Week 43 La Jutosa

This was when we were waiting for our new companions to arrive. We sat and ate at Wendy’s.  Looks like nice Wendy's.  Yes Wendy’s is pretty nice.

Well my companion had transfers; he went to San George Cofradia. I stayed here and got a new companion who is American. He is from Roy Utah. His name is Elder P. It is pretty cool because he was going to school at USU so he knows everything about Logan.  How long has your companion be out?  He has been out 15 months. Are you his first American companion?  No he has had a lot of American companions but he is my first. Are you working harder now?  Yes we are working harder now and finally we have the spirit with us. Can the members tell a difference with your companionship?  Yes we have the spirit finally because before it was nearly impossible.  Are you spending more money?  I am spending a little more money because my comp wants to go out and do something and I am fine with that. 

I think that the spiritual experience of the week was when we had a lesson with Marjorie and well we put a baptismal date with her for July 18, it was just a powerful lesson. The spirit was there and we really didn’t have to teach that much we just shared our testimonies and she said yes. The spirit really does work on people she still says she hasn’t received an answer, yet but I know she will come to find that these things are true. Right now we have 4 people with a baptism date.  M. who is 16, and I is 9, they have come to church there just waiting to receive an answer from their prayers. They will get baptized when they receive this answer.  C., age 13, was a reference from a member, we visited her once and put a baptismal date and she has never come to the church so if she comes next week she will progress quickly. B. is 13 or 14; she is another reference from a member. Her sister has the monkey that we played with and it is very fun. She hasn’t come to church yet but there is a very active family next door and they are doing all that they can to keep her on track. If she comes to church she will progress. 

Yesterday I was holding a monkey and it peed on me. Well we held it for a while and it got to love us and didn’t want anyone else when we got it off we would let it walk to a person and it would always go for me or my companion. Well when we got ready to go it wouldn’t let anyone take it off our shoulders because it wanted us so it would just get really mad at other people and just hug us. We got it off, and it like cried when we left, and just watched us leave.  You look pretty happy there with the monkey.  Yes it is so cute and so fun.

New Companion 

Did you serve anybody this week? Service is hard to come by and we didn’t have like a good service project this week let’s hope we can find one for the next. 

What scripture did you enjoy the most this week. A scripture in 1 Nephi 13 when it talks about the church of the devil but I liked when it talked about Christopher Columbus and the revolutionary war. I don’t have my scriptures with me but it’s in this chapter. 

What are you studying for personal scripture study? I have been reading 1 Nephi reading and studying every chapter individually and Revelations, which is also very interesting to see the about the prophecies.

How was the bacon you ate a few weeks ago?  The bacon that i ate was very good and it lasted me like 4 meals so I only ate like 3 oz. every meal it has to be somewhat healthy. 

Did you try any new food this week? I ate like some bamboo shoots or something like this with baleadas at some investigators house. This week we also have had been chicken in a sauce, rice, beans and avocado, and 2 times baleadas. Today I ate a calzone ate pizza hut. The avocado here is huge and they never give them to you ripe they are always hard and acidy.

Guess what, I got bit, on the inside of my elbow, by a tick this week and it was hard to get out. 

What did you do for p-day?  We ate at Burger King and pizza hut. Out leaders wouldn’t let us do anything so we didn’t do anything? They wouldn’t let us go to the beach but that’s what they will do because they live closer.  Do you have new zone leaders?  No we have the same zone leaders.   Can you take him to the waterfall?   Yes but in a few more weeks we will go. Next week I think we are going to go to a castle on the ocean. 

Here is a picture of me plucking the chicken last week.  It was really messy to pluck the chickens, but I know how to do it and I wouldn’t go hungry if I had to do it. 

Did you see the vw bus that we found down here in the pictures? Yes it’s for sale and it runs way good.  How much do they want for it we could put it in a container and drive it home from Florida.  I will tell you next week.

Love you all and thanks for talking with me this week. It is amazing to see how fast time goes. I love you all but my time is up for the week. Next week I will try and write better letters. 

Week 42 La Jutosa

My most spiritual experience this week was a lesson we had with a man that we had contacted in the street. We contacted this man D. C. in the street and I invited him to baptism in the contact  and he said yes, well he was very interested when we taught him on Sunday. I think he will progress and his wife also,when we teach him a little bit more. He doesn’t want to marry her but she wants to marry him so it shouldn’t be that hard to get that all worked out if he begins to progress. So we went back and he started out with a face a little bit sad and when we finished he had a huge happy smile on his face. I could feel the spirit really present in this lesson and I could feel the love to see this man come to the restored gospel. I was just so happy when we left because I felt success finally here in La Jutosa. 

