awww baby giraffe what are you doing to yourself?

Lunes 21 de diciembre:

I got to talk to my friend Elder Crosgrove on the phone tonight for a little bit and it was so funny to hear his response when I told him I fell again last week "awww baby giraffe what are you doing to yourself????" Oh and he said that he took the cookie crumbs that I brought him from home and put them in milk and just ate it with a spoon and it was the best thing he's eaten in 14 months hahah. 

Martes 22 de diciembre:

So today was a little ruff, we had 4 appointments lined up and every. single. one. fell. I feel like we walked a ton too. But at least I have my AMAZING companion to talk to. Oh and at our first district meeting I did the English class and the gringo babies loved it. Idk if it helped the latinos at all though. Also we caved and bought baleadas tonight. oops. And right now I'm eating a hass avocado sandwich because hass avocados WIN but also #chubbylumpkins I

We met this cool African Honduran lady today she was so funny and said that she went to our church on Sunday and sat outside on the bench in the foyer, without ever having talked to anyone from the church before. So our goal is for her to actually come inside next time hahah.

Miércoles 23 de diciembre:

So 3 of our appointments DIDN'T fall through today! And I had oatmeal and peanutbutter for breakfast so I guess that helped me get back in the mission mode a little. 

I keep telling myself that the holidays are a hard time to teach no matter where you are time-wise/experience-wise in the mission. 

Anywayyyysss we on the struggle bus here in Tela. Everyone, including the members, are saying that they're too busy to let us in or that they have visitors. And idk what to do. I keep praying and stress eating over it because honestly I have no idea what we're going to do tomorrow (christmas eve) and Friday. haha we're so unwanted.

I'm fine with spending Christmas away from family for the good of the missionary work here. But I'm afraid that for the next few days we won't even be doing that...

I really don't blame the members though, we've only been here two S
undays, they hardly know us. 

Okay well anyways pity party over today I had the most HEAVENLY turkey tomato avocado lettuce and REAL cheddar cheese sandwich. 

Saw two gringas today, they looked lost. And we were laughing about white people when they visit they walk around with messy buns but if a honduran did that everyone else would make fun of them like "what did you just roll out of bed??" 

we didn't end up having dinner so we went and got baleadas and I got one with avocado and I was like hass girl hasssss #avocadopun

Jueves 24 de diciembre:

Merry Christmas Eve! Happy 10 months to me officially double digits!

Most people here don't give each other presents, they just all get together as a family and chill and eat a ton of food. So much better right???? Imagine not having to stress about what to get someone or what to say when you get another pair of fuzzy gloves???

Oh and today I made an awesome salad, burnt my grilled cheese to high heaven. 

Viernes 25 de diciembre: 

"No habéis llegado hasta aquí sino por la palabra de Cristo, con fe inquebrantable en él, confiando íntegramente en los méritos de aquel que es poderoso para salvar. Por tanto, debéis seguir adelante con firmeza en Cristo, teniendo un fulgor perfecto de esperanza y amor por Dios y por TODOS LOS HOMBRES. Port tanto, si marcháis adelante, deleitándoos en la palabra de Cristo, y perseveráis hasta el fin, he aquí, así dice el Padre: Tendréis la vida eterna." 2 nefi 31:19-20

"19. . . . ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in Him, relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save.

20. wherefore ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, with a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore if ye press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: ye shall have eternal life."  

So I started my morning with a mandarin orange that I bought at the supermarket. #tradition

Then we went around handing out ornaments we made the night before and sharing a scripture (D&C 88:33) with it when we could. 

We stopped by this one member's house and she gave us this HUGE plate of food it was a ton #projectporcioncontrolhonduras but yeah someone else gave us tres leches cake and my comp and I got sick afterwards.

Oh and I twisted my ankle today #babygiraffe haha so far I've tripped/fallen every week that I've been back. what is God trying to tell meeee????

hahaha anywaysss I love Christmas and the way it brings people together and turns their hearts to Christ. 

You know how in Spanish más = more so Christmas = more Christ! 

I promise that a life centered and steady in the teachings of Christ is SO much more fulfilling than any other way to live. He lives!  He loves me! He loves all of us! He is the best gift that has ever been given to the world. 

Sábado 26 de diciembre:

"confiad en Dios con mentes firmes, y orad a él con suma fe, y él os consolará en vuestras aflicciones"

-jacob 3:1

I got to see my family today! of course there were many technical difficulties.

But I felt lame because my companion talked before I did and she was super inspirational and bore her testimony and even brought the Liahona to read a part of it to them. And I just shared the story of how I hugged a Colombian in the airport...

Domingo 27 de Diciembre: 

Okay so this lady walks up to us in the street and is like omg hnas nice to meet you I'm hna Rodriguez and we're like okay are you a member or wut and she goes on to tell us that the missionaries have visited them before for a long time and she introduced us to her son so I was like 

wow the missionaries visited and taught you for a long time?

yep

and so have you been baptized? 

no

and why not?

the missionaries stopped coming

have you been going to church at least while they've been gone?

no

and why not?

because the missionaries stopped coming to bring me with them

and I was like son, you a grown a man you can walk two blocks down the street to go to church that's all I got to say about that. 

Lunes 28 de diciembre:

Hermana Haight came to visit us today!

