Monday, December 22, 2014



I sent pillow cases but Scott said he doesn't have a pillow so he laid them out as placemats.  I was so happy he received his packages in time for Christmas!!

I got the music to work, thank you so much!

 

A cat? what? Isn't everybody allergic? Is it leaving hair all over the place? Glad sterling likes it though. Poor skip, he needs to rest in peace in his old age.

and Skype, lets say 12 my time, sounds good? no idea what I'll do with the Skype account but I'll have my email open too so we'll figure it out.  I'm gonna start to figure it out now.

this week was pretty hard actually. Comp problems and we've run out of new people to teach. I know everyone in our part of the island. So we're just gonna keep working with who we have and then start in on the former investigators. Having a hard time leaving the nets behind so to speak. I don't know why but I have the hardest time not thinking about the future-and about the dumbest stuff. I mean, its important and all, but not now-I honestly get anxious about where I'm gonna live and what I'm gonna do and what the family is gonna do-It's really a problem and I don't know how to fix it. When I'm working its fine, but when I'm in the house or getting ready for the day or waiting around for my comp I just get swamped with anxiety, and it doesn't help that I'm already super stressed with my companion. It's the dumbest thing but its a struggle.

But, still, all is well, I'm still pressing forward.

I am going to ceiba today actually, on the 2 oclock boat. Calm seas right now so keep your fingers crossed! Always exciting to take the boat. But yeah, we'll never take an airplane unless there is an abnormal amount of civil unrest and they need to jet us off the island.

And thank you so much for all the Christmas stuff! I got a kick out of all that. Especially the scent package. That was the best part of the whole thing. And yes haha I know those are pillowcases but...I don't have a pillow, so they were placemats for the picture. And yes, I got all the packages. much appreciated.

We've had lots of Christmas stuff going on, definitely different. Everybody eats tamales for Christmas and elders in the mainland are swamped with people giving them tamales and we have had one. Funny story, the other day a sister invited us over for tamales, so we cancelled our dinner appointment and went over to her house. After crossing the island and climbing a couple hills, we get to her house and realize that I had misunderstood her, and that we were there to make tamales, not to eat them, so we got stuck with hauling tubs of meat and corn meal and banana leaves and didn't have dinner. Oh well. Also we've been asked to sing like 5 times, and nobody can sing here. Not like I can sing, but Elder Cluff and I sound like angels compared to the latinos. The musical numbers here make me cringe and when the missionaries sing together its still horrible. So hopefully they won't ask us to sing for a while. We've had a missionary Christmas activity, the branch Christmas dinner, and the primary program on Saturday, which was especially interesting because the power went out so they opened all the doors to the chapel and we could see the ocean down below us through the palm trees while we were watching the program. Super Roatan.

Also, sidenote, from grammie's letter sounds like belle is kinda having a hard time and doesn't fit in with the family and all so you may want to reach out to her or something.

I'll tell you about some of the people in the branch right now, just to fill you in a little bit. One of my favorite people here is Hermana angelica. And she will go straight to the celestial kingdom when she dies. She is old, probably 80 plus, and still works as a seamstress. Has very little money but she still feeds us every Tuesday. She knows everybody and pretty much everyone in her neighborhood is a descendant of her. She gives us lots of references. And she cares for her special needs sister and daughter, and they are adorable. One of them looks totally normal but is just not there and she doesn't respond to anything, but the other can speak and has emotions and all and she's my favorite. She was afraid of me at first cause I'm huge compared to her but now we're buddies. She's probably under 5 feet, and she's got big ears that stick out of her hair and a big smile. She's always so happy to see us and she just looks like pure happiness swinging on her little swing outside of their house.

And I'm running out of time so that's all you're gonna hear about for now. I'll try and get pictures of people next week.

I loved hearing about your week! I;m glad it went so well with the canals, and all that Christmas and birthday stuff sounds like a blast. but yeah, I'm gonna talk to you all in a couple days so since time is short i'll save everything for then.

