Capìtulo 72 - I'm finally going to be a dad! (speaking in mission terms haha)

 At the end of last week my companion and I started a new idea in the area. After analizing the area, we decided that what this area needs is a whole bunch of the Book of Mormon. We have the materials, but we don't have the logistical power to get it to everyone. So we started a system of talking with all the members that we can, teaching them about the importance of the Book of Mormon, giving them a book or two (some have asked for 3 or 4) and having them give them away to their friends or neighbors. We started a week ago, and we have already seen a lot of success from it. We're excited to see more of what happens because this is just the beginning.

  The sad part is that my companion, Elder Avendaño, won't be here to see the success. We got a call last night, and he will be leaving to the south in the changes tomorrow. I'll be staying here in this area, but I don't know who my companion is because he's a new missionary that will be coming tomorrow. I'm going to get to train a newbie, and I'm finally going to be a dad! (speaking in mission terms haha)

  Katerin had a few problems with her dad, and we had to postpone the baptism till next week. We have a lot of success to come, and I'm glad that my little son is going to have a good start to his mission haha.

Capítulo 71 - "Can I pick one of you?"

This week we've been finding a lot of people to teach and we've been getting the ones we have to progress a lot! This week we are planning the baptism of Katerin. She's so awesome! Last week we did visits with the bishop and stake president and we went with Katerin. After the visit they said that she was one of the most prepared people they've seen.

  The next day, we had our district meeting, and we went out to eat with Elder Larsen (from Utah) and Elder Fuentes (from El Salvador) afterwards at a place called pollolandia. let's just say, Elder Larsen is never going back to that place. So we were sitting there enjoying our food, when out of nowhere this really old lady with very very pink hair comes up to us. She says, "can I pick one of you?" We all just kind of sat in silence trying to understand what she meant to say. Then out of nowhere she looks over at Elder Larsen with the strangest look ever and repeatedly raises her eyebrows at him and says "You're pleasing to me" (that's how they express their love in spanish) then she walked away, and we all died of laughter. She walked in literally just to say that to him, and then walked out.

  This week we were helping out a recent convert family make tamalitos. While we were helping I just felt a strong pain on my arm, and jumped out of shock. I was shocked to notice that some of the frijoles we were cooking jumped from the pan and stuck to my arm and burned me. I don't know I just thought it was funny that I burned myself with some frijoles this week. I have a little scar too haha.

Capítulo 70 - (On saturday I completed 16 months, not like I'm counting or anything haha)

 A lot of things happened this week, and honestly I'm just going to be honest in saying that I don't remember almost anything haha. I do however remember doing divisions with Elder Mejia. That was the best one I've ever done. Elder Mejia and I have been good friends since the MTC even though I didn't speak spanish very well haha. Somehow the guy understood what I was saying and by a miracle I understood what he said to me when we were in the MTC. Now we got to be together an entire day and we were both shocked by the progress we've had in these past 16 months (On Saturday I completed 16 months, not like I'm counting or anything haha) We had a lot of fun too. Then we stayed up a little late just talking haha.

  Also this week we finally got katerin and a few other investigators to church. Afterwards, she told us that she knows the church is true and is ready for baptism. It was really awesome especially becuase she has had a ready rough life, and a lot of things have happened to her. Our last lesson she started crying because she was so happy to know about the gist of forgiveness and the power of the atonement. It almost made me start crying too.

  This p-day we went to the Picacho here in Tegucigalpa. I had learned about a hidden soccer field up there and we started playing. These people are serious about their soccer and play hardcore. When we were playing, Elder Guerrero fell, hit his head really hard and passed out. Luckily he woke up and we were able to help him. It was a really bad hit, but other than the bleeding and possible stitches, he doesn't have an concussion or any other problems. We cleaned up the wound, and tied an extra shirt that I brought around the cut on the back of his head. Then we all went to the big Christ statue and took pictures.

Capìtulo 69 - It was Semana Santa

This week was really rough for the area. It was Semana Santa, which is a week long celebration of Jesus Christ, and so the people use it as an excuse to go to the beach or whatever they can to NOT go to church... I've been here for almost 16 months and I still don't understand it haha So anyways, this week, nobody was home. None of the investigators,and only a few members,on top of that,my companion got sick, and is still sick, so work has been a little slow. But it's all good, he's getting better.

So the last week we were contacting. We found a super positive investogator, like really positive and seemed really odd just how positive he was. He saw us contacting and saw that nobody opened their door for us. He came over and says "people don't make sense, they shut the door to the good people and open the door for the bad people." Hethen invited us in,and we had a really great lesson. Elder Avendaño and I were talking about how strangly positive he was in recieving us. a few days latter we went to visit him again, we noticed a few strange this about him, but nothing that really shocked us. This week we went to visit him, and we even gave a date to be baptized,he then told us that he couldn't do it that day because he has a doctor's appointment. For some reason he didn't think we believed him, so he says "look, here is my appointment card" he then showed us a card that read..." Appointment April 14th, Psychiatric Hospital" In that moment we realized why things were really strange with him haha but hey, he's a son of God so we won't stop teaching him haha.

The week ended great though with the General Conference. Every General Conference I've had out here just gets better and better. The talks were all great, and the changes were awesome and I think they will make a huge impact in the church down here. We'll see how that goes.

Picture from an activity we had with the ward haha it's a long story

Goodbye Palmira - Pictures

Capítulo 68 - Well... Back to the buckets

 Well... Back to the buckets. Most people say the adjustment from leaving the office to a normal area is really hard. Even though there are a lot of things I miss, Like the hot showers, I'm learning to love the bucket showers. It took me a few days to get my muscle memory back, but now I'm back to normal with the buckets showers haha.  

  This week we have been able to make a lot of progress in the ward. The bishop is really happy to see our different approach on things, and I'm teaching Elder Avendaño everything I know to help him out. This ward needs a lot of help, and we are starting to change things around here. We are making plans to start an english class in the church building, we are starting a weekly activity with the investigators and members of a spiritual thought with a soccer game right after, we also talked to President Chase about how all the leaders live in the hermanas half of the ward, and we got permission to leave our area and visit them to start a good relationship with them.

  We have also made the effort to show the members that we are here to work. As part of that effort, we had a baptism on Saturday. Ester, who had a lot of problems before finally got baptized. It was a really great moment.

Capítulo 67 - I feel like there is something waiting for me here

This week was full of all kinds of emotions. Officially leaving Palmira and coming into my new area La Era. My last day in Palmira, a bunch of members showed up and threw me a little surprise goodbye party. It was really awesome, but sad at the same time. The people there are like my family, and it was hard to say goodbye. 

  My new area is La Era, and it's a lot different than Palmira. The people say that this area is like the south, but here in the capital. It's really hot, and all the streets are dirt. I really do like this area, and I feel like there is something waiting for me here, so I'm going to find what that is. My new campanion is Elder Avendaño, he's 22 and from Guatemala. He's my first companion from Guatemala, and so it's really fun to learn about the culture over there and the difference in his spanish.

  This new ward is really strange. It's divided in half. One half is our area, and the other half is the area of Hermanas. They got the really rich half, and we got the really poor half, but I'm not complaining because it's going to be more of an adventure that way haha. Our half is all dirt roads and a lot of very humble people. It reminds me of the south a lot, so we'll see what adventures are waiting me here.