We went and got food at Mister Tacos and Haight and I shared an order of enchiladas and nachos soooooooooo good. There was no horchata tho #sadgringa

but there were salsas, chimol, "guacamole guac guacamole" and salsa verde picante, the nachos were with carne de pasto and the enchiladas were actually really thick corn tortillas(4) folded, with this creamy sauce and a ton of cheese like melty gooey cheese, I legit want the recipe..

And I´m going to train again! #butthistimenotasateenmom

Whaaaaa

okay that was the week, really long sorry! But Love you mommy!

- We got to Skype with Hermana Nelson the day after Christmas. What a treat!

Week 2 of Resurrection

Martes 15 de diciembre:

So I believe we can help a lot here in Tela, but it will take us a while to reach the mission goal of one baptism a week. 

We went to Progreso (two hours away) for a meeting and the biggest struggle of the day was walking like 10 blocks back to the bus stop in the heat of the day carrying the heaviest box of Books of Mormon ever #lapalabraespesada seriously afterwards my arms did not work. 

Like when we finally got home I had a hard time holding up my "janky" cup made out of a cut up waterbottle (we have no dishes)

We went on a couple of lessons and then we each bought one baleada sencilla each, and later one to go and we split it. 

Seriously the best baleada OF MY LIFE.

or maybe the most appreciated

Alvarez said that the fruit on the tree in Lehi´s vision must have been baleadas, and I said it makes sense bc they're white and most desirable.

Then with our very last 4 lempiras we bought some chips.

And now, we have nothing...

Miércoles: My knee gave out 4 1/2 times this morning. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that my exercises this morning included 100 squats #gottamakesurethatbootydontquit

Also this day everyone thought we were jehovas witnesses and some were a little disappointed when we weren't...

So later we go "help" with family history but we just sat there and elder Gozart and Queme helped two people that didn't have their membership numbers or an email address. Omg and baby Gozart is the cutest thing ever like the no guile thing really exists he's just genuinely super excited and sincere about everything like he was raving about family history and also fetty wap's Trap Queen. Such a strange idaho child. 

We had dinner with the elders afterwards and then Alvarez and I got baleadas. I know. I know. 

Jueves: John got home from China yesterday! 

Today the sister training leaders came to visit. Hna Andujar was sad we didn't have a mirror in the apartment #abnegation 

But yeahhh it was actually perf bc she spent 6 months in this area and she knows where everyone lives and people liked me more when they recognized her first. 

Dude my spanish is sucking right now. like bad. Also I want to go to bed but we don't know where everyone's sleeping, oh and I fell today and scraped myself up #babygiraffe 

Viernes: Soooooooooooooooooo I slept on the floor last night which would have been fine except I have a huuuge ol bruise on my thigh from baby giraffing it yesterday so I couldn't lay on that side when my bum got tired of the tile floor and if I layed on my other side, it was hard to find a position where my scraped up arm felt okay...

The good thing is that I've been sore since Tuesday so who knows if I'm sore from last night at all! Wooooo. 

We had the branch Christmas party #turnt we tried to play a game of "never have I ever" but they did not get it. "nunca he comido fruta" yeah.....

Sábado: La Humildad "La condición de ser manso y moldeable, o hacer que alguien lo sea. La humildad lleva implícito el reconocimiento de que dependemos de Dios"

Hermana Mesa just sent her daughter to bring us dinner in our apartment #s'sweet 

Domingo: "Pero he aquí, el Señor ha redimido a mi alma del infierno; he visto su gloria, y estoy para siempre envuelto entre los brazos de su amor" 2 nefi 1:15

sooooooooooo apparently church starting 15 min late is a normal thing here. Macizo. When we went and sat down in the front there was hardly anybody there, but by the time I went up to lead the music, like 25 min after the hour, therer were twice as many people there. Alvarez and I (mostly Alvarez) gave the "gospel principles" class and E Queme was freaking out because we ended like a half hour early.

So we keep accidentally finding less active members when we're contacting like in one meeting with the branch president we asked for a list of members and his counselor just laughed and said "todo de lo que es la ciudad de Tela"

sweet.

Lunes: Today I have 300 days in the mission! #notbaggyatall

We went grocery shopping and I got real cheddar cheese and deli sliced turkey. I swear this super market is so fancy. 

And here the fruits of the season for christmas are apples and grapes and theyre like super expensive and special because they're all imported and whatnot #funfact

We went to the Bungalow for lunch. I highly recommend it for anyone passing through Tela. I would totally take my parents there after my mission if they weren't scared gringos ;) . They make their own hot sauce too. 

this was your week update with hna Nelson, adioooooooooooooooooos

Back to Hondy!

Set Apart Missionary - Take 2

Martes:

8th of December & off to Honduras

Back to Hondy. Fun fact, a year ago to the date I was doing basically the exact same thing. Except I was arriving from Mexico and I had my squad with me.

So today I´m chilling in Houston all by my lonesome and it's nowhere near a normal transfer day so I'm the only missionary out here. There's a bird waiting inside at the gate, how did that happen. 

I just had some nasty 12 dollar nachos and a soda to get myself back in Hondy mode. 

(while I was in the airport I wrote a whole different blog post about having an "intermission" but it's long so I'll have to type it out a different day.)

