A Magical Dolphin

Lunes 13 de Junio 2016

El: might, strength. In Hebrew and related languages it designates "divine being" many biblical names emply El with other words such as Bethel "house of God" , Eleazar "God has helped".

Possibly the best known use of El is in Elohim, a plural form signifying the almighty or omnipotent, a name applied to the Father.

Martes 14 de Junio

The last multizone of President Klein

We did a quintet of Be Still My Soul as a musical number and Pres. LOVED it. #winning I was so proud of my companion for singing it in english, she did a really good job! 

They explained to us that we were now allowed to use sunglasses and hats and what not but i've been using sunnies since I got here tbh 

Pres. said that the sun shouldn't be a problem because we should always be inside teaching. Our shoes should be new but our pants and skirts worn out from sitting down so much hahah.

I'm gonna be honest tho, I cried in the closing hymn, I'm going to miss President and Sister Klein so much! They are amazing amazing amazing. But three years is a long time, and they need to go home. :(

Miercoles 15 de Junio

"Salvation of one's soul comes only by personal integrity and willing obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel"

Dude Joseph was in prison for more the two years in Egypt because his homie the butler didn't put in a good word for him when he got out #cold But if he would have gotten out, he wouldn't have been able to interpret Pharaohs dream! Crazy how some things work out. Like two whole years in prison for absolutely no reason! 

Jueves 16 de Junio:

Trying to get a companion that's finishing their mission next week to do weekly planning with you........

 is a lot like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube.

Viernes 17 de Junio:

"The Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation"

"who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Am not I the Lord? Now therefore GO, and I will be with they mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" Exodus 4:11-12

Today was fun.........my camera is broken and we walked a TON and had only 2 lessons.......

The only part that I liked was giving away the coconut bread that we made, everyone that we gave a piece to was so happy to recieve it and said that we bake like garifunas (the original makers of coconut bread) 

Sàbado 18 de Junio:

 Jesus wants ME for a sunbeam,

to shine FOR HIM each day. 

Today was ruff. My comp is pretty much over it all hahah 

I asked her what she wanted to do, "rest"

girl you can rest in your house when you're done!

Okay so today we had our first lesson with Maribel! She told us about how she was homeless for 6 years and had to raise children like that and how she sat there and heard her son getting shot and killed without knowing that it was her own boy that they were firing at :( She's only 50 but she has the eyes of ages and so dim and so sad.

She told us that the other missionaries she'd met before had helped her to leave all her vices and that she's ready now to be baptized. 

Domingo 19 de Junio

Fear: "fear is spoken of as something unworthy of a child of God...the first effect of Adam's sin was that he was afraid. Sin destroys that feeling of confidence God's children should feel in a loving Father, and produces instead a feeling of shame and guilt. Ever since the Fall, God has been teaching men not to fear, but with penitence to ask forgiveness in full confidence of receiving it"

Lunes 20 de Junio 2016

Mango banana orange smoothie to start off ma p'day #Iamjambajuice

Mièrcoles 21 de Junio:

I told my comp to call a taxi and our normal driver (hno Summer) was busy, would take about 20 min, so she didn't know what to do.

I told her to look for a different contact in the phone that's a taxi driver. She calls the contact "taxi driver" it's hermano Summer, but she doesn't recognize his boice but he comes anyway lol. 

We went to one of her old areas, Por Venir, to say goodbye to the people there and at one point she asked me "where should we go?" "this is your thing girl" 

I think the girl has been junior companion her whole mission haha she's so sweet.

Mièrcoles 22 de Junio 

we went to the bus stop for all the transfers. And it was just like ahg, coming here and dying is just a transfer away for me. I got to hug Hermana Torres and Hermana Alvarez goodbye.

Haight sent a package! A bunch of melted chocolate and a collage thing in a picture frame. The card make me remember how much I love her.

Jueves 23 de Junio 

Exaltation: El màximo estado de felicidad y gloria dentro del reino celestial 

Today was a trial of patience 

I tried to figure out why they cut the power and the power company assured me that they had not. After a ton of running around (including locking they keys in the door and having hno sumer open it again with a card) we finally got the problem resolved: turns out the apartment above us hasn't paid, but instead of cutting their power they cut ours.

Every single appointment fell but at least my companion is awesome and we have a good time.

Viernes 24 de Junio

I made us oatmeal pancakes with fig jam and honey on top :)

"Although God created things and is the ruler of the universe, being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (through his spirit) mankind has a special relationship to him that differentiates man from all other created things: man is literally God's offspring, made in his image, whereas all other things are but the work of his hands." 

