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 14- extra message

Hi,

I hope your week has been great. I miss you guys and think of you always.

Things here, in Honduras, are good. I am ALWAYS thinking about you guys. And my testimony of families has grown so much. I hope you guys pray and read the scriptures together every day. Even if it is hard to find time. I promise it will bring blessings and help strengthen our family relationships. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot.

I love you and hope you guys have a great week!

Love, Sam

Week 14 (April 14, 2014)

Week 8 in Honduras

This week was crazy. And it felt super long and super short at the same time. I don’t know how that works out. 

Monday, we went back to our area and worked for the rest of the day. Nothing major. Oh we had family home evening with an inactive family and they didn’t have electricity so it was all in the dark using cell phones as lights. 

On Tuesday we had another service project, we helped a member family haul sand from the river up a huge hill to their house so they can finish building walls for their house.

Wednesday, President and Hermana Hernandez came to our zone. We had a meeting in the morning and learned about some stuff. Haha. They then went to each area to check houses and have interviews. We are probably going to need to switch houses but that’s okay. Our interviews were good too. Since they were at our house we each went and had our interview in the car, air conditioning. Yay. Haha.

Thursday at our zone meeting we had a really good lesson, by our zone leaders, about how to study and how we can help prepare others.

Friday I think this was our one normal day and we did a lot of studying and it was great because we felt really prepared for our lessons and it felt awesome haha. I love it when we can prepare lessons for each person individually. We met a family and the mom was really receptive but the dad wasn’t. In the end the mom and daughter accepted our invitation to be baptized.

Saturday was a reaaaaaally busy day but we got a lot done. Our schedule was so crazy but we visited a lot of people and talked to a lot of people on the streets. Overall we challenged six people and five accepted. It’s okay though because those who did accept seemed like they found us and they were already prepared to hear and accept the gospel. 

Sundays we are always busy because we have to leave super early to wake people up for church. Overall only one of the ten people we visited came to church, but that is okay. We tried not to get discouraged. Church was good. I liked the lesson on repentance and the third hour lesson on family history. 

Aaaaannnnnddd....

Today, Monday, we went HIKING. Legit hiking and it took forever.

The truck ride there in the morning was a real adventure because it kept breaking down and it took forever but it was fun. 

The view at the top was amazingggg. And super pretty. We had a spiritual message, sang a hymn, ate lunch, and played some games and then left. It was super fun.   Mom, you would be proud because I wore pants (“always wear pants to hike”) and I didn’t get cuts on my legs like everyone else, and I brought a lot of water and still had some at the end when we got back down and everyone else was dying of thirst. I shared. It was a fun day.

Overall this week was so busy and I think next week will be just as busy. But it is fun because it seemed like we are working super hard and also doing a lot of fun things as well.  

Love sam

Service Project:

Hiking:

Dog encounter

We were walking home, escorted by a member Hermano Zambrano and his girlfriend, Marlin who we are teaching, because its peligroso to walk alone at night. A family and their dog were walking down the street too, all of a sudden the family’s dog ran over and started biting me.  Jose kicked the dog but it wouldn’t stop, my companion was pulling me away while Marlin and Jose were trying to push the dog away. The dog finally stopped and ran away to his owners, they didn’t do anything, just kept walking the whole time.  My skirt and slip were ruined but I am glad that it was just my skirt that the dog bit.  I am okay. 

Mom comment: What an experience!

Week 13 ( April 7, 2014)

Week 7 in Honduras

Monday, last P-day, we did laundry for four hours and that was the big event. We made the decision to pay someone to clean our clothes. XD

Tuesday, we had a service project to help a family in the ward take down their roof and some walls, so their whole house. It was fun and they gave us food after. We had a lunch appointment and ended up eating at both places, it was so much food. We were completely sick for the rest of the day.

Wednesday was a normal day, and it was unbelievably hot.

Thursday we had our zone/district meeting we met the new members of our zone. Afterward we had a lunch appointment so we didn’t go eat pizza with our zone. I was kind of disappointed haha, because pizza.

Friday everyone fed us, almost every house we visited someone gave us food, and the food wasn’t full meals just snacks so that was okay. Haha.

Saturday we left super early in the morning to remind people about conference, the entire town and all surrounding towns lost electricity. No conference, sad panda.
As conference was starting we got a call from the zone leaders saying one of the church buildings in another town had their own power source, and thus...conference. We took a mototaxi and a bus and got there one hour late but got to see the second hour of the Saturday morning session. For the afternoon session, we brought a few investigators and got a ride with a member and went to the same building as the morning since we were still out of electricity. We ended up getting power for two hours at around 6pm but then it went back out at around 8 while we were teaching a lesson to a family outside. We finished the lesson in pitch black.

On Sunday we left super early again to wake people up for conference. But the electricity was working so we only had to go to our ward building! Yay. It was nice, but different because our building is a baby so we watched it on a wrinkly tarp and the speakers were muffled but it was okay because a lot of people got to come since it was in our building! Overall we had about 11 investigators come to church!

How did you guys like conference? I thought was great. Even though I am sure I missed A LOT because it was all in Spanish haha. But I loved it. Especially the talks about families! And learning and studying together if we estudiamos the escrituras como una familia, we invite el espiritu santo into our homes. This is something everyone should understand the importance of.
I also really loved how much faith and hope were discussed. Especially about hope and the power of the atonement. Really beautiful.

Overall it was a good week. Apparently this week is going to be the hottest week of this year in this area so we shall see. Haha.

Love you, Sam

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