And, as always thanks for the pictures!

love you all and can't wait to talk to ya, merry Christmas!

Elder Vasquez r-u-n-n-u-f-f-t

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

(We got to hear from Scott again this week because it was tranfers)

Elder vasquez r-u-n-n-o-f-f-t. Got transfered, so now I´m flying solo and have the responsibility to teach the area and the people to my new companion (who will still be my senior companion but he wont know anything about the island or our people, obviously).

 

 I was real sad to see vasquez go, but, its for the best. It was time for a change. He taught me alot, and he´s an excellent missionary, but I did feel like he was holding us back sometimes. He was very patient and thoughtful but indecisive sometimes-and because of this we weren´t working as much as I wanted to. Still, I´ll miss him. By the time he left we got real close and were teaching with a lot of unity. 

Anyway, time for my update. Had an excellent last couple days working with Elder Cluff, the other gringo here. It was nice working with him because he´s a gringo and always go go go-and that´s the style I like. I can´t stand waiting around-the only way I can find satisfaction and happiness in this work is to really go hard. If we don´t work hard and are waiting around I start thinking of home and other things and I can´t focus on the work at hand. Anyways. 

We had some gringos visit church on sunday-from monticello and st george Utah. Randalls. Figured we were related. 

Also, just a little sidenote, its interesting that hear when people get up to bear their testimonies, they always bring their spouse with them-there will be two people up at the podium and they take turns bearing testimony. Not sure if its sweet or odd but its sure different. 

We still have our people with baptism dates-the velasquez family struggles to understand everything and Bucho has cigarrette problems. Still pressing forward and we should be able to set two more dates tonight. Also been doing alot of reactivation-one family has returned to full activity in the church-sunday meetings, christmas activity, and christmas devotional-without us prodding them to go, so that´s cool. And we´re reactivating other families but they still need help from time to time. And then last night we found a totally inactive family but all the kids are baptized and they kinda just faded so we´ll have the chance to bring them back too. 

Also, I´m just about fed up with how rude the native islanders are. We´ll say hi to them and they´ll say nothing, or say ¨mhmm¨ or just look at you like we should know better than to speak spanish to them. Sometimes when we contact their houses they will come out to see who´s there, and then they´ll see its us and they won´t say a word and just turn their backs to us and keep talking to whoever else is there-they don´t hide, they just sit there with their backs to us. The other night there was this islander who was fixing his bike, which was blocking the path. We come up and he doesn´t move his bike so we can pass, just keeps on messing with it. So we help him fix his bike and in a minute its good to go-and he just gets up and rides off-doesn´t say a word the entire time. I sure like the hondurans a whole lot more. 

Also, all those stories about latina girls and missionaries? true. Holy cow. I don´t know if I was just looking real good this week or what but I got offered marriage a couple times, was offered a naked massage by an investigator, and had another investigator tell me that she had a dream the other night that she would get married to a christian gringo who came to the island. 

But besides all that, had a real good couple of days. Teaching with the spirit and I´m really learning to be bold and not worry about mistakes. I have absolutely no fear anymore. I love talking to receptive people and I love talking to people that absolutely don´t want us to be there because I enjoy it. And I´m really learning how inspired preach my gospel is and I am becoming a preach my gospel missionary-´by the book is the way to go. 

Although, speaking of preach my gospel, the district videos are a joke for this mission. It just doesn´t compare. I would be very unfit for a stateside mission and I am becoming very well suited for this mission. The district missionaries seem like robots and I can´t stand to watch the (excpet the one elder, elder christiansen, he´s great)  And they have cars and houses and their investigators haven´t killed people. But yeah, getting more and more used to Honduras every day. 

That´s my update! Miss you all.

how was curtis´s birthday? Out of school yet? Tell Chenel hi for me. And for skype, I´ll have however long you want really but shouldn´t be more than an hour. Christmas day or new years day, you choose. 

winter break plans?

