Her name is Jackie, she is in my ward and her family rocks!

 
 Waiting for the fireworks the Christmas Eve on our roof

                                            Christmas Day

yo mate un pollo!!

HOLA MAMMMMA

It was so wonderful to skype with you! I loved it so much, the connection was so good that I felt like I was sitting in the kitchen right there with you.  It sounds like christmas dinner was fun at Richards place. How does his house look? Is it all finished? 

    You are never going to believe what I did!! I killed a chicken!! like I grabbed a live chicken by the head and cut his neck clean off with a kitchen knife I literally screamed at the top of my lungs the entire time and everyone was yelling HARDER HARDER and the chicken was flinging itself all over the place and pecking my hand. and then I cut the head off and its blood squirt everywhere and then it pooped all over me, while it didnt have a head!! Then we started a fire to heat up some water and stuck the chicken in for like 5 seconds and then I pulled every single one of his feathers out, It was so gross! The family Sam from my ward sells chickens so they randomly invited to come over and kill a chicken, they are the greatest family and they always help us, I love all of them! I told them that before I could not even help my mom cook dinner because I couldnt touch raw meat and they laughed their heads off. They took all the chickens we killed to scout camp and so I was running around during church slap happy telling all the young men that I killed their dinner, they didnt seem to think it was as cool as I did, but they did say it was a really good tasting chicken so theres that. I killed it in a pila which is something evey home has no matter poor or rich. It is where I wash my clothes my dishes my hands, everything! so you can see what it is in the picture I sent, except mine doesnt have chicken blood in it. 

      So this week was very different, we had some sort of activity every day so we didnt work much in our areas, although this week was super fun and I really enjoyed it, I missed my investigatores and I am excited to go back to work in Tzunua. I already told you about how Guatemalans celebrate Christmas and all the fireworks that covered the entire sky on christmas eve night at midnight that we watched from my roof and it was the greatest thing ever! and other then eating a million tamales that is pretty much all they do. The day after christmas we had a christmas party devotional thing with President and like 4 other zones. We had a talent show and ate a really nice lunch and watched a football movie, it was super fun. Then on Saturday night my zone performed our christmas program again in the middle of Retalhuleu because President asked us to, then we contacted everyone that stopped to listen and there were tons of people! It was a cool new way to get references and stuff. Then president took me and my comp home in his fancy car because we didn't finish til 9:30 and all the hermanas have to be home at 8 every night, so that was the most intimidating thing ever! but he is really nice and he bought us big macs so it was okay. 

     well I love you so much and I hope you have a super fun new years! tell the hootons I say hi! Love you to the moon and back!

Love,

Marsy doets

                                          merry christmas from guatemala! love you! 

 my cook hermana mima, her husband ronald, and their daughter anita bonita at her wedding! I love this family so much, they are wonderful people!

okay I just about died when I saw that picture of Cal in the snow! That is too cute! the scotts also sent me some pictures and they are all so big! I hardly recognized them, they are all so adorable! 

   well I am also just going to write a quick letter so we will have lots to talk about on Christmas! I got your package and I loved it!!! Thank you so much! I was so excited and my companion and I have been blasting the music every day and singing at the top of our lungs, we were so tired of hearing the same 5 songs, it was so wonderful to get new music! We hung our stockings up on a rope where we hang our clothes to dry and our house finally has that little chritmas spirit it was lacking! and the picture book was so fun! I love getting pictures and everyone looks so good. who the heck is that kid sam is holding?!? oh wait THATS MY NEPHEW! i seriously dont even recognize the kid, he looks so old! Everyone looked so cute, it made me so happy!

    My zone performed our christmas program in the middle of the busiest street in Reu and my solo was a little more intimidating, but it was really fun! on sunday bishop got up in the middle of sacrament and said, and now we will hear a special musical number by hermana outsen for christmas, and that is all the warning I had! that is the second time this month he has surprised with a special musical number, ha ha. I literally sing at everything! I have performed more on my mission already then I think I have my entire life! its alright though because singing is fun! 