Have you heard anything about transfers?  I have no idea about the transfers we will see today in the night they will call us and tell us. But whatever happens, I know it will be what the Lord wants, and it will be for the best. 

Were you able to do any service is week? Yes we put in a fence post and when we finished it turned out really good. The hardest part was getting the posts and tools to the house. We had to carry them like a mile and the posts weighed about 150 lbs. so it was a little hard but I got one there and my comp brought a post that didn’t weigh as much and he brought the shovels and a pick tool. But we put it in in about an hour. 

Did you eat any new fruits this week or foods? Yes I tried Mamònes. They are pretty good; it is like a lemon that has a big pit and has a shell but there pretty good to suck on. 

How are the investigators progressing?  They are progressing; we had 4 investigators in the sacrament meeting. The best part is all of them have friends who are members of the church so it is much easier to make them feel good in the environment. I think that we will begin to see progress in the investigators that we have and we will continually be looking for others to teach along the way.

What did you do for p-day? We went a hiked a mountain in another area.  When we got up on top and there was a guy with his 22, well I think he tried to scare us.   When we were getting ready to go, I gave him a booklet about the restoration.  When we left, we heard him shooting it.  I have no idea why he shot it.  We decided to have a race getting down the hill.  Elder Olaveson and I went on a different trail and we beat all of the other elders to Wendy’s. It reminded me of the show of TV, The Amazing Race, and how fun that would be.   Choloma is the city that you can see from the top, it was like 25 minutes to hike to the top of the rock.  Did you cross any rivers on your hike today?  No, it was dry and hot. Why do you always eat at Wendy's?  Is it the best, do they have frosty's?  Yes they have everything that they have in the U.S. We eat there because it’s the cheapest.  Did you eat the baconator for lunch? No I always buy the cheapest things and I still don’t have enough money. 

What did you do out of the your area this week? On two days this week my companion had to do baptismal interviews in Almendros, so two days we were there for a few hours, it is really fun to see them getting ready for baptism. It was also fun because we went to their baptism on Saturday and President Dester came too. It was a very fun experience to see 4 people get baptized. It just makes me want to work even harder because I want to see this in my area now. The other two missionaries with the glasses made out a vine, are elder O. and Elder P.   I was with them while my companion was doing baptismal interviews for their investigators.   Elder O. who is from Idaho has 13 months in the mission and his companion has like 6 months.

Hey you should see, we made a cake and it turned out good.   How did you cook the cake?  We cooked it in the oven of one of the members. It is hard to use the 4-burner propane stove and oven because you can’t put 2 cake pans in it. We had to be creative and stack the two pans.  How many cake mix boxes did you use, it looks big.  We used 2 boxes of cake mix. 

This week I learned how to pluck and prepare chickens.  Do they soak chicken in hot water before they pluck them?  Yes that makes it much easier.   Did you learn from the same family that was doing this last week?  No it was another family of inactive members.

But I only have like 3 minutes left. It has been fun to talk to you and Happy Fathers Day its late but all good. 

Love you guys, tell Joan and Dean thanks for all they do for me, and tell her that I hope she can get better soon. I will talk with you next week, I have no idea if anyone will get transferred but we will see today in the night. I hope that everything is good back home. I got an offer of a guy that wants help to take honey out of his hives so we will see what he comes up with. 

Love you all and just hope you can have a good week, and don’t spend too much money. Can you tell me how my investments are next week? 

Week 41 La Jutosa

Do you want to know something cool the package got here last week?  I got it last Tuesday.  That was pretty quick but it was for your birthday so happy early birthday.  Did you pick up you package at the office or did they mail it to you?  They brought it to our district meeting in Choloma.  What did the other elders think was it a big box and did you share anything.  No I will wait until my birthday, I don’t even know what’s in it, just that there’s rice crispy treats and the memory stick and razor that I took out, but I really haven’t looked inside yet. 

Tell us about a spiritual experience for the week? I think one of the most spiritual experiences of the week was talking with president because he is so spiritually uplifting.  Another spiritual experience has been to see our Branch Mission Leader and see how he is reactivating and beginning to fulfill his calling. It is very rewarding to know that the members are now starting to help us. The other spiritual experience was to hear that Hno R. is now an Elder and has the Melchizedek Priesthood, and that S. finally blessed the sacrament. 

