Happy Birthday Donavaghn!

The family reunion pictures look pretty cool (see below).  Mostly the Chinese shirts and the beach.  I really want to go swimming when I get back

   

To answer one of your questions, I've been in the city my whole mission, and the same city.  The Durazno was my only area that wasn't much city, it's like right outside the end of the city.  Esperanza was almost the edge too.  The difference is my area now is like downtown, zone 1, smack dab in the middle of the city.  The place where all the buses leave and a lot of the government buildings are pretty close to here.  There is a place here where you can find a bus going to any part of the city and most parts of the country.  Personally, I consider myself more of a country person, but it's nice to be in the city every once and a while.  The down side to being a missionary in the city is that you're not allowed to go anywhere in the city except for your little zone.

   

We had a pretty good week.  Things have gone pretty well with my new companion.  The area needs a little work, but I'm happy as long as I have a good companion.  There are a few great people in the area too.  There is an older lady we've visited a few times who speaks English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.  She's a super great lady and kind of funny sometimes too.

   

The long flight isn't a big surprise.  On the way here, if I remember right, I left pretty early in the afternoon, and left the airport at like 4 in the morning.  Last time I went to Salt Lake, then to LA and then Guatemala.

   

So... does the water heater in the house work well?  I ask because most of the houses I've lived in here don't have hot water in the showers, and I really like hot water.

   

We've got a few things planned for my birthday.  Today we are going to eat pizza and play soccer and tomorrow we are going to go with a few members and stuff like that.  There is another member in the ward who has the same birthday as me.

   

I found a bunch of square pieces of paper and was teaching my companion how to make origami.  There is one that you fit a bunch of pieces together and it makes block shapes.  So we bought colored paper and have made a few tetriz blocks.  We've only made three so far, we don't have all that much free time but they came out pretty cool.

   

Thanks for everything.  I'll talk to y'all next week I guess.

Love 

Elder Jarvie

 

All but 3 grand-kids - Donavaghn (serving a mission in Guatemala), Gordon Walker (serving a mission in Hong Kong) and Jeff Walker who just started a new job. The Chinese symbol on our shirts was the surname given to my dad when he served his first mission in Taiwan.

 

Service Project Part 2

My companion - Elder Rodriguez from Honduras

 

Elder Orellana

Roof Repair Service

Our mission president decided not to be as mean as the assistants and gave us 30 minutes to write.  So I'll be able to explain a little more about the week.  My new area is Las Victorias. It's in zone one, smack dab in the middle of the city.  I've seen buses pass by going to every area I know.  My new companion is Elder Rodriguez from Honduras, the third companion from Honduras I've had.  So that's cool, and he's one of the better companions I've had. (A mother's prayer answered.)

   

The bench looks super nice. I showed one of the pictures to some of the missionaries here, and they agree about the whole rich people thing.  Elder Lugo said you can adopt him if you want.  But seriously the house looks super nice. (Everything looks nicer when you've lived in a third world country for two years.)

 

Monday we did a service project. I think I explained yesterday that that is why we couldn't write.  We were helping a lady fix her roof and it took a lot longer than we thought it would.   And we couldn't leave her without a roof, especially because it's been raining a lot.   You can probably see how the roof is from one of the pictures.

   

For my birthday we have an investigator that makes super good pizza, so we are going to celebrate Monday with the zone and buy stuff, pay him and help him make a bunch of pizzas.  So it should be pretty cool.  After we will probably play soccer or something like that.

   

Last week they sent me a thing saying I had to make a bunch of goals for the next ten years and a bunch of other things: spiritual experiences, etc.

   

I sent some of the pictures from the service project we did Monday.  I'll send more pictures next Monday.  Maybe...

   

Ohh... I almost forgot... tell Dad and Spanky happy birthday for me! Well I'm out of time.  Thanks for everything.  I'll talk to y'all Monday.

 

-Elder Jarvie

Service Project

Hey sorry I couldn't write yesterday.  I really only have time to say I'm alright and I'll write you next week, sorry.  We had a service project yesterday and it took along time.

 

Elder Lugo wants you to adopt him.  Micheala always wanted a black kid, so it might work out.

See you next week then.

I love you all.

 

-Elder Jarvie

Changes Again

While we were contacting in our area we found a little bridge that crosses the dirty little creek that separates our area from the next.  We saw a house that we didn't know who lives there but it was obviously a Mormon.  After we knocked we knew who it was.  Carlos Lopez!

What we found at the bottom of the stairs

Well, sadly it turns out I have changes.  I'm kind of sad about that.  I kind of get attached to my areas pretty quick.  It's sad that I only got to be in my area a month and a half, and that in my new area I'll only be a month and a half too.  That's kind of gay, but I guess it will all work out.

To explain why only I have a blue shirt, (see previous post) it's because I'm the goalie.  No, not really, the guy who sold them offered them in those two colors and asked us all if we wanted white or blue.  I said blue and everyone else said white... but they realized their mistake when we got the shirts :) Honestly, the biggest reason why I chose blue is because I already had a white one.  It's a little different though.  We did it when I was in El Durazno.

The garden looks really nice.  Enjoy it while you can, because I plan on eating all of it when I come back.  Do you still have lemon cucumbers?  (an insane amount) How are the fruit trees doing?  The bench and fire pit look really nice.  The whole house looks really nice as always.  I still need that rich people emoticon.

