Thanksgiving in Guatemala

Hey everyone!

Wow its been a pretty crazy week for me, and sounds like it has been a crazy week for all of you as well. thanks for all of the emails and pictures, it was fun to get a feel for how thanksgiving was back home as it was a little different than im used to down here haha. Im glad you all had fun and enjoyed each others comapny, i also sent home a handwritten letter a couple weeks ago, so i dont know if you all were able to get it or not, i hope you did. Congratulations collin for getting your eagle! i didnt even know you were having your court of honor, but thats awesome! Thank you all for putting together a christmas package for me, i didnt realize you all were going to put that much work into it, and im excited to get it so thank you! in general it was just good to hear from you all and i just want to thank you for your thoughts and prayers and i hope you all had a great thanksgiving. 

Well this week was pretty busy, not like the break im used to around thanksgiving, but it really didnt feel like a holiday anyway in this heat and doing all this work. but this past week i had my first interview with president maravilla! i was kind of nervous just because i didnt know if i was going to be able to understand him and everything, but it actually went just fine and it was pretty short and i was able to understand everything he said, so it was actually pretty cool. as for thanksgiving, it was just a normal day of work for us, but since it was weekly planning, our zone got together in the morning and made brownies and a fruit salad and ate it as our thanksgiving brunch per say haha, but it was good and i felt a little of the holiday spirit. Also like i said, elder clyde and i went and got some fried chicken and fries, and holy crap was it the greasiest meal ive ever eaten. it was super greasy, but it was super good and cheap as well, and although it was nothing like thanksgiving dinner back home, it was good and we had a good time eating it and topping it off with some banana bread we bought. these people down here know how to bake some good banana bread thats all i have to say. other than stuffing ourselves that night and in the morning, we didnt do anything else special except go out and teach and work. this week we found out that alfredo, the investigator that cant get married to sandra, drinks. yep, it crushed our hopes when we found out that he drinks, because he is such an awesome guy and its such an awesome family. so it was a real shocker because we are trying to get them baptized next month, and now we find out he is addicted to alcohol. so this week we have been going over to their house every day reading and praying with him to help him overcome this addiction, and its been a real spiritual experience for me because Elder clyde is basically letting me do all the talking now so im forced to teach whole lessons and stuff without any planning and him just looking at me, so its interesting at times, but its been good because ive been learning a lot and really trying to help alfredo specifically and doing addiction counseling in spanish, its pretty crazy. Also this past week i did divisions with one of the zonies to go find a house in this new area for some missionaries, and its in the middle of nowhere. we had to take a bus, and ride in the back of a truck for like 3 hours just to get to the area and walk for a good 2 hours to get to the house we were looking for, and the house doesnt have electricity, water, a shower or a sink, so its going to be really interesting to see what they do to prep that house for the missionaries, and im just glad its not me going there haha. It was cool though because i really felt like i was in a crazy place back in time with two gringos riding in the back of a truck in the countryside of guatemala probably where not many white people have ever gone, i just looked out over the trees and farmland and i could just imagine nephites and lamanites living there, it was pretty cool. 

Sorry i cant write more and this letter is a little disorganized, because there was so much more i wanted to write, but i ran out time because i was writing this email at this little computer, and i went to scoot my chair in a little bit, and my knee bumped the computer and somehow that made the computer fall over and pretty much break, so now i have this pissed latino man yelling at me and telling me i have to buy this broken computer and so im trying to finish writing this fast so i can figure out what im going to do and how im going to pay for this computer. yep, pretty awesome stuff and i want to apologize for not writing more, but im a little distracted right now. so i just want to say that i love you all, and im thankful for your love and support and for your emails, it was good to hear from you all about how everythings going, and im doing well, learning a lot and being challenged and trying to be the best i can be. thanks for being an awesome family and keeping in touch with me, and as always, keep strong and carry on!

-Elder Henderson