Week 12 (March 31, 2014)

Week 6 in Honduras

Transfers are this week, but my companion and I did not get a call or were not told about changes, looks like we are together again for another six weeks! I expected it since I am still in training.

This week was good and full. We had citas every day which was crazy. the funny thing is that some people are very particular and wait for us to get there and some people don’t remember at all, and some people make up a time different than what we said ha-ha. It’s all good.

Fun things that happened:
-we taught a lesson on the steps of the catholic church in our town
-we ate a giant lizard. It tasted like a mix between chicken and fish; it was slimy and was cooked, of course.
-I think I reached my breaking point and don’t know if I can eat anymore bananas. Especially fried bananas, they are eaten at every meal here. Ha-ha.

On Saturday Christian, the son of a less active member of the ward, was baptized. We have been teaching him the gospel for a few weeks and he is so adorable. He is 11 and is always enthusiastic about learning and always has his own input during our lessons. The spirit was so strong during his baptism and it was really great. Afterward, he bore his testimony. It was so sincere and so special and you can really tell he got baptized for his own reasons and not his parents. He has a strong testimony of heavenly father, Jesus Christ, and the importance of living the gospel. It was really great.

There are so many stories and stuff that happens every week but it is so hard to remember when I am here writing. Ha-ha, trust me, fun stuff happened, hard stuff happened, and there were a lot of serious moments.

I am so grateful that I grew up in the U.S. and for my family. I am so grateful for the experiences and privileges I have had. I am Grateful that I can experience the lifestyle and culture here in Honduras. It is a great experience to be able to teach others about the gospel of Jesus Christ and to just be there for them when they need us is something so special and so unique. I am learning to love it more and more each day.

Have a good week!
Sam

Christian and his uncle Ronny

Christian's sister and their cousin

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

Week 10 (March 17, 2014)

Week 4 in Honduras

This week was good. I took notes but it would take forever to transpose them all ha-ha.
On Monday last week we had a water balloon fight, I think. On Tuesday we had a very normal day... oh but our zone leader came with us to one of our lessons and helped us out. The lady, we taught, said yes to get baptized but then when we came back the next day she told us not to come back again and that she was going to the Catholic Church. Sigh...
Wednesday we had a looooong day there was a lot of walking. By the time the sun sets everyday I am practically dragging my feet from being so tired of walking ha-ha. But it’s okay.
Thursday we had our zone meeting and then we went to Choluteca to eat. We ate at KFC hahahah. The air-conditioning was nice, definitely worth the trip. After we got back to our area we had a few appointments and it was nice.

On Friday all I wrote in my notes was that I wished I had more time for personal study haha. I really do.

On Saturday I wrote “some days are rough and today was”, but I can’t remember why. Ha-ha.
On Sunday we had stake conference and it was an absolute disaster. They had technical problems and we were just all sitting there for 45 minutes in the hot building and the kids were screaming and it was pretty funny. But we had two investigators with us so it was not funny at the same time. When we got back we ate soup called sopa de mondonga which has a unique meat in it haha.
And today! Today is my companion, Hermana Saldates birthday. We played futbol in the field in our area which means we got extra time to do stuff this morning. By that I mean that we slept in, ha-ha. The field we played on is full sized. It was really fun and I wasn’t sure if I was going to play the whole time but I did. Even though it was a trillion degrees outside. A lot of the elders in my zone are very good and wish I had their skill. Before we changed we lost the keys to our house so Hermana Saldate and Hermana Randall ran back to the field to find them. The elders bought eggs at the pulp next to our house. It’s a tradition here in Honduras to crack eggs on people’s heads on their birthday, So that happened. We then went to eat at a Guatemalan restaurant ...my companion chose since it is her birthday. And the elders got her two cakes! And we sung to her.

Things that have happened this week
-we climbed through a barbed wire fence.
-we ran over a mile in our skirts
-I pet a huge pig that is bigger than I am

Honduras is very different that the United States and I am still getting used to it ha-ha, but the people here are friendly most of the time and my Spanish is improving; slowly. On Friday, we had a goal in our zone to have ten baptism desafios, we only got 3. This week our zone had 101 desafios. Which is a lot ha-ha. It’s pretty cool.
This keyboard is almost broken so please excuse this horrible grammar and spelling!

