Week 11

Dang what a crazy week! It seems like I haven´t had a P-day in months! But here´s a quick rundown of what life has been like in Honduras:

1. First, the change meeting, where we found out where we are going and who our companion is. There were at least 100 missionaries there, so it was pretty crazy. But I am now serving in Progreso, which is about 45 minutes outside San Pedro. There´s been a lot of success the last few weeks (my companion baptized 8 people the weekend before I got here). So I´m excited to be here and start the work.

2. My companion is Elder Jimenez from Mexico. He knows pretty much nothing in English. I think I´ve heard him speak about 20 words in English in the last 5 days, so it´s truly immersion haha. He only has 3 months left in the mission, so I think I´m with him until he leaves. Also, he´s an awesome teacher, as evidenced by his 65 baptisms! Luckily, he´s been really patient with me since I suck so much at Spanish...

3. ...which leads to the language. To be honest, there have been times where the people here could have been speaking Swedish and it wouldn´t have made a difference haha. I think I´ve improved a lot just in the short time I´ve been here though. I do ok when we´re teaching lessons, but if it´s any other topic, I´m usually hopelessly lost. I guess it´s a long process, but that doesn´t make it any less frustrating.

4. I had a baptism on Saturday! Haha that really should have been the first bullet, since that´s the whole point of me being here. His name is Ernesto, and apparently his brother just returned from his mission in Costa Rica. They´re two of the humblest, nicest people I´ve ever met, and it was an honor to baptize him. I was terrified of messing up his full name (David Ernesto Castro Rodriguez) or the baptismal prayer in Spanish, but it went off without a hitch :)

5. The food is macizo (slang for cool)! We´ve had some combination of tortillas, beans, and rice for pretty much every meal, but it´s all tasted amazing! Their main food is the baleada, which has this awesome sauce thing on it. This all means I´m going to gain weight here haha

6. It´s been ridiculously hot here, with some intense humidity too. It´s kinda like Houston weather, except no places have air-conditioning to make it better. The best part of the day is turning the fan on full-blast after a long day and then taking a cold shower (there´s no choice for showers- it has to be cold haha)

7. There´s trash all over the place.

8. Obviously, soccer is king here! We see people playing in the road every day, and we actually played as a district this morning. I held my own, but I´m definitely no Pele.

9. I feel awkwardly tall here haha. I´ve seen about 2 people within 4 inches of me and everyone else is super short

10. Everyone is so friendly! We talk to everyone in the roads, and the members are always willing to let us in and feed us. No offense, but the wards here are way closer than the ones in the States- it´s like everyone is family.

11. There are dogs, chickens, and even a few horses in the road just wandering around. Kind of a culture shock haha

12. The driving is ridiculous here! It´s mostly dirt roads, but the few cement roads are pretty busy. And apparently there aren´t any traffic laws, so it´s like playing Frogger every time we cross the street haha

13. I saw a lizard in my shower the other day... and my companion acted like it was no big deal.

14. The money situation here is awesome! Everything is super cheap, especially water which you can get for 2 lempiras (about 10 cents). Oh, and the water comes in bags instead of bottles haha

15. We have cooks! How awesome is that? I don´t think I´ll have to cook for the whole mission, but we´ll see how it goes. Not really sure if they do our laundry too though.

Ok that´s all for now. The work here is going well, and I´m excited to learn the language so I can be more effective with teaching. I love the country though! Hope everyone has an excellent week. ¡Cheque!