New beginnings!

Okay, so I am in a new area, with a new companion, and I know that a lot of you have a lot of questions about where I am at and how things are. So I am going to do my best to try and answers all of your questions!

Chichicastenango

So my area is Chichicastenango, in Quiche Guatemala, and I am pretty sure that it is the farthest zone from the mission home jajajaja, I am an outcast and have been sent far away! In fact my area is 2 and a half to 3 hours from Xela! A very long bus ride! And very different from being only half an hour away in San Cris!

This area is gigantic! There are a ton of like little cities out in the middle of nowhere, like the farthers part of this area, is 45 minutes in a bus... so imagine how much time it would be if I had to walk everywhere! It is really different from San Cris in that there are a ton of hills, where San Cris was just flat. And it is way hotter here, SAn Cris got really cold at night, but here in Chichi I dont even have to walk around at night with a jacket on because it is nice and cool! 

I am in Souvenir heaven! All of the missionaries here sent me email asking me to buy things for them! jajaja and there are a ton of gringos here! because of this market. One of them even asked to take a picture with me and my comp because his friend was a missionary in Brazil! Look I am already famous here jajaja. So seriously if you want anything typical or some sort of souvenir let me know! Although I think that i am going to just buy a new suitcase and stuff it full of things to bring home. Which means that i am also probably going to be spending a lot of money here jajajaja. I know that my mom said that she wanted a Guatemalan nativity scene, which they sell in the market here! 

The apartment here is really nice, in fact i think that it is nicer then the one I was living in in San Cris. Although the bed that I sleep on is rock solid. Although not really a problem and night since I am hiking up and down hills all day! And the house sits litterally right on the main road. So I hear and feel every car and bus that pass by during the night. Which at first was a bit of a problem, but now doesnt bother me at all. Yes, we have electricity and running water, and water that for once is always hot! YAY!

The food is the same. Tortillas, beans, and rice. Dont think that I will be eating anything other than that for the rest of my mission jajaja

Everyone here could not figure out whether or not I was Latina... of course. What else is new. My zone leader was struggling a bit trying to figure out whether or not he could speak english to me jajaja. I had several people tell me that they thought I was from Columbia... nope! Also for once feel like my Spanish is really good, since everyone here complimented me on how good it was and asked if i spoke Spanish before the mission, which I think was in part why everyone was so shocked that I am a gringa! jajaja yes!

The people here seem to be a lot more closed off to hearing our message. I cant even count the number of times that a door was shut in my face this week, or the people that wouldnt even open the door for us jajaja oh well.. this is the mission life! It is taking awhile for me to get used to. Most of the time I have no idea where we are, so I do feel like I am being trained alll over again, only this time I can speak and understand Spanish! 

Everyone here speaks Kiche! or the Mayan language. The good thing though is that they also understand Spanish! But seriously this language, Kiche, is so cool! I dont even know how to explain what it sounds like. Although, it is really hard to learn anything. I only know a few words, but I am glad that I dont have to learn it and can just focus on my Spanish!

I dont know if the people here are any poorer then the people in San Cris... i dont know, I think that I have just gotten to used to being surrounded by so many people who only have enough money to just get by...

Hopefully I was able to answer your questions... if you have anymore digame!

Companion

My companion is Hermana Rodas. She is from Honduras, but lives in Peten Guatemala. She is a convert to the church along with her dad and sister, although she is the only active member in her family. She has 10 months out here on the mission, and i think goes home the transfer before i do.

Anyways, she is really cool and I am having a lot more fun with her as my companion. She is trying to learn english and so speaks to me a lot of the time in english but says really funny things at random times like "YOLO" or " come on man" jajajaja

Rama Chichi

Okay so the branch here is tiny! I think that the assistance is like 50 people every Sunday. The chapel is the tiniest chapel i have ever seen, like i think that the building as a whole is half the size of the sacrament meeting room in the chapel at home. There are really only 2 families here that are pilas! And not suprisingly, they fill all of the leadership positions.

The President of the branch here is a bit of a bafoon. As he is trying to do the least amount of work as possible here. In fact, he has apparently told the missionaries before that he doesnt want to increase the attendance during sacrament meeting because he doesnt want to have more work to do. PUCHICA!

Like I said before there are only 50 people that come to sacrament meeting each sunday, and about half of them leave after the first hour, and i think that there is something like 200 inactive members. So, needless to say there is a lot of work to do! IN helping the ward leaders, strengthening the members, and finding new people to teach!

Carnaval

So, I dont know if you guys remember anything about this but here in latin america they celebrate Carnaval, which I am really not sure what its purpose is but they celebrate by throwing flour, eggs, and confetti on people during these days of carnaval. and I mean like a ton of flour, eggs and confetti, people are litteraly bathed in flour!

SO my first day here in Chichi just so happened to be the last day of carnaval, when people just go crazy! And as we are walking at night to a members home, and bus drives by and boom! I find my arm covered in flour jajajaja it was my welcome to Chichi and I am just glad that it wasnt an egg!

Had the real welcome to Chichi though when we were walking and passed by these three drunk old men, and one of them tried to touch me. The good thing was that I was quick enough to turn my body so that he didnt! Oh! The joys of being in Guatemala! Creepy drunk old men!

Gringos (as)

So everyone here in Guatemala, and I am sure everywhere in central america has this idea of how the states are and how the people are. Everyone thinks that all gringos have blond hair and blue eyes. Which I think is why, in part, people have a hard time thinking that I am from the states, although my height often times gives it away!

Also the people here have this idea that all the people from the states are just loaded with money! My companion I think twice this week made some sort of comment like, " well your a gringa so obviously you have money" jajajaja

Well thats all i got for you all this week! Hope I was able to answer some of your questions! Have a great week! Now that I love you guys so much and think of you often!

Always remember who you are and whose you are!

Los quiero mucho!

Hermana Loo

Chichi!

This cool site we found, where all the people here go to do there weird Mayan things. each one of these statues represents a different god or something like that, and they go and burn things in front of these statues when they are asking or in need of something... so weird! 

The church building here in Chichi! so small!