Dinner with the Elders in Guatemala

 

When herd came in and the truth came out I just didn't know what to do, but when I become a star we'll be livin' so large. I'd give anything for you s

I don't really have a lot to say, other than it was really good to hear everyone's voice. I hope you all had a Happy Christmas.... um... I found a really confusing letter from Ben/Adam which I'm just going to assume is a joke 'cause I didn't get the whole coffee joke right off the bat. Simba is alive right? Oh, and Adam better be wearing his own Zurrik shoes and not mine or I'm a bust a cap. K, so here are some pictures of real food I get to eat once a week - some grilled meat, guacamole, beans, onions, nasty salad (diced cabbage and mayonnaise) tortillas, and pepper coffee. I really like this stuff, CHURRAZCOS se llaman. There is Elder Gonzalez, Elder Turek, Elder Smith and me eating them. This little girl is beautiful, right she just helped slaughter a pig. For our Christmas activity we had caldo (soup) with chicken in it. It was pretty, pretty good. Um, they put pine nedles all over the floor so you couldn't see the floor at all, and we had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree with ghetto guat lights. I had a good Christmas though. It was better than last years for sure, and I really like my presents. I'm such a gangster with my LA ring now; and my watch is really awsome and needed. Anywaysss, I hope you enjoy the pictures 'cause they took forever to load, That's how things go around here, REALLY SLOWLY and EXTEMPORANEOUSLY.
I guess I should be wishing eveyrone a Happy New Year as well.... and asking: Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Peace and love, aaron hoWARd

We're all * up on Eggnog

You don't know how much I don't know of this dialect. k k, so I think I'm going to call you on Christmas at like 4:20 AM!!! haha ha jk jk k. Really I'll call you at 9:00 AM, and if that doesn't work out.. we'll figure some other time out. Sorry my last letter really wasn't too great. I fell asleep, and I was upset about something, but Coban was good. Elder Smith destroyed his pants on the bus. The food was really good. We had baked potatoes, salad, ham, and candy canes. The only thing I didn't like was the drink, Hawaiian Punch! I hate Hawaiian food, right? haha.. We sang some crazy Christmas songs, and I played a bell. I ate at McDonald's, an Italian place that was really good, and another really good restaurant. I bought a bunch of really good candy, and pretty much just ate cookie dough yesterday, so that was good. Um, we are going to have a Christmas party on Friday. That should be really good. I didn't get a change!!! K'A' PUT!!! MAS RA INCH'OOL, so I think I'm going to die in my area. Seriously, I don't even know how I'm going to live. The thing is, it's not so much hard to find people to teach ('cause every single person lets us in their huts) as it is finding people who are teachable. O.K., no one listens or takes us seriously. We taught a family of fifteen, and they were really excited to let us in and watch us talk, so we sang and we started teaching. After 10 minutes, one of the men said, "O.K. just pray." I was like O.K. that's fine. I told everyone, ''Oh, he's bored. Well that's alright , we'll just pray and go.'' They were all like, "Well, before you go, um... we just want you to do us a favor... our father is really sick and his medicine costs 600 quetz for a bottle." (By the way, I almost always carry medicine with me to give to people.) I told them, "Sorry that's a lot of money, and we don't have money to give out." Then the man got super mad at us, and then I was like, ''Could we just pray and leave?'' They were all, ''O.K., we'll pray.'' I had to tell them, ''Sorry, but my companion needs to pray so that you can all see how God wants us to pray, because what you just said wasn't acceptable.'' k, so we prayed and left. ( This is how teaching is in our area). I'm just trying to ignore all the apostasy and mockery of God that is everywhere around me all the time. I'm trying to just focus on teaching people really, really simple things like in Elder Uchtdorf's talk (but even more), like folding your arms, a prophet is a man that talks to God, etc... Anyways, I'm glad I'm with Elder Smith again, 'cause I couldn't be in my area without him. Cody is amazing! Thanks for sending me his last letter with his testimony. It's amazing to see my friends doing this. I'm really impressed how things change around me. Hey, I hope you're talking to my friends for me when you see them,( like Rachel Kime, Cody, Hilary, etc..) Um .. yeah, you know ,all of those friends of mine. Today we played Frisbee, and it was super fun. But I'm a terrible catch. Um... I'm having all my clothes altered 'cause I like to look fly, and it costs less than 70 cents. Cheap swagger. K, I love you! ''HAPPY CHRISTMAS HARRY'' -yeah, I know, I totally know, that I'm getting that Griffindor tie. I can shake my present and feel it.
Merry Christmas!
Love - Dis kid lil A ron

Na Na Na Na Nana Kill Me

Yeah, I got your package. December 16. I don't know anything about calling you yet. I'm currently in Coban, so I ate at McDonalds, and a really good Italian place (way better than The Olive Garden). I had a Calzone and Parmesan Chicken Pasta (it was super good). There were 19 baptisms in our area, however they were all children in the wrong church. I did a division in Tucuru w/ Elder Norton and it was a good time. I got no sleep last night. We left at like 2:30 am so we could get here. I printed out some pictures and bought some peanut butter, twix, chocolate. gummy worms and strawberry soy milk. I'm like really tired right now and falling asleep at this very moment. Nothing is working right, right now, this internet place stinks and I'm going to sleep. Umm... tomorrow is the Christmas meeting, and next week we have changes so we'll see what happens.... k love and take kare happy hanajaka and a new year.....Aaron

