So I don’t have a change after all. Pretty relieved. Only 2 of the 4 got confirmed, but that’s ok.
I can’t send pictures today ‘cause I forgot my camera. Sorry.
I know you asked for bigger letters, but we just talked so I can’t think of anything that you don’t know...
Love you guys!!!!!!
Monday, December 28, 2009
December 21, 2009 E-mail
White Christmas... that’s a fatty check mark!!!! We just had 2 people get married and 5 baptisms on Saturday and we have 5 people that are getting married on December 25. BOOYAA. I am so excited to have baptisms on Christmas day! I’ll send pictures if the computer allows me to.
We just got back from a very long trip to Yoro to get a birth certificate. Yes, I went on p-day again. Killer sacrifice, but somebody's got to take one for the team. Besides the 5 baptisms and 5 dates that we have planned we really have no people whatsoever to teach, so we have to work really hard to keep finding while preparing everyone to be baptized on Friday, but we'll do it. But I was thinking that it may be better if you guys called me on Christmas night and later at night. Because we're gonna have appointments up till 9 Chrismal Eve preparing these people for baptism. My comp’s family is calling him at 9 Christmas Eve so if you guys call me at around 9 Christmas day in the evening it’ll be fine. Sound good?
Love you guys!
We just got back from a very long trip to Yoro to get a birth certificate. Yes, I went on p-day again. Killer sacrifice, but somebody's got to take one for the team. Besides the 5 baptisms and 5 dates that we have planned we really have no people whatsoever to teach, so we have to work really hard to keep finding while preparing everyone to be baptized on Friday, but we'll do it. But I was thinking that it may be better if you guys called me on Christmas night and later at night. Because we're gonna have appointments up till 9 Chrismal Eve preparing these people for baptism. My comp’s family is calling him at 9 Christmas Eve so if you guys call me at around 9 Christmas day in the evening it’ll be fine. Sound good?
Love you guys!
December 14, 2009 E-mail
This week we didn’t baptize again cause the family of 6 is still in San Pedro with the sick paraplegic boy, he´s getting better, but not 100% still. We have 2 people with baptismal dates for this week and lots of new people.
Spiritual experience: we were contacting one night and talked with some people in front of a house I had wanted to knock. They were a black family that wasn’t really interested, but we went to our return appointment. A 24 year-old pregnant daughter-in-law tended to us, and as it turns out, is an investigator that really always wanted to get baptized. She has been going to church for a few months now, but just moved here. She just needs to get married to her boyfriend (with whom she is living). It was quite amazing that the lord found a way to get us to go back to the house not knowing that she was there. The rest of the family really doesn’t care, but she certainly does.
We had interviews this week and president just went on and on about the trust I have earned and about how the Lord trusts me, and I’m just there thinking that in just a prideful 20 year-old who doesn’t have any clue what going on but everything is good here. I got the Christmas box and president had a fit when he saw the book ‘cause he knows all of the actors pretty much. Heck even I know some of them. Thanks its’ really cool. I’ll probably give it to pres and sis Cruz though ‘cause there’s no way they’ll find one here. We still haven’t watched the movie yet though.
I don’t know if you guys were planning on sending extra money for Christmas, but I’m gonna have to withdraw an extra 2000 limps (like 100 bucks) because i bought my self something and ill send you pictures of it when I get it. Here´s a hint: when you see the pictures you’ll all laugh and say "Mike hasn’t changed one bit on his mission" or something like that.
Love you guys! Tell Mrs. Evans I say hi!
(And also Mr. Harris!)
Spiritual experience: we were contacting one night and talked with some people in front of a house I had wanted to knock. They were a black family that wasn’t really interested, but we went to our return appointment. A 24 year-old pregnant daughter-in-law tended to us, and as it turns out, is an investigator that really always wanted to get baptized. She has been going to church for a few months now, but just moved here. She just needs to get married to her boyfriend (with whom she is living). It was quite amazing that the lord found a way to get us to go back to the house not knowing that she was there. The rest of the family really doesn’t care, but she certainly does.
We had interviews this week and president just went on and on about the trust I have earned and about how the Lord trusts me, and I’m just there thinking that in just a prideful 20 year-old who doesn’t have any clue what going on but everything is good here. I got the Christmas box and president had a fit when he saw the book ‘cause he knows all of the actors pretty much. Heck even I know some of them. Thanks its’ really cool. I’ll probably give it to pres and sis Cruz though ‘cause there’s no way they’ll find one here. We still haven’t watched the movie yet though.
I don’t know if you guys were planning on sending extra money for Christmas, but I’m gonna have to withdraw an extra 2000 limps (like 100 bucks) because i bought my self something and ill send you pictures of it when I get it. Here´s a hint: when you see the pictures you’ll all laugh and say "Mike hasn’t changed one bit on his mission" or something like that.
Love you guys! Tell Mrs. Evans I say hi!
(And also Mr. Harris!)
December 7, 2009 E-mail
Well in my area I feel like we work so so so hard, but our numbers don’t show it at all. It’s not that I worry about numbers, but that’s what I deal with every night. We had one investigator that we pretty much had to condemn because she received an answer from God that the church is true, but refuses to be baptized. But the pit of the week was that the family of 6 has a 9 year old paraplegic who is really really sick and in the hospital dying. Supposedly it’s the parents fault because they didn’t ake care of him well enough, but they are such a poor family there’s no way they could’ve. And we just found out that they aren’t married, so we have to get them married as well as another couple that is really awesome, Oscar and Hilda. They’ve come to church twice and really want to get married and baptized.
I’m pumped that BYU won and also that Hamilton is going for back to back again. That’s pretty sweet. What the heck is up with Brett Favre playing for Minnesota...???
See you later.
Love you!
I’m pumped that BYU won and also that Hamilton is going for back to back again. That’s pretty sweet. What the heck is up with Brett Favre playing for Minnesota...???
See you later.
Love you!
November 30, 2009 E-Mail
As Zone Leaders we are in charge of all 11 areas in our zone... and as a zone we baptized 45 people this month. We were hoping for 50, but some people decided at the last second not to be baptized.
About Christmas. . . ummmm. . . the saying here is "white christmas"... which means we want to give the gift that keeps on giving--salvation. We´re just gonna work harder to baptize. I just want to baptize as many people as possible. We already have 6 with baptismal dates and 2 that are gonna get married, plus a couple other investigators. So we’re hoping to baptize 10 in the area this month and give the gift of the remission of sins.... The tradition for Christmas in this country is to get drunk on Christmas Eve and then sleep all day on Christmas.... not lying.
That is all.
Love you guys!
About Christmas. . . ummmm. . . the saying here is "white christmas"... which means we want to give the gift that keeps on giving--salvation. We´re just gonna work harder to baptize. I just want to baptize as many people as possible. We already have 6 with baptismal dates and 2 that are gonna get married, plus a couple other investigators. So we’re hoping to baptize 10 in the area this month and give the gift of the remission of sins.... The tradition for Christmas in this country is to get drunk on Christmas Eve and then sleep all day on Christmas.... not lying.
That is all.
Love you guys!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
November 23, 2009 E-mail
My change was nuts. My new companion is from Guatemala named elder Gomez. We are Zone Leaders of the biggest zone in the Mission. And just as Dad said the area is in rough shape and there aren’t very many investigators. Time to work, but wait... I can’t work in my area because I have to work in everybody else's so much. Yeah, it’s nuts.
Today I didn’t have a p-day really ‘cause we had to make some sacrifices to get a family married and baptized by this weekend. So we took a 4 hour bus ride to get a birth certificate, and then came back. My new area is in the department of Yoro, and the city is called Progreso. It’s pretty big and my area is just outside of centro.
Everything is going well though. Just gotta keep workin’ like always.
Love you guys!
Today I didn’t have a p-day really ‘cause we had to make some sacrifices to get a family married and baptized by this weekend. So we took a 4 hour bus ride to get a birth certificate, and then came back. My new area is in the department of Yoro, and the city is called Progreso. It’s pretty big and my area is just outside of centro.
Everything is going well though. Just gotta keep workin’ like always.
Love you guys!
November 16, 2009 E-mail
The joke of hotel colon is that it should have been spelled hotel colón (which means Columbus--like Christopher Columbus) but without the accent it’s the same in Spanish ‘cause everyone knows what it means, but in English it’s colon like your backside. Hahaha. Very funny.
Nothing actually bit me, it was bad peanut butter, but it didn’t hurt at all. I got a Benadryl shot and by the next day you couldn’t even tell. So anyway, this week we baptized again, 15 year-old boy that’s been coming to church for a while now. And that makes 4 weeks of straight baptizing. We have 2 more that are going to be baptized this weekend, a sister and an aunt of recent converts. And then we have a bunch of investigators that will be baptized for the next weekend. We want to start up a baptizing streak, and we´re going strong. My companion is named Elder Hausen, and he’s all right. He’s a hard worker; we work well together, but we aren’t the best of friends like I was with Elder Clinger. There was no huge story of this week. Sorry. Oh! My shoes and pants got here! Thanks! There are changes on Wednesday, but they still haven’t told us if we have changes or not, so I’ll be letting you know either later today, or next week if I have a change.
Love you guys!!
Nothing actually bit me, it was bad peanut butter, but it didn’t hurt at all. I got a Benadryl shot and by the next day you couldn’t even tell. So anyway, this week we baptized again, 15 year-old boy that’s been coming to church for a while now. And that makes 4 weeks of straight baptizing. We have 2 more that are going to be baptized this weekend, a sister and an aunt of recent converts. And then we have a bunch of investigators that will be baptized for the next weekend. We want to start up a baptizing streak, and we´re going strong. My companion is named Elder Hausen, and he’s all right. He’s a hard worker; we work well together, but we aren’t the best of friends like I was with Elder Clinger. There was no huge story of this week. Sorry. Oh! My shoes and pants got here! Thanks! There are changes on Wednesday, but they still haven’t told us if we have changes or not, so I’ll be letting you know either later today, or next week if I have a change.
