Week 60

Well, this week was quite the adventure. I guess that's to be expected in Utila though. I faced some really difficult times, where I got pretty frustrated and dejected. But we also had some really important breakthroughs, and I had some of the best times I've had here in Utila!

So the worst day had to be Saturday, where it seemed like every single person on the island decided to leave their house or be sick. In other words, almost every one of our appointments dropped. The final straw was our 6:00 appointment with the Castro Family, where I set up everything perfectly. We went with Dilia, the most awesome member I've met in Honduras. We had a sweet lesson plan, with everything planned out. And we showed up at their house... and all of them were sick. We were at least able to convince them to come in for a bit and have a little chat and a quick message, but it wasn't anything that we had planned.

But I think we had such a difficult Saturday to test us for the Sunday we had. The whole time I've been here, we've been teaching this 18-year old inactive girl named Lili. She has a strong testimony, but is dejected because there is no growth in the Utila branch. We've had some great lessons with her though, and yesterday, she FINALLY went to church, in what has to be one of the biggest miracles in Utila history. Also, Dilia's husband, Wagner, who isn't a member, went to church for the first time since I've been here in Utila. So with those two successes, Russo and I were grinning like idiots up on the stand. We had to though- we were just so happy haha

Our investigator Maria, that was going to be baptized on the 19th didn't go to church, which means we'll have to wait another week. Our other two baptismal candidates, who are both ninos, went to church! So if everything goes right, we could sneak in 3 baptisms in January, which would really help our chances for celestial zone. I think in the entire history of the Honduras San Pedro Sula mission, the Ceiba zone (my zone right now) hasn't been celestial zone, so it would be quite the achievement. We're gonna make history!

In the Utila wildlife stories of the week, we saw a GIANT iguana just hanging out in a guy's front yard. We also spotted the biggest cockroach I've ever seen in my life at my cook's house. It took about 8 good shots of venom to finally kill that thing. Although, we almost got a gecko to eat it, which would have been amazing! Also in my cook's house (there's some crazy stuff that happens there), their pet snake somehow got into the walls of their house. My cook says every once in a while, it gets into their oven and you can see it. We still haven't yet, but it's on the agenda for this week.

Russo and I are having a blast together too! We've had some really good laughs lately, and we're even creating a sweet, choreographed dancing video, Napoleon Dynamite-style. It's gonna be the next Youtube sensation... when we can actually use Youtube again anyway. Well, that's it for this week! Hope everyone has a wonderful week, and I'll be back in seven short days with more crazy stories from the wild world of Utila. Adios!