Another week gone by :)

Once again it is Monday:) HOLA MI FAMILIA!
First off! CONGRATS Zach and Karli!! I told you it would be a boy:) I am so excited for you and so excited to hear what you decide to name him. Also... I don't remember the exact date of your wedding but HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY ZACH AND KARLI! I know it is coming up (hopefully didn't already pass...) and I hope you do something fun to celebrate:) Take pictures and send me some:)
So this was another exciting week full of adventures... to start off SECOND BABY TARANTULA!!! This time I found it... I just about died because I was washing some clothes and it just came out of nowhere by my hand. Hna Ramos was in the shower and I screamed "HERMANA!!! Another spider!!!" She got out as fast as she could while I watched where it went. It hid behind our Pila (like a sink but it is used for dishes and washing clothes) As I was sitting there freaking out I happened to look up and there was a man looking down at me. It was so funny and I just said "Hola!" haha he probably heard me screaming and came to see what it was about. So Hna Ramos comes out not properly dressed to see a man and I tell her to hurry and change. She comes to kill the spider and uses some card board to get it out from behind the pila and smashes it was a bowl. Goodness was my heart racing for a while after that. She had had a dream the night before about spiders and let me just tell you... we found SO MANY spiders that day. I told her she isn't allowed to dream about spiders anymore.
So second fun adventure... did you know that Guatemala has earthquakes all the time? Not big ones but little ones and I am told that there will be much more in the months to come. But this week I experienced my first one... there were a few when I was in the CCM but I never felt them. This one all of a sudden the ground was moving a little bit and the water in my water bottle was going crazy. I didn't think anything of it until Hna Ramos told me it was an earthquake... it was nuts! and apparently they will be stronger in the coming months:) I guess they are from the Volcanos throughout Guatemala. It was nothing big but interesting first experience:)
Funny experience of the week... we were looking for a reference and turned down this street. There were about five adults outside chatting with their friends. We turned our backs to them for about 10 seconds and when we turned around they were all booking it for their houses... it was SO funny! All the people in our area know we are missionaries and unfortunately there are only three main streets in our area so we see the same people all the time. Apparently they didn't want to listen to us:) So we contacted one of the doors and have a visit with them this week... we will see if he is there or not!
So a recent convert had a son in the hospital this week who isn't a memeber. She wanted us to help her son get a blessing by the elders or other preisthood holder. We couldnt get ahold of the elders so we went to a members house near the hospital. After 15 minutes of searching we finally found two that would come help us and to our surprise NONE had oil!!!! So then Hna Ramos and I had to go find olive oil... paid 20 quetzals for it and then didn't have a way to open it. By the time the preisthood holders got there the hospital wouldnt let us in because it was after visiting hours... so it was all in vain but the lesson I learned... we are going to start carrying consecrated oil! Also... to all the preisthood holders that might read this... ALWAYS HAVE OIL! and if somebody needs a blessing, whatever you are doing isn't important!! Simply... when somebody calls for you to exercise your preisthood... do all you can to do so! It is very interesting to see the differences between the church here and the church in the states. Many of the men here don't hold the preisthood... and many of the converts don't know everything they can do as members of the church... patriarchal blessings, baptisms for the dead... etc. So we are trying to help them along with that.
Guess what I heard this week... A CHRISTMAS SONG!! IT IS OCTOBER!!!! I couldn't believe it! Thankfully the majority of the time the music played in the buses and tiendas is spanish music and it is really easy for me to tune it out, but when it is english music, it is the kind of the music that in real life I'd be belting it out loud, singing my heart out! Some days I have to try really hard not to bust out in song:)
So investigators this week... we have three that are the closest to baptism. One refuses to come to church and it is crazy because her entire family are members, husband is endowed and they have a son serving a mission right now. So we will see what we can do with her. The other... also a wife whose husband is a member... we can't get them to get out of bed to go to church!! (getting investigators to church is by far our biggest challenge) and the third is a family... I am convinced every member of this family is ready and would be baptized tomorrow BUT the father... he is evangelical and they are by far the closest christian religion we encounter that follow the doctrine. Anyway, we are trying to get him to exercise his faith and pray and read but so far with no success. We are going to have a family home evening with some members this week so we will see if that helps MOM he got a cold this past week and half of his face was numb and sagging... what do you think it was? I am doubtful about a cold but that is what the doctor told him....
Anyway it was another good week... we are trying to push our investigators along.... the people aren't always the most reliable and when they promise us they are going to come to church they never show unfortunately. So that stinks!
Ok to answer some of Zach's questions that maybe all of you have...
My comp and I have a cell phone... it is a pay as you go kind of cell phone. All the missionaries have them but only the Hnas are allowed to take them out of their house. Just as an FYI when it comes to Christmas time... I will call you VERY quickly on our cell phone and you will have to call me back on the phone with a calling card. I don't know how time or anything like that is going to work yet.
We get an hour every week to email. We usually start around 10 am (Utah is the same time zone) but we can't start until our whole district is here so sometimes we start late.
I am only allowed to use myldsmail.net... we aren't allowed to go to any other websites
We aren't allowed to eat at fast food restaurants because of the money. They are a little bit more expensive here than in the states and they don't want us spending money on fast food. There aren't any fast food places in my area though so the only day we can buy fast food is pday when we go to a different area in our zone to email.
I have plenty of money every month... we pay for our house and our phone and then have a pretty large amount left over for food and other needs. We usually take the majority of it out though because the tiendas around here dont have card machines.
I can receive mail every week... depending on if I have anything. It all gets sent to the mission home (they don't deliver mail to houses here) and if we have anything the district leaders pick it up Monday and give it to us in district meetings Tuesday. This past week I got a dearelder mom had sent while I was still in the MTC!!! So that was crazy! the pouch mail is pretty fast actually. It was faster getting here than a letter Hna Parker sent me and she is in Guatemala! I haven't gotten the package mom sent me or the one dad sent... I hoping moms is here tomorrow and dads the next week. I am praying anyway!!
Hopefully that answers everything:) I LOVE YOU ALL! Hope you have a great week!!!
Love, Hna Nelson