The adventures of Elder Mason Yates: Hace dos dias....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! I hope everyone had a fantabulous holiday season. I sure did enjoy Christmas here in Guatemala. It was kinda weird though because on Christmas day, it was about 95 degrees. So it was a bit toasty. But everything was super fun! There are a ton of Guatemalan traditions here that are super cool. First, everyone and their dog makes tamales. It's not because everyone loves tamales, because they do, but it's soley because of tradition. Everyone makes tamales because everyone has ALWAYS made tamales. I don't mind because they were delicious, and this thing called panche, it's fruit juice with sugar. Everyone makes it differently, some people put a ton of different fruit in it like grapes (uva), papaya (papaya), coconut (coco), apple (manzana), pear (pera) and some people like it with only a little bit of fruit, and some people like it really hot, and others like it cold with ice. Whichever way its made, its good! I prefer medium amount of fruit and cold, that's good! :)

Another tradition that is Guatemalan is that on the 24th of December, people stay up till midnight, the reason? At midnight, they light of fireworks. Now people. I'm talking EVERYONE does this. EVERYONE. So there is NO WAY a person could sleep. So my companion and I stayed up and then went to the roof our our house to watch it. It's something really cool. And people tell me that its even more intense when the new year comes around. So, I'm excited for that. Then on Christmas, people mostly just sleep all day. Nobody has to work because it's a holiday so they stay up super late the 24th and light off fireworks and drink and hang out with friends. Then on the 25th, they stay in bed all day. my companion and I woke at 6:30 like usual and the streets were empty. It was weird. haha.

So that was my Christmas. I appreciate those dearelders I got and I am still working hard to write everyone back. I send all the letters at once so you may have a letter done but its probably sitting on my desk waiting. Sorry about that, I love all of you sooooooooo much and hope you had a fantabulous Christmas, Hanakkuh, Quanza, or whatever other holiday you celebrate. I hope it was great. :)

As for our investigators, we have one that is going to get baptized this coming weekend. Her name is Juanita. She's awesome. We were also planning another baptism for next weekend as well as a marriage. He's a member named Duglas and he wants to marry his non-member girlfriend Nancy. The problem is, she is 17 so she's underage and has to have her parents permission to get married. Her mother and father were completey for it, and just suddenly, her mother said no. So we are worried about that and need to talk to her mother. I`ll keep you all updated. Pray for them please!!

Keep reading your scriptures and going to church and praying and being awesome. Because being awesome is cool. And I like awesome people. And awesome people do the things I just mentioned, trust me. I know what I'm talking about :) Oh and enjoy the pictures. I take them with you in mind. I love you all and hope you have a awesome new years party! Go have an adventure and don't forget to laugh. :)

Elder Yates