How is the companionship going?  It is slowly getting a little bit better I just have to stay with a positive optimistic attitude and everything will turn out fine.  It could be the end because there are transfers in a week. We will see what the Lord wants but whatever he wants is good with me.

What did you do for P-day? We went to Puerto Cortes and we watched “Meet the Mormons” at the church. It was ok but I think that it would be better in English.  Then we went to Wendy’s and later I will buy food in the grocery store and then cut our hair.   This week we stay at Elder M. house one night, but I don’t remember where he is from. Where is their house what city and why were you sleeping there? It is in Choloma, we had to go to a conference at 9 in the morning and we didn’t want to have to wake up super early to get there.

Are there many fast food restaurants in Choloma?  We have a Wendy’s, Burger King, Churches Chicken, Pizza Hut, Costas Burgers, so there is quite a few places to eat. In Churches chicken they sell the fruit biscuits just like Carl’s Jr and I bought 3 of them on Wednesday. 

How many investigators are you teaching and do you have any baptismal dates setup. We have one investigator that has a date of 27 of this month but we will have to put it off a little longer and then if she gets baptized her brother can be baptized too. We also had another girl who is like 15 that just came up to us and said that she wants to get baptized and if she comes to church her older sister and her husband will come to church and I think that it could turn out as 3 baptisms. I like it when the person says that they want to be baptized and I didn’t even have to invite them, it has happened a lot in the mission so far. 

And this week I finally went and saw a dermatologist.   What did he say about your fungus?  The doctor said that it looked good, but it itches like none other.   It appears like I have an allergy to my flip-flops so I had to buy new ones.  He gave me a prescription for some pills and some really powerful anti fungus cream and a antibiotic cream for my foot.  He gave me a prescription for some pills and some really powerful anti fungus cream and a antibiotic cream for my foot.  How much did the dermatologist cost?  I don’t know, but the treatment was 200 dollars in pills and creams.  Did you use the debit card to pay?  No I put it on the mission’s credit.   Do you need to pay for it or does the mission foot the bill?   The mission and they have good insurance.

What was the pail of eggs for and is that a pepper in you hand or what.  that is a pail of eggs that were forming in the hens when they killed them.   Were you killing chickens for dinner or how did you find them?  No this was with one of the members. How many chickens was he killing?  They killed, like 30 so she could sell them. They gain 30 lempiras to get them and wash them and remove the feathers. We ate one in a soup for dinner that she gave to us.   Do they use the egg stuff after they kill the chickens?  They eat the eggs.  So they get paid 1.50 to kill the birds.  Yes that’s what they gain but you have to remember that they have to sale them too. Remember that Brenda Flores talked about hen soup; this is what they use in that.   Is this the only income for the family?  I think it could be they are looking for work in a maquilla.,

The other green thing is called Paterna it is really sweet you only eat the white furry stuff.   Its really sweet and I like it. I also tried some crazy pears that grow here in Honduras.

Was that the first scorpion you have seen?  Yes the first scorpion that I saw and killed it is in the house of some members. Their bed is right below where the scorpions are usually found.

Why are the cows so thin, isn't there lots of grass?  There huge you just can’t tell from the pictures

Have you done any divisions this week?  We did divisions with some elders and my comp did a baptismal interview this day. 

How is your money holding up this month?  Great i saved 400 limps from the last 15 days.   Did you buy bacon?  I will today. 

Have you had any rain there?  Yes many of the streets have flooded and we have to cross rivers in the streets that are like 2 feet deep and 15 feet wide.   Are your shoes getting soggy as well?  Sometimes but I dry them for like 3 days before using them I take the insoles out and everything. I guess we better not complain about our rain here in Utah.  Yes because here it could take out a house fast. 

Are you doing any service for people with the rains?  I’m going to put in a fence post this week.   Who for and how many?  For a inactive member we have been working with, she doesn’t have a husband and she has 3 kids, one of them is like 16 and she is handicapped. 

Tell Joan that I hope everything will go well and that I will have her in my prayers. 

Is there anything that you want?  I want a book to remember calculus.  But I want a whole book to remember because I always have questions in my mind and I cant’ remember if I am doing them right. Wow I had to teach how to do long division like a week ago and it was hard to teach.

Ok that sounds good. Love you all I don’t have any more time.  Love you too, have a good week.  See you later.