Love you guys!!
November 9, 2009 E-mail
OK, last week there was no time ‘cause we were recording a rap song. It’s called "We Be White." It’s about being a white missionary in Hondo. It’s pretty sick.
So we baptized the last three weeks in a row, and for this month we have 4 baptized, and like 8 with baptismal dates. We’re on fire up in here. So as for stories, I have a few. But first I thought of some small details that I don’t believe I’ve ever shared, like showering out of a bucket every single day of my life. But here’s something you’ll really enjoy: I have learned to make flour tortillas with my bare hands. I’m pretty good actually. Another random fact: they drink something here called Avena. Ring any bells? It’s oatmeal, but like a cold juice. I’ve been drinking it for a year now and love it, but I wasn’t sure if you all knew or not.
OK, here's the story of the week. I’m gonna do a quentin terrentino on it. She screamed, "POOOPPPP!!!!" Let’s go back to the beginning. We were sitting teaching some of our coverts and one has a 1 year old, very needy, boy. Big time attention seeker. He always wants to be breast-fed when we are there just to prove that he is more important than we are, but this time she was kind of ignoring his crying for ten minutes or so. My companion was teaching, and I was watching him when I did a double check that they were all paying attention, and I see the little boy trying to touch his mother’s face with something--something that looked an awfully lot like poop. It was. So I said," pooop..." and pointed at which point the turd falls from the boy’s finger and on to his mother’s lap, and she screamed, "POOOOOPP!!!" and freaked out and went and bathed the child (who had pooped himself and only wanted his mother to change him). And I almost puked.... that’s the story of the week.
I have a favor to ask though. ¿Could you guys email me some pictures of the bug? I wanna see how the progress is coming. Thanks! Tell everybody that asks about me that I say hi specifically to them!
Love you!
Oh, I almost forgot. Something bit me this week and my face swelled up like in Hitch! Wait till you see!
So we baptized the last three weeks in a row, and for this month we have 4 baptized, and like 8 with baptismal dates. We’re on fire up in here. So as for stories, I have a few. But first I thought of some small details that I don’t believe I’ve ever shared, like showering out of a bucket every single day of my life. But here’s something you’ll really enjoy: I have learned to make flour tortillas with my bare hands. I’m pretty good actually. Another random fact: they drink something here called Avena. Ring any bells? It’s oatmeal, but like a cold juice. I’ve been drinking it for a year now and love it, but I wasn’t sure if you all knew or not.
OK, here's the story of the week. I’m gonna do a quentin terrentino on it. She screamed, "POOOPPPP!!!!" Let’s go back to the beginning. We were sitting teaching some of our coverts and one has a 1 year old, very needy, boy. Big time attention seeker. He always wants to be breast-fed when we are there just to prove that he is more important than we are, but this time she was kind of ignoring his crying for ten minutes or so. My companion was teaching, and I was watching him when I did a double check that they were all paying attention, and I see the little boy trying to touch his mother’s face with something--something that looked an awfully lot like poop. It was. So I said," pooop..." and pointed at which point the turd falls from the boy’s finger and on to his mother’s lap, and she screamed, "POOOOOPP!!!" and freaked out and went and bathed the child (who had pooped himself and only wanted his mother to change him). And I almost puked.... that’s the story of the week.
I have a favor to ask though. ¿Could you guys email me some pictures of the bug? I wanna see how the progress is coming. Thanks! Tell everybody that asks about me that I say hi specifically to them!
Love you!
Oh, I almost forgot. Something bit me this week and my face swelled up like in Hitch! Wait till you see!
November 2, 2009 E-mail
Hey all!
I don’t have a lot of time to write today but all is well. I’ll fill you in next week on all that’s going down.
Love you, peace!
I don’t have a lot of time to write today but all is well. I’ll fill you in next week on all that’s going down.
Love you, peace!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
October 26, 2009 E-mail
Well hello! I didn’t even realize that it was Halloween once again!
So do you guys all remember how my area was super dead? And how we had zero possibilities to baptize for the month of October? Well I am here to testify that with hard work and diligence the Lord provides! We baptized two “goldens” that came to church the last three weeks by themselves.
One is Christopher, 15, and he is the son of drug lord. Well, his dad isn’t, but his uncle is. His dad is just a part of its ‘cause it’s a family business. He isn’t involved in any way, but actually we aren’t 100% positive that its a drug scheme they are running, but pretty much 100% positive.... We’re really good friends with the top dog of the operation who is Chris´ Uncle Tino. (Real quick. in Spanish there are different ways to say "you" and if you say it a certain way it means that there is a lot of trust. Well Tino and everybody else treats us in "vos" which is a very familiar way to say "you"-- we’re in deep) and the other person is named Zelina. She’s also 15 and is the first of a very large group that will be baptized a little while down the road. Her entire apartment complex wants to be baptized, and will be this month.
We don’t live in a mud hut. But there are lots. We have electricity and running water, but our house is gross and we’re trying to find a better one for the future.
That is all.
Love you guys!
So do you guys all remember how my area was super dead? And how we had zero possibilities to baptize for the month of October? Well I am here to testify that with hard work and diligence the Lord provides! We baptized two “goldens” that came to church the last three weeks by themselves.
One is Christopher, 15, and he is the son of drug lord. Well, his dad isn’t, but his uncle is. His dad is just a part of its ‘cause it’s a family business. He isn’t involved in any way, but actually we aren’t 100% positive that its a drug scheme they are running, but pretty much 100% positive.... We’re really good friends with the top dog of the operation who is Chris´ Uncle Tino. (Real quick. in Spanish there are different ways to say "you" and if you say it a certain way it means that there is a lot of trust. Well Tino and everybody else treats us in "vos" which is a very familiar way to say "you"-- we’re in deep) and the other person is named Zelina. She’s also 15 and is the first of a very large group that will be baptized a little while down the road. Her entire apartment complex wants to be baptized, and will be this month.
We don’t live in a mud hut. But there are lots. We have electricity and running water, but our house is gross and we’re trying to find a better one for the future.
That is all.
Love you guys!
October 19, 2009 E-mail
My area is nowhere near the ocean--go back on the main road a good 20 kilometers and you’ll see some very small towns with houses made of mud and stuff. That’s where I live...but even though we had no investigators last week we now have 2 (possibly 3) that will be baptized this weekend.
Just goes to show that by hard work the Lord provides. I’m still district leader and of only 2 other areas. One of sisters (out by the ocean) and other of elders (on the peninsula/ island like thing), and we’ve hit a drought in the district. But we´re gonna squeeze as many as possible into the water this month and then work our buts off next month.
Love you guys!
Just goes to show that by hard work the Lord provides. I’m still district leader and of only 2 other areas. One of sisters (out by the ocean) and other of elders (on the peninsula/ island like thing), and we’ve hit a drought in the district. But we´re gonna squeeze as many as possible into the water this month and then work our buts off next month.
Love you guys!
Monday, October 12, 2009
October 12, 2009 E-mail
I’m in my new area. Basically it’s everything you could imagine of Honduras. Green, shacks, poor. And the District Leader that left didn’t work even though he was training. So the area’s is dead- no investigators, disgusting house and pretty much everything that could be bad is. So, there’s lots of work to be done.
I’m a stepdad (but everyone tells me he’s basically my second son because he wasn’t really trained at all). He is from Awatukee AZ!!! He went to Mountain Point HS. He’s a body builder and is enormous.... my area is called Campana. It’s a community that is a part of Puerto Cortes. Nothing big to report, but one story.
Yesterday while contacting we found a nice lady and her dog came out. I asked if the dog would bite and after getting a clear, ¨no¨ I proceeded to pet the dog. No sooner had I touched it when it almost bit my hand off. Luckily I have incredible reflexes and was able to avoid losing my pinky finger. No harm was done. Then at a member’s house (very, very poor members house) ,we were sitting down chatting and a pig came up an sat down beneath my chair. I thought to adjust my chair a few moments later and accidentally bumped the pig in the head. So it tried to bite me. In 4 hours 2 animals attempted to bite me. The dog is understandable, but the pig... I hadn’t ever heard of biting pigs, but sometimes they get upset too. That is all.
Love you guys!
I’m a stepdad (but everyone tells me he’s basically my second son because he wasn’t really trained at all). He is from Awatukee AZ!!! He went to Mountain Point HS. He’s a body builder and is enormous.... my area is called Campana. It’s a community that is a part of Puerto Cortes. Nothing big to report, but one story.
Yesterday while contacting we found a nice lady and her dog came out. I asked if the dog would bite and after getting a clear, ¨no¨ I proceeded to pet the dog. No sooner had I touched it when it almost bit my hand off. Luckily I have incredible reflexes and was able to avoid losing my pinky finger. No harm was done. Then at a member’s house (very, very poor members house) ,we were sitting down chatting and a pig came up an sat down beneath my chair. I thought to adjust my chair a few moments later and accidentally bumped the pig in the head. So it tried to bite me. In 4 hours 2 animals attempted to bite me. The dog is understandable, but the pig... I hadn’t ever heard of biting pigs, but sometimes they get upset too. That is all.
Love you guys!
October 5, 2009 E-mail
Well , to start off I have a change... I’ve been here for 6 months and I’m out now. I don’t want to leave, but it’s the will of the Lord.
To start us off I have a few spiritual experiences from yesterday. First, the mother of the family of 3 got baptized yesterday after conference and afterwards shared her testimony with us. She told me that when I had taught her about the meaning of faith she started applying it to her life, and that since the time we had been going to her house she had seen changes in her and her family’s life. She was baptized all alone--2 missionaries, the bishop and the 1 councilor came—(not the family), and she didn’t care. I was very touched and almost cried.
Afterwards we were going to go to an appointment without dropping the wet clothes off at the house when I had a distinct impression to go to the house first. I stopped, prayed, and asked if we really needed to go to the house. And we went. No sooner had we crossed the street and a man was at our side. I began to talk to him and as it turns out he had gone to church when he was a child, but hasn’t gone for years now. His wife died 2 year ago of breast cancer and left him the widower of 3 children and a grandchild. But it’s a family that really wants to hear the gospel.