To get on my level, you need a forever ladder

I love Christmas! It's such a great time of year. So we are not actually going to Cobon 'til like the 16th, but it's good .... I didn't want to go anyways. Hey, tell Grandma that I'm very grateful for her contribution towards my mission, and I pray for her often. And you can tell Ruth thank you very much from me, and that I think of her as my third Grandmother or something great like that. But I'll write her a hand written letter also. I saw the Christmas Devotional yesterday in English in Saqsuha'. It was great. I totally got everyone in our branch to go too. 'Cause I didn't know about it 'til yesterday, and our branch president was like, ''Oh, we forgot to tell everyone about it, and we didn't hire a truck to come pick us up.'' But I was like NO! we've got to go! So we called all these people and stole the Camion (truck) that the Tinta hired. It was like loaded with like 40 Q'eqchis when we went through the Tinta to pick up this other branch. It was good though. President Uchtdorf is loosing his accent. Anyways about me... well nothing's really going on with me idk... my comp and I ate lunch by this huge waterfall this week (which I would have sent you pictures of, but my computer kept electrocuting me so I couldn't). My companion and I got to the top of this huge mountain and stopped for a while and sang James Brown. lkdlkdlkdldkdlkdldkldkdl
You should send me some pictures... of my siblings... family, Christmas trees.... snow.... etc. porfa.
love love Aaron

HEY, Happy THANKX GIVVINNGG...Oh, hey, thanks for the PACKAGE. I was just too anxious, and so I opened it, and woh whow jk jk jk haha. Hey, so that's cool that everyone bought all that food for three inches of snow. Ahah, I wish it would snow up here once in a while. Sounds like a good Thanksgiving, especially with Cranberry Sauce and Chris. Sounds like that "Swedish brand" is taking over our home. 16 year olds should be driving up to Alta! That's how you get them to be good drivers... and skiers. K, so lately I've been insanely tired. Yesterday I just passed out after church on my bed. Then we were working, and I was like ''I need to eat something, I think ,so we went and found some mandarin trees. We sat down in a Coco bean forest and ate some mandarins. Then later, on the way home, we went to this member's house (Joseph Marry). We had to hike up this huge mountain, and we were both just dying, so we stopped halfway up and planned in the middle of the road. It was a good week. We had a lot of lessons with members (4). (That is more than I had during an entire change). Hey, so my comp is really cool, but he makes me homesick 'cause we're always talking about home. My current favorite CD is David Archuletta's Christmas Story, or what ever. You should check it out. He sings in Portuguese, Italian and French... It's good... Anyways, here's a picture of Elder Smith and me wearing coordinating ties. Cute, huh?... I'm currently reading Gospel Principles in Q'eqchi, and it is incredible and funny. I found these Mayan heads, and they're pretty pretty.. pretty cool.. I was also going to send you a package, but my companion sent a package like 3 months ago to his girlfriend, and it never got to her. I really don't want the things I've got for you guys stolen, so you might have to wait for a while... Sorry. k k that's what's up.

k l LOVE you

ARN

TEACH ME HOW TO JERK! WHAT

That is tragic what happened to Scott Davis, and I hope his family understands that they will see him again. That's hard though. Death is a really common thing that one doesn't think about until it's near. The closer the proximity, the worse it seems, even though it's all just the same step from this life to the next.

Sorry for writing you a bunch of Q'eqchi casaca I was just a little bit enojado 'cause I'm in this ridiculous place again!! Hey, but my comp's the man, haha. I asked him (as we were walking by a field of pineapple) ''Hey, how do you think they harvest pineapple? Do they just put on a big sweater and gloves?? ('Cause pineapple plants are really prickly) and he said, ''Well they just dig them out of the ground with a shovel or something!" Then I was like....'' Pineapples DO not grow underground.'' It's been really rainy around here though, and crazy muddy and my comp has almost died like 5 times. He slipped down this HUGE hill, and he bounced off his butt then skied down this 50 degree slope and then grabbed a tree and was on his feet again. In less than 2 seconds he dropped like 20 vertical feet and it was incredible. Then, like two nights ago, it was super dark and I went down this really steep part of the trail. I was standing at the bottom, and I was also shining my flashlight on the trail. I said, ''Don't worry. If you slip, I'll catch you.'' ...He slipped, but I caught him. I'm having a good time with this kid. He's my first comp that is actually good at singing. His voice is just like Will Ferrill's, and so's his personality haha....

Hey wait, Cami is turning her mission papers in?... and Nate is the same person that she's been dating since I was in the MTC, huh? Hey I miss snow.... did you know that?... I live in a cloud, and we have nothing......but I'll be in Cobòn on the 7th so I can get stuff from there.... Mom, you know you can take another class for free, you just have to wait till next semester. You should go back to school, Mom ,and study architecture with me so we can carpool and help each other on each other's home work. k. k. That is supper cool that Ben is learning the Mandolin,
kk I
love you
thanks for
all you do
<3 ARN hoWAR

Dis missionary got a year, ha!

Where'd you go? I miss you so, so come back home.

