#notsogenius

Miercoles: Conferencia Mundial de misioneros.

the first one in more than a decade. It was really good. We learned a lot. I particularly enjoyed when elder Bednar told us to not get in the way of missionary work. And also to not let our obedience be a barrier to our teaching. 

I still don't really get why we had this conference all of a sudden. But it was nice.

And Hermana Haight, Elder Crosgrove, Glines and I were all in the same place! That hasn't happened since april of last year I think...

Jueves: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may become the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?" Matthew 5:44-46

This morning I thought something was weird/different about the kitchen counter and then I realized it's because there weren't any ants on it.

Today felt weird. Maybe because Elder Andrew from our district went home today for his back so we were unknowingly in mourning.

Idk if it was all the appointments falling or what. I was super excited to meet with this lady named Dinora but we ended up getting there like a half hour late. But it's because this señora was asking our advice. And when we got to her house at first she regañoed us for not showing up for our appt Tuesday (we were traveling from progreso!) >Yeah so she was not happy with us. But she felt so bad that she hadn't read, which was refreshing because most people dont think too much about keeping the commitments they make to read or come to church.

Viernes: "Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich"

"No hablé paz a tu mente en cuanto al asunto? 

¿Qué mayor testimonio puedes tener que de Dios?" D&C 6:23

translation: 

"Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?"

On a completely unrelated note; I really miss listening to the "1975"

Another unrelated note, my tuna salad sandwiches have evolved to a whole new level. As in I put chili lime flavored peanuts in and also leftover chili (pickled onions, carrots, and jalapeños) I told my comp that I'm a genius and she agrees. 

Okay so now its 8:30pm and I'm making soup for our lunch tomorrow but the jalapeños that I put in were super strong so now our noses are running just from the smell #notsogenius Also right now it's a vegetarian taco soup; Chloe Reid would be so proud.

Today felt soooooo long, just like an extension of yesterday or something.

Highlight of the day: when we got coconut topogigios, even though I almost choked and died on the flakes of coconut while this guy basically contacted US on the street. He taught me how to say beautiful woman in mesquito, "maere pankira" which is like a dialect of the black people here. That and Garifuna but I want to learn those languages too that would be so cool and then we could get some Books of Mormon going in that language too. 

Sábado:

So I didn't know that the angel that appeared to Zacharias in the temple to tell him about baby John the baptist was Elijah. But I guess it makes sense bc John was filled with the spirit of Elijah.

We asked this guy if he'd like to read the Book of Mormon because he kept going on about how important it was to read "the word" and he was like nah i dont understand the letters right now. So you cant read? no I just dont really understand the letters. 

what.

We waited all morning in the house for this guy to come and fix the bathroom door in the apt because it doesn't really close and you can imagine how that would be a lil awk. So we chilled playing Uno and drinking hot chocolate because its been cold lately! Shout out to my aunts for sending it, perfect timing! I added cinnamon and it was super tasty. 

Then later for lunch we had the taco soup I made last night and even though there was no beef I think it turned out bomb. And perf too for the weather.

I love it. I didn't sweat at all outside today. Not once! 

Domingo: "su llamamiento le da autoridad: el guardar los convenios le da poder"

Last night was so cold I slept in a hoodie, my thickest sweats, and the long socks my aunts sent me, and wrapped myself up in my fitted sheet.

Today they're organizing a new stake! We're watching it in Tela so the audio isn't the best. I'm not sure what the name of our stake is....

I didnt catch the name of the new stake president either....

We had a lesson with Marci in the evening, she was baptized very young but hasn't gone to church in ages. We can tell that she wants her children to go to church though because it's best to raise children in gospel principles. 

I felt the spirit testifying of what my companion told her though it was a short but powerful lesson. We shared Helaman 5:12 and told her that no matter what direction the world tempts her to go, she should fight to build upon the teacings of Christ, because he is our rock. 

Helaman 5:12 

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

Fun fact of the week, calves, like that part of your leg? Some people in latin america call them camotes, which means sweet potatoes.

My sweet potatoes are sore. 

Love you mommyyyyyy have a good week 

"if ye love me, read my blog"

Martes 12 de Enero:

Well we have a DVD player now so we're chilling listening to 'Cumorah's Hill'. I wish I had other music...

The time went by super fast today, we were running from falling appointment to other falling appointment.
It kinda sucked tbh. 

At dinner the people at the table next to us were leaving and the guy tells me, "your spanish is really good, you have a good accent" I really needed to hear that!
I've been fasting and praying for help with Spanish and then I get hna Dardón and she's like Cipriano helping me figure out where in my mouth I need to form the sounds. 
Thank you Jesús! 

Also we had our first district meeting and I gave my first capacitación (training session) and I realized I was like the oldest (time wise) WHAAAAT??!

Miercoles: "He aquí, él creó a Adán, y por Adán vino la caída del hombre, y por causa de la caída del hombre, vino Jesucristo, sí, el padre y el Hijo, y a causa de Jesucristo vino la redención del hombre" Mormón #claridad
translation:  “Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man.” Mormon 9:12

This was like the third time we've gone to look for a reference that we recieved but instead of talking to the creepy guy rubbing his belly button that's usually there, we got to talk to an illiterate mother of 6, she's gone to our church a couple of times but is baptized in a different church because it's "closer to her house"

We went back to the apartment and my sous chef and I made lunch, just potatos, sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions chopped up and cooked in a little bit of oil (I put in a little too much actually #catracha) it took longer than I expected to chop everything and even longer for it all to cook nicely and we had beans on the side for proteins sake and two slices of whole wheat bread. 

