"Donas" is not correct

¡Hola todos! 

This week went by really super fast. I´m not sure what we actually did this week, but I know we did a ton. I´ll try to give a good summary. 

We got to go to the temple this week with the branch in El Palmar, and it was a really amazing trip. I really felt strongly the presence of God there. The temple is one of the happiest places on Earth. And afterwards my companion and I found some of the missionaries from the CCM! The CCM is right by the temple, and these guys were out in the street learning how to meet people and invite them to church. But they´re just like I was when I was there, and it was really funny to see them and realize how much I´ve learned in just four months of being in the field. They struggled so much with Spanish and didn´t know what the people were saying, and had so much excitement to teach and help the people, but they didn´t know quite how to use their desires to do good. It was really crazy to realize that they really don´t know almost anything about the mission, but they´re about to get slammed into the same thing that happened to me. And hopefully they´ll end up better that I ever will, because I still have so much to learn. They looked all unsure and nervous, but determined. And we probably looked like these giants to them. But that´s how life works, and sometimes you just need to look back to see how far you´ve come. It´s amazing. And we also went to one of the only Dunkin Donut (they say "dona") shops in all of Guatemala. Tasty.

We also went to a multi zone conference in the capital, and I got to see a lot of my old friends, which was super awesome. It´s waaay less hot over there, and sometimes I forget that there are places that aren´t humid and sunny. It´s all good though. 

We also taught a ton of people and did a lot of really good stuff this week. We´re really seeing people change their lives, and that´s the reason I´m here, so it makes me super happy. But next week, we have changes. Already! They go by faster and faster every time. My companion and I think that we´ll stay together, but we don´t know yet. It´s an interesting anticipation, not knowing whether or not you´ll keep the same everything...or leave everything you know, move to another side of the country and live with completely different people. It´s kind of exciting though, in a strange way. New is exciting, even if you don´t know at all what to expect. But! I think it´ll all stay the same for us. :)

Always love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Haircut!

Uno, dos, cinco, trece, catorce, veintiuno, veinticinco, treinta! ¡Ya lo hice!

¡Hola todos!

This week was actually really fun. We ate duck, got an awesome investigator to come to church for the first time, held these adorable 10-day-old cats, ate cooked roadkill, showered with a tarantula (I was halfway through when I noticed he was there), listened to a kid try to count to ten, picked mango verde with a stick, and I got medical permission to drink Coca Cola, which is highly against the rules in the mission. 

We´re teaching this guy named William, and he is super awesome. His life is literally changing from what he´s learning. His family says he´s a happier, brighter person since he´s started learning more about Jesus. He finally got to come to church this week, and he liked it a lot. 

One day, William saw a possum on the side of the road and so he ran it over with his motorcycle and brought it home. He was super excited and cooked it on the grill he made. Apparently taquacín is really expensive here, but he was really happy to invite us over to eat it with him. I´m not gonna lie, it was actually really good. And his puppy got to eat all the bones so it was really happy too. Guatemala..

William with his cooked Taquacín. Don´t worry, he mixed it with a tasty tomato sauce.

This week we did a ton of stuff, and talked to literally hundreds of people. A lot of them are interested in learning more about how they can come closer to Christ, which is awesome. We worked a ton, and I might not have gotten enough sleep, because I got a pretty bad migraine half way through. We had to go home and stay in the house for a couple hours while I slept with a wet cloth over my eyes. The mission nurse sent us a text for a couple things to do, including to drink Coca Cola. As missionaries, we have super strict rules against drinking caffeinated drinks, because we´re walking all day and have to be in shape. But this time I had permission. That probably doesn´t sound like a very big deal, but on the mission it´s as if I got permission from the police to rob the bank. Super funny.  

We´re doing a lot of really great work here, and I love it a lot. Every day we get to testify to people of the things that we know are true, and see the light in people´s eyes when they feel it too. I´m starting to forget that I´m speaking Spanish the whole time, which is kind of strange because I feel like I just got here. I am not smart enough to speak this language. But God is, and He´s teaching me. I´m also not smart enough to use it to convince people that are three times my age to follow someone they can´t see. But they knew Him before they were born, and they recognize the feeling of His love. I don´t have any other way to explain it, just that God works miracles when you do what He asks. It´s amazing.

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Pollo Campero, which is probably the biggest fast food restaurant here. It´s pretty tasty, but I think I like chicken, beans, eggs, and tortillas (and possum) better though.

La ciudad de sueños...y turistas

¡Hola cuates!

This week was super fun. We´re meeting sooo many people every single day, and a lot of them have some really cool stories to share. We ate some really tasty fruits that I´ve never seen before. We also took a bus on a road that goes uphill, but by some gravitational or atmospherical anomoly, things roll upwards. Today we went to Santiago Atitlan, which is this really cool tourist city next to a really beautiful lake. 