"Latter-day revelation confirms the biblical account of God as the literal father of the human family: as a being who is concerned for the welfare of mankind, and a personage who hears and answers prayers."

Leticia told us that she was baptized at 12 years of age because that's how old Jesus was when he got baptized....what....

Sharon, this cute little girl, was looking at a picture of Christ so I asked her

 "quièn es èl?"  

"Dios" 

"No, es Jesucristo"

"Oh, se parece a Dios"

Translation: 

"Who is that?"

"God"

"No, it's Jesus Christ"

"Oh, he looks like God"

Sàbado 25 de Junio:
"It is...through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strenth and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts"

Jovan tells me today "your voice is like a magical dolphin" Thanks?

Sharon, same little girl, tells me "que gordita esta"

We met the strangest child today, THis little garifuna would roll her eyes back and then lunge out at us and yell. She did this like 5 times in a row with us laughing a ton and then all of the sudden she's like "ya no" and stops.

Domingo 26 de Junio

We started eating at a new house and the food is wayyy better (not boiled green bananas every day) 

I gave the lesson today and I think it went pretty well! we talked about charity.

We had like 9 lessons today, it was really fun we just run around singing and ringing doorbells. this is too much fun im never going home ;)

Lunes 27 de Junio:
we started the day off walking along the beach that starts in front of our house until we got to the peir.

It was fun, but a ton a ton a ton a ton of trash, super sad.

okay well now I'm caught up! love you mom!

Learning is Endless

Jueves 9 de Junio:

Today we were leaving an apartment building after a lesson and this muchacho contacted us from his window and said that we can come back tomorrow, so that was cool.

We talked to a sneaky pastor today! He said that the missionaries used to visit him and he admired how they always arrived on time #oops but that now he's a pastor so he doesn’t need them to visit him anymore.

Why do people keep making new churches? 

Viernes 10 de Junio:

"None of us, my brethren and sisters, knows enough. The learning process is an endless process. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds." Gordon B. Hinckley

"It is the sincerity and consistency of our faith-inspired action that we indicate to our heavenly father and His son, Jesus Christ, our willingness to learn and receive instruction from the Holy Ghost." David A. Bednar

"All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement"

Joseph Smith

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved" 

Thomas S. Monson

"If those (investigators) are unresponsive, maybe you can't teach them yet, but you can love them. And if you love them today, maybe you can teach them tomorrow." Jeffrey R. Holland

We met 3 muchachos today and had a solid gospel conversation and I already love them so much I don’t want them to go back to Colón :(

yeah the city where they live is called Colón. I know....

Sabado 11 de junio:

"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her" Genesis 29:20 

so cute, even though she was his cousin and his uncle completely screwed him over.

Domingo 12 de Junio:

Today was stake conference and the chapel was sooooo full that they had people in separate classrooms watching on screens. 6 of our investigators came! 

They switched out the stake presidency and I swear it was the most dramatic thing in the world.

After that we ate lunch and then after visiting with Kevin, every. single. appointment. fell.

but but but! we stopped by and talked with Koriza and her "husband" and I had every intention to just share a quick scripture and get my visit checked off but before sharing the scripture I asked her if she had read her scriptures and for the first time in like 2 months she said yes! And tried to play it down as she described the vision that Lehi had and how she was perplexed as to why Laman and Lemuel didn’t partake of the fruit and I just beamed the whole time and leaned over and grabbed her arm and said, "Hna Koriza, you read!!! you did it!" and they all just laughed and said yes, we were actually studying the chapter together. AND MY HEART WANTED TO BURST

but i calmly directed them to chapter 11 where it explains what many things mean in the vision that the prophet Lehi saw. 

oh and we made coconut bread this week and we took a picture afterwards. and then the sister that was taking the picture she dropped my camera and now its broken so there's not going to be as many photos....

"Obedience Precedes Revelation"

Jueves 2 de Junio

Okay so I didn’t know that Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights too. That's like a whole transfer! 

"For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow"

Viernes 3 de Junio 2016:

"For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole" Matthew 9:21

"Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen...Wherefore, go to, they faith hath made thee whole." Enos 1:(

makes you think about what being "whole" means, doesn’t it? 

We met this amazingly sweet lady contacting but she's going on vacation Monday and coming back in August -_- 

Sàbado 4 de Junio:

I’m eating pizza for breakfast and a chocolate banana smoothie. But! It's a relatively small slice, and the smoothie has no sugar added since I have pure cocoa powder, and we went for a jog this morning! actually we literally only jogged for 10 min and then walked back on the beach which took like 20 min because it's so rocky.

"sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something" Elder Lucero

Neftali, our investigator, told me that I’m like a sleeping tiger. interpret it how you will.

