Week 26

Ho-lee Crap.

6 months! Tomorrow, I am gonna burn a tie, and gonna enjoy every ash of it.

How is it all going family and friends? You know how on your TiVo or DVR thing on the tv, or even on your DvD player, you push fast forward, and it starts going 2x as fast. Then you push it again, and it goes 4x as fast, then 8x if you push it one more time. That is what if feels like every change, that God is playing with some cool godly remote and speeding up time. It is crazy. 6 months already!

What have I learned?

I have learned it takes 2 weeks for mail to get from home to here and that it costs a literal buttload to send something there.

I have learned when your stomach tells you to go to the bathroom when you are in a foreign country, you listen the heck up.

I have learned that the difference in culture is only as great of a jump as we make it.

I have learned that I am not as awesome or christlike as I thought I was before the mish.

I have learned a little bit of what I can become, and how much more awesome and Christlike I can become through the mish.

I have learned that to think of oneself as awesome and Christlike is not either, and therefore doesnt matter.

And if the last 2 statements made no sence, then you havent been in Guatemala for 6 months. :P

I have learned to an extent that it really takes effort to love everybody, especially when they offend you, and that fact only makes Jesus Christ that much more of a God to me, and makes me that much more willing and wanting to worship him and do what he says.

I have learned how to shine my shoes and different ways to tie ties.

I have learned a bit of Spanish, and that I still dont like French.

I have learned that I have grown up in a priviledged home, with a family that, although is dorky sometimes, loves the heck out of me and only wants me to succeed.

I have learned and experienced the power of the Spirit, and why it is so desirable, and why it is so awesome.

I have learned how easy it is to fall, and how willing Christ is to help us back up when we have the correct desires and the fruits of repentance.

I have learned that sometimes the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and sometimes the flesh is ready, but the spirit is the weak one.

I have learned the effect a mouth can have if the ear will hear, and how worthless it is when the rest of the body does the opposite.

I have learned that the coolest things and the most entertaining are not always on a computer screen, but in a conversation with other people.

I have learned how to stretch an email by saying I have learned over and over and then just filling in the blanks.

I have learned that typing in one language on a keyboard that is programmed for another is really annoying.

I have learned alot. I love you all. Lets see what these next 6 months bring.

Next week is changes. Time to place your ¨bets¨ to see if I stay or go!

Stay awesome.

-Elder Hale