January 31st, 2011

Here in Guatemala, it is preferred that the people wear nicer clothes to show respect, but most people don't have those clothes. Many come in t-shirts and jeans because that is the nicest that they have. I know that God doesn't judge us on what we wear, but on the heart, just like it says in 1 Samuel, "For the Lord looketh not on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart".  I have learned to be less judging, more loving, and more acceptable by living here. 

Well, this past week´s been interesting. My comp still is sick but we spoke to Hma Baldwin about it and I get to be nurse of the mountains, ha ha. We had a zone conference last week and I received my package. We contacted a lot last week, or at least it felt like it.

From a journal entry:

January 26, 2011

8 months in the mission. I don´t believe I have had a day during which so much bad luck has followed us, most of it not having anything tow do with teaching or contacting. Today we had a zone conference in Patzicia. We left early and on the first bus the man charged Hermana Perez 5 quetzales extra. Then on the 2nd bus for Patzicia they (the bus people) left us at the entrance and would not carry us to where we needed to go so we had to walk 15-20 minutes from the entrance to the chapel, and on the way saw a rainbow and a flattened carcass of a dog. The meeting felt long, our zone sang ´´Armies of Helaman and As sisters in Zion´´ in Spanish and English. During lunch the 2 zones sang Happy Birthday to me and 8 other missionaries. We had more meetings, one of them being within our zone, in which we practiced how to ask help from the bishop. During these practices one of the APs, Elder Montoya, poked his head out from the bench behind us and asked, ´´are you happy?´´ or ´´Está feliz?´´ 

 

After the meeting was over we received letters and packages. We returned in bus and the man charged Hma Perez 5 quetzales extra and when I called to stop so we could take another bus to Comalapa, the bus driver wasn´t listening. We passed the intersection and I kept calling to stop... they finally stopped about 10 minutes after our destination and we had to walk back. On the way, again the sight was beautiful... and then we saw another dead dog in the gutter. 

 

Well, finally the last bus didn´t have problems except it was really full, and the bus people were more polite than the others. So in the afternoon we visited Hermano Sitavi, Neri Cali, and Blanca and Jorge and family. When we were teaching Neri we began reviewing about the organization of the church, which may have put him under stress. Neri has epilepsy so when he gets excited or really nervous he has seizures. As we were teaching him his countenance changed in a matter of seconds and he appeared as though he was having a heart attack and about to fall on the ground. Me and Hermana Perez were afraid but instead of freaking out, I found myself saying in a steady, quiet voice, ´´Está bien, Hermano, está bien.´´ After what appeared to be a minute, he sat back up again and was again normal  but didn´t talk. I felt terrible that I had put that stress on him but am grateful to the Lord for guiding me to know what to do. 

 

It may appear that today was a day for hardships and experiences, and that maybe there wasn´t anything to learn but to have patience. However, I learned how to grow like a flower that´s surrounded by rocks. I have strong roots in what little soil I do have and although life moves stones nad pebbles on top of me, sometimes blocking out the sun, I keep pushing upward and keep striving. I guess then, that my name in kaqchikel is a good name for me. Literally translated it is k´astab´el, but Marcos and Rosa Cali gave me a name that they say best describes my last name: Kotzij. Kotzij means flower.

 

I know that notwithstanding the many trials we will have in our lives, God will always give us strength to pull through and continue. Our Heavenly Father loves us, Jesus Christ gave his time and live for us, and the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through a prophet of God.

 

No birthday package, but had a great birthday anyway!

Okay, so first thing. I wanted to ask you if anyone knows a Ryan Scott that served his mission in Guatemala and baptized Lucy Curuchiche and her family? 

 

Monday after internet we ate lunch in El Tejar with all of the elders from our district. The cook for el Tejar always has a salsa made with chiles so the elders began to pass around this bowl, freaking out when someone took a scoop of the salsa to put on their food. The chiles in this salsa are small, round, and very spicy. When the bowl got to me, I put one scoop on my rice and the elders began freaking out, even moreso because I am a sister missionary. Then I put a second scoop on and they freaked out even more. To eat the chiles wasn´t too bad. They were spicy but I´ve had worse. The only thing it did to me, like all other chiles, was that I was full faster. 