Miércoles: I want to sleep I want to take a shower I want my phone I want to just chill and watch netflix (like the normal way, you know what I mean sheesh)

I want to TAKE A SHOWER. Oh and Adele's "Hello" is playing outside in a funky Honduran version. 

Yesterday, when Hermana and Presidente Klein were there to pick me up, it kinda felt like I'd never left. Like they're such totally different worlds that it's easier than you'd think to just flip a switch like okay I've been in this mode before and the only thing I've ever done in these surroundings is be a missionary. 

I think that's why it's s hard to keep your good habits when you go home though. 

So I get to La Paz and they had no idea I was coming and I looked for the box with some important things in it that I left there and they couldn't find it and had no idea what I was talking about....

So today Wednesday my companion and I are finally in our area and we are opening it so we have almost nothing to go off of but I fr fr love Hna Alvarez she is the cutest little Nicaraguan and soooo funny and hardworking. 

Anyway so we get to the house and there's basically nothing. No water in the tap or in the pila. 

No stove. No mirror #sadparakeet

Jueves: It's slightly difficult to do weekly planning when you don't have investigators... 

Viernes: MULTI ZONE CONFERENCE yaaaaaa.

I got to see my absolute favorite hermana Haight and I missed her so much. She had my baggy (like a yearbook but for the mission) and in the back she wrote me every single day that I missed in the mission. #presh 

The conference was like 8 hours long but it was awesome and now im super pumped to get to work. 

Sábado: We're sitting at home like what do we do its 6:45 but it's really dark outside...opening an area is weird but dude the supermarket by our apartment is sickkkkk it's better than all the ones I've been to in Honduras. It's not too crowded and it has everything like even spinach!!!!! I was wayyy too excited when I saw that there was real spinach and lettuce. Imma go to town. Oh and like every kind of cheese. 

Also my catrachan apetite is back and I'm scared of getting chubby again. 

But here I am going to town on an entire papaya. 

Also have I mentioned I looooooooooove my companion. I'm so confused how anyone could be so perf.

Domingo: So we just got home from church: aka suffered through soc soc and we have a little bit of time to eat and do language study before we have to back for consejo de rama. 

I'm the new branch chorister #betterthanpianist 

Lunes: Pdayyyyyyy "y se regocijaron en extremo cuando llegaron a las playas del mar" im pretty sure thats in 1 Nefi somewhere. 

So we went to the beach! It was really hot! But we went to the beach! We arent allowed to get in the water. But we went to the beach! 

That's all I got this week. I'm happy to be back. It's sweet. Also cant wait to be done. hahah i kid i kid 

It was a good birthday.

Martes 28 de Julio: 

Hermana Cipriano who lives downstairs had called me the night before and told me to bring extra clothes because I was going to get egged. So I did. Also, I opened the cards that I had been saving from the birthday package I opened more than a month ago. And what Chloe wrote me made me cry. What Alana wrote me made me miss my darkling. What Emily wrote me made me laugh out loud. 

At the district meeting, I got to blow out candles on the rice krispies that Hermana Haight (my mtc companion remember?) made for me. And when we left the chapel they all smashed eggs on my head but they were full of confetti not egg yoke so that was considerate of them hahah! no flour either.

It was a good birthday.

Mièrcoles: We started out the day contacting in Villa Esther and we saw an iguana, a creepy abandoned house and a lady that told us to go away just by saying gracias! And there's some houses that are like fortresses. I think I have a picture of one. And this is just an example. But they have like these huge metal gates and you can't even see the house and there's no door bell. Hard nut to crack to say the least.

Like over all, we spent most of the day tracting. And like yeah, you're going to meet people that are just plain rude. But one thing I've learned is that you can't let the way people treat you determine your value. If I did that I would be thinking that I'm a worthless nuisance, someone to avoid or even hide from. 

Like I'm a 20 year old clutz from a dusty town in California and I have grown men and women scampering around and hiding from me like little children. 

like wut?

Jueves: ¨El Espiritu del Señor no siempre luchará con el hombre¨

I like this scripture better in spanish because in english I think it's "the spirit won't strive" or something like that. But in spanish it's more like "the spirit isn't always going to fight with us". Like if you don't want to listen. Fine. Swerve.

Viernes: nah.

Sábado: ¨El Señor no have convenio con nadie sino con aquellos que se arrepienten y creen en su Hijo, que es el Santo de Israel.¨ 2 nefi 30:2 

 "or the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel." 2 Nephi 30:2
 

We spent basically all day in the jungle, the mighty jungle. I lost my machete privileges and made friends with a clingly beetle and I put the lil guy on my fanny pack. 

So it was...¨Sitio arqueologico cerro palenque¨ 

we were all super stoked so see some sick ruins but turns out the Spaniards destroyed them or something #hondyprobs 

But the tour guide lady gathered us all around and told us the history of the hill and about the old customs and traditions of the ancient catrachos. 

We took pics, drank pepsi (honduran hiking)
                                                              

In the evening we went to stake conference, it was great! But the power went our while our mission president was talking, he just whipped out his phone light and kept on like nothing happened, it was a very hondy moment. 

Domingo: This stake conference was centered on the family. And it was quite good. We sat next to momma Claudia and she gave us and all of her kids snacks.