Sam

laundry day

self reminder

christlian

zone- played futbol in our area and it was funnnn

our street

trying to all fit in one mototaxi

it was hna. saldate's birthday

leonarde and alex

scenery from our area

more of our area

Week 9 (March 10, 2014)

Week 3 in Honduras

This week has been full of missionary stuff, as you might have been able to guess. haha. we taught some people and visited some members.  really enjoy teaching the restoration. because its what makes our church different and it just connects everything and is such a  testament to the truthfullness of the gospel. my companion likes to teach the plan of salvation. but this week we taught a lot about the gospel of jesus christ. i think the thing that is easiest is bearing my testimony because i have so much practice and experience already from the ccm. teaching is difficult in a second language but i am getting plenty of practice everyday. my companion, hermana saldate is always there to help and always knows what i am trying to say xD

on wednesday one of the hermanas in our zone (hermana alvarado from costa rica) was told by hermana smart (the physician, health person) that she could not walk for three days. she has been having trouble with her feet. so i stayed with her in their house while my companion and her companion worked in their area. i didnt realize it until after that it was the first time since before i left home that i had a while day of not "working." even when i was sick at the ccm i went to classes and lessons with investigators. 

on saturday alex got baptized, he is 12 and none of his family are members. he is kind and well behaved and has such a desire to live the gospel of jesus christ. 

the weather here is hot and it gets hotter everyday. apparently march is the hottest month of the year in this area. haha. this should be a really fun week. i just wish there was air conditioning. we did a lot of work this week and did a lot of walking. one thing that is hard is that no one wants to pray or go to church. they say they enhjoy our message an want us to come back but then they dont want to pray even with our help. sigh. its okay though. because at least they enjoy what we are saying. 

i am happy that there are so many friendly people in our ward and in our area and that they are all patient and excited to help me learn spanish. this week i kind of learned how to say "thank you, but i am full" but i cant remember right now haha. i will ask my companion later lollll 

i hope you all are well!

love, sam

the biggest water balloon of them all during our zone water balloon fight

Week 8 (March 3, 2014)

(2nd Week in Honduras)

This week has been so busy! My companion, Hermana Saldate, is so nice and her Spanish is amazing she is really helpful and patient, which is good because I ALWAYS need help. Siempre. Pero, I think that everything is good. Everyone says that their first few months were rough with the language so I am not too discouraged. Our days are long and we do so much but the time passes very quickly.

It’s hard to find people who agree to come to church because they work on Sunday! We have visited one family two times this week who say they aren’t interested in going to church with us because they belong to a different church. In Kansas City! But they agree to listen to us talk...so we have been teaching them ha-ha. They seem to enjoy listening to our messages. This is really good! They speak English and the daughter, Jennifer grew up in Kansas City so she is fluent in English. It’s nice to be able to bear my testimony in English ha-ha.

I am so happy that you guys have gotten my mail! It’s harder to send mail from here so I don’t know when I will get to send another letter, maybe later this week or next.

Things here, in Honduras, are so different than home but one thing that is the same is the church. And that is truly a comfort. It is nice to be sitting in church and be doing all the same things and learning the same things and singing the same songs. Even though I may not know the lyrics in Spanish, hearing the familiar tune is comforting.

We finally got a fan and a microwave and a new stove and some dishes for our house! This is exciting because now we can eat foods that can be microwaved and not just beans and eggs ha-ha.

This past Thursday we had zone conference with all the zones here in the south and it was very fun. The mission president came and we met for pretty much the whole day. It was super nice. There were a lot of talks and helpful lessons. And the chapel we were in had AIR CONDITIONING; me gusta. Also I got to see Hermana Young!!!!! She is serving in a different zone here in the south about 40 minutes away. It was so nice to see her and talk to her even though it had only been a week since we saw each other ha-ha.

I love you guys so much and I am so grateful to have family and friends who are so supportive of me and I am so happy to be here in Honduras, even when I feel tired and hot. Ha-ha.

I love you!

me and my companion! 