One more: I finished the Book of Mormon this week in Spanish. I read a give-away copy to put my testimony that I had read the entire book. I prayed again and asked it the book was true. As I prayed I received a spiritual confirmation in the form of words, saying, "Si, hijo Mio." (Yes, my son.) I then gave the book to an investigator that will be baptized on the 17th who still hasn’t received an answer to her prayer, (but she was in the afternoon session yesterday and I guarantee she felt something listening to Elder Holland,) and she is committed to read the whole thing.
Conference was good, but the baptism was better.
Love you guys!
I’ll tell you where I’m at next week!
To start us off I have a few spiritual experiences from yesterday. First, the mother of the family of 3 got baptized yesterday after conference and afterwards shared her testimony with us. She told me that when I had taught her about the meaning of faith she started applying it to her life, and that since the time we had been going to her house she had seen changes in her and her family’s life. She was baptized all alone--2 missionaries, the bishop and the 1 councilor came—(not the family), and she didn’t care. I was very touched and almost cried.
Afterwards we were going to go to an appointment without dropping the wet clothes off at the house when I had a distinct impression to go to the house first. I stopped, prayed, and asked if we really needed to go to the house. And we went. No sooner had we crossed the street and a man was at our side. I began to talk to him and as it turns out he had gone to church when he was a child, but hasn’t gone for years now. His wife died 2 year ago of breast cancer and left him the widower of 3 children and a grandchild. But it’s a family that really wants to hear the gospel.
One more: I finished the Book of Mormon this week in Spanish. I read a give-away copy to put my testimony that I had read the entire book. I prayed again and asked it the book was true. As I prayed I received a spiritual confirmation in the form of words, saying, "Si, hijo Mio." (Yes, my son.) I then gave the book to an investigator that will be baptized on the 17th who still hasn’t received an answer to her prayer, (but she was in the afternoon session yesterday and I guarantee she felt something listening to Elder Holland,) and she is committed to read the whole thing.
Conference was good, but the baptism was better.
Love you guys!
I’ll tell you where I’m at next week!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
September 28, 2009 E-mail
The missionaries baptized!?!?!?!? Wow! I can only remember one convert baptism in our ward ever... That’s cool though. In my district we finished the month with 26 baptisms. My area had 4. But we have around ten that are ready for October. They just have to get in the water...
So, I got the package. Thank you very much! Especially for the candy (I had just run out). The ties aren’t looking as good as when you had just bought the bag... it may be time for a new one... (hint, hint) haha. I’m sure you guys know a little about the political nonsense that’s been going down here lately, but on Tuesday and Wednersday we didn’t leave the house again. It was way lame. Right now no huge problem though.
In the zone of 18 missionaries we baptized 53 people. That’s more than some missions do in a year with 200 missionaries...I’m only now starting to realize that we baptize a lot. Oh, hey funny note--that article you sent me about the Bird family with all the missionaries-- he's in my zone. I know the kid personally, man! No big news to report, just one question: could you throw my white tie in with the package? I sent it home to you guys before I left the MTC, and I had another one, but it got jacked too.
Thanks!
Love you all!
So, I got the package. Thank you very much! Especially for the candy (I had just run out). The ties aren’t looking as good as when you had just bought the bag... it may be time for a new one... (hint, hint) haha. I’m sure you guys know a little about the political nonsense that’s been going down here lately, but on Tuesday and Wednersday we didn’t leave the house again. It was way lame. Right now no huge problem though.
In the zone of 18 missionaries we baptized 53 people. That’s more than some missions do in a year with 200 missionaries...I’m only now starting to realize that we baptize a lot. Oh, hey funny note--that article you sent me about the Bird family with all the missionaries-- he's in my zone. I know the kid personally, man! No big news to report, just one question: could you throw my white tie in with the package? I sent it home to you guys before I left the MTC, and I had another one, but it got jacked too.
Thanks!
Love you all!
September 21, 2009 E-mail
I’ve written all of my byu friends, but no one has written me back. So who knows? I have come to the decision that I want to go straight back to school the fall of 2010 so that I’m not just sitting around doing nothing. So I’m gonna talk to President about that on Wednesday in my interview.
We have 4 people that are gonna get baptized this weekend, and so we are working hard with them. Stake Conference was yesterday and it was packed and very hot (we wore suits...) but also cool. President came and spoke.
Oh! I have news for you that you had no idea about. Before I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out or worry. Promise? OK. About 6 weeks ago I got food poisoning again, but this time I didn’t go to the hospital. But in the 2 days that we didn’t work I lost 10 lbs. Intense. I still haven’t gotten the ten lbs back, but I’m not sick anymore. (I’m at 180). I didn’t tell you ‘cause I didn’t want anybody to worry, but It’s all over now. I’m good to go!
OK, that is all! I love you!
We have 4 people that are gonna get baptized this weekend, and so we are working hard with them. Stake Conference was yesterday and it was packed and very hot (we wore suits...) but also cool. President came and spoke.
Oh! I have news for you that you had no idea about. Before I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out or worry. Promise? OK. About 6 weeks ago I got food poisoning again, but this time I didn’t go to the hospital. But in the 2 days that we didn’t work I lost 10 lbs. Intense. I still haven’t gotten the ten lbs back, but I’m not sick anymore. (I’m at 180). I didn’t tell you ‘cause I didn’t want anybody to worry, but It’s all over now. I’m good to go!
OK, that is all! I love you!
September 14, 2009 E-mail
Well, in my district this week we baptized 14 people. So President invited us to play soccer with him. I think that for the first time in my mission I’m going to reach the goal we’ve set-- 5 people. We’ve baptized 3 here (and married them) and have 3 people with a baptismal date.
Tell Caitlin never to wear my jersey again. No one said that was ok. No no, very sacred thing, a jersey. Not to be worn without permission of the owner...
I have a few wishes... remember how you bought me new black shoes? Do you think you could do the same with the brown ones? Please? The sole is falling off...
I still haven’t been reimbursed for the electricity (from Roatan’s church building).
Love you guys
Tell Caitlin never to wear my jersey again. No one said that was ok. No no, very sacred thing, a jersey. Not to be worn without permission of the owner...
I have a few wishes... remember how you bought me new black shoes? Do you think you could do the same with the brown ones? Please? The sole is falling off...
I still haven’t been reimbursed for the electricity (from Roatan’s church building).
Love you guys
Monday, September 7, 2009
September 7, 2009 E-mail
Congrats on the rain!
For my year mark I bought myself a Mcflurry, but that’s all. I got the pictures and didn’t even recognize the girls at all. Mom and Dad haven’t changed in the slightest, but the girls sure have.
So when is Dolly gonna go visit you guys in AZ! Tell her I say hi!
So as district leader everything’s pretty much the same. Just that now I do all the baptismal interviews of the district (except my own). I have 10 that I have to do this week... my district is gonna baptize 13 this weekend. Nuts, huh?
Time really has flown by this year, but not in this area (where I will be a full 6 months.) They say it’s all downhill from here, but I guess we’ll see.!
Love you guys!
P.S. So where is BYU at what with the win over the Sooners?
For my year mark I bought myself a Mcflurry, but that’s all. I got the pictures and didn’t even recognize the girls at all. Mom and Dad haven’t changed in the slightest, but the girls sure have.
So when is Dolly gonna go visit you guys in AZ! Tell her I say hi!
So as district leader everything’s pretty much the same. Just that now I do all the baptismal interviews of the district (except my own). I have 10 that I have to do this week... my district is gonna baptize 13 this weekend. Nuts, huh?
Time really has flown by this year, but not in this area (where I will be a full 6 months.) They say it’s all downhill from here, but I guess we’ll see.!
Love you guys!
P.S. So where is BYU at what with the win over the Sooners?
August 31, 2009
In few words: I’m a dad (training a new missionary), I’m a district leader.
Definitely things I’ve been afraid of pretty much my whole mission. My new comp is from Nevada named Elder Sylvester and speaks very little Spanish. He’s brand new and excited to work. I’m also a district leader. I’ve already done several baptismal interviews ‘cause one area of my district baptized 7 and confirmed 7 yesterday.
It’s quite a humbling experience and a little frustrating to be training someone because, where Clinger knew what to do and how to do it, the new guy knows nothing. If I don’t tell him something to do he just stands there and waits... really awkward.
We had 13 investigators in church yesterday-- 3 people that we are getting married to be baptized and 2 others with confirmed baptismal dates. Everything’s going good there.
We just changed houses today for a really nice one. I think I may end up doing that in every area from now on. The Spirit can’t dwell in a dump...
For the year mark its tradition to burn a shirt (6 months burn tie; 18 burn pants; 24 burn everything you aren’t taking home) but I’ll probably just burn a tie again cause i already am down 2 shirts that got robbed along with my baptismal pants in Roatan so...
Elder Clinger is in my first zone right smack next to the ruins. I miss him. He’s basically my best friend.
This change is gonna be a rough one, but we'll see how it goes. I’m not sure I can handle another change in this area...
casi ya no aguanto a la victoria. ya tiempo para el cambio mio verdad? solo quiero que todo vaya bien, y bien rapido para que siga la mision en otro lado. no creo que me entiendan pero a mi no me importa jajaja.
nos vemos
Definitely things I’ve been afraid of pretty much my whole mission. My new comp is from Nevada named Elder Sylvester and speaks very little Spanish. He’s brand new and excited to work. I’m also a district leader. I’ve already done several baptismal interviews ‘cause one area of my district baptized 7 and confirmed 7 yesterday.
It’s quite a humbling experience and a little frustrating to be training someone because, where Clinger knew what to do and how to do it, the new guy knows nothing. If I don’t tell him something to do he just stands there and waits... really awkward.
We had 13 investigators in church yesterday-- 3 people that we are getting married to be baptized and 2 others with confirmed baptismal dates. Everything’s going good there.