He is very catholic but he told all his catholic friends that they should let us in their house because we talk about God, not Joseph Smith like they thought. So that was nice.

Domingo 5 de Junio:

Sundays are SO depressing. I cannot get over how disappointing they are. Everyone says they're going to come and then...................they don’t.

"If you want a thing bad enough

go out and fight for it,

work day and night for it,

give up your peace, and your sleep and your time for it."

Lunes 6 de Junio:

We went to tela and Gabby made us a late breakfast of tajadas, beans, queso, mantequilla and hot chocolate (even though it was already starting to get really hot outside) made with cow's milk. It was all so good I miss eating in peoples houses :( 

Afterwards we went to Progreso and I got to see my friend Elder Lucero! I didn’t even want to write home we just spent the whole time talking about music. He said I should try playing trumpet. I said not on your life.

Martes 7 de Junio

I forgot about Elder Gozart's birthday I am the worst friend in the WORLD but it was fun to run around with Crosgrove and Gozart in the multizone conference. And of course it was very espiritual. 

Miercoles 8 de Junio:

"obedience precedes Revelation and Revelation precedes knowledge and truth. After truth then light follows. And light is the savior. 

"you cannot force spiritual things...you can no more force the spirit to respond than you can force a bean to sprout, or an egg to hatch before its time. YOU can create a climate to foster growth, nourish, and protect: but you cannot force or compel: you must await the growth".

 Boyd K Packer.

I’m still a few days behind, but here it is!  I love you mommy

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found"

25 de Mayo:

"Porque por el agua guardàis el mandameinto; por el espìritu sois justificados; y por la sangre sois santificados;" Moises 6:60

translation:  For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;

·Emma, the abuelita that we always teach when her grandkids aren't there? Well she has been going around and progressing right under our noses! She has been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and has set a goal all by herself to read the whole dang thing. She feels that it's true, but she's very active in her church, all her life, and she doesn't want to lose that.

Jueves 26 de Mayo:

"Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity: and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook." Moses 7:41

 

Dude...the whole city of Enoch dipped and left Methuselah behind...Moses 8:2

We talked to Jeff today. Jeff is from a part of Honduras called the Mosquitia. It's a different language and a different culture. But he came to Ceiba to study.

The restored gospel has not reached la Mesquitia. 

This drives me nuts and everytime I'm reminded of this fact, I want to pack up my bags and preach to all of the Mesquitia.

The pronunciation is easer than Garifuna, I could pick it up quickly enough.

In the evening we finished our last appointment a half an hour early. My comps didn't know what to do.

I wanted to contact (because it's my favorite) but they were like ok but everybody's going to be sleeping (at 7:30 are you kidding me?) or busy or whatever but was praying like ok God I'm going out on a limb here I have to carry these ladies but if you could just please just this once drop someone into our laps.

Lo and behold! Literally the second person that we contact is a lovely, intelligent, open-minded teacher named Vilma and she let us in even though all I said was that we were missionaries and that we wanted to talk to her and she was like aight.

We shared an interesting conversation and finished with some grapefruit soda and a beautiful prayer where she was holding both my hands in hers. 

a quote from an article by D Todd Christofferson comes to mind

"Thank you, black missionary name tag, for giving me license to have intimate experiences with complete strangers"

Viernes 27 de mayo:

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord; and he will have mercy upon him: 

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" Isaiah 55:6-7

I'm gonna be honest, today I felt frustrated. I feel like you cannot make these companeros hurry for anything. We were late to every. single. lesson. and they were casually strolling along. It annoys me so much. I know it shouldn’t but it does. For me, it's disprespectful to not care about arriving on time...

Today I made a grown man "pinky promise" that he would go to church. He says he doesn't feel ready and I told him church is like a hospital, we don't go if we're perfect and healthy. And he just tells me but most people don’t like hospitals! They'd rather just stay home and be sick! 

I said you got a point there. But God wants you to go. so do it.

Sàbado 28 de Mayo:

 The Bantan New College Spanish and English Dictionary defines the phrase: "Meterse en Honduras" as "to go beyond one's depth"

yep.... pretty much.

Domingo 29 de Mayo:

"I am not talking about obedience: rather I am talking to you about intelligence; I am telling you that there is only one intelligent way to serve a mission; the way that will bless and benefit, and change and uplift and empower and ennoble you.

It is the only intelligent way to go...

It is up to you."

We had 5 investigators in church today but only two of them were adults so our gospel principles class was still lacking in gente.

The topic was "fasting" and it was interesting that they discussed how in fasting we can sympathize with those that go hungry. Like we talk about that like oh, there's kids in Africa blah bhlah blah no, there's people in our neighborhood that maybe don't have anything to feed their kids today.

