Week 16

So the big news of the week is that I've completed my first change! For those who don't know, we have changes every 6 weeks, where we go to a huge meeting and missionaries move to different areas. And I just learned that Elder Jimenez is leaving the area. It's a little nerve-wracking because I'm going to have a different companion in two days, but at least I'm going to stay in the same area. Anyway, here are some more stories from the week that was...

1. This past Wednesday, we took a trip to San Pedro Sula to (finally) get the partida we have been waiting for. That's the paperwork that we need to have the wedding, which I've learned is a huge hassle. I don't even understand everything that goes into it, but basically, the Honduran government is terrible. Anyway, I was able to see one of my old MTC buddies, which is always fun! But the craziest part of the trip was the rapiditos. They are these white vans that go around the city and take people from place to place. However, they cram as many people into the van as possible. So at one point, we had 23 people in a 15-person van. I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic haha. Also, they don't come to a complete stop unless its absolutely necessary, so sometimes people are hopping on and off of a moving vehicle. That's Honduras for you.

 

2. Also, we celebrated the first of the month this last week! Why is that worth celebrating? Because we get our money for the month! Haha it actually wasn't an issue for me, but some missionaries ran out of money, and were really happy about March 1st haha.

 

3. We had an awesome service project this last week where we helped this lady build the second story of her house. This meant mixing cement by hand, which I had never done before and will probably never do again (since there are machines that do it in the US). It turned out to be pretty messy work, and we were all covered in cement and dirt at the end. In fact, the shower afterwards was one of the best of my life haha. But I actually enjoyed it quite a bit!

 

4. So its getting super, super hot here, which really isn't cool when we are walking about 5 miles every day (haha unintentional pun). The best places to be are the two places that have air conditioning- one of the rooms in the church or the ATM. Every other place, I'm pouring sweat, which my companion thinks is hilarious :(

 

5. As far as the work goes, it was a pretty slow week. We got the paperwork settled for the wedding, and hopefully will have it on the 16th with the baptism on the 17th. I say hopefully because there are still some issues with Antonio (the guy): he is hesitant about the wedding because he says he has work that day (which sounds like an excuse to us), he hasn't stopped smoking, and he still argues with us about the need to get married. We pray for him and visit him every day, but hes been pretty stubborn so far. We have two other promising investigators, Salvador and Lorena, but they both still need to come to church, so its a little early to tell for them. 

 

Ok that's about it for the week. And thanks to those who have sent letters! They´ve been amazing! I´ll leave you with a quote that I heard from my good friend Rory Jones: Don´t count the days. Make the days count. Adios!