The church is a little different here but they are trying and we're trying to help them.

Love you mom! 

Avacado Pancakes?

Lunes:  We finally got permission to go to Progreso (like 20 min away) but our district leader had to talk to the zone leaders and they had to talk to the assistants of the president and my companion was like why don't they just call up President Monson as well and see if it's okay.
We went there so my companion could get an eye exam and then we "popped some tags" and thrift shopping is crazy here like there's these huge bins and un barbaridad de gente and every so often one of the workers comes out with a bucket of clothes that they took from the back and they start throwing the clothes and everyones like pushing and fighting for the clothes that they're tossing in the air. Hermana Hernandez and I were just like... wut. And they aren't even new! All the clothes are second hand.
Afterwards we went and got Wendy's

Martes: This day we worked. And it was the Tuesday before transfers. Like I've never done that before, usually we're running around in despedidas. (Farewell parties)

But we did have one in the evening. I tried pigs feet for the first time! I was confused because I didn't know what part I should eat, it all looked like fat, I couldnt find the meat. Hermana Mendoza and Elder Marin were leaving so we smashed empty eggs on their heads. 

Miércoles: ¨Si Dios me hubiese mandado hacer todas las cosas, yo podría hacerlas.¨ 1Nefi 17:50

"And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them."

¨Years ago, one of our sons asked me why it wasn`t a good idea to try alcohol or tobacco to see what they were like.. I replied that if he wanted to try something out, he ought to go to a barnyard and eat a little manure.

He recoiled in horror. 'ooh, that`s gross.' he reacted

'I'm glad you think so,' I said, 'but why don't you just try it out so you will know for yourself?' 

'while you're proposing to try one thing that you know is not good for you, why don't you apply that principle to some others?¨ Elder Dallin H. Oaks is a boss.

I think I might be getting a cavity. Today was transfers but nothing changed for me. My companion and I are getting along well but I still feel like I disappoint her sometimes. Like I know we're supposed to be equal in this companionship but I'm pretty sure she's doing more work than I do still. Oops. 

When we were contacting we found the owner of the big ol bus that we washed at the car wash and he and his friend were really friendly. Turns out that the both of them are bus drivers and they've been contracted various times by the church here for different activities and when I asked them what they knew about the church one of them said I'm not going to talk about what I've heard from other people, but I'll tell you what I've seen. These Mormons are punctual, respectful, and they mean what they say. And later on in the lesson my comp asked if they had ever asked themselves why they worked so much with the church and the missionaries. And they just sat there thinking and the friend was like now that I think about it, it's been for a reason. 

Jueves: So I made avocado pancakes...they didn't turn out so good but I feel like I got something going there, like it's something that I could eventually fine tune. 

We're in the cosecha of avocados, before it was an abundance of mangos but now it's avacados. So now people just keep giving us avocados and they keep going bad because we cant eat them fast enough. But it's a good problem to have if you ask me. 

Viernes: When we entered Villa Esther the guard there shook my hand but then leaned in for a kiss and I was just paralyzed there like ahhhhh it was this big stubbly man face and he kissed me on the cheek. It was awk. 

He tried to kiss my companion too but she was quicker than I was and said that she was sweaty so dont kiss her. 

Sábado:

We have sinned. We have broken the wise words of wisdom. No but really someone gave us iced tea today and we drank it. Like I was so thirsty and it was so hot I didn't even notice until I was like half way done and I think, you know, this tastes a lot like tea.

Domingo: I wore my birthday dress to church and my birthday shoes! 

I had to change them afterwards though, they were giving me blisters. 

We had hamburgers and french fries for lunch. I feel like honduras should just give up with the hamburgers already. They're good but.....

We had two little families come to church and we were so happy to see them!

It's been a really good week, we've been teaching so much and finding new people I haven't hardly had any time to write.


Oh and it's my birthday tomorrow! I'll be 20 so I guess I won't have all this teen angst anymore. 
It'll be different than all my other birthdays because right now I'm giving all my time and energy to other people, and it feels so much more fulfilling like that :)

love you!     Hermana Nelson

BLOGITO

                                                                                                                                 20 JULY 2015

Lunes: ¨The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue -- it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know.¨

¨This life is the time to prepare to meet God. We are a happy, joyous people. We appreciate a good sense of humor and treasure unstructured time with friends and family. But we need to recognize that there is a seriousness of purpose that must undergird our approach to life and all our choices.¨Quentin L. Cook

We watched 'Meet the Mormons' and 'Suits on the Loose' with some of the other hermanas in the zone. 

Martes: District meeting. I taught the English class and made everyone do 'head-shoulders-knees-and-toes'. 

Miercoles: Hey, I just realized (due to a question in my spanish grammar textbook) that a year ago today I recieved my mission call. But now that I think about it that's just the assignment date I got no idea what day I actually recieved/opened it. Oh well.

We did divisions today but it's different here because in Morazán everyone was in the same area but today my companion left for Progreso (15min away) and the training leader stayed here with me. But like everytime that we do divisions, every appointment fell. It was peachy though we just did some tracting instead. 

Jueves: We were walking down the street and this truck stops and gives us a bag of these little branches and little fruits. Apparently they're called 'momones' and I took a picture so you can meet the momones. They have like this green hard shell and then you peel it and it's this white little fruit and they're pretty tasty. But there's hardly any comida to it. Its like the sun flower seeds of fruit. 

