Elder Tadje in Guatemala

AYYYYYY  It's elder Tadje here from the land underwater!!!! I've never been to a more humid place, and the rainstorms here are completely ridiculous. If you don't think it's gonna rain or it doesn't look like it will, just wait another hour or two. It'll come. And it'll bring the entire ocean with it. You haven't lived until you've been in a true central American rainstorm- it doesn't matter how waterproof your shoes are if you're walking down the middle of the street and the water is halfway up your shins!! and I'm just going to say right now that there are few situations harder to find a bright side to then when you're standing at someone's gate preaching the holy word, and a flock of birds decides to use you as target practice. I still can't find where the blessings are in that. But this week we were able to have our first baptism!!! His name is Rodolfo Gonzalez, he's 50 years old, and I compare him to a slumbe...

Holaaaa from what is now actually completely third world! First off, I am completely 100% sure that I am the whitest person on this entire country! I've never had cars pull off to the side of the road (Or swerve- some swerve at you) to shake hands with or point at the gringo! One of the families we taught yesterday all wanted to take pictures (which they posted on Facebook) with us, cuz even when they were all standing on chairs we were still taller than they were! My comp Elder Petronilo's from Mexico and about six foot and some change- Also he speaks 27 words of english. So communication's a real treat! And I have never met a person who walks faster than I run! Our area's by the coast, so its crazy hot and humid. We'll both have sweat just pouring off of our faces and he won't slow down at all!  It's been crazy though- we left the MTC at five yesterday morning, went to our president's house for interviews, went to a church to meet our comps, then h...

Hey all!!! I don't really know what to write for this week, so I'm just gonna send part of my journal entry from Sunday! Today was fast and testimony meeting. This was the first time that I was really able to understand most of what was said in an all-spanish meeting!! It made me almost wish that all of our english meetings today to be in Spanish so I can practice. I wasn't able to get up and share, but Elders Hansen, Henderson, Walker, Lee, Beardall and Wilwand from my district all bore their testimonies in beautiful (I'm using that description generously) hard-worked for and God given Spanish. Looking back it is really is amazing how far we've progressed. We're teaching full 20 minute lessons using only the scriptures after only 5 weeks! It's frustrating to not be able to understand everything or say everything you're thinking, but that will come with time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I guess missionaries aren't in five weeks! To...

Week 4 down! Wassup Utah???? Life down here's good- livin it up, learning Spanish, serving the Lord!!! Every devotional we watch, they say that we'll never have another chance like this to live this closely to the Lord and for this long. And it's completely true- I can feel the difference, and I can feel the changes it's making in me!  We had a bunch of new missionaries show up last P day. They all look like they're about 12 years old, and they told us all that we look like we're thirty. The CCM ages ya. They also cut our hair again- but this time I asked him to only cut the sides, so now I have a mix between a hard part and Mr. T's hair! Wearing all of the exact same clothes for two years gets kinda boring, so you've gotta find ways to mix things up a little bit. Sweater vests are always appreciated. But last Pday we were able to go to the zoo, which was WAY better than Hogle! I don't know if it was because it's central America or what,...

BIENVENIDOS A TODOS for this week's segment of "Tall Blonde Elder In Central America!" Speaking of which, I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting our second week here (everyone prepares a talk and then they call 6 people up from the pulpit) and during my talk, all of the Latino's started calling me Fósforo, or match. I asked Elder Corerra of it was because the Spirit of God like a fire was burning within me while I spoke, but he just started laughing and walked away. Come to think of it, I actually have no idea for sure why they were calling me that, I just assumed it was cuz I was tall and blonde..... We said goodbye to all of the Latinos and the first group of North Americans last night. It was sad to see Hermana Peterson go- it's been awesome to have a familiar face here, and to be able to talk about stuff from the Deerfield Ward back home. But if anyone is ready to go out and change some lives, she is!! I'm really gonna miss the Latinos to...

HOLLLAAAAAAA como esta Utah????  K I don't know what the best way to start this, so I'm just gonna jump right in! Appreciate music while you've got it. You'll be sitting there studying through preach my gospel, then all the sudden you'll realize that you've had a song playing through your head for the last two hours- weird songs that you haven't heard in years but somehow you know every word. Elder Beardall and I found two computers that have two songs downloaded on them, and we make sure to get to the lab early every day to make sure we can get those two and listen to the songs on repeat the entire time. I have never been so ecstatic to hear the EFY Embark or Glorious by David Archuletta in my life!! The food has continued to be amazing. But I don't think that the people here are used to Tadje eating- we had one day where we had these burrito bowls, where you had to eat down the beans and meat on the top and then fold it into a burrito which end...

Hey all!!!!!! Time in the CCM is weird. It goes by more slowly, but more quickly than anything else I have ever experienced. One of the other elders explained it like this- the days are like weeks, but the weeks are like days. You'll look at your watch and think "Ah man I'm exhausted, when's it time for bed???" Haha that's usually at about 11:30ish.(am) But waiting for Pday to be able to write has been like waiting for Christmas!! We got here in Guatemala at about 6, and jumped right in. (I can see what they were saying about the mail system being corrupt- one of the elders picked up his bag from the baggage claim, and all of his zippers with locks on them had been broken off, and they used about three and a half cases of Saran Wrap to close his bag again)  We got all our paperwork out of the way, had our interviews, then started having spanish classes. My interview was a little interesting... There is one latino president, and he came out in the hallw...