 

Tuesday we cleaned, bought fruits and vegetables and lunch, and then returned to the house to rest. My comp rested and I painted. 

 

Okay, so of my bday, here´s the journal entry.

January 20, 2011

22 years old, happy birthday to me! I had a great birthday although I received few practical gifts. Half of the gifts I received from other sister missionaries I gave away (all of it was food) to other hungry missionaries, like my companion and Elder Romero. 

 

We traveled to Montufer for a meeting with the North mision, in which Elder Ballard spoke to us, as well as Elder and Sister Clark. Every missionary got to air shake hands with Elder Ballard because he didn´t have time to shake everyone´s hands individually. Some key notes:

1. Don´t waste any part of your mission.

2. Be an exceptional missionary.

3. Always be conscious of the worth of one soul.

4. Light a light that will never burn out. 

 

Later, as we arrived to Chimal, we were to meet a couple that were going to carry us back to Comalapa. As we waited for them to arrive we entered into a large devotional in the stake center. Bishop Burton was talking and then at the end of the devotional the choir sang the ¨As Sisters in Zion and Armies of Helaman medley,´´ which I love! Also, I had the chance, along with my companion and 6 elders that were there, to shake hands with Bishop Burton and Elder Martino.

 

My comp´s been sick almost every day this week so we haven´t made many visits. It´s so boring being in the house nearly all day, but at least I have much time to study. (Destinee's companion has had it tough.  If anyone speaks/writes Spanish and would like to write to a Hispanic Hermana, please let me know and I will give you the information) 

 

Well, time for the photos. I love you all and hope everyone is doing okay. Tell grandma and grandpa hi for me and that I pray for them, hope their health is good and thanks for all of the letters and cards. Hug buddy for me. And tell everyone else hi and if they aren´t members of the church to look it up because it is the true church. If it wasn´t I wouldn´t be here on a mission. Love you all,

Love Desty

 

These are the two paintings I´ve done on the mission. The one with the tree is not finished quite yet, but I painted the majority of it in about 2 hours the past pday.  

Another Christmas Picture

Happy birthday Hermana Park!

I haven´t received it (her birthday package) yet but it will come... maybe I will get it on Wednesday because we have a meeting with the North mission in the capital and Elder Ballard is going to speak to us. 

Oh yeah, so for my birthday, Heavenly Father gave me the chance to see a baptism of an investigator. Jorge Muñoz was baptized.

marriage of Jorge and Blanca

Baptism of Jorge

Hermana Park, Hermana Perez, Bianca and Jorge on his Baptism day

What did the mission give me for my birthday? A new companion, and to be senior comp. My companion is from Honduras and is named Hermana Perez.

Hermana Perez is the first Hermana on the left, then Destinee is next.  This is a picture taken at the Sisters gathering last month, before they were companions.

 

 

Well, of the elders, they probably didn´t know what they were doing was bad, and the member shouldn´t be in the bar in the first place,(good point) but we didn´t know they were going to play pool in a bar so we couldn´t say anything about it.

 

Yeah, about Ty´s bday. Tell him happy birthday for me. I can´t send anything to him probably, but hope he has a fun day.

 

Ha ha, que calidad! Yeah, that photo of us was one of my favorites because all of us placed our cameras, hit the timer button, and then ran to place so it was completely random, but it turned out well. (she is referring to this photo from last weeks email.)

 

 

Well, not much else happened this past week, but I have something to ask of you all. Can you pray for me? Being senior companion first of all is difficult, although really it is just about serving more, but being senior comp to someone who doesn´t speak any English, doesn´t have much experience in the mission, and is a little difficult is something that I will have to work hard at to get through. I like her because she has a strong testimony and shares experiences, but you all can understand, I believe, how some people are. (if you want to know more, ask me)

 

However, I have never been more grateful in my life for the opportunity to serve a mission and to help others make a difference in their lives. I know I was called here in Guatemala for a reason and I am here to help prove that even the harder areas of the world have people who desire to make a difference in their lives and fight more actively for the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all and hope your week goes well. Tell everyone I send my greetings and to make sure to share their testimony everyday because to share our testimony will help us to grow. Adios,

Love Desty

Pictures of some murals of Comalapa

Today is tidbit and question/answer day

I asked Destinee questions today.  Here are the questions and answers:

How was your week?  What new thing did you learn?
My week was good. We did much walking and inviting people to come to church, we traveled all over Comalapa in the pueblo and even to one of the aldeas where I met one of the inactive members. We also met another inactive member that we had thought we had met, but the guy we talked to before was actually a different person so we cleared things up with that this week. We went to the site for the church, where they plan to build the church when there is a high enough attendance and there we prayed to receive help with the mission work. Later in the week I read a conference talk that mentions how Brigham Young declared Utah to be the place to build the church and many didn´t believe. Many in the mountains believe that the people are hardened, and although many are, I believe that one day Comalapa will be like Utah. It will grow. I learned that even though we have faith, sometimes we have to wait for the miracles. They don´t come immediately.

Who are your new contacts?  Anything interesting about them?
Um, well, we made many contacts but only found one new investigator this past week. His name is Ismael and is a 18 year old son of inactive members. We will try to return and talk to him and his family. Nothing really interesting, just like everyone else they speak Kaqchikel.

What did you eat this week?  What was your favorite thing?
This week there were lots of things we ate. Most days we ate pasta or sandwiches, tacos, and the like. We ate at Hermana Curuchiche´s house monday and had rice, broccoli, and steak. I guess my favorite thing really is to eat tortillas with peanut butter. It is a good little meal.

Describe the scenery around where you live.  What do you like about it?  What don't you like about it?
The scenary is kind of like  Utah. The climate is similar but less extreme, but the mountains are filled with the same kind of trees. What I like about it is that I feel at home here. The mountains are wonderful. What I don´t like about it is that it reminds me of home.

What did you do for P-day today?  give details.
Oh, last week? Well, our pday is tuesday and we went to Antigua for 3 hours and then returned to Comalapa for a cita. I´ll give details in another email.

What is your favorite scripture you studied this week?
My favorite scripture I studied this week'? Well, I have been reading in 3 Nephi and I like chapter 7:15- 19, in which I place my own name instead of Nephi.

How was Church?  What is a typical Sunday like for you?
Church was good. Sundays we wake up at 5:30, I eat breakfast, get ready, we leave at about 7 and sometimes meet with the youth at the church or we go and try to wake up everyone and remind them of church. We gather everyone we can and then have church. I lead the music, sister benavides plays the piano. Sometimes we have less than 40 people and other weeks more than 40, but less than 65. After we return home to eat lunch and then leave to work all day long, visiting people.

What did you learn about your companion this week?  If nothing, then learn something!
I did learn something from her, no worries. I just can´t remember exactly, but always she tries to be bold and brave and tries to talk to families.

Any Baptismal prospects?
Heck ya! Jorge Muñoz will be baptized this week.

Who was the most influential person to you this week?
The most influential person... hm... I will get back to you on that.

Now for the tidbits:

here goes my mini summary of this week.
So for pday we went to Antigua and us sisters went to shop for shoes for Hermana B and print photos. The elders went and played pool. The elders played pool in a bar, a member walked in and saw them, called the counselor of the stake president, who then called the stake president, and the stake president called president baldwin. Everything happens in the zone of Chimaltenango. We have a punishment now that we cannot leave our areas, even within the zone, but that's okay because changes are in 2 days and Comalapa has everything Antigua has. (oh oh!  I am sure the Elders were just naive about this being a problem)

Well, as we were leaving from Antigua we met two young men from the states who called out, "hermanas!". They are from Las Vegas but are now living in West Jordan. It was easy to tell that they are members of the church.

We are finding more inactive members. 

And here is a Journal Entry:

January 8, 2011
Imagine this: today on our way back from visiting the family Chacach I saw a tuk turn the corner quickly and it tipped over on its side. I didn't see much else after but I doubt anyone was hurt. Speaking of the Chacach, we finished the lesson with Brother Chacach with him praying. I asked him to pray specifically to know that the church is true. He failed to do so, so I asked him to pray again but the second time to ask specifically. It was a cool experience because after, the spirit was present to testify and as we left everything was silent.

 And Pictures:  "The first is of a church in Antigua... or ruins of it. The second photo is of elders Cese and Black jumping out of Subways, and the third is of our district"

Happy New Year!

Everyone says that it gets colder in January here but so far it´s been really warm, almost too warm. 