Hey, GUESS what!! I've been moved back to SANTO DOMINGO!!! MAS RA INCH'OOL INK'A NINWAJ NAQ WANKIN ARIN WI CHIK MOKO US TA CHINEEKAMSI CHINEEKAMSI B'ANUHOMAK USILAL MAS MAAKEB' LI KRISTIAN ARIN INK'A NEKE'RAJ AB'INK LI RATIN LI YOS ARIN!!!! Unbelievable. Hey, but check it, my last comp go ROBBED!!! I almost did as well!! So when we had changes, I was almost certain that I was going to go to this one area and so I almost left my suitcases in the Sacsuhà house. But in hope that I would have had a change the other direction of Polochic, I brought my bags with me... and it was worth it!!! 8 people broke into the Sacsuhà house and they stole E. Gonzalez's Ipod, like 2000 q's ( 250 dollars ), a bunch of his clothes, a clock that was there... etc. so I lucked out rightssss? k so I'm back in my hood but whatever. I don't care. My new friend is Elder Jordan Smith and he is like the best thing that has happened to me. He's from Lehi and he has the most serious girlfriend ever (with whom he has a wedding date with April 28th 2012). So with him being an old football player quarterback, whatever, he's getting me like 10 cheerleaders writing me haha, and he's like straight out of the missionary mall so anything that I would ever need he's got and I can use. I was actually going to ask for some ''perfect push-ups'' push-up handle deals for Christmas (because I do push-ups every day, and it's like my fourth grade teacher always said, ''Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.'' -Mrs. Crismer). But he's got them, so I'm good. Last night I was outside of the church, and there is sidewalk all the way around the church but grass in between the church and the bathroom/shower, so I thought that there was going to be water in the grass next to the sidewalk so I started to run to jump over part of the grass, but I didn't see this log that was on the side walk so I jumped and totally ate it cause my stupid flip flop caught on the log. It was really embarrassing, haha. kwhelll whhat helse do you whhhhant to know abhhout my life, wHHiskey?
check it check it check it
laj A a R o N

I'm goin' to conquer the worl, but first I'm a win the heart of that girl

HEY, so I think I have a change... GOOD THING.... YES, but a la vez no. 'Cause I really like my area. My comp really doesn't get it, being a missionary that is. I don't really know what to say, I'm out of ideas. Thanks for the package. I'm sure my future comp and I will enjoy it. Hey, so today we played wiffle base ball and I hit a home run! Yes. kkk, seriously, I don't know what to write. I bought some really killer black levis from a guy underneath a lamina pavilion for 2 quetz..... I don't know what to say. I'm hoping this next change will be off da hook. Mom, I'm in zone POLOCHIC duhhh. Hey, are you guys going to do anything cool for Thanksgiving, or what? Oh, and is Ben going to the U or SLCC ? I forgot...It's hot here today, but yesterday it was freezing! They didn't even turn on the air conditioning in my church yesterday. However they did try and make me give the Sunday School class (which is ''Right out of the question'') along with asking us to talk and bear our testimonies, 'cause no one esle would <-- my comp and I did that... but the church is soo unorganized here. I guess they are finally going to officialize the name of the church in a month or two in Q'eqchi (pronounced kek-chi will sound right). k, well I'll keep my eyes out for your package, but thanks for everything! much love laj Aaron

I'm lookin' for a dime that's top a da line cute face lil wast w/da big

Sup? So, I forgot to tell you that we went to Chulak last week, and it was really cool. It's this area that just opened up, and there are like 250 people that regularly attend church. They just redid the chapel up there and it's crazy huge. It's the second biggest chapel in the mission, and you have to ride on the back of a cattle truck for two hours straight up hill to get to it. The seats are even padded! Seriously, it is way nicer than our church (at home), and I can't imagine how long it will be before all the pews are just soaked with mud. ajaj The church was built so big 'cause every member is a full tithe payer. Another crazy thing is that there are mandarin trees everywhere, and the mandarins are sour and small, but those of the members are huge and delicious. Today I'm in Elestor and lovin' it! Our baptism went GREAT! I was amazed that everyone showed up. It was a miracle. It was an even bigger miracle that we found baptismal clothing for everyone. We went to every area withing 3 hours of Sacsuhà (where I am) to get everything. We baptized 4 eight year olds, 1 nine year old, 2 eleven year olds, 1 14 year old, one fifteen year old, and one 52 year old. We only baptized one kawachin (man)(boy), so 9 Relief Society(Primary). It was crazy though. I was worried about the lady (Rosalina) and her two kids, 'cause I didn't know if they would pass their interviews. I asked my zl how Rosalina did, and he told me that when he asked if she knew who restored the church, she didn't know, so he held up a picture of Joseph Smith and asked her if she knew who it was. She told him, ''I don't remember his name, but I know he saw God and Jesus Christ in the forest." So it was really cool. I baptized 5 of these people, and my comp baptized the other 5. I confirmed one of the kids in church, and that was cool. Anyways, sounds like Adam got lucky with his wallet, and Happy Birthday, Dad ayer and Happy Halloween.
k check it pues. aj aaron

Drop Me Like I'm Hot

What a champ - Joseph - Why would Ruth send me a check? What am I going to do with a check? jaja The answer to your question is, no I haven't received a card from her yet. Mom, you could have knocked on Braden's door and asked, and it would've been given to you right. Hey, where is Brandon Barfuss ,btw? and Garrett Clementine? sach inch'ool. Hey, Happy Birthday, Dad! In 6 dayz. We are going to baptize 4 people this Saturday if they pass their interviews, if they understood anything I said to them. And we're baptizing 8 year old twins, so it's going to be a party. My interview was fine. President Torrez just asked me how q eqchi was coming. I asked him about my baptisms, and whether I should baptize them or not, 'cause there's a good chance they are going to move somewhere that they will become inactive forever. He told me that I need to teach them everything I can, and tell them if they have to move, they might have to sacrifice to be able to go to church. If they can't go to church they should still practice the teachings of the gospel in their home. So two days ago, my shadow woke up and I was rapping in my sleep at 2 am. He thought I was awake and just joking, so he starts talking to me ,''Howard, hey Howard''. I guess I stopped, dropped my flow, and then just started going off at him in q'eqchi in my sleep. I have no idea if this is true, but if it is, it's funny. The best thing that happened to me this week, other than preaching the gospel, was I taught this lady - pure q'eqchi - and she's listening to daft punk- one more time, and it was insane. K, I love you,
one more time I want to celebrate
know we're going to do it right
to night. neeeeed
celebrate and dance for free,
celebrate and dance for free
celebrate and dance for free
one more time

