Week 25 (June 23-29, 2014)- Cambios!

Week 19 in Honduras

so i recounted all the weeks this morning and this is my 19th week here in honduras which means its my 25th week in the mission. i think. haha. but yeah i will have 6 months on the 8th of july. eeeeep. what. yeah it feels like a long time. time has gone slow, im not gonna lie.

but yeah this past week was good. we had transfers and so hna saldate and i took te long trip to teguc to changes. and i got a new comp. her name is Hna. Osorio and she is from el Salvador and does not speak very much english. fun times are had by all in our companionship. by that i mean that there are a lot of language and cultural barriers. but its okay. its been good. but i feel like i've learned so much in just these few days with her already. 

work in our area has been hard. we don't have many investigators even  though we are walking around talking to people all day long. its okay though. it will happen soon enough.

i taught the lesson in sunday school on sunday and it was crazy. kind of a disaster in my mind but other people said  i did great and that my spanish was good. there were a trillion people in class because it was ward conference so more people that usual came. i think i did okay. the lesson was on sacrifice. 

hope everyone is doing well. love you!

love, sam

Info de cambios:
Area: Yusguare (still)
Companion: Hna. Osorio =]

Hna. S's last day in Yusguare

Crush chillin like a villain 

bus ride to cambios

I saw Hna. Young at cambios

Week 17 (May 5, 2014)

Week 11 in Honduras

Hola!

On Monday, before we returned from Tegucigalpa, we helped out at one of the ward buildings. American dentists were there to do dental work for future missionaries around this area of the country! and since we were already there and just waiting around (our ward was there getting work done and they were our ride home) we helped translate. Translating from Spanish to English was easier for me than translating from English to Spanish, it was great practice though. Of all the doctors, doctor AJ really helped me a lot by having me translate for him...even though he already knew how to speak Spanish. Dr AJ I was a new missionary and wanted to help me out by throwing me in the deep end haha. Also, he loves Hawaii and wanted to talk about Hawaii the whole time ha-ha.

The rest of the week, we focused our teachings on temples! Because as a zone, we took all of our investigators to visit the temple! we had activities and lessons prepared for our trip to help them feel the spirit and learn more about the temples and about the gospel. The trip was great, and a success for all the people who went. Our zone had three yellow school busses, full of people! At the temple we had four lessons and rotated in groups around the four sides of the temple for each lesson. Our Mission President, President Hernandez, came and gave a talk and helped motivate all the people who were there.  Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and I know our investigators could feel the strong Spirit and love de nuestro padre celestial on the temple grounds. 5/2

The next day, Saturday 5/3, one of our investigators, Luis, called us early in the morning and said that he wanted to get baptized on Sunday after church. We have been teaching Luis for a long time trying to prepare him to be baptized. He has had a lot of challenges in life and changing his lifestyle has been a long journey for him. But I know he has a strong Spirit and a testimony of the Gospel. We were so happy that he finally felt ready and willing to be baptized. The Baptism went really great! We had it after church yesterday. I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. I wrote it all out but I didn’t even end up looking at it while giving my talk. Cool. After he was baptized, Luis looked so happy walking out of the water. He bore his testimony afterward and everyone could feel how genuine his testimony was. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help him progress and learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. This week was really good.

It rained for the first time on Tuesday! and almost every day afterward. The night we got back from the temple it was raining so hard while we were walking to drop people off at their houses and to our house, by the time we got home we were soaked. Even though it was storming it was hotter than ever. Haha.

I love you guys, and I think of you always! Thanks for always being so supportive and loving!

Love, Sam

Temple with Investigators:

Luis' Baptism:

Haircut this morning:

so ready for this

oops

realizing i made a horrible mistake

I GOT MAIL:

the happiest sam in all the land

Week 16 (April 28, 2014)

Week 10 in Honduras

This past week we have been in Tegucigalpa, my companion had to get her wisdom teeth removed. She had them removed on Tuesday and then for the rest of the week we stayed with a family from her former area. Their house is in the mountains near Tegucigalpa.

Hermana Saldate needed a lot of rest so while she rested, I studied. Lots and lots of studying, it was really nice. Especially having the opportunity to read the scriptures; which is hard to do on a mission, because we hardly ever get free time. In the mornings we usually study specific things so we can be prepared for the day, so just getting to read the scriptures was really nice.

