Fireworks

     Well I already pretty much told you about my Christmas but I guess Ill do it again because that's pretty much all that happened here this week. We couldn't really do much of anything the 24th or the 25th because nobody was going to want to receive us either of those days.   We spent most the day at the house of the president helping them prepare for Christmas by preparing food and washing dishes and all that sort of fun stuff. We also visited a bunch of members and they all gave us a ton of food. I ate more sandwiches than I could count and though I was going to throw up by the end of the night.  I was so full. At midnight on the 24th everyone shot off fireworks. We went up on our roof to watch them and it was so cool. There were fireworks going off in the sky where ever you looked and it sounded like we were in a war zone with all the firecrackers going off. Christmas was a pretty good day, obviously there wasn't much we could do because everyone was either sleeping or super drunk. We played a lot of uno and visited a recent convert to celebrate a birthday with them. Talking to you guys was fantastic and I only cried when I bore my testimony, which is going pretty good if I do say so myself.

      On Friday, we had divisions with the district leader because the other elders needed interviews done. I stayed in the area and it was a pretty rough day but hey it happens. Sunday we had zero percent retention again and I don't know what we can do because the recent converts that have testimonies can't come to church because of work or brand new babies and the rest don't have testimonies and in all honesty should not have been baptized but what ever.

     I didn't give any gifts only shared everything I got with my comp and the other missionaries. As for gifts received we all got socks from the family we eat with and then all the food from the other people. New Years is going to be a lot like Christmas everyone is going to party and stay out super late the 31st and then most of them will be super drunk the 1st or sleeping all day so its going to be a little hard to get lessons and all that jazz.  The coolest tradition was easily the fireworks at midnight, there aren't any restrictions here so there were some pretty sweet fireworks. 

     Google translate very rarely works correctly. Hermana Caffaro always uses it to send the Latinos messages for their birthdays and stuff and the messages are almost always messed up but still understandable. Anyway Roxana was very happy to receive that message from you and showed it to me and everything. Some sad news is that Hermana Roxana is feeling a little stressed lately so she is going to take a break from cooking for us and we have to find a new place to eat before the 1st which is going to prove a little bit difficult. I hope you guys enjoy your break and get lots of skiing in for me. Love you all a ton. Love Connor

                                       
                                                       Helping prepare dinner

                                                       With Elder Prestwich

              This is with Sister de Ruano who was cooking for them and Elder Simoni

Merry Christmas (and lot's of pictures)

Whoo what a week.  Okay this week was even crazier than last week but all fun stuff so dont worry.  First, we did a service project on Tuesday. So what we did is as a zone we went to an old people's home and played games with them and put up a Christmas tree and sang songs and did talents and all that sort of fun stuff. Some of the old people were super funny and it was a great service project. We also had to get them a gift and that was pretty hard because I have no clue what you could get an old person that can't do or eat anything. It was very hard but we did it somehow.  Wednesday, we had our zone conference with the president and some other dude.  They talked to us about all sorts of stuff they want us to do to have more success and so I've been trying to put that into practice this week. After they talked to us, we watched a movie, the work and the glory, It was a pretty good movie and I liked it a lot but we all wanted to watch meet the mormons but I guess president couldn't get a copy to show to us. After the movie we had an awesome lunch.   I think It was made by the people who cook all the food for the CCM. After that we listened to president again.  He talked about the love of Christ and It was an awesome talk. Then we watched a video that he had made with all of us in it and a silly video of him and sister caffaro dancing. Thursday and Friday were pretty normal. Thursday we gave service cleaning the ceilings of one of the members.Friday nothing fun happened. 
     Then Saturday was the ward activity and that was easily the highlight of the week. They went to the volcano Ipala which is this lake in the cone of a volcano and as you can see from the pictures its amazingly beautiful. We were really lucky we could go because its not in our mission but president gave us permission and it was amazing. As you can probably tell I spent most of my time with Elder Prestwitch because our comps were being party poopers, so we did a lot of stuff together. The picture of the rock is when we went to the rock of love together, cute right? After that we just hiked around the lake and found this cool platform that overlooked the entire valley and took awesome pictures there. Then after lunch we just hung our with all the members and converts on the bank of the lake. It was awesome and pretty much another p-day.
      Okay to answer your questions I do think Ill leave the area this next change because president usually doesn't leave people in one area too long. I only took out the stocking and the tree and have no clue what the rest of it is. I share all the candy with the kids and the other missionaries.   I haven't gotten the package form the Turners yet but I assume I'll get it today . In Guatemala, they celebrate more on the 24th than on the 25th and at midnight on the 24th they all shoot off fireworks.   I've heard its really cool and can't wait to see it. Well that's all for this week talk to you guys Thursday. Love you all Love Connor. 

