Week 24 (June 16-22, 2014)

Week 18 in Honduras

This week was full of walking back and forth all over town.
I have two fun stories of things I really enjoyed this week.

First: we went to contact someone who went to church with a family member last Sunday. She was visiting her grandma who lives really far away but still in our area and so we went to go find them and we had never been to that part of our area before, it took about 30 minutes by bus so we had our lesson with them and were there for a long time because there was this really old man there who just wanted us to convince us that we needed to force his granddaughter to get baptized. The granddaughter liked our message but said she really did not want to get baptized. After about one and a half hours we left. We wait for a bus we saw a wooden bridge that was really high above river/rocks, the bus never came so we walked like two hours back to town. Without water. So that was interesting.

Second: yesterday the power went out at 8AM, we needed the power at the church so we could get water in to the building because we had a baptism scheduled for 4 pm. We couldn’t fill the font because there was no water. Everyone around town was telling us the power was going to come back at a certain time, each person we talked with said something different.

We needed to have the baptisms that day because it had been really hard to get permission from parents and to find a time where the parents would not be working and would actually be willing to see the baptism, also because Nicol and Noe did not want to reschedule for another day. We were trying to figure out what to do the whole time during church. in the end we were either going to have their baptism in a river (10 minutes away) or wait around and hope the water came before too late. If we had it at the river the parents would not be willing to go so we decided to wait. So we waited. And finally it came on at 6 pm but the faucet was not working. We filled the baptismal font up bucket by bucket.

And then it started to storm very hard. We needed to pick people up for the baptism and it was dark and raining. So we ran all the way across town trying to find at least two witnesses for the baptism. We ran from house to house to house of members in our neighborhood but everyone said no except the bishop so we just hoped someone else would show up. So we ran some more to pick up the people who were giving the talks, and then to pick up the families. Everyone was soaking wet by the time we got to the church which was around 8 pm. Right after we showed up, the other Hermanas from our zone showed up with a, investigating, family and so we had enough people to have the baptism, witnesses, and confirmations. The baptism was amazing.

Nicol and Noe were baptized and Nicol's grandma was there. Alex, who was baptized in March, gave a talk about baptism and Estiven a kid from an inactive family who is friends with Nicol and Noe gave a talk on el Espiritu Santo. Even though they are both kids, the talks were amazing and their testimonies were powerful. Then my companion sang “Hazme andar en la luz” (Teach me to walk in the light) for Noe and Nicol. Half way through the song nicol, just sitting in her chair looking at her feet, started to sing along with Hermana Saldate. It was so cute. The spirit was so strong during the baptism, Nicol and Noe weren't discouraged that the rest of their families or friends couldn’t make it. The power was flickering and there was a huge storm outside with HUGE loud thunder but everyone was just glad to be there.

Those are the two big stories that happened this week. There were a lot more but I have no time to write them all.
I hope you guys all had a great week too!

Love, Sam
sent june 23

Adventure to el corpus

Baptism of Lizzie:

Baptism of Nicol y Noe:

Week 23 (June 16, 2014)

Week 17 in Honduras

Hola everyone,

This past week was good. My companion has been sick for almost a full week now. Which is not fun, but we have had a lot of fun times this week. One of our investigators, Betuel, is progressing really fast. he has read all of the folletos (pamphlets) for each lesson and read all of the intro pages to the book of Mormon, two chapters in the book of Mormon, and even looked up answers to his own questions using the guia de las escrituras (kind of like the bible dictionary that they have in the Spanish BOM). He is, pretty much, teaching himself. He always has questions and wants us to give him more chapters to read. he says he is going to come to church this next Sunday. It’s great.

It has been raining a lot here in Honduras, when it rains it rains harder-than-hard haha. It is almost impossible to teach because everyone has tin roofs so we can’t hear each other talk. But it’s been good, we played futbol with our zone this morning that was fun. Do you want to know what else is still fun?....washing clothes by hand haha just kidding.

I hope all is well in the United States and that you guys are having a good summer. SEND ME LETTERS!

You can also use dearelder.com to send letters tooo.

Sam
sent june 16, 2014

I saw Hna. Young at Zone Conference!

Zona Ciudad Nueva 

Taking a Picture with an elder who admired the craftmanship of our dresses made by Hna. Saldate's sister-in-law (photobombed by our zone leader, elder boe)

we arrived ready to win. arrived late but looked awesome. they ended up playing more at the church.

Week 22 (June 11, 2014)

Week 17 in Honduras

Sam's companion is very sick and so they did not make it into town to write. They wrote for a little while from the bishop's house, but Sam did not write a big email for her blog.

Updated later with Pictures from the week before (June 3-11):

Hna. Maldonado aka the nicest lady ever. She's always making us food. 

