Email 19 March 2012

All of Xela (Quetzaltenango)

Hi,
As you all know...my birthday is tomorrow. Thanks everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes! Has been a good p-day because all of them. I got a special email today :) I received an email from the mission asking about me going home. I said I would be flying into Sky Harbor. I hope that is still the name of it haha. I was really excited to fill that sheet out though!
Today has been a lot of fun. This morning we went to this place here in our zone called Baul. It is just a mountain that looks over all of Xela perfectly. It was an awesome view... Had some legit slides... Some cool things. We hired a pickup truck to drive us all up there, so that was intense. A good 18 of us... haha. So legit. Then we went to play soccer. It was a pretty fun day in that regard too. Then I ate McDonalds........not my favorite, but it was good I guess.
I’m not going to say all that is going to happen tomorrow because if I do, I’ll have nothing cool to write about next week... Got a good lunch planned though and a good dinner, so it should be enjoyable. Bergeson is going to the office right now to see if my packages are there, so we'll see if I get them. Hopefully at least one is there for me. I’ll find out shortly though.
Anyways, about the past week...
Started with a conference with President Bautista on Tuesday - It was a good one. They did give us lunch. Lasagna again... Still delicious though :) After the conference we ran by this place called Bake Shop on our way home because it is only open Tuesdays and Fridays, so if you are around it on one of those days...you have to go there haha. It is a bakery, equivalent to America, owned by the Amish. Who knows why they live here in Guatemala....but I’m very happy for their presence because they bake some good deliciousness :)
That same night I ran over to another area with Bergeson to help them out a bit. Coming back was a little hard because there weren’t any buses. Luckily we got the police to give us a ride back to where we were going. The police are really nice here... I swear they don’t do anything in their jobs haha. Good peeps though.
Officially had my first "Correlation" with our Ward Mission Leader since my first area. It was worth it though because we got some good planning out of it. For example, this Wednesday we have an activity planned to help us find some new people to teach. Made invitations for it and everything! So it is going down. That is, if they show up to it...
Had a nice long talk with a guy in our ward about his mission in Paraguay. It really is crazy how different every mission is... His President took them to Soccer games and all sorts of stuff.
Clean houses=love :) We cleaned our house yet again this past week... Everything feels so much better when everything is in order haha.
I did check out suits this past week. On Thursday I ordered one... I paid about a hundred dollars for the fabric to make it, and I’m paying another hundred dollars to make it. It is going to be nice though... It is going to be gray with white stripes, so you can take the one you guys bought back. I wouldn’t mind a solid blue one though. Only if you manage to find a slim. I like the sound of a slim one. I have enough money right now, but I do want a hard drive still. I think I found a 500 gig one for 100 bucks, so I might get that one. So put in some more money if you can. I might need it, but most likely not.
We did a few visits with one of my best friends in the ward, Guillermo. I was playing with this little 5 year old kid for a good amount of time. Reminded me of Cole... It was sad when I left. I miss playing with that little man.
I misplaced 500 Quetzales or someone took it... Have a good feeling I just hid it somewhere and now have no idea where I put it haha. Whoops!
Yesterday in church I did quite a few things. We were asked to bless the sacrament to start everything off... The talks were already set, but one guy didn’t show up because he was "sick", so both my companion and I gave little messages. I managed to make everyone laugh again with a joke about how much I cry haha. After sacrament, we had to cut out a bunch of invitations to hand out to everyone...then we had to find people to talk for a little girl's baptism this week. Then at lunch I was asked to say the prayer.
Life is good though. This week should be a good one... Might be my last week here in Xela. Changes are next Tuesday, so we shall see what happens with that. I’m hoping I stay where I’m at until I die though. I have a lot of good friends here and don’t want to leave them. Who knows...
Again, thanks for the birthday wishes! I may be in Guatemala, but it should be a good one like last year's. Thanks for everything guys. Miss you all!
With tons of amor,
Elder Bitner :)

I’m 21! Vegas???