                                                      at the old folk's home

                                             with President and Sister Caffaro

                                                      Elder Simoni Elder Solorzano

                                                                 Ward Members

                                                             Elder Prestwich

                                             Elder Solorzano Elder Prestwich Elder Simoni

                                                              love rock

Changes = sleepwalking companion

     This week was super crazy. So remember how last week I told you about how neither me or Elder Mann had changes?   Ya well that all changed Monday night. At 7 pm, the zone leaders called us and said that Elder Mann was going to have changes because some other companionship had problems that day. So we spent a couple of hours running around saying goodbye to as many members as we could. Then he had to pack which took a couple of hours and I decided I would stay up with him so I went to bed at like 12 am. Tuesday,  we woke up at 2:45 to make the 4 a.m. bus. The bus got to the capital much faster than we expected it to, so we got to hang out in the chapel where they do the changes for about 4 hours.   This was fun because we got to spend some time with the mission president and see  all the other missionaries as they got there. I got to see a bunch of kids from my CCM group which was fun. My new comp is from El Salvador and has 10 months in the mission. His name is Elder Simoni and I think we'll get along well. The fact that Elder Mann left means that right now I'm in charge of showing the area which has been very stressful, but its been a really good week.
      We had a ton of lessons and placed two fechas. I know its all thanks to the lord. Bob came to church again and so he's looking really good to be baptized the 27th. Deepest thoughts of the week was when we were walking home from dinner and talking about some pretty profound doctrine that is super secret and can't be talked about over email. No practical jokes but my new comp does sleep walk and I've woken up twice this week because he was either talking really loud or he's shaking me, so its pretty much like sharing a room with Chase again. We have quite a few investigators progressing which is always good. Love you all and can't wait to talk with you soon. I hope you're having a great Christmas. Love Connor

                           Elder Solorzano, Elder Warth, Elder Mann and Elder Wallace

                                                         Last day with Elder Mann

                                                              Awesome Christmas decor

Fantastic Week

     It has been a fantastic week and I have so much to tell you guys. First off, we finally had some investigators in church which was so nice after not having any for so long. We had 6 investigators come which is a crazy high amount.I think God was just testing our faith and since we proved faithful he decided to bless us. Right now we have 2 baptism fechas but are going to place many more this week. One of the guys we have a fecha with is named Jose but I call him Bob because hes got dreads down past his butt. He's like 50 and super weird but he always reads the pamphlets and remembers everything. He went to church with us this week and we got a lot of really weird looks from the members when we walked in. The other fecha is a guy named Santos.   He's a little bit slower but I think he can make it. The other awesome investigator that we had in church is the husband of a member.   We contacted her on the street and she told us she was baptized in El Salvador and moved here 4 months ago. We taught her family one time and I didn't expect either of them to come to church but they both showed up and then they came to the Christmas devotional too. It was amazing.   The guy has a drinking problem which is super common here in Guatemala. 
     I don't know if you guys have seen the He is the Gift video that the church has made but if you haven't you have to watch it. They're making us use it in our contacts and we're watching it with our investigators and members. The Church has put a ton of money into this, it's playing 24/7 in time square and it was the main video on Youtube yesterday.  It's super powerful and I've watched it like 20 times. I got a Christmas package from Grandma and the Mikesells this week which means I now have four. I already opened Grandmas because I was curious about the shirt which you will see in the pictures. Changes are Wednesday but neither me or my comp is having changes so we have at least 6 more weeks together and then I think he'll probably leave.
      Anyway its been a fantastic week and I haven't been cold this week at all, so that's good and don't worry about sending me a sweater.   I can buy one here if I need it. All the clothing stores are second hand US stuff anyway. .Strangest thing I saw was probably this tradition they have in Guatemala where they all burn Devil pinatas on the 7th of December.  My favorite spiritual moment was Sunday in fast and testimony meeting. One of the members is getting sealed next Saturyday and she got up and talked about that and it was super spiritual.   Love you all and hope your having lots of fun. Love Connor

                                              Sweet gifts from Grandma and Grandpa

Frustrating

    This week has been pretty frustrating. We are teaching tons of lessons, like over thirty a week, which is the best of our district if not the zone but we have almost 0 progressing investigators. We have one that loves to read the Book of Mormon and everything, but she won't come to church or accept a baptism fecha. Other than that, we don't have anybody progressing and we don't know what we need to do differently to find people who will accept us.  To answer the questions, Yes the lady from last week is the ward mission leader's wife. For snacks, I usually buy a little pack of cookies that cost 1Q, which is super cheap.  The snacks that are made here in Central America are super cheap, which is awesome because they taste really good too. Funniest thing that happened this week was when we were going back from lunch this drunk guy started talking to us. He's the neighbor of the other missionaries and one of the other missionaries is really quiet and doesn't talk much, so the guy kept asking him if he was gay. The elder was super upset but he got over it. The drunk people here are kind of scary. You never know what they're going to do and they always want to talk to the gringos. People are always drunk here too. I don't know where they get the money to drink so much but I do know if they don't have enough money to buy real alcohol they just buy rubbing alcohol and drink that, which is really sad. There aren't any sisters in our area, there are two in our zone but their area is super far away from us. The weather this week week was not fun. It was super windy and it blew dust everywhere. There was always dust in my eyes and at night I got really cold which was terrible. It hardly ever rains anymore which is good and bad I guess.   love you all talk with you soon.  Hey I got the Christmas package you sent this week which was fun because I got it exactly one month before Christmas.   Love connor