The Gringo in Guatemala : Visit to Guatemala City & Conference

Well hello Everybody! I hope life in the states is going well. I sure do miss all of you but I love hearing what's going on back home.

Last week was really hectic, and I don't feel like I've been a missionary since last Tuesday. Last Tuesday I got the call that I needed to go back down to Guatemala City to get my visa figured out and sign some papers, so we ended up doing just that. Wednesday afternoon I left to Guatemala City with some of the Elders from my district in the CCM, so that was fun, however the bus ride wasn't. We left at about 4 and got there at 8:45, the only good thing about Tuesday was going to Burger King! Artificial food has never tasted so good. :) But we stayed in a hotel that night, However it wasn't like the hotels back home. There was one room with 6 beds and the other with 3 really small beds, I slept in the room with three. Thursday morning started with seeing an Iguana, a massive one out the window which was pretty cool. But after that we went and waited in a building for 2 and a half hours...Then we went to the actual building to get our visa, which in reality took about 15 seconds. We signed a paper and took a picture, then left. They dropped us off at a bus stop and we had 2 hours to wait till the next bus left for Quetzaltenango...So we went to Wendy's. Yet again artificial food.... So good. :) We got back into Quetz around 7. Just about the only missionary work I did was talk to the guy I was next to on the bus and turns out he is really interested in the church and had been talking to the missionaries 6 months ago, but somehow they lost contact. He doesn't live in our zone but I gave his information to the Elders in his zone, and hopefully Things go good with him. But Thursday night we got back too late to take a bus back to Toto, so we stayed in another Sketchy Hotel in Xela (Quetzaltenango). We did get to go to Mcdonalds...And I got a double Big Mac... I don't think I have ever been so happy. It was fantastic. Then Friday came, and Guess what I ate for breakfast, an Egg McMuffin from Mcdonalds, The perfect Birthday Present, besides going to the temple. We got to go to the Temple on Friday, and I am still in shock. I have never ever been in such a beautiful building. That is my favorite temple, so far :) But the spirit we felt in the temple was amazing. It is always nice to just take some time and get out of the worlds for a minute and just relax, especially as a missionary. After the temple we went to Subway, which usually isnt my favorite but It was better than a lot of the food in the field. So I was Happy.

Now lets get to the real fun, General Conference. I have never before sat down and watched all 4 sessions including Priesthood Session, But we were able to, and It was incredible. We watched it in English on Saturday, and I took about 10 pages of notes. For any of you who Haven't or didn't get to hear Elder Holland's talk, I encourage you to go and listen. It was my absolute favorite out of all 10 hours. Holland just has a way with words or something. But, Sunday Danny ended up not being able tyo come to the first session, which actually turned out to be a blessing because the second session was exactly what he needed to hear. Especially when Elder Bednar ended up talking to those who aren't members. That was just awesome. We are gong to go with him tomorrow and hopefully we will get a baptismal date a little sooner than the one we have set.

I am 19 now which is extremely weird to think about, I didn't even realize it until about 4 o clock on my birthday, Lets be honest birthdays in the missionary field don't really exist, but that's okay. All I want is to see Danny and some of our other investigators find the truth and be baptized, that will be better than any birthday I can think of.

Some of my favorite notes from conference that I can remember, (I left my Notebook at the house).

¨¨Daily Decisions Determine Destiny¨ And with that we need to ask ourselves with every decision we make, What are the consequences, will this in turn make me a better person?

My challenge for the week. Go and listen or read Jeffery R Hollands Talk from the Saturday afternoon session. It will change your perspective on things. I'm pretty sure they are already on lds.org. But I'm not 100 percent sure.

Anyways, I love you all,

and I will talk to you next week.

Much Love, Elder McLain