Week 47

Ok, so I mentioned last week that this place is a little different than my other areas and all the rest of the mission as well. But I really found that out yesterday, when we had church meetings for the first time (it was general conference the week before). For sacrament meeting, we set up chairs and prepared the sacrament beforehand. It started raining about 30 minutes before the meeting started, which meant only the most faithful members showed up and we had a grand attendance of 18 people. So, my comp conducted and presided the meeting as Branch President. We blessed and passed the sacrament. It was fast and testimony meeting, which resulted in almost the whole congregation bearing their testimonies. But when there are only 18 people there, that still doesn't quite fill up the time. So my comp and I both gave 7-8 minute talks to finish off the meeting. For the second hour, my comp helped with primary, while I taught Sunday School. The odds were stacked against me, considering I found out the topic of the class five minutes before the lesson started, and that topic turned out to be the gathering of Israel (seriously?). But I was kind of able to get some discussion going and avoided a complete disaster there (Hopefully, next week my comp and I can prepare for this stuff a little better). In the third hour, there's no priesthood. Which means that my comp and I, as the Branch Presidency, sit in on the Relief Society and Primary meetings. Also, my comp decided the speakers for next week's sacrament meeting. After the three-hour whirlwind, we went to the office and counted tithing. That was actually a pretty cool experience, and I somewhat enjoyed it. And then after that, we went to two older sisters in the ward who can't go to church for medical reasons and gave them the sacrament. By the time we finished all this, it was about 4:00. So we did a couple appointments, and then called it a night.

Also, our zone leaders came last night, and they'll be with us for the next three days. Apparently, they visit one of the islands (here or Roatan) every six weeks, and this happened to be our time. So the number of active priesthood leaders on the island has doubled haha! I've gotten some questions about how often we leave the island. And the answer is basically never. Only when there's a change of companions or when President comes for something (Zone Conference, interviews, etc.) For example, this change (six weeks), we will only leave the island once. It also means that we don't have meetings with the other missionaries, which I was pretty bummed about.

In other news, there are some legitimately rich people here. Some from the States and some from Honduras. The island is super small, and only has about 2400 permanent residents. But with the number of tourists, it's probably about twice that. The church has existed here for 30 years! According to the info we have, we think there are about 80-90 members on the island. If I have a baptism while I'm here, it will be in the OCEAN! How awesome is that? Speaking of baptisms, we might have one this change. She's the only person that's progressing at the moment, so we're focusing a lot on her. I can finally understand the English here! Seriously, the accent is crazy. It's kind of a mix between the States and Honduras. For example, a bunch of food is shipped in from the States (which means it's super expensive), but there are also places which sell baleadas, the staple of any Honduran diet. It's about half English and half Spanish, and nearly everyone is bilingual. There are crabs EVERYWHERE. We eat crabs and fish quite a bit. Like the States, they're having elections this next month, and that's all anyone is talking about.

Ok, that's the fast facts of Utila. I'll have some more next week for you guys. Hope everyone is doing well! Gram, thanks for the letter! It finally got to me here on the island haha. Have a great week!