Well, for New Years the Guatemalans have bands playing from night to morning or from morning to night, and there are fireworks all night long as well. For us, we spent the day teaching and contacting, and then New Years Eve night we finished off by having dinner with the Family ******, the hermana is active, but her husband and 2 sons are inactive. (the oldest son (21) has come to church recently and often, and the youngest son (18) came sunday). There were snacks like nachos and apple salad and marshmallows, and punch, and for the dinner we ate rice with seafood. Now, about seafood, we cannot eat it here, but the seafood she had was from a bag that was made by a larger company so it was safe to eat. Oh, and in this mixture of seafood there was crab, shrimp, I believe pieces of oyster, squid, and octopus. It wasn´t much but that was the first time I tried octopus. Anyway, after that they had cake for us to eat too. For this day, most of the buisnesses are closed too. 

I have felt better lately without the headaches and without a cold. And I need to take the vitamins more often... I forget. 

Personally I like tamales made from corn instead. The rice outside is more jello like so they aren´t as good. But for the 1st we were invited to eat with the family Sotz and Xocop and they made us paches! Paches are made from potato instead of corn or rice, and there were chiles in the paches also, which made it even better. 

From those I have tried, this would be the order from favorite to less favorite:

Paches

Tamales of corn

Chuchitos

Tamales of rice

Black tamales

As you can see, paches are very good, and black tamales... only if you like food really sugary.

They are already asking!? Weird. (in reference to people asking when Destinee returns) I am not ready to return yet so I plan to stay out here longer... even if my knees begin to hurt more... which they have. I think it is a combination of how I sit and the cold weather that causes them to bother and hurt me, but it isn´t too common and is only for a few minutes. But as long as I am careful I will be all right and won´t come home for nothing, even though I love everyone there at home. 

I know there was a reason I was called here to serve in Comalapa. We have started the move to bring back the inactive members to the church, and have succeeded nearly in bringing 2 of these back, as well as one of the families with joint effort of the branch. There is always a reason why we are called to where we are called.

So how were your experiences from the new year? Did all of you stay up late? 

Well, now I will read dad´s email to me. Thank you ty for the letter and mini-message. I found a post office also so I will try to send some letters soon. I love you all. Have a good week. 

Hug buddy for me and tell him I can´t wait to play with him and tell kiana to be good and watch for something for her in the mail. 

Tell Tyler to drink orange juice although he doesn´t like it and eat soups, and tell dad to not work too hard. Love you mom! 

Oh, and I will send an old letter to grandma and grampa too... old because I wrote it like 2 months ago, just in case I found a post office. Adios!

pan dulce in the shape of a lizard

We had divisions between all the sisters in the mountains so Hermana Rubio came to Comalapa with me

the painting I (Hermana Park) am working on

 

Finally, CCM Group photos

While I am waiting for emails today, I was finally able to capture group photos taken of Destinee's group at the CCM way back in June/July.  Destinee is in the maroon shirt in the first picture and the green one in the second picture.

and a reminder of what a chicken bus is

What is it and why is it called a "chicken bus"?

From Google searches: "They are multi colored, tricked out, old school buses, with beefy springs and powerful diesel engines rule the roads in much of Guatemala. We call them “Chicken Buses and they are transportation for people in the rural areas."

"You've probably guessed where the name comes from. People aren't by far the only thing being transported on these buses. Anything that isn't too big to fit on the roof or in the bus, alive or dead, will do. Since poultry seemed to be Guatemala's most transported product, the name 'chicken bus' stuck and still gets used in everyday life."

Pictures--don't forget to read the email following them

Christmas Jammies!

Wreath that Destinee made for Christmas

Cookies that Destinee made for Christmas

Comalapa

volcano visible from Comalapa

view of the volcano from Comalapa

Hermana Benavides standing in front of the school of tires. The people of Comalapa call it the school of the Gringos because there are a few North Americans that are working on it

Ducks for Dad (a family joke)

most of our last district- Elder Pearson and Elder Knight, Hermanas Garcia and Guaranda, And us (Hermana Benavides and Hermana Park)

Us with Hermano Juanito on Christmas Eve

A parade of Mascots on Christmas

short email--pictures coming.......

Yeah, I am. (Happy--I mentioned how happy she sounded in her phone call) I had bought pb from the office so I still had some, and I made cookies that we could take to give to people while we caroled. I will keep the jar you gave me as back up. 