    Well I think I am going to skype sometime between 4 or 5, I hope that works for everyone!  I can hardly wait, I am so off the wall, slap happy excited to talk to you IN LIKE TWO DAYS!! YAY YAY YAYA! 

   Feliz navidad! see you on wednesday!! love you to the moon and back!

con mucho amor,

hermana outsen

mi querido madre dulce,

well to answer your question, I have no idea, ha ha so I guess that did not actually answer your question. but there is a mcdonalds and we go there almost every pday and tell the mystery sender mucho gracias! Calvin is big and so adorable!! I love when you sam or grandma write me just to tell me little tiny details about him, I miss the little guy! I hope we can somehow work it out on christmas so we could do some kind of 3 way so I can talk to sam and max too. oh and as for the other question, I also have no idea, we haven't planned it yet. but we are either going to ask a member or my comp said that maybe we could go to the family history center in her old area because the computers are really good, so we will see. 

    Well to be totes honest, this week was kind of a bust when it comes to investigators. we have had two baptisms fall through in two weeks and no one came to church on sunday and we dont really know what to do to fix it. the frustrating thing is we had a lot of really awesome lessons and found lots of new people and they all read the book of mormon and pray and they love talking to us and all that good stuff but no one will come to church, we have tried just about everything we can think of and you literally cant do anything more with them and they cant progress unless they come to church. well theres my rant for the week! 

     heres a brighter note, I totally lived a parent trap moment this week. I did divisions with hermana jordan from riverside cali and she just got here like 2 weeks ago so she speaks zero spanish. so we were in her area and we got to talking and we are literally the same human. We have the same personality, the same hobbies, the same talents, the same feelings, so we are pretty much twins. she was expressing to me how she was doing and I am new enough that I can remember my first few weeks here and how hard they were and I was really able to connect with her and help her because everything she said I could totally relate to because we are so similar and that bonded us so now we are super tight and she rocks! oh and I also had another ¨holy crap¨moment with my comp. You know the ugly green chair we have in the front room that you hate but we have had since like before I was born? well we were teaching a lesson and sitting on a couch with the exact same fabric and I said to my comp, hey comp. guess what I totally have this chair at my house, and she was like me too! and I told her mom hates it but for some reason we have never gotten rid of it, and she was like my mom too! So I told her that I would tell you to send me a picture of it, so if you get a minute, we really miss our ugly chairs. 

       last night we had a christmas program, we practiced a lot for it and it turned out really good! there were so many people there and all the missionaries in my zone performed a bunch of christmas songs with harmony and it was really awesome! we had a video and president spoke and everyone loved it and it was probably my favorite presentation so far here in Guat. We decorated the chapel with a nice christmas tree and flowers and it just turned even better than we thought. and also I had the solo in silent night! The assistants filmed it and they told me they were going to put it on youtube. I will send you the link next week and you can watch it if you want!  Oh and here is a fun christmas fact, it is a tradition in guatemala to paint your house every year for christmas. Everyone was outside painting all day everyday, their house, their fence, their curb, their dog, you name it! and my comp and I were so confused! so I finally asked someone and found out why and they do it every year. so I painted like 5 houses this week. yellow, 2 pink, baby blue, and purple. yeah... guatemala is super brilliant! 

    In other news, my companion and I joined a gym and we are so sore everyday, it is the most pathetic thing. it is the most ghetto gym. it is probably the size of my bedroom at home and has like 3 old bikes that hardly move and a bunch of weights and the guy that owns it is basically like our own little personal trainer who makes us do random workouts with the weights and I cant feel my arms and legs like ever. also there is this huge green parrot that hangs out by our house who talks to us! it is the coolest thing! the first time I heard it I thought it was a kid, the bird seriously knows more spanish than I do! SO COOL! well thats it for now! I love you so much and I hope you have a great week! give Cal a big kiss for me and tell sherrie hi!

