Another Week

Another week flown by! I cant believe it. I dont know if it goes as fast for you guys as it does for me :) Before I forget, happy birthday Dad! Wish I could have been there. Especially for pie :) Haha for reals, I miss you!

Lots and lots happened this week. On tuesday I had divisions with Elder Hutchins. Our district here is only four people! Elder Marquez is the leader (he leaves the mission 3 days after Christmas!) and his companion is Elder Hutchins who is 6 weeks ahead of me. He is AWESOME! You guys would love him. It was pretty fun, and we ended up sleeping in their apartment so we got to see what it was like, very cool. The missionaries here actually get very blessed for living conditions :) Ill try and send some pics of mine soon! On Thursday Elder P and I had weekly planning, traditionally followed by Dominos pizza :) It was way yum. And we found this ice cream place called Pops that has AWESOME milkshakes :).
I figured I could tell you about some of the people here. They are so cool. We have two more baptismal dates! Kendell is 16 and one of the coolest kids Ive met. His parents look like they are straight out of the Godfather :), and they run a business with the people living below them--we are working hard to try and teach the whole household! Emilia is the other one and I have actually never met her! Elder P said they taught her before I came, but that shes been working, and now she has a different job and wants to be baptized! Its way exciting. Weve still been teaching the Alvarezes and they plan on being baptized this Sunday! They have three chatty teenage girls all over 16 years old, and Alvaro is 14 (I will send a pic of them if I can). They are the funniest family. We love them! Weve also been teaching this family Hernandez. Sister Hernandez is a member and she reminds me so much of grandma. Her kids are inactive and she tries so hard to get them to come; hopefully our lessons with them have helped. The Calderon family lives down the street from the Alvarez's--they are members and they have two cousins living with them now from Utah so they speak English! :) They might be the FUNNIEST people I have ever met. They are so cool and always love having FHE with the Alvarezes and us.

In short, I love this area! I dont think Ill be here the next change but I really hope so. The people are so awesome. I cant remember if I told you but our mission actually works a little differently the way Pres Baldwin has done it. Usually missionaries become Trainers, then Senior Comp, then District Leader, then Zone Leader. But here you actually have to have BEEN a DL and ZL in order to be a trainer, so the trainers here are AWESOME. Elder P is an exception to this! He was never a DL or ZL, but he is so awesome that President moved him immediately on up. Im so grateful for the chance Ive had to work with him! I cant wait until you guys get the chance to meet him.

Did you like the Christmas devotional? We didnt get to watch anything except the first five minutes. I heard the choir was going to sing O Holy Night and How Far is It to Bethlehem! I LOVE those songs :)

Last night we were teaching the Alvarezes and Delmi told us some of the traditions Guatemalans have for Christmas. The whole month is a celebration! On the 7th (today!) everyone buys pinatas shaped like the devil, and burn them in the streets! On the 12th, they line all of the streets with poinsettas that stay there until Christmas day. On the 15th, all of the Catholics (and i think most everyone else too) go around singing carols and banging turtle shells together as noisemakers. And on the 24th, (they recognize this as Jesus birthday), everyone stays up until midnight and then they go CRAZY opening presents and eating tamales and lighting fireworks :) It is way different and way cool! Im excited to see everything. :)

I miss you guys tons. Wish I could be there at the Christmas party and hear everyone sing. Are you excited about Sara's call??? :) I cant wait. It will be cool when me and her and Spence all get back at the same time. Thanks for the package! We should get it at zone conf but i will let you know :) Love you so much. Watch Charlie Brown Christmas at least once for me! :)
Tyler

P.S--Reformita is actually not very poor! The roads are paved, and most everyone has cars, dvd players, computers. There are occasional shacks made of tin, but most of the houses are pretty nice!

Moore pics. Click here.