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Subject: Jutiapa Baby
So this past week were changes-tranfers!! And late Sunday night we got the calls saying where we were going. And they told me that I was going to Jutiapa 2 with Elder Aquino!!
But not my trainer haha there is another Elder Aquino from Fortaleza Brazil who just barely finished his training and he is my new comp! And we are in a place called Jutiapa. Also mom I know I look super red in this photo I will start using the sunblock you sent.
Here is a little context for my new area. So most of the zones in the south mission are in the capital. There is one stake and there are 2 districts outside the capital whereas there are 10 stakes inside the capital. The large majority of Guatemalas population lives in the city. Not sure how many but most of them. There are around like 16 departamentos (departments, like states basically) in Guatemala. Jutiapa is a department. Guatemala is also the department for the capital. Mixco is a municipio of the departamento of Guatemala in the capital where I was at before and has 4 stakes in it. Now Im in a ward that is a huge part of a departamento. So I am covering a LOT more square footage than before and am WAY outside the capital. But I am sooo excited to be here. Been here less than a day now and it's hot. About 2-3 hours on bus to get here and the whole time I thought the suitcases were going to fall off the top of the bus but they didn't! Also Jutiapa is pronounced Hu-tee-ah-pah. The people are a lot more receptive here and we're gonna be hitting the pavement here. Also exciting news is that Jutiapa, which is part of the Jalapa stake, and used to be just one zone, is now its own zone! So there are 6 areas here in the zone. Me and Elder Aquion, the Zone leaders, and 4 areas of Hermanas! So the zone leaders are also the district leaders of one district and I am the district leader of the other one. Jutiapa is also really big so there are Elders and Hermanas here. And the Hermanas here are also Sister Training Leaders so that's cool. The other Hermanas in my district are in a place called Monjas (which means nuns so I thought it was a little fitting that there are Hermanas there) which is a tiny little branch, a ramita, about an hour away from us in bus. So yeah it's super exciting!! Jutiapa is a ward though and the area is huuuge. I haven't been around much of the area yet but on the map it looks ginormous, whereas Lo de Coy is this tiny little thing. So lots of long bus rides and walking coming up! Jutiapa is a ward though and even though we are way outside the capital it is fairly developed. For instance there is a Wendys here!! We are going there for lunch. There is also a pizza hut, a Dominos, taco bell, and a dollar city which really surprised me. And a Dispensa! Which is a store that has american food like peanut butter. So we aren't exactly roughing it but it does feel super good to be outside the capital.
So Monday was spent saying goodbye to a bunch of members. I was in Lo de Coy for almost 6 months and especially with how many divisions I had to do recently with members we were super tight. Monday night I ate pizza and crepes with Junior, my MTC teacher, and it was soooo good. I'm gonna miss that ward and when I come back to Guatemala am for sure going to go visit. them all.
Here is me and the obispo (bishop). He is super good guy. Jonotan.
Me and Ronal
Me and Gerardo, Miguel and Emily from a super awesome family in the ward
And me and junior
He has been with me literally my whole mission so far (including the MTC) so its gonna be a little weird now without him.
Then early Tuesday morning Junior dropped us off at the stake center and a few hours later I was in Jutiapa.
I don't have many pictures yet and the funny thing is I actually have to go back to the mission offices tomorrow for District Leader training but I'll send more pictures of the area and the house in the coming weeks. We're gonna have to wake up at like 3 to get there in time. That will be fun.
Elder Aquino 2 is also super sweet!! He is a convert and speaks really good English!! Yesterday he invited me to be baptized probably 20 times in English haha. And it would also be cool to learn Portuguese from him.
Here is a pic of him in front of the church building
Outisde the cap things are a lot more chill. Guys walk around with their shirts pulled up so their belly sticks out, haha not sure why they do that. And everyone is super receptive from what I've seen so far. Also the ward mission leader here is super awesome!! So exciting things coming our way here in Jutiapa!
Here is a picture of the new zone
In the back we have Elder Sanchez (who was a District Leader Training in my last zone) from Ecuador and he is my new zone leader along with Elder Grant next to him. Elder Grant is from Las Vegas and seems super cool. He also just finished training someone. Then Elder Aquino and I. On the bottom row we have all the Hermanas. Hermana De los Santos, from The Republica Dominicana who just entered the mission field yesterday. Also that is the best last name ever for a missionary because the church in Spanish is la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Then Hermana Toledo, her trainer from Mexico, then Hermana Mendez from Guatemala mismo, then her comp Hermana Solar from Santiago Chile. They are the Hermanas in my district in the area Monjas. Then the Sister Training Leaders Hemana Mosquedo (paraguay) and Hermana Turner (colorado), and then Hermana Modesto (lima peru) and Hermana Sorenson (kearns utah). Don't know much about any of them yet but they seems like great missionaries and the new Zona Jutiapa is about to take off!
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