On Friday we went to a chapel here in Tegucigalpa, there was a fleet of American dentists doing dental work for future missionaries. Wards from around this area of the country are coming and getting work done. It was really really cool. We went for a check-up since my companion was having a lot of trouble and pain. It turns out she had dry sockets and they helped her out. It was good because here in Honduras they don’t have a solution for dry sockets. Just wait it out ha-ha. It was really lucky that the American dentists where here when she needed them, she had a much easier time and could talk and eat. We had to stay over the weekend because she has another check up with them today, later this afternoon. Our ward from our area is visiting the dentists today, so we have a ride home! Really convenient!

One of the more interesting and things I enjoyed this week was that we got to use the computer to watch this past conference....in English! I was so grateful for this opportunity! We only got to watch a few talks, but hearing them in English was really great. I just hope I have another opportunity to either listen to the rest or even read the rest.

We also got to watch a little bit of other conferences and talks from the past and one talk I really enjoyed was "safety for the soul" by Jeffery R. Holland. I really enjoyed this and if you have any time, you should go to the lds.org site and watch it.

So instead of giving a day by day update like usual, I’ve decided to just talk about mission life and what I think overall so far of being on a mission:

Before I came on my mission I had no idea what to expect, and I don’t even think I had any expectations. I was just really nervous because I was going to be leaving home and leaving my family and living in a country that I hadn’t heard of before I got my call. And on top of all that I would be learning a different language, not even a language I had studied in school before. Six years of French classes would be useless.

But then I got on a plane on January 8th and flew to Mexico all by myself. And I met some other missionaries in the airport and we all stumbled our way through customs together and stumbled all the way to the CCM together. And then we all stumbled our way through six months of training together. Some of us became best friends. And we learned so much about how to be a missionary and how to speak Spanish.

We felt ready to go out into the real world. So we did. And I flew to Honduras but this time not by myself. I had two companions and we all leaned on each other for help all the way to Honduras. and when we got here we were introduced to a new culture and a new completely different world from the one we had grew up in. and we all realized what we had learned in the CCM was nothing. Then I got a new companion. Who knew so much more Spanish that I did. She seemed comfortable and flawless in life as a missionary.

My first six weeks in Honduras were rough. I didn’t know any Spanish and I couldn’t say much. But I stumbled through our lessons with the people of our area over and over. Slowly, I started to understand conversations. And every day my Spanish has gotten better and better as I just listen intently and try my hardest to understand the culture here. And I was homesick beyond belief and I thought a lot every day about how much I wanted a real shower.
I am just starting my 11th week in Honduras and things are already a lot easier. I can understand almost everything people say to me and I can figure out how to say what I want to say with a limited vocabulary. And most of the time people can understand me. During the days it can be hard to see all the progress I have made, but I know I have made a lot. And I am so much stronger in my knowledge and testimony of the gospel as well.

One thing that teaching others requires, is that you really know what you are teaching, and also that you understand the importance of what you are teaching. Every day I learn more and more and my understanding grows and is tested. But I don’t think nearly as much about how to say things I want to say or about how much I wish I could take a real shower. And somehow, well through el espiritu santo, I am given the strength to teach and to bear testimony of what I know to be true. So overall, I love being a missionary. It is challenging and sometimes complicated, but I love it in a way that it is something that I have never experienced before. And helping others in this way is something I’ve never felt before. And even though I think about home all the time even though I have over a year left, I am excited to experience more and more each day and help other people grow closer to the gospel.

Thanks for being a great example for me in my life and for always encouraging me in everything that I do.

Love, Sam

teguc mountains on fire

the doctors we translated for

translating at all hours of the night (waiting for our ward to leave...they were the last ward done)

Week 15 (April 22, 2014)

Week 9 in Honduras

This past week was kind of busy. We did so much. It was exhausting but also exciting.

On Monday was pday and we went on a hike, but I already talked about that.

On Tuesday we woke up at 4 in the morning to make 500 donuts. I was dead all day from lack of sleep. We, our whole zone, were trying to make money to take investigators to visit the temple. So we made donuts and sold them to members and friends of members. I think we made enough.

On Wednesday we went on a hike with our ward as an activity. It was an activity to help investigators and less active members find friends in the ward. It was really great and a lot of people bonded. The hike was hard but we had a lot of fun. I was really exhausted when we got back and I got kind of sick.

On Thursday we had our zone meeting as usual. And that was nice because we got to be together as districts and as a zone to learn more about being missionaries. It’s always nice. After that my companion and I went back to our area because we had a lunch appointment. And afterward...I got sick. I couldn’t eat for three days. It was really bad. But I am okay now.

