Dia de Accion de Gracias, Bautismo y Servicio

Alright! Eventful week. Well, Thanksgiving was a bit different this year. I spent the day teaching instead of lounging around eating orange rolls. 

We found a guy on the street and started talking to him, then we went into his house to bless his home and family and teach him a bit. It was going well, and then his wife came in (She was SUPER Evangelical) and was talking with us a bunch. We asked if we could end with a prayer, and the husband and wife just looked at each other and gave a litte "Aight" nod. They both started praying (People here don´t just listen to the person giving the prayer) and out of nowhere the wife just starts waving her hands over our heards and just have the most fervent "¡Bendice tu siervos! En el nombre de Jesucristo bendice ellos!" (translated:  Bless your servants ! In the name of Jesus Christ bless them!) and a bunch of other things. No joke, she prayed for a good 7 minutes. I had my sweater in my mouth so I wouldn´t bust up laughing. This lady was a good 4´11", and it was just hilarious to listen to her. 

For dinner, I celebrated in the most American way I could think of: McDonald´s. I was able to find a pie too. Fantastic stuff. I do miss pumpkin pie though. 

We had a baptism this week! Hermana Jesus. We found her about 5 weeks ago, and have actually been calling her "Jesusa" the whole time. Whoops. But I was actually able to baptize her! 

It was super awesome! I walked out of the font just beaming. It was so cool to finally baptize somebody myself. 

We did a service project in the area of our zone leaders. Pretty much the Favela. But I took some cool pictures with a dog there. 

 I hope you all had a super good week! Love you and miss you!

-Elder Konold

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Questions for this week from Mom:

1.  Have you had to bless or pass the sacrament?  Have you had to sing in the choir?!  

Nope.  We don't have a choir.  And we always have sufficient priests to bless and pass.

2.  Would you like us to send you some syrup or can you get the fake stuff there?  Any thing else you want me to send that you can't get there?  

I can buy fake stuff.  We have a bunch in the house, but we have yet to use it.

3.  When are you allowed to call on Christmas?  Do you have a members home or the bishops home to go to to call/Skype?  Do you want to look for a calling card just in case the Skype doesn't work?  We can put more money on your debit card.  I don't like keeping a high balance on there in case it gets stolen. I'm sure you can find them at a convenience store or Walmart.  

Christmas Eve!!! I think we're going to go to either our Stake President's house (he's in our ward) or our ward mission leader's.

4.  Does the Guatemala temple/ CCM have lights for the holiday and a nativity?

I honestly have no idea, but the temple is in the South mission, so I doubt I´d see it anyway. 

5. Have you heard of any Guat holiday traditions?  Are you getting together with your zone on Christmas?

I have not heard of any traditions yet, but I´m sure I will soon. Yes, I think a few zones all get together and have a Christmas party type thing. 

6.  How are your investigators?  And the members in your ward?  Who's your favorite?  Do you draw them in sacrament in your journal?

Investigators are good. We´re working on growing our investigator pool right now, but we have 7 people with a baptismal date. My favorite member in our ward is a priest named Jonathan. He´s the stake president´s son and he´s actually getting ready to receive his call and go out on a mission, so he goes out with us a lot. He´s a pretty cool kid. 

Glad to hear Colby and Paul had great talks. Has dad been able to talk with Colby in Portuguese yet?

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Answers for the week from Dad:

Thanksgiving looked awesome. Definitely missed the orange rolls and turkey. I am going to Skype Christmas Eve. I´m not sure what time yet, but I imagine that it will be sometime midday. I´ll probably know for sure in a couple weeks. We email at the family history center in the stake center. Sometimes we go to an internet cafe in the mall, but not very often. I haven´t watched the church video yet, but I´m sure I will soon. Right now we´re working on getting investigators married. Once they do, we´ll be able to baptize them. Their baptismal date is Sunday, but I think we can get it done. 

My spanish is coming along. I understand just about everything that is said in our lesons. I work every day on trying to speak like a Latino. I haven´t had to give a talk yet, but I hopped up last fast Sunday and bore my testimony. I can´t wait to hear Macy speaking. 

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Today I received the following message from another missionary mom:  Chessa, here are some photos of your son! Elder Lewis said he, your son and Elder Flake are the only gringos in his new Zone. Zona Central - Zona 7 in the city.

The dark photo is eating a "thank you meal" prepared by a recent convert after they helped pull down and put up a wall on their home as a zone service project. The photo of our two hijos is after they went on splits. Elder Lewis said your son is a GREAT missionary!