Buenas tardes todos!
The mission is still chugging along over here in San Pablo, Guatemala! Everything is great. Learning Spanish is really overwhelming at times but I am seeing the fruits more and more everyday. The most difficult part is listening and understanding, especially in the rural area that I am in, they have very heavy accents and a lot of slang. My native-speaking companion doesnt understand sometimes.
The weather is great over here right now, I get a nice balance of torrential downpours and intensely humid heat... its great. I used to take pride in the fact that I don't sweat a lot...I was wrong. I have also grown to hate the dogs here... they are filthy and all either want to kill you or appear as if they have been run over by a lawnmower. I have only been charged by one, luckily it was only bluffing to get me away from the door of the house. The mean dogs at home were actually really nice. Oh, and before I forget... My companion and got stopped by a group of really drunk guys the other night, one wanted us to come and party with him while the other randomly asked about the three types of heaven we believe in... until the other hit him in the face. Anyway with some patience and kind words we got out of the situation. As we were walking away my companion brought to my attention that they all had guns. Yet in actuality even the scariest people here really like the missionaries. The old lone drunks are my favorite... my comp and I companion say ¨ hemos escuchado que champinos (Guatemalan men) no pueden bailar¨ or, in english... we heard Guatemalan men can't dance. After this they try to prove us wrong... and its hilarious. You have to be sure they are really drunk harmless old men though... yet there is a solid supply of those here though.
I have had some great experiences with investigators this week. And even a baptism! My favorite this week was Gorge, a devout Catholic that knows his doctrine and has immense faith and love for his Savior. We taught the Restoration and totally macheted the Catholic Church with as much love and gentleness as possible. He had some questions as you can imagine, but after the movings of the spirit and the sincere prayer he agreed to baptism! Now I can't get my hopes up too high, because many back out of the commitment after some time. One thing that's kind of frustrating is I feel that we spend more time walking and riding squished on a bus more than actually teaching. Although, that makes teaching that much better. My companion is a really good teacher and has a thorough understanding of the Bible. He has been very complementary of my performance in lessons and of my improvement in the language. He's probably just being nice, but it keeps me positive. He probably gets sick of me asking him how to say things in Spanish, but he helps me out a lot.
I played soccer for the first time here the other day, it was a lot of fun, and If I am aggressive I can make a little bit of a difference. Truth be told, there aren't very many good players here, but they love it and have a good time. Every day I am amazed that you never here about car accidents... because all of the drivers are nuts. These huge buses make crazy maneuvers to pass other cars on curvy mountain roads. My favorite is to ride in the backs of the pick-ups on the back roads. Its is so beautiful in the mountains. I don't have any pictures of my favorite spots yet because I forgot my camera in the house last time we went there unfortunately. Anyhow, things are great, unfortunately I am not a very good writer and always leave things out on accident. But here it is.
-Elder Davis
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