And I´m sorry to hear that curtis is getting all heathrow-y. the more he goes fishing the less he´ll be like that, right? allthough I´m glad he´s concerned about how he smells, I feel like that ones pretty important. 

That´s just about all I have to share for now, tell everybody hi and that they are loved and missed. And pray for the other missionaries as well, some of my friends from the MTC are in some very dangerous areas. But, I´m safe and sound in our little tropical island here. 

Rain Finally Quit

December 8, 2014

Scott says he is always wet!  This flooding is from all the rain - very poor drainage!

I´ll find out tonight what´s gonna happen with Elder Vasquez. And there´s always the possibility that I could go but its unlikely. But yes, this week is changes so you will hear from me twice! And if you don´t hear from me, it means I got transfered. 

Christmas is garbage here. It´s not that great on the mainland but even worse on the island. People celebrate with fireworks and all day every day it sounds like a war zone. But they´re not good fireworks, just homedmade pipe bombs that people set off in the street. It´s literally wearing down my nerves. Although, there are some really good things about christmas here too-we had a branch christmas program that the missionaries put on that went really well (although I think part of the reason it went so well is that all the less actives that came got it confused with the branch christmas dinner that we´re going to have later, and im sure they were disapointed when we only served a sandwhich and punch for refreshments)  and then we had great attendance, most of the branch, to watch the christmas devotional. 

But yes, retention! we do alot of work with less actives and recent converts-and this is a trend in all of latin america because baptisms are so high but retention is not-but we do have above average retention for the mission and everyone is improving. 

also, we are killing it right now. We are working hard and effectively. We have 4 people with a baptism date-bucho and the family. progress has slowed a little bit since last week but we also found a few new families-which is the best, we usually teach individuals-but the best family we found can read, has children, and are religious but dissatisfied with the churches on the island. perfect. Also their dog has attacked me twice, and the first time he charged me from 20 yards away so i bent down to pick up a rock and was getting ready to get down and dirty but then this little girl ran out and started hitting the dog. saved by an 8 year old. 

but yeah, spanish is good. I´m at a real crucial point of the language-people understand me and I can always understand them, and this is where alot of missionaries call it good and slack off and then come home sounding terrible. I´m close to fluent but i can fully communicate-´just not well. But, I have done very well in not sounding like a gringo and working on my pronunciation-people often think im from italy (not sure why but i figure because its close to spanish that i don´t have a terrible accent)

but yeah, this week has been kinda weird. the rain is a pain. everyone leaves the island for christmas. 

but our branch is actually pretty strong for a branch. sacrament attendance is usually around 100. still, we have a lot of responsibilities, but the leaders do a pretty good job. and the president and his counselors and all th eleaders of the priesthood and auxillaries are solid. We have a good foundation. But its also hard because the island is very transitory, we may loose a couple key families in the next year. 

I´m very sorry to hear about Kobe. What´s julies email address? Id like to email her. 

 

And that´s a shame about the bears. Can´t blame them for coming out for food when the whole state is being turned into a subdivision. 

also, those blowguns are a blast, Matt cruz and I did the exact same thing right before I left...that´s funny. Maybe i´m not that mature after all. Has matt left yet? haven´t heard from him. 

oh, and tell curtis happy birthday! send me a picture of the kayak.

 Do you guys have plans for christmas break? do really fun stuff for me so i can live vicariously through you guys. 

I´ll have another chance to email you all soon-i´m gonna email friends and take care of some mission business for now-but in case you don´t hear from me til wednesday, love you all, and thanks! my update will be coming in the next email.

