Capitulo 3- Christmas in Guatemala

Well three weeks down in the MTC. this week was a pretty sad week because all of the latinos that we got really close to are now leaving to their mission areas. however, christmas was a lot better than i expected. well i didnt really know what to expect, but it wasnt that. Christmas in guatemala is celebrated mostly on christmas eve, so all of our teachers left early to be with their families and left us all to just hang out with eachother. the president of the MTC orchestrated a scavanger hunt for all of the districts here to participate in. it was a lot of fun and afterwards, we were all given individual presents.

this past wekk i have made a lot more progress with my spanish. when the latino elders were saying goodbye to me, they were tellig me that when i first got here that i spoke no spanish, and that i couldnt understand them at all, which was completely true. then they said that now i know so much spanish and its crazy that i progressed so much in 3 weeks. of course they said this all in spanish and i understood every last word, so ive gotten pretty good if i go say so myself haha. the gift of tongues is real. im sure everything will change when i get out to honduras and the first person tries to talk to me, im sure i wont understand a word, but i know if i keep trying, i will.

im really sorry, i dont have much time to write today, theyll be taking us out to a market today and take us out to eat at wendy´s, so im sure today will be a great day. also, i hear the market is like a gigantic swap meet, so ill tell you guys about it next week. 

thats all for this week,

sincerely, Elder Case

Capitulo 2- Another week down here in the CCM de Guatemala

Well another week down here in the CCM de Guatemala. we have gotten a lot done in the last week just with the language. before I start talking about this week, i just want to talk about something i forgot to write last week. just before leaving to the MTC, I got my hair cut all super short and nice, the moment we walked in, they dragged my entire district and cut off almost all of our hair. i dont know why, but they want hair to be very short. i was practically bald! 

the truest statement that I've heard here was that the days are weeks and the weeks are days. the days are long, but then when you look back on the week, it seemed like it flew by. its crazy to think im in another country still. it doesnt feel like it yet. it'll hit me soon enough haha. my spanish is getting a lot better, the teachers and supervisors always talk about our class in usually the corner of the room and they don't think any of us can understand them, so everyone looks at me while I translate what they're saying, sometimes its a little saddening, so i just leave it out. and its funny becasue the teachers dont really understand english, so they just think i'm talking.

again im really sorry if my english is bad, everything we do here is in spanish, and ive already had a difficult time writing english in my journal. i guess the easiest way to learn a language is to fully submerse yourself with it. thats one benifit of being in the MTC in guatemala.

My district is fun, we all know how to keep each other happy and laughing when we feel overwhelmed. things are going well for my district. we will all be great missionaries.

Sincerely, Elder Case

Capitulo 1- "es muy bomba"

Well they dont give us very much time here, and i just wasted a bunch of time becasue my computer turned off and deleted everything i had written, so ill type as fast as i can. this place is not at all what i expected. this country is beautiful, i mean, from what ive seen. they dont let us go outside, so i dont get to see much. but from what i saw, there is green everywhere. the people drive terribly, but the cars are a lot more modern than i expected. when we got to the airport in guatemala, we fit 12 people in an 8 seater van and drove to the MTC. The coolest thing about this place is the buses. if you have time, i highly recomend looking up "buses in guatemal city" they raise the buses and paint them and put crome on them, they actually look really cool.

so my companion, i met in the airport in LA, is a career polotician. his name is Elder Johnson and he is from las vegas. when we were at the airport, he sweet talked the airport attendants into giving us upgrades on the flight. i thought it was going to be great, but it was still a terrible experience haha. it is impossible for me to fall asleep on a plane, so i went like 40 hours withought sleeping.

the language is difficult. i might have taken five years of spanish in school, but i have learned more of the language in this week, than i had ever learned before. everything we do is in spanish. my district of nine, are some of the only americans here, and the only people who speak english. even the teavhers dont speak english, and the ones that do, can barely speak it. our teachers dont let us speak english, we actually get punished for speaking it by singing "as sisters in zion" to all of the latinos during dinner. im surprised by how well ive been learning the language. but it makes sense, because literally everything is in spanish. i accidently start writing spanish words in my journal, and even while typing this email.

my district is famous around here. our teachers encourage us to sit with the latinos during lunch and dinner and try to learn from them, but all the latinos want to do is learn things in english. every meal they beg us to sit with them, and every meal just ends up in laughter beacause of some political joke or something else and the same happens when we play sports with them. we just yell jokes at eachother and the few funny phrases we know in spanish. we actually got all of them to start saying "es muy bomba" when the food is good or something else is good, which means "it's bomb" i actually think its unhealthy how much we laugh.

anyways, thats all the time i have. this experince is hard, but i know its worth it. i know i can do this. itll just take time and patience.

sincerly, Elder Case

Arrived safely in Guatemala MTC

Hey, so i am in guatemala now, all safe and sound. i only have 5 minutes to write, so they told us to only email our family. This place is crazy! the flight was so many different levels of uncomortable. but i made it safely, so thats all that matters. it strangly seems like im in downtown los angeles or something. we fit about 15 people inot a 8 seater van, then we drove to the MTC. we send emails every sunday, i think. theyre all speaking spanish, so its a little rough. also, the buses here are all lifted and super decked out with paint and with a lift kit. anyways, thats all i got for today. oh, another thing, nobody smiles, but i still do :p

love you, Elder Case