HI HI HI!

I really love that you ask questions because I have no idea what to write about or what would be interesting for you to hear so it is nice to have questions to direct my emails and thoughts. that pic is awesome! I CANT BELIEVE KASI FINALLY BROUGHT HER MAN HOME! AND I CANT BELIEVE I WASNT THERE TO WITNESS IT! man I am so miffed! and I am sorry to hear about Marks dad, I hope that its not too tough for him to handle while he is on his mission. and Caite has not written me yet but tell her hi from Gualemala and that I miss her. 

   and now it is time for questions and answers! The weirdest thing I have eaten I didn't actually eat... I fed it to a dog while she was in the bathroom, how awful am i! it was some sort of nasty meat, I hate the meat here. but it was not really cooked and I don't know what it was. Yes they give me enough money, but maybe that is because I don't really buy anything because I have everything I need and Hermana Mima feeds us everyday. and Sundays are cray, take advantage of the fact that you just get to simply attend church. We leave our house two hours before church starts and stop by all of our investigators and less active member´s houses and try to get them to come to church, then once we are at church we have to do all this stuff and help everyone do everything and teach classes and I never really know what is going on. then at night we have lessons. I eat one meal a day with a member, usually it is Hma Mima because we pay her to feed us but usually on sundays we eat with someone else, actually usually like twice a week. Yesterday we ate with a fam. of investigators we have, they are like the nicest people on the planet, and they are super poor. he is 69 and she is 36 and she breast feeds her 2 year old constantly. yesterday I was sitting on one hammock with me, two chickens, her and her child as she was breast feeding. it was quit the little fiesta. I helped her make tortillas yesterday and my little fingertips are all burned to the bone! they cook them on a scolding hot giant skillet thing on top of a fire and they just flip them and gather them with their bare hands and it freakin hurts! and tortillas are literally just corn and water. we took a bunch of old hard corn, peeled it off the cob, mixed it with water and cooked them. I do get really homesick, like everyday. I think it is mainly because when I cant understand and have no one to talk to it is really hard to keep my mind from wandering and it always wanders home. As for spanish, I can pretty much say whatever I want, because you can always figure out a way to say anything using the words you know, but it is still really hard for me to understand. There are two parts of a conversations, talking and listening, turns out you need both to have an actual conversation. So I can teach but my comp. handles all the questions and small talk. Yes I feel safe for the most part. I definitely stand out a lot more than I would like to, but hermanas have to be in at 8 which is great because all the creepy men come out at night and I go in at night so it works out! The people here are just really super nice! it is hard to tell if our investigators are progressing or not because they always invite us in, always invite us back, but don't always want to be baptized. but i love teaching these people because they really are the nicest people on the planet.  

well I love you and miss you and I cant wait to know where alex is going!!! I am so excited for him!

Love,

Maren

sorry I dont really have any pics because it is pretty awkward to whip out my camera here and also I always forget, also, I do write Ryley, but not every week, just every once and a while so if you feel like forwarding parts of her e mail that would rock!