It's going for sure. Thanks for praying for my family. I hope they can get baptized, 'cause they are threatening to move to my old area, Santo Domingo, where they WILL go inactive. I don't know what to do. Their baptismal date is right before they are planning to move, maybe. The lady (Rosalina) is about 50 -she doesn't actually know- I love asking people things like ''How old are you?'' and seeing how often people don't know. I also wanted to see how much these members knew about the church. When we had a family home evening with them, we sang, prayed, and we started to talk about the scriptures. I asked them what the scriptures were. The word of God. O.K., good answer. O.K. now, from what two books do we read to learn the word of God? Um.... the Bible... and.... The Book of Joseph Smith. Great answer! They know who Joseph Smith is. Right now I'm in Senahu, using the worst internet on the planet. Hermana Torrez gave me blankets to give to Q'eqchi babies; oh, and Halloween candy!! I have my interview in a few minutes, and zone conference is tomorrow. Umm, IDK what else happened this week... The district president came and presided and spoke in church. He told everyone that if they weren't doing their simple callings in church well and on time they don't have a testimony. It was some really harsh Q'eqchi, but really needed. You guys should go to Braden's homecoming for me. I miss seasons, I'd like to see some colores other than the green of the banana trees and the gold on q'eqchi's teeth.
US
CHEERILAQ EERIB'!!!!
love
the one
son
Aaron

Please don't waste my time time time

That's crazy Ben got in a bike accident. I hope he's doing better and wears a helmet. Jo'k'an aawi' rik'in lix tz'i' laj Peter (the same with Peter's dog), (wearing a helmet that is)). Um, if you must know, I want whichever of the two Harry Potter ties looks more classy -but I don't want it if it's silk ,like going to get ruined. Get me the more durable one, and if possible, the classier one at the same time. K, I sent you some pictures. Hope you get 'em. So this week, we found this super great family and I taught them lession one. I told them they needed to get baptized, and they figured I was right, so they're going to get baptized on the 30th and I'm stoked. Lix Rosalina, Lix Lorena, and Lix Lady. We took them to church and it was good. The only thing bad that happened is that the Mom of these two girls just got up and left during Sunday School, out of nowhere. Luckily the church gate was locked and she couldn't get out. I went to talk to her, and ask her why she was leaving, and she just told me ''I need to leave.'' "O. K., hold on." I said. I went to go get the keys, and when I got back she was gone. She went to the side of the church and went to the bathroom. I told her, "Oh there's a bathroom in the church fyi". She was like, "Oh I'm fine now." Sorry, I don't know if you understood that. Other things I've done this week.... I helped pull down a seba -a giant tree- with a bunch of Q'eqchi's. This week a parade passed by our house, and my comp got owned by so little girl, jaja. We were watching it 'cause it was crazy loud, and a little girl came up to my comp and said ''Do you want some candy?'' "Yes!'' Well then go buy some at a tienda'' haha. Anyways, that's what's happenin'. Love, yr son

I Got Me Some Bathin' Apes

I am in Sacsuha' right now, and it is so great. We have a house that's really good, 'cause the bathroom works and there's almost always water (oh, there's always power in this house too). We also have a microwave, and we're getting a blender next week. I took elder Goodwin's spot, and now I'm sleeping in his bed every night and eating all his food he couldn't pack. My church is sweet. It's the Stake Center, so it's really nice and has air conditioning. (It's that one that you saw a picture of me standing in front of with the construction workers... and Mom, just because they're brown doesn't mean they're construction workers). So my companion is Elder Gonzalez, and he's a... nice kid. I like him just fine. He's from Nicaragua. He's been in Polochic for almost nine months and he cannot speak a lick of q'eqchi. I teach everything. He's DL here. I think I'll be in this area for 4 1/2 to 6 months, so I'll be learning a lot here. Conference was great! I liked the Saturday sessions better. Especially the talk that English General Authority gave. In my notes it says : wear shoes. That was in priesthood I think, so sorry if you have no idea what I'm talking about. That's cool Adam went to priesthood w/out his date, but with his date group. Only in Utah, right. All the missionaries slept over at our house 'cause everyone lives unreasonably far away. There were like a trillion people making food and destroying my house. Seriously destroyed. I cleaned from 4 30 am this morning to 8 00. My new thing is waking up early though. My new thing is waking up at 5 30 am every morning so I can study an extra hour of q'eqchi. I have to do it, or I'm not going to be able to do anything. My comp knows nothing. He has a 50 word vocabulary. Love the kid, but 9 months COME ON!!! That's crazy Sharon Neville is getting married. I played with her when I was 3. All these people are getting married no me llega esta casaca. That's really cool you're taking an institute class. I really loved my Preparation for Eternal Marriage class, probably just 'cause Dr Marcas Martines is the man. I'm happy though. My new area is going to be awesome! The members are still pretty crazy and apostate, but it's WAY better than St. Domingo. Now I have to use all the q'eqchi I don't know, and do and say everything and its crazy. Anyways nekexinra k k k
HAOAWRAORND