We just changed houses today for a really nice one. I think I may end up doing that in every area from now on. The Spirit can’t dwell in a dump...
For the year mark its tradition to burn a shirt (6 months burn tie; 18 burn pants; 24 burn everything you aren’t taking home) but I’ll probably just burn a tie again cause i already am down 2 shirts that got robbed along with my baptismal pants in Roatan so...
Elder Clinger is in my first zone right smack next to the ruins. I miss him. He’s basically my best friend.
This change is gonna be a rough one, but we'll see how it goes. I’m not sure I can handle another change in this area...
casi ya no aguanto a la victoria. ya tiempo para el cambio mio verdad? solo quiero que todo vaya bien, y bien rapido para que siga la mision en otro lado. no creo que me entiendan pero a mi no me importa jajaja.
nos vemos
August 24, 2009 E-mail
I don’t have a change... I’m gonna stay here for another 6 weeks which will be 6 months in total... a lot of time.
Elder Clinger’s leaving and it’s really sad, so is another buddy of mine, Elder Hilton (but he’s dying on Thursday, so it’s a little more intense).
We got another family married last week (the wife will be getting baptized on Saturday), and we have two more that are getting married in two weeks. And in church on Sunday we set a new record of investigators at church--14. Tha’ts a ton!!!! I’ve never gotten higher than 11 before.
It’s gonna be a struggle to stay here for 6 weeks more since I was feeling ready to leave already, but it means that the Lord wants me to learn, and I guess I’ll just have to learn it... no big news.
Elder Clinger’s leaving and it’s really sad, so is another buddy of mine, Elder Hilton (but he’s dying on Thursday, so it’s a little more intense).
We got another family married last week (the wife will be getting baptized on Saturday), and we have two more that are getting married in two weeks. And in church on Sunday we set a new record of investigators at church--14. Tha’ts a ton!!!! I’ve never gotten higher than 11 before.
It’s gonna be a struggle to stay here for 6 weeks more since I was feeling ready to leave already, but it means that the Lord wants me to learn, and I guess I’ll just have to learn it... no big news.
August 17, 2009 E-mail
We had another baptism of a man named Henry. He’s 31 and is really cool. We taught him in English a lot too (he also lived in the states and served some jail time and got deported). Work is definitely paying off--not by number, but by quality. We had interviews this week with Prez and everything’s going good. There are 16 gringos coming here in a few weeks, so we're gonna be loaded up again! My time here is most likely winding down, and I will most likely be changed in a week and a half's time, but we have three families we are getting married this week So there’s lots of work to be done here.
Tell Dyston he’s dumb for not going on a mission ( I tell him quite often.
Well for convert baptisms you have to wait to confirm the person til church on Sunday, but while the people are changing sometimes we'll sing, and other times I'll teach a quick lesson (to try and find new people that may have showed up for the first time).
Yes, my package got here. thanks sooo much!!!
Love you guys!
Tell Dyston he’s dumb for not going on a mission ( I tell him quite often.
Well for convert baptisms you have to wait to confirm the person til church on Sunday, but while the people are changing sometimes we'll sing, and other times I'll teach a quick lesson (to try and find new people that may have showed up for the first time).
Yes, my package got here. thanks sooo much!!!
Love you guys!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
August 10 E-mail
Well, I just tried e-mailing 3 times and got erased all three...
The baptism was sick. Graciela is way set to be an awesome forever faithful member of the church. We’ve been working hard and have two more baptismal dates for the 15th and 22nd.
I liked "Cry, the beloved country" just so the girls know. Good luck to Caitlin with the keeper position.
How’s the crazy ward these days¿ new bishop and all...¿¿
Love you all!
The baptism was sick. Graciela is way set to be an awesome forever faithful member of the church. We’ve been working hard and have two more baptismal dates for the 15th and 22nd.
I liked "Cry, the beloved country" just so the girls know. Good luck to Caitlin with the keeper position.
How’s the crazy ward these days¿ new bishop and all...¿¿
Love you all!
August 3 E-mail
Hey, Mom. Yah, today I’m finishing 11 months... it’s crazy how fast the time has gone by. This weekend we have a baptism planned for a 15 year old named Graciela. It’s pretty nice to finally be baptizing again since I had a drought month last month. Other than that there’s no real news here. Tell Caitlin that Spanish is easy, and tell Megan that French is gay. haha.
July 27 E-mail
Hey, Dad. How’s it going?
So it’s been really hot and humid here lately. And we’ve been working harder than ever.
We went a lot more than the extra mile this week, but it was much more than worth it. We have 14 new investigators this week and 9 investigators in church. If that doesn’t get the bishop to trust us that we're working I don’t know what will. We have 2 people with a baptismal date: one for this Sunday and one for 2 weeks from now. So if we keep working hard I will keep avoiding a dry month. The baptizing has really slowed down here, but I just don’t ever want the dreaded dry month. How’s everything at home? Hope it’s good.
Hope all's well!
Love you!
So it’s been really hot and humid here lately. And we’ve been working harder than ever.
We went a lot more than the extra mile this week, but it was much more than worth it. We have 14 new investigators this week and 9 investigators in church. If that doesn’t get the bishop to trust us that we're working I don’t know what will. We have 2 people with a baptismal date: one for this Sunday and one for 2 weeks from now. So if we keep working hard I will keep avoiding a dry month. The baptizing has really slowed down here, but I just don’t ever want the dreaded dry month. How’s everything at home? Hope it’s good.
Hope all's well!
Love you!
July 20 E-mail
Hey, everybody!
My toes are fine. They don’t hurt in any way whatsoever. So don’t worry at all. Elder Clinger and I are workin’ hard here. No real news. The drug dealer from LA is getting baptized on Sunday, and we have the 15 year old girl that is already inviting other people to church and teaching family members that don’t want t listen to the two of us. She is getting baptized on the 8th of August. That’s about it.
What’s new with the home crew?
Love you!
My toes are fine. They don’t hurt in any way whatsoever. So don’t worry at all. Elder Clinger and I are workin’ hard here. No real news. The drug dealer from LA is getting baptized on Sunday, and we have the 15 year old girl that is already inviting other people to church and teaching family members that don’t want t listen to the two of us. She is getting baptized on the 8th of August. That’s about it.
What’s new with the home crew?
Love you!
July 13 E-mail
Well, I just sent you pictures of the toenail situation. The left nail has been bugging me for a few years, ever since it got lifted up by the backyard door and almost died and fell off, and the other one was a little infected because, while I was asleep, I put my foot in the fan. It actually turned out that both toenails on both sides were largely ingrown. I now have naked toes, but naked toes that don’t hurt. We went to the office and sister Gary (a licensed nurse) numbed me up and ripped them out. It killed for the rest of the day and I was definitely screaming in pain that same night and yelling semi death threats at our neighbor. (He’s a member. He told me to shut up and not be a baby while I’m in a cold sweat and groaning from the intense pain, so I proceeded to scream at him a plethora of choice words in Spanish and English, but I did not cuss. Not even in Spanish--threatened to kill him and beat him up,yes, but swearing, no.) But now there’s no pain, and they feel lots better.
We had 2 investigators at church. Oscar, who lived in L.A. in the 80's, a coke dealer, and Graciela, a 15 year old girl that loves everything we’re teaching her, and she wants to get baptized.
This Sunday I had the privilege of hearing one of my converts (nauhm - baptized 2 weeks ago) say the opening prayer in sacrament meeting, and also I took part in sustaining him to the office of a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He’s 23 and is gonna serve a mission in a year.
Good news!!! I don’t have a change. It’s the first change where I haven’t had one, and I get to stick around with my best comp! The gingo!
We’ve been having some rough times in the mission and our area when it comes to baptizing, and the possibilities for this month look really grim; Graciela is our only real possibility for the month, but she won’t be here for the last Saturday/ Sunday of the month, but can get baptized this weekend either because she needs to come to church one more time at least, so it’s all looking a tad bit more complicated. I have never gone an entire month without baptizing, so we're working our butts off to not have the month of July be my first dry month.
Everybody back in the swing of things then I assume. Enjoy the 114 heat. We have 89ish with a million percent humidity so it’s a lot worse here...
Love you!
We had 2 investigators at church. Oscar, who lived in L.A. in the 80's, a coke dealer, and Graciela, a 15 year old girl that loves everything we’re teaching her, and she wants to get baptized.
This Sunday I had the privilege of hearing one of my converts (nauhm - baptized 2 weeks ago) say the opening prayer in sacrament meeting, and also I took part in sustaining him to the office of a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He’s 23 and is gonna serve a mission in a year.
Good news!!! I don’t have a change. It’s the first change where I haven’t had one, and I get to stick around with my best comp! The gingo!
We’ve been having some rough times in the mission and our area when it comes to baptizing, and the possibilities for this month look really grim; Graciela is our only real possibility for the month, but she won’t be here for the last Saturday/ Sunday of the month, but can get baptized this weekend either because she needs to come to church one more time at least, so it’s all looking a tad bit more complicated. I have never gone an entire month without baptizing, so we're working our butts off to not have the month of July be my first dry month.
Everybody back in the swing of things then I assume. Enjoy the 114 heat. We have 89ish with a million percent humidity so it’s a lot worse here...
Love you!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
July 6, 2009 E-mail
Hey, everybody!
It was a pretty rough week, but there haven’t been any long-term issues with the old president.
Well, at least we've been allowed to leave the apartment. The week as a whole wasn’t so bad, until you look at our numbers. We’ve been working real hard, but not having "number success," but real success-- yes. We have 10ish progressing investigators, but only 2 came to church.
But I have had a lot of really spiritual experiences this week, and next week I will be an official resident of this country, and I will also be having my two big toenails removed. Don’t worry though, it’s a normal procedure, and it will be a lot less painless than they are right now.
That’s all for now. I’m doing well. Don’t worry about the political happenings here. They’re not as big as they seem
It was a pretty rough week, but there haven’t been any long-term issues with the old president.
