12-13-11

Dear Mom,

Thats so awesome that he finally got his call! (His best friend, Jacob, got his mission call yesterday, to Denver North Mission, English speaking, leaving February 8.)I am really excited for him, the good thing about being in the states is that the mail is still so fast, he wont have to wait all the time.

Changes are tomorrow but My companion and I arent going, we are staying together for this next change, I dont know how long we will be together but I am kind of glad we are staying together because we get along well and so it actually kind of feels like the mission is too easy right now, time is flying.

Thats cool that Kit gets to go straight to the MTC in Brazil, I had heard that was what they were doing, but it might be frustrating for him at the beginning because I know that the Language will be overwhelming at first, he will probably find a grip though really fast.

I still havent gotten the USAA card yet, I probably wont until this next tuesday, that is when they are coming by to drop off all the packages and other mail apparently, hopefully its gotten here by now, if you sent it more than 3 weeks or even 2 weeks ago then it should be so I wouldnt worry too much. The christmas party was the 5th of this month, but it wasnt really a christmas party, just kind of a p day with another zone, its not really like that here in the mission. As far as calling goes, from what I understood we are supposed to choose the time that we call, we still have church that day because they celebrate Christmas here on the 24th, so it wont be til after that, and I think you are an hour ahead of our time here in Guatemala, but I know my companion was saying he thinks hes going to call around 1 in the afternoon, so probably somewhere between 2 to 4, but maybe 3 to 5 your time since you are a little ahead, but somewhere in there I think, and am I calling you guys and then you are going to call me back? and who should I call, you or dad or the house phone?

Everything has been going really well here in Panajachel, the work is alot harder here than in el tejar, but we are enjoying it, we spend alot of time contacting people, one of the biggest problems is that because we are in the mountains, spanish isnt actually the first language people speak, usually they have been born into a mayan dialect and spanish is a second language that they have picked up growing up, the honest truth is for the majority of the people that live here, I have alot better spanish than them, and so alot of times they dont understand when we teach them, and we have to go back alot and go really slow, it can be frustrating, but I think its helping me to learn how to teach much more simply, which is what I need to be doing in the first place anyways. I wish we could learn the other language because I would love to, but its kind of complicated, and there arent any teachers here or really any books to learn, and we dont really have permission to study it anyways. Another thing that is pretty interesting about my area is just how many North americans there are here, yesterday we saw so many during our p day, that had all come here for the temple dedication in quetzaltenango, it was really interesting because almost all of them had served missions here in the areas that we are in, but about 40 years ago, so they were telling us all about how much the church has grown here, and the people have changed.

Something my companion and I are planning on doing is starting a Bible study class here for the people, because the contacting just isnt working efficiently enough, we will still do it, but we are hoping that we can get other people to come to this class and find in that way, hopefully that will work out but honestly I am not sure how long it will take to get that up and started, so I wouldnt really expect any results for a few weeks, we will just have to see.

Tell brayden that I hope he starts feeling better and that I think it is awesome he is doing so well in track, I think thats all the new stuff I have, well that I can think about right now, I love you mom and hope you and the family are all doing well in alabama, Tell me if I missed a question!

Love,
Christopher