Admittedly, I'll probably take it Subliminally

What am I doing? GOING! Yeah, I got a change. I'm out of that apostasy. There will no longer be missionaries there 'cause of how bad things are. This may or may not be the best coming change of my life. Right now I don't know anything 'cause they do changes on Wednesday now, so I'm going to go back to my area tonight and pack, give my area and my comp. a big five-fingered hand, and leave forever. Today I packed one of my suitcases and hopped in the back of a truck, ate breakfast (beans, eggs, cheese tortillas and a strawberry smoothie). Then I went to district meeting to talk about how there is nothing going in my area. I played Bible Memory with Jeff G and Adrian G. Now I'm in this great internet place ('cause the owner kid has a great taste in American gangster hip hop.). Seriously, I looked at that picture of Matthew and you in front of the Frank Lloyd Wright house and recognized it before I read your letter. I'm a be an architect when I grow up, and build the biggest buildings. That's so crazy my friends are all coming home now. Braden gets home in less than a month, Cody in three months. Smart move, Paul, to rent out the condo, btw. Thats cool you got to go to that General Soc Soc CH'UTAM so close that if the prophet sneezes you have to wipe your glasses off. It'll be December before I get my November Liahona but I'll check his talk out. Sounds like you had a great time in Chicago. Sorry, I never have much to say, and it's usually complaints, but seriously, my area and companions have been ridiculous ever since my third change. La Laguna hadn't had a baptism for 7 months before I got there and Santo Domingo has only had 4 baptisms in the last 12 months (NOT NORMAL). I'm lookin' up though, seeing the light.. better and better timil timil. So these pictures are me: wanting to go skiing (by the destroyed road) 15 miles away from the church, after sweating off 10 lbs of water, jumping off a waterfall getting soaked etc...

much love yr son
A
a
r
o
n

I MAKE MY WAY TO THE USA...I KNOW, I KNOW H.E.L.L.O.

q' tranza Hey, so I'm not getting back at you for not writing me the other week. There was just this capacitation meeting, so all the zl's and dl's were in Senahu. We couldn't have our combined p-day district meeting until today (Thursday). So that's what's up. I'm still in the same area. I was just in Elestor ( the area by the lake ) for p day. This picture is of me drinking an amazing shake thur. We have changes next week. YES! and I'm set up for the worst to happen. (At least I won't throw over a table when I get bajared from DL to senior comp: like my current companion). A prayer of mine was answered the other day though, when I was told that I was to be senior comp for a week (in Santo Domingo, my current area) with E. Minero. Elder Lara went to his area and I was senior comp with the coolest Salvadoranian I've met here. This kid is hilarious, and he acts just like Jack Sparrow. He is being accused of making out with some member, so he's having crazy problems. I don't know what to believe, but I had the best week ever working with him. We got every member in the church to come teach a lession with us, and it was crazy. I baptized my first Q'eqchi on Saturday. (He was 8, so it wasn't ''my baptism''), but it was cool, 'cause E. Minero and I just got to the church to put some stuff away, and my branch pres. was like, ''Hey, we have a baptism but nobody know how to do it and nobody has clothes so would you mind doing it? O. K. cool, so I learned how to baptize in Q'eqchi. Elder Lara is my companion. Regarding Cody's letter, that sucks he has bed bugs that are killing him, and that he broke his shower. However, I don't have a shower right now. I use rain water collected in a garbage can, and I've had fleas and all sorts of animals biting me my entire mission. Thanks for sending me those letters, though. Thanks for the positive advice. muy agradacido. Next week will be good. Things are lookin' up. Send me some pics of Chicago. I think my area is going to be closed, 'cause of how crazy people are, and how no one I have ever taught has ever come to church 'cause it's just too far away , and the living conditions are really really xiik'ob'a bad, no power or water. My comp is becoming crippled 'cause of his bed, (the bed I slept on all last change) which really screwed up my back and I really want to go to a chiropractor now ect ect... Anyways, sorry for not writing for so long but ,what a do¿ luv Aaron

Automatic Supersonic Hypnotic Funky Fresh

Hey, sounds like you had a lot of fun playing with the birthday girl. Happy Birthday Rossignol! And sad September 11th. Even people here know about that, surprisingly. Did I tell you that I sowed a corn field? If so, sorry. I'll recount the experience. Woke up at 5 something, walked to someone's house a couple miles away, and then we went to the guy's cornfield. We broke the corn and threw it into a pile in the middle of the field. Then we threw the corn into giant burlap bags and grabbed our TAP and threw these 200 pound bags on our necks and went to the house. I think I already told you that, so sorry. Not a lot happened this week that was cool 'cause my shadow was sick and then I got sick as well. I don't think that I got a good chance to recover 'cause my comp was singing crazy Q'eqchi children's songs so I couldn't sleep. There are problems in my area, but I'm doing good. Right now I'm in the nicest internet cafe in the world, in Elestor, and enjoying the air conditioning and fast loading computer. I'm in the place with the big lake. I just found out that one of my favorite members in La Laguna (Alvin Cotòn) got his call to Perù so I'm stoked for him. Check you guys l8tr HAVE FUN in Chicago (don't know how to spell anything). Listen to some Frank Sinatra for me. USB'I ARN

You can have whatever you like.

