Martes: Our zone meeting was directed by the mission president, he brought dunkin donuts and not any of that basic glazed business either, all sorts. He taught us for a long time and the way that he teaches is super crazy, like it seems like he's all over the place but he starts out with a plan and then goes wherever our questions take him or wherever he feels like he should go with the lesson. It was so cool though. He talked about how our bodies might be 19 or 20, but if we believe that we lived in heaven with God before we were born, then our spirits are AT LEAST 14,000 years old. Like whaaaat. So when we give into sin or make stupid mistakes it's super sad because our spirit knows better but we're giving into what our 20 year old body wants. And also, when we're teaching these people the gospel, we're really just reminding them of what they already knew before they were born. Like my brain was exploding trying to think of it that way. Like we can actually be eternal if we want. And the requirements are things that would make us happy anyway.
I was actually a little proud of myself (it's a sin, I know) but I always have all these ideas in our lessons but I can never express them. But more or less I was able to tell this "less involved" member that there are many paths to happiness and contentment, but there's only one path to salvation, and that's the path of Jesus Christ. I can't emphasize enough how true this is. Before my mission and still now sometimes, I'd think, this person is doing fine without the gospel, like they're good people, they're life isn't really missing anything. But the gospel isn't a "life improver" it's a life saver. Not right now, but in the life to come. But the thing is that people get a little freaked out when you talk in an eternal perspective like that.
Also on Tuesday I GOT MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE FROM MY MOMMY. I thought I wouldn't have my mom's christmas cookies until 2016 to be honest. An elder in my district was like "I remember when my family used to love me" But yeah like if you ever feel like sending a package again for any reason I have tons of suggestions! Like hand sanitizer, I'm already running out and the little bottles aren't as easy to find. But yeah, I heated up the magic middle cookies in the microwave and I about died/cried. I shared with my comp and tried to explain how good all of these cookies are fresh out of the oven.
Miércoles: A miracle happened on Wednesday. Usually we have pollo or unborn pollo for lunch at Hna Ana Rosa's but this time we had sardines from the can so that was a first for me. Oh and we were out contacting which usually makes me kind of depressed because nobody wants to talk to me but they're always stoked to talk to my comp, haha. But anyway we talked to this guy that I think is a pastor and his little grandaugher wanted to play with me sooo bad so I was holding a teddy bear and playing with her while trying to pay attention to the lesson. I wasn't teaching anything like this was a little too advanced for me haha. But yeah he was saying that there's so many types of Christian churches because it's like coffee, there's different types, different ways of preparing it, and different ways of serving it. But in the end it's all coffee. So I thought that was interesting.
Oh and in our lesson later with my favorite family that we're teaching right now, I got to explain the example that we use when we're teaching the fall of Adam and Eve. And they said that they understood it so yay! So yeah the oldest kid in that family is my age, and he's super cool and I love teaching him because he has good questions and thoughtful answers and he really wants to learn. But they had a neighbor lady over and she brought kid and I swear that little child was so cute but also so possessed by a devil or something, she was crazy the whole time, smacking everyone and screaming and when the oldest kid was trying to say the closing prayer, she was trying to poke people's eyes out! He literally had to try 3 times to say the prayer because my comp was laughing so much. So yeah, hopefully our next lesson will be a little more peaceful and spiritual?
Jueves: We had another planning session, but we used christmas cookies to help us get through it. We taught one of our investigators and she's great but it's been about a week since we've taught her. And you'd think that's not a lot of time, but for lessons it is. She forgot almost everything we taught her so we basically just reviewed everything and asked her to please read what we asked her to read. Like literally it's still Christmas break, who doesn't have time to read a little chapter? But yeah. We hiked up and visited a couple where the husband was just baptized last August. He's spent the last 10 years of their marriage working in the united states. And he's talking about wanting to go back already. So yeah we got to talk about how we both miss bacon and waffles. But yeah everyone here has a kid or a spouse or has worked in the united states. Like at least one person every day talks about the states, it's weird because I'm pretty sure when I was in the US I didn't hear anything about Honduras... So this couple asked us to stay for dinner which was great because my companion and I were thinking that the husband didnt really like us, that he preferred talking to the elders. But he wanted us to stay for dinner and he let me play with his Huskies in their backyard and they are so pretty!
Viernes: Left super early in the morning to go to La Lima for a meeting. It was for trainers (such as my comp) and trainees (such as yours truly) I got to see Crosgrove and Glines from my district in the CCM and let me tell you I was sooooo happy to see them. Presidente and Hermana Klein treated us super well with lots of snacks and Pizza hut for lunch, and none of that only pepperoni and cheese business, like legit veggies and legit sausage and legit hawaiian pizzas. I learned a lot of stuff that I should have already known, which made me feel kind of lame, but I also realized that I've improved a lot in the little amount of time that I've been here. And my compañera was so awesome she let me talk with Crosgrove and Glines for like an hour while she waited and talked with their companions. I was thinking how awesome it was to see some familiar faces and then I was thinking how I've really only known those two since November. But they're like my best friends in this continent so yeah. Later, when we were back in Morazán Hna Calpa told me that she was really proud of me because all of the other trainers were asking what she's been doing with me because they were all saying that my spanish was really good and they were wondering if I spoke spanish before the mission! So she was really happy with me that day so I think that's why she was ok with waiting while I talked with my friends for a really long time.
Sábado: It was raining really hard. Like we were talking in the house and it was hard to hear each other. We had our appointments and when we were done we went over to a member's house and she made us baleadas. I'm still waithing to get tired of baleadas, I'll let you know. Also I keep hearing that this is the hardest mission in the world. Like yeah this country is super dangerous and the standard of living is bad, but also physically, missionaries are going home early all the time because their feet or their knees or their backs just give out and they cant work anymore. But yeah, I'm still waiting for it to get really hard. I'll let you know. Or maybe I wont haha. I don't want to be a whiner.
Domingo: So we only had two of our investigators come to church so that was a little lame but it was still a good service so I'm glad they came. After church we had baleadas whaaaat and I had my first piano lessons. Say what? Yeah so we were in church a couple of sundays ago and the branch counselor gets up and is like Hermana Nelson is going to be offering piano lessons so that one of our members can play the piano when she's gone. So yeah that was a pleasant surprise. Luckily someone in Santa Rita sent a manual on how to learn to play the hymns so Im basically just following that page by page and let me tell you, in spanish it's a whole different vocabulary. So yeah that was fun.
Lunes: We went and got Chinese food! It was a really long walk but we wanted to try chinese food in honduras. So we ordered and it was a huge plate of rice and chow mein with some meat and veggies and we also got fries. So yeah, super authentic.
So that's all for this week! Todavia buen animo!
I love my family and friends,
I can feel the support from here <3
I love my family and friends,
I can feel the support from here <3