Viernes: 1 Nefi 5:20 ¨Y sucediò que hasta este punto mi padre y yo habíamos guardado los mandamientos que el señor nos había mandado.¨

Met a lady with a fake leg and I played with her pet cat. She told us about how her 16 year old son got shot and killed last year. But she says she doesn't feel too sad because she knows that he had a good life and that she had always taken good care of him. She showed us his picture and it was just so sad because I've talked to so many moms that are so concerned about their teenage sons because it's hard to keep them out of the gangs. 

Sàbado: We had a super contacto all the way out in Santiago. We had to leave the mission boundaries to get there and after we were all gathered together we divided and conquered. 

We talked to this one lady and invited her church and she was like "I can't go I stubbed my toe today so there's no way I'm going to be able to make it." Uh huh. 

For lunch we had fried chicken, rice, and this potato salad with avocado and beans and tortillas. 

In the evening we had a dinner with the former bishop and all the missionaries and there was this salsa called chimichurry and it was on the grilled chicken and it smelled juuuuust like what we would put on the french bread when we bbq at home and it made me kind of homesick haha like it's crazy how easily smells blast you back home. 

Domingo: This family that we've been working with came to church! And they stayed the whole time! They have this little girl that is so so so precious and cute and she was running around in the sunday school class and ran into the corner of the table! And the whole room gasped and held their breath but she didnt even cry! 

It was all good.

We went to a bbq after church, carne asada, chorizo asado, frijoles, queso, aguacate, tortillas y fresco de sandia. It was suuuuper good. 

Annd yeah I'm out of time so love you mommy byeeee

CarWash Gratis

Wendys

Lunes: I was reading about the church members that traveled miles and miles across the plains on foot with no more supplies or protection than a handcart company provided. And this quote was very interesting to me...
 ¨I was in that company and my wife was in it... we suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? 

We came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities...

The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privelege to pay.¨

Is that the way that we usually look at our trials?

For pday we had a ¨bbq¨ with ¨hotdogs¨ and poor Elder Curtis was sick with Dengue but still made a cake. 

Martes: Zone meeting 

Miércoles: Medical care in Hondy me llega. We had to go get an x-ray and it was just 300 lempiras and a zap and we dipped. Like no waiting at all and no messy medical insurance.

Jueves: Remember the part in the Bible about Martha serving everyone and Mary is just sitting there and Martha is like ummmm excuse me master can you tell Mary to get up and help me or something? Well I never really thought too much of it just like okay we learn from this that we should chill and that spiritual things are important. But I liked this quote ¨Martha´s primary mistake on this occasion seems to have been focusing on herself - even as she was serving others. It is not enough to simply serve the Lord and our fellow men. We must learn to lose ourselves in the process of serving and seek the Lord's will to guide our desires and motives as well as our actions¨

We were in the city for doctors appointments and we went to a real live mall and ate in a real food court and there were so many options for food but my companion wanted Wendy's and I didn't want to stress her out by ordering from somewhere else since it was pretty crowded. But dang it they had a Zara and I wanted to
go shopping SO bad.

Sábado: We did a carwash as a way to meet new people to teach! 

We only ended up with six references at the end of it all and every single one of them was in our area #score

Oh and we washed like a huge school bus and took people for tours of the chapel while they were getting their cars washed. 

I think it was a good idea. A lot of people have seen our church building but have never been inside and I'm pretty sure it's the prettiest building in existence here in La Lima.

  All empty!

Domingo: That Hondy moment when you don't have enough purified water to take your vitamins. I had to go borrow from the neighbors.

But today I heard news! Morazan, my last area, is finally becoming a branch! Like an official congregation! It's been years in the making but I'm so proud of all the people in that pueblo and all of the growth that they've had.

I always hoped that I would be able to see the day that they would become a legit Branch of the church but at least I got to hear about it while I was still in the mission :)

Gringas!

Lunes: This scripture is one of my new favorites; Alma 58:40 ¨Mas he aqui, han recibido muchas heridas no obstante, permanecen firmes en esa libertad con la que Dios los he hecho libres; y son diligentes en acordarse del señor su Dios obedecer sus estatutos y sus juicios y sus mandamientos continuamente; y su fe es fuerte en las profecìas concernientes a lo que està por venir.¨

Translation for those of us who don't read spanish (40 But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has made them free; and they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come.)

Martes: I talked to this one elder that's new in my district and he told me that he's gained 70 pounds in the mission. It's a real struggle with this stress and la comida llena de grasa. President Klein was having a meeting for just the leaders but he let hermana Haight and I mooch some warm dinner rolls and bottles of water. He's always so nice. 

At the end of the day we went into Lima to this spot on the side of the road in front of the muni, and it's just this stand run by dudes. And they cook! and they cook de miedo! We all ordered gringas, which made me laugh but they were SO GOOD. I honestly wasn't even sure what I was eating because it was dark, around eight o clock. And I was just sitting there thinking if there was an actual dream job food discoverer journalist time, it would be right then. Four dudes just outside of one of the most homocidal cities in the world, with their baseball caps and jeans, just making some straightup crazy delicious cathrachan comfort food. 

