Week 20

So I'll get to Conference in a little bit, but first I have to share a little
story about our baptisms this next week (yes, that's plural, as in baptisms). We
were already planning on baptizing Nora on April 6th (I think I talked about
that last week), but there were still issues with her mom (Norma) accepting
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, so it looked like they wouldn't get
baptized on the same day. Anyway, I had been reading last October's Conference
talks in preparation for this past week's conference and came across a talk
about the Book of Mormon. I immediately thought of Norma. It seemed like the
talk was written specifically for her. We decided to share it with her in a
lesson last week and encouraged her to come to Conference. My comp and I both
felt that this was the way for her to receive the answer she had been looking
for for the past 7 months. The few days before Conference, my comp and I
included her in every prayer, praying that she would receive her answer and more
importantly recognize it when she got it. And that's when a miracle happened.
Saturday night, after the priesthood session, Nora's boyfriend came to us and
said that Norma wanted to get baptized as well. We immediately set up an
appointment and went to her house the following day. At the appointment Sunday
night with Norma, Nora, and Nora's boyfriend, I asked Norma what had changed her
mind. Why did she suddenly have a testimony of the Book of Mormon when she had
been fighting against it for so long? Her answer was quite simple: "Everything
that the Book of Mormon teaches brings us closer to Christ." She also said that
the conference talk that I had given her had been a key part of her change, as
well as the conference talks she had heard the past few days. I probably looked
like an idiot for the rest of the night because I couldn't stop smiling. It's
amazing what changes the gospel can bring :)

Ok, this is a detailed, look at my day this past Friday, for those wondering what I do on a mission, what it's like in Honduras, or just those wanting a more detailed description of my
time here: As usual, I woke up to the annoying sound of my alarm, and immediately wondered how it was 6:30 already. I stumbled out of bed and turned it off, and waited another 5 seconds for my comp's alarm to go off as it did every morning. Apparently, he liked having that extra 15 seconds more than me haha. Immediately, I thought of breakfast. Sadly, my food supply had run out the previous day, but luckily our cook had come through with a delicious cake the
night before. Therefore, I enjoyed the healthy and nutritious breakfast of two
slices of cake with a glass of water (not very glamorous, but it got the job done). After some personal study (Spanish Book of Mormon, Spanish Preach My Gospel, Spanish Conference talks) and comp study (more Preach My Gospel, videos about certain missionary topics, role plays), it was time for weekly planning. After a necessary but excruciatingly boring session of weekly planning, it was time for lunch, which that day consisted of steak, rice, and potatoes :) Next
was language study for an hour (more Spanish) and then we finally hit the streets for some missionary work. We headed off to the church to meet Hermana Nunez, the member that would go with us to our first lesson (Side Note: In planning the night before, we realized that if everything went right, we could have 7 lessons with members in one day, shattering our old record of 4). However, these hopes took a hit when our first appointment fell through. We then
drove to our backup appointment with Hermana Nunez, and taught a quick lesson to
the lady we're trying to get married. Then we parted ways with Hermana Nunez and
went to our 3:00 appointment (who wasn't there), our 3:30 appointment (a member
who hadn't invited his friend for a lesson like he said he would), and finally our 4:00 appointment. There, we finally hit pay dirt and taught our 18-year-old investigator Abraham about the importance of the BOM. After knocking doors for a bit with limited success, we tried our 5:00 appointment (not there), our backup (not there), and our 5:30 (not there). However, her sister was there so we taught her about the Book of Mormon as well. We then ran into a guy from the States who was doing a mission for a different church (Yay English), talked to
him for a bit, and then went to our 6:00 appointment, who predictably wasn't
home. Next was more contacting, failing to get a member to attend our lesson
with Norma, the actual lesson with Norma, and then power walking to make it to
the Family Home Evening at the bishop's house, where he had invited investigators. After teaching that, we walked home, celebrating that conference would be the next day. However, the day was not over. We saw a pretty nasty-looking car accident, where a motorcycle ran into a car. I thought the damage would be pretty bad, but surprisingly the motorcycle guy was ok, making it
ok for me to make fun of how terrible people are at driving in Honduras. Then another glamorous meal of a PB&J, a shower, updating our teaching records in the Area Book, reading a bit more, and then going to sleep. For the record, we ended the day with 2 lessons with members :

(As you can see, we keep pretty busy. Also, there are quite a few disappointments, mixed with occasional spiritual highs. That's what mission life is, and I'm learning to love it! Hope
everyone has a great week and enjoy your Easter!