The lonely mountain

¡Hola todos!

Today has been crazy. And yesterday. And pretty much everyday haha. We had to go to the capital on Monday night, because I had to go to migration to get some paperwork all good. And guess what! I´m a legal Guatemalan resident now! Yuh! Had to go to bed late and get up at 4 for that one. But I got to see all of the people that were in the MTC group with me in the very beginning, which was super cool. Most of them aren´t in my mission, and I didn´t really think I would ever get to see them again. 

The day after that, we went to sleep in San Vicente Pacaya. The next morning (today), we woke up at 3 in the morning to climb the volcano. We got our jackets and backpacks and headed up a steep trail up the side of the mountain. Soon the dirt turned into lava rock, and it got really, REALLY cold. We got to watch the sunrise from the top, and it was honestly beautiful. All of the sudden a ton of thick fog came in super fast, and we couldn´t see anything. When it finally cleared up and we could see from the sunlight, the view was really awesome. When we got back down, my companion and I took a really long nap, because we were exhausted from all the things we´ve been doing. But now we´re better. 

We got to go to church twice this past Sunday. We also got to make some really tasty food for some members of the church who were sad. I also learned a lot about prayer. When you´re struggling, you can just go talk to God, and He listens. You can talk out loud if you want to, and you can talk to Him as if He was right there, because He is. You don´t have to talk as if you´re reading someone else´s words, and you don´t have to talk as if He can´t respond. He is always listening, and a lot of the time He answers in the moment like a normal conversation. If you don´t believe me, try it! You´ll feel peace. You´ll know what you need to do. And if you do it, you´ll change people´s lives. It´s true; I´ve done it. Promise.

Love you guys!

-Elder Cloward

Me at 3 in the morning

Before the sunrise

Elder Payan and me. Volcan de fuego (the one behind me) is exploding

The sunrise :)

Me and Elder Osorio with Elder Cruz! We haven´t seen him in so long. In his mission (Antigua), they´re allowed to drink Coca Cola, but we aren´t in the central mission. So he bought one and drank it in front of us...

The volcano was blowing smoke rings. I didn´t know that was possible...?

You can see Palin (my area) in the very middle of this picture. It´s at the foot of the volcan de agua. Looks so far away from the volcan Pacaya!