First Area! San Pedro Las Huertas...got a bucket of warm water?

Volcan de Agua

San Pedro Las Huertas

Antigua! hahaha right now I'm in Antigua to write the email and we had district meeting here. Our P'Day was actually yesterday but we email on Tuesdays. Our Area is not Antigua its actually 20 minutes away in San Pedro las Huertas. I LIVE ON VOLCAN DE AUGA! (Volcano of Water)  haha basically..  


So My trainers name is Hna.Manzanares shes really awesome and helps me alot. Our house is pretty nice and the ants like it a lot haha. Also..tell all your friends that showering with buckets isn't as fun as it sounds. YOU HEARD! we shower with buckets. We have a shower but it only spits cold water so I'm not about to do that. The bottom faucet has hot water (and by hot I mean you re lucky if its lukewarm) so we use buckets.

So this week has been the hardest week of my life and I'm sure this coming week will be just as hard. Tuesday we went to the mission home which is gorgeous. its a penthouse type place..and then we went out tracting in the city for a bit. That night we stayed in a hotel and waited for Wednesday which is when changes are. I got my boots and candy THANK YOU!!!  It hasn't rained too much but I want it too so I can wear my boots! haha Everyone said my area was going to be cold but its just Guatemala cold..which means normal. So it takes a while to get from the capital to my area but we had people (members in Antigua) drive us there. We (6 of us) rode in the back of the truck so that was comfortable..haha 

Well we unpacked and went to work that night. Thursday was really hard. Honestly I wanted to call the president and tell him I'm done. It was rough to say the least and it still is hard. SOOOOOOO hard but I know its going to be worth it and I will look back on my mission as an amazing time in my life so I'm glad I'm here. We've just been teaching and contacting a ton. 

Sunday I had to bear my testimony in church because that's what new missionaries do here haha. It's a branch and we had 38 people show up..it's tiny we don't even have a real chapel. Then yesterday was MOST needed. It was supposed to be pday but we went to the capital for a training thing because with the new 12 week program we have meetings sometimes. So I got to see all of my friends. The girls cried a lot because we're all with Latinas and can't speak any English and we miss each other and as much as I'd hate for people to feel the same way I had been feeling I was glad to hear I wasn't the only one going through it. haha We were all having a really hard time with things. I definitely needed to see them. It was just refreshing. I feel a lot better today than I did last week. Afterward Pres. Brough could tell we were feeling really terrible so he had a little meeting with the Hermanas and said that the spirit told him he needed to do something about it. He gave us advise and told us that the harder we work the better it gets! So it's time to work really really REALLY hard. After my companion needed medicine so we got to go to the mission office in Pres. Brough's car! and then he took us to McDonalds. It was the second big mac I have ever had in my life but it was probably the BEST thing I have ever tasted haha. I definitely needed some good American food. 

On the way back we were all feeling tired and had headaches so I was like I don't want to contact on the bus but then I felt like we had to contact the WHOLE bus so I leaned over and asked how. Well long story short we contacted the bus..I didn't do the contacting part but I promised I would next time. 

We only get dearelders and letters and everything every 6 weeks which sucks but eso si que es. I will tell you more about teaching and stuff next week..this was just to answer all your questions and let you know how it is.  

I miss you all more than ever and I'm not lying about it being the hardest thing in my life. Thank you for not telling me after that really hard week in the CCM that it gets worse because if you would've I'd be home right now haha. I'll do my best and I LOVE you!

Last day in the CCM!

I do not like today at all! I think I just realized how hard the mission is going to be. One of the girls in our district left today for Honduras and I cried a lot AND they don't even really let us say goodbye! They're like we don't want everyone crying and everything so that is really sucky It's just annoying because I think it would be easier to say goodbye than to not you know? But we all snuck out of our classrooms and gave everyone hugs anyway :)  Everyone going outside of Guatemala left today and then we leave tomorrow. 
ALSO the worst part is they changed our companions this morning so we're all with latinos and in different districts! I miss my district. They didn't tell us it was happening so I've been sad all morning :( but I get to email so that's AWESOME!! I'm so frustrated with today but it's ok...I am so nervous for tomorrow..everything is going to change and I'm just figuring that out. I was SOOOOO excited to leave the CCM but now I'm going to miss it because I won't ever see most of these people again..at least not for a while. Well I emailed everyone so hopefully someone is on to talk to!
I was just thinking about everyone today... and Tell EVERYONE I say hi and that I love them dearly and that they should all write me dearelders because it's free to Guatemala!

 LOVE YOU! 

Last Email from the CCM (MTC)!!!

So this week has been a lot more interesting than last week!

SUNDAY:  Happy Easter that's about it..haha

MONDAY:  Nothing really our investigator didn't come so that was a little sad...

TUESDAY: We went contacting with only our American companions. I was the only one who knew much Spanish so that sucked cause I was the only one talking most of the time and it was really hard. We got 3 contacts :) we also went and talked to a guy I talked to last time and told him we'd really like him to read the BOM and we shared our favorite scriptures. We also had a meeting on security and how people like to rob you. The guy asked how many of us had been robbed and almost all the Latinos raised their hands! I was sad because they're all my friends :(

WEDNESDAY: Today the new rule is boys and girls can't even eat next to each other..That was kind of sad because I like sitting with my district. There are so many little rules..It's just hard.  I feel like if that's the way they wanted it they should just make separate CCM's for girls and boys...