Sometimes I get a little annoyed that she's been asking what we're making for lunch every day so far but I hope that eventually she'll have ideas and contribute but for now I'm getting practice being a mom cleaning up after her and cooking for her haha.

Oh and frick our mission president showed up out of nowhere and took my companion and I to dinner at Hotel Maya Vista, its up on this tiny hill but the view is breathtaking. And he absolutely spoiled us! We ordered appetizers and entrees and climbed up to the tippy top while we were waiting for the food. First of all they started us with bread like a normal restaurant and the brucheta that we ordered and then came the shrimp in curry (salads first obvi) long story short it was realllly tasty. The fresh watermelon juice that I ordered had lime juice on the side in a shot glass #appearanceofevil

But seriously it was SO nice and SO relaxing and I just looked out over the ledge and breathed in and thought about how much I loved my companion and how much I loved my mission president and how much I would've missed out on if I hadn't come back.

Jueves: 

"porque has visto tu debilidad, serás fortalecido, aun hasta sentarte en el lugar que he preparado en las mansiones de mi Padre." Ëter 12:37

Translation: Ether 12:37 “because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.”

I followed a prompting from the spirit today! We passed by this blue house on our own street where we live and I was like no, we have to go back and talk to them, and yeah the missionaries visited their mom before but we met her daughters who are basically our age and I was so nervous my spanish was terrible but I think they want us to come tuesdays and thursdays everyweek! Which is sick!

I finished the Book of Mormon in spanish for the fourth time today!  

The Lord really is so merciful and patient with us and with our shortcomings. No huge impressions or anything on finishing it, just a peaceful understanding that it really is the word of God.

Viernes: I just realized that I could hypothetically open up probably the first tattoo parlor in Honduras. Just saying. They dont have any here.

Also, one of our neighbors was setting off fireworks at 7:00 am. Who does that?????

Sábado: We had interviews with the president and it always leaves me with a ton to think about. He gave me my death date though, August 4th. He said it was really difficult to think of us going home after him because "they're mine" so I'll be having two mission presidents. It's sad to think about so I don't. 

Domingo: I know I probably won't be thinking this by March but right now I feel like I wouldn't mind having 3 transfers with Dardón here in Tela. 

Today at church nobody we invited came. Until we were all in sunday school and then this guy shows up that we barely contacted and just in passing invited him to church. You really never know!

Hoy:

Today was rainy and cloudy and it made me miss the central coast! 

We went to get tacos with the elders from tela mar. One of them studied medicine for five years before deciding to go on a mission. Its interesting to hear about the opportunities people pass up to come here. 

okay so thats the update.

Love you mommy, and to everyone else "if ye love me, read my blog"

adioooooooooos

New Arrivals

Martes 5 de enero

We had a meeting just for the trainers and then president went to go pick up the new babies at the airport and then when they all showed up I was halfway hoping I'd get the girl from california but when I saw Hermana Dardon, this adorable little Guatemalan, I just KNEW she was mine, and turns out she was! Also turns out their luggage didnt come with them so the poor things were stuck without clothes and erthang. So we stayed in progreso overnight so that we could go pick up the luggage at the bus stop in the morning. 

What?

Miercoles

We got to the bus stop bright and early and poco a poco all the missionaries that had transfers came, but also all the missionaries finishing their missions. So that was sad but also happy but baggy (trunky) as well haha.

We ended up waiting like 2 hours for the luggage to come. But we finally got to our area and my new companion seems to be adapting okay. 

okay nevermind I have no time to write about the rest of the week but it's been crazy!

But I gave a talk in church on sunday and our mission president made a surprise visit too! and my companion and I gave the gospel principles class and it went great, she came ready to go, I barely have to train her at all.

Editors Note: Short Blog again -  It seems Hermana Nelson has too many email contacts to make each P-day.

Y'all Live in a Sauna!

Martes 29 de diciembre

We passed by this little building that said they offered massages and a sauna. Why go to a sauna when you could just sit outside in a towel and sweat. Yall live in a sauna.

I tried to explain burritos to my companion idk if she understood just how amazing they are  "its basically everything you could ever want wrapped in a flour tortilla"

Miercoles 30 de diciembre:

Today I asked a recent convert if she knew who Joseph Smith was and she said "El hijo de Dios" and I was like uhh and then tried to explain to her what a prophet was and we finish and i ask her to say a prayer before we leace. And she almost says in the name of Jose Smith, Amen and my comp and I were like ahhhhh what did I just do?!?!?!? I just confused this poor lady for life. 

In the evening we all headed with the 5 ladies that always do everything for Relief S
ociety to the hospital and handed out juice and sandwiches and sang christmas carols. That was all fine and dandy in the waiting room but then we went to the pediatric ward and seeing all the niños in there for the holidays was so sad. we sang away in a manger. 

Jueves 31 de diciembre: 

We keep finding less active members when we're contacting! 

Also this area is so small that we're afraid of accidentally contacting it all.

So we just basically contacted all day because its New Years and all that but in the night time there were some pretty sick

so I dont have any more time to write but this was a crazy week I hope I can write more later but we'll have to see....I dont think so.

But today was the best pday Haight and Crosgrove came to visit well their whole zone actually and we played tackle football and then played with water balloons and then out for lunch. it was prime, and a nice distraction because holidays are kind of hard in the mission- 

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