Email 12 March 2012

Heyy buddies,
To start off, I would like to wish dad a late Happy Birthday! and also a happy anniversary to both mom and dad :) Hope you guys were able to enjoy the two big days this past week.
Wednesday was a big make up lunch... We ate barbeque chicken with a little salad :) It was delightful. Haven’t had chicken so good my entire mission. He told me they intentionally tried to make it like an American "churrasco". No lunch beat Friday's though... Dad's big 57th birthday. We ate with the Bishop, and the days we eat with him always excites me! Started with a soup with shreds of tortillas and lots of avocado (soo good), followed by a big ol' plate of deliciousness. Two baked potatoes (my first ones in 19 months), a nice piece of beef, bratwurst, and a little salad of mixed veggies. Oh it was awesome haha. Then when we finished they threw us a bowl of chocolate ice cream with sliced bananas and chocolate syrup. It was remarkably awesome. Love eating there... They always do it big and good.
I helped Bergeson and Cuellar make invitations to a wedding/baptism they had on Friday. The cool thing for me was that I was the one to start the teaching. The wife was a reference of an investigator that I’ve been teaching. Our investigator would bring her over to our lessons so we could teach the both of them. Turned out the wife (the lady we taught) was already a member. She was baptized when she was just 10 years old. But  now she is married to her husband, and her husband and 3 kids that are of age were baptized. One of the many mini-miracles in the mission that we get to see as Elders. Pretty legit how things can work out sometimes, ya know?
Wednesday after our Zone Meeting we were going to make pupusas as a zone, but the power to the church went out. Instead, Celis and I got together with the Sisters and Bergeson and Cuellar to make them at night for dinner for us and a less active lady. It was probably the most fun pupusa experience for me thus far. They tasted really good too in fact! I still need to perfect my abilities at making the things however.
Went on divisions this past week for just the night time... Cuellar and I went to this little place called Cantel to help 2 missionaries there (Bosh and Allen). The plan was to put baptismal dates with two people, but the appointment that I was supposed to go to with Allen ended up falling through, so we just went back to Bosh's and Cuellar's. Got there just in time to see them put a "fecha" for next Saturday. The purpose of the whole thing actually worked out. Love when that happens..
Another cool thing that happened is that Elder King (my good ol' La Viña buddy) is in my Zone now. He left the office and is now training his last change and a half. We seem to just follow each other on our missions...
We had a good Ward Council yesterday. Began to make some good plans to help us out with the mission leader and the bishop. I have a very good feeling about it all, but there is always that chance that it won’t work out. I’m definitely hoping and praying that some good comes out of everything we try to do though.
Anyways, I hope all continues to go well for everyone. Again, I hope you enjoyed the big days this past week. Take care all. Love you so very much.
Love,
Elder Bitner

Email 5 March 2012

Heyyy,
Right now I’m very tired... Just played basketball with some members. They killed us, which is actually really embarrassing to be honest. They are the two best Guatemalans that I have ever seen play. Bergeson and I are going to have to step up our game next week. I did horrible. I hate playing on outdoor courts. They are the worst. Now we are going to play soccer too, so today is going to be a very tiring one for me sadly. P-Days are supposed to be relaxing days haha.
So this past week has been good. The weather is changing slowly. It is starting to get hot-ish now...but nothing compared to Arizona obviously. The weirdest thing about the weather has been the wind. There has been so much wind lately. It is ridiculous! Blows a ton of dirt in my eyes, and that is never fun.
Celis and I spent a lot of time with our two recent converts and the lady they live with again. Painted some more...and ate some more. Every time we go there they give us something to eat or drink. Usually both... Makes me feel bad, but they love doing it supposedly! That is what they tell us at least. Found out that is where we have lunch on my birthday too. They are planning something special now, so we'll see what comes of that.
The coolest thing about this week was divisions... This time with Sicotte, my companion from the MTC, though. Sicotte and I did do something fun though... There is this super nice restaurant (one of the nicest in Xela) right up the hill from my house that we wanted to eat at, so we went! It is called "Casa del Prado". It basically is just Italian food...but has a few other things too. Bergeson and another Elder met us there and we all ate together. They all got salmon, which was the most expensive thing at 141 Quetz (roughly 17 bucks). They each gave me a bite and it was really good. I got a pasta that had shrimp and olives. The olives were disgusting... Picked them out one by one because I couldn’t stand actually eating them. Loved the shrimp however. We all ordered virgin piña coladas too... Those were remarkable. One of my favorite things to drink by far. The place had an amazing view too, so that made it even better. Would be the ideal place to take a lady friend on a date haha. The restaurant was so good though...
So a really nice lady in our ward did a really nice thing for me this past week... We went and gave her dad a blessing on Friday because he isn’t doing too well. She called me Thursday night and told me he wanted us to give it to him for some reason. Who knows why, but we were happy to do it of course. We went to her house and did the blessing...then she pulled out a black bag for me. It contained a brand new pair of shoes custom fitted to my feet. Very nice quality for sure... People in this ward are ridiculously nice. Love them... By the way, do you guys happen to know anyone going to New York soon? I want a bunch of leaves from the Sacred Grove to hand out to the people here. Everyone has seen mine now and always ask if I have more. Regretfully I always have to say no. That would be something really cool to give everyone if I can pull it off. I know that will be hard though.
Played with a huge dog this past week. When I say huge, I mean the thing was a giant haha.
Friday we lost water... Saturday we lost power, so we had neither of the two until the afternoon. Cool, right? haha.
But yeah, we are still looking for investigators. Found one this past week......need a lot more than that obviously. Our new Ward Mission Leader was called yesterday (happens to be the husband of the lady that gave me the shoes...really awesome family), so we will see what we can do new with him. Life is good as you can imagine though. Anyways, I hope you all have a great week! Miss you all. Love you all.
Take care,
Elder Bitner

