Week 38 La Jutosa

Hey my debit card stopped working and I don’t have money. Can you call and get it fixed?  I am out of money really I have 5 lempiras and that’s all.   When do you get money put into your account?  The money is put in the first of the month, so next Monday. Does it cost more where you live because you have to take the bus more, is that why you are out of money?  No, I lost like 1000 lempiras.  I bought soap for 300 that got stolen on the bus. 300 to buy it again and then I had to spend 200 in pills for a fungus.  The soap was stolen on the bus. Did you fall asleep?  No the bag just disappeared, I had it and then it wasn’t there.     Almost everyone has some sort of fungus going on because of the heat and humidity. The fungus its getting better, I am using ketoconazol and loratadina, with orders to shower 3 times a day, which is great for me.  There’s water 2 times day when I shower and the other I use a bucket and water from the pila. 

What was the spiritual experience of the week? This week the most spiritual experience was when I did divisiones with the zone leaders. It was really relaxing to get to work a full day and feel like a missionary again. We had a lot of success and the spirit was there.   We even received 3 references from members that day.   Did your zl work in your area or in theirs?  We all worked in my area as 2 Companionships. I was pumped and wanted to work hard the rest of the week, but there has been 2 days that my companion has refused to leave and work in the morning. 

How is the companionship going? Well I am good but my companion is very depressed and he just likes to fight with any one including the members, he gets contentious. But I finally figured out what is passing and I can understand why he is so mad. He ripped his tendon in his foot like a year ago and he has been fighting with it but it isn’t getting better and they might be sending him home so that he can get surgery, this it why he is stressed and really mad.   We will find out this week if he is going home, that’s all that I have heard from him.   No hopefully they can fix his foot because I can work with him but it will just take a little more time and really it helps me be more patient.   

What did you do for p-day today? We went to the beach and played football (soccer).

How many went to the beach was it the whole zone?  Like 20 of us, but not the whole zone.   Was the beach clean like Roatan or was it dirty?  No it was clean and there were cabanas but we didn’t want to use them because they wanted to charge our group 50 limperia to be there and use them so we just used coco trees.  Are there any missionaries that went today that have been in other areas of your mission with you?  A few.   How much did the bus ride to the beach cost?  It cost, like 2 dollars.  

We ate at the beach, the food wad really good and the raspberry juice was too. 

I got so sunburnt today. I am burnt all around even the back of my thighs. 

All of the people in my city work in makilas or sewing factories: some people make thread, some sew, and some make material.  It is all textiles. And those in the mountains grow bananas. 

How was Sacrament meeting this week, what did you teach and talk about? I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting and it was on the family. I only spoke like 7 minutes because the stake presidency was there. They released the branch president that we have and put a new one.  I think things should pick up because he is very motivated. 

How are you investigators? They aren’t any progressing; the one that was progressing and living the word of wisdom got drunk.  We did get permission from the mom to baptize a boy that comes to the church almost every week, in a couple months. 

Is the food different than you last area?  Less fried? Yes there is less fried food and we eat more white rice and vegetables, and we get tortillas from real corn not maseca. 

Do you every see any monkey's? No there’s not any monkeys unless we go up higher in the mountains from are area. 

Is this Internet Cafe and shopping 50 minute from the house? Do they have small stores in your city, not even an island market?  No there are no small stores in my city, think of shopping only from half of what we have in our food storage. We have to come to Choloma to buy food.  Looks like a business opportunity.  Yes there’s also a market to rent houses here and make bank.  There’s really not a house that’s not occupied and everyone is renting. 

Have you done any service this week?  Well there’s not service to do because no one wants it. We found some so we will see if we can do it the next week. 

How was the stake president do you have a branch member called time be ward mission leader?  No we have a mission leader but he’s inactive, we invited him to come this week and he came so we will see how this goes. 

How is the new cook? Is it the same price as in the last area? We pay 25 less for the 15 days. She is good; we eat a lot of white rice, which is fine with me because it’s good.  Do you eat a lot of different varieties of bananas?  Yes there’s a lot and I have been eating kiwi lately.  Do you eat a lot of chicken or no meat?  We eat a lot of pork chops and hamburger and chicken here.  

So is your house the same size as the church?  Our house is bigger than the church. 