Well, at least we've been allowed to leave the apartment. The week as a whole wasn’t so bad, until you look at our numbers. We’ve been working real hard, but not having "number success," but real success-- yes. We have 10ish progressing investigators, but only 2 came to church.
But I have had a lot of really spiritual experiences this week, and next week I will be an official resident of this country, and I will also be having my two big toenails removed. Don’t worry though, it’s a normal procedure, and it will be a lot less painless than they are right now.
That’s all for now. I’m doing well. Don’t worry about the political happenings here. They’re not as big as they seem
July 1, 2009 E-mail
Well, I don’t know if you guys have heard about the news in this country, but the President of Honduras has been ousted, and there;s a huge scandal, so we basically have spent 4 days in the house.... yesterday we left, and today we can use internet real quick. That’s about it.
Nothing big to report since I’ve spent the majority of the last week locked up in the house...
Love!
Nothing big to report since I’ve spent the majority of the last week locked up in the house...
Love!
June 22, 2009 E-mail
I had just finished the letter when the computer dumped it. Ughhh! Everything’s good here. We baptized a guy who wants to serve a mission. Thank you for the recipe. Have fun on vacation.
I’d write more, but I just wrote a huge letter and now I don’t have it in me to write it all again.
Seeeeeee yaaaaaa!
I’d write more, but I just wrote a huge letter and now I don’t have it in me to write it all again.
Seeeeeee yaaaaaa!
June 15, 2009 E-mail
Nothing big this week. No cool stories really. We've been working our butts off, but there aren’t really too many fruits, so that’s a little annoying.
Today for p-day Elder Clinger and I decided to climb a mountain and we have some sick photos\videos, but the photos I can’t send right now and the videos will never ever load to an email, so you’ll see them all later.
I have pretty much convinced Elder Clinger to transfer to BYU and live & play lacrosse with me, so we're gonna hope for that a lot. We have been passing our time lately playing 20 questions, and no lie, it’s ridiculously fun.
No baptisms, but we have someone that will get baptized on the 20th. His second Sunday in church we went to pick him up and he came out of the house in white shirt and tie. He’s 23 named Juan and wants to serve a mission in a year. Other than that Elder Clinger and I are having a blast and livin’ it up while it lasts.
Peace.
Today for p-day Elder Clinger and I decided to climb a mountain and we have some sick photos\videos, but the photos I can’t send right now and the videos will never ever load to an email, so you’ll see them all later.
I have pretty much convinced Elder Clinger to transfer to BYU and live & play lacrosse with me, so we're gonna hope for that a lot. We have been passing our time lately playing 20 questions, and no lie, it’s ridiculously fun.
No baptisms, but we have someone that will get baptized on the 20th. His second Sunday in church we went to pick him up and he came out of the house in white shirt and tie. He’s 23 named Juan and wants to serve a mission in a year. Other than that Elder Clinger and I are having a blast and livin’ it up while it lasts.
Peace.
June 8, 2009 E-mail
So this week there were changes. Wednesday we went to the changes meeting and I was the last person to receive their new comp. His name is Elder Clinger. A gringo. He’s about 6'5" and a redhead who played lacrosse at Ohio State (D1) and had to turn down a scholarship to go on his mission. He’s quiet, but ridiculously funny. And he’s an incredible example for me.
So I don’t know if you guys new, but Honduras played USA in Chicago on Saturday (soccer), and so the entire country was in an uproar. We had to be in the house an hour before the game started, and the USA won 2-1. We have been getting some dirty looks being two huge gringos walking around a little Honduran city.
That’s about it for now. Oh! The Maxwell family says hi to you guys. It’s a family we're teaching. He lived in the states 15 years and after 9/11 got deported and lives here in our area. They are incredible. And they are the reason I’ve been sent to this area. The only problem is that the wife needs to get divorced and then baptized, so they’re in the process (supposedly 2 month minimum process), so I’m going to ask President to leave me here an extra change so I can baptize them (‘cause Pres. usually takes me out after 2 changes and they most likely won’t be able to get baptized this change). They want your recipe for lasagna so we can make it for ‘em. So please send it to me!
This is your mission, should you choose to accept it...
So I don’t know if you guys new, but Honduras played USA in Chicago on Saturday (soccer), and so the entire country was in an uproar. We had to be in the house an hour before the game started, and the USA won 2-1. We have been getting some dirty looks being two huge gringos walking around a little Honduran city.
That’s about it for now. Oh! The Maxwell family says hi to you guys. It’s a family we're teaching. He lived in the states 15 years and after 9/11 got deported and lives here in our area. They are incredible. And they are the reason I’ve been sent to this area. The only problem is that the wife needs to get divorced and then baptized, so they’re in the process (supposedly 2 month minimum process), so I’m going to ask President to leave me here an extra change so I can baptize them (‘cause Pres. usually takes me out after 2 changes and they most likely won’t be able to get baptized this change). They want your recipe for lasagna so we can make it for ‘em. So please send it to me!
This is your mission, should you choose to accept it...
June 1, 2009 E-mail
We married a family this week, and baptized them, but they won’t be confirmed till next week. Changes are Wednesday and I don’t have a change, but my comp does, which had to happen because I never have more than one change with a comp. Whatever.
OK, earthquake. Nothing to tell. The power was out here for like an hour. It was around a 6.6 here in Villanueva, and I pretty much slept through it. The earthquake lasted about 30 seconds (from 2:29 to 2:30 am), and I opened my eye and said, "earthquake" and went back to sleep. 5 seconds later my comp (who is basically crapping his pants) says "Let’s go outside," so we went and hung out with the landlord (member family) till the power came back. In Vilanueava there were no damages, no deaths, and no serious power outages. No worries!
OK, earthquake. Nothing to tell. The power was out here for like an hour. It was around a 6.6 here in Villanueva, and I pretty much slept through it. The earthquake lasted about 30 seconds (from 2:29 to 2:30 am), and I opened my eye and said, "earthquake" and went back to sleep. 5 seconds later my comp (who is basically crapping his pants) says "Let’s go outside," so we went and hung out with the landlord (member family) till the power came back. In Vilanueava there were no damages, no deaths, and no serious power outages. No worries!
May 25, 2009 E-mail
We finally baptized in the area. It’s not something that is expected while opening an area so we are pretty excited. My comp just left an area he opened and didn’t baptize until the 3rd month, we did it here in the first month with another week left in the month. We still have possibilities for this month, so we are just gonna continue working hard and hope for the best. Nothing big though. I don’t have a picture of the baptism because my camera’s battery died, so I didn’t have it to take the picture, but by next week and maybe later today Ican get a copy sent to you guys.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot.
Friday, May 22, 2009
May 17, 2009 E-mail
Hey everybody! Nothing new right now, just hanging out and working hard. We played soccer today so I’m really sweaty. We have pretty much 0 investigators, but 2 that will be baptized on Saturday. The bishop was just changed in my ward for a 27 year-old. The members don’t help even though we visit them a ton, and knocking doors doesn’t do anything. I’m out of ideas to do for contacting. But still working hard. Wednesday is the multizona and the area president is coming. uhh.... that’s about it. It would all be a touch easier if my comp wanted to help, but I’m doing my best.
I’m pretty amazed that BYU lacrosse won the championship (a little sad that I wouldn’t be there) and even more amazed that Van is going on a mission--and to Russia. That’s really cool.
Nothing big going on right now, just that I have a huge, huge craving for IHOP and CHIPOTLE. (We have an investigator that was deported from the USA 7 years ago, but went to elementary through high school and served 4 years in prison, then after September 11 was deported) and last night we were reminiscing about American fast food. Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s (it’s not as good here) everything.
Love ya, bye!
I’m pretty amazed that BYU lacrosse won the championship (a little sad that I wouldn’t be there) and even more amazed that Van is going on a mission--and to Russia. That’s really cool.
Nothing big going on right now, just that I have a huge, huge craving for IHOP and CHIPOTLE. (We have an investigator that was deported from the USA 7 years ago, but went to elementary through high school and served 4 years in prison, then after September 11 was deported) and last night we were reminiscing about American fast food. Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s (it’s not as good here) everything.
Love ya, bye!
May 4, 2009 E-mail
It’s going good here in Villanueva. The area is huge (the second largest in the mission), and the city is lots bigger than Santa Rosa. We have a Wendy’s, and Dunkin Donuts here! haha. This area is a little rough. We have good investigators, but I think it’s just hard opening an area. The sisters that were here before didn’t work at all. One was finishing and the other didn’t care. So the area's pretty dead. The sisters only baptized little kids of 9 to 13 years old and never really focused on the family, so we're gonna do the best we can to resurrect the area and keep it alive.
This week (still no baptisms here) we did a lot of working with members, just visiting and building up confidence, and there have already been some fruits. We've found/ received a few good families and all seem fairly positive, but don’t ever come to church.
On a side note my spanish is suffering right now. I’m pretty sure it’s just the Lord humbling me, but I can’t talk as well as I could. I’m making common mistakes that I never made before, and, as such, teaching lessons is a lot harder. But this all may be due to the fact that I haven’t studied spanish more than 2 times since leaving Santa Rosa... I’d definitely say it’s time to start... haha. Other than that no big news.
Love ya!
This week (still no baptisms here) we did a lot of working with members, just visiting and building up confidence, and there have already been some fruits. We've found/ received a few good families and all seem fairly positive, but don’t ever come to church.
On a side note my spanish is suffering right now. I’m pretty sure it’s just the Lord humbling me, but I can’t talk as well as I could. I’m making common mistakes that I never made before, and, as such, teaching lessons is a lot harder. But this all may be due to the fact that I haven’t studied spanish more than 2 times since leaving Santa Rosa... I’d definitely say it’s time to start... haha. Other than that no big news.
Love ya!
April 26, 2009 E-mail
Hey all!
