So before anyone gets sad about that title, in the mission your "dad" is the one who trained you in the beginning of your mission. My main dad was Elder Eborn, way back almost 10 months ago. I was with him for 10 weeks in Jocotillo, and he taught me a TON. This week was the last week of his mission...and so I decided to do divisions with him in Sipacate to learn more from him, and just to say goodbye. So we were companions again for a day in his area. It was really funny to be with him, because when a missionary is finishing their two years, they get TIRED. He actually reminded me of an old man; he struggled to stand up, he would sometimes just stare into the distance, and he could fall asleep on a bus in about 3 seconds. But he was in the perfect area to end his mission. Sipacate is on the southern coast of Guatemala, and the beach is literally in the area. In the night time, we were going to talk to some people near, so he took me to the beach and we just stared into the waves. The sand here is black, and the sky was too, and it was one of the coolest moments to spend with one of my first companions on one of his last days in this country, just watching the waves and the stars and talking about anything. Today Elder Eborn took a plane back to the United States, where he will meet up with his family and friends again. Weird...
The house in Sipacate actually has air conditioning (a very rare thing here), and I wasn`t ready when we spent the night at 17 degrees celsius. I think it was bad for me, because the next day in the night I was really, really sick (seems like my body gets sick a lot in the coast, huh?). Coughing, stuffy nose, and a really bad headache. But the day after that was Sunday. I felt terrible, but I wasn`t about to not go to church, just in case miracles happened. And so I went to church half-dead and half-asleep. But after the meeting, the miracles DID happen. There`s a little 9 year old girl named Martina whose parents got baptized a few months ago, but she`s always been too shy to do it. She knows it`s a good thing that God wants and that it will bring her more blessings, but she is so shy and grouchy that she usually doesn`t even want to see us. So we`ve been visiting her with candy and playing with her and her siblings to make her feel more comfortable. This Sunday, her friend Jeidy was going to get baptized. But she still didn`t want to...until after church when we asked her, and she said YES! She wanted to get baptized with her friend! So we went crazy finding white clothes for her, filling out some papers, and doing a baptismal interview for her (usually we have a week or so to get all that done, but this time we had about 30 minutes. Yikes!). And we did it! And she got baptized! And it was awesome! To me, the fact that I was reaaally really sick just right in that time is evidence that we were doing something good, because Satan does all he can to stop good things from happening. But even though he works hard, God is stronger than he is, and so he doesn`t have to have any power if we don`t give in to his temptations. We can always choose to be good people no matter what happens and no matter what anyone does. And when we do, everyone is just happier, and the world is a better place.
Thanks for being awesome!
-Elder Cloward
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