Your cousin’s Jeff and Katelyn were talking about their missions and smoking, the kids start young in Russia and Poland, even as young as 8 years old.  Yeah I say a 6-year-old drinking beer here.  At what age do they have kids in Russia?  Because here its not weird to see a 15 or 16 year old with kids.   It’s the children with the children here, they are living together without marriage and there’s more single than married. That would be difficult to teach them why it is wrong.  Yes that’s why almost all of the members are single moms with their kids and we don’t have priesthood holders. 

Week 37 La Jutosa

Did you get transferred? Yes I got transferred.  I am in an area that is called La Jutosa it is in the middle of nowhere and it is a little city hidden in the mountains.  My zone is Choloma.  My new companion is Elder D., he’s from Paraguay and he has been out like 14 or 15 months, he’s been in the area for 1 transfer.  What type of background does your comp come from how long has he been a member.   All his life, his dad died when he has like 4 and they’re prone to fight and punch is what I have heard. 

How was packing all of you stuff? It was a little bit hard to pack all of my stuff and I even sent a couple boxes in the Ruta (Honduran Mail) with all my books and a hammock and my blender. My books arrived last week but my blender should arrive this week.  Where do you put your luggage on those buses?  You pay for the luggage as a person and you put it in the seats. I spent like 3 dollars to get all my luggage there. Did you stand up on you bus ride from Santa Ana?  They chartered a bus. But yes, I am almost always standing on the buses.

What did you do for p-day?  We went and hiked to a couple of waterfalls today, I hope that I will be able to upload all the pictures.  Why are you carrying your machete?  We used it to make our trail. Then we took a 40-minute bus ride to get to the house from the main street where we ate at Wendy’s today.  I am in the zone that includes the beach so we will go the beach most p days.  Choloma, that’s where we are at right now emailing, it has a nice mall.  Are you having problems uploading photos today?  Yes these computers are using windows XP and it is bad and slow and way outdated. 

How is you house? Can you sleep in you hammock?  I can sleep in my hammock but I haven’t found a ladder to put it up. The house is huge but it isn’t even painted on the inside.  Do you have water and are the windows covered?  Is the weather any cooler in the mountains?  The weather is much cooler and there is a river by our house.   We have water only during mid-day and at night but yes the windows are covered.  Is getting fed more similar to La Entrada than Santa Ana, do you get fed by families?  No it’s a miracle but there’s food every night.  Are you using your blanket?  Yes, without it I would die.  What do people do for work?  They work in fields or they are sewing or making products such as fabric and thread, stuff like that.  Do you have a cook or somebody to was your clothes?  Yes we have the 2 but I think I will wash my clothes for a while and then I will pay someone when I am tired of it.

I am in a branch and this week only 28 people came, including some visiting older couple missionaries and us. Is all of the church outside, or just the chapel?  The chapel is outside and there are a few rooms inside. We had to teach primary and there wasn’t a priesthood class.  Yes alcoholic’s anonymous it next door and we got to listen to them during sacrament meeting and we had to bless the sacrament because there is no one else.  That would be hard to have church outside, my mind would really wander and so would the little kids.   

A member of the quorum of the 70’s came last week and really taught the leaders so it is a make it or break it situation, they could close it down in the future if it doesn’t go good. You have the priesthood to lead the branch. Try and be a leader for the branch on the correct way things run. Where is the closest baptismal font?  The river is the font.

How was your week? Well it has been a little hard, just like Steven I am with a companion that is a little hard to get along with but well I’m with him so I have to deal with him. The first day we worked good and everything until we got to the house and started to plan for the next day, my comp lost it he was going on saying that “I changed everything, that people aren’t important to me, that all that matters to me is numbers” and well a lot of other things. I asked him what I was doing to bother him and his only response was “I am not a recorder”. Wow!  Well I just sat there and asked him for like a thousand times what he wants me to change and he just said he’s not a recorder. He said “well this isn’t going to work out” I can’t be your companion and a lot of other things and I said “well I didn’t choose you as my companion, the Lord did, I am here to stay, at least for this transfer, so buck up”. I had to endure like a half hour of verbal abuse from my companion and I really only did one stupid thing, I took the camera out and put it there and put it on record. He was furious, but it was very interesting to hear the change of the tone of voice and how he changes to saying that I am talking different. I managed to keep a soft voice the whole time. So the next day I really just gave him the opportunity to lead in everything but we really don’t accomplish much, I feel like he wants to lead everything but that’s ok, the Lord knows that I am doing my part. We haven’t had a problem since but sometimes I feel bored and that we are wasting our time. 

