• 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

• feliz cumpeanos a mi hermanita Jackie!‏

HI MOM!!  I am sad a missed Jackies birthday and the first snow fall! whats snow I don't know. Guat is changing me... I like weird food and I get cold when its 80 degrees outside. 

   HOLY CRAP BEST WEEK EVER!!! This week I got to go to the Quetzaltenango temple! The temple is not in my mission so it is rare that Reu missionaries get to go so I feel super blessed! Here is how it all went down. So I have some gnarly rash and we had to go to the office to get meds and what not, we just happen to run into president Ruiz. We told him that our converts, Carmen and Roberto were going to attend the temple with our ward this week. and he was like, cool you guys should go too! We were shocked when he said that because we didn't even know that was an option (the old president didn't let the missionaries do that)  He said well its okay with me, just ask your zone leaders. My zone leaders are super cool and we live like 2 minutes from them and see them everyday so we know them really well, and they let us go!  On friday my entire ward was stuffed in a bus and we drove about two hours to the temple. It was the prettiest drive of my life! There is no place on earth prettier than Guat, i'm convinced. The temple is only 2 years old so its pretty big and it is so pretty! it is on top of a mountain with a killer view!  we watched carmen and Roberto do baptisms then we did a session in spanish, my first spanish session! I totally understood it which is a HUGE miracle because spanish still hurts my head half the time. oh and fun fact, Quetzaltenango is super cold! well compared to Reu... Also Friday was day of the dead here in Guat so our temple trip was very fitting for the holiday. I almost don't want to treat my rash because if i didn't have it we would not have gone to the office, we would not have seen president and we would not have gone to the temple, so I love my rash!

    Another cool thing that happened this week was I got to see how marriage proposals function here in Guat. Anita (hermana mimas daughter aka our cook) got engaged to her boyfriend Roy who is also in our ward. Hermana mima made this huge fancy lunch and the entire family came from the mom and dads side. Roy proposed and the family all sat down to eat and the family of the bride decides the date of the wedding. Thats all I saw because we had to leave but I think after they have a big party or something, I don't know. 

    This week we were surprised with emergency changes.  Our district leader peaced out with like an hour warning and was sent to the dreaded mountains. So now we have a new district leader.  He is from Michigan (shout out to my girl Steph and my home boy Andy) He is super nice but homlstead was really good at soccer. So I am thinkin Holmstead wins... ha ha Just kidding. I really like the new guys too!

   Well I hope all is well at home. I have like a zillion pictures at the temple so I am going to try to send them now, we will see how that goes... and today we are going to play golfito which is mini golf so I am excited and I hope I win because I love to win! Well I love you tons and tons and I pray for you like every second! until next week. 

 Love,

Maren (I miss my name)

                                                           Roberto and Carmen

                                                                        BORIS

                                                                         Boris

                                                                           Wardies

                                             My ward at the temple.  Can  you find me?