Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Over the river and through the woods . . . she is transferred - and happy

New companion and apartment mates in S.

I have been transferred! I am now living in S, a little city in the outskirts of ____. We go over the river and through the woods every morning to work in S (literally, there is a river that rises with the rain that we have to jump and it is pretty jungley). Our house is a definite upgrade from our last one because we have a sink inside! Our new house is also different because there are four girls instead of two, fleas instead of cockroaches, bucket shower instead of a shower with the handle that shocks your hand, and we have a little garden outside. It is beautiful and it feels like a hotel because it's one of the nicest houses in the mission. My new companion is from Equador and is named Hermana G. She is already one of my best friends, and I am so blessed to be working with her. The other two girls living in our house are super fun and I am so happy here!

I was a little sad to leave my last area because of all the people I grew to love. C (the woman we have been working with since I arrived in L. finally made the commitment to be baptized and I had to miss her baptism since I was transferred but I'm just happy that I was able to see the process and that she finally made the decision. She is one of the most strong-willed women I have ever met. The weekend K was baptized, she invited her son (who didn't know she had accepted a date to be baptized) to attend with her. When her son denied, she simply responded, It's okay, you can come to my baptism next weekend. Hahaha

My new area is really different, and since we are close to A, I'm not the only white person here! We contacted a bus last week (one of us goes to the front of the bus and announces who we are and a little bit about our message, and then we talk to every person individually on the bus to ask for their address to pass another day...we do this every time we take the bus) and after I contacted the bus, I started talking to a guy and he said to me, very slowly, I speak English. Haha, turns out they are a family on vacation from Arkansas haha.

I am already falling in love with the people here. Most of the time, when I am meeting a person and I tell them my name, they always say, OH! Like Hansen and Gretel. Most of them live in houses with just a tin roof and blankets, or tarps, for walls. The area is beautiful, and I can see THREE VOLCANOES on clear days (and one of them is usually puffing smoke). The roads are rough cobble stone or just dirt with rocks and the area is pretty hilly.

As a final note, it is pretty funny how they have different animal sounds. For example, in English, we think a dog says, Ruff, ruff.But it's different in Spanish. And if you ever meet a little Latino child, you should say, Cock'a'doodle'doo because they think it is the funniest thing in the world. I'll take a video of some of the kids because it is so cute.

I am happy here and I am so honored to be serving a mission in Guatemala. Every day is changing my life and although I miss home, there is no place I would rather be than in the Guatemala City Central Mission.
                                      Hermana Hansen 'bus contacting'.

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