Carnaval!

Hey Mom and Dad,

I´m glad sounds like you had a great week on the cruise! That´s always neat all the places you see especially the ruins of the native americans. That always is a good testimony builder to see the remains of the people in the Book of Mormon. Especially amazing to think that most of the natives here are really descendants of Lehi. I love the parts in the Book of Mormon where Mormon or other prophets speak directly to their descendents or make promises about them. It´s powerful to think that a lot of it is for them. And yeah that´s funny to think how close you were to me down here. So close, yet so far : And neat so you got caught in a tropical storm in Guatemala? Haha yeah it´d probably be like what it´s like down here. We´ve been caught a couple of times out walking when the hard rain hits. But I dunno, for me it´s not bad at all, in fact I kinda like it, lol. Its better than the beating sun that we get a lot :)

So anyways, oh and before I forget, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! Here I think I heard them call it “Día de amor y amistades” (Day of love and friendship). So yeah it sounds like they do have it here, they just don´t really celebrate it, lol. In the states it´s way commercialized I think (all hallmark:) so yeah for the second time in my life I didn´t have to worry a bit about Valentines day!!!! lol (speakin of which was crazy to think how last valentines day I was in the MTC starting my mission!!). But I think the real reason they don´t celebrate it here is because of another bigger crazier and better (in my opinión) holiday that they don´t have in the states! It´s called “Carnaval” which I´m not sure how it translates in English. But it´s like a 3 day national holiday (and I think they have it in other south american countries as well, at least in Brazil I´ve heard about it). So imagine if you will, a world at war. Not a war of iron tanks and guns, but of Water balloons and squirt guns!! lol just imagine the entire country taking three days off work to have a giant water fight! And that´s Carnaval. I remember when I first got here Elder Sanchez telling me about it and I thought how silly a thing. But it really looks quite fun. There´s a little blow up pool on every block and everyone runs around with buckets of water. Some go all out and get mud or dust like war paint on their faces and get others dirty. It sounds like a lot of people head out of town for the beach or head to the pools. Many wait on the side of the road with giant water guns to soak cars and anyone in the back of trucks as they drive by. We have to watch out as we walk down the streets because there are many waiting on balconies with buckets of water to soak the innocent pedestrians as they walk by. Yeah and seeing as how this fun innocent holiday can be somewhat dangerous for missionaries (it´s funny some see us and show respect and try not to get us wet, while I think others target us to try and get us wet:) we´ve received word from the President to come back to the house and stay inside between 2 and 6 in the afternoon (AKA: prime soaking time). We had to stay in the house starting Saturday until this Wednesday. (yeah, the soaking lasts more than just the 3 days, lol). So that´s helped a lot, though they are still out soaking after 6, it´s just not nearly as bad. And up till now we have not been soaked yet :P though yesterday we had a close call when a group saw us walk by and one came out with a bucket of water and tried to chase us down. But alas, she couldn´t compete with our agility as we quickly sprinted away :P. but yeah it´s crazy how all out they go, like today we had a tough time finding an internet café because everything was closed. But yeah, that´s been the latest fun culture fact I´ve found. I´m still asking where Carnaval started, or what the origin is, lol. No one seems to know more than the fact that they´ve always played since they were little :)

So anyways, other than that everything is going good. We´re still finding a lot of new people. In fact Tuesday night was going pretty rough when all of our appointments fell through as well as all of our back up plans. Yet again we were out walking in the rain at night. We were thinking of what we should do when we remembered one two-story house on a hill that we walk up about every day and the family inside almost always waves and says hi as we walk by. It must´ve been meant to be because on the way we ran into a young convert who was baptized a year ago, but hasn´t been coming, named Irvin. He had nothing to do either so decided to come with us. We met this family (which was actually several extended families of cousins and aunts and uncles, as is common to see here:) and found out that they were actually listening to the missionaries about a year ago. They brought out a couple plastic chairs so we just talk them right outside but for some reason that lesson just went amazing. Probably a mix of how receptive they were and the powerful testimony of Irvin (who´s inactive, yeah funny how even though he´s been inactive he hasn´t forgotten the truthfulness of the gospel and how he felt when he was converted). They all committed to read and pray easily. The next time we came we found that only a few had prayed (always a disappointment). But funny thing, out of all who prayed it was only the 10 year old girl named Julie who couldn´t stop talking about how she felt when she prayed. It was funny the first lesson I remember she was listening but I didn´t really think too much of how she was receiving it (usually when we teach families I try to include the kids when I can, but always the focus is on the parents or adults first). But before she went to bed she felt prompted to do what we had said to pray, she said she just felt like it was “a mission” she had to do, lol. And when she prayed she said she just felt like someone telling her that everything we said was the truth. When we invited them to church and came by later she was the first one ready to go. Lol just another example of how pure and receptive kids are when it comes to the gospel. We´re hoping that family goes far :)

Alright well i´m out of time so i´d better get going. Thanks again for the packages and letters! Love you!

Love,
Elder David Frome