Note from Mom - I am a little embarrassed about this shoe thing - we have asked and asked how they were holding up and he kept saying he was "fine".  I know they don't have his size in Guatemala.  How nice for this family to do this for him.  

Email 27 February 2012

Aloha,
What up¡? Guatemala is still a fun little place if you were wondering. No problems thus far. Turns out I hit the big 19 tomorrow, so that is kind of exciting :) This week has been about the same as last week, but a little more fun. Have really enjoyed it...
It all started with our Zone Meeting Tuesday morning. Bergeson's first one as our Zone Leader. It was a lot more fun than most to be honest. We all showed up early and then Bergeson cooked us all French toast! It was a nice little morning because we just got to chat and eat some food. After the food portion though we had the message portion. Good messages... I was rather impressed with Bergeson. It was pretty cool.
Tuesday night our lunch appointment for Wednesday called us... Asked us what we wanted to eat. Caught me by surprise, so I didn’t know what to tell them. Asked my companion, and he said chicken. That is what I told him... After I hung up though, I realized that was really dumb because we already eat chicken just about every day. Don’t know why he wanted it again....but it did turn out really good.
We got a new Zone Leader this week. When we were doing shopping for the week, Bergeson's companion got a phone saying he had emergency changes. Berg's new companion and our new Zone Leader is Elder Cuellar! He is one of the Latinos that were with us in the CCM. I’m sure I wrote home about him at some point because he was my favorite one there :) We still are good friends now too, so two of my best buds in the mission are my Zone Leaders now. Pretty legit right?
Thursday we did a bunch of service. I never even got into my "missionary attire" the entire day, so I felt somewhat weird. In the morning we had planning, so we didn’t even leave because of that...but at lunch time we left the house in our service clothes because right after we were going to go straight to do service. We ended up being at the service until 6:40ish, so knowing it was late we just passed by the house of one of our investigators really quick in normal clothes. They were quite surprised, but we didn’t have time to go home to change to be to the appointment on time...Therefore, we just went. Then after visiting there we just went home. Very strange day... I felt pretty weird. My recent covert did sew up my pockets on my jeans though, so I no longer have big ol' holes:)
Friday we did divisions with Bergeson and Cuellar. Bergeson came to my area and my companion went to his area. They were pretty fun. The purpose was to show them how small our area actually is... They now see how small it is haha. Berg and I made pupusas with the Sister's though, so that was fun. Also, we ordered pizza...so that too was obviously fun haha. I really get along with Bergeson so well. It is weird to me. It seems like we knew each other before the mission! He and Shaw though have really become two of my best friends. They are two I will for sure never lose contact with.
Saturday at our lunch appointment, we received something extra special. As we were leaving, the lady said to me, "You're from Arizona right?" I said, "Yes..." She responded, "My husband found this soda that he always drank there. He says it is his favorite... Have you heard of it?" She pulled out a can, and it happened to be Dr. Pepper. I explained how it was my favorite, so in return she gave both of us one to take on the go. It was delicious :) haha.
Saturday night we played with modeling clay ("Play-Do") with our recent converts for a good while. Amy, the little girl, was laughing her head off. We were having a really good time. I even made myself out of the stuff. Sadly I was the worst sculptor though.
Church was good too. Same ol' stuff. My best buddy from the ward that moved to the capital was back visiting. So it was nice visiting with him... We are getting a new Ward Mission Leader next week, so we'll see what happens with that.
Life is good though. As always... Still loving my area and everything. Hope all is well for you guys back home! Take care please and be happy :) Enjoy the week.
Love you all,
Elder Bitner