Love,

Maren

                                          The sunset from my roof

                                         The view of the volcano from my roof

                                          Brighton friends in Guatemala

I cant believe it is already pday again, this week flew by! I am so glad you got my package but you were not supposed to open it til christmas! thats why I wrapped everything!! like mother like daughter I guess. Did you give grandma and grandpa their presents too? Loved the pic, dad looks like such a goof ball, I love it!

    Well I got two more birthday packages this week so my zone thinks I am so spoiled and I just tell them, well what do you expect from a barbie and then they nod in agreement. We all know that Kasi always nails it with the gift giving thing and she sure didn't disappoint even when I am far away in Guatemala. She sent me super cute shoes and some nail polish for my birthday. I also got a birthday package with some sweet african jewelry that I love! I am glad I got jewelry, shoes and nail polish to remind that I am a girl because sometimes I forget because I am always so dirty, sweaty, and stinky. 

    

    So in Guatemala to celebrate the christmas season kids do fireworks in the streets every night. They are not cool pretty fireworks. they are just piercingly loud and hardly light up at all. For the first 2 weeks my comp and I were convinced that there was a giant shootout  outside our house because it is so loud but turns out it is actually just christmas. 

    Speaking of Christmas, I am going to Skype you all at christmas and I can hardly wait! I am glad Max, Sam and their little doves got to go to the devotional last night! It was so good! I watched it on tv in english just like I we did for conference and it was fabulous! It was so weird to finally come to the realization that it is christmas season and not dead of summer.  It is so hot here and I feel like it is still July. It does not feel like christmas at all here! 

   My comp. is still super fun! her name is Audrey Prince and she moved to utah when she was 17 and went to high school in Duschene where ever the crap that is. She told me it is the armpit of Utah. She is super sarcastic and crazy and we have a lot of fun! we tell nine mile stories and memories like everyday. I am glad I get to spend christmas with her! well I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love reading your letters each week! Love you to the moon and back!

Love,

hermana Outsen

                                              My favorite family

                                                     My native dress

we found this on my roof. which means someone walked through our gate, onto our roof, put this poor teddy on the pole and peaced out. like what the heck?! 

• mi nueva compañera es muy calidad‏

I am so glad that everyone was in town for Thanksgiving, sounds like it was a blast! and I am glad Alex got to go through the temple with the whole family, loved the pic!

     Well I am just the happiest little missionary on the planet! This week was so wonderful! My new companion is a rockstar! She is from Utah but she grew up in Chicago and she is so much fun and so funny! We just laugh all day long and we get along so well! We never speak spanish ever but I don't even care because I love her and we have so much fun together, I could talk to her all day which is perfect because I am with her all day. She is so cool! We were talking and she was telling me how she loves to hunt and camp and what not and shes all "you probably have never heard of our camping slash hunting spot for my family" and I said "yeah I am sure I haven't but you can tell me anyway" Turns out it is good old 9 mile canyon. When she told me I kinda freaked out a little bit. That was like the first 5 minutes of our companionship so that set us off right and we have been clicking ever since.

     Tuesday was my last day with Hermana Sanchez. In the morning we went to the temple as a zone because our zone baptized the most people in November! so that was freakin awesome!  yes I have seen the new video, it was in spanish but it was super sweet! Then that night we had such an awesome family night with hermana mima, it was like my favorite lesson of my mission. Her husband is inactive and has a bunch of problems with drinking and comes home drunk and beats mima and his kids and crap, but at this lesson he started crying and thanking us for taking care of his family while he wasn't and for bringing the spirit into his home and all this cool stuff and then he told us he wants to come back to church and he begged us to help him and then he came to church on sunday and it was all just really cool! 

    This week I had to lead the area cause Prince is new here and doesn't know anyone. I still suck with directions but all went well and it was a solid week. Tell Dad I got his dear elder, I always love those and I also got grandmas package and it was so wonderfully perfect and also made me cry. I miss grandma and grandpa so much! but this week was totally my favorite week of my mission, I don't even know what is worth telling you but just know that I am doing fabulous. I love Guatemala, I love the members in my ward, I love the culture here, I love teaching my investigators, I love my companion, and I love all of you!

