Week 27

Big News! I´m getting transferred! So next week´s e-mail will be from a new area with a new companion. It´s kinda scary because I have no idea what to expect (I´ll find out what area and which companion this Wednesday at the change meeting). It will also be sad to say good-bye to the only place I know in Honduras. I´ve met some really great people here and made some friendships that should continue after the mish. It´s amazing how close I became to some people after 4 months. But I´m also excited to move on to a different area and face different challenges, meet new people, and make more friendships. That´s just life on the mish! :)

In other news, we met this guy about a week ago named Mario. We taught him and his friend a lesson, invited him to read and pray about our message and come to church with us on Sunday. He seemed fairly interested, so we set up an appointment for this coming week to teach him more. This Sunday rolled around, and we went to Sacrament meeting. About 20 minutes into Sacrament, we were pretty bummed cuz it looked like we would only have 1 investigator show up. But then Mario came in, saw us, and came to sit by us! Then he stayed for all three hours of church! Obviously, this was a good sign, so we taught him a little about the Book of Mormon after church and left him a copy with a chapter to read. It´s kind of a bummer, but I won´t get to see what happens with him since I´m leaving :( But I´m hoping for the best!

Also, this last Thursday, I went to San Pedro to get my Honduran residency! It just means I have permission from the government to stay here for the next year, and it was actually pretty annoying. It´s kind of like the DMV, except even more inefficient (yes, somehow they found a way to accomplish that). So I waited there for about three hours just for them to take a picture, get my fingerprints, and sign a paper. But in the meantime, I got to talk with the other missionaries who were there and share all the cool stories from the mish! :)

We also had a special meeting on Friday (a Zone Conference) where our whole zone gathered to listen to talks from our mission president and some other leaders. It was definitely a spiritually uplifting experience and really motivated all of us to improve the missionary work in our respective areas. Another plus of the meeting is that my Mission President, President Viers, fixed my neck. He was a chiropractor back in the day, so he´s a pretty popular guy with the missionaries after the meetings haha. So he helped me spiritually and physically that day!

Ok, that´s it for this week! Next week should be a doozy though with the info about transfers! Thanks for all the support! And a special thanks to Aunt Wendy and the YM/YW from Chicago for your letters!

Progreso Zone Conference

Week 26

So this last week, I hit the six-month mark for the mish. Pretty crazy right?! It was an opportunity to reflect on the mission up to this point. From the initial shock of the MTC to gradually feeling comfortable and enjoying the wonderful experiences I had there. And then coming here, where everyone spoke a language that I wasn't sure they taught me at the MTC. It was definitely humbling, but (with some help) I was able to get through it. And then the ups and downs of the past couple months, where there has been hopelessness, pure joy, and everything in between. It's definitely been a crazy six months, but it's only the beginning. Here's the highlights of the start of month #7:

1. I had divisions twice this week, which rarely happens. Tuesday, I was with my district leader, Elder Tacam, trudging around in my own area. I've done divisions with him plenty of times, and he's a really fun guy to be with. I'm going to try to get a picture with the two Guatemalans in my district because they're so small (like 5 feet tall) and I think it would be hilarious haha. Then Thursday, I was with Elder Morales. He's from Mexico, and he's still on his first change in the mission (so he's been here for about 4 weeks and he's still with his trainer). It was a strange dynamic because I have more experience than him, yet he knows the language perfectly and I still have occasional struggles. This meant it was a little awkward at first, but I enjoyed working with him, and I know he's going to be a really successful missionary.

2. We had an awesome ward activity this week, where members were able to invite their non-member friends. We celebrated Mother's Day (better late than never), ate, played games, and socialized. As missionaries, we were pretty busy running around to talk with all of the non-members there and helping wherever it was needed. It was a great activity though, and Elder Kreutzer and I are hoping for some success with the references we received there.

3. Today is P-day, which is always awesome! But today was even better cuz we had a zone activity with about 20 other missionaries. First, we played soccer (what a shocker). Hey that rhymed! Anyway, we watched a movie after because the Zone Leaders got permission to do it. So we watched Cars 2. It was pretty disappointing because the audio was terrible, probably a result of the Honduran technology. Also it was in Spanish. So with those two factors, I basically understood nothing that was said in the movie. I'm sure it's great though haha. And then, we had a water balloon fight after, which was pretty sweet! But the best part of the day (as always) was the weekly Wendy's frosty, our reward for a good hard week of work. Seriously, don't take frosties for granted. They're one of the greatest inventions ever...

