Monday June 24th. Humidity, Funky Town, y the power of Prayer

DAD!!

don't worry about sending me money, i am fine. for every quetzal, i get 7.8)ish) dollars.

the sister missionaries, i love them! please tell them i love them! i remember sister O telling me a story about her first month in, maybe second. how she just broke down crying because she missed her family. sometimes it gets hard here, but knowing how great she is and they felt that way, gives me a bit of hope. i dont feel like it ofetrn, but every once and a while.

There are people here that talk during my prayers. i'll be in a lesson with and evangelical, and when i pray, they start speaking in tongues! at first i stopped in the middle of the prayer because i thought something was wrong, then i realized it was... "normal." all i can say is... WHAT?!?! so, when i pray and some evangelicals are around, they speak in tongues, but theyre loud. its difficult to pray in spanish when someone is speaking in tongues SUPER loud. like, sometimes theyre louder tan my own voice. its... interesting. i admire the fact that theyre not afraid to pray. 

i love two families we tought last week, because both looked me in the eyes when i was there. they all responded to me, and talked to me, when i was there. i felt respected. People here everytually find out im a Norte, and so once members or investigators know that, they dismiss me. its sucky. they dont look me in the eyes, like they ignore me. they think i cant speak spanish, and i know enough to talk with them, i am just slow at speaking because i am thinking!! i think in english and translate it, so it takes time. everyonce and a while i look up in the sky and just think, i would talk to people, without HESITATION! if i was speaking english, or mandarin. i love mandarin so much. ANYWAY, sometimes when i ask questions to people (in my slow spanish) they respond... but they respond to my comps. theyll respond to my comps as if they asked and dont look at me. ughh, its kind of lonely sometimes, but all is well.

some mornings i wake up and feel like a cookie cutter. its humid, and i feel like a cookie cutter, making my path through all this humidity. its hot here, i could totally cook an egg on these sidewalks... oh wait, i can't - nothing here is paved! its all sand and broken stones, rocks. i find rocks in my shoes ALL the time! i dont think it is an accident that pie is in piedras.

i love my crocs! my flat feet are getting their moneys worth around here. we dont have a car, thank God (it would be a hassle with these insane drivers), so we walk a lot. The misión gives us Little money, we need more for the bus, but i find myself using my own personal money to go see investigators that live way way out in the middle of nowhere Izabal. seriously, the mission doesnt give us enough i dont understand it. i love walking though, we just loose sooo much time. we walk so much, and days we dont, i feel like i did nothing. I measure my successthrough how dirty my feet are, and how much they hurt. someimtes, even by the amount of mosquito or frog bites i have on my legs..

 i ate mucus meat it again. it had a sauce on it, so it wasnt so bad this time, not too bad. its super dark, so dark meat can be mysterious sometimes. i found out its from a cow, and its somewhere around the rib área. its, not too bad

AMERICAN MUSIC! i hear it sometimes! i walked by a clothing store the other day and they were playing In the End by Linkin Park, and THEN! (it gets better) I Heard FUNKY TOWN! oh how great, i got excited. psssht, in the States, i would never get excited for that darn song. Oh the things Guate. will do to you.

People here like American clothing, so much that they get it. Okay, i will elaborate. They get used American clothing. You know those big red boxes behind stores in the States, and it says clothing & shoes on it? Remember Pops, you said you saw something on ABC about those boxes, and they sell stuff for money? well, im pretty sure thats where these come from. i decided to ask my comps what they think of the US. Hna. R (from Guate) said she doesnt like americans really. i asked why. she said because americans think theyre better, and they dont have be speak spanish, everyone should speak english. it hurt a smidge to hear that, because i know there are so many americans that arent that way. i am not that way. i realice how suck some of theconditions are around here, but i dont look down on people. i want to see them dressed in White, just like me, one day in the Temple. the Temple is like an equalizer. I also asked Hna. C (from Mexico) and she said she used to not like america so much, but now she likes americans. she has had other comps from the US, and loves them. I hope i leave a good impression of the US on these poeple here in Puerto BArrios. by the way, i am a Little curious how things are in the US. everything is good. its a killer not having NPR here. ugh, Fresh Air,  Fresh Air!!! le extrano

 the new misión is starting soon, but i dont know my new address, but tomorrow i will find out. we have to go 4hrs to Zacappa for a zone conference, and then on Saturday, we have to go six hours to the capital. 4hrs one way tomorrow, and 6 hrs one way on saturday. I am an east misión missionary. dont worry, im not leaveing where i am, boundaries are changing.

Anyway, its a reality check. some of these people, their lives are depressing. its sad sometimes. i always cared for needy people. remember? yeah, i always knew there were conditions like this, and being here is a whole other aspect. Dad, i want to to come to Guate when i am done with my missin, to pick me up. its insane, though, i know you have seen these conditions before. sometimes, i feel like the misión is just... eghhh, not a big fan. then i think of how sucky it is here for some of these people, and i cant leave them. they have a rusted sheet of tin for doors. no running wáter in their house, a spicket in the back. they take little buckets, and fill them up, one by one, and shower that way. its just sucky. i am so grateful my comps and i have an apartment and not a house made of concrete with huge cracks y rusted sheet tin door. no kitchen, y few have fridges.

there are lizards everywhere!! i think of the story Aunt Jo told me how Grandpa Angel would get a sling shot and catch lizards and eat them, when he was a boy. yeah, i think of him when i see a lizards crawling on my Wall. they dont bother me, i like them.

The góspel strengthens families Dad! i have never been so proud to show people our family picture. it love it.

i also show my baptism picture a lot. Tell Jack Tousley his face is baiscally famous down here in PB.

anyway, spanish is getting a bit better. yuyan de enci, with tones its: yu3ya2n de e1nc4 . its mandarin for language gift! im waiting for it to come to me for spanish. i need it. though, my comps say i am "pilas," so ill take it. i emt a guy that spoke english and i nearly cried, seriously. its a Little lonely not being able to express yourself. this guy lived in  NEW YORK also! oh gosh. let it be known. other than any LDS Temple, New York is my favorite place, ever. seriously, i loved just speaking to him for like 30 seconds.

anyway, i love you all.

give everyone my love. when you see the family next, (4th of July tal vez) give them my
 love.

love,
 Hna. Ramirez