Week 20 – Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday– Tuesday we spent as a trio with another hermana because her companion had left the day before (we'd had the same thing and she'd also been afflicted so much that she needed to go home as well). We taught as normal and went to our appointments. It was really important to me that we keep teaching, I wanted my last days to be filled with working as hard as I could. For part of the day we had the opportunity to go out teaching with Alex, who is a great kid preparing to leave on his mission. He's always great to have in lessons! In the evening, after our lessons I received a call from President B. He told me I'd be leaving the very next morning. It was rough hearing it out loud and having a set time. Thats when it started feeling really real. I was sad. We spent the rest of the night trying to say goodbye to a few families. I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone I wanted to but I'm glad I got to see some families before I left.

Teaching in Miraflores Norte

Saying goodbye to Alex

My home away from home <3

My family <3 

So glad we ran into Noel and that I got to say goodbye. He served in London and we always spoke english together! 

Wednesday – We woke up bright and early and headed to the Mission Office. Once we were there we waited around for a while until It was time to leave. Hna. R and Hna. O. stayed with me before leaving and going back to Miraflores. I got to say goodbye to my lovely friends in the Mission Office (I'd been there a lot over the weeks so I was good friends with a few of them by then). Then off to the airport. Going through the line and security and everything went smoothly and then before the flight left I bought a few last minute things from a souvenir shop. The the flight. It was long and I spent the whole time trying to sleep and trying not to cry. When I landed in Boston, I was completely exhausted -from being sick and from traveling. Seeing my family was such a relief. It was hard going home but once I was there I felt a relief that I'd be able to get the rest and have the time to get well.

Week 19 - (The last full week of my mission)

Written post-mission: This was the start of one of the hardest weeks of my life, it seems like. Hna. Ponce left to Mexico and I got a new companion, Hna R. (who is amazing). She was in the same group as Hna. P! I continued to feel sick all the time. My body just didn't have enough energy and couldn't keep up. It was super hard. This Monday that I didn't update. I had spent a full week avoiding the infermera and speaking about my health. I had a feeling I just wasn't going to be able to keep up with the work while also being sick. I'd fallen asleep in meetings with members, I felt exhausted even after sleeping in and going to bed early, and walking around all day left me without energy during lessons. What morning the infermera called us. She asked how I was doing and I told her the truth. She said I should speak to President B. Before my meeting with the mission president, we had an appt at the hospital for my companion, she was sick and needed tests. Afterward we made our way to the mission office for my meeting with the mission president. During that meeting it was decided that for the benefit of my health and the progress of the work in Miraflores, it was best for me to return home. It was very hard. Not knowing when I would be leaving, we spent the rest of the pday shopping for souvenirs and it was all very solemn and surreal. Even though I'd gone through going home before, it was so different and so very hard. I knew I wouldn't be coming back and that I'd be home within a few days. 

One last picture together 

Saturday lunch with my fav Hna!

New Companion Hna. R. Trying to look happy after finding out I'd be returning home later that week.

week 18

hello family

love you tons.
this week was kind of rough. i have been having a hard time here in
the mission healthwise. i am trying my hardest to rest enough and to
do all i can to get better. i just dont seem to ever have enough
energy haha.

because i have been struggling to get better the work in our area has
slowed down a lot. we still have investigators but we aren´t visiting
as many per day as we used to. the great thing, though, is that we
have two investigators who (hopefully) will be baptized this saturday!
we are working our hardest this week so that they will be ready by
saturday =)

today we have been preparing for my companion to leave for mexico.
they finally got everything worked out about her visa and she leaves
tomorrow morning. right now we are a companionship of three because i
will be with Hermana A until changes on wednesday. I am almost 100
percent sure that i will stay in miraflores. =)

love you guys a million.

the computer i am using isn´t accepting my camera memory so pictures
will have to wait until next week =( haha

<3

At night in Miraflores

Eating lunch at the house of the best family ever 

Took some youth out to teach with us

The best zone!

look who I ran into!

Sandy <3

After finishing our last day of Hna. P's training (I insisted we take a commemorative photo)

Week 17

=]

So this week was good. There was a lot that happened. I feel a lot stronger and confident about my ability to serve and teach and help others. I miss you all a ton. I am sad I missed halloween but next year will be great! we are going to do something really fun. 

my week:

On Tuesday we had a conference/meeting with two General Authorities of the 70 and learned a lot about record keeping in the church and the importance of records. It was really cool because we read a bunch of scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants about record keeping. We were instructed to keep a record of our spiritual experiences in the mission. I am trying hard to keep a good record of my experiences but a lot of the time I forget to write in my journal or only write brief summaries, I am going to start to write more about experiences I have. They also asked us questions about being missionaries here in Honduras and about our own history in the Church and wrote down all the information (so i guess that means all those who participated will have their stories recorded in church history records =])

On Tuesday after the conference my companion and I both had interviews with the mission president. my interview was great and i received a lot of needed guidance and support. When we were in the mission office waiting, I met a lot of different missionaries from my mission. One of them, an Elder from New Mexico, is also Navajo. We bonded over that, and being the only two Navajos in the mission (and possible Honduras). The other Elder I met is from Maryland and had read my blog before getting here, which was a shock and also really cool. 