December 1, 2014

Yes, the spencers visit was awesome! I'm so glad they were able to make it. They gave us a little inflatable tree which is the best so we have a christmas tree and a nativity scene in our apartment haha. And their buying us groceries was much appreciated and sorely needed. It was kinda cool being their guide for the night and talking to the waiter for them in spanish and showing them around a little-made me feel like a real local. And it was great to hear of things from home and their missions and their kids missions and all. Great time, and my companion and I throroughly enjoyed it. Elder Vasquez got to practice his enlgish too. Great time. And I never know how to respond when people praise me like sandee did in her little letter, but...thanks, its always nice to hear good things about yourself. 

And the packages! thank you so much, i love the shirt and i'm wearing it now. after the mission this is all im gonna wear, i don't care how ugly they are. And i did read all of sister cyrocki's stuff, I'm gonna write her a handwritten letter back. And I read grammies letter too, bless her heart. And no sign of my packages, but...I did get the first package you sent last week finally haha. Forced my retainer in there and suffered the pain for a few days. And you know full well I already opened my birthday package...I will, however, wait to plug it in!

 as for sarah, a fullride? thats really cool. I know its SUU but still...way to go. She made up her mind yet? Jenny goes up to Idaho everynow and then and thinks sarah would like provo better but who knows. And thanks for the christmas music, can' wait!

speaking of my ipod, and instagram-is there anyway you can preserve all the pictures I have? I have some cool pics on instagram I don't want to lose if they delete my account, and are my photos still on the phone? Kate should know all that. 

crossbow thing? I would reccomend no on that, they are useless. waste of money. can't hunt with them and it takes forever to load and shoot. still gonna get them kayaks? thats the best thing, they'll have years of fun with those. and dang, curtis looks like he walked out of a frat house at UF! looking good, and everyone else is too. you all need to go fishing over break.

transfers are next week, I may lose vasquez. and i'll be the senior companion here showing someone else around the island. woah. hope not though, its possible he'll stay. And shoot, theres an old ipod touch in my glovebox in the truck he can have if its still there. 

but yeah, we'll never get to go to the temple. its outside our mission and a long journey. But the branch is putting on a track and were helping prepare people to be endowed so thats exciting! And we had two missionarires return and are about to send 3 out. 

sounds like you all have had some good times. thanksgiving, campout...still jealous about the cold weather. glad to see the atv hayride tradition is still going strong. 

but, heres my update!

This has been by far the most interesting week I've had so far. 

We had a storm for 3 days, and at one point the street in front of our house was waist deep of gushing floodwaters. As such, we didn't have power for a while and did our nightime planning sessions by candlelight swattting mosquitos. We had water for a little while but it was nasty and brown and looked like coffee but it didn't smell so we still bathed and washed dishes. But, as of right now we haven't had any water for going on three days, so we collect rainwater to use for flushing toilets and washing dishes. Haven't bathed, getting a little grody, nor do we have clean clothes. It's been a real Roatan style week. 

Also, during the storm, a boat of cubans washed ashore in front of the house of one of our members(see the picture of their boat) and its truly an incredible story. They left cuba trying to get to miami, and the storm caught them and brought them all the way down here. 15 days crossing the open ocean battling a storm the whole way. a fifteen foot boat, with 15 people, and the last 4 days they had no food, and only rainwater to drink. And when the storm was about to bash them against the reefs that suround the island, a giant wave picked them up and set them gently in the lagoon. The man that was telling us the story said it looked like the hand of God had plucked them out of the water and dropped them into the lagoon. we were listening to that story on the dock next to their boat the night after they made it here and we were out on the dock and the storm was still whipping pretty good and I nearly started to cry thinking of all those people battling a storm for days on end and all through the nights in pitch black with no food, and of all the scriptures about how the lord remembers his people on the isles of the sea and how much of  a miracle it is that they made it here and how they must have felt once they hit dry land and were taken in by the islanders. Also, screw the liberal media telling us how good cuba is and how communism is working and all that garbage. If it was so good then why did they risk their lives like that to escape?