So I’m now senior comp after only 6 months of teaching. And I’m opening an area that was so, so, so dead. My comp is from Guatemala and has 5 months left in the mission. His name is Elder Martinez. He’s an awesome guy, but just sees the mission from the "glass half empty" point of veiw.
I’m in Villanueva. (No more tropical beaches and eating coconuts at will...) It’s a decent sized town outside of San Pedro going towards Copan. The ward here is awesome. They all want to help it seems like. I expect that we will be able to baptize in May, 8 people just from the amazing help of the members.
I got my package thanks a lot! Everything is good here, just really hot and really humid!
Love ya!
So I’m now senior comp after only 6 months of teaching. And I’m opening an area that was so, so, so dead. My comp is from Guatemala and has 5 months left in the mission. His name is Elder Martinez. He’s an awesome guy, but just sees the mission from the "glass half empty" point of veiw.
I’m in Villanueva. (No more tropical beaches and eating coconuts at will...) It’s a decent sized town outside of San Pedro going towards Copan. The ward here is awesome. They all want to help it seems like. I expect that we will be able to baptize in May, 8 people just from the amazing help of the members.
I got my package thanks a lot! Everything is good here, just really hot and really humid!
Love ya!
Monday, April 20, 2009
April 20, 2009 E-mail
OK, first and foremost, another baptism! There’s a member of the church here who is a returned sister missionary. She has a boyfriend that at first was coming to church because of her. But two weeks in a row she was in San Pedro, and he came by himself. So this last Tuesday we taught him for the first time, and I felt the spirit to challenge him the first day to get baptized last Saturday. And he accepted excitedly. We taught him everything during the week, and he understands and loves and has a large testimony of the church. But when the branch president interviewed him Friday night, he couldn’t tell him that he felt ready to get baptized. So they postponed the date for May. Saturday night we visited him so he wouldn’t get discouraged--just talking about this and that, not really teaching, and he asked what Roni had told us (branch president). We talked about how he felt and he told us, "If we could talk to Roni right now could I get baptized tomorrow (Sunday)?" So we went to talk to Roni, and he got baptized and confirmed yesterday. I baptized him, and he reminds me of Cesar (from my other area).
Eddy is going to be a leader in the church here in Roatan, and in a year there’s gonna be a marriage and sealing in the Guatemala temple! So the great news is that I know why I came here, and that I can now leave feeling good about the work I’ve done here. And, yes, I am leaving. I have a change. Tomorrow I go back to the coast to stay, and Wednesday I’ll find out where I’ll be going from here. I don’t understand why the Lord wants to change me so often, but there’s no problem. So that’s all the news. We'll see where I end up.
Love ya!
Eddy is going to be a leader in the church here in Roatan, and in a year there’s gonna be a marriage and sealing in the Guatemala temple! So the great news is that I know why I came here, and that I can now leave feeling good about the work I’ve done here. And, yes, I am leaving. I have a change. Tomorrow I go back to the coast to stay, and Wednesday I’ll find out where I’ll be going from here. I don’t understand why the Lord wants to change me so often, but there’s no problem. So that’s all the news. We'll see where I end up.
Love ya!
April 13, 2009 E-mail
Hey all!
Well this week we had another baptism of the 17 year-old daughter of the first councilor of the branch presidency. The rest of the family are converts of 3 or 4 years, sealed in the temple, married in order to get baptized, goldens, but the 17 year-old daughter, Belkis, has been receiving and rejecting the discussions for these 3 years. We taught her about a month ago, and dropped her in the same lesson ‘cause she didn’t want anything. But 3 weeks ago she told us she wanted to get baptized, so we gave her all the discussions real quick, and now she is a part of a nice mormon family. haha. In that family there’s still 2 that need to get baptized, but they live in other parts of Honduras.
So that’s awesome. A few weeks ago I bought some hemp and am making hemp-tied CTR/HLJ rings for missionaries. That’s pretty sweet. It takes like 30 minutes to make one, so I do them at night before bed. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
There’s only one week left in the change, and I think I might get transferred already, but I really don’t want to. This is the best area of the mission hands down. And I can definitely see grandma living here. haha
See ya later!
Well this week we had another baptism of the 17 year-old daughter of the first councilor of the branch presidency. The rest of the family are converts of 3 or 4 years, sealed in the temple, married in order to get baptized, goldens, but the 17 year-old daughter, Belkis, has been receiving and rejecting the discussions for these 3 years. We taught her about a month ago, and dropped her in the same lesson ‘cause she didn’t want anything. But 3 weeks ago she told us she wanted to get baptized, so we gave her all the discussions real quick, and now she is a part of a nice mormon family. haha. In that family there’s still 2 that need to get baptized, but they live in other parts of Honduras.
So that’s awesome. A few weeks ago I bought some hemp and am making hemp-tied CTR/HLJ rings for missionaries. That’s pretty sweet. It takes like 30 minutes to make one, so I do them at night before bed. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
There’s only one week left in the change, and I think I might get transferred already, but I really don’t want to. This is the best area of the mission hands down. And I can definitely see grandma living here. haha
See ya later!
Friday, April 10, 2009
4/6/09 E-mail
Thanks for the birthday wishes, and I send them right back to the girls. haha. 15 years old, how quaint and young...hahah
Everything’s going good in Roatan. We had some problems with the Priesthood session on Saturday, but other than that conference was awesome. With priesthood, we didn’t have permission to access it because the branch was newly organized, so we made some emergency calls and after an hour we got to watch for 15 minutes. 5 of Costa, 5 of the song, and 5 of Uchdorf and the power in the island went out til 8:30, so that was fun. We have 5 more people with a baptismal date for this Saturday. Right now just working hard. And right now I’m in divisions with a ZL on the island (week long, we finish on Wednesday). It’s all good here. It’s starting to get pretty hot here. In this country the hottest time is always "semana santa" Easter Week (well literally 'holy week'), so here comes the heat baby!
Love, Elder Arntsen
Everything’s going good in Roatan. We had some problems with the Priesthood session on Saturday, but other than that conference was awesome. With priesthood, we didn’t have permission to access it because the branch was newly organized, so we made some emergency calls and after an hour we got to watch for 15 minutes. 5 of Costa, 5 of the song, and 5 of Uchdorf and the power in the island went out til 8:30, so that was fun. We have 5 more people with a baptismal date for this Saturday. Right now just working hard. And right now I’m in divisions with a ZL on the island (week long, we finish on Wednesday). It’s all good here. It’s starting to get pretty hot here. In this country the hottest time is always "semana santa" Easter Week (well literally 'holy week'), so here comes the heat baby!
Love, Elder Arntsen
3/29/09 E-mail
Hello, Everybody!
March is finally over, and it has been a long, long month. We ended up with 11 baptized and confirmed and one that still needs to get confirmed. We’ve been working way hard. For this week I have a funny story: a few days ago we were walking through a neighborhood called el swampo. Just walking, nothing funny or bad, but this neighborhood is full of drunks, and every now and then they get to shouting at us. Well this time a short, black, drunk (very, very drunk) man with a cigarette in his hand comes up to me. He looks like he’s been living in the street for several years and hasn’t showered in about 5 years. He comes up to me walking with me and says, "Hey white boy!!" I kinda just ignore him when he stars saying things like "what you too good to talk to a black drunk?!" "Huh stuck up pretty boy!" (all in english of course) And just keeps yelling. About a block later he stops yelling and says "I’m really sorry for yelling at cha forgive me?" and offers to shake my hand. So I shake it and said, "It’s ok I forgive you." When he grabs my other arm and says "YOU WANNA FIGHT!?!?!" "I’ll kill you flippin white boy!" "let’s fight" and he still hasn’t let go of my arm so I pretty much just keep walking ignoring him while he holds onto me. And after another block he gets tired sits down and passes out. That’s about it. Good story huh? Now if he were to have hit me I probably would have acted on instincts and beaten the tar outta him and then I’d have to leave the island cause all the black people would then hunt me down. So it’s a pretty good thing he didn’t hit me.
Anyways everything is good here. The soonest I’ll get those packages will be the 22 of April so I look forward to them at that time.
All right gotta go. Talk to you in a week!
March is finally over, and it has been a long, long month. We ended up with 11 baptized and confirmed and one that still needs to get confirmed. We’ve been working way hard. For this week I have a funny story: a few days ago we were walking through a neighborhood called el swampo. Just walking, nothing funny or bad, but this neighborhood is full of drunks, and every now and then they get to shouting at us. Well this time a short, black, drunk (very, very drunk) man with a cigarette in his hand comes up to me. He looks like he’s been living in the street for several years and hasn’t showered in about 5 years. He comes up to me walking with me and says, "Hey white boy!!" I kinda just ignore him when he stars saying things like "what you too good to talk to a black drunk?!" "Huh stuck up pretty boy!" (all in english of course) And just keeps yelling. About a block later he stops yelling and says "I’m really sorry for yelling at cha forgive me?" and offers to shake my hand. So I shake it and said, "It’s ok I forgive you." When he grabs my other arm and says "YOU WANNA FIGHT!?!?!" "I’ll kill you flippin white boy!" "let’s fight" and he still hasn’t let go of my arm so I pretty much just keep walking ignoring him while he holds onto me. And after another block he gets tired sits down and passes out. That’s about it. Good story huh? Now if he were to have hit me I probably would have acted on instincts and beaten the tar outta him and then I’d have to leave the island cause all the black people would then hunt me down. So it’s a pretty good thing he didn’t hit me.
Anyways everything is good here. The soonest I’ll get those packages will be the 22 of April so I look forward to them at that time.
All right gotta go. Talk to you in a week!
3/23/09 E-mail
We’ve been working like mad and have tons of possibilities and are changing the area of Roatan. We just had interviews with president, and last Sunday president came for a little visit.
Tell Tyler and Stevan that the mission is the best decision I have made in my entire life. You learn and grow so much. It’s not easy, but the best time of anyone’s life.
And that if Tyler meets an Elder Sebrero from California he lived in my hall in BYU.
uhoh. outta time cause of stuff... I’ll write more next week.
love ya
Tell Tyler and Stevan that the mission is the best decision I have made in my entire life. You learn and grow so much. It’s not easy, but the best time of anyone’s life.
