Semana Santa

First off, last night they told us how the changes are going to go down.  I'm staying in the area, but my companion is going somewhere different.  So that is going to be a little weird.  I've actually never been in an area for more time than my companion.  He is going to be my third, unless you count from the MTC.  I'm sure it will be great whatever happens.

   

It was really cool that I was able to see Jared.  I think he had only been in the mission for like two weeks, so I was lucky that it was just late enough that he wasn't in the MTC.  Maybe next year they'll have a conference too.  I think somebody had said that they did one the year before.

   

It was kind of crappy that I got sick, but I'm like 99.9% better now.  They gave me medicine and a blessing, so what more can you ask for?

   

How many freaking people got married?  How many freaking people are getting married? (I only told him about one that got married and two that are engaged.  Not sure why he's getting so worked up.  He must be jealous.)

  

Tell Kennon he needs to leave on his mission ASAP so we can be companions in Guatemala, and play soccer with all the little Guatemalan kids.

   

That is a nice picture of the you and Emerson in front of the temple you sent me.  My little bro looks like one classy dude.  It's great that you guys got the chance to go.

   

Remington and I have the opposite problem.  There it's cold and he needs a beard.  Here we've had a little bit of hot weather, and my freaking beard needs to stop growing so darn fast.

   

Oh I almost forgot to ask you about something.  Remington and I might have a problem that is the same after all.  When I got sick, I had no idea why but a few days after, I realized that I had like two or three little lumps on my upper lip.  Which led to the thought that it might be an allergy.  Which led to the thought that Remington is allergic to mangoes, and I remembered that I had eaten a mango.  So what I would like is if Remington could send me his symptoms of the time the mangoes tried to kill him, so I could see if the mangoes have the some hatred for me.

   

About the service project, we cleaned an area in the area where we live.  We raked up some leaves and painted parts of the road.  I was mostly raking.  It was great just to do something other than walking and talking.

   

You asked about Easter.  I think here that would be "semana santa" (holy week).  I don't really know what happens or what they do but from what I've heard people they visit their family and it's a crappy time to be a missionary.

   

Today I'm going to send letters, hopefully. If not I should be able to send them this week, Friday at the latest.  I had thought about writing a few times and even started to write.  I didn't write a ton, but I wrote enough and I figure it's better than nothing, and that I should just get it sent.  So hopefully a letter should show up at the house in a while.  I wrote a little to each member of the family and I tried to write something different.  I'll try to get it sent.

   

Another question, what is the name of the car Emerson bought?  Just wondering.  Apart from that I don't think I have too many questions.  That and the mangoes should do it.

   

That would be pretty legit if Grandma and Grandpa Walker bought the house next door.  We would have a lot of property.

   

I think that should about do it.  I'm out of time too.  I love and miss you all.  Go swimming for me or something.  Adiós

 

-Elder Jarvie

Familiar Face From Home

With Elder Dabel (close friend) who is serving in the Guatemala City South Mission

 

Donavaghn and his companion with Henry, who was baptized last week

 Henry and his family

 With his trainer (middle) and the elder his trainer "trained" after Donavaghn 

(Thanks to Juan Carlos for posting this great picture on Facebook!)

This week was a little more eventful, I got sick and everything.  First off we had a multi-mission conference with South and I think the other was central (or something like that).  If you remember South is the mission Jared is in (or Elder Dabel).   He was there.  That was pretty sweet.  Also like everybody from the mission was there.  On top of that, Elder Andersen, from the twelve apostles.  He gave a really good talk.  It was a great conference.

I think it was the next day I got sick.  I don't know what I had, but for symptoms, almost all of them.  I spent most of that day laying down.  A little less crappy is the day after we had divisions.  I stayed in the area still half sick trying to have a good day.  I've been getting better slowly but I still have a little bit of a cold and I talk a little funny.  Though talking funny isn't really new is it.

 

We had a service project with the ward.  It's good to actually use my hands every once and a while.  It was nice.

 

Emerson's car looks pretty sweet.  That is a lot of banging out to do on the side.

