"Happy Christmas, Harry!"

"Happy Christmas, Ron!"

"Si me amais, guardais mis mandamientos." 

"If you love me, keep my commandments."

I hope this Christmas season we all remember him. If we really love him, if we really are grateful for everything he has done for us, then we obey his commandments. 

Know that I love you all and am so grateful for you guys. And as such, I'm gonna keep working hard down here in Guatemala - to show Him I'm truly grateful!

Have a very merry Christmas, darlings!

(Y disfruten la nieve!!!)

With much love, 

Hermana Brower

Haven't much time, but wanted to let everyone know I'm in Antigua now! My companion is the lovely Hermana Emma Satterthwaite, and seriously, seriously, seriously, look up Antigua. It's GORGEOUS. Hands down, flat out, straight up, two thumbs up, every cliche ever GORGEOUS.

Also we made a Nativity scene with stuff we found in the house.

Feliz Navidad.

(Yes, there was a Christmas tree in the stable in Jerusalem.

Yes, the sheep was as big as Maria and Jose. 

Yes, Maria definitely wore a turban.

I saw it on the History Channel.

Yes, Baby Jesus was swaddled in a scarf from Guatemala.

And yes, Baby Jesus was a pamphlet.

"I know that Joseph Smith was a pamphlet."

BEST TWO YEARS IS REAL LIFE!!!)

Love you kids.

November 12,

Report from the frontlines.

There is a phrase in Spanish that translates to "mini-clothes". Why do we not have that phrase in English?

We contacted 505 people one day for the mission's "Semana Perfecta".

It was absolutely nuts. I contacted CLOWNS.

And as Hermana Coleman put it, "I think I'm contacting gangs."

(This telegram style thing is killing me. Must stop.)

I love that it's completely normal here to describe people asi: "Oh, the short fat old lady on the corner." "Oh, this is my fat child and over there is my skinny one."

'Mazing investigators, 'mazing converts, 'mazing ward, 'mazing area. I get the feeling I'm not staying in Amatitlan after this change and I already miss it!

Sorry my e-mails are so weak sauce these days, but know I love you all como loca.

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Brower

November 27,

[Insert Cheesy Title Here]

(I think "The Miracle of the Rice and Beans" will do nicely.)

 From left to right: Edgar, your favorite missionary, Sarina, Mica.

This is my Amatitlan-ian family. 

Edgar is a quiet, sweet man who is experiencing the miracle of how the gospel doesn't just change what we do, but who we become - more like Christ.

Sarina is the ultimate huggable Latin mama, and a woman of incredible faith. We're getting there. 

Mica is my little model twin. Because we look exactly alike, I don't know, I'm sure you guys can tell.

Sunday morning, we had an (amazing) session of Conference where Elder Scott and Elder Eyring spoke to Guatemala. (Elder Scott did his talk in Spanish, And used "tu" form because his wife always said it showed more love. So I love him or something.) And Sarina came with us and about halfway through the meeting, leaned over and asked us if we'd like her to bring by beans and rice that night, when we got back in the house - she really worries that we don't eat dinner. We said if she was already making some for her family, then she could bring us leftovers if she wanted, that would be amazing. And that was the end of that.

That night, about two hours before she was going to come over with the beans and rice, we ran into her in the street carrying a huge pot.

She told us this story.

That morning in Conference, she had been worrying about what we were going to eat for dinner (I'm telling you, she mothers us to death and I love it). She felt like she should offer us rice and beans, so she did. After, she sat there in the conference and thought, "I don't have rice or beans. I don't even have food for my family today. What am I going to feed them?" But she said she knew it would work out somehow. 

Later that day, a neighbor came knocking...with 3 pounds of beans. A couple of hours later, another came knocking - they just had this huge bag of rice lying around, did she want it? 

And there was rice and beans for everyone.

And that is the miracle. 

And for her, she felt like it was the sweetest reminder from God that he never looks away from our trails - that he's always mindful of us. 

And I would say that rice and beans have never tasted so good because of the sacrifice and faith and miracle behind them, 

but they were just really good. Mama Sarina can cooook.

Love you all.

Be faithful and trust in good things to come.

Love,

Hermana Brower


December 3rd, 

 

 That picture should probably just make you really happy. #ILOVEAMATITLAN

And so should this one.

From left to right: Your favorite Sistah, her fantastic companion (Hna. Coleman), Angel (who baptized Andrea), Daniela (Andrea's PILAS sister), Andrea and her little girl Angi, who is the most flat out gorgeous little child in all of Guatemala, Bishop Baltazar, Georgina (87 years old. I'm just saying.), Doris & her whole adorable crew, and Elders Diebold & Raudales.

And the whole affair was, as Georgina put it, "bastante alegre". In English: too happy for words.