4. As far as actual missionary work, we had 3 people come to church for the first time (and 6 total) yesterday, which is always exciting. We're hoping they can progress and eventually get baptized, but it's really too early to tell with most of them. We'll see how things go this week, and hopefully I'll have some good news for you guys next Monday. But in the meantime, stay safe and enjoy life. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "It's not the years in your life that counts. It's the life in your years!" Que les vaya bien!

Week 25

So... hope everyone had a good Mother's Day! And if you didn't say hi/ give a gift to your mom, shame on you! I wrote it in the blog last week to remind you! I definitely got the best gift though because I GOT TO TALK WITH MY PARENTS!!! It was the best two hours of my mission (yes, the baptisms are wonderful, but I hadn't talked to my parents in six months!). One of the highlights was when a member family in our ward brought us dinner, and tried to talk with my parents over skype. If anyone can help my parents with their attempt to learn Spanish, please do it (because they definitely need it haha).

Another Mother's Day present was our three baptisms of a mother and her two kids! Exactly three weeks after meeting them (which is the minimum amount of time possible), they were baptized! They've been so perfect the whole time we've taught them, and I'm positive they're going to be golden members just like they were golden investigators. The two kids are already planning to serve missions! At the baptismal service, my comp and I once again sang the musical number (we must be doing something right because they keep asking us to do it haha). Then, I baptized Ana, and my comp baptized the two kids. The next day, three members (bishop, ward mission leader, and young men's president) did the confirmations. It was awesome (as these things usually tend to be)!

Apparently, it's not just the work in our area that's taking off. Our whole zone is joining in on the party! Word on the street is that our zone had 16 baptisms this last weekend alone, which is incredible! We should break 30 for the month of May, which has our whole zone excited because there's a good chance we'll be "Zona Celestial!" The Celestial Zone gets to eat at the Mission President's house at the end of the month, which is like paradise here in Honduras. Hopefully I'm not jinxing our chances by including this in the blog. We'll find out in a few weeks though...

Well, that's it for this week. Thanks to everyone for their letters the last few weeks- Larry & Co, Abby, Pop & Gram, Ashlee, Kimber, and Tyler. Special shout out to Tyler Stevens, who got his mission call to Rome, Italy! Enjoy the awesome food and language bro :)

Week 24

Sadly, our two week streak of having baptisms came to an end this past week. But we have three baptisms set up for next week, which is really exciting! Ana and her two kids continue to accept everything that we teach them and are already friends with most of the members in the ward. Here's an example of how awesome they are:

So we taught them a lesson this past week about keeping the commandments, and of course they accepted everything without hesitation. After the lesson, we were just chatting a little bit with their family and the member that we had brought with us. That's when the 11-year old, Alejandro, asked me if were going to leave another chapter for them to read in the Book of Mormon. My comp and I just looked at each other like "Seriously?! This just seems too good to be true." There's usually a moment like that in every lesson with them, which always makes me excited to teach them. Anyway, we left them another chapter to read, and set up some more appointments for the upcoming week.

That same day (Saturday) was the day we started our fast, since this past weekend was fast sunday (hopefully none of you forgot cuz we almost did haha). You wouldn't believe how hard it is to fast as a missionary in a Latin-American country. All four of our appointments that night, the investigators tried to give us food and/or drinks. And most of the time, they just sneak up on you with the food, which makes it really awkward to turn it down. I guess it's just a part of the culture here to feed people that are visiting, which for the other 29 days of the month is awesome haha.

Also, the members keep telling us about how the weather cools down in May, but (so far) I strongly disagree. If anything, it seems even hotter! It's consistently in the 90s here (right now it is 95), and the lack of air conditioning makes it even worse. Almost every appointment we have, the conversation goes like this:
Investigator: "Como han estado?"
Us: "Bien, y usted?"
Investigator: "Aqui, con calor!"
Which, translated to English, means:
Investigator: "How have you been?"
Us: "Good, and you?"
Investigator: "Here, with heat!" (the literal translation sounds kinda ridiculous, but it makes sense in Spanish haha)

Ok, that's it for this week. Now you can have a very simple Spanish conversation too! You're welcome haha. Hope everyone is happy and safe. Don't forget to get something for your mom for Mother's Day too! Adios!

Elder Birt