I skipped a week of writing because on Christmas I talked a lot with my family. That was so fun, and I love all of them a ton. But today I get to talk about Christmas AND New Years. It´s been a great time, and even though there are always tricky things that happen, I´ve been having a really great time.
It´s been pretty tricky to find people in their houses that want to listen, because lots of people are out celebrating for the holidays. But in the little time we´ve had, we´ve been able to find some really great people to teach that are really positive and want to learn and have a happier life, which is really awesome.
On Christmas eve, we stayed with a family in a really super rich residential. We ate an awesome turkey dinner, with tamales and ponche. For Christmas here, everyone eats tamales and drinks ponche. The tamales that they make are wrapped in banana leaves and eaten with bread, and ponche is basically a mix of water and all of the fruits in existence, and little cinnamon and boiled together. It´s super tasty. And everyone burned fireworks like crazy the way they always do. Where I come from, it´s illegal to light fireworks. Here they blow up so many things that it´s just funny. They almost hit someone with a firework that fell down right when it launched too, and I´d imagine that there are lots of experiences where that actually does happen.
On Christmas morning, we had a little party with the zone of missionaries where we made pancakes and hot chocolate, gave presents to everyone, and watched Coco! It´s a lot better in Spanish...sorry! It was a great time.
For New Years, we spent the night with another family that has even more money. I mention that just because it feels super weird to be with people that have more Christmas decorations and fancy food and things than people in the states, because I´ve never been accustomed to living like that. We all had an awesome time together. We got back home at around 1 in the morning (with permission), and slept a lot today. But we´re all happy.
One of my favorite things that happened this week was getting to see someone open her mission call. When I got my call, they all came by mail with a letter to open and papers to read to everyone. Now, they come in an email, and they come super fast. It´s a lot different. But the hermana read to everyone her letter from the prophet of the church, telling her that she is called to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ for the next 18 months of her life, in the mission of Cusco, Peru. I got really emotional hearing her read to all of us that she will find more blessings in this work than she would in anything else she could do. It reminded me of the day when I read my mission call, and now of the incredible blessing I have to be here and serve the Lord here in Guatemala. I´ve found so many miracles, and I´m learning so many things that I couldn´t have learned in any other way. I´m really happy to be here.
Love you guys!
-Elder Cloward
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| They gave me presents too! |
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| Chocolate pancakes, hot chocolate, and a silly peluche the Hermanas gave me. |
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| Look at what they got for my companion! |
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