And that if Tyler meets an Elder Sebrero from California he lived in my hall in BYU.
uhoh. outta time cause of stuff... I’ll write more next week.
love ya
3/16/09 E-mail
OK, well this week was rough. For starters I got real sick. Monday after emailing I started getting sick. We still don’t know what it was, but either food poisoning or dehydration. On Monday about 4 I pretty much passed out. So we went to the house where I slept till 7. A member came to the house to take us out to dinner to say goodbye to my comp. and then he saw how sick I was and wanted to take me to the hospital. So we had been calling the nurses, but they weren’t answering. But the member said he’d pay for everything. And not to worry. So we went. They gave me an I.V. so I was on a drip for an hour and a half and finally the nurses picked up and freaked out ‘cause we went without permission, but I was dying so they pardoned me. Really hectic. We got permission to take a plane direct to San Pedro for changes, but there weren’t any so I suffered on the yacht a little. But all good. I received my new comp. He’s from Mexico. Cancun. The only Mexican missionary in the mission. It’s awesome ‘cause he’s practically a gringo. haha.
So, we baptized the last of the Zelaya family, and the parents are getting married on Friday and baptized on Saturday. So I don’t know if you put an extra 25 bucks in my account so we can pay for the marriage or not but if not that’d be good. Thank you. So right now we have 7 baptisms, and one that only needs to be confirmed. Plus three with baptismal dates, and four that will have baptismal dates by the end of the week. We are changing the area here.
love you!
So, we baptized the last of the Zelaya family, and the parents are getting married on Friday and baptized on Saturday. So I don’t know if you put an extra 25 bucks in my account so we can pay for the marriage or not but if not that’d be good. Thank you. So right now we have 7 baptisms, and one that only needs to be confirmed. Plus three with baptismal dates, and four that will have baptismal dates by the end of the week. We are changing the area here.
love you!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
March 2, 2009
So Caitlin made the softball team? What position¿
What’s the deal with the girls both getting brand new phones and there I was suffering with mine for 2 years. Not only that, but they received cellular devices 2ish years before I did...¿ What gives? What kind of phones did you get them? And I would just like you to know that I expect an iphone for when I get home now... no, really though you guys have gone soft. I didn’t start driving in the parking lot till after I was 15... not before.
demmciado injusto. casi no lo puedo creer. houra you se que ningun miembro de mi familia intiende el español entonces la persona que lee esto tiene que dicir a my familia que me deban. y que todavía espero sus fotos para sus forros de las escrituras. gracias por traducir. ¿¡no fue divirtido!?
So Three days ago we found a house, and today we are in the process of moving, but the small hitch is that they haven’t finished painting the interior. So we had to dump all our stuff at the church, where we may end up sleeping today. In the process of moving I was going to show my comp how awesome my suit is and to my wonderful surprise I opened the bag to find my suit half covered in mold. Yes, mold. I have no idea what I can do. I’m gonna look for a dry cleaner, but I’m not so sure I’ll find one here. So ... any suggestions¿
So right now we have 7 with a baptismal date for this Saturday. The family Zelaya, but not the parents yet, and two other people. The deal with the parents that we didn’t know is that the dad is only the father of the three youngest (3, 5, 7) and the rest with dates are all step children. The other thing is that the mother has two sons that live on the mainland, but are coming out here soon. And they’re really rebellious kids. So the dad just want to make sure that the sons will recognize him as an authority figure, and that the wife to be will take his side on important issues, and not the side of the two rebellious sons. Tonight we’re gonna go talk to them about it, but the marriage is set for this Friday (pending a little bit on the outcome of tonight). (But the thing is this, my comp and I have agreed to split paying the boda (basically the taxes that they haven’t been paying and need to be paid before they get married) and it’s about 50 dollars so if you guys could go ahead and put an extra 25 or 30 bucks in my account that’d be just swell!)
I’m way excited for Steve and Tyler. I’ll be honest with them if they read this. At first I wasn’t too sure about the whole mission thing. And the 2 months in the MTC are... bad. I liked saying that it’s like spirit prison: you can’t leave until you know all the gospel. But after that this life here actually in the field is incredible! I’m already a little scared ‘cause a quarter of my time is gone and I’ve completely forgotten normal life. Let me know where they’re heading!
I’ll try sending pictures next week. Love you guys!
What’s the deal with the girls both getting brand new phones and there I was suffering with mine for 2 years. Not only that, but they received cellular devices 2ish years before I did...¿ What gives? What kind of phones did you get them? And I would just like you to know that I expect an iphone for when I get home now... no, really though you guys have gone soft. I didn’t start driving in the parking lot till after I was 15... not before.
demmciado injusto. casi no lo puedo creer. houra you se que ningun miembro de mi familia intiende el español entonces la persona que lee esto tiene que dicir a my familia que me deban. y que todavía espero sus fotos para sus forros de las escrituras. gracias por traducir. ¿¡no fue divirtido!?
So Three days ago we found a house, and today we are in the process of moving, but the small hitch is that they haven’t finished painting the interior. So we had to dump all our stuff at the church, where we may end up sleeping today. In the process of moving I was going to show my comp how awesome my suit is and to my wonderful surprise I opened the bag to find my suit half covered in mold. Yes, mold. I have no idea what I can do. I’m gonna look for a dry cleaner, but I’m not so sure I’ll find one here. So ... any suggestions¿
So right now we have 7 with a baptismal date for this Saturday. The family Zelaya, but not the parents yet, and two other people. The deal with the parents that we didn’t know is that the dad is only the father of the three youngest (3, 5, 7) and the rest with dates are all step children. The other thing is that the mother has two sons that live on the mainland, but are coming out here soon. And they’re really rebellious kids. So the dad just want to make sure that the sons will recognize him as an authority figure, and that the wife to be will take his side on important issues, and not the side of the two rebellious sons. Tonight we’re gonna go talk to them about it, but the marriage is set for this Friday (pending a little bit on the outcome of tonight). (But the thing is this, my comp and I have agreed to split paying the boda (basically the taxes that they haven’t been paying and need to be paid before they get married) and it’s about 50 dollars so if you guys could go ahead and put an extra 25 or 30 bucks in my account that’d be just swell!)
I’m way excited for Steve and Tyler. I’ll be honest with them if they read this. At first I wasn’t too sure about the whole mission thing. And the 2 months in the MTC are... bad. I liked saying that it’s like spirit prison: you can’t leave until you know all the gospel. But after that this life here actually in the field is incredible! I’m already a little scared ‘cause a quarter of my time is gone and I’ve completely forgotten normal life. Let me know where they’re heading!
I’ll try sending pictures next week. Love you guys!
February 23, 2009
The familia zelaya todavia se va a bautzar- oops... the Zelaya family is still going to get baptized, but they want to pay for their marriage and it’s really expensive ‘cause they haven’t been paying taxes for living on the island (almost no one does). They also want to move out of their house first. And I offered to help pay the marriage, but they said no. So were just gonna wait.
My area isn’t primitive by any means. It’s more commercialized than my last area for sure, especially on the west side where the resorts are.
The books (copies of the Book of Mormon) with testimonies are all over the Ceiba right now. I couldn’t bring them with me on the boat, so I had to leave them with the whole zone. I would expect that they are all with investigators already. The elders loved them.
If anyone says hi tell them I say hello back. But a really a special thanks to the Morgan family. They were the only people to send me anything for Christmas (at Christmas time) and I was forgetting to thank them. THANKS!!
Yes, I keep a journal. No os preocupaís. (don’t worry)
Love you all!
My area isn’t primitive by any means. It’s more commercialized than my last area for sure, especially on the west side where the resorts are.
The books (copies of the Book of Mormon) with testimonies are all over the Ceiba right now. I couldn’t bring them with me on the boat, so I had to leave them with the whole zone. I would expect that they are all with investigators already. The elders loved them.
If anyone says hi tell them I say hello back. But a really a special thanks to the Morgan family. They were the only people to send me anything for Christmas (at Christmas time) and I was forgetting to thank them. THANKS!!
Yes, I keep a journal. No os preocupaís. (don’t worry)
Love you all!
February 16, 2009
La Cieba is the city on the mainland where the yaught lands (in Spanish the word is a lot easier... only yate...) and it’s the name of my zone. The whole island is my area, but we live kinda close to the airport you can see on google earth; on the side closer to mainlands. The town is called Coxen Hole. The multi zone was good and from there we started with week-long divisions so I’m still here in the Ceiba with a ZL (some crazy stuff happened today so we got permission to be on internet this late...) and I’m here until interviews this Thursday. Weird huh?¿ On the island we have a chapel, but right now we don’t have power or water, so if we baptize anybody soon it’ll be in the ocean.
Speaking of baptisms, this Friday were going to marry a family of 7 and they’ll all be baptized on Saturday. The only problem is that the dad still has smoking problems, so we´ll see. We have faith that he can quit all the way by this week. They are called the family Zelaya, and they love going to church. They have progressed so, so, so much. In the lesson that we challenged them to get married we didn’t talk about the law of chastity (we had previously) we were just talking about commandments and we asked the dad what were the commandments that we needed to follow. Now, usually people say, ¨go to church, don’t kill etc...¨, but the first thing he said was ¨getting married¨. It was so, so awesome because it means that he really understands and knows what he needs to do. Just quitting smoking is kinda hard.
Dad asked about service opportunities: right now we are in the middle of painting the house of any missionary’s dreams. It’s on stilts above the water. No other houses near it really (except a few members) and we paint every week. We actually got permission to move there, but the already had found a tenant. Oh, well. We’re still looking for a house ‘cause ours right now pretty much doesn’t have running water, but we get by.
Everything is incredible here. Working hard and loving every minute of it!
All three packages got here. I received them the same day, but i don’t know when they all got here. So thank you for the candy and ties!
Thanks for all your support! Love ya!