IT IS STILL ALIVE THAT IS WHY MY FACE IS LIKE THAT

CRUSH.

=]

Week 21- A Miracle

Hi everyone. Here's a really inspiring event that happened and wanted to share.

We had a good week. Last Monday (June 2, 2014) it was storming and there were no Moto-taxis going from the area where we were to our area, and the bus doesn’t go there. We were on the bus and it starts storming like crazy and we know we aren’t going to be able to get home unless a miracle happens. So I say the most sincere prayer I have said on my mission, probably. So, it was raining hard and storming and dark and the road is about a mile and is super dangerous even during the day so we had no idea what to do.

We were just sitting on the side of the road under a roof of a pulperia (small store) about 15 minutes later a moto taxi pulls up to the pulperia and it is a guy who we know very well who always gives us rides! He said he wasn’t working (just like all the other Moto-taxies they are on strike for reasons) he was just buying a few snacks for his kids! But there he was someone we knew who would drive us all the way home! Oh and our phone wasn’t working at all this whole time so we couldn’t call anyone. Basically, it was a miracle.

I really wanted to tell you that all week. I told it bad because I don’t have much time. But I thought it was amazing. Have a great day tomorrow I love you all!
Love, Sam

*Moto-Taxies are like motorcycles but with three wheels, they are enclosed and have two seats in back

Sent June 11, 2014

Week 21 (June 2, 2014)

Week 15 in Honduras

Hello!
This week was a full week but not of the normal stuff.
I was sick for five days, and didn’t start leaving the house until Friday!
It was a full week of sleeping. I did not have dengue, which is a good thing. I did have heat exhaustion and extreme dehydration. Not fun. I am all hydrated now and not so exhausted haha. I am all better and back to doing normal Missionary stuff every day, which is nice, because being sick as a missionary is not as fun as being sick at home. No watching TV or reading or even the comfort of a blanket. It’s too hot to use blankets here. I slept in a hammock everyday at a member’s house so my companion could go out with a different member to keep visiting our investigators. I am glad to be better, though.

On Sunday we had an event, after church at one of the ward buildings here in Choluteca, for all our investigators here in the South. Our mission president and his wife gave messages and there were musical performances. It was really cool. We didn’t have any investigators come which was a disappointment but we had Alex, who was baptized a few months ago, Lizzy (who just turned 8 and is going to get baptized), and Francisco who is a member who helps when we need someone to come on visits with us. It was nice, we all enjoyed it.

I saw Hermana Young while we were there! It is always super fun to see Hermana Young and Hermana Bleak when I can. I miss them so much! We had so much fun when we were companions.

On the bus ride to the event, a butterfly flew into my hair! That was fun. On the way home it rained hard and we walked all the way home from the middle of town to our house in the rain. I was cold and tired the rest of the night haha. And there was no power. But it was fun. Overall it was a good week.

I felt a little homesick but it was another good week.

Hermana Jaquez
sent 6/02/14

Week 20 (May 26, 2014)- I'm really sick

Week 14 in Honduras

Hi guys. I am so sick. Everyone, including the mission nurse, is saying it’s probably dengue. I have no idea but I don’t feel great. I just want to sleeeeeeeep, which is what I have been doing all day today and yesterday. I have a huge fever and it’s been constant all day. It went down one degree from yesterday so I guess that is good.

This past week was good. We taught a lot even though we missed two days because my companion was sick last Wednesday and Thursday. Nothing major happened but it has been really hot here, like unusually hot. my companion was sick with heat exhaustion. Not fun.

I hope you are all well. I think of you all so much. Especially these past two days being home sick I constantly look at my photo book that has pictures of you guys, haha.
One thing that I miss is being sick in the comfort of my own home or in a place that is not so hot haha. When I was sick at the ccm it was the same even though it wasn’t hot. But I just think when I am sick away from home it’s not as good because I don’t have all the familiarity haha.

We were walking home a few minutes ago because the power went out and we thought I wouldn’t get to finish writing and we were using our cell phone as a flashlight and we almost stepped on a HUGE toad it looked like a rock. Haha. But when we got to our house the power came back on so we walked back here to the bishop’s house so I could finish writing haha.

Details sent in a different email:
so i got really sick yesterday and could barely walk or get through church. and it was rough. and the mission nurse says i probably have dengue. so yeah. not fun. ive been sleeping all day and my temperature has been at 39 deg celc all day and yesterday it was 40. so its pretty bad. but we went into town today to get a blood test taken. it was a weird experience. basically it was like in one room with a desk and a lady sitting there. and she didnt wear gloves OR wash her hands first. and it was kind of scary. im scared im going to get some sort of disease. because i dont think she cleaned the needle beforehand, either. i almost cried afterward. but this is honduras so yeah haha. 