On Friday we woke up at 2:15 in the morning. To go to on a temple trip with our ward. The trip was really fun. We all took a bus there and the roads were so windy and the trip there was super fast. Our driver was driving like crazy. We got there as the sun was rising and it was beautiful.

Saturday and Sunday were normal days. Excited! Sunday was Ashley’s birthday! The whole day I was thinking about how excited she must be to finally be sixteen! Haha.

On Monday, yesterday, we woke up early to take the long trip to teguc again. But this time it was because my companion needed to get her wisdom teeth removed. Her bottom ones have been growing in and bothering her a lot. The bus ride took forever and it was super hot. But we got there and were picked up at the bus station by a family from Hermana Saldate's previous area. The family took us to a relative of theirs who is a dentist, to see what was going on and what would need to be done. They confirmed that she needed her teeth removed and that one of them was growing in crooked and that was why it was hurting her so much. After that we went to their house, which is where we are staying while we are here in Tegucigalpa since presidente and hermana Hernandez are not in town, they were super grateful for this family for taking us in.

The power went out for a while and we could see the forest fire that is happening on the mountain near their house and it is so sad but at night with no power, it looked really cool.

This morning, Tuesday, we went to the dentist and my companion’s wisdom teeth were removed. We think we are going to have to be here until Thursday at the least while she recovers. Good thing I brought my English scriptures haha.

So yes this past week was suuuper busy. But it was also really fun and very spiritual.

donut making:

 hiking:

temple:

Teguc. Trip So Far:

Ashley's Birthday:

Week 11 (March 24, 2014)

Week 5 in Honduras

This week was full of ups and downs and new experiences. We taught people and got rejected a few times and walked probably 100 miles. One of the hardest things is being right next to someone all the time. I know it is for a reason and I am so grateful for my companion. But I kind of want a moment to myself haha.

On Wednesday we had a meeting in Tegucigalpa with all the trainers and new missionaries who have been here since January. It was really great to go to Tegucigalpa so we could leave this hot weather. Ha-ha. The meeting was good and we learned a lot, and best of all....guess who was there? Hermana Bleak and Hermana Young! It was pretty much the best to be able to see them again. Obviously we spent the entire time together. It was refreshing to hear about all the crazy stuff they have been doing and to know that they were feeling some of the anxieties that I am ha-ha: Like bucket showers and getting sick from drinking pila water. hahahahaha.

We ended up staying the night in Tegucigalpa, by the time it was time for us to leave the bus would have gotten to Choluteca at 9:30pm and then we would have no bus or anyway to get us to our area and it wouldn’t have been safe for us we got permission from the president to stay with a family that my companion taught in her last area. Their house is amazing, it was COLD! and it had a shower. They live in the mountains in Tegucigalpa. It was so beautiful. We visited a few families while we were there. Overall the trip was great the trip back was another story...four hours in a bus with no air conditioning and it kept breaking down. ughhh. I almost died. We got back so late in the morning and missed most of our zone meeting too.

The rest of the week was good. We taught a lot of people and walked a lot! The thing about my area is that it is allllll walking. It’s a small town but big enough that it is exhausting walking to and from places.

One of the most spiritual experiences of my time here in Honduras happened yesterday (Sunday). We taught a family, inactive members the wife is not a member. We have been trying to teach her but she has been really unreceptive and has even hid in the back of the house when we visited the family, but last night she came out and listened and even participated. We read a lot of scriptures, I think she liked it. She asked a lot of questions and was really interested in learning about prophets. This was GREAT, because I love talking about the great apostasy and the restoration. Aaaaannnnddd, we invited her to come with us to church for general conference and she said yes. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes if she gets an answer after praying and feels good about it. We were there for a long time but the spirit was so strong and it was a really great experience.

Before I end I have to tell you about what happened yesterday at church....I gave the lesson in Sunday school. Eeeep. I was so nervous because I didn’t get to prepare at all, we have been so busy and it’s been hard to even get in study time in the mornings. I felt good about the lesson my companion helped out a lot. After the lesson someone commented about how my accent was really good. They had initially thought that another Hermana was being trained by my companion and not me because my accent was better than the other Hermana´s. Interesting. Ha-ha. But it was good. I am glad I got that experience.
This week was very long and a lot happened. it kind of felt like a month even thought it was just one week.

Don’t forget to be kawaii
Love Sam