HOW DARE YOU NOT EMAIL ME?! I burned my finger the other day 'cause the tip of a match broke, and it fell on my finger. It was dark 'cause we didn't have any power. I didn't notice that my finger was being burnt, and now my finger really hurts. My shadow is crazy! He made me laugh when he threw off his backpack, handed me his camera and said ''me voy a bañarme, toma fotos''. He jumped in a river in all of his mission clothes and was sitting beneath (I don't know how to spell that, but it's RUBEL in K'ekchi) a waterfall. He was just being dumb and crazy 'cause he completed 15 months, meses, EB LI PO'. So that's what's up. Nobody came to church yesterday. There were 28 people there, which is crazy 'cause the church is so huge it could be in the States, but still nobody comes. There are just so many churches around here it's hard to sleep at night 'cause they just go till like 2 am. So I bought some more powerful sleeping pills today. Hopefully they work out. Saritas is open today (the only franchise that made it here) (ice cream shop) so I'm a go get some. Oh I guess you're probably in Rocklin. (Why you didn't write me?) no tegan pena its cool, as long as you send me some pictures. I'm making a K'ekchi verb list that will never leave the mission 'cause it's flawless. My name will just be in the front pocket of every gringo missionary to come here for the next 100 years until this language dies ('cause it will (due to TV)). Next week I'm going to a really cool place, I think, for p day called Rio Dulce. Nobody has come to church or been baptized since I've been here. lastima I'm dying, but I'm feeling a lot better about learning K'ekchi I figured something really important yesterday XINTAU LI RU but KAK'AJOM A'AN XB'EENIINKILEB LI KRISTIAN CHAALK K'AJEL RU LI KRISTO RE NAQ TE'XK'UL LI EVANGELIO LI KOJOB'ANB'IL WI' CHIK RIK'IN XPAAB'ANKIL LI KRISTO UT LIX TOJB'AL RIX LI MAAK, LI JALB' A-K'A'ULEJ, LI KUB'IHA', LI XB'EEN SUMWANK NOKO-OK WI', UT LI MAATAN RE LI SANTIL MUSIQ'EJ UT KUYUK TOJ SA' ROSO'JIK.
take kare one and all loVe Aaron

And while I'm at it,, throw in a couple a G's, yeah!

Hey, did you get all those pictures I sent you or what? Um, props Adam boy genius. Calvin is the man, btw. Happy birthday SOBRINA ROSSIGNOL. That'll be fun going there. What I want for Christmas... well, the only thing I really want is Harry Potter 7 on dvd.. oh wait... I'm in Guatemala. That shouldn't cost more than 5 quetz ... jaja.. so other than that ... I would like some Harry Potter ties. You know, not like stupid graphic ones, but like a red and gold Griffindor tie, green and silver Slytherin algo así k.. that's all I can think of... or some Rossignol S7's or some Volont Spatula's. Yeah definitely Volont Spatula's. My shadow is ridiculous. He wants to be an AP, so I don't know what to think of him. He's a good guy, but I feel like he does a lot of things for the wrong reasons. I'm such a liberal person, and he's so conservative. Anyways that whats up with that.. we are teaching a bunch of people that lie to us... and nobody comes to church. We woke up at 5 something to walk 5 and a half miles to bring these three people to church (one of which has a baptismal date) and nobody would go with us. All the members are joining other churches, and I feel like we should just dust off our feet and leave this area. Someone died (who lived RIGHT next to us) literally 15 feet away from the church, and so I couldn't sleep all night 'cause someone was CRYING SO LOUD. Then in the morning, they had the craziest, loudest funeral I've ever heard of. It was louder and more obnoxious than any church that I've heard, and the coffin really sicked me out. Speaking of deaths.. a bird was found dead in my toilet... attached is a photo... I don't know what else to say about my life. My comp is always telling me that with how much we suffer, we are going to receive so much more in blessings. I was thinking about the blessings I would like to have after my mission. Right after the ability to telaport, I want to be a pro skier. I want to be taken up to the top of the mountain by helicopter rather than walking like I'm doing now. Anyways hope e'ry thin's good in da hood. check yah l8ter la walal AARON

to it to it so do it do it

If you are reading this message, I do not want to hear from you until you take a cold shower. Get in your shower tomorrow, and don't even touch the hot. Full blast cold. So my life is a lot better, and my new shadow's the man. He kind of reminds me of the Green Lantern. So... we had this activity, and it was super sick. I didn't think anyone was going to come, but they did. That's one thing you can always count on around here. The Guatemala hour is about 1 - 2 hours late, so maybe if we unofficially changed the hour of church to 11:00, tons of people would come. Anyways, it went really well (2:22 make a wish). There was like more than 250 people, and I was really stoked. K'ekchi's coming. I can't teach like the first fourth of lesson 1 right now and tell people they're mad etc etc. Kekchis are really annoying, and it's kind of part of their culture ¨Where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going???¨ ¨BAR XIK AWE BAR XIK AWE BAR XIK AWE¨, funny. So, what's going down in da hood? Adam's a JR. Ben's in school, new office, Dad, new pants ¨SIXTY THREE hundred dollar pant COME ON¨ Hey, I was thinking about Harry Potter the other day. Has the first half of the 7th movie come out yet? Or, the Arrested Development movie, and if yes, how were they? Sorry , I'm talking about stupid stuff 'cause I don't really know what to say, YES, I don't know what Cody's mom is doing for him, but do it for me... I'm glad you're friends with my friend's mom. Now we can all hang out together when I get home. Right. Oh, I was wondering if Tom Ostler ever left on his mish, and if so where? Crazy, Randy's home... Taylor wrote me just to tell me he has a year left (d-bag) jaja. This picture is taking forever to load, so now I'm just writing a monton de casaca but, ok re-trying...ink'a it's taking forever, sorry..
HAVE A GREAT XAMAAN!!! luv Aaron

