April 11, 2011 Congratulations, Bonnie!

Heyyyyyy, Why were you in Utah? Did you see Bon´s graduation? Very cool. She´s going to live with America then after all? I hope they worked everything out for that. So they can all be happy.

Along with Canute, I wonder what the states missionaries do too. We went to some awesome caves today. Very cool. At the mouth of the cave, we got a call. They said we had to go right then to the bus station. Then they said we could do it tonight. My comp. and I have to go tonight at 10 pm for her Argentina paperwork. So that´s going to be crazappy, b-c we prob. won´t sleep very well. The bus ride is like 10 hours. But stuff like that happens sometimes. And luckily, we get to finish out our pday in peace.

And was Conference not amazing? I mean, yeah, it´s always amazing, but this one was fantastic. And yes, we get to talk to our families in another month. Crazy, b-c it´s our last phone call until home in October. We had a baptism this week and have another in two weeks. I don´t know how, but here in Peten, people come to us. It´s so much easier that way. But it doesn´t always happen, it happens more here than in other places I´ve been though.

Thanks for the news. Oh, and if you haven´t sent that package from America yet, can you put some mascara...not waterproof and not Maybelline(the pink bottle) b-c I think I´m allergic to it, it makes my eyes itch...into the package. And some of those shoe inserts you sent me like 4 months ago? That would be awesome. And those knee highs. Hope your vacation was amazing! Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

April 4, 2011 Trip to Tikal

Tue, April 5, 2011 9:23:05 AM
Re: Next package
From:
Merilee Enid Peterson
To: Sheralyn Peterson
A tidy sum? Well then, I would like to see like 15 pairs of knee highs, if that´s possible. Black and brown pairs. B-c I only have like 6 pairs, and 4 of them are white. And they make me look like I´m 5 yrs old and stain really easily. But what other options do I have.

I got my Easter package. YAY! Thank you so much! I really appreciate all the time and love you put into sending us packages. It´s really nice to receive things from the people you love. I will use everything in there, especially that bug spray and chocolate. And the Pirate´s Diary.

I would also like to see some recent pictures of everyone, especially Cookie´s kids, America´s kids, and Bonnie. B-c Bonnie sent me like 10 pages of pictures, but most of them were a little dated and I know those kids look different. Neal´s always good about sending pictures and Sarah too. But recent pictures, so I can see how they look now. B-c I have older pictures...I know what they used to look like, when I was there.

I took a trip to Tikal with my Zone yesterday. It´s a cool place with lots of tall pyramids. I got some sweet pics and we walked a lot. It was hot. A 50 yr old tour guide asked me if I could have a boyfriend while I was on my mission, in the line for buying drinks. I said no. He persisted. Why are old men always so creepy? I am not desperate to go for 50, even 40, sometimes even 35, even if I wasn´t on a mission. Creeper.

On a different note, Conference was incredible. I heard the priesthood session was great too, but we didn´t get to see it. Sounds like maybe not just I had dating problems before the mission. Sounds like the boys out there got some cincho. Which means, they got reamed and told to start looking to get married.

Thank you so much Mom!

I love that my brothers all love Mr. Dierking. He´s a cool guy, even if I hated trig. Horrible class. We had a crazy storm this week, in which we decided to walk home even though it was raining really hard and super windy and there was lightening and thunder everywhere. We thought we were going to die. Luckily, we didn´t. It was only like 2 hours of crazy, but when we were almost home this lady invited us in. So we taught her a lesson. Turned out she didn´t want to change, but she wants her niece to listen to us.

We went home and changed our clothes. Then we went out again to work for another 2 hours. Weather´s so weird. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

March 28, 2011

I would like to have some choc. chip cookies. Maybe in October. I´ve got a year in the mission. Conference and Easter are coming up. Very cool. They don´t really celebrate holidays here. Or maybe it´s just not the same. Either way, it´s different here. Keep cooking and perfect those cookies for when I get home. Bonnie might be living at home again. Woot. Love you mom! Love, Hna Peterson

Hna Callejas, Mar 21, 2011

My new comp. She´s a native. Her name´s Hna Callejas. She´s from here. I love her. She speaks spanish. Very nice. I know, being an example is hard sometimes, b-c we´re trying to work hard and some days it´s hard to get home by 9, but we´re working on that. We live far from most of our investigators.

She cries a lot, just like me. She´s tall and skinny and eats a ton. She´s funny. Her bday is Jan 11, mine is the 13th. We´re pretty much mission twins. She´s going to wait here for her visa, b-c her mission is really in Argentina. She´s a hoot. I´m so lucky to be her comp.