Speaking of baptisms, this Friday were going to marry a family of 7 and they’ll all be baptized on Saturday. The only problem is that the dad still has smoking problems, so we´ll see. We have faith that he can quit all the way by this week. They are called the family Zelaya, and they love going to church. They have progressed so, so, so much. In the lesson that we challenged them to get married we didn’t talk about the law of chastity (we had previously) we were just talking about commandments and we asked the dad what were the commandments that we needed to follow. Now, usually people say, ¨go to church, don’t kill etc...¨, but the first thing he said was ¨getting married¨. It was so, so awesome because it means that he really understands and knows what he needs to do. Just quitting smoking is kinda hard.
Dad asked about service opportunities: right now we are in the middle of painting the house of any missionary’s dreams. It’s on stilts above the water. No other houses near it really (except a few members) and we paint every week. We actually got permission to move there, but the already had found a tenant. Oh, well. We’re still looking for a house ‘cause ours right now pretty much doesn’t have running water, but we get by.
Everything is incredible here. Working hard and loving every minute of it!
All three packages got here. I received them the same day, but i don’t know when they all got here. So thank you for the candy and ties!
Thanks for all your support! Love ya!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
2/9/09 E-mail
Roatan is a tropical place. I almost don’t feel like a missionary... not really. We work really hard, but the ocean and the beach and the tourists... It’s just something different.
Right now I’m using email in the "BananaRama." It’s a resort owned by a member and it is where a bunch of members work. He gives us free food and jobs if we want to come back after the mission. It’s a pretty cool place, and I’ll be here for 6 months. Tomorrow we leave for La Ceiba and on Wednesday we have a Multizone. We have to leave tomorrow because we can’t arrive in La Ceiba until 9, and the meeting starts at 8. So it’s basically a second p-day. And supposedly I have 2 packages waiting for me with the zone leaders.
That’s funny that grandma already knew about this place... but it’s true it’s kinda cheap, but not when you think in Limpiras (local money). It’s just ‘cause I’m Honduran now that everything here is way, way way expensive in comparison to San Pedro Sula. But I do absolutely love my new area. That is for sure.
That’s all for now!
Love ya.
Right now I’m using email in the "BananaRama." It’s a resort owned by a member and it is where a bunch of members work. He gives us free food and jobs if we want to come back after the mission. It’s a pretty cool place, and I’ll be here for 6 months. Tomorrow we leave for La Ceiba and on Wednesday we have a Multizone. We have to leave tomorrow because we can’t arrive in La Ceiba until 9, and the meeting starts at 8. So it’s basically a second p-day. And supposedly I have 2 packages waiting for me with the zone leaders.
That’s funny that grandma already knew about this place... but it’s true it’s kinda cheap, but not when you think in Limpiras (local money). It’s just ‘cause I’m Honduran now that everything here is way, way way expensive in comparison to San Pedro Sula. But I do absolutely love my new area. That is for sure.
That’s all for now!
Love ya.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
2/1/09 E-mail
Aghh!!!!!!!!!! I wrote a huge letter and it erased itself again!
Ok. I am now companions with an elder from Guatemala named Elder Montes. And in order to get to my new area we had to wait until the day after changes. We had to wait because... we had to take a boat to ...ROATAN!!! It’s the biggest area in the mission, and I’ll be here for at minimum 6 months. Grandma should stop by since she loves the whole cruise thing. Royal Caribbean has a dock close to our house. One thing for those that write me real letters: it takes around 15 days for a letter to arrive in San Pedro Sula (and 10 via Dear Elder) and then another 5 to get to Ceiba (‘cause the secretaries are lazy... haha) and after it will stay there until I have multizone, interviews, or divisions with the ZLs (week long) at which point I will mail all the letters I will write to you (I will still write every week) so I will recieve your mail every 3 to 4 weeks and the same with you! Sorry for the inconvenience, but... I’m in Roatan...and because I’m here everything is way expensive so we use internet for less time, so if you have questions you gotta send them by Monday!
Love ya!
Ok. I am now companions with an elder from Guatemala named Elder Montes. And in order to get to my new area we had to wait until the day after changes. We had to wait because... we had to take a boat to ...ROATAN!!! It’s the biggest area in the mission, and I’ll be here for at minimum 6 months. Grandma should stop by since she loves the whole cruise thing. Royal Caribbean has a dock close to our house. One thing for those that write me real letters: it takes around 15 days for a letter to arrive in San Pedro Sula (and 10 via Dear Elder) and then another 5 to get to Ceiba (‘cause the secretaries are lazy... haha) and after it will stay there until I have multizone, interviews, or divisions with the ZLs (week long) at which point I will mail all the letters I will write to you (I will still write every week) so I will recieve your mail every 3 to 4 weeks and the same with you! Sorry for the inconvenience, but... I’m in Roatan...and because I’m here everything is way expensive so we use internet for less time, so if you have questions you gotta send them by Monday!
Love ya!
1/26 E-mail
OK, this week we baptized and confirmed Cesar. I did the baptism personally because he asked me to since I was the person who knocked his door. Cesar took us out to eat at this Chinese food place (cause he wanted to avoid places where people might be drinking on a Saturday night), and on Sunday brought his girlfriend (who also loves the church) and will baptize her either this Saturday or next. The only problem is I have a change (am being transferred).
Tomorrow I have to go around to all my converts and awesome member families and say goodbye. Wednesday we have to get up at 3 am to catch the 4 o’clock bus for San Pedro Sula. I probably won’t ever visit this amazing climate again, and I’m way bummed ‘cause I’m probably going to the heat heat heat of San Pedro.
OK cool story. Elder Fernandez and I (my comp from the MTC) had divisions for a baptismal interview. So (being gringos with a little more money than latino missionaries) we decided to eat Chinese. And the lady who owns the place bet me I couldn’t eat the whole family size plate of rice by myself. She said if I could do it she’d give us a second free. So I buckled down and ate it all, and then Elder Fernandez got his full as well. hahaha
Love you. That’s all!!
Tomorrow I have to go around to all my converts and awesome member families and say goodbye. Wednesday we have to get up at 3 am to catch the 4 o’clock bus for San Pedro Sula. I probably won’t ever visit this amazing climate again, and I’m way bummed ‘cause I’m probably going to the heat heat heat of San Pedro.
OK cool story. Elder Fernandez and I (my comp from the MTC) had divisions for a baptismal interview. So (being gringos with a little more money than latino missionaries) we decided to eat Chinese. And the lady who owns the place bet me I couldn’t eat the whole family size plate of rice by myself. She said if I could do it she’d give us a second free. So I buckled down and ate it all, and then Elder Fernandez got his full as well. hahaha
Love you. That’s all!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
1/19 E-mail
This week was pretty normal, except for the fact that it rained hard core all week, and today was the first day since Tuesday without rain. But the way good news is that as a zone we played soccer day in canch aport again. It was awesome. This week we focused on setting baptismal dates. We had 4 for the 24th, but 3 fell and are now for the 31st. But the best news of all is that Cesar is getting baptized this Saturday. I’m pretty sure I’ve already told you guys all about him, but as a review--he is from Panama and now is engaged. But they aren’t getting married ‘til March... but they agreed (she agreed he already wanted to) live the law of chastity, so he’s getting baptized this Saturday and she’s getting baptized in two weeks, and he’s gonna baptize her. Pretty weird but way cool too. (He played soccer with us today, then took everybody in the zone out to eat...) so that’s pretty much it. Nothing to report.
Love you guys.
Love you guys.
1/12 E-mail
This week was nutz!!!! Tuesday we had a zone meeting and afterwards we started divisions. I went to an area called Galeras which is in a different county 3 hours away from my area. And I got sick for the first time in the mission. That night I couldn’t sleep ‘cause my stomach hurt so bad. And the next morning I had to go back to my area. It was a rough trip. I met my district leader in La Entrada to switch back or so I thought... we then went back to Santa Rosa, but didn’t stop there. We went to a little town called San Pedro de Copan and taught every single lesson so this non-baptized kid of members could get baptized. We got there at 3 and found out that there were no more busses so we had to stay the night in the members’ house. The AP´s freaked at my district leader (Elder Ramos from Panama), but there was nothing we could do. I got back to my area Thursday at 3. And the next day were interviews with President.
Then we got back to my area at 5 (interviews are in La Entrada an hour away from my area). Saturday was my only normal day of this last week. And I am fed up with divisions and traveling. Everything is good now. Changes are in 2 weeks and I’m pretty sure I’m staying here.
Santa Rosa is hilly and green and is one of the few places in Honduras where there are pine trees.
Love ya!
Then we got back to my area at 5 (interviews are in La Entrada an hour away from my area). Saturday was my only normal day of this last week. And I am fed up with divisions and traveling. Everything is good now. Changes are in 2 weeks and I’m pretty sure I’m staying here.
Santa Rosa is hilly and green and is one of the few places in Honduras where there are pine trees.
Love ya!
1/5 E-mail
It’s been a great year for me too! I baptized my first family! A couple and their brother. Nothing too huge to report. But I do have another funny dog story: we were knocking doors and I called out ¨Buenas tardes!¨ and a dog came running out of the house and up to the fence. It barked once and proceeded to lift his leg and try to pee on me. Luckily I was watching it and dodged the pee. My shoes are still pee free.
Other than that the whole new year’s thing was about the same as it was for Christmas. No one outside and no appointments. But we still baptized. This month is the month of repentance because we only baptized 132 in December, and that is our lowest number for years and years. hahah.
After the baptism we went to their house and made baleadas (the traditional food of Honduras), and I bought a huge cake! It was only 7 dollars... so everything is way chill here.
Other than that the whole new year’s thing was about the same as it was for Christmas. No one outside and no appointments. But we still baptized. This month is the month of repentance because we only baptized 132 in December, and that is our lowest number for years and years. hahah.
After the baptism we went to their house and made baleadas (the traditional food of Honduras), and I bought a huge cake! It was only 7 dollars... so everything is way chill here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