Spiritual experience. I think the most spiritual experience I had was yesterday. We found an inactive member and we began to ask her questions and I asked her if there was anyone else that would like to hear our message and she brought in her sobrina (Niece) I don’t know how to say it in English. But she was so prepared and I think that if she comes to the church this week she will progress very fast. 

What did you do for the "Week of the Family"?  We had our activity on the iron rod before I was transferred.  In my new area, we went to Puerto Cortes and saw a talent show from the whole stake.  How long did it take you to get to Puerto Cortes and did you see the ocean from there?  We saw a lot of cargo boxes like from the boats but it was at night, I didn’t see water.   I bet you packages come into that port.  It says that it is the only deep-water port in Central America.  Yes it looked like it is huge. 

Tell us about a funny thing that happened this week? Well today we went to a waterfall and it was the most fun thing that we have done all week long. Another experience was we were in Puerto one of the members of the church acted like he wanted to rob my bag when we were in a pulperia (corner market) but he was just seeing if I would go for it. The funny things was that I had seen him in the church when we walked in at first so I knew that he was a member, you should have seen his face.

What was the fire in the picture?  Someone burned a whole hill

Know that we love and support you, the president sent you there for a reason and work as hard as you can. You just need to try and be supportive.   Be your calm self and if you need to, ask the district leader to do splits so you can vent.  He is the district leader.  Have you met any other elders, how close do they live?  They all live like 50 minutes away.

Ok my time is up but it has been really fun to talk to you guys, I hope that you will have a good week and wow its really weird that my cousin is getting married. But love you all and have another good short week. 

Week 36 Santa Ana

What was your spiritual experience for the week? I think that one of the spiritual experiences form this week was this Sunday when 8 investigators came to the sacrament meeting and then after to get them all to their classes. I felt the fruits that my labors have produced. We worked really hard to invite them all and then pass by the houses of some of them. I know that the people can progress. It was very interesting explaining the sacrament really fast when we had an investigator that has a question. He arrived just before the sacrament like 30 seconds before we finished the Hymn so I got up and went the help him come in to the building because he was standing in front like a lost dog but he came in and all was well and all of the members want to help the investigators so they invite him to things which is really good. Because usually the members don't want to do anything because all of this is the job of the missionary's at least some think that way so I am really excited to see the change that is coming about here in Honduras. 

Have you heard about transfers yet? I haven't heard anything about transfers yet because we are emailing a little earlier than usually but I t think in the night I will know but I am not sure. Jump on the computer tonight and tell us if you are transferred.  We will see if there is an opportunity and if not well it’s a surprise. 

Did you do any service this week? We did a lot of small things for service but they were small and I don't remember them. But we were going to paint a kindergarten but they hadn't bought the paint so we couldn't do that. 

This week I made rice crispy treats

Did anything funny happen this week? Yes there was a guy that was drunk that cornered us.   On accident, he spit in my comps face when he was talking and he was just funny first he started out talking about his wife and how he bought shrimp to cook for Mother’s Day and then a lot of other things like his education and all of that, he said “I am a mechanic” and then like 3 minutes later he said he was a Chef, it was really funny. He then got into it about Joseph smith saying that he killed million Jews and a lot of other things like this. He thought Joseph Smith was Hitler. We finally got loose and my companion started to walk away and the guy followed me down and told me that my comp gets mad really easy. We went to the house. When we were leaving the house with a member the drunk followed us down saying “I cooked the dinner for you”.  He was running following us screaming this, and then later he started screaming, “don't betray me”. It was really funny and we started to run because he followed us a couple of blocks. 

Do you have any baptisms scheduled? We don't have any baptisms scheduled but we are waiting on family's to get married so we can baptize them. 

Did you go to the Lunch cook's son's baptism? Yes we had to fill the baptism font and then we went to the baptism, it was good and lots and lots of people came for the baptism.

How big is that spider?  The spider is big it is the size of half my fist.  No this is the first tarantula that I have seen. 

 The dog is a great dane and its really friendly.   

This week the Church is doing “A week of the Family” we are doing activities every night.  We are in charge of tonight’s activity.  How many people will come to the activity tonight?  We have a 50-dollar budget for the activity for 70 people.  Did you buy the treats or what did you spend the money on.  We bought Tajadas, Drinks and ground meat on top. We had the wife of the bishop make it all. 

Ok I will have more to say next week and I should have more pictures of the families here if I have transfers.  But love you all and it was really fun to talk to you all. I hope that you guys will be able to have another year and 4 months without me. 

