So this last week changes took place and I was called to "La Villa" as a financial secretary. I now work in the office every morning and have a lot more responsibilities. As financial secretary: - P-Days are now on Saturday and in my zone we have the temple (but can not do sessions), mini golf, bowling, a real mall, walmart, price smart (costco), a zoo, and pretty much all fast food. Our area is the main part of Guatemala in the capital, where the mission offices are located. - We are in the office from 10-3 everyday but sometimes we leave earlier when we finish early. In the office we have to pay bills, cash and write checks, balance the credit cards, do the reimbursements, and pay other bills. We help the missionaries with housing costs and changing house, when they need a taxi, organizing changes, watching the budget of the mission, and other things like that. We are in the office with the assistants and executive secretaries (they are in charge of other things like mail, baptismal records, etc.) too. We all hang out. - food is normal fast food everyday. We go out and get something to eat. - we also have a car that the 6 of use in the office to share. It is a Toyota Hilux and the 6 of us squeeze into it even though there are only 5 seat, and at times we have 8 people in there. No one cares as it is normal here. The cops just wave and do not do anything. Before driving it I had to watch a cheesy church video called "drive safely" with apostles and other church leaders giving tips on how to drive it safely. I was really nervous to drive again after 8 months of not driving but luckily I did not hit anything ;). It is kinda sketchy driving here as there are no road laws (from what I have seen. There are laws- but no one follows them and there is no real punishment for not following them. Just stop lights are kinda followed). It is also weird driving a truck and it has taken some getting used to. - we also work with president and his wife more along with brother and sister Daly - also have my own desk and computer to use Elder Baum is my comp. He is from Utah and is really cool. We were both in the CCM together and he is very laid back but wants to work hard too, so it should be a great change. We get along really well. The area here is a good area, lot of work we have to do but it looks like it will be a good area. In the district we have the Zone leaders and the sister training leaders but their P-day is still on Monday, so we do not see our district a lot. It is just normally us in the office that hang out and do things. -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber New Comp Elder Baum. Below pics of the office, my computer/desk and new apartment. Views from outside.
0 Comments
Well we got the call last night and sure enough I have changes... my tradition lives on. I have had a new comp every change (very strange). Who knows were I will go or who will be my next comp. A little nervous but all so exciting at the same time. When I came this area was dead and now leaving they should have a baptism this Sunday and 6 baptisms here this next month, so I feel good with what we have done here.
This last week we were also able to do some service (love doing service!). Wednesday morning we went to the church and helped scrub down all of the chairs with the bishop and his family. Saturday morning as a district we went and painted what is going to be our new house (or I guess now the new house of this area). I have painted a lot of houses now on my mission too. No one else I have talked to has painted a house (#blessedwithservice). One night returned home dead tired and hungry but we did not have any food in the house... as I just opened the freezer to see if maybe there was anything, I found two frozen chicken patties (kinda like chicken nuggets but bigger). Who knows how long they were there in the freezer (at least 3 months) but I decided my hunger was greater than the punishment that could follow. The package said fully cooked and eat within 6 months. They were also frozen so I thought it would be ok. I also remembered though that we had lost power for 2 days a month or two ago so they had probably dethawed during this time. Once again I thought it did not matter as my hunger was too great. So I ate them and they were delicious! The best part is I did not even get sick! The following night we were walking home in front of a panadería (bread shop) and there was a dog laying in front of the store. Did not think anything of it as there are stray dogs everywhere, but as I walked by the dog it jumped up and went to bite my ankle... luckily it just got my pants but now I have a hole in my pants that I have to get repaired. It is not too bad and should only cost like Q10 or $1 to repair it. This week was great and had two great blessings ;). Doing fantastic, I am healthy, Spanish is coming along, and of course I am having the best day of my life... p.s. a quote I like from our mission president that I thought I would share... "Love more, Judge less" -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber This week not much happened. Worked hard and got back every night dead tired. At the end of the week my body was so tired that today is greatly needed to rest. Last Monday we went to a restaurant called "Willys." It was just like an American restaurant and had great food. It was in Ciudad Quetzal which is 20 minutes in bus from the stake center but still part of our Zone. It felt like I was back in the states. Well that is it for the week. Like I said nothing happened, it was an average week and we worked hard. Found lots of news, put a lot of baptism dates, hopefully will have a baptism here on the 24th, things are doing great! Learning a lot, healthy, and the Spanish is coming along.
-- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber This week was a fairly normal week...
-Made the blueberry muffins Marcus sent me as pancakes and they were delicious! The bag said to not eat raw batter but I did it anyway... ;) - Made a Carmel cake in a mug and that was delicious too! Something I had gotten from Omi. - Have been searching for a new house and think we have found one. Hopefully will be changing houses here at the end of the month. (people down stairs smoke, a lot, and it is annoying to return home and smell smoke in the house). - General conference was really good! Seemed to me that the majority was on families and temples. I think my favorite was from Pres. Uchtdorf from the Sunday morning session and of course Elder Hollands talk from Sunday afternoon. - April fools day was filled with two jokes from our leaders too. One from the Zone leaders and one from our District leader. --Zone leaders: Sent a text at lunch saying they had just returned from a mission counsel and that president informed them on a change in mission rules that would be announced the following day at conference. They said they were changing the time missionaries are serving. They said elders would now be serving for 18 months and sisters for 12 months. They said mission presidents received word Early to inform the missionaries so they would not freak out during conference. The first thing I thought was, "NO! I am going be serving the mission of a girl!" They also said all that had already completed 18 months or 12 months would go home next change. After 10 minutes they sent another message saying April fools. --District leader: called us at 11 at night to wake us up from sleep and said there was a problem in the mission with a companionship and that emergency changes were going to take place and that we were recipients of this emergency change. They said I would be staying and Elder Noak had to pack and get ready because the taxi would come in the morning at 6am. He gave the names of the other elders and phone number of the Zone Leaders in that area so he could call them in the morning. Our Zone leaders called us too, to confirm that it was true. Elder Noak started packing and I helped him throw stuff into his suit cases. After one suitcase was fully packed, they called again and said April fools. We were not very happy at this one as they robbed us of our sleep and esp. Elder Noak as he had his clothes all packed. Things are going GREAT!!!! -- Having the best day of his life, Elder Gruber |