Lost in Pronunciation

How's it going this week?! I had an awesome week, But I don't have a whole lot of time to talk about it. I was INCREDIBLY grateful to receive your packages. 

I have Christmas morning sitting under my desk. Very excited. I got to see almost all of my friends from the CCM at a conference we had last week for new missionaries and their trainers, so that was really good to see how everybody else is doing. President Crapo told us a story about the importance of language study. When he was a missionary, They'd use a chair to illustrate the Apostasy. They'd say "Esta silla es la iglesia de Jesucristo. Las patas (legs) son Un Profeta, Los Apostoles, Revelacion y Autoridad." He was training a new elder who was teaching that, and the new elder said "Esta silla es la Iglesia de Jesucristo. Tiene 4 putas (Definitely NOT legs)..." That was an awesome story to hear. It was even funnier because our President said it.

 {Elders Aubrey, Konold, Chabries, and Gurksnis reunited!}

So Thanksgiving is this week.... I'm going to try to buy a pie to celebrate. Maybe we'll feast on McDonald's (You can have it delivered here). We'll. see. Well, I'm onto my size 31 suit pants. All this walking is doing me some good. If only I could swim, I'd be looking awesome right now.

Something I found out this week- Guatemalans don't use syrup for pancakes, they use honey. I thought my comp was just being dumb and didn't know that we had syrup in the house, but we had breakfast at a member's house this morning and they gave us honey for pancakes. Guatemala.

Well, I love you all and can't wait to talk to you next week!

-Fin

P.S. Glad to see Brennan didn't disappoint. And I'm glad to see Brennan is stepping into my loading responsibilities... But the dude needs to play some Tetris or something, that truck is lookin' loose! I can send packages through pouch. I'm going to do that. I obviously haven't been buying anything on my iTunes account. My guess is that I'm somehow still logged in on a device at home. I'll talk to the nurse this week. And yes, I got my package this week.

I sent him a list of questions for this week, too:

1. What has been your best day so far? Last friday. It was a pouch Christmas for me

2. Do your feet hurt at the end of the day? Are your shoes holding up? My feet used to hurt while I was still breaking in my shoes. They're fine now.

3. With transfers tomorrow, are you going to be able to go see some of your CCM friends? No, we only go to the change conferences if we or our companion is transferring

4. Are you getting enough food to eat? A veces. I'm not starving.

5. What has been the most interesting thing you have eaten? Fiambre

6. What was the market like? Have you been able to explore a little? The market was cool. Much better this time because there were less people and I could speak much better.

7. Is the City beginning to decorate for Christmas? YES. A bit. And I hear Christmas music sometimes

Legal in the Guat

"I think I forgot to tell you that we were going to the temple and our P-day was Tuesday this week.  Whoops...."

Good week this week. Fun stuff. Happy time.

{I'm lucky to have the temple close by!}

I´ll start by saying that I finally finished the Book Of Mormon this week. That was pretty cool. I guess it only took about 10 years to get past "I Nephi..."

So on Wednesday, I had to go to the Immigration office to sign my visa to let me hang out in the Guat for a couple years. I was super stoked to see my buddies from the CCM, but my whole district went on TUESDAY. I was bummed. I guess I´ll have to wait another 6 weeks to see them, unless I see some of them at Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, for the first time in my life.... I´m 100% okay with hearing Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I bet my mom will jump for joy when she hears that. Maybe it´s because Thanksgiving doesn´t even exist here. Maybe it´s because it´s just english music. Who knows?
We has a whole bunch of less active members and investigators at church this week. That was super cool. We´re teaching one family who´s kids get super excited when we come over and ask for all of our folletos.

Last P-Day, the nurses came by and gave us all Influenza shots. Super fun times.

{Do you sense any fear of needles behind that smile?}

Well, that´s all for this week. Hope you´re all having a good time.

Much love,
Fin

P.S.  I had no idea you guys were going to Hawaii haha. Or I guess I forgot. Sad to see dad´s beard is gone, but I bet you´re stoked. I got your package today! I´m going to open it tonight. I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday, so that was cool. Hope you guys are having fun!

Love, Fin

Guatemala Goodwill

This week's letter was very short.  They were on their way to the central market with other missionaries today!
*********************************************
I´m sorry to report that this week wasn´t nearly as exciting as my last. After emailing last week, we went to a mall and went to what is basically the Guatemalan equivalent of Goodwill. If you've ever wondered where all of the DI&Salvation Army stuff goes, I found it. I was looking through all of their t/shirts and was cracking up because they had lots of ones from Utah. I actually found a UofU ¨Beat BYU¨shirt, so I´m planning on having lots of fun with that ;) 

 {My street}

{My house}

On Thursday, we helped a family move into their new home. We moved a 4 foot wide, 300 lb. dresser up 3 stories. We did that on a spiral staircase that was about 3 feet wide. That was not an easy experience. Very interesting, and very tiring. I think those people have half of the furniture in Guatemala. 