¨ ¿Os imagináis que podríais sentaros en vuestras hamacas y que, debido a la imensa bondad de Dios, vosotros podraíais no hacer nada y él os librarías?

He aqui, si habéis supuesto esto, lo habéis hecho en vano¨Alma 60:11 

Translation:  "Behold, could ye suppose that ye could sit upon your thrones, and because of the exceeding goodness of God ye could do nothing and he would deliver you? Behold, if ye have supposed this ye have supposed in vain."

Mièrcoles:  Started off the day contacting and it's weird how as a missionary, people just look at you and decide to open up and tell their life story and their deepest problems and like we don't even ask! How often, in your first conversation with someone, do you hear ¨well my husband just left me and my kids are working because I can't afford to pay for their schooling and right now I just feel like a failure in life.¨?

Like literally they see the nametag and even though they usually don't accept our message they recognize us as people that can help. It's weird. 

oh and it's mango season here so I thought I would show you what we got going here mango wise. They are huge and delicious.

Jueves: We contacted this house and this ooooooooooold lady with long white hair and a dressing gown just stood there looking at us and said nothing. Just shook a skinny knarled finger slowly back and forth. So we took that as a no and dipped.

Viernes: Went to lunch at a less active family`s house. It was chuleta and rice and refried beans and avocado with mango juice that she made as well it was all really good. She showed me photos of when she was younger and I asked if she had photos of her wedding and she tells me that she tore them all up during a fight that they had. and I was just like...oh...

Fourth of July! ´murica. "hardwork n beans". No but seriously we worked really hard in the morning. We volunteered in this construction site and I got to shovel a bunch of rubble and even make some because they let me use the hammer on part of a cinder block wall. Felt like Miley. I like working, you don't have to think or worry about anything. Just shovel. 

We visited Leonidus and he's gone one day with out drinking coffee. So claps for Leonidus. 

We also visited this really old guy that told us about the evil spirits that he keeps having to chase out of the house with his cane.

Hna Haight asked me to call her and sing her the national anthem so I did. 

Domingo: We got fam Murillo to go to church! Little mauricio looked so cute I just wanted a picture with/of him but his mom always wanted to be in it too. 

haha. 

One of our investigators that we've been (or maybe I've just been) frustrated with lately because he doesn't seem to be progressing, came to church!  and he stayed all three hours!  And he's from that one barrio that I told you about how nobody has ever been baptized from there! 

We also had a lesson with this gorgeous future pediatrician and she was so sweet I thought she was just being nice when we contacted her and she said we could come back. But we had a lesson with her and she was listening and had good questions and when I let her keep the book of mormon we showed her, she was like great! "I was going to ask you where I could buy one!" It soooo nice to have a lesson with someone that acts like they actually want you there.

That's all I got. And being here in Hondy I've grown to appreciate a lot our nice roads in the states, our good education systems, and the saftey we enjoy, that we can usually trust our policeman and that we can be outside at 8 o clock at night and not feel too scared. Our country isn't the best but we can at least appreciate what's good. If you don't appreciate what's good, what's the point of having more good that you're just not going to appreciate either right? 

Cartoons & Pancakes

                                                                                                                                                   29 June 2015

Lunes: we went on splits with some other hermanas and I was with the a boliviana but she had a different accent because she was from la paz instead of cochabamba like my other companion. I was nervous because I'm still not too familiar with my area and even worse when it's dark but it went okay.

That night there was 8 hermanas in total in our tiny apartment. Because we're close to the church building where they have all the mission activities, we get to be the hotel for all the missionaries that have to travel a long time.

Martes:  You know I would be perfectly fine with mosquitos taking lil sips of my blood but the itchy poison that they leave in return is completely unnecessary and frankly quite rude.

Oh and my first district meeting with my new district. 

We had an lesson with a mom and a daughter from two different religions talking at the same time and my companion already had a bad headache so it really didnt help at all with their differing and unfounded ideas.

Miércoles: We had 7 lessons today even though my companion still had a really bad headache all day :/ 

We visited an abuelita with the mouth of a sailor. 

We also went contactiong and I noticed that I'm getting to be kind of pushy haha.

After lunch and language we visited my 85 year old "guider" Miguel and he said he'll only get baptized if ¨lo haga la gringa¨ I was like okay lets do this! 

But we might have to break up with him, he's not progressing.

Jueves: At lunch at a member's house we learned the history of gang activity in our area and how there's hardly any gangsters left because this one family had enough and started killing off all of them and there was like this gang family war and that's why there's hardly any more gang activity in La Paz!

Viernes: Service project. We mowed a lawn. Well, we chopped it. With machetes. It was a huge lawn but the work was super fast with so many elders, we have a ton of elders in our zone. 

After that it was just a really frustrating and disappointing day that I'd rather not revisit mentally.

Sàbado: We started out the day right with a healthy bowl of tracting in the neighborhood that gives me the creeps because it's like an eerie 50`s movie set with cookie cutter houses in bright colors and wide, strangely clean streets. 

And nobody outside.