THURSDAY: We went to the Temple today which was really good but it was in English..I like it better in Spanish :)

FRIDAY: was Hna. Muhlestein’s birthday. I'll write about that in the letter.    It rained REALLY hard last night but it was after bedtime. Also I trimmed Hna. Judds hair!! Haha it actually turned out good. You’ll have to tell Michelle about that :)

Dad that was a silly question...OF COURSE I PLAYED VOLLEYBALL!! Haha   When I jump my foot hurts but I still played on it :) we didn't do our best but we still won all three games haha we're undefeated CCM volleyball champions :)

Bye love you!! Have a great day! LOVVEEEE YOU Tell mike I love him and
I'm proud of him.   It’s crazy to think I've already been gone for 6 weeks almost. I'm glad I'm here though it's going to be an amazing experience. I love you so much you are the best parents in the world.

April Fools! & Happy Easter

Nothing really exciting happened this week..April Fools jokes on our teachers and then me and my companions got a real investigator!!  We start teaching him next week!  His name is Ed and he is a security guard up by the temple.

So this week on Monday we celebrated April fools! We turned our desks around and faced the walls and our teacher was like what the heck, and was laughing.  We also switched name tags and had to be whose name tag we had.  Elder B and I switched (hi is the one who hurt m foot) so every time he got up to walk he limped hard core.  Then the teacher faced her desk the opposite way too.  I was like, ok guys let's turn our desks around and then instead of turning them right, we did a 360 and faced the wall again.  Then we switched teachers at night with the other Norte district and we switched rooms and did the same stuff.  haha.   When we got back to our room all of our stuff was hidden and put in awkward places.  The other district wanted to take the prank into their own hands I guess. Haha.  they hung my backpack out the window!  It was pretty funny...We still have to get them back though.   :)

(I commented on her always sitting on the very end in both pictures)  I have to sit on the end because I'm the tallest!! My foot is ok still hurts a little but it's fine.  We're playing new nortes vs viejos in volleyball so I have to be ok! 

It didn't rain hardly at all! I kept wanting it to and it looked like it was going to pour during deportes but it didin't.  this week was semana santa so I haven't gotten any dearelders.  After tomorrow, start sending them to my mission address and put my mission address on the website por favor.  Thanks :)

I leave in ten days!!!!!!! Freak I'm nervous!! Yeah I'm excited!  It would be better if we could actually speak Spanish haha.  Also send me some lyrics to some great song that I love because all the music has left my head and I miss it.  Right now I have "this is the song that never ends..." stuck in my head! 

Well it's about that time...I love you guys so much and I hope you're having a great day!  Happy Easter!   LOVE YOU! Tell all my friends HI and I love them!

Carolyn

March 28th group foto

She must really like that end chair.  But... check out her "shoes".  She bruised her foot playing "futbol" and has to wear her shower shoes for a while!  

MTC Group foto  March 7th, 2012

Excerpts from a real letter!

March 25^th, 2012

         It’s really hard to be here sometimes, but it is so worth it!  There are a lot of hard days but we always have to remember that something greater is coming around the corner.  The rainbow always comes after rain you know?  Haha so cliché.  I know but it’s so true!  I know that a mission will bless my life in so many ways. 

         Dad – Thanks for telling Taylor I say hi!  That’s crazy he’s only like 170.  Take him out to eat a little!  Haha  I can’t send packages until I leave the CCM so as soon as I do I’ll send your scripture cases and you can choose your favorite.  They have really cool leather ones but they were like $50 each so I didn’t get you those.  But I have the guys email that makes them so if we come back I could probably get that done.  There are other leatherish ones that are cheaper too but I didn’t like those as much.

          

         My teachers are all from Guatemala and they all speak English.  Hermana Ibanez, Herrmana Ayala, Hermano Portillo, Hermano Mendez.  They’re all pretty great.  Hmna Ayala has a twin that works here too.  We call them 1 & 2.  Haha  Hmna Ayala went on a mission to the United States to a visitors Center – Ohio or Vermont.  I don’t remember.

          They really want the Latinos to learn English.  I bought an English BoM (50 cents) and gave it to one of my favorite Latinas who already speaks a little English.  She learned at University.  Garments are like 60 cents a piece.  I’m gonna load up before I get home…be prepared! Haha.  We have the choice to go to the Temple on P-days if we want but we normally go on Thursday.  This week we go on Tuesday though.  I love you guys and miss you!  

Monday, April 2, 2012
Because of General Conference, Carolyn is having Pday today.  Here is her email:

So there is alot to say and not very much time!! I hate feeling rushed!! Well I'll start with 


Monday: Alll the viejo nortes and the latinos that came the same week as us that were going outside of Guatemala left. 


Tuesday: The people that went to Guatemala left. We went on a tour to a giant relief map and had a history of the LdeM  (Book of Mormon) explained to us which was awesome. We got to go to Taco Bell and we went to the Temple (the session was in Spanish and I understood tons!!) 


WEDNESDAY: the new nortes and Latinos got here and I burned my hair off. haha some in the back sticks up a little now because my blow dryer got too hot on my round brush. I threw the brush away but now I want it back haha. 


THURSDAY: We sang let the holy spirit guide 1st verse in spanish 2nd in english and the 3rd in samoan because we have a samoan sister in our district. 


FRIDAY: I was playing the unmentionable sport (futbol -soccer) and Elder B. and I kicked feet and
I bruised the bone pretty bad haha I'm walking around in shower shoes. I also  met the mission president and his wife and mom and sister. His mom and sister were down visiting and his mom said she would call you guys..has she yet?


SATURDAY: I saw the mission doctor and he retired me from playing deportes  (sports)  :( haha we'll see how long that lasts...


from email conversation:
...My foot is good I get to walk around in my shower shoes all day so that's nice haha we watched conference in English.  How was California?  Did you get my CTR ring? Dont send it down here because I don't want it to get stolen haha  Well I love you guys. It's time to get off I miss you all and I love hearing from you! Thank you for all your support LOVE YOU!