  

Man I wish I had a shopping cart full of food.  There are some nice things about home.  (I told him I went grocery shopping at Costco and bought so much food I could barely see over the top of the cart and struggled pushing it to my car, it was so heavy.)   

 

The movie about the pickers that you were talking about (McFarland USA),  I'm pretty sure I saw the commercial for that when I was in somebody's house.  It looked pretty good.  Maybe I'll see it in a few years.  

 

It's really good to see a picture of Kennon and David.  I haven't seen those two in a while.  You'll have to tell me a little more about how they're doing.

 

It sounds like things there are going good.  The house sounds like a lot of fun.  You guys have to be pretty close now.

   

I officially have a plaque?  (at church) That's exciting. what scripture did you guys put on it?

   

One of these days I'm going to send letters.

 

Speaking of people I haven't seen in a little while, you mentioned that Juan Carlos posted a picture. He's a great guy.  There are some people I miss from over there in Campo Marte.

    

The list of things you have to do on the house is interesting.  The rock sounds like it's going to look nice.

   

I'm out of time, gotta go.  Love you guys.

 

Elder Jarvie

Mama Roca

It sounds like the trip went really well and like it was a lot of fun. (Jay and Emerson went to Utah and Idaho)  I would have loved to have gone snowboarding with Emerson.  Here the most exercise we get is walking.  We walk a lot but still the only thing we do is walk.  My arms are going to stop working or something.  I miss climbing things.  (This really brought back a lot of great memories of him climbing things, including door jambs when he was younger. Just for fun, I included a picture below.  Sorry it's a picture of a picture.)  Is Remington's car working now? What do you still have left to do on the house? I really loved the pictures that you sent me.  They were amazing.

 

Emerson bought a new car?  Is it cooler than the last one? Because the last one was pretty legit. Does it move? Or how much work does he have to do on it?

  

That's cool that you bought more fruit trees.  I love fruit.  One of my favorite things about the trees here is that a lot of them have flowers.  It's really neat.  Here there are a lot of things different and a lot of things the same.  If you had bad eyesight there are a lot of places where you probably couldn't tell the difference between Oregon and Guatemala.  But there are some different plants.  A lot of the food I remember Remington talking about. (When people leave for the US they usually go to California or Florida) Like papaya, we almost never eat, but here it's pretty common.  I haven't seen a ton of mangoes but they are here.  Also mango is the word for handle.  There is a vegetable called guisquil, or something like that, it's different.

   

We did have a baptism Saturday.  Just one of them.  Henry got baptized.  He is a really cool guy.  His family was all members but less active.  They had been teaching him for a little while before I got here.  It was great.  He is going to be a great member of the church.  The other person that we are teaching is going to get baptized a little later.

   

I was going to send you some pictures today but I forgot my camera, so next week if I remember.

 

Actually, it's Jared who won 8 quetzales.  I told him his companion wasn't going to speak more than ten words of English.  Honestly, there are good sides to both.  My first companion was amazing.  It was a little hard that I could only speak English once or twice a week. But I think I learned more Spanish in my first week with him than the whole six weeks in the CCM.  The fact is that I need to find a way to give Jared 8 quets.

    

There is a family in the ward that we pay to give us lunch.  They live literally just across the street from us.  We always call the mom "Mama Roca."  Their last name is Roca.  In my last area we bought a lot more food but here the fridge is broken, so we don't buy a lot.  There is a Chinese food store that sometimes we stop by on the way back from p-day.  They sell a big bucket of rice with a bunch of stuff in it.  It's pretty good.  We almost never eat from streat venders.  The normal food makes you sick enough.  We do buy food from little shops a lot. I think I've talked about those right? There are a couple different types.

   

It's great to hear from you.  You write the greatest letters ever.  Hopefully next week I'll send some pictures.  Have fun, I love you all, peace out!

 

Elder Jarvie

 

 

Temple Trip

Hey family! What's up?

   

Things here are pretty much how I tell you they are every week.  Today we went to the temple. Though this time they didn't give me a translator head phone, which isn't too bad.  There weren't too many words I didn't know.  Though I've never heard so much vosotros in all my life.  "Vosotros" is like people using "thou" in English.  It was pretty great.  The whole zone took a bus.  There is a lot of buses in Guatemala.