 

And Bucho is still doing good, and progressing well and his baptism date is on my birthday. He's a character all right. And we found a family the other night that called us in from the street and were golden as golden gets-everyone was either married or not in a relationship, wanting to get active in a church-they set their own baptismal dates and we actually had to reign them in a little bit and tell them to slow down and that we have to prepare them more haha. And then we had to other investigators have very strong spiritual experiences praying about joseph smith and the book of mormon so they're fixin to get wet too. Very successful week, we are really reaping the rewards of all our contacting and referrals from the last week. 

I'm also learning more about our purpose-for a little while we were stuck in this little routine (with our less actives) that we would share a nice little message and not much else. It was like "hey, they don't go to church, we'll bring the church to them" but that's not our purpose. Our purpose is to preach repentance and the restoration. And if they won't keep committments or change, then we need to move on. Still visit them, but there are other people that are priority that have a desire to keep committments. and its hard because my comp is pretty attached to them but we're working on it. 

Also, do you all have any ideas to switch up visits with members and less actives? For example, one thing we've been doing is to teach lehis dream and have all the kids draw it out. 

Also had a great spiritual experience this week-we were sitting down with two of our longtime investigators and we had a plan all set but then I got a prompting to change the plan. So I nudged my  comp and whispered "hey, we gotta switch this up" and as I said that I felt this super strong confirmation that that was the right call and I was all of a sudden full of power and light and joy...and then the power went out and we had to rush home for safety. But, I had my opportunity to listen to the spirit and follow it. 

Also, I've eaten iguana and guinea pig. Iguana is actually pretty good cooked in coconut milk if its cleaned good, but when I ate it I kept biting into its scales that had fallen into the meat. almost threw up. guinea pig is like stringy chicken and I couldn't taste a difference. 

 

Also, for my little nature experience of the wek, all the missionares were standing on a footbridge over an inlet on the beach. we were looking toward the island and in the little valley in front of us, we saw two big, beautiful scarlet macaws flying in tandem-flying in and out of these huge jungle trees, calling to eachother, in the misty valley, with the ocean below us-it was pretty cool to see those super rare birds in the wild-and they could have been a hundred years old too, they have crazy lifespans. But yeah.

 

Thats all I got for ya! I'm sure I'll think of more. But if not, or if the power cuts out again, love and miss you all!

Spencers in Roatan

Bishop Spencer and his wife were able to meet up with Scott in Roatan after their dental mission in San Pedro Sula.  Heavy rains and flooding almost prevented them from making it to Roatan.  Power, phones and water had been out but they were finally able to reach Scott and meet up with him.  I am so grateful for their documentation and pictures that they sent.  Their documentation was wonderful!!

Elder Vasquez, Elder Hansen and Bishop Spencer

Elder Hansen, Sandee Spencer and Bishop Spencer

Looking into the grocery store type place which is actually in a house. You don’t go in to pick your groceries. You tell them through a window what you want.  We let the Elders each pick out 5 items- so we stocked them up on a bit of groceries. A good thing as money ran short this week!
 



Outside of the building where Scott lives.  He lives upstairs.
 



 

The main room of Scott’s apartment. Study area on the right. Each elder has his own fan

Bathroom

Scott is showing us that there is only a trickle of water coming out of the spigot. The storm was so bad it took down the infastructure and they don’t know when they will have water again. They are wearing their last clean clothes. I wish they were closer to our resort as we have a nice washer and dryer in our unit.

Kitchen counter in forground, boy’s study area on the left near the door

Bishop Spencer and Elder Hansen

Buddy taking a picture of Scott’s study area

 

I asked if it was safe there....

Yes it feels very safe here. We were under strict cautions and restrictions in San Pedro Sula. We were not allowed to go anywhere ever without our armed police escorts. But our entire group came over to Roatan for some rest and relaxation after our service project and here we were allowed to go anywhere at any time. I again asked our cab driver if it was safe and he assured us yes it is safe everywhere on Roatan. Scot mentioned they don’t assign sisters to unsafe areas and they have sisters here. Great place to start out.