So we were going house to house and not having much luck and wishing that we could be inside watching saturday cartoons and eating pancakes as well. We get to this one house and we're calling ¨BUENAS¨ and nobody is coming out and the neighbor's dog starts barking like mad and I'm like frick we are for sure not contacting that house and I see the owner and he ushered us inside but I thought it was just to get his dog to shut up. But turns out he's super friendly and he attended the church for a good while and LIKED IT, but didnt like that everyone pressured him so much to be baptized. But he was interested in what we had to say and wanted us to come back when his wife was home so that she could hear too. They've been married (yes actually married it's a miracle here) five years and have a little girl.

After we left the house I prayed and thanked God. I felt like He knew that I had a rough friday so He put us in the path of a kind person that gave us water and pens, which was a little unusual but hey I'm always losing my pens.

Domingo: The hermanas that lived downstairs called me so that I could take out the tarantula that was in their bathroom. So I grabbed it in an inside out plastic bag but I forgot to take a picture! it was a real life tarantula furry legs and everything like I've never seen one of those in the wild before hahha.

Church was good, a family that we've been inviting forever finally came!

Sop de Heiba

Lunes: I played volleyball with the elders and then we had sopa de heiba? idk I took pictures. But it was really good! The crab barely had any meat I think it's just there for looks.

This week there was many tender mercies but I've only shared a couple here....

But I testify of the fact that if we look for the Lord's hand in our lives, we will find it. 

Cuidase mucho te quiero mucho y ya

"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal." -CS Lewis

                                                                                                                                                        22 June 2015

Martes 16 de Junio:

Old lady flipped me off today. But I think she was crazy. 

I went to the house where we eat the first day I got to Honduras and I remember thinking that it was ratchet and cramped and I felt uncomfortable. But today I was like wowww this is a really nice house, spacious, well furnished wow. So there's that.

While we were teaching lecciòn 2 about mundo de los espiritus to this lady in a wheelchair that's always sick. She made this really good analogy to how it's like an operation and then you go to this room of recuperation to wait the results of the operation. And I was like yeah that's a really good example! Then she goes and tells us about how when her mom died and then her dad some years later, she had this dream; there was this big white field and everyone was dressed in white and it was really pretty. And she saw her mom. And her mom told her not to cry. Because she had been crying a lot and asking why her mom died if she was such a good person. And her mom told her that they were all just waiting and there was this realllly long line of people and they were all waiting as one by one they got to talk to the person at the front of it all and pass through. 

But she said that she never saw who was at the front of the line, who they were talking to...

And she had that dream twice. So I thought that was pretty neat.

Mièrcoles: I have an 85 year old guiper. (someone who has a crush) He said that I have a really nice body. Not creepy at all. 

But we have this other investigator that's really old too but he's adorable and his hair is super white and he just smiles all the time and has the cutest dimples. And today he told us okay after 5 months of recieving the missionaries I think it's time to get baptized. And I feel like nobody believes him but I do!

Jueves; We went to this neighborhood called casa nava but everyone calls it casanova. We talked to a family there and they said that they were the only members in their neighborhood and that the missionaries have been visiting for 7 years and havent baptized anybody. Yay!

New goal is to baptize someone in that neighborhood

Viernes: ¨Es una cosa seria de vivir en una sociedad de posibles dioses y diosas..No hay gente comùn. Usted nunca ha hallado con un simple mortal.¨ -("“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses ....There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.")       C.S.Lewis

We had a multi zone conference today! This was different from the other meetings because I didnt have to wake up at 4 freaking o clock in the morning to catch a bus out of the pueblito de Morazán.

Just had to catch a Rapidito and in like 10 minutes we were there. But I feel like it kind of makes it less of an event.

Part of one of the activities we did I had to ask an Elder to say the names of all four of his grandparents. And he was having difficulty so I was like Jose maybe? Jokingly but he was like yeah that's one of them #typicallatinonames

Sàbado: Wooohooo happy anniversary yo my fav couple Elise and Leo Silva

One of our investigators, Jose, is addicted to coffee. He drinks at least three cups a day. So when we taught him that it's not healthy for him physically or spiritually to be addicted to something he said that he would stop, but poco a poco...

But just the other day he said I haven't had coffee in three days. I tried to have a little bit but it made me feel sick.
 It's a little thing but it's an awesome thing for me.

Domingo: Today I was reading the Liahona magazine with all the conference talks and I wrote down in my study journal just all of the testimonies at the end of every talk, it was like a testimony meeting on steroids and it was really cool to see the faith of such spiritual giants all condensed like that.

The church is true and the work is hard but it's worth it

love you! 

My photos arent loading on dropbox...

Hola! from La Paz

I ended up in La Paz. You can look it up if you'd like.

Martes 9 de Junio: Last zone meeting in Santa Rita. I got to give my going-away testimony but it felt off. Like I didn't feel like I was actually leaving, like I'd been that zone my whole mission haha.

After the meeting we went to restaurant ¨International¨ and it was POURING rain and I spent too much on soup. Had to say goodbye to a lot of people I don't like saying goodbye. But there was cake, and pastelitos, and I finally took a picture in front of Pulperia Nelson!
Definition of PULPERIA. : a Spanish American rural grocery store often functioning also as a drinking establishment.

Mièrcoles: So I'm in La Paz and it makes me baggy because this was the first place we went after the airport in december. Well, after the chapel. Oh and there's an actual chapel in my area! 

Jueves: So I miss Morazan :( today was super long but we only had three lessons. We contacted for a long time but I started to get a little frustrated because I feel like we only contacted old people that are sitting outside of their house. Like all they do is sit outside all day, they arent going to have the initiative to change their lives but I guess you cant know that until you try. 

I'm getting eaten alive here by mosquitos. 

The members feed us a lot here though so it seems...Everyone's been really nice. Contacting however the people don't seem to be as receptive here.

Viernes: I can't tell if the dogs here are just meaner or they don't like my companion. here they eat pasta with rice a lot because they like to carbo load I guess.

Sàbado: This one guy I saw said I looked like I was from germany.

Domingo: Church in a real chapel!! 

"Adios Morazán"

"Hosanna" is a Greek form of the Hebrew expression for ¨Save us now¨ or ¨Save, we pray¨ 

 Martes 2 de Junio: We ordered pizza for lunch after our district meeting and it was pretty funny because there's no addresses here so Elder Mendieta just described where the house was as best as he could, and it arrived really fast! #smalltownbenefits

Some of my notes from reading Jesus the Christ, JT did a good job with this book.

¨No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced unconcsciousness and welcome oblivion¨

Even bodily, the atonement of Jesus Christ is an awe-inspiring thing to consider. 

Also, Judas Iscariot partook of the sacrament. One of the guys that we're teaching, William, didn't like the fact that anyone could partake of the sacrament in our church if they choose to do so. We offer to everyone because how are we supposed to find out who is worthy or not??? That's not our job.

¨Herod is the only character in history to whom Jesus is known to have applied a personal epithet of contempt. 'Go ye and tell that fox' He once said to certain Pharisees who had come to Him with the story that Herod intended to Kill Him. 

As far as we know, Herod is further distinguished as the only being who saw Christ face to face and spoke to Him, yet never heard His voice.¨ #bloodisthickerthanwater #hekilledhiscousinJohn 

¨The present writer believes that the Lord Jesus died of a broken heart. The psalmist sang in dolorous measures according to his inspired prevision of the Lord's passion: ´Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.' 

We were all checking out our family history trees and I found an ancestor with the last name ¨Hansen¨ and Elder Hansen and I were like omg we're RELATED but nobody else cared I think they consider all gringos related.

Miercoles: Made a snake out of plastic cups and yarn with Wendy. 

Went over to visit our abuelitos and swept up the back yard and stacked some firewood. Then Rosita asked me if I was going to go ¨Misionar¨ and I told her not yet so she goes and makes this elaborate lunch and I didn't know what to say, they really just live day to day but they are so generous. 

Mario said that he would drive me to the bus stop on Wednesday with all my luggage and we all got a little misty eyed...

Jueves: We did the weekly planning and I was just like 

'whatever I'm not even going to be here. I mean I really DO care and all and I hope everything goes well but it's going to be out of my hands honestly." 

Bought some RayBans knock offs for like 5 bucks that now that I think about it I don't think I'm ever going to wear. 

And foundation that isn't as powdery as I hoped and too dark for me and smells like grandmotherly.

Then we all went to Negrito which is about 30 minutes away from Morazán and met three families that are members. They don't go to church because it's far and costs money. This one lady was suuuuper nice and made us all stay for baleadas and even though everyone before, was like we're only going to stay for five minutes because we have to go but then she brought up food and suddenly we had all the time in the world haha. 

Viernes: Spent the morning helping Ilda with her English, that's the thing I don't liiike. I thought I wasn´t going to have to do homework for at least a year and a half. #littledidsheknow Then I went to go ask Maribel if she could sew up my backpack and after an hour and a half and lunch she told me yes, she could sew it. Yes, she made us lunch, and yes I took a picture, and yes that is a chicken foot. you can see my meal in all it's claw-like finery.

But with the hna Maribel, I know that whatever typical food I'm trying, it's the absolute best version of that dish. 

We talked with this guy that was trying to tell us that God the father and the son were the same person and I'm just like that makes no sense. And he still didn't change his mind even after we talked about the vision Stephen saw when he was about to die when he said that he saw two people, God the father and Jesus Christ like you can't accept the new testament and ignore that simple doctrine that they are distinct beings.

Sabado: We passed by to visit Alejandra and she hid under a blanklet and didn't want to talk to us. 

Went and helped Dersi with her English homework and it was a little difficult because it was all banking terms like that's not a vocab that I know well. 

Domingo: There were good parts and not so good parts of today.

not so good- Carla didn't wake up to go to church and wendy didn't wan't to take her teething baby

good- the way Isis's face lit up when we came to walk her to church because she thought we weren't going to come

not so good- I cried while directing the last hymn in church.

good- this random little girl ran up and gave me a hug afterwards because she said she didn't want to see me cry.

not so good- we didn't study 12 semanas and we took a 3 hour nap. 

good- we were able to leave after and visit with Johnny and Bernadino. 

not so good- Marta shut the door in our face, fam Lemus hid from us and Israel told me he wanted to give the Book of Mormon back that I gave him and that he doesn't want us to come and teach him anymore.

good- I talked to Maria and she said that after our family home evening that we had with them, her husband has started to change and that they've been praying together as a family. 

not so good- both Selvin and Eduardo didn't show up for our planned appointments. 

good-Selvin's mom fed us dinner and I played (tried to) chess with Elder Alfaro while we all watched pinnochio