Week 40 La Jutosa

Give us some ideas of how the spirit touched you and your investigators this week. How do you explain in to the youth? I think that the most spiritual experience that I had this week was when we did splits with the Assistants to the president. It was very amazing to see how they did the things without fear and it was really fun to have a companion that spoke English. I was with elder E. and we had some fun. I learned a lot but I could tell you that the spirit was definitely there. Especially when we invited the people to be baptized. What I would say to the youth is that you have to be ready to get your ship out of the harbor as Brother Poppleton would say and go for it because really the spirit will put the words in your mouth. I have been trying to be better at inviting all to be baptized in the first visit. The only thing that happens here is that the people have a fear to commit to do something and will always say, “If God wants me to, I will do it.”  Well God wants you to so you should do it. 

What did you do for p-day? so did the other elders come up to your area to go to the waterfall or where is the waterfall locate.  Yes there were about 10 of us who went to the waterfall in my area.  We went to a waterfall the same waterfall we visited the first p day but this time we made it on top and to the next water fall it was very hard and dangerous but we got to a better waterfall and well we all only got a couple of scrapes and scratches.  It was a very long hike and we just got going making a trail up the mountain next to a cliff until we got to the top. When we were going down one of the elders got lost but he had a phone so he called us and well I found him just around the corner from where I was. Amazing that there was reception because we were 45 minutes from anything in between really tall mountains. 

How is the companionship going and the doctor visits? Well we went to the doctor on Tuesday and he put like a nerve block in his foot so it will last 6 months but he now can’t feel his foot but it doesn’t hurt. And well on the way we stayed and waited and hour at some other elders house and we were getting ready and walking out of the alley on the side of the house and my comp was putting something in his pocket and had his head bowed and he hit a ac unit that was hanging and it started to bleed so we went to his appointment with his foot and then the orthopedic surgeon said that we should go to the ER, and he sewed it up. He knows Brian Nelson he did some surgeries with him like 6 years ago and he always goes to the States for conferences. But I have a doctor’s appointment with a dermatologist this Wednesday to check this fungus out and get some cream that is more powerful. So that should be fun. The AP came to help us and I think it has helped and we are finally getting work done and my comp finally will talk with me a little.  Did the assistance give you ideas on how to be a better companion or did they just talk to your companion.   Both, and it has worked good, so thanks to them we can work now. What did they suggest for you to do?  Serve Him more. Work to get rid of pride. Do you think your companion will be transferred in 2 weeks?  I think that he will stay, which is fine because it is getting better. 

What was your best meal for the week? My best meal of the week was yesterday when we are 5 baleadas with the fam M. this is the family of the lunch cook. It was really good because I was really hungry. 

Tell something about a family that feeds you dinner? One of the family’s that feeds us dinner is the family R. they have been inactive for a while but have 2 kids that go. We visit the wife and the others of the family and they are starting to activate again, they live in a hill that we have to walk up to get there. We usually get baleadas but that’s fine because I really enjoy them. We also leave to visit with the older son E.he got back from his mission a year ago. He’s pretty fun but he always says that he needs to get married but he is too scared. 

Has it been really hot and humid there, the temperature looks like 105?  No I am in the mountain so it is fairly cool, like less than 80.  I slept in my hammock 2 times this week and I always use my blanket.

Tell us about the horse picture, who's socks are on the dirt?  They are my companions. He has so many socks sometimes he throws them away instead of washing them. So the horse was eating your trash?  Yes there are so many horses in the streets here and all they eat is trash.   There are also lots of frogs, dogs, cats that roam the streets.   No I haven’t eaten frog, but I’m not sure I told you that one time I ate iguana.  Yes, it tastes like chicken.  There are so many frogs at night, I see like 50 or 60 and some are like 2 pounders and others are small, they’re like an ugly green and brown. 

What type of tree’s are behind the horse?   There is a cacao tree.

I am excited because I am going to buy bacon today. La Antorcha I finally found it and it looked really good. 

How is the new branch president doing are you getting more people to church how was your word mission leader? Amazing he is dedicated to help the people and he is always in the area visiting and helping all of the members. Are you getting more people to church? We had 47 people in church this Sunday but none of it if because of us. How was your word mission leader?  Good he is coming to church now and I think that he will continue and next month for the whole month his wife will be able to come. He wants to leave with us and teach so it’s a good deal.  That sounds amazing, now you just need a few more priesthood holders.  We had 14 this Sunday.   Did you have to speak church or teach lessons? We taught a short lesson in the primary this week. 

Thanks I will try and send more pictures next week.  Love you all and have a good week. And I know that the Lord will protect you all.