Email 20 February 2012

Hey there folks,
Not going to lie, not much exciting has happened this week. Almost nothing in fact... Still got to write something though, so we'll see what I can come up with.
As you know, I didn’t have changes last week. I stayed where I am. I mentioned though that Bergeson was going to have changes. He ended up not going too far... haha. He is my new Zone Leader here! The kid was not very happy when finding that out, but he is hanging in there. We all think it is pretty funny he ended up becoming our zone leader. I’m just really happy he didn’t leave the zone after all. I can still talk with the man. Exciting. Also, my MTC companion, Sicotte, is my new District Leader, so that too is interesting. I’m surrounded by people that came to the mission with me. Loving it! Means I have a good relationship with them. The kid in the Pupusa picture from last week is also in my zone now. My zone is a fun one right now because of the people in it. Lucked out this time around.
About the most fun thing we have done would be service... I don’t know how I find that fun now. We helped this lady in the ward move around her store a bunch to make it a little more comfortable for her. Looks a heck of a lot better than it did. Pretty amazing the change to be honest. I even have been helping her make some signs to hang around the place saying some of the things that she sells that people can’t see. I’m not prideful of my computer skills, but they look good for this place haha. We also have been helping the lady we baptized paint the inside of her house. On Saturday we started...We have only finished the kitchen though. Quite a bit more rooms to go... It is looking good though, and is making her happy. So the time really doesn’t matter all that much in the end. The fact that we are helping in general just makes it all the worthwhile.
Helped this other kid in the ward translate some things in the family minivan. They didn’t understand what some of the lights meant, so they asked the "canchote". Lucky me haha. They actually gave us a ride to Stake Conference yesterday in that minivan. My first time in a minivan since I entered the MTC. Felt weird haha. Stake Conference was cool though. President Bautista was there and so was the Temple President.
Everyone asks for my help on English homework. This past week I filled out a packet of English worksheets for our Bishop's son. Obviously I can’t say no to him... Then a lady that we buy drinks and snacks from a lot asked me to do her sister's English homework. Ridiculous...
That has been my week. Nothing too big as you might have realized. We are in the process of trying to find new people to teach, so hopefully we will find some pretty positive people to baptize in this next little bit. We'll see...
Hope all is well back there. Happy birthday to Grandma on Friday! 73…
I love you all.
Love,
Elder Bitner

Email 13 February 2012

Miriam Patricia Vasquez Garcia and her daughter, Amy Gramajo Vasquez

Hey everyone,
For starters, we found out changes last night. Elder Celis and I are staying together another 6 weeks it looks like haha. We are both pretty happy. It should be fun. I mean, we haven’t had any problems with each other as of now, so I can’t really complain too much. Life is good in "El Prado".
The baptisms did go through :) Miriam Patricia Vasquez Garcia and her daughter, Amy Gramajo Vasquez, were baptized Saturday! My old companion, Elder Callejas, came down to baptize Patricia, and then his old companion, Elder Austin (his trainer), baptized the daughter. Together they found Patricia and Amy knocking doors. That just goes to show that there is some hope out there for tracting haha. On Saturday though, Callejas came a little early with his companion (Elder Bosh-who is one of my best buds here) to eat at our lunch appointment with us. It was delicious and fun because the four of us were there. Then Bosh and I got the church ready, while our comps went to get the "baptizees". I made invitations for the event. Austin and his comp made their bus back to Momostenango, but Callejas and Bosh missed theirs to Quiche so they had to stay the night with us, which was actually a lot of fun to be honest. Just because Bosh and I are always having fun. We went out to eat... We were up really late talking, which made waking up early so they could get back at a decent time really hard.... It was fun haha. The baptism was good though. Patricia and Amy looked really happy :) They were worried about Amy because she was sick, but we had the water warm and everything so it went really well. Good day... Really good day. Came to church Sunday and got the Holy Ghost, so they are official members! This work is pretty neat if you think about it haha.
Anyways, let's see. I bought some A&W Rootbeer this week. That was a nice, lucky purchase haha.
We were with this one family that said something pretty funny. I was showing them the picture I have of my family (The one from Christmas a few years ago), and they all thought Grandaddy was my dad because he supposedly looks younger than you, Dad haha. Don’t take that offensively, but it was a funny little moment. I don’t see it, but they sure did. They say I don’t look like anyone in the family either. Guess I should change my name from Bitner to something else haha.
On Wednesday we had a conference with President Bautista. We just went over the exact same things we talked about with Elder Falabela. I guess it was a good little reminder. We all enjoyed it. The best part was going to a really nice bread place here in Xela. Soo good...
Lunches this week were good. The best two were Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday, the lady made us homemade lasagna (basically American status) with garlic bread. I ate so much that day... Then on Friday we ate with the Sister missionaries at this lady's house. She ordered us some really delicious Chinese food. It was amazing! Chow-mein with shrimp, chicken, veges, beef, etc... It was good.
That has basically been my week. Saturday was obviously the best day because Patricia and Amy finally got baptized :) Now that I’m going to be here together another six weeks....looks like we have to find some more people to baptize. I guess we'll see what we can do.
Take care. Have a good week. Miss you guys!
Love,
Elder Bitner