   Oh and this morning I got to go to the beach with my zone. basically my entire zone changed so it was a great way to bond everyone. The beach is gorgeous, the prettiest beach I have ever seen! and we played soccer in the sand and ate fresh coconut which is totally gross but I ate it anyway because it made me feel cool.  It was such a blast! Well thanks for the pic and the email, I love you all so much and I miss you tons! I hope you are enjoying the christmas season and the snow! have a good week! 

Love,

Maren Marie

• Feliz dia de Gracias y cumpeanos tambien! Te amo‏

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU THIS WEEK MOTHER DEAREST! 

I am sorry I can not tell you on your birthday but you can just read this again on Thursday and that should do the trick. 

I got my birthday package and I loved every single ounce of it. Turns out it showed up a while ago but my zone leader was hiding it from me because he wanted to give it to me on my actually birthday. But I found out he had it and I made him give it to me. He gave it to me on tuesday with one condition, that I would not open it till Thursday. So I promised him I wouldn't and then i opened it the second I got home, Its like he doesn't know me at all. He is from Mexico so we have a special bond thanks to lil Maxy. 

But seriously you are the best mom on the planet, thank you so much! Everything was so clever and perfect. When I opened the lotion and gave it a whiff I just broke out in tears and started whining to my companion that it smells exactly like my mom!" I miss you more than you know!    

That is so terrible what happened to Chandler Webb, he was such a happy positive fun kid, that just makes me so sad, I will certainly be praying for his family and for Marshall. 

Sounds like thanksgiving is going to be a blast with the whole family in town, I am just going to pretend that is not happening this week without me. I actually am celebrating thanksgiving here in guat. today we were invited to make pie at the presidents house with only like 3 other companionships because my comp. has hook ups with the office. so that should be a good time! 

About my week, it was a good one, very eventful. on Wednesday we had this big conference with us and 3 or 4 other zones. Elder Amado who is the area of the 70 spoke to us. it was 7 hours long but it was soooo good! he was so funny and smart and just a great speaker. plus they fed us lunch and people sang. That night was the ward talent show. We performed our Bolivian dance and we totally messed it up but it was a blast! Relief society the quorum and the primary all danced and my crazy bishop sang and they were all so funny. Guatemalans are just to loud and fun, I LOVE EM! 

   Then Thursday was my birthday! My companion made me a cute birthday sign and a big nice breakfast. Then we had a zone meeting that morning and my zone leaders surprised me with a birthday cake and a card that everyone signed. I walked in and everyone jumped out and yelled surprise and sang and said birthday greeting in spanish that I didn't understand but I am sure it was very nice. and it was super sweet! plus I got my package, so I felt very loved on my birthday. At night my comp and I sat on my bed and watched 17 miracles on our tiny dvd played we have for my training and ate popcorn. It was one heck of a birthday here in Guat.

I also found out on my birthday that I have parasites! two different kinds. So that was fun. but they are weak little buggers, just 3 short days of pills kills their party, so I am feeling great! 

Well I sent a little Christmas package today so I hope it gets there, let me know. Also this week we have changes so we are thinking my comp is gonna peace because she has 6 months here. She is kinda sad cuz this is her first area. she only has 2 months more than me on her mission. she finished her training and then trained me right away, what a stud. I am going to miss her, she is great! but she will certainly be leaving with an adorable coin purse. Well I am off to make pie. and also I have like a billion pictures so buckle up. I hope you have an awesome birthday and give alex a big hug on temple day and eat a lot on thanksgiving! LUV YA.

love,

Maren

                                                y uno mas

                                             My Mexican zone leader

                                           My companion

                                           otra vez

                                          No lights

                                          My zone playing mini golf in the rain

                                          I challenge Sam and Dallin to a game of risk when I get home

hey thanks for the birthday pic! Big bad 20 here I come. My comp has a boyfriend who is on a mission who writes her every week but her family cant afford to use the internet every week. I told her that my mom would write her and my brother could help translate but she said no. I always print my friends emails and I translate them for her monday night and it is fun to read them and see how different their missions are from ours so we enjoy that. I also print yours but I try not to talk about my family emails too much because it makes her sad because she is very close to her family but doesn't get to hear from them often. but I feel so blessed to have a family that loves me so much and writes me!! wow sounds like little Cal is not so little anymore, so cute! Glad you got to spend time with him. And if you feel like throwing a jump rope in my christmas package that would be super cool.

