No April Foolin Here! Well Maybe A Little...

Hey hey hey how's it going fam?!! Campeón!!! Things here in good ol Guatemala are great! Crazy week super glad that holy week or semana Santa is over with!! Literally the whole country shut down from Thursday to Sunday, there is nothing open and the streets are empty cause everyone goes on vacation to the beaches or rivers or pools, anything with water!! And yesterday the highway going back to the capital it was bumper to bumper from like until like seven, I'm sure it was earlier and went until later but we passed by at those hours. But still! We are an hour and a half from the capital and the traffic extended to where we are! That explains the magnitude of this holiday here! This was a crazy week but hey there is nothing new in me saying that! Every week is crazy, and in the mission you never know what to expect. And worse during semana Santa. Tuesday was honestly just a great working day, where we could just focus in on the area and work. We had some solid lessons and almost all of them with member! Which is the goal of the mission. Wednesday if you remember was when we had the wedding planned, so all day we were making preparations and getting everything set, it was a nightmare BUT we got everything done, the members here are great, really came together and totally helped us out, if it wasn't for them the wedding would have never happened. Planning and getting everything done was a nightmare not gonna lie, cause we had to do it all Chapin style, or in other words wait and do everything the last minute.... But the actual wedding went great basically everyone there were nonmembers which was a good experience for them to see the church. The lawyer was over an hour late but we were glad he came none the less, we were glad he did us the favor (remember during semana Santa literally the whole country shuts done, so he really went out of his way to help us out) he is from the capital. The food was great, right after the wedding I left with elder Knutson who is in an area called Pueblo Nuevo Viñas, we had to do an interview up there and the people could only do it Wednesday. Getting up to his area was another adventure within itself cause there weren't any buses so we had to hitch hike, but we found a ride with some people that he knew so it wasn't too sketchy. But riding up (their area is in the mountains!!) it was a good moment to relax and enjoy life, the moon was full, and it was breath taking and being in the mountains at night was great! Super chill night! The interviews went great, it was a husband and wife the husband is honestly the next branch president, he is amazing we talked for ever in the interview just about everything, he is super pilas! So Thursday is when everyone went on vacations. Literally the streets were left deserted, cause everyone has vacations and everyone goes to the beach or river or pools to swim. Basically it is really hard to be a missionary during this week, cause no one is here! But Thursday we had 2 baptisms, the lady that we helped marry and another one, and they went well! I love baptisms cause after they are always super happy. So Friday some members invited us to eat a typical or Classical Chapin dish, dried fish!! I wanted to get a picture cause in the markets they sell huge amounts of dried fish! It smells horrible! The worst smell ever! But it tasted normal like fish. Just the texture was a little weird from being dehydrated. So if you remember the processions from last year... You better believe they happened again this year, the Catholic Church has some weird customs but they are very interesting. Friday was horrible! Seven appointments fell. Ya... That's how bad this holiday gets here. Umm Saturday was basically just as bad, we went with a member here to go cut wood and bring it to his house to cook with, that's called trayendo leña, I didn't bring my camera so no photos of that awesome event!! But remember I brought leña forever ago in San Jorge almost 2 years ago! Ooo side note Saturday on dad’s birthday my converts in Teculutan completed one year of being baptized! I talked with them yesterday and they have plans of going to the temple to be sealed and are going to go before I go home!! I'm so stoked for them!! Umm Sunday I gave a talk about the resurrection and the atonement, I think it went well but I didn't have too much time to prepare for it, but I based it off of Pres. Monson's talk in April of 2010 called He is Risen. It was great cause we had an investigator there who just barely lost his mother, it was just what he needed to hear. So to give you a little update of Diego he is doing great! He is golden, truly prepared to receive this gospel. Saturday we taught him in the church and then after played basketball with the members it was me my comp him and another investigator and we wrecked everyone! (Diego is very tall) but it was amazing! He had such a great experience and got to meet and bond a little with the members. But Diego is absorbing everything up and loving it! We put a fecha for him to be baptized April 27th but I think we are goin to move it up, cause he will be ready sooner. This week we have zone conference coming up Wednesday... they just barely told us so it should be a scramble to get everything ready but it won’t be impossible. Friday we have a zone leader meeting with President and Elder Martino is going to call and so we shall see how that goes... we ended up with 13 baptisms and 4 families, but a lot of areas baptized that haven’t baptized in a long time so I am happy none the less even though we didn’t reach our goal. And then Saturday and Sunday is CONFERENCE!!!! I am so excited; I think I look forward to this time more than Christmas!! I swear this time for missionaries is Golden! I am so excited to be able to listen to our prophet speak. I know that he receives the revelation necessary for us, and if we follow him he will not lead us astray, I know that God is at the head of this church, and that he is guiding us with his prophet. Jesus Christ lives! The empty tomb that Sunday so long ago gives each and every one of us hope. I love you all and hope you all have a great week!! And you wonder why i have fleas......bahaha just kidding... this dog doesn't have fleas... but there are a ton that do! I think I would rather take the bus!