Email 6 February 2012

My shrimp

Hey there friends,
Things are the same as usual... Luckily this past week has been a better one than the others. Really enjoyed it. Went really fast too. Go Giants! and Happy Birthday to Rachel tomorrow :) Too the week...
Good news first. We have 2 baptisms for this Saturday, the 11th. Patricia and her daughter finally said that they would get baptized! Exciting right? haha. We went and visited them on Tuesday night. I was just like, "So do you want to get baptized yet?" Surprisingly she said, "I’m pretty sure I do." I was a happy little guy. On Thursday we had another lesson with them. We even took a member... Pretty sure that visit helped a lot. The guy we took is super smart in the church. He may like to talk a bit much, but he is "pilas", which means awesome basically. She automatically opened up to him... Asked him to go visit her son. All kinds of stuff. It was crazy in my mind. She really liked the guy, and I really liked the fact that we took him there with us. Helped us out a too. They should actually get baptized on Saturday at 4, and I’m really happy for that :) It will be a good little miracle for me. Really excited for that day.
That was really the only good thing about the week haha. That is definitely the only thing that made it better than the others...but I did do some hardcore cleaning. My bathroom looks so good now. I’m still amazed every time I enter it haha. May have cut myself a few times doing the cleaning, but it was worth it in the end. I feel like I’m always the one that has to be doing the cleaning in all my houses though. Missionaries are very messy people. It can get pretty gross depending on where you are. Luckily, I haven’t had it too bad. I guess all my hard cleaning at home has really taught me something ;) hahaha we all know that didn't happen. I never helped clean really. Now I think I might...
Friday was my companion's birthday. Elder Celis turned 21... He is older than me, which makes me a little sad actually. We were able to have a good little day though. For breakfast, I bought him McDonalds, which is always good because McDonalds is one of the nicest places to eat in Guatemala. They really consider it high quality here. Weird? Very. For lunch we ate with our Bishop. He always goes all out. They gave us shrimp... That was a surprise to me. When his wife gave it to me, I was like, "How do I eat these?" haha. They had to teach me how to eat them... I actually thought they were really good, but after I felt like I had a slight allergic reaction to it. My throat felt all weird, so I took a Benadryl. Nothing happened really, but I’m slightly nervous to eat that kind of stuff. I plan on trying a bunch of it in the states now. I think I might actually like lobster, so I want to give at least that a try. Bishop also gave us cake and donuts though. They even had candles! haha. I paid for the both of us to get haircuts too, so we are both looking "fresh". Dinner was a food from Honduras called "baliatas" (I think that is how it is spelled at least). The Sister missionaries and their investigator/member family made them for us. They were really good. I’m sure Billy is eating those things like crazy... haha. But yeah, at the end of the day he was a happy little kid and so was I. I guess that means it was a "birthday success".
Something that has kind of came out of nowhere is stormy weather. Starting Friday night we have had rain and thunder and lightning every day. Right now it looks pretty clear out, but that will change within the next few hours or so. It always knocks out the power for a while too, so they are pretty intense storms. The thunder is probably some of the loudest I have ever heard, so it is quite cool for me since I love storms.
That has basically been everything though... As of now, we'll have 2 baptisms this week, and more in the near future hopefully. Changes are next week though, so we'll see what happens with that I guess. I got a feeling I might just stay put for another change, but we shall see.
Well, take care and enjoy this week. Be happy little people :)
Love Forever and Always,
Elder Bitner

A lady gave me a garbage bag for my head, borrowed umbrella for the picture

What it is like in all our power outages