    Okay so this week was super fun because we got to learn a dance! This wednesday is my ward talent show and we are performing a traditional Bolivian dance with our zone leaders and two returned missionaries in my ward who are super cool! Its this sweet dance about hunting and killing tigers or something, I am super excited! We are going to dress up and paint our faces and everything.

   Also I had my second baptism this week! I dont know if I can count it becaue there was no effort on our part, The lord basically handed us a free bap. on a silver platter. His name is Berner and he´s 10 and he is super cute. His family is in our ward but for some reason he wasn't bap. when he was 8. so his mom came up to us and asked if we would teach him because she wants him to be bap. so we got to teach a sweet little 10 year old with posters and treats and it was super fun! but then he broke his arm and couldn't get his cast wet and that is kind of a problem with the whole immersion thing, so we thought we were going to have to wait a while, but it ended up working out. lots of tape and a few plastic bags later we have ourself a new member of ward Tzununa. I sang at the baptism and my companion and I also sang in sacrament yesterday, singing is fun! 

     We are teaching this family right now and they are totally crazy! they flat out call me Hermana Canche. Which is what everyone calls me, it is what they call blonde people, but they dont do it as a joke, they honestly think that is my name. Anyway, they have this cat who only has two legs so he just walks on his two front legs all the time and is so cool! Lets just say I am very distracted during our lessons with them. Oh and one more reason Guat has changed me, I am officially a cat person now. but they are a rocking family and we are hoping that they will be our first family baptism! 

    Well enjoy the beautiful snow fall, we are just getting out of rainy season here. but I love you and I love your letters! 

Love,

Maren Marie

HOLA MOMMA!! I got an email from Caite and it was so cute! she sent a picture of her skiing, man I am going to miss boarding this season. and a picture of her and baby joe! they are both adorable!! Thanks for the pictures of Kendra, ha ha that last shout out is a classic, too funny! 

   So this week I did a tiny 2 hour division with my companion from the ccm, hermana Ostler! My comp. had to go to the office to meet up with the comp of Ostler but I had to teach english class at the church, so we ditched our comps at the office and got to go out together! it was super fun! Pretty weird to see each other speaking in spanish because all we remember of each other was way back when all we could do was count to 10 and say, ¨sleep with the little angels¨ but we swapped stories and talked about our crazy first few months and it was a dang good time! 

   Yesterday was the primary program in church! so cute! It was pretty much the same as I remember from good ol Westview ward. All the kids had their own little part and they sang primary songs, and the congregation all laughed at the extra cute kids! It was the just the cutest thing! I love all the kids in my ward! and yesterday in church Roberto blessed the sacrament, so that was pretty awesome! Sorry all I ever talk about is Roberto and Carmen but I seriously just love them, they are the coolest people in all of Guatemala besides maybe my teachers from the ccm. Right now we are teaching their sister, Gladis. she is maybe the most stubborn person on the planet, she totally reminds me of myself. 

    Well I hope all is well at home, all is well here in Guat. I love you all and I miss you tons and tons! Thanks for the weekly email, I know you are probably thinking, ¨of course mairsy, do you really think I wouldn't  email you¨ but my companion does not hear from her family very often and I don't know how she does it because your weekly emails keep me  happy all the days of the week and I absolutely love this hour I get to write you so thank you! Well I think I will go see how Kendras first week in Mexico was! until next week! 

Love,

Hermana Outsen

                                                       I found the sacred grove