 It’s weird that it gets dark really early here- like 5:30 PM. But there were people out everywhere walking around. For some reason that seemed odd to me and I finally realized it’s because there are no street lights so they are outside walking around in what looks like midnight - but it’s really not that late.

I wish I would have thought to bring Scott more stuff. I got so distracted getting all the dental stuff together I didn’t think of it. I did give him what you sent! He was excited to see it. But I wish I’d thought to ask what his favorite treats were to bring him.
He has a great attitude. It was raining (again!) and we asked what does he do in the rain? Rain coat? Umbrella. he said no you just don’t worry about it.
I asked if he has a Momita to do his laundry and cook for him and he said yes she is wonderful. She doesn’t do his laundry but she does cook for them and it’s wonderful. For some reason he didn’t love the Baleadas when he got here but he does now. I am crazy over them and want our new ward members to teach me how to make them.
Scott said to tell you someone is committed to Baptism but I can’t remember the name. Bocho?
He’s doing great. You should be proud. It’s very fun that he is living in a 4some. My boys always loved that. It gave them a break from always having to talk to their companions and they said it was fun at the end of a long day to get to hear how the other companionship had done.

We asked if he had gotten to go fishing and he said not yet. Someone was supposed to take them but their boat got stuck somewhere. They of course have to fish from land

There is a cool ecological park here that I almost went to. Scott said they had gone on a p-day. The monkeys roam freely and crawl on your shoulders try to get in your back pack etc. They also have a big park with hundreds of iguana. He said his companion had been there but he had not yet. He did say he tasted Iguana. He said they had just eaten a big lunch and someone served it to him. It was bony like a cross between chicken and fish. Always cool to eat something really weird on your mission.

Sandee

Another odd thing down here is their oatmeal. Our breakfasts were included at our hotels and were super fancy. Lots of fresh fruit, cold meats, pastries, omelettes made to order etc. And they served oatmeal but it was so so thin. Honestly it was more like slightly thick milk. I mentioned it to Scott and he said yes he likes it like that. He said he also likes taking some oatmeal and mixing it with some water something else (sugar?I’ve forgotten) and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes and then drink it cold. ?????

Oh the juice here is really good. It comes in pop size cans and there is peach, watermelon etc. I really like the pear!


Sandee's last email titled
The Great Plan B

One of my many character flaws is I have trouble letting go of Plan A— or what is fair or good or how it should be.

It seems Scott shines in the area of Plan B. I mentioned that he was chuckling when he tried the water faucet in their apartment again and only had a trickle. They have a bar right near their house that plays loud music all night and when I asked about it he said “I kind of like it!” And as I mentioned he said a favorite snack was oatmeal with water in it stuck in the freezer for awhile. It is what it is here and Scott is making the best of it with a smile on his face. 

I think one of the reasons I like to travel is I tend to naturally let go of Plan A. It’s not going to be like it is at home so you wing it and go with it. When we went to Mexico to pick Chris up from his mission the whole family went. At one point we were taking a public bus and it was crowded and we were standing in the aisle really crowding people (Spencers are big people). One of the passengers asked if we could please go sit in the back on the luggage shelf. And we did laughing the whole time. When Buddy Kait and I were in Japan Buddy went to the hotel we were staying at to try to reserve the Karaoke room. They told him it must be reserved 24 hours in advance. “but we would like to use it now and it is empty and we have money” The answer “It must be reserved 24 hours in advance” (Typical organized Japanese people) We laughed then and laugh every time we think about it. Just this morning we went to return our snorkel gear at 8:30 (we had been told the shop opens at 8) and they said the “accountant” didn’t arrive until 9 so come back or we might not get credit for turning it in. And so with smiles on our faces we went to eat breakfast and came back later. 

I think a lot of new missionaries can waste a time and energy complaining about how things are different than they are used to. Scott isn’t wasting a minute doing that.
 