The rest of the week was full of normal days but with a slight change. Because I have been sick, and I am still trying to recover, I have been given a new schedule. I sleep in until 8am, take a nap after lunch, and am in bed sleeping by 9pm. It really had been making a difference and as I get more rest I am also able to focus more and work harder during the day when we do go out and work. I hope I can get better faster this way.

Today we had a really fun day with the zone. We went to the picacho and went to the big Cristo that you can see from anywhere in the city. it was fun. we played ninja right underneath for a while and took pictures and it was fun to just do something touristy. haha. 

A lot of photos this week:

lunch on saturday

Cristo

my district

caminando

"NO PLAYING SOCCER HERE" haha
​
​love you all! 

<3 sam

photos from zone conference de octubre

im right in the middle

foto loco (im giving pres. b bunny ears)
​

Week 16

19 octubre - 25 octuber 2015

hello family!

I have been doing much better this past week. I saw two different doctors. I am getting better slowly. I have been told that I have mononcleosis. And one of the doctors said that my symptoms aren't as strong as the other missionaries who have it right now and that I should get betting better quicker than them because I've had it before. So that is a plus. But I feel soooo exhausted all the time. i am trying my absolute hardest.

This past week we had zone conference (when all the zones in the city have a conference with presidente bowler) and it was great. I learned a lot and received a lot of personal inspiration. I feel more animated to work my hardest and do all i can to be the missionary that the Lord wants me to be. 

As a result of the conference, as a zone we have a goal to talk with and teach at least one principle of the gospel with at least 15 people a day. My companion and I have seen so many blessings as a result of accomplishing this daily goal. We have an agenda full of appointments with future investigators this week. This truly is a blessing because we have been praying and asking for guidance of how to find more people. then we received the answer in the conference and now we are seeing real progress. 

I am trying to work my hardest everyday and to see the good in each day. As I put into practice my studies and what I learn from leaders, I am improving everyday. 

In language study, I have been studying to be able to summarize chapters in the Book of Mormon; which means I am basically improving a lot in my knowledge of Book of Mormon stories and also in using the past tenses of Spanish (which has been my weakness with Spanish) Right now I am studying 3 Nephi 11. It's such a powerful chapter and I´m happy that now I can more or less explain in detail the whole chapter in Spanish. 

I miss you guys so much. I hope that you have a great halloween. Save me some candy!

<3 Sam

we stopped to take pictures of the moon

the moon

​

trip to the hospital - drawing blood

this is carol i teach her piano for 30 minutes every thursday and in return we get dinner. =) yesterday during sacrament meeting she played hijos del senor venid for the opening hymn!!!

lots of resting

we ate dinner on the sidewalk outside of the church yesterday.

watching the zone play soccer today

watching the zone play futbol

<3

Week 15 of The Mission: Part 2

This past week was a good week like usual. I tried my hardest and felt like I learned a lot. Now that I have over ten months as a missionary I am trying to learn more about how to teach better and worrying less about the language. I worry a lot about whether or not I am speaking spanish well enough but I've found out that as I study the gospel and as I try to focus on learning to help our investigators, I am also improving in Spanish. Oh, and one thing that helps is that we have a new schedule and it includes an hour of language study every morning, so i think that is also helping a ton.

My companion and I this past week (and this week) have been working hard to visit with members more often. We were in a meeting with the ward mission leader and we talked about ways that we could start getting more references from members. My companion and I feel like as we meet and share small messages and serve the members of the ward, we will start to gain more of their confidence. they will start to see us as true representatives of Jesus Christ and will trust us enough to talk about the Gospel with people they know. I hope it all works out because working through references is so much more efficient than working on our own. 

I miss home a ton but the time here is going by really fast for me so I know that means that I will be home before I know it. I am trying hard to enjoy my mission while I can and to learn from all my experiences. 

I love you guys a ton. Please write me every week and send me letters in the mail all the time and I promise I will do the same. 

<3 Sam

we had divisions this past week and I went to Esperanza with Hermana M. it rained really hard and my shoes got drenched but it was fun. I was feverish (as per usual) in and out the whole day and by the time we got home my body was extremely exhausted. I didn't really tell Hna. M because I didn't want to ruin the day or all the appointments they had planned. But it was a GOOD day. Esperanza is a great area!

walking down a road in our area.

excited to teach about the plan of salvation.

this is our house. we live through the black door and up the stairs.

Today we went to a P-Day activity with most of the Hermanas who are serving in the city. it was a pajama party. We played a game where we had to guess who we are. it took me about 5 rounds to figure out that i was ariel. =]

group foto. (I'm wearing my space camp shirt =D)

ponce y jaques

in a taxi back to our zone with the hermanas from guamuras (one of my old areas)
​

=]

week 14 i think

hi family.

I am still sick so I am not going to write much information, again. sorry. 

This past week was eventful. The ward had an activity everyday of the week and it was great because we had four investigators attend several of them. We are working hard and trying to gain the confidence of the members so that the will be more willing to give us references. missionary work is so much easier with the help of the ward members. (hint hint)

I'm working hard and trying my best. 

love you guys tons. send me letters and packages always pls.

drying my socks. it literally took two days for these socks to dry because it has been raining and there was just so much moisture in the air haha.

=]

check it out. theres a mission blog now. im not allowed to visit it but you guys are. servingintegucigalpa.blogspot.com

we had to go to the officina today we we took advantage and took pictures. i am sick which is why i look sick.

mision honduras tegucigalpa.
​