I know I´ve been really blessed with my comps b-c I hear the crazy stories and am not having those terrible things happening to me anymore. It´s wonderful to be able to work hard and to have the opportunity to teach people the gospel every day.

I´m glad you had fun at Sarah´s house. I wish I could´ve been there. I´m glad the little boys went to the Cinderella ball even though they didn´t want to. The girls of the stake thank you for urging them. Glad you got home safe. You´re the best. Love, Hna Peterson

A tuk tuk, Mar 14, 2011

Re: Houston ahoy!
Wow, you have a lot to do. I miss my long hair.

We eat lots of cornflakes here. We´re going to have to eat differently b-c I am sick of what we´ve been eating. We got emergency changes today. They told us at 9 am we didn´t have changes, and they just told us we have emergency changes. Hna U is going to the cap and I´m training here. I´m pretty psyched. I hope I am a good mommy. I will pray a lot to train this newbie and help her start her mission time happily.

We walk a lot. Sometimes Hna U says, ¨We walked a lot today¨. I usually say ¨We walk a lot every day sister¨. Because it´s true. But I weigh the same, it´s just muscle now. So I am like an empala. The animal, not the car. I wish every day we had a car. Every day. Or a tuk tuk. That´s like a mini car, they drive around the whole of Poptun. They are useful when you are in a hurry, but they usually can´t be found when you need them. You know how that goes.

Sounds like you all have crazy fun stuff to do at Sarah´s house. I want to go. You´re the best. Love you so much. I didn´t get your letter- package yet, but they usually take forever to get. Thanks for the pictures. Sarah´s hair is so cute. I will have a year on the mission in 2 weeks. Wow. Time flies when you´re having fun. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

Gimme a little kiss, Mar 6, 2011

Spring break would be nice. I´m glad to know Christian was being a good uncle and watching Enchanted with the princesses. I would´ve liked to see it too during spring break. Maybe during Halloween break. Glad Josh is finishing up on his paperwork to be a high flying eagle.

The news...every week someone cuts in front of us in the supermarket line. Every week, ridiculous. My comp. Hna Urizar had a little time when she thought I wasn´t closing my eyes during prayers. She thought I wasn´t praying...I don´t know why. She was being paranoid about it though. Weird. I always want to pray.

My comp saw some people kissing in the street and she said, ¨In Guatemala, we call that eating in front of poor people.¨It was hilarious. A couple weeks ago we were in the street and two, not kidding, three yr olds were walking the other way. One had a big stick and hit me with it. Then he said to me in Spanish, ¨Gimme a little kiss.¨What? No. I was completely shocked. Welcome to Guatemala. Love you! Love, Hna Peterson

Feb 28, 2011

Dad, thanks for the great email, I enjoyed reading it all. Sounds like everyone in our family is exceling at autonomy. I hope I may also exel at that when I get home from my mission.

It´s hot here. Our neighbor has a pig and it stinks. Thanks for staying strong and never letting mom have a pig. Every day the smell is there. Nasty.

I don´t know the Bells at all. Maybe find another family with boys my age. HaHa. Joke. I know that´s semi impossible. We can have all sorts of family activities over Christmas. We could also think of some menos active families to invite over too. That would really help those people have a desire to go to church and activities more.

I´ve realized after this haircutting that I really don´t like my hair short. Or at least how it is now, so I´m growing it out. It could be half due to the fact I´m in Guatemala and the haircuts were terrible. But still, I think I´m learning my lesson.

Sounds like you´re having good times in MO. It´s hot in Guate. We went to see some ruins yesterday, so we´re emailing today. We got to walk around on a bunch of stone pyramids. Very worthwhile. My legs are a little tired today, but nothing I can´t handle. Our pet lizard Frank left us, or is hiding somewhere outside. I hope he still tries to eat all the roaches. Yeah Frank!

We have two baptisms the end of this week, very cool. Fabricio, who was supposed to get baptized 2 weeks ago, but smoked, and Maciel, who is an active member whose records they cannot find. So those are the baptisms.

I´ll probably get those packages you sent in the beginning of April, but thanks. I´ll try and send a disk of pictures this week, if I can burn them onto the disk. I´ve heard that´s better than sending zips in the mail, b-c zips get stolen more often.

Play sounds awesome. Wish I could´ve seen it. I´m glad Josh is finding his niche in the world. Love you all! Love, Hna Peterson