trying to just climb up a mountainside is pretty hard. Especially when it is all mud due to rain. The waterfalls were awesome. They were like two twin waterfalls right next to each other. Prettiest ones I’ve seen in my mission. I was a big fan. Coming back, one of the buddies cut down some wood to take home. He carried it for a while but then couldn’t anymore because he had hurt his foot earlier in the week...so instead of waiting for him to rest I decided to just carry it for him. It was hard... I don’t know how they do it here, but they do. Even old women Grandma´s age do it. They tie it all up and then hang it off their heads putting more than necessary pressure on their necks. I walked over 2 miles with the thing. It felt like my head was going to fall off in all honesty. Worked out alright though because I was able to make it to their house with it. Didn’t have to rest or pass it on to someone else. I was proud of my weak little self haha.
Tripping out has been a big part of my week. Mainly about my homecoming talk and what I should bring home haha. This week will probably even be worst. We have made some fun plans with people though, so it should be a good last week. I’m looking forward to it :) Next week will be my last letter home... I can’t believe that my time has come to an end. It's over. It really is. I honestly didn’t think it would make me sad, but I’m starting to feel that "tristeza" come over me. Guatemala really has become a home to me, even though there are so many things I don’t like about it. I guess the things I like outweigh all of those ones. It has been a good experience for me, and I will never regret it.
Hope all of you are ready for me to come home. If not, you better prepare. Take care. Love you all, Elder David Bitner

Email 25 June 2012

Elder Baboza

Heyy Heyy Heyy,
Can you believe it? 17 more days until I see your beautiful faces again... It is driving me crazy how close it is. It just needs to be the day already. My 700th day in the mission is tomorrow. That will be a pretty cool feeling haha. I remember when I hit 100 days... I thought it was so cool. Felt like I had so much time here. Now with 700? I feel like I’ve been here an eternity. Well, I said goodbye to Elder Adams Tuesday morning. We left Nahualá to the highway to catch a bus...it just so happened that the bus we caught had 6 missionaries on it from Quiche haha. What are the odds? Two of them were my good buddies, so it was fun for me. Monday night Bergeson called me and told me who my new companion was because he saw it on the "Change Wall" in President Bautista's office during his last interview. So...I already knew who my new companion was before even getting to the terminal. That has been how it has been my whole mission though. I always know what is going to happen with me haha. My new companion is actually the "kid" of Bergeson. He trained him back when we were first starting... His name is Elder Barboza, and he is from Jaén, Peru. A cool kid. Now I can learn some more words in Spanish. We get a long great, so we are both happy. Not much time with the kid, but we're making the best of it.
With changes...the closed one of the areas in Nahualá. The area that Bergeson was in actually, Chirijox. We had to stop there with this guy to take all the stuff out of the house, so he could take it to another area...the house....was a mess. I have never seen something so dirty before. Needless to say, this week we are headed up there to clean what we can of it. Not going to be a fun task. We did find some cool stuff that Bergeson and his comp left behind though, so that was nice :) You guys remember how I used to make Pupusas all the time in Xela with the Sister Missionaries by us? Well, those same two Sisters are companions again in my District haha. They promised me that we would make them before I go home. I’ll have another chance to eat them by an actual girl from El Salvador.
On Thursday we had a conference with a couple Zones in Xela. Elder Amado, part of the Area Presidency, came to talk to us. His talk didn’t have a lot to do with missionary work. He talked about marriage more than anything I think. It was a cool conference. The only bad thing was waking up at 4:04 to get to Xela by 6:30 so the thing could start at 7:00. I was dying that day. I almost fell asleep a couple times. Felt like I was going on a Utah trip haha like back in the day when we would leave super early. Xela is not at all like Utah though. I’m officially the oldest in the mission. One of the next four to be going home. Pretty crazy. I, as well as everyone else, cannot believe that my day has come. Not going to lie, it is getting really hard now that it is so close. I’m still always happy so that is good. Tomorrow I have an interview with President Bautista to renew my recommend, so I’m sure he'll give me some words of advice on that.
Anyways, hope the move goes great. Enjoy the OK brother haha. I love you all so much :)
Love, Elder Bitner!

Early morning

David's Gym