Dear Friends and Family:

Well I ain't gunna kid ya either....I'm pretty excited! Everyone is like so....you baggy...you baggy....and I just play it off...no, why would I be baggy...it's not like I go home in 30 days or anything, lol!!

It's true like we were talking about before I left...about the 2 year mark you pretty much master the whole being a missionary thing and then when you're are at the top of your game, BOOM it's time to go home!!

Time really has just flown by over these past 2 years. It's so crazy...And it's not so much that I'm nervous to come home as much as it is that I know I'm going to be feeling really confused for a little while. Like my schedule is pretty set and I know exactly what it is that I'm going to be doing every minute of every day in the mission...but back home...I don't have anything, really....like, prepared..I'm sure it won't take me too long to find a job and a calling in the church though...but we'll see, lol.

As far as calling goes for Christmas I can call whenever it's best for you guys really...I usually call in the night time just out of habit...but if you guys want to get together and choose the best time for everyone to be there that'd be fine with me.

I'm not too big a fan of the cold anymore anyways, lol, I can barely sleep with the fan on these days, lol....you remember before I left how I always had those heater blankets running, lol, just like Guate, lol!!!

I'll tell you about one of our adventures this week. So, with Dady, the lady we're baptising this weekend...we
went to her house this past Saturday to help her get some wood from the forest so her family could cook a little bit...To start off, we needed to walk to Aiyutia to where she lives, which is always a fun little walk. Then we started off through the sugar cane fields, which smelt a little funny because right now is cane season and they're burning it all to cut it down. Then we got to Ocosito...the river that passes through the middle of the trail and headed across... luckily the water wasn't too high this time, just up to the knees. We contiuned on the other side of the bank through the Hule "rubber" trees to get to where the wood patches were, took out our machetes and gathered up the wood, then walked back. One of the best parts was when we were sitting on the other side of the bank putting our shoes back on there came a couple of little boys with their ropes of wood on their heads, LOL, but the best part...they didn't want to get their pants wet...so...they came across the
river with just their shirts on, LOL, gotta love Guatemala, no matter where you go, you're sure to see some lady breast feeding or the little naked kids running around, lol!! Over all, I got some pretty good stories out of that trip to share with you all when I get back, but thought I'd just give you all a little taste, lol!!

Love you all so much, take care!!
Elder Marquis