So I guess we will see where I end up.  Thanks for everything, y'all are the bestest.  Talk to you next week.

-Elder Jarvie

Soccer Shirts & Stairs

They all bought the shirts the Guatemalan Soccer Team wears.

I'm curious to hear the story of why he chose the blue version.

His district along with Elder Uribe

 

"You probably can't see the volcano all that good, but there is a little red spot.  One night after planning my companion looked out the window and saw that there was lava coming out of the volcano, so that was cool."

Well, I started writing a little late sending pictures and all that, hopefully y'all liked them.  One that is kind of fun is the stairs.  There are good sized neighborhoods that are all in a valley like that.  It's a pretty common thing here.  Every once in a while you can find stairway neighborhoods like that that go forever.  The three pictures I sent were from the same spot, one looking up, one down and one to the side.  And there is still a good chunk you can't see.  It's good leg exercise though.

     

You mentioned that I won't be in a trio anymore next change, Elder Marin hasn't been with me for like a week or two, just Elder Gonzalez, the trunky one.  He goes home next week, like 8 days.  It's a pain in the butt to get this kid moving.

   

 Oh, so my release date is August 24th, or so president told me, so there is the answer to your question.

   

Thanks a ton for the pictures.  Also, you are right, Guatemala doesn't celebrate the 4th of July (I was just joking with him), or Thanksgiving and a lot of other things, but they have a lot of other holidays. Speaking of holidays, the 30th of June they celebrated a neighborhood's birthday, weird right?  I was really confused.  There was a parade and everything.  And I had no idea why.

   

Well I'm out of time.  Thanks for everything!  Sorry it's a little shorter of a letter this time.

-Elder Jarvie

Soccer Withdrawals

Hey, sorry that I didn't write yesterday.  We went to the temple today and we got back a little late.  On the bright side, I took pictures this week, but because we came straight from the temple I don't have my adapter, so I'll have to wait until next week to send them.

   

On the way back from the temple the office missionaries called me to ask which airport I wanted to go to.  I told them Idaho, I hope that's all right. (My heart stopped.  He's going to Idaho for school two weeks after he gets home, but surely he knows he has to come home first...) No, I'm just kidding.  I said Medford.  That's what the airport is called right? (Whew...)  I haven't asked when my return date is but it should be around the 24th of July.  (He means the 24th of August)

   

I'll start looking to see if I can find some type of souvenirs or something.  There are a lot of places that sell Guatemalan bags.  I'm pretty good at fitting lots of things in my bags.  I want to find somewhere to buy a Guatemalan flag too.

   

We had a pretty good week.  We have a few investigators that are progressing a lot better now.  So far the closest is Cesia.  The only thing is that she's not married to the person she lives with.  His job schedule changes a lot so it's hard to plan the wedding.  Those are probably two of the most common problems with investigators here, work and not being married.

   

The picture you sent me (see end of letter if you're interested) reminds me about someone who was telling us about the craziest things they've heard people say about Mormon missionaries.  One of them was that we steal little kids.  Here in our area there is a kid who always walks up to us and asks if one of us is from the United States.  So naturally, I always point to my companion and say ¨he is.¨  There are some funny little Guatemalan kids here.

   

Sounds like you guys have been doing a lot of hiking.  I miss the forest.  When I get back we are going to have to go to Boulder Alley or something, or the river, I miss the river too.

 

Fun fact: in Spanish scriptures they sell quads now.   It's a new thing in Spanish.  They used to only sell them separately.  Now if only they sold them in smaller sizes.  That would be fantastic.  Scriptures can be heavy sometimes.  They're bigger in Spanish too.

   

I haven't played soccer in like a month.  We've done something else every p-day this change.  And now I really want to kick things.  I'm going to have to find people who will play soccer with me when I come home.  Maybe in Idaho.

   

Anyway, that's what's going on here.  Love you guys.  Sorry for forgetting my adapter.  I'll send pictures next Monday.  Bye.

 

-Elder Jarvie 

mis compañeros y yo

From closest to farthest

1) Me

2) Elder Marin

3) Elder Gonzalez

How's it going everybody?  We had another slightly uneventful week.  It's cool to hear that you've got the classes all ready.  World Religions sounds super cool, and of course the art classes.  I kind of miss having the time to do art stuff.  And now once again I'll be doing art until my wrists hurt.  I miss dancing too.  I've never understood the whole reading class thing, no idea what that would be, but I'm sure it will be good too.

You asked about my birthday too.  Honestly it's going to be like a month before I come home, so you might as well just wait and buy me school supplies for my birthday present.

 

We had to go to the mission office and stuff a few times this week.  When we went to the office that was pretty much our day.  There is a lot of traffic in Guatemala City and we have to go in buses.  We will probably be seeing the mission president again soon, so I can ask him about the whole return date and all that, when that happens.  Pretty much my entire district is leaving like July 12th.

 

I'll try to take more pictures this week.  I had a problem with my camera.  All the computers in Guatemala have viruses.  That kind of stinks.  You have to be really careful with all the pictures.

 

Anyway, things are going pretty good here.  It's a work in progress as always.  Well thanks for everything.  I really loved the pictures.  bye

 

-Elder Jarvie