Cambios are coming on the 11th and my comp. has already recieved the call that she's going to be training, so odds are huge that I'm heading out into the big wide world and away from my little mountain home. But I feel so blessed to have been here and I am so excited for the adventure that lays ahead! 

I love you all & am thrilled to hear your Thanksgivings were great. I am so thankful for all of you and your support and letters. (Truly, madly, deeply grateful.) I hope you all remember how blessed you are -- as KJ beat me to the Anastasia-quote-punch the other week: "Be grateful, Anya."

"Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to others." - Siddhartha Gautama

I can honestly say that my happiness here comes from that, even when it's hard, even when I'm tired or starving or don't have clean clothes or dry shoes or nobody wants to listen or nobody comes to their bautismal interviews (See: The whole month of November). I can see people's faith growing, I can see their hope in a better world growing, I can see that their lives are being blessed because some Gringa walked up to them one day and told them there's one true church and they can know it by asking God if that's true. That is such happiness to me. And to see them come out of the waters of baptism grinning or crying, to see them reading the scriptures with this great unquenchable thirst - that is happiness here. And I am so grateful for it.

Also I got proposed to by a 6 year old in the street last night - in English.  Needless to say, I immediately accepted.

Also the other day we were walking back from Andrea's interview and passed a wedding. I said to Andrea, "¡Un bolo! ¡Que alegre!"

Too bad that the word for wedding in Spanish is "bola". And the word for "bolo" in English is "drunk".

Because drunks are just really happy. (¿¿¿Por que me ha dejado, Español???)

ALSO I FINALLY HAVE A SAN LORENZO SHIRT. San Lorenzo is the pilas area where I live, and it's also a futbol team. I have been longing for a San Lorenzo shirt for a month and a half, and now it is finally in my posession and it is a soft dream. It's KIND OF A BIG DEAL.

I love you cool cats!

Love,

Hermana Brower

And Happy Thanksgiving from a town where people let their turkeys sleep in their beds.

I am so grateful for all of you.

 

Muy rapidito, my loves. (Because EVERYTHING in Guatemala is "ito" or "ita")

The other day, I had a bag of chicken stomach in my backpack. Because I had been fed it. For lunch. And ended up sneaking most of it into a plastic bag and then sneaking it out of the house in my backpack.  Has anything as disgusting as that ever happened to you? I hope not.

This never fails to amuse me, and I don't know why, because, er, English is different from Spanish, but in Spanish, when you call cats, you say, "Mishmishmish" instead of "Herekittykitty". Also the sounds that animals make are different and that is confusing to me, but c'est la vie.

The other day, we got amazing Peruvian takeout delivered to our house for 17 Quetzales. That's about 2 U.S. dollars. Read it and weep.

I love that tortillar is a verb. "Oh, I can't, I have to tortilla tomorrow." THAT'S A THING PEOPLE SAY.

We usually just say "Buenas" instead of "Buenas tardes" (me especially, because my Gringa accent renders the word "tardes" almost impossible) and people will sometimes respond with "Tardes". "Buenas." "Tardes." It's like playing polite Marco Polo. And since Guatemaltecos consider it to be "Buenas tardes" from 11 to 7, we play Marco Polo a YACHT.

Frosted Flakes here are called "Zucaritas". My companion bought a type called "Choco Zucaritas con (Insert word for Marshmallows here.)". That literally translates to "Little Chocolate Sugars With Marshmallows". #saludable

And I was eating my Trix one morning and she was gloating about her little chocolate sugars, and I went, "Whatever, at least I got a free action figure in my Trix." (which I did. It was glorious.) and she retorted, "Whatever, at least I got free diabetes."

So she's pretty excellent.

The bugs are not as bad as I feared, although last night I saw a spider that was 2 inches in circumference. #NOTIMPRESSED. We get the occasional cockroach in the house, however, and my companion, Hna. Weatherford, is deathly afraid. Our house has two levels - a bathroom and general room downstairs with the sink and fridge and closets, and upstairs, a bedroom. I was in the bedroom the other night and heard a terrific scream from downstairs. I called down, "Cockroach?" and Hermana Weatherford yelled up, "No, just Satan running across the floor!" Yep, that about sums it up.

We have this amazing investigator getting baptized Saturday. She just got married to a member last Friday, is 4 months pregnant, and is pretty much golden in every way and too sweet for words. When we saw her at church on Sunday we said, naturally, "How are you?" and she grinned and said, "I'm happy to be here." And later she joked that her baby was kicking a ton "because he's happy to be here, too!" CUTEST. #idie

Well, loves, that's about it for the week.

Every week gets a little bit easier and I love it a little bit more, and I really am so grateful to be here.

Love,

Hermana Brower