Week 7 (February 24, 2014) FIRST WEEK IN HONDURAS

(Honduras Week 1)

I am in Honduras!  I didn’t get to email last week because everything was so crazy with planning and traveling. We arrived here the day after pday; which is on Mondays here.

I can hardly remember the last week at the CCM but I know it was full of excitement and bonding with my companions and my district. We left the CCM at 5:30am on Tuesday 2/18 and traveled for 12 hours to Tegucigalpa. Our first night in Honduras was nice and it was just us three at the Mission home. The next day a bunch of other new missionaries arrived from the Guatemala CCM. We were the only Americans ha-ha. The day after that, Wednesday, we got our new companions! It was really hard to leave Hermana Young and Hermana Bleak because we became so close and best friends during our stay at the CCM.

My new companion, and my trainer, is Hermana Saldate she is from California. I am so grateful that she speaks English. She is so patient with me and my Spanish. She is always trying to help me out whenever she can.

My first week here in our area, a small town called Yusguare, has been amazing. I've experienced and seen so many things that I never thought I would. Our area is in the south of Honduras and it is SO HOT. I am convinced that it is the single hottest place on the entire planet. But somehow it also isn’t so bad when I focus on our purpose and on the people. The people here are so nice and welcoming. They are always trying to help me with my Spanish when they can. Teaching people about the gospel is amazing and nothing like I imagined. It is so much different than in practice. And feeling the spirit and seeing the members understand their relationship with god is really beautiful. Speaking during the lessons is not so bad because I am getting better at remembering and using those words. It is much easier that just casual conversation.

This week we have gone around and met most of the people from the church and gotten to know them. On Saturday we did a service project with the young women and the young men to clean up the park. We picked up trash and painted and it was really fun. When we were finished everyone played soccer and they were so good. Haha.

One of the most amazing sights I have seen here is the night sky. There aren’t any big city lights at night in my area and when I look up the sky is just FILLED with stars. It is amazing. I could look at them all night.

Our house currently does not have any electricity and the entire of the town doers not have running water. As you can probably imagine, this makes everything so much different. One of the biggest things I am getting used to is bucket showers. This is basically just dumping a bucket of water on yourself several times as you clean yourself. Also today I washed my clothes by hand and it is very time consuming ha-ha. I know that living this humbly is going to bring great blessings and I know that one of them is to become closer with the people who live here.
I am still getting used to this area, and to Honduras but I know that this is where I am meant to be and I know that if I am patient with the language, have faith, and remember my purpose we can do amazing things.

I miss you guys so much and I hope all the pets are doing well. I think about you guys all the time. Earlier today I was thinking about how we always go to the movies together. And that nice air-conditioning. that sounds super nice. Haha. I love you guys!

Hermana Jaquez

And now...A TON of pictures. Prepare yourselves.

Traveling to Honduras:

the last of our district (the morning we left the ccm) 

i can't believe i got to talk to you guys 

plane buddies

landed safely in tegucigalpa 

at the mission home on our last night together as companions

on the bus to changes

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First Week in Honduras:

a completely normal reaction to this heat in southern Honduras 

our bedroom 

our kitchen

Week 6-ish (February 16th, 2014)- Leaving the CCM Mexico

Hey mom and dad i am emailing really quick to let you know that i am leaving the ccm for honduras tomorrow morning. i leave the ccm at 530 am. our flight leaves at 10:35 am and we get to san pedro sula, honduras at 1:05 pm. we then have a layover and leave from there at 4:45 pm and get to tegucigalpa at 5:35 pm. we are allowed to email you just to let you know. i love you guys and miss you guys so much. 

i love you guys so much. i am excited to be going to honduras tomorrow. we haven't even started packing yet. i am glad my companions will be with me the whole way there. i love you guys!

Final week pictures: 

us and hno. garcia

us and hno. hernandez

our district and hno. castellanos

leaving info

iconic

house sleepover

Week 5 pictures!

taken last pday while walking outside

my companions and i with some hermanas that left last weeek. the hermana on the left, hermana pentelute was one of our sister trainers. she is so nice.

we stayed up way too late and made a fort in our room, i think on wednesday

me in the fort. we slept in it for two days!

fort again

hanging out in the fort.

we got our hair cut!

pictures on the way to email!

that is the building we email from

and me at my computer!