Painting, saying goodbye, and burning in Tiquisate

¡Hola todos!

Wow. We are doing tons and tons of stuff. It feels like everyday is an adventure of things that I`ve never done before. As Zone Leaders we are always helping out the people in the zone, which means we spend a lot of time out of our actual area. But the things we have done in our area have been super great. It rains a ton here (even more than in Santa), so we`ve been pretty drenched too :).

We helped a family paint their house this week, and that was super fun. The houses here are mostly made of concrete, and they usually just paint the front and call it good. So we painted for the "Chambea`s" and helped them out with some other things too. They bought a weedwhacker to start a small landscaping business, and I told them I would help out because I spent a lot of the time before the mission working for a landscaping company, and so I used weedwhackers all the time. The funny thing is that they haven`t EVER used a machine like that before, and not only did they not know how to turn it on, but they treated it could explode at any moment, and made me wear all of this safety equipment that they bought. They all stood really far away while I showed them how to cut down the weeds. It was really funny for me, and fun for them too.

We also went to Tiquisate this week so that my companion could say goodbye to some of his old friends in an area he served in about a year ago. Tiquisate is really, really hot. It`s kind of incredible how humid and just burning it is down there, and I`m kind of glad I`m not still down there...yikes. But the people were suuuper cool, and it was really fun to see my companion go down a memory lane that I`d never seen before. We met some of the people that Elder Richens had helped to get baptized, and they`re still really strong in the church and they look really super happy. So we sang hymns for them, and all of the different families we visited gave us lots of food, which was fun too. 

We are teaching some really awesome people, including our friend Marvin, who is really excited to be learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He used to drink and live with someone who isn`t his wife, but now he`s a completely different person. All he wants to do is know what God wants for him, and do it. And he`s so happy. When people do the things that God wants, they have more happiness in their life than they could ever have imagined before. And if you don`t believe me, I challenge you to just pray everyday, asking God to help you to be happy...and it will come. God loves all of us, and He wants us to have joy. It`s something I`ve felt so much on my mission, and it`s the best :).

Love you all!

-Elder Cloward

Mandarin oranges are green here :0

The inside of a Tuk Tuk, which is like a little three wheeled taxi. We use them all the time here to get places quickly. 

My whole life is different...by fifteen minutes

¡Hola amigos!

This week was ridiculous! My compaion had to go to the hospital to accompany another missionary who got suuuper sick. We thought he`d be there for a day or two, but he left last Thursday and probably won`t be back until next Sunday. It was ridiculous because it meant that I was with random other people from the zone all week, running around everywhere and helping everyone. We had lots of baptisms in the zone too, so we had to do a ton to prepare for all of them and help everyone. I think the pouring rain is what is making everyone sick, because literally everyone got sick at some point this week. But we finally finished everything we needed to do. I also had to say goodbye to Santa Lucia, my home of the last four and a half months, because the change ended and I got changed. It was really hard to say goodbye to some of the people who have literally been my best friends for a really long time. And I actually didn`t get to say goodbye to my companion, because he`s still in the hospital. Butttt...the funny part is that my new area is literally just 15 minutes away in bus from Santa! I am suuuper close still.

My new area is called Siquinala, and I love it. My new companion is named Elder Richens, and he`s the greatest. He loves life so much. He is just full of joy all the time, and he really doesn`t NOT love anything. He`s really teaching me a ton. He actually has about 21 months in the mission, which means he`ll have to go home in less than 12 weeks. I think while some missionaries get really tired toward the end of their mission, he`s just gotten more happy and excited. He`s super goofy, and reminds me a ton of my older brother Matthew. He`s also super tall. 

Another interesting thing is that we are the zone leaders! So we get to serve over like 12 missionaries in the entire zone of Siquinala, and it`s crazy! It`s a huge responsibility, and I have a TON to learn still, but I`m really excited because God is giving me a ton of help.

Today was awesome because we went to Antigua again! I went about two weeks ago with the Santa Lucia zone, but this zone decided to go today too, so I got to go back. It was super fun, especially because I got to spend time with the whole zone and get to know all of the people here. They are SO cool, and I`m super happy. 

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

The familia Hernandez. They are super great, and the two on the right are going to get married soon.

Miguel, one of my best friends of all time. He knows a lot of English, and I`ve gone through a ton with him.

Elder Croft and Elder Jesperson, two of my best friends in the mission. They`re both going to the new Antigua mission that is going to be created, and I`m staying in the Central Mission. That means I probably won`t really be able to see them again, which is kind of sad. But they`re fantastic, and I`ll get to write to them a lot.