I had a feeling that Kade would call not too long after me. (Elder Kade called while we were on the phone with Destinee and had to call back later--just like everything else with their missions--she is minutes ahead of him--lol) Ha ha.

I think I am coming down with something too, but I am not sure. It could be that I am just tired. I have had headaches every day for the past 5 days. That is really not fun.

Hey fog... I know that stuff. I see it often here. Luckily there is no rain though. 

Oh yeah, I don´t know if you sent the birthday package yet... more likely yes than no, but if not, I do have 1 request... dried apples. It is funny the things a person can miss. I can´t find dried apples here, or spinach, or cottage cheese. 

Oh, speaking of food I have had many tamales. I ate one while on divisions in Antigua, then last week for Christmas Eve we had tamales with the Xocop, on Christmas we received tamales and gifts from a family that we teach english to the kids... the kids are actually not very young, but we call them the family with the four kids because we recognize who we are talking to, like ¨la familia de los patojos.´´ The oldest is 22, the second 20, the third 17, and the fourth 15. Anyway they gave us tamales. Then we had black tamales with the family Rodriguez... yuck. Black tamales are much sweeter and are made with chocolate, but still have the meat and the same outside. Those are too sweet for me. Then we had red rice tamales last night. I think I don´t want any more tamales for some time... too many. I am sick of them already.

It´s fun to receive all of these mini letters. (I had her siblings write mini messages on the email this week) Thanks all. I am going to send more pictures this week and write less because I already told you basically all that happened the past week. Love you lots. Love Desty

email, and a journal entry--oh and pictures!

Well, this week was interesting. We found more of the inactive members and found out where others live. I think we are going to complete our goal of finding all of the inactive members this month. This past week on one of the days, we were studying and heard a knock at the door of the gate. I opened it and there were the Jehovah Witnesses. They gave us a flyer that I put in my journal. Now we have found their house, and they have found ours. Another day, in the night, Elder Black was telling us some words he had learned of a language called Pokoman or something like that. I said it sounded like Pokemon and this caused Elder Black and his comp Elder Manzano to begin laughing, and they laughed, and laughed and laughed. This morning on the bus we were listening to techno and there was a song that reminded us of Captain Hook and the crocodile. At the end of the song someone said, ´´I´m going to get you´´. This made it even more funny.

These are photos with 2 of the investigators, Katherine and William.

So we also had divisions for training meetings. Hermana Benavides went to the training in Patzicia and I went to San Pedro Antigua. It was so cool there. Here is my journal entry from that day. 

December 17, 2010

We had divisions so I went to a little colony of Antigua named San Pedro. It is a beautiful place, the temperature is nice, the people are friendly, and the house is huge and pretty. The elders were living there up until the last change- Spoiled they were. We went to a ward devotional tonight and I participated by singing in the choir. There was a RM from our mission who came to watch (Elder Aceituna). He said it was strange to go back to a normal lifetyle, to not be able to put on his plaque again.

It is so cool to live so close to the volcanoes. Although some people might think it scary, as I did before the mission, it really isn´t and is actually awesome to see an active volcano blowing smoke or causing huge flashes in the sky at night. 

Oh, so I´m with Hermana Gaitan here in Antigua speaking 100 percent spanish, but it´s okay. I occasionally think of when I have to leave to return back home, and I know I will miss it here. I love Guatemala.

Well, that was it for that. Of course I do miss it a bit to be at home, but I really do like it here. Spanish feels so natural and here feels like home. This week and last week there have and will be posadas, catholic processions in which they carry statues of Mary and Joseph and go from house to house seeking refuge. It is cool. I´ll send pics. Well, I am going to send pics right now, but as for my testimony, though you won´t be able to understand:

Yinwetaman re ri kolonel k´es chuqa xa kayew ta roma roj. Ajaw, katata´, yiruwajo roj. Roj oj rajkual ri ajaw. Joseph Smith e ko ach´el re q´ij, rub´i Thomas S. Monson. Ajaw ritzijoj kin roj. Yinwetaman re ri rochoch ri Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días kitzij. Yinwetaman re ri wuj richin ri mormon kitzij, chuqa ri ach´al´al k´es e tunul katzin. 

Love you all. Adios