Week 13 Entrada de Copan

I need a recipe for gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, and chocolate chip cookies if you can. Can you print the recipes off?  NO I didn’t print the recipes I copied them by hand, it is expensive to print, like 7 limperia per page, I could buy a gallon of milk or a lot of eggs and tons of chip.  Can you find sour cream in Honduras?  I can find sour cream I think, well it is similar they use it in baleadas. It is called mantaquilla but it tastes more like sour cream and similar in consistency.    Are you sure it is not butter?  Margarina is all that we have because it is cheap, if we buy real butter it is really expensive. 

How did baladeas part 2 go. We haven’t made baleadas this week but I am getting closer to having all the things necessary to make them. I bought a pan this week I don’t know what you call it in English, its like a mixing bowl but more multi purpose, you can use it for next to everything, it cost about 40 Lempiras

Have you had to speak in church?  No thank goodness. But if I have to I am going to speak on why we should get to church on time because there is a big problem with this here.   We can start church with 20 people and after the Sacrament and throughout the meeting have as many as 80 or more people, so there is a major problem. 

Did any youth from your area go to the mission prep that Kurt’s brother was helping with? I read I one Missonary’s blog say they could not have church in their building because there was too much dental stuff.  He said they would be doing dental work on 700 people. Yes a couple of the young men from our area went and had their teeth out. We had to explain and make some phone calls so they would know when and where they needed to get to the places that they were going to have them removed.

How are your investigators coming along have any set dates for baptism? We haven’t set any new dates but next week we will. The 1 date that we have though is pretty solid but we will see how things go. All of our other investigators we have are progressing well. We have an investigator who lives in Las Bodegas his name is J. and he is pretty cool, he came to church this Sunday and he liked it.  I think that he will accept the need for a baptism really quick. 

What was your spiritual experience of the week?  I think one of the most spiritual experiences was this week when we were going to a house to talk with an investigator that had been having some problems and had basically said don’t come back, I have my Church. Well we said a prayer before we got to their house saying that if they drop us that we can find a family that is awesome. There was a problem, when we go to the investigator’s house, she was making out so we kept on walking, it was a little awkward but in about 50 feet or so I said lets contact this house and use the new material the church has out for Christmas el es la dadiva.   We sang a Christmas hymn in the door they let us in.  We taught the message of the Resurrection.  The Lord is always here guiding us and he has people prepared to receive this gospel. Don’t ever forget that.

Do you ride Rapidos or buses more? Send us a picture of you in one. I think that it if we are counting time a lot more in buses we probably spend a solid 5 hours a week in a bus. And we ride the Moto taxis 5 or 6 times a week, we really don’t like to spend our money because we don’t have that much.

Are there some medical supplies that Hma S. could use?  Ace wraps or suture etc. No she can get it all here for dirt cheap.  Here is a picture of her sharps container.

For p day we went to Santa Rosa and played soccer in the gym we rented out. This is the picture of the front of the gym and there was this weird thing hugging the pole it was a large concrete person thing with covered with bottle caps

A picture of my pan to make baleadas and the other of a cookie that I like.

Sorry the picture of the fire is bad but this is what our dinner last night was cooked on in the house of a member.

 A picture of the blanket that the O. family, who lives in a bodegas (A hispanic/spanish/latin mini-mart, kind of like a 7-11, but usually smaller and more like a liquor store atmosphere) gave to us, it is really basic and warm but not to warm, it is like a fleece type but it is heavy and stiff.  The blanket was a lifesaver. 

A photo of my collection of tasos the little things I find inside of bag of chips.

We found this on the side of the road look at the pamphlet. It is about the word of wisdom.  The next day they had it rigged up so that man the man with the cigar would stand up and block the sidewalk.

A picture of an oven I am trying to figure out how hot it can get so I can show them how to cook pizza.

A picture of the first root beer I’ve had in 3 months. 

A picture of my hammock at the house of the Zone Leader, well I didn’t get to sleep the night in it because no one wanted to sleep on the other hammock outside, So I ended up sleeping on the floor of the house on 3 exercise foam squares.

The Baptismal font

  

My favorite bread-Semitone   

How was thanksgiving I didn’t even miss it. This week was the first week that I got sick. On Saturday for lunch we ate sopa de reys or “beef soup” and wow I got sick as a dog this night. I puked three times and I think it was because all of the rice settled in the bottom of my stomach.   we had already scheduled a noche de hogar (family home evening) for a Family, I felt horrible but I said we had it planned, so we are going to have the noche do hogar.  I threw up 5 minutes before everyone showed up and wow how good it felt. I bought a bag of water and chugged it.  My companion and I prayed that I would be able to make it through the next hour singing, talking and reading without throwing up in front of everyone. My prayer was answered. We finished and when we had walked about 100 yards from the house, I started throwing up again. We called it a day and went to our house an hour early. I didn’t sleep well this night and I again threw up in the middle of the night. I went and drank some more water and drank some pepto and all was good.   I woke up the next morning and was able to work hard. Many people here cook food a couple days before they plan to eat it and leave it on the stove. We had Hen soup the next day with hermand Sandoval.  The hen wasn’t that bad but the broth was just like fat and oils not very healthy but thank goodness I didn’t get sick from this one.  My companion described my sickness as trippley dragon meaning “barfing” it was quite brutal. I have been praying that I don’t get mondongo this week, but I worry for next week, I think I am going to get mondongo and worst of all it is the meal we will eat to start our fast.  

opa de mondongo is a soup made from diced tripe (the stomach of a cow) slow-cooked with vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cilantro (coriander), garlic or root vegetables.

This week I have learned how to do the first part of a blessing with oil in Spanish and I have given a few blessings this week and done the anointing a couple of times.

What happened with transfers? Hna D. from my area and a lot of other missionaries were transferred.    We were the only companionship that didn’t change.   We got some elders that are real interesting. The coolest one I think is from the Dominican Republic. We got a new hermana in our area her name is Hna A. she if from Las Vegas and she speaks Spanish because her family is Latinos. 

How has the weather been? Cold.

I have trying to learn the names of some car parts in Spanish and tools but some of the names are weird. 

Yes and we have dvd players in all of the houses that read thumb drives so we just put what we want on a thumb drive and we can open it. 

What have you done for service this week?  To be honest I don’t think that we had any really good opportunities to service this week but I want some because it is fun and I can usually wear normal clothes depending on the activity. It is true what the elders said during your Sacrament Meeting, it is really up to the members to do the missionary work and give references of anyone who might remotely be interested in the gospel. We only have about 6 families and people that teach with us and it is seldom that they come with us. Well let’s put it this way there is really only 6 families in the branch. 

Tell Dean and Joan thanks for the trader Joe

 cookies.  They are good, I have one every couple of days so they will lasts me a little longer.  Well my time is up and I have to go thanks for all you do.  Feed the missionary’s but don’t stress if it is perfect, because perfect food is far from what we get sometimes, and if you don’t feel like it you don’t even have to eat with the elders. We haven’t had anyone eat with us yet.