   

Two of the investigators that we've been teaching are going to get baptized this weekend.  We're super excited about that.  They are both great.

 

Emerson's suit looks pretty legit.  Especially the shoes and belt.  I dig brown.  Just as long as they danced like freaking champs I'll be happy.  But honestly that is one guapo looking little brother.  I'm proud of you bro.  Where did he go to buy it? 

 

Sometimes I wonder if I'll have an accent when I come home.  Maybe I'll call people "mano" by accident.  There are a couple words they use here, sometimes they say "simon" to say "yes."  Simón was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ and I can't take the name seriously now.  It's weird how the way people talk changes in such a short distance.

   

It looks like y'all had some fun this week.  Going to taco buses, taking pictures in front of legit boats, wearing sweet clothes.  Emerson's suit is pretty cool and if it it ever actually got cold here I would sneak into the states just to steal Remington's sweaters.

 

Did you hear that Jared's companion is white?  That means I ow (I forgot how to spell that word).  In Spanish it's "deber" if you can't figure it out.  I'm going to look it up later but I don't have time right now) 8 quetzales he is from Utah.

   

I'm out of time so I'll talk to you next week.  Have fun and I love you all!

 

-Elder Jarvie

Six Month Mark

 Holy cow! The dining room is only lacking a butler.  The wood looks freaking legit.  You guys are really rich.  That is crazy!  (For the record, I think he's been in a third world country long enough to forget what the average dining room looks like.)
 

It sounds like Emerson is going to have a ton of fun dancing, working on cars and driving a lot.  If I told somebody it was going to be 40 below they would go crazy.  People talk about parts of Guatemala where it gets cold, like to zero, but they don't use Fahrenheit so zero is really like 32 degrees.  (Emerson and Jay are going to Idaho to replace the transmission in Remington's car and to Utah where Emerson is taking a friend to prom.  The 40 below comment came from Jay exaggerating how cold he's afraid it's going to be in Rexburg while they work on the car.)

I've heard people talk about the tradition of burning stuff, but I don't think anybody does it.  At least not that I've heard or seen.  Spanish is going pretty good.  I can pretty much talk normal, I just don't know all the words.  But it keeps getting better.

 

I'm really exited for you guys about the the house.  Have you officially left Bellerive in the hands of somebody else or are you still moving things out? (The house is officially emptied! Moving is one of those unexplained scientific things no one can explain.  The more boxes you move, the faster the existing items multiply, until you have 10x the crap you thought you had.)

 

Things here have been going good, all things considered.  My companion hurt his knee.  And it doesn't help that our area is gigantic.  Luckily, he didn't hurt it super bad, so we're still working.  We have a few investigators that are amazing.  Two have baptism dates coming up.  The only problem is we don't have a lot of people to visit members or investigators.  Other than that, it's a great area.

 

I'm not sure what else to write.  There isn't really a ton to say.  I write Jared a little.  He is probably leaving the CCM tomorrow I think.  That's pretty sweet.  We just need to pull some strings to be in the offices at the same time.  The mission east, south, and I think one more have the offices in the same place.  It will be interesting to hear where his companion is from.  It's interesting that I've had a companion from North America (in the MTC my companion was from California) a companion from Central America (my first companion was from Guatemala) and one from South America (my companion right now is from Brazil) 3 different countries.

 

I'm a lot better at soccer than I used to be.  We play almost every p-day.  It's actually a lot of fun. I'm just bad at guarding the goal. 

   

Did I mention that the house looks super crazy freaking awesome legit! (Love his enthusiasm!)  I'm going to need the address in case I ever get around to writing letters.  Hopefully, one day I will.

 

The Spanish word for "mountain range" is "sierra," like the soda.  It's also the word for "saw," but a handsaw is a "serrucho" which is also a Spanish song.  There is actually some pretty good Spanish music.

 

I'm out of time.  Bye guys! I love you all.

Elder Jarvie