Some people say I've got clouds in my eyes 'cause I set my goals so high

My toe is fine. I'll live. So, changes are this week, THANK GOODNESS! I don't have a change, but my comp is supposed to be incredible at K'ekchi. Word on the street E. Lara XK'AB'A', so that will be great. I went to this really boring place today called Agua Caliente, but it wasn't cool. Just a waste of 10 Q's. We're going to have an activity this Saturday, and there are going to be like 300 people there I guess... I really have no idea, but I guess if food is involved everyone comes to the church, so it will be good. Changes are the only thing that are really happening right now. Best thing that happened to me is I got my camcam and it is incredible. I can tag peoples names to the individual pictures, date, time location, ect... 14 megapixlz, 5x zoom. It's black, and I'm looking at it right now. Its a Kodak EasyShare M575 High Definition. It's my new most expensive thing, but everyone around here are buena onda, so I don't have to hide it. I can take pictures of people in the streets and whatever. That's too bad Adam has to go to school, but on the plus side ,he's goin'a get all da ladies rollin' up in the toyota, haha. No mejor con un METROPOLITAN va!! AYU k you didn't tell me about Laura's Jeep adventure, so hit me up with that. k..kk let me know what's good in da hood.
LOVE your FAVORITE CHILD LIZA.. oh, I mean aaron

Newest Picture of Aaron's Area with President Torres

Some'in Special

Right now I´m worried 'cause there is a rumor that I might get sent out of here 'cause I might´ve broke my toe (four weeks ago) ((kicking the wall))(((in my sleep))). That can't happen. MOCOCHAAB´ILTA 'cause I can kind of say stuff now, and I don't even feel discouraged about the language. I´ll learn it just fine. I love playing with animals. There is everything here, seriously. Flocks of parrots fly by the church. I was at this member's house, and I picked up a baby chick that was following its siblings and mama chicken. I wasn't expecting it to attack me. It just got lit and flared up its wings and went for my leg. I just kicked at it and then it came after me again, and so when I went to kick it a second time it ran away. Then I took off after it to steal more of its children. A turkey also tried to attack me ... after I tried to scare away its baby that was in the path, jaja. I feel really nasty right now 'cause we haven't had water for like a week and a half so.. bathing... hard. The dueño here in this internet is playing some really cool Fifty Cent, so sorry I'm distracted. We went to this bridge this morning. It's cool. The people here let us come and teach them no matter what, even if they want to fight, but it doesn't really matter 'cause the only thing I can do is pray, teach part of the first lesson, and bear my testimony. My comp can't do that much more. Nobody can read, so we just use pamphlets in Spanish for the pictures, and invite people to come to church. Rarely people come. There have only been four baptisms in my area in the last 10 months but we're working, and we're trying to organize an activity. Anyways, I haven't got my new camera yet 'cause Hna Torrez got me one and she gave it to the ZLs here ,so they'll give it to me next week. That's terrible that the car got hit. Good the guy didn't get away with it. Sounds like you're going to be doing a lot of traveling 'cause Passports? Pick me up? In while... Matthew wrote me and told me about Chicago. That's cool Paul is mnt. biking. I want to go with him when I get home. Anyways, that's what's good, that's what's SA' in da hood. KKK love, AARON

Ice on my Fingers

Hey, so this week was like Christmas for me 'cause I got your package, I got a pair of boots from someone in the cap, and I got a package from my friend Nijiko, "cause it was zone conference. We only have zone conference every three months now, so other than letters, I won't get any other packages until start of November, FYI. We had interviews on Sunday after church, and then I worked with Elder Vasquez on divisions and stayed in Saksuha overnight. Then we had zone conference, and it was long and funny. Happy Birthday was sung to me, and anyone who's birthday is between May and November, so there was a lot of people with me. Hna. Torrez está comprandome una camera nueva entonces la proxima semana voy a tenerla CHAAB'IL Hey thanks for the package. Now I have a Crested Butte sticker on my K'ekchi himnaro and some cool pictures. BTW ,crazy, that picture you sent of Ben and Adam at the Maya restaurant, or whatever. I could read the words on the table like XUL is animal and MOL is egg, idk, but it was weird. Thanks for the birthday card, and the letters from Cody were good to read. It sounds like he's doing really well. Maybe it's just me, but I think you gave me those letter to make me feel like I need to write better letters, or at least letters like Cody writes. jaja All I would have to do is just mention how crappy my letters are for a paragraph or two, say something like... so we were teaching a K'ekchi last week and I think you should look into adopting a K'ekchi so that when I get home I can have a K'ekchi little brother... then say ''true story''. Actually, he does write way better letters than I do, so you can just send me his, and I'll form my letters to you from his. O.K. CHAAB'IL My toe really hurts, and it's hot and I want an Ice cream, and the only atm within a hundred miles is out of service. I hope I have 60 cents worth of guate money to pay for this hour of internet, and what else?... I love hip hop flows, my boots are super cool, and I look like I'm in the military with them on all laced up. Happy b- day Adam, on da tenth, next week. Hope you get everything you want... the church is true even though church here is only two hours and the branch president doesn't wear a tie, and his shirt is half unbuttoned all the time and he wanders around during Sacrament to prepare his class, etc etc.... all these kekchis are insane. Pounded those gummy osos bien great laa'at tengan a xamaan chilera and maka'entendermeta you!!!! jun chic NAKATINRA you have no IDEA <3AARON HOWARD

