It's amazing how the Lord blesses us when we are in His service, isn’t it!

HEEYYYY!!
I am doing good...Just working hard in the work of the Lord.

Ismael we haven’t taught again yet. Miguel is doing good. He is interested in the things we teach him and everything and he actually has questions! But he didn’t come to church this week, so his fecha fell. Then Waldemar we haven’t been able to teach yet either. He hasn’t been home and his mom lies to us and says he is not home when he is. So I really don’t know what is going to happen with him.

One cool thing though! A lady named Esperanza, that Elder Toolson and I contacted and began teaching together back in Sayaxché, got baptized this last Saturday!!! And I was told that she is going to be a great member! I am super stoked about that!!!

Oh Ian! I love and miss that little kid. Please tell him “What’s up” for me.

It's amazing how the Lord blesses us when we are in His service isn’t it!? I just can’t stop giving thanks for His many blessings in our lives. We will never be able to repay Him for the greatness of mercy that He has for us!

It’s just super crazy that practically everyone in our whole family has moved since I left! It will be really weird when I get home! You guys better stay put! I am not coming home to a different house!

I still haven’t taken a picture of our room and ''kitchen'' so I will do that and send them next week. But here are a few pictures that I took last week when we were in El Estor. We were right by El Lago de Izabal, the biggest lake in Guatemala!

11 MONTHS! Elder Lusty and I came out at the same time!

The language is going good I guess. I can almost teach half of lesson one without using Preach My Gospel. That’s what we have to teach with, and yes it is in Q'eqchi'. But it is improving. Little by little I guess, right?

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Hey so I am in need of some toiletry items if you could send them for me! I need more gel, it’s the kind I have had for awhile. It is Schwarzkopf got2b glued styling spiking glue water resistant 4 hold its yellow with a silver lid. Then my shaving lotion stuff. It’s Nivea for men revitalizing double action balm soothes after shaving and energizes whole face coenzyme Q10 its silver with yellow and blue highlights. Hopefully that was specific enough, ha ha! I just copied everything it says on the containers for the 2 things. Then my electric razor got stolen out of our room probably by some kid on Sunday. So could you send me another....but not the same, one like dad has, the goatee trimmer dealy that would be great. And if it isn’t illegal to send pocketknives, could you send me some of my knives that are up in my room? And I would really like to have my Priesthood Authority Line....Thanks. sorry for all that....
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So nothing really happened this week. Just working hard. Elder Holland is coming to Guatemala to speak this week. We won’t be able to see him but we are going to Coban to see the broadcast of it! I am super excited for it! He is coming to speak to our mission and a few others along with Elder Christofferson, except he is speaking to other missions. But it’s going to be SWEET!

So let me tell you a little bit about the drinks up here. There is the burnt tortilla drink that I already told you about. It is hands down the best drink there is! I am happy to receive that more than any other drink. Then there is kind of like a chocolate drink which isn’t too bad, except it is really oily sometimes. Then there are 2 others: One is Q'em Ha' which literally means Dough Water and there is Ch'amb'uul. Q'em Ha' is really gross and it is made from corn, like everything else here. It is hot water with corn tortilla dough mashed up all in it. It tastes quite bad but it’s the worst once you get to the bottom to all the dough chunks. Its really rough going down the throat! We had about 3 liters of that stuff given to us on Wednesday. It was rough. But then there is Ch'amb'uul. That stuff is probably not even sanitary. They make Q'em Ha' and then they put it on there metal roofs for a week to let it ferment. Then they reheat it and serve it as a drink!!! It is pure poop! There is no other way to describe it. If you let it get cold, it is too thick to come out of the cup! When this drink is served to us, all distractions possible are made, especially ones that allow people to leave the room so you can throw it in a bag which can be disposed of later! Its rough stuff! I just thought I would give you a little taste of the Q'eqchi' life!!

That’s about it up here in the Chik! Hopefully I will be named soon as well. Elder Howard and Elder Larsen are working on my Chik name for me!

I hope you all have a great week!
Kawaq lee Paab'al ut
Kawaq Eerib'

Keep the Faith and
Stay Strong
Love you all, Elder Jordan Smith