Starting Over

¡Hola todos!

This week has been full of meeting new people, learning new areas, and doing new things. Training is completely different from what I expected. My new companion Elder Vargas loves the people SO much, and he really wants to help them in every way possible. He´s really great at connecting with them and making them feel good. It´s really cool to watch him work. He´s still learning how to teach simply and effectively, without saying too many things to confuse the people. He´s also learning how to plan efficiently so that we don´t have to cross the entire area in between every visit. But he´s learning everything super fast, and he´s already a really good missionary. And my Spanish is getting a lot more natural now that I almost never speak English during the day. 

    The coast is really, really hot. Our area is super humid, and there are green exotic trees and plants everywhere. We have a mix of city and streets with concrete houses, and half jungle with houses made of sheet metal. There are iguanas and other interesting animals near the rivers here. 

We sleep without blankets and with huge fans blowing on us all night. Then when we wake up, we take a really cold shower that feels super good. This house is a lot nicer too; we actually have a shower with running water, instead of just buckets. And the door isn´t made of bars, so the dirt doesn´t blow in all the time. It´s super cool. 

    My comp has the coolest accent ever. And it´s kinda changing my accent too, which is funny. I´m finding myself dropping the s at the end of a lot of words, and using other jerga that people always say here. It´s great though. My companion is learning English too, which is super cool. He always says these random things in English with a really heavy Spanish accent, which makes me laugh a ton. He still has a lot to learn, but he´s going for it. 

    My favorite thing about the mission is being able to help people every single day. Whether that means getting water from the well, chopping firewood, or teaching them how they can change their life and come closer to Christ, it´s really amazing. Seeing people smile everyday because of what we´re doing for them is just priceless. And I´m going to keep working everyday so I can make as many people happy as I can. 

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

I´m a Father

¡Hola canches!

So this week has been stuffed with stuff, but nothing like anything I´ve ever experienced before. So the time in the mission is divided "changes." Every change last six weeks. And the first two changes of your mission is your "training," where you´re learning how everything is. In your training you have an older, more experienced missionary as your trainer to teach you how to do everything and to help you learn. So I just finished my second change in the mission field, which means I´m out of my training! I´m a regular missionary now...except I´m not. We just had companionship changes today, and guess what...I´m training. So I just got out of my training, and now I´m training another missionary. It´s super funny, and I really did not expect that to happen even though a lot of other people told me I was going to train. So now I´m with Elder Vargas from Bolivia. He´s super great. He already has one change in the mission, so I´m finishing his training with the second one. So he´s not completely new, but he is still pretty fresh and still learning a ton. I´m super excited to be with this guy. 

Not only did I switch companions, but I´m in a new area too! This area is called Palmar. and it´s in a Zone called Santa Lucia. It´s on the coast of Guatemala, which means it´s super hot, and super humid. The difference is huge; it´s sooo humid here. But it´s a super awesome area. Way more people, and a ton more civilization. Now I get to meet all of the people here. It was pretty hard to leave the people in Jocotillo. I´d only been there for three months, but I already love those people so much. And the fact that people actually cried when they learned that I was leaving...I´m not gonna pretend I didn´t shed a few tears with them also. But they´re great. I´m gonna miss that area a ton, and all of the people especially. But now I get to do everything new again, which is gonna be super fun. This area seems super great, and I´m gonna learn a TON.

We also went to the temple again, which we only get to do twice a year. It was super special, especially because this time it was in Spanish. It´s a different language and even a different country, but the feeling in there is exactly the same. It´s super happy and really great, just how things of God always area. Afterward, the zone took a group photo, except Elder Croft and I weren´t there yet. So we took our own group photo. I also took some great pictures with the kids and the mom of the familia Gomez before I left. They´re super special to me. 

Haff bardie oh shoe

¡Buenas!

This week went by super fast. And I don`t have very much time to write, so I`ll see what I can do. I got beat really bad by my companion in Monopoly. We also walked through a field of fire that people were burning (they always burn their crops after harvesting, but this was the only way through). We debated the bible with an evangelical pastor (I don`t like arguing, but I do like learning from people who believe differently that me, so it was more calm). We rode in the back of a truck on the highway again, which is super fun. We also experienced an earthquake, which was really interesting. It wasn`t very strong down here, but everything was shaking all over the place. 

This week we had a lot more people come to church. So many people that the bus was totally full and my companion and I were hanging on the outside of the bus for our lives. It was really funny. We also taught a guy who speaks almost perfect English, and it was the first time I`d ever taught anyone in my own language. It was really hard actually, but as we got used to what we were doing, my companion and I ended up teaching a really powerful message about the love of God for us and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Someday I`ll be able to do that in Spanish too just as well, because English is always a little more from the heart for me. But I`m getting better everyday. :)

This is the last week in the change, which means I`ll probably be getting a new companion, and I might end up leaving my area too. I love these people a lot and don`t really want to leave, but I know I`ll have a great time if I get to meet knew people in a new place also.

Oh yeah, the title was a little girl trying to sing happy birthday

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Casamiento (super super good)