We got to Roatan on an unusually stormy weekend and as I mentioned the storm damaged a lot of the infrastructure. I asked Scott “What do you missionaries do when it rains? Do you carry umbrellas? Wear rain coats?” He said (cheerfully) “No we just get wet. We do have umbrellas but when we carry them the people think we are Jehovah’s Witnesses (there are many of those on the island) So we don’t carry them.”
 

He realizes that though he might get soaked to the skin he is baring his testimony just by being visible as a representative of the church and of the Savior. He’d rather be wet than have that visual testimony missed by anyone.
 

I’m going to try to be more like Scott when I get home. Plan B is what we’ve got so there is no use wasting energy and inviting the spirit of contention by belly aching that things just aren’t happening according to our Plan A. 
 

You’ve got a great son!
 

Sandee

Thank you Sandee!!!

 

Scott's Bishop (Spencer) is the third from left and his wife is on the far right.  They are in Honduras doing dental service for perspective elders.  They met with Scott's mission president and his wife who are on the far left.  The Spencers are going to Roatan after they are finished and will get to see Scott.

Pday with companion Elder Vasquez - Doesn't that water look tempting?!

 

 

Hey, the spencers! That's cool, I can't wait to see them! What exactly are they doing? Why do they have the plaques? And yes, I am confident that they can take us out. I will call President this week to make sure its all kosher but I don't think it will be a problem. Bishop may have already talked with him about it. I hope they can make it to church, its always an adventure. And, if they're still wondering, the aiport is only like 15 minutes tops from the church-but if their taxi can take them straight there its like 10. And tell them to watch out for the taxi drivers, they will charge unreal amounts from white people. 

So first, I'll answer your questions, so I don't forget later. 

I'm doing great. Language is good and spirits are high. Usually my week is great monday and tuesday, wednesday and thursday are pretty rough, and then the weekend is great again. Not sure why but that's always how it goes. No worries though, I'm still getting better everyday. And today after we're done writing we're gonna take a bus to one of the best beaches (look up west bay (or west end-can't remember which, one is nasty and one is awesome-to see what it looks like) and we'll play frisbe or catch or something as a district and then eat in a ritzy restuarant that gives us a 50% missionary discount. Then we'll come back, grocery shop, and then go back to work at 6. Alonzo came to church but the family is living in another part of the island that we won't visit til next week so we'll see. Not worried about the brother, and alonzo is reading the liahona every day so is improving. Still writing Jenny, for now. She may have found a boyfriend over the week in provo, who knows. And the boy in chains! Jose Roberto. Small kid. 16, black. our negrito. His mom, is this big white lady who is actually black by blood (skin condition, who know? picture a black woman with white skin) She put chains on her boy to keep him home cause he was always running around in the street and getting in trouble with his friends so she chained him home. She's always saying that he needs the lord and needs to quit running around on the street (being on the street is a euphamism for basically everything a person could do on the street-means drinking, smoking, gambling, whatever, excpet that when jose is on the streets he's just running around with the neighborhood kids) but she herself is frequently found at the little house of sin across from their neighborhood where everybody's drinking and  all. She's hard to love. We're teaching jose but he can't read so its a struggle. He really wants it but he just doesn't have it in him to show up for appointments and when we go and seek him out he'll be just about to leave or whatever and is just hard to get ahold of. But he loves going to church at least. 

Thanksgiving sounds fun, I expect some pictures. Ya know, I didn't really think about it til you mentioned it. Don't get me wrong, im super excitied for the spencers, but until you mentioned it....didn' even cross my mind. Which is a good sign! Plus, yeah...they don't really celebrate thanksgiving here. Some islanders do, cause of the american influence, but...most hondurans are mostly of native blood and the natives really got the shaft with the whole thanksgiving/white people coming to the new world thing.  Christmas, on the other hand...I'm gonna have a really good christmas actually. But it's already making me baggy. No problem though. It'll probably be the most meaningful christmas I'll have yet. And I can't wait for the packages! Also, speaking of christmas-we're allowed to listen to christmas music-any chance you could send me some mp3 files of christmas songs? Not sure how that all works but the other elders do it and they can show me how if you send the files. Just the stuff we have in the house-some of the Alan Jackson songs and josh groban. And Alabama's "Chritmas in Dixie". Ya know, just to make me homesick and all. 