We found lots of new investigators this week. One family is kind of interesting... The guy is 30, and his ¨wife¨ is (Drumroll please) FIFTEEN! With a 2 year old son! There was fury in my eyes when I found that out. 

Hey! I saw a cockfight in the street yesterday! There were feathers everywhere. Both of them survived. I promise! My comp and I are getting along great! He cooks me food, and I translate love letters into English for an American girl he likes. Good stuff. 

That´s all for this week! We may or may not have a baptism this weekend. We´ll see.

-Elder Konold

Fiambre, Baptism, and No Halloween

Alright. Busy week. So on Thursday, we had our first zone conference. It was super awesome. I learned a lot, and President and Hermana Crapo are some of the nicest people on the planet. Our assistants are awesome too. It was all in Spanish, and I understood about 98% of it! My Spanish is improving a lot. I work hard every day, and I can really see it paying off. 

I went on splits with a zone leader this week. Elder Brindle- He's from Kentucky and has about 3 weeks left in the mission. He still works super hard, which is awesome. I learned a lot from him. We placed a BOM and a ton of folletos, so that was awesome. We went tracting in the Favela! The houses that we saw were actually pretty nice inside. Wood floors and TVs. 

So it finally happened. A lady started breastfeeding during a lesson. I totally saw it coming, and I was like, "Oh no. Oh no please don't grab your baby. Oh keep them in your shirt. Oh that's a boob."  And the night before, I saw a guy pooping on the sidewalk! We walked back that way later, and I think that a gorilla actually swung by and added to his pile. It was ungodly large. 

Okay, so the 1st of Noviembre is pretty much labor day. I think we were only able to teach 3 lessons. Nobody was home. But there's a traditional dish here called "Fiambre." I was told it was a meat and cheese salad. I was expecting carne asada and pollo frito, with some awesome guatemalan goat cheeses or something, but it was just a bunch of sliced lunch meat. Not awful, but I definitely prefer my street tacos. We had boiled squash for dessert. Boiled squash is not dessert. 

So we had a baptism yesterday!! His name is Gonzalo, and he's a really awesome guy. He's super humble. We invited him to be baptized on my first night here, and he was baptized yesterday right after church! It was really cool to see our hard work, as well as the work of the Spirit, pay off. Elder Funes did the baptizing, because it was his first baptism as well. We have 4 more fechas lined up, so I hope they all go through!

I'm in Alma 43 right now. I'll probably finish the Book of Mormon in another week and a half. Alma 26 is probably the most amazing chapter in the whole book. It helped me a lot. 

Love you all!

Oh yeah, nobody here celebrates halloween. Or Dia De Los Muertos.

What The Guat?! Week 8

Alright so what´s your record of people that you´ve seen on one motorcycle? 2? Because mine is 5. Guatemalans are crazy. So something really cool about this place is that a bottle of soda costs roughly $.30. If we were allowed to drink Coke (we can´t), I´d be dropping Quetzales like it was nobody´s business. 

I got to teach a lesson in English on Saturday! We met a guy from Dallas, and he just asked me to speak English since his English is way better than his Spanish. It was really cool. I hope that with lots of study, I´ll be able to teach just as well in Spanish as I was able to in English. 

Last night, we went over to a member´s house to share a short message and watch a video about the Restoration. After, they brought us out some food. And then more food. And then more food. It was so awesome. Good stuff too. Oh, I had beans for 3 separate meals yesterday. That meant that I´ve had diarrhea 3 times this morning. Fun stuff. 

Okay, we aren´t supposed to have cameras when we´re out and about, because they may get stolen, so I don´t have lots of pictures. Lo Siento. 

One of our investigators asked if he could be baptized Sunday morning because he wants to be a part of the church so badly. It´s a rule that an investigator has to go to church 3 times before baptism, so we have to wait a bit before we actually can. His baptismal date is November 8th! If he goes to church next Sunday (which he will, he loves it), we´ve got the green light!! I´m so excited for him. He´s a really nice, humble guy who just wants to be closer to God. a

Well, I can´t think of much else for this week. I´m about halfway through the Book of Mormon. Yáll should read it. The Spanish is coming along.

I love you all!

-Elder Konold

P.S.  You can take Fin out of America,  but you can't take the America out of Fin

 P.P.S.  There are cats EVERYWHERE!

To answer some questions:

What’s your ward like? How do your lessons go? Do you have to teach any classes in church? 

Do you get to meet with other elders during the week? Anyone from your MTC group in your district or zone?

How do you do contacts? On the street or do you go door-to-door? Do the members help much with referrals?

How are the kids there? Do you get to speak with them much? They tend to have an easier time understanding you.

You learning more words every day? What books are you reading other than the BofM?

Sheesh, lots of questions.

We aren´t allowed to drink any dark sodas. So it´s pretty much just sprite, 7up, and any orange soda. Our ward is good. I haven´t had to teach any lessons yet, or talk in sacrament meeting. We have district meetings every wednesday. We have 2 companionships in our ward, so I see those elders 3 times a week. Everybody is together for weekly planning, p day, and district meetings (our whole zone goes to a stake center). Most of our contacts are on the street. We rarely just knock doors. The kids here are nice, and a lot easier to speak with. Right now, I´m just focusing on the book of mormon and preach my gospel. I´m going to start listening to the Joseph Smith tapes at lunch (we get an hour every day).

