Despicable Me

Hola,

Things here are going alright.  I'm at the point where my Spanish isn't that bad, I just have a terrible vocabulary.  But it's getting better every day.  I'm also getting used to being in a dirty, third world country.  

I got letters from Remington and the Dabels. (Thank them for me please) I think it was Sister Dabel who asked if I see a lot of poverty.  My half joking response is ¿What do you think Guatemala is?  In all seriousness, there are places here that are really nice, but there is a lot of poor areas.  Third world describes the streets pretty well.  The difference is interesting.  For garbage they have this little semi-truck thing drive around with a bunch of guys that go door to door with little tarps collecting people's trash.

Last week we had to go to a different place for e-mailing because where we normally go the internet went out.  Now that I'm back at this place, I can see a lot more of the pictures you sent me.  Thank you for those.  I enjoy pictures.

The letter I got from Remington was great. Hand written and everything.  Tell him he's a legend.  He also told me not to tell you about anything sketchy.  So when I come back in two years, remember to ask me, because boy do I have some stories for you guys.  Just kidding, there hasn't been anything too dangerous.

Side thought- in Spanish I think the word for pants is singular.

Also they have lots of little shops here that sell tortillas.  Tortillas here are fantastic. They are all hand made.  You can buy normal ones at the super markets, but the ones from the little venders all over the place are small, hand made and taste like heaven. Or maybe I just like eating.

I never really missed music in the CCM, but here you hear it on the streets. (I'm not used to calling them streets. They are called "calles" here.  Double Ls are said like a Y, like in tortillas. So its pronounced "cayay.") anyway yeah.  Also I never really liked music in Spanish before now.  The national instrument of Guatemala is the marimba.  It's like a big, super legit xylophone.  Sometimes I hear what you would call "Mexican music" with a marimba and it's actually pretty fantastic.  Also they listen to a lot of English music.

You always ask me about my companion.  He's good.  He keeps the rules, so that's a plus. In fact I think he studies obedience every other morning.  His favorite movie is "Despicable Me," along with every other Guatemalan.  A couple of days ago they set up a bunch a chairs and a big projector screen in the middle of the calle (like a 4 lane calle) and watched "Despicable Me."  This place isn't normal, but it has its perks.

I think I've talked about the little venders all down the calles but I'm going to talk more about them.  There are a lot of them.  They have tortilla shops, bread shops, food shops, misc. shops and electronic shops.  And there is tons of all of them.  Like honestly, you could live here and never go to a store.  Just buy stuff through some bars off the crappy little sidewalk.  It's really useful if you ever just want a snack or some little miscellaneous thing.

You have asked a couple of times about Christmas.  For Christmas I would like a bunch of letters,  (If everyone who is reading this letter could help me with that one, I would really appreciate it!) maybe some ties, a nice mechanical pencil, (I lost mine at the mtc :( ) pictures! yo quiero pictures, and what ever you feel like would be good.  I think I might be able to find an adapter here but the only ones I've seen I'd have to buy a different memory card (one with the little chip). I only have a few pictures on the one I use now so it's not too bad.  I do have one of me and my companion at the temple. Do you know if my Mickey Mouse card works here, or if it's still active? (At first I was like, "What is he talking about? He's never even been to Disneyland. Then I remembered his debit card has a picture of Mickey Mouse on it.)  If so, how much money is on it? I could probably just buy the adapter with the money I have.

Anyway, I miss you guys. Thanks for the letters and e-mails.

-Elder Jarvie