Week 91

Hey folks! It was a wonderful week this week, and thanks to everyone who sent birthday messages or packages! I can't believe I'm 21 now!

Well, my comp went home yesterday, so I'm currently with Elder Taafua, an elder finishing his first change in Honduras. We'll just be together until Wednesday, when we'll have changes for the whole mission. But for three days, I'm the only zone leader for the biggest zone of the mission! Yippee! But I'll be e-mailing you guys next week with another new comp!

I gotta tip my hat to Elder Skousen, who worked until the very end. Heck, we had three people go to church for the first time yesterday (and six total), despite some challenges here in Puerto Cortes (more on that later). The APs just came yesterday, and whisked him away to San Pedro though. Amazing how it all finishes so fast!

The members tried to throw a surprise party for Elder Skousen on Saturday. They told me about it Saturday morning, so I could get him to the church at the right time. It was all going perfectly- he didn't even have a clue what was going on. And then, we were visiting a member in the afternoon, and she let it slip. Skousen ended up finding out, but more than anything, he was just glad they were throwing him a party. Also, the surprise would have been foiled anyway when we showed up at 5 (the time they told me) and hardly anyone was there. Latins are great, but they have a thing for being late for ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.

Also, there was like a 2 week-long party here in Puerto Cortes these last two weeks. Apparently, it was for some Catholic holiday; no one here even knows, they just know they celebrate with parties. It was pretty cool actually! Every day, there was a party in a different neighborhood. And then, they had a parade for the whole town on Friday and "Carnaval" on Saturday! We passed by a couple of these parties during the two weeks they had them- not exactly the most Mormon of parties... I'll just leave it at that. Also, our attendance almost got cut in half because people all stayed up late on Saturday for Carnaval. What can you do?

We have a baptism set up for the 31st for a lady named Reina. She's actually kinda crazy. When we first met her, we thought she wasn't all there, but it turns out she's just a little odd. But she's super smart and knows about our church from when the missionaries visited her in Belize. Plus she's super nice! She gives us some kind of dessert every time we visit her! So we're happy about her baptism, and hope it inspires others to follow.

That's about it for this week! Thanks to my parents and grandparents for the packages! I love them! And I love all of you guys! Adios!