Email 13 March 2011

Ical Mountain; Banana Trees - Jungle in Colo

Hey all :)
Well, this week has been pretty good for me. Hope all of you have enjoyed yours as well! I’m mainly just happy none of you were in Japan. A lot of people told us about the earthquake. They were terrified about it. Now, about the week.
Started with another funny P-Day afternoon story... We were shopping for some stuff so we could have food for dinner and for breakfast because we were staying with the Zonies, when all of the sudden Shaw had a "diarrhea attack". We had to run across the street to a hotel where he paid to use their bathroom. At some point the through process he told me that he needed more toilet paper, so I had to search for some. I ran into a guy that, in English, asked me, "What are you looking for?" I was like what the heck. He ended up giving me more t.p. for Shaw, and then we talked some. He had perfect English for the most part. I was amazed... He has lived in the states 22 years and has a business in Denver. Very random... He was really fun to talk to though. The funniest was Shaw’s bathroom. It had a huge window on the side of it so he could look at the mountain view, and others could look at him! It was cool.
So, Tuesday was a pretty sketchy holiday here in Guatemala. Shaw and I had to travel back to Colo at 6 in the morning to get there before "things" started happening. We had to sit in the house all day...... No leaving for anything. The holiday doesn’t really have a name I don’t think, but it had weird traditions. People would go around with confetti-filled eggs and smash them on each other’s heads. Cool holiday? Some would even carry flour around and throw that at other people. Some even had real eggs. It was just weird. In Colo, basically nothing happened. Just a parade of kids in Costumes walked by our house following a minivan listening to "Eye of the Tiger" haha. In Huehue, I guess things got pretty sketchy but who knows really. Sitting in the house was just really boring... We wanted to kill ourselves.
Well, I got some "gifts" this week haha. An investigator gave Shaw and me each 2 bananas and 5 Quetz... We tried to say no, but they wouldn’t let us say no. Weird. Shaw gave me a V-neck shirt. I’m starting to like them haha. I ate real sugar cane for the first time. Cut it and all. Pretty cool and yummy. It was a generous week from the Guats.
I spent some time with the "Dream Team" this week. They are from the area Ixtahuacán. They just find people to teach and then call us up. They are cool. The people they found didn’t show up to church though... Maybe next week. Another of our areas, Ical, gave us 3 references last night too. They all were at church yesterday. The members actually do stuff and it is suuhhhhweeeeet.
I have developed a new passion here in the mission. Standing on the back bumpers of trucks driving through the mountains on very windy roads with fireflies all around.... It is awesome haha. I love it. The only downfall is when little boys throw very large sticks at you as you drive by. One landed in the truck next to us... Almost got us haha. It was scary.
Some random facts.... Finished the journal that Derek gave me. I’m now using the one I bought in the CCM. I shined all my shoes myself for the first time. I threw a lot of hot dogs over the edge of our house to the dogs last night... People didn’t really like that, but I was just trying to be nice haha.
Well, that was my week. No scheduled baptisms this week, but maybe something cool will happen. Changes are this week too though. I doubt I’m getting changed, but you never know... I really hope neither of us does. We are actually getting stuff done, and I’m enjoying myself more than ever on the mission. Anyways, have a good week and be happy:)
Love,

Elder Bitner

Shaw's Bathroom Experience

Stick that was thrown at me and Shirt Shaw gave me