Welcome to the real Guatemala!

My last week in the CCM wasn't anything spectacular. We just spent our last day doing workshops. So long. 

 {Transfer Day - Elders Jarvie, Konold, Chebreis, Gurksnis, and Flygare}

President and Sister Crapo are really nice. I think they'll be great. 

On my second day, we were walking around finding people to teach. My companion (Elder Funes from Honduras. He's nice) and I started talking to a couple on the corner. After a few minutes, I noticed the guy's shirt... Great Oak Class of 2012. I wish I could have taken a picture with him. We don't bring our cameras out on the street while we're working. 

{Fin and his companion, Elder Funes}

There are dogs EVERYWHERE here. Ugly ones, cute ones, ones that I didn't know existed. I saw a couple of dogs humping in the street. Stay Classy, Guatemala. OH!! I'm in the city! I'm in the central zone. I guess this is the zone that everybody wants to end their mission in, because we have all of the cool stuff here. I'm in the Trebol ward. They're pretty nice. 

    

I didn't even think about how much I'd be walking. We walk EVERYWHERE. Sometimes we take busses, but those are almost worse than walking because we cram so many people on there? How many people fit on a regular school bus in America? 50? Guatemala? 200. It's actually kind of funny. Okay, so sometimes we get sandwiches for lunch. They call them "transmetros." They're amazing, and they cost about 3 bucks. They're easily almost twice the size of a Subway sandwich. Good stuff. 

     

We had dinner with a member family last night. They were so nice! We have two other elders in our ward, and we were all over there. They said that my spanish is good (I don't really have an American accent when I speak, I just talk pretty slowly). It's been a good week. There have been lots of eye opening experiences for me. Poverty is a serious problem here. Our house is pretty nice compared to what else I've seen. It's just a reminder of how blessed we really are. 

Elder Konold

Our Apartment:
The lovely kitchen....

The shower...

 It's all about the food...



The study area...

Remember the lucky machete?!....please hide that!

My Mother's Lucky Machete

Alright, this week was easily my best week in the CCM. Why? Because Guat City is awesome. We started our city tour with a trip to Wendy's. Wendy's here is super amazing. Imagine that Pat&Oscars bought Wendy's. That's what it's like. I don't think I've ever tasted anything so amazing as my Wendy's. I had a burger that I could have sworn was personally grilled by Uncle Sam. And I got an extra large Coke. Can't stop me from being American. 

We went to see this awesome relief map of Guatemala. It was really cool to see all of the mountains and lakes and areas that I'll be in. After that, we started our bus ride into the city. I saw a man peeing in the street, and a lady no-shame breastfeeding on a bench. Welcome to Guatemala, Elder Konold. 

The market was so cool!! There were two levels. The bottom one was a food market. They had massive cuts of meat hanging from the ceiling, 8 foot tall mountains of fruit, and flies EVERYWHERE. It was still pretty neat to see. The second level was where all of the Guats were selling their stuff. What was the first thing I bought? If your guess was "Not a machete," you'd be very, very wrong. Elder F and I both got one. They came in a really cool leather sheath. I walked around and got some goodies for all of you. I was happy that I was able to communicate with these people. I went in with the thought that I'd do some bartering and get some sweet deals on everything, but I quickly realized that these people need that money far more than I do. The presidential palace here is made of green stone because the president's wife loved guacamole. I can definitely see where she's coming from. 

Every week, we teach "investigators." This week, we actually taught real investigators. Elder J and I taught a woman who was supposed to be less-active, but turns out, she goes to church every week and the temple often. So that was a bit of a waste. Oh well. I got to practice my spanish!

{Fin's CCM District - Elders Dawson, Jarvie, Konold, Aubrey, Gurksnis, Flygare, Duncan, and Chabries}

Conference was pretty cool this weekend. My first time watching ALL. TEN. HOURS. So long. I thought the talks were good. My two favorites were Lynn G. Robbins,

and David A. Bednar's.

Bednar's talk was easily the best conference talk that I have ever heard. Can you print that out and send it to me? 

We got the package you sent on Monday. Everyone was really happy to get mail. That's honestly my favorite thing in the world now. Mail is the best. 

I guess that's it for this week. My next P Day will probably be my first Monday in the field. I'm so excited to go out, and I'm ready to be a real missionary. 

Abrazos y Besos!

-Elder Konold

P.S. The coke tasted a bit sweeter. But it was from a fountain, so I didn't notice a huge difference. I had a 2 minute chat with one lady at the market! I just told her that we were all missionaries and today was our day to do some exploring. I think we understood each other pretty well. I don't know if the churches here have wifi. I'll find out soon. I don't think that I get to email next week - we leave the CCM early next Tuesday morning. I go through phases of soft and liquid, but no solid dumps. Still haven't crapped in my Gs!