Week 56 Villaneuva

Tell us your spiritual experience of the week? This week we were teaching a sister called P. G. and we taught her and it was good, we invited her to say the prayer and she said no. My comp helped her through the prayer and it was such a good prayer, the sister finished it and the tears were rolling down her cheeks.   The spirit in this instant was amazing. 

What did you do for p day? Well we just wasted the whole day. My comp slept along time and I washed my clothes.   At 10, I studied my scriptures and at 12 my comp got ready to go to a members house to wash his clothes in a washing machine. That took 2 hours and then we are writing and he wants to cut it short an hour to go and teach a lesson, I said no.  I bought an extension cord today so I can use the electric stove in the house on the bar and not on the ground.  We only have 1 table and use cardboard boxes to store things. And there is not even tile, just cement floors and the toilet leaks water all over and my companion does not speak English.

How are your investigators coming along? Do you think any will watch conference? I am sure that investigators will come to watch the conference especially because they don’t have to wake up early. This week that’s why many missed church, which is frustrating, and another investigator didn’t come because her mom told her the Mormons and the catholic church were joining together and they were the “Great and abominable church”. Well we told her the two churches would never combine and she struggled to understand. Some people just believe everything people tell them. We also taught Jehovah witness’s this week, one was an older leader, and the lesson went good.   We think that one of the testigo “witness” ladies that we have been teaching has doubts about her faith and we will see if she changes. All she has to do is humble herself and pray. 

How have the meals been last week? This week we have eaten fairly well on Sunday for lunch we ate fish that was good and it was different. One time our lunch lady gave us cow liver and it was terrible. 

How many people are in you ward?  What is the name of your ward so that I can find it on a   map? There are like 150 active members in this ward. It is called Villanueva ward.  Our area is huge and we have a fairly large part of the city. 

Tell us about one of your investigators. Well we have many investigators but only one came to church this Sunday. Well we are teaching hna Isabel. She didn’t come to church for the reasons I have discussed above. She knows this is the true church, she is just uneducated and she falls into a lot of traps from other people and there are always weird people visiting her house. We are teaching her with videos because she seems to understand them better. She has 3 sons one of them just tried to sneak into the USA but he got deported in Mexico. She prays and asks if the church is true while we are there and the spirit is there, so she knows it is true. 

Your picture of the moon looks better than ours; it was cloudy here and was hard to see.  How far did you hike?  We were on top of a mountain really high up; it was like the same distance as climbing Angels Landing in Zion’s. We had an appointment on top of this mountain.  It takes like 35 minutes and it is steep. I will try and send a video of just going to eat lunch every day.  The area is just really hilly.

Well my time is up, tell  everyone hello. Sorry I didn’t write much but I have to go. Love you all. 

Week 55 Villanueva

What is your new area called and the ward you are working in? I am in Villanueva 2 it is a fairly large ward. This Sunday we had stake conference and the power went out so we just had lights and the microphone powered by a generator for the first hour. The second hour the lights came back on.  Is it hotter in this area?  It is a little hotter here until like 3 degrees and then it gets windy so it’s not to bad.   Most people here work in clothing factories or they sell things in the streets.

What is the name of your companion and where is he from? How long has he been in the mission? Well my new comps name is Elder R. and he is from Peru he is finishing the mission this change so he has almost 23 months. How do you and your companion get along?  Fairly well he has a lot of time, so he is kind of not demanding but governing. I think were equal companions but I don't think anyone told him that so I am pretty much comp menor (minor). Was it hard to go back with a Spanish-speaking companion after have an American companion?  Not really, sometimes I find myself saying things in English but that's when I don't want all of the other people to understand and many times I don't think my comp understands but he will learn a little. 

Grandma cried when she saw your new apartment.  That shower looks scary.  Well the shower is not that bad, but that’s the worst toilet that I have seen in my life. Grandpa’s apartments would have been like the celestial kingdom compared to this. The electrical outlets don’t even connect sometimes when we plug things in. I will be talking with the owner soon to get this fixed.  Does the power go out more in this place?  No it goes out a lot less.  I have to wash my clothes but I think that I could find someone to do it for me if I don't want to wash them. We don't have ac or an oven. I haven't heard of missionary's with an oven in Honduras. We have a lunch cook and she does a good job and the food is good. Can you use you hammock in your new house?  I could but it is a little scary because there are only wood beams in the ceiling and I would have to take ceiling tiles out every time I want to hang it up. 

How is the rash? Is the water better here The rash is slowly getting better and I have found out that it helps if I don't carry things in my pockets. 