The city is full of tourists and shops that sell tons of really cool Guatemalan style things. Lots of cultural wooden carvings, colorful paintings, but corte more than anything. Corte is a guatemalan cultural type of fabric with lots of really bright colors woven in fancy patterns. Lots of the women here wear corte blouses and skirts every day, and even a lot of the men wear shirts with corte woven in. It´s made with these huge wooden looms, and it looks super cool. The Guatemalan artisan shops are totally stuffed with things that these people just make by hand, and we all bought some cool jackets and things. The funny thing about buying from these shops though is that they really try to take advantage of white people. A TON of people come here from Europe and the states (we met some really cool people from Spain and other European countries. Spain Spanish is sooo much different, and it´t really cool to talk to people from there.), and a lot of them get kinda ripped off. The shope owners notice that we´re not from here, and assume that we don´t know the language or the money system very well...so they raise all of the prices to double or triple of what they would be when they see us. But as missionaries who live in this country, we have more of a feel for what these things should cost, and we learn from an early mission age how to bargain things down to cheap prices. And if the people won´t bargain, we find other people who will. One lady tried to sell us a jacket for Q450. It was a nice jacket...but not that nice. I got her to take it down to Q125, but that still wasn´t where I wanted it. I got a different really nice jacket for Q50 instead. Elder Wilde, a super outoging and energetic guy, managed to get a Q1,500 painting for Q450.00. The things you can do when you speak spanish. The shop owners are really cool though, because they also speak other Mayan languages that are indigenous to Guatemala, like Quekchi, Quiché, and Pocomon. They all talk to eachother in these other languages, and us in Spanish. It´s really fancy. And the things they make are beauutiful, so it was just cool all around. 

This week we had a ton of people come to church. Most of the people we´re teaching couldn´t this time, but I have a lot of confidence that they´ll be able to come next week. We´re learning a lot about something my brother Matthew told me about right before I left. On the mission, you talk to everyone. Everyone on the street, in their houses, in buses, and everywhere. And we invite every single one of them to change. To come closer to Christ and to find more happiness in their lives. And it´s kinda tricky. Naturally it´s hard to just go out and talk to everyone you see. But as we do it, we find so many blessings of energy, happiness, and people who really need our help. I love these people so much, and I´m really just here to help them. And so when I get to help people and see the shine in their eyes, it makes everything worth it. 

Love you guys too!

-Elder Cloward

Starting over again

Buenas!

This week has been very very full. We´re teaching a lot of people who need a ton of help. William is an investigator who has been without work for an entire year. He volunteers as a firefighter because he wants to help people. But he really needs an actual job. He finally found one, but he needed to pay to get some documents for it, and he couldn´t even afford that, so he couldn´t get the job. We aren´t allowed to give money, which is really hard. But we are representatives of Christ, and we get to promise them what they need if they do the things that bring them closer to Him. And that´s the most important. He´s super great and I know that he will find work soon.

We are also teaching Franklin and his family. They are really sad right now because Franklin is really sick, and isn´t really getting better. They can´t afford the medicine he needs, and so they´re really just hoping and praying. We visit them all the time, and we are doing all we can to help him with the little medicine we have. But we are also teaching them the gospel. They have a ton of faith, and I really can tell that Franklin is going to get better too. 

The biggest thing that happened this week was that we had emergency changes again. Elder Vargas had to go to Amatitlan. I was really sad to see him go, because we are already super good friends, and we were both learning a ton. I did give him a parting gift though. I noticed a while ago that he really likes Tortrix, which are these 1Q bags of chips that are suuuper tasty that they sell at all the tiendas here. And so I´ve been making a secret stash of them without him noticing, and I gave it to him on his last day here. It was something simple, but I think the idea really hit him deeply somehow. He was really happy. Elder Myler from Idaho is my companion now. He was struggling a lot with his old companion, and felt super sad. So the mission president sent him to be with me, in hopes that I can help him to feel happy again. He´s a really great guy, and he really wants to do good. I´m trying to show him a lot of love, and he seems like he´s already opening up a little bit. Now I just have to show him around this area that I´ve only been in for two weeks. That´s a little tricky, because I feel like I really don´t know enough to be able to teach him and help all the people here...but allí vamos. I´m sure we´ll be all good and know a ton in a week or two. 

The kids here play this game called Chamusca, and they´re super good at it. It´s basically two on two streed soccer with a couple twists. They almost always beat me. My comp and I only won once, and that was a great victory. But I think he worked too hard, because the next day he could barely move his back. Somehow he still went the entire day though, just stumbling along with really painful looking posture. I felt really bad for him, but he did it. He really wants to work hard, which is awesome. I´m really excited to put my all into helping him and the people here to change their lives and be happy. 

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Dry cereal is good stuff.