Anyways, I wish I had more time! I got some emails that were important from friends (Hyrum, Matt, Orrin, and all them)I had to give good responses to, and mission president letters, so I'm a little short on time. Mission rule is two hours. So, I figured you all would rather hear about Roatan and all that than hear my replies to everyone's updates, but rest assured I love reading them. I love hearing about all the little stuff. And the pictures! Everyone looks a little older already. I can't imagine coming back to everyone two years older. Anyways, heres my update, small plate version:

 
I'm thinking in spanish now! Well, spanglish sometimes, but that's exciting. The language isn't holding me back anymore. Still a struggle and always will be but I can fully participate in any conversation about religion. 

 Struggling a litle bit with decisiveness (spelling? no clue) and time management. My comp is very slow and methodical and likes to think everything out before we do anything and I always just want to go and contact or something when an appointment falls through. So we're still finding the balance there. But, Vasquz and I are great. Besides that we don't have any issues or anything and we have a good time. And I've really been noticing how we work with the spirit...There's been many times where I get the impression to change the subject and talk about something else and as I'm about to start in he starts, and says the exact thing, word for word, that was on my mind. So its pretty cool we're working in a little trio with the spirit. 

 

And I've told you a little about Bucho, my favorite investigator-hes the native islander, fisherman, who worked in florida for a while, old black dude, likes western movies and john wayne, cool guy-we should have a date for his baptism set tomorrow, so pray for him if you will. 

 and we did alot of contacting this week and have a whole pile of golden investigators to teach next week-who can read, are married, aren't religious but want to be, and will probably be able to afford to come to church. So that's exciting. 

 And man, its incredible the joy you feel when you see an investigator walk in the chapel doors, that came of their own free will-thats cool.

And the amount of personal revelation I have been recieving lately is unreal. What an opportunity to be so immersed in the gospel; there's nothing to keep us from the spirit or revelation. It's really miraculous. 

So yeah, I have a ton else to tell yall about but my timer on the computer is ticking. Just missionary work, hot dusty streets, filth, super friendly drunk people, and balleadas. Life is good, and I'm hanging in here. 

Love you all, keep the updates coming! 

November 17, 2014

You all are lookin good, thanks for the family pic.

First off, I´m doing pretty good. Nothing new or super exciting, at least that I can think of right now. Everything kind of blends into one. I know exciting things have happened but for the life of me I can´t think of them. Last monday after writing we went and did these sweet ziplines up in the mountains from treeetop to treetop and it was pretty cool. Got to hold some more monkeys. But honestly I just wanted to go home and do my laundry and rest, I´m always wiped out by mondays.

But yeah, I´m in good spirits. This next week is gonna be pretty exciting with lots of working with the members and all-we have two RMs that just got back and all the young men and women finished with school. We´re starting this thing where we go and visit families and then surprise them and ask them to teach us the lesson-theyre always nervous at first but they always end up absolutely loving it and its real powerful. Still really working on building relationships with ward members and leadership-which is hard because of the language and my companion is pretty quiet. But the languauge is going better and better and every week.

Also had a huge group of gringos from Idaho in church this week.   It was an experience for them im sure, especially because we asked one of them to play the piano for us.

And the other night, after a pretty rough day and being sick the whole day, we ran into two gringos from texas-He was a newlywed RM and we talked with him and his wife for a little bit and it was just awesome to talk with Americans and I really don´t know why but it was a huge boost to our spirits. And he served