My birthday was really great and there is nothing I love more than doing what the Lord wants me to do and being engaged in His work.
We didn't talk long today, cause Joseph had a crazy morning. Their water got turned off. They had paid the water bill, but they hadn't taken the receipt by "the colony office", whatever that is, so it got shut off, so they had to go back to the place where they paid it, get a receipt, go back to the colony office to get it back on. Joseph said in disgust "It cost 75 quetz for them to turn it on! They just have to go and turn a knob.... 75 quetz!!" He also said he showered today using 6 bolsitas/little bags of water (about the size of a sandwich bag). It was funny and reminded me of some of our crazy experiences in Brazil, Costa Rica and Chile. Funny. So it was a quick call, but as always, great to see him and see how happy he is.
Subject: The Pirate of Jerusalem
Alright so here there are lots of people that just walk around in the street yelling stuff that they are selling, usually things that they are carrying on their backs in giant baskets. And literally that is literally like all they do all day. There is this one lady who passes in the morning while we are doing studies who yells "¡El pan!" over and over again but sometimes she yells it as a question "¿El Pan?". And it actually gets really annoying. Another guy who goes around selling bread hold out "El" for literally 10 seconds before says super quietly the word "pan". So it took us a minute before we figured out what he was selling.
Also there is a guy here who hangs out a lot by the bus terminal who is literally the Guatemalan equivalent of Jack Sparrow. It is kind of hard to describe but if you saw him you would know what I meant. He normally has a lot of old clothes on and a weird sash with a bunch of old ties and belts on it. he also has a couple ties and belts around his legs and old hat on. He is known as "the pirate of Jerusalem". But only missionaries know him as the Pirate of Jerusalem because some missionaries a while back started referring to him as that. I have never talked to him before but I think it would be really interesting to hear his life story. So anyways this guy is already a kind of funny looking character and the other day we were on the bus waiting for it to leave to go to a meeting and we saw him but he had a new sweater on. And it was a Christmas sweater that said "All My Jingle Ladies". Combined with what the sweater said and who was wearing it, it was pretty hilarious. And he still has that sweater on and probably still has no idea what his sweater says or what it is referring to but Elder Saxton and I had a good laugh.
This week was really great though! I turned 20 and my little baby brother turned 1! Happy Birthday Peter!!
Elder Velasquez made some chocolate chip pancakes and we put some candles on it to celebrate.
Not sure if it says Birthday Happy or Happy Birthday.
But we are really happy about the people who are progressing. Claudia is going to get married this week and baptized next week! We were a little worried because at first there was hardly any opposition but in this past week it started coming a bit but she is still on track and is exercising a lot of faith. We had a Home evening her and her husband Jairo along with the bishop and their family and the lesson was on families and how to achieve happiness as families. It was really good and I think they both really needed to hear it. So if you can keep them in your prayers that would be amazing because they need a lot of support, but they are really seeing the blessings.
Also Sandi and Gaby, two of Nancy's daughters, came to church on Sunday again! Sandi had been investigating a lot about the church and had read a bunch of stuff online but when she asked us her questions she also explained the answers she had found and she was spot on! So we are glad that she got those out of the way but are trying to help her learn with faith now and read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Since Sunday she has read up to chapter 8 of 1 Nephi and we also went with a member of her same age last night who we think could really help her keep progressing. Also keep her in your prayers!
Also Jairo is doing really well and is still reading the Book of Mormon a ton! But the downside is that he started studying on Sundays so he can't come to church now. So we are working with him so change his schedule but it's a little complicated. He is understanding really well though and is even doing a lot of Come, Follow me. He is a stud.
We are still working with the other people I talked about last week but there are some challenges arising but we have faith that they will be able to overcome those. Yesterday we were on divisions with one of the Assistants, Elder Riffo my old companion, and it went really well. I have a personal goal to be a lot better in teaching by the Spirit and teaching people based on their needs, not just teaching lessons. But things are going really well and we are happy here.
Thanks for all your prayers! Love you all!!
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