Have a good week!
Love, Sam

sent 5/27/2014

enjoying the air from the fan while trying to cool off. super sick.

the moment the power went out when i was emailing. a face of unbelief and exhaustion hahaha.

fan-enjoying in action

Week 19 (May 19, 2014)

Week 13 in Honduras

This week was very busy. We got one new investigator each day, along with our other investigators we have been trying to teach everyone frequently. It has been nice though because it means we are always busy and always doing something, instead of wandering around trying to find someone to listen.

Neither my companion nor I got transferred! We are still companions and still in our same area! We were both happy about it.

Oh, in our town, yusguare...they started paving a road! In the center of town. It’s so exciting and it’s going pretty fast too. It’s funny because there is dog foot prints all over it already haha. They keep fixing it but before it dries another dog walks on the wet part haha.

Frequent questions I get about my time in Honduras:

What kind of food do you eat? Honduranian food. The most common foods eaten here are: beans, rice, and corn tortillas. That is what we usually get from members, also baleadas but not as frequently. I prefer balaedas because they are made with a flour tortilla...yum. Everyone here asks what the common food in America is and I have a really hard time telling them that we don’t eat just the same foods over and over. Then I usually give up and say we all eat spaghetti every day. Haha.

How is your Spanish? It’s good. I learn a little bit more each day. I can understand almost everything people say to me, but talking back is a lot harder. Tenses are easier, Past tense is a struggle. Overall it is good. Sometimes I get really frustrated but then I remember that five months ago I didn’t know a single word of Spanish. I don’t think I could even count to ten in Spanish back then. The bad thing...I think I have almost completely forgot how to speak French.

How is the weather? Very hot! My area is in the south of Honduras and it is hot every day and every night, in fact I think it is just as hot at night as it is in the day. There is usually no clouds haha. And it’s hot when it rains too.

Do you have running water? Nope, not really. We have a pila (big tub like thing in the bathroom) and once every few days we get running water that goes through a pipe and into the pila. And then we use that water until the water comes again. So no showers. Just bucket showers.

How about electricity? Yes yes yes we have that. But it goes out a lot. haha.

What do you do on Pdays? We usually do laundry...by hand which takes forever, clean our house, do an activity with our zone we usually play sports or go hiking, E-MAIL, and buy food. The fun part...feeling the air conditioning at the grocery story. ME GUSTA!

This week was nice; we didn’t have changes, we taught a lot of people, some members fed us at least once a day, and yeah. Good.
I miss you guys a lot and I hope you are doing well. Love you!

Mission Info:
Mission area: yusguare
Mission zone: ciudad Nueva
closest big town: Choluteca
sent 5/19/2014

A Pila full of water

The craziest full moon i've ever seen. Francisco insisted I took like 10 pictures.

My bed with NEW SHEETS. thanks mom. <3

My cat, Crush. He's the cat of the Maldonado family. They said I can adopt him. xD

Week 18 (May 12, 2014)

Week 12 in Honduras

This past week was fun, like always. We did a lot of work and we had a lot of fun.

I feel like this past week we worked really hard and taught a lot and helped a lot of people come closer to the gospel.

Instead of taking about what we did this week, I want to talk about one of the great things about this area and about missionary work.

Luis got baptized last Sunday, which I mentioned last week, but this past week was the week we truly saw a huge change in him. He accompanied us on several lessons with investigators and bore testimony and also helped explain certain concepts. What I like was that they were very simple explanations but gave a lot of insight. As missionaries, sometimes we forget to keep it simple and want to talk a lot about everything. Hearing Luis bears his testimony many times this week and telling stories about his conversion, we had never heard before, was great.  He also started going to institute and has been spending more time with members in the ward. I know that with the help of others in the ward, Luis can continue to grow in his testimony and grow in confidence and find a family in the ward here, but that also depends on the members.

As members of the church I am now realizing how important our role is. Before my mission I absolutely did not think about this relationship, at all. But it really is important for members to embrace new members and even, especially, investigators. Please, if you see an investigator with the missionaries on Sundays, go up and introduce yourself, and get to know that person help them feel welcome and help the investigator see the church as a warm and welcoming place. If that person can find friendship and confidence through the church, they are more likely to progress in their learning, and also progress after their baptism into a strong active member of the church.

I guess what I am saying is that this week I learned a lot about the importance of members and missionary work.

Talking to you guys on Skype last night for mother's day was amazing. And I am so grateful for technology and for the ability I have to video call my family yesterday and in a few months at Christmas.

 I miss you guys!

Sam

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)