Get Like Me

Hey Aaron, look at you! Another year older... and another year closer to death. Thanks for that blurb about Cody and the pics. It's good to see familiar faces. Speaking of which I went to Senahu yesterday, and so I rode on a bus for four hours with Elder Jeff Goodwin (who went to Bountiful High) and we met up with Elder Jared Fadel (also went to Bountiful High).
So I was just hanging out with a bunch of B towners yesterday. The other pictures are of us at Elestor at the lake. That meal you made for the missionaries sounds delicious. All the meals I eat generally lead to scandalous buu jaja. YES ADAM! great job. Just be sure not to listen to all the crap you are going to get from everyone. Nice work on the car, Dad. Nice work on walking to church Grandma (on time too !) ). Nice work Tom Cruz. Summer sounds just like it should be: rope swings and concerts. Congratulations on beina a CNA Ben, and also being made of money. My birthday was just great, even though my companion was the only person who wished me happy birthday... after he asked me what the date was... anyways K'ekchi yoo chi wuluk. The past week's been kind of hard 'cause I kicked the wall in my sleep entonces me lastimé mi dedo del pie, but other than that I'm just wandering around and drinking really nasty corn drink (however a lot less now that I'm getting incredibly good at pouring it in my comp's cup while he´s not looking, praying, what ever). If nothing else, I´m getting super sneaky and good about not drinking all the puke drink, probable sickness inflicting drink, chicken foot, nasty throw up, kill me, you're too poor to be giving me this disgusting stuff. But it´s so cool here 'cause it's so different. People are just as lazy, but there aren´t as much haters here. One day we were at this guy's house, and the daughter wanted to show me her pet scorpion that she was keeping in a huge empty gel bottle. I couldn´t really see it 'cause there were leaves in the way, so the dad (not wearing a shirt) picked it up with his bare hands and let it crawl all over his naked body and I was freaking out. It was really cool. I decided that here in the chik every parent just has one pare of clothing for every two kids. You see one kid wearing a shirt and nothing else and then you see his brother just wearing shorts and nothing else, and when they have to wash their one set of clothing they´re both the naked kids, jaja. What else?... I killed a scorpian last night in the church... I talked to a girl who spoke Spanish, French and English fluently, just barely... Let me know if you get the pictures, k? I was writting you yesterday, but we had to leave 'cause it started to rain like crazy, and there was no signal. I didn´t get your package yet, but I will next week cause we have zone conference and Interviews. So have a GREAT WEEK! THANKS FOR WHATEVER YOU SENT ME!!!! CHERIL ERIB´ NAKATINRA

Pull up the curtains 'cause the show just arrived. Sit down in your seats, you're just on time.

Wow mom (palindrome)-- A word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example: A man, a plan, a canal, Panama! Or WOW MOM. Eleven O'clock, haha. Well Adam and Ben are just giving you crap 'cause you're more popular than them. (I wrote to tell Aaron how Ben was giving me a bad time because my friends, Colleen and Michelle, stayed to visit until 11:00 a few nights ago.) So, last week there were some marks in my shadow's butter that he left out, and then the next day there was a hole in his new loaf of bread and half his bread was eaten. So the next day we found the mouse in my suitcase and we tried to catch it but it got away. The next day we found a tarantula the size of my hand in the sacrament room. The next day we caught the mouse and fed it to the tarantula that we caught the day before. It was funny! We also ran out of food last night so we caught a crab that I saw in a river on the way home and cooked it up and ate it. I´m having fun. There are bugs and animals everywhere, and my mission just turned into a hike. We hike everywhere. There are no paved roads, It's just a ton of muddy paths, and the houses here are made out of bamboo. Every person we go visit gives us a nasty corn drink that makes me want to puke. A lukewarm, soupy, mashed corn mess in my mouth mmm.. I poured mine in a hole yesterday while the lady wasn't looking. Also, people don´t really like to wear clothes here very much. There are naked kids running all over the place. My comp and I were teaching this family, and this lady just took her shirt off just because it was hot. I bet one out of two kids wear pants here. The mountains are beautiful, and the roads are long and muddy. Just about every type of tree grows here. It's weird. It's like temperate, but it has tropical trees everywhere mixed in so there will be a field of lemon trees next to pine trees. Well, thank you for whatever you sent me for my birthday in advance. Muy agradecido, oh y mi compañero ya lo tuve. Fuimos compañeros en la MTC. Have an EXCELLENT WEEK <3 ARN

Stop, Drop, Kaboom

'Sup? So, yes, I am in the greenest place ever! The church that I live in (one of the only buildings within miles of where I'm at) looks totally misplaced on the mountain. My area is just mountains. I have to walk for like an hour and a half to most of the houses. It's super hot here, but it's soooo cool. Someone is sending me their boots from the capitol, so I don't die out here. My camera broke the day I got here. The screen is just always white. NEVER BUY OLYMPUS, but don't buy me a new one 'cause it still takes pictures. I'm going to buy a new one next week. I'm doing good, even though K'ekchi is insane and it sounds more like German than Spanish. Let me know if you got my pictures ok. Tell Adam that it's the Snake River or nothin', 'cause the Green River doesn't even have rapids and it's freezing, and it's time you could be wake boarding in Flaming Gorge, but that's cool! I'm jealous... and hot. It is so bloody hot here. There is sweat running into my eyes, and things are blurry on top of this ghetto computer that I'm using. People are so nice here (to the point of turning off the world cup to listen to us sing). Kids are super cute here and they love to feel my arms ('cause I have hairy arms). Anyways, I'm out. Have a great week in B-town for me. AdHoward