Week 35 Santa Ana

How was you week? My week was good. I don’t feel like I did that much because we didn’t work all the week the first few days my companion was in so much pain from the wisdon tooth that he couldn’t even walk or think. His face was really inflamed and one day when we got money he bought a diclophenaco to help with the pain he couldn’t feel anything but at least we could work. So we did some visits. On another day I went and did divisions with one of the other companionships in La Sabillon and I was with Elder A. and it was really fun because we worked hard and had a lot of success.  Another day I did divisions in my area and another Elder from our district who came to be with me. I was with Elder A. and it was a little slower here but we still had success and we finally had a full day to work here in the area.  

Are transfers next week? Transfers are not next week but they will be the next Wednesday after that. So possibly only have 9 days left here in this area. I am not very excited to possibly go but I feel like I have contacted every house in the area. Many streets I have contacted every person and it is hard to contact the same houses again.   I figured one more transfer there, but dad thinks you will be transferred.  I have 4 and half months here and there’s only one person in the zone that has 6 months in their area, so we will see what happens because if I stay another I will finish with 6 months here. 

What was your spiritual experience for the week? I think one of the most spiritual experiences this week was that this Sunday that we had a whole family come to the church. Hna C. and her Husband who is inactive and then his brother and his wife who isnt a member and then 4 more people form the family. And the mom got up onfront of all of the people and bore her testimony about how she had been praying that one day she could finally see her whole family in the church together. Well it was verry powerful and this was the time during the week that i felt the spirit the most. Hna C had a baptism date but she hasn’t gotten married yet but we are making progress and I am sure that they will come around and follow the straight and narrow path. We were fasting and it was really hard because it was hot. 

What was a funny experience for the week?  Well I don’t think that there was a funny experience this week that I can think of. But we always do stupid things. If you want to see a cool video we watched one of the members cross this big train bridge there’s a video if you want to see. 

Is it the same families that feed you every week, or do a lot of families feed you? 

Are the mangos free now?  There are a lot of mangos; I just haven’t been using them. I just don’t have time to make juice or smoothies with them. But there are a lot because we have 2 trees outside of our house. 

Can you remember any rain in the past week? The weather said chance of showers.  We had rain 2 days finally because it was so hot and I was just dying. But I don’t know why but I use the blanket that you guys sent every night and sometimes I still get cold.   Mom started checking the weather down there everyday; there were 2 days last week that it said it felt like 119 degrees F. Yes when the Jehovah witnesses say that hell is the earth, that’s the only reason they have a point about this. 

Did you ever figure out what happened your package did finally arrive?  Yes I got the package and wow that toothbrush works really well.   Great make sure you use it, what condition were the peeps and Riesen’s in?   The Riesen”s are good, the peeps are ugly but they still taste the same.   They shrunk but they were almost the same form on one side of the package and on the other they were all in a ball but they separate, and are good. 

Did you go to a lake for p day?  Yes we went to the Yojoa Lake.  How long did it take you to get to the lake? It took an hour and a half. We chartered a van and we all went in on it, it cost 100 lempiras to get there and back, but a 3-hour ride. They don’t make any profit. We really didn’t do that much there, we took pictures. Elder W. that went with us is from either North or South Carolina.   

Then we came back and ate at Winger’s.  It’s not a real Winger’s but they are using the name.  I had 6 wings without bone and 6 with bones and French fries.  The wings were not hot.   It was in a mall in Villanueva. 

Was this the best meal of the week?  No because one other time a member made us pizza and it was good, we are going to order pizza this week. How did they cook it?  They cooked it in a toaster oven.

Was the person up high on the bridge jumping into the water?  No he was one of the members visiting with us. 

How is your companion feeling?  He still has pains.  He washes the hole and its not infected he still just has pains. Could he have an infection?  No he doesn’t have and infection. What is the diclofenac?  It is a non-steroid anti-inflammatory. Aren't you glad we made you get your wisdom teeth done at home?  Yes, I wouldn’t have let them take mine out. 

Thanks for talking with me I will be calling Sunday don’t forget, but I know you won’t. I am thankful for the toothbrush and tell Joan and Dean thanks.

Love you all and have a good week. And don’t forget to read something. For all of you there is a book that I want to read “The House of the Lord” by James Talmage it looks really good. The PDF is on dropbox if you want to read it, it is interesting.