BELIZE!!!!

A whole new world!!!

haha...i have just entered not only what seems like a different mission, but a completely different world! this last week has been pretty crazy, the biggest change i have had in the last year or so.

i dont know how to fit everything i have to say in one email, but ill try.

my new area is in Succotz and Benque Viejo, two small towns that are about a fifteen minute walk from each other. we are right on the border of Guatemala, as we are walking on top of the hills between the two towns we can see Guatemala, and actually one of the companionships in our district is serving accross the border!

Just like... riding a bike

we use bikes, but not all the time bacause our area has a ton of hills and sometimes using bikes takes longer than walking, but we do have to use them..haha. i havent ridden a bike in so long, the first ride was a little bumpy! and the dogs are meaner and angrier here. they chase you, and now that we have a bike, when we wiz past they just start chasing! not that im afraid of them..but....

the climate is WONDERFUL!!!!! it is HOT and Humid!!!! we sweat ALL THE TIME right now it is about as hot as my first area (sensunapan) in the hottest part of the year, but here they say that the hot season is just starting...we have a lot to look forward to :D

Lengua Unica

the language is unico! the official language of Belize is English, they also speak creole (sp?) and Spanish. but in succotz, they speak spanglish! all of the nouns and some of the verbs are in english and everything in between is in spanish...some of my favorite phrases that i have heard so far are:

"anda por grandpa y traerme mi wallet"

"ha terminado su homework?"

"no entiendo estas crazy people!"

basically they speak the way i spoke the first five months in the mission...it makes me laugh. but I am super thankful because it means i wont completely forget spanish. the other side of Belize only speaks english and creole. However. yesterday i was in the bus and the person i was sitting next to didnt speak spanish. so we were talking in english and i basically gave him the entire lesson about the restauration...it was the hardest thing ive done in a loooong time. i had to repeat a lot of things and make pauses because i had no idea what words to use! then i would say words in spanish and he would laugh. it was definately an experience to remember.! the cool thing was that he was interested! he doesnt live in our area, but he lives close so we'll be able to follow up with the elders!

the people here are very different. the church only has about 30ish years here and 3000 members. its divided into two districts , there are no wards, or stakes. our district president is only 28 years old!!! the church is VERY young here, but it is growing...they are more closed than people in el salvador. perhaps because they have mostly english (from england) ancestors. but the work is the same and i know with prayers and work we will see miracles. i can feel it!

my companion is Sister (je je je, we are sisters here! weird!) Sierra. shes from...HONDURAS!!!! and has eight months in the mission. shes awesome laid back. at first she didnt want to come to Belize, but now she loves it. we are going to have fun!

the food is...different...they dont have any fast food or chain restaurants here. they eat...beans and rice, rice and beans (yes, they are two different dishes) fry jacks (fried flour tortillas) they eat flour and corn tortillas and a TON OF RICE!!!!

i think thats about it for now. time is short i'll write more about our belizeno adventures next week!