What was the spiritual experience of the week? Well it had to be when we were talking with one of our investigators on Sunday morning we invited her to church and she said no for a minute then she said yes. I am always reminded of this scripture  “Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.  I also heard that hno R. one of our converts now has a little baby.

How is the food in the new area? The food in the new area is good there is a lot of poverty but there are some family's that are well off. It is interesting because I still don't know the members here but it seems like the ward has good potential. The area is almost vertical it seems like there is a huge hill that we always have to go up to do anything, its like climbing first dam hill like 4 or 5 times. To go to lunch we have to walk up first dam hill once to get there but it will just keep me more in shape. 

Do you have any investigators? Yes we have many investigators but nobody came to church this week we invited many but none came. Next week we will have more success and we will have to look for some more investigators to teach. 

What did you do for p-day?  We ate at Wendy’s with a family from one of my comps earlier areas and then we came to write.  Are there a lot of elders near you or is this isolated?  There are a lot of elders by us. We eat with the zone leaders for lunch and sometimes dinner.  What places are there to eat at?  There is a Wendy’s in our area. 

Did you get any packages?  Yes I got the one box with the soups and the calculus book. All I can tell you is that I have forgotten a lot of math, some of it is hard to review but I am figuring it out little by little. The box that you have made looks nice; did you have a hard time moving with it?  It was fairly hard to move with the box because I didn't want to break it.  Can you go to SPS and send it home thru dip shipping?  I will see if I can get permission, I kind of like having it in the house though.  If I get permission I would also send home some other cool things that I would buy.  You could do it when you travel to get your Honduran citizenship.  No I don’t have to be a citizen, apparently something happened with my groups papers so we haven’t gotten our cards saying we are Hondurans. 

Well I love you all. I don't have much time to talk but I should have more time next week. Tell Joan I hope she gets better quick. And the Land Rover of Isom’s looks good. Have fun.  Look forward to talking with all of you next week

Week 54 La Jutosa

What was your spiritual experience for the week? The most spiritual experience this week had to be sacrament meeting. It is awesome because it is a time to reflect on what hard work you have done that week and see progress of God’s children. I was very happy and filled with the spirit to see that we had 4 investigators in sacrament meeting and that 3 were men and 1 woman.   It is good to see hna C. progressing as well, she got a calling and she taught relief society and it was good.

What was a funny experience that happened to you this week? Well a funny experience for this week was when we were helping our investigator a principle of a school make a outdoor fire place stove thing and we put rocks and mud and a lot of other things of course on Sunday but we were helping him and my companion was talking about a member and the principal said that this member hadn’t followed through with something on Saturday and he was mad and he wanted to come and play soccer with us to play against him and beat him. My comp tried to say para ganar venganza but he said para ganar vergaso and this is like a really fowl word and he said it and it was really funny. 

What did you do for p-day? Today for p- day we went to Puerto Cortes and we played football on a beach called Cinegita and it was really fun I was on a roll and caught the ball a lot. 

When does the call for transfers come through? Well the call for transfers came through like an hour ago. And the news is that I have transfers. I don’t know where I will be going but I know that I have transfers.  On Wednesday I get on a bus go to a building and they will tell me where I go. Does anyone else in your area have transfers?  Yes elder Bate has transfers.  Elder B. is the elder that dad met when he came here, who was just starting his mission, he was working in La Mora.  Which area of the mission haven't you been in yet?  There are a lot of areas: Cofradia, San Pedro, Fesitran, Santa Barbara and more that I don’t remember.  One of the blogs I read they had AC in their apartment, I think it was in Cofradia.  There’s a lot with AC, but I haven’t lucked out with one. 

What have you been studying in the scriptures this week? I have been studying in Mosiah, I have 2 chapters left but the most interesting thing I read was about the BYU center in Israel and how we bargained for that instead of having missionaries proselyting, it is interesting how the missionary work comes about through this center. I use a study book and this was very interesting. 

How has your health been this week? Well I still have this crazy irritation on my legs and it burns I put on some other creams I have and it went down a little but I think that I will call the nurse here soon so that I can get what I need. I think that it is the water so we will see in my next area. 

Tell us about somebody you taught this week. We taught P. R. and he was really happy he is progressing and he has now come to church 2 times he is not married but would like to. He always shares about how he has been reading and he feels that this is the true church and that the book of Mormon it true. I feel that we will see some progress in him and he will eventually be baptized. Hno P. is the older man that I talked about last week who has like 10 children.  He and his brother came to church, but none of their children or grandchildren. The brother wants to be baptized. 

What have you had for food this week? Nothing too strange we ate fish a few times and then one day I made Jugo de Cacoa and it was good, there are pictures, and it is in the glass pitcher that I finally won from buying milk. It is sweet; it only took me a month to win it. 

Tell us about the pig picture.  The pig was asleep and I snuck up on it.

I bought a wood box but they haven’t finished it, but they will have it tomorrow.  How much was the box?  The box cost 1500 Lempiras and it is 1 X 1.5 FT. 

What about the picture of the beetle hanging?  OH we were teaching a lesson and I saw a guy walk out of his house and hang it up and I was distracted so I looked at it and it was alive, so after the lesson with an inactive member we went and took pictures. They said there’s a lot that eat banana plants. 

Well my time is up. I will tell you all next week where my transfer was to. Love you all, and tell Joan I hope she gets better soon. I will try and take some good pictures with my new comp we will see if he is a Gringo or a Latino. 

Week 53 La Jutosa

Tell us about the spiritual experience of the past week? The most spiritual experience that we had this week was during a branch activity. We set up the church like an airplane, there was a TV and then the airplane crashed and everyone died. Then we went through all of the phases acted of the plan of salvation. I had to act like I was in the terrestrial kingdom in a room that didn’t have a fan or lights so it was a hot one.   My comp was an angel and he took them from room to room. When the last group of people was going through, I followed them to the Celestial kingdom and there wasn’t anyone that would say that the spirit wasn’t there. There was a family dressed in white and there was light and even air conditioning. The spirit was very strong and many of the investigators that came felt the spirit here. 

Where did you go for p day and what did you eat? Pizza Hut again? No today we couldn’t call anyone because our cellphone stopped working.   It said we had run out of minutes but we still had many left. We just ended up getting our haircut and going to Choloma and we ate in La Antorcha in Costas Burgers it wasn’t very good I don’t think that I will go back there. After that we went shopping with Elder B. just walking the streets until he found a backpack he liked. 

How many investigators did you have at church?  We had 2 investigators at church this week. Hno P. R. and D. M. Hno P. is a older man but he has like 10 children and he goes to an evangelic church we have been sharing everything with him and he has a desire to learn more and get baptized. He liked church and he also came to an activity that the branch had this week called the Avion. Hna A. M. is a young girl, we haven’t even taught her but she has just been coming we will see if soon we can get some more of her family to church to teach them. 

Who is the man on the horse?  The man on the horse is J. de D. his is the brother of Hno P. R., the investigator that came to church on Sunday.  Did J. cook the tamales last week?  No that was with his daughter and his uncle. What does J. do for work?  He works in the mountains and grows things.  Then does he sale the things he grows on the roadside or in a store?  He just eats what he grows it seems like and brings down a lot of firewood. Does the horses carry the wood or does he carry it on his back?  Both of them, he carries some and so does the horse.   He wanted me to get on the horse, but I told him no.  How far away are the mountains from you?  We lie in the mountains, like 5 minutes to the close ones and like 3 hours if we want to go really deep into the fields.  Do most of the men come home each night, or do they stay in the mountains the whole week? It depends, many have little huts in the mountains and some come back.

Do you think you will be going to a new area in the next transfers? I really think that I will have changes and will go to another area.   I have been in la Jutosa for a long time I would like some new surroundings after 4 months of walking the same streets it gets a little boring. We will see next Monday. 

Did the hymnbooks arrive? My hymnbooks haven’t gotten here yet but I think that they might come tomorrow. I asked the secretary if he has seen the box and if not to look for it for me. 

Did the branch president make it to church this week and how were your church meetings? The branch president made it to church this week and we had good meetings. First of all it was fast Sunday and at like 7 in the morning the power went out so there wasn’t fans or speakers at church so it was extremely hot but the good part was the president said its really hot today were not going to have relief society or priesthood meetings today, go home, rest and break your fasts. C. the recent convert fasted again and that was really neat to see. But we ended up eating well “ times for lunch and 1 dinner. Isn't it funny that Elder Cruz was complaining about having Steak twice? Yes that was funny but He needs to learn how to eat, I have we eat sometimes as much has 2 lunches and 3 dinners and I enjoy it usually. And you have not gained any weight.  No I still weigh under 160.  I ripped one of my pants again but that’s fine because it still works, I think my clothing will last and if not I will have someone sew me some new pants here.  We sent you a surprise pair of pants in the package we mailed last Wednesday so hopefully they fit.  We will see I am thinner. 

Tell us your food adventures of the week? This week we didn’t do anything too weird. The only new thing that we ate was sugar cane. We taught an inactive sister on Saturday night and she offered soda and we told her we were fasting so she said I will give you guys something for tomorrow and she got a machete and she cut down a sugar cane so we ate sugarcane after we finished our fast. It was interesting and I froze some and it is better to chew on when it is almost frozen.