Lunes 30 de mayo: 

We hiked to pico bonito! it was bonito! It was also my first hike since my surgery more than 8 months ago! 

The funnest part was probably at the end when we just ran like crazies downhill. The waterfall was sick and I wanted to jump in, I was missing Hawaii so much too.

Afterwards we went to BK and I got some nuggets, fries, and a mint oreo shake. dope.

The power went out like 3 times and E. Irlenborn was like I hate hondy.

I don’t. 

Martes 31 de mayo:

Communion- a word used generally in Protestant and Catholic Christianity to memorialize the sacrament of the Last Supper. It is so called because in partaking of the sacramental emblems, one seeks fellowship with the master, for it is done in remembrance of him. 

A form of this word is also used with an opposite meaning, when a person is severed from the church for wrong-doing. Such action is called "ex-communication" that is, the former member loses the fellowship and communion he once had with the Lord, with the Holy Spirit, and with the members of the church."

8:55 pm and I'm eating cheetos for dinner. Don’t tell mom.

Hna Bonilla just french braided my hair and tbh I wanted to cry in the process but now it looks great and feels perf, not too tight not too loose, but let's see how it holds up tonight. Speaking of which, the AP's call at 10:30 pm asking if we can be in SPS at 9am the next morning.

So that was a struggle because my companions were already in bed and I had to wake them up and tell them that we're waking up at 4 and going to the bus stop.

Mièrcoles 1 de Junio:

"I am convinced that wisdom comes as we listen to the counsel given, keep the commandments and our covenants, then we really will be trusting in the Lord with all our heart. And he WILL direct our path. Which will incidentally be a happy path" My mother

"sister Nelson, God could have made you 5'4 and 300 lbs but he didn’t!" Just ONE of the many interesting things I heard from the mouth of my mission president in my interview today.

and that I'm a great person with laughter in my voice, so that was nice of him to say.

But alllllll of this happened after waking up at 4 in the morning, calling and waking up a taxi, the 4 hour bus ride, then the taxi ride to the huge church in San Pedro. Meeting hna Rojas's new comp (adorbs) and then saying goodbye (she cried) then going to the office and chilling with my secretary homies. Then going to McDonalds (sorry mom) with Crosgrove! and his new comp. "a ginger and a bald" 

Then going back to the office and helping elder Sandoval with his secretarial work until President came and gave me my temple recommend interview. Then we got to the bus terminal right on time and went back to Ceiba.

What Good Would That Do YOU?

Sábado 21 de Mayo:

"Without the Holy Ghost, we are like a person walking slowly home in the dark with only a flashlight as a guide. When we accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and are baptized, we are offered a floodlight and a guide who knows the way. Now we can walk faster and see our way during our homeward journey." Larry R. Lawrence

I feel my cold coming back and all I want to do is sleep.

Being in a trio is tiring me out I think. 

"If you expect spiritual promptings, they will come. If you act on them, you will receive more. If the Holy Ghost asks you to do something that is difficult...and you listen and obey the prompting, you will experience a spurt of spiritual growth and a big infusion of light." 

Domingo 22 de Mayo:

When I had 6 months left in the mission, I set a goal to read the Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and the New Testament one more time. And today I finished the last one which was the New Testament!

I feel like I should give the old testament some attention too but I just……don't really feel like it.

So this was our first whole week as a trio. It's honestly not my fav. I kind of feel like they freeze me out a little? But I mean, it's not all that bad. At least they can do their latina chatter in the street and I can walk in peace and quiet. 

I’ve learned as well that even if you hypothetically had to do all the decisions and all the work in a companionship (which will never really happen) it would still not be too much for the Lord to ask of you. That applies to everyone.

Lunes 23 de Mayo:

"However many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don't have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have NOT traveled beyond the reach of divine love.

it is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ's Atonement shines." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

We spent the morning and afternoon shopping, we ended up at the mall and I put on some high heels in payless and almost felt like my old self again.

A guy in the street started singing to me and called me "amorcita norteña"

Martes 24 de Mayo:

Elder Lucero sent me a talk from a mission president that I looooooooved. Here's just a part of it

"I know where each of the elect in your area resides. I know their names. I could send you to those addresses only, and save you the time and sacrifice looking for them. BUT HERMANA NELSON, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT SERVE YOU? The mission experience is to do what you are told, when you are told, to go where you are asked, and know that the blessing comes from enduring what I ask of you.

This is not about you; it is about opening your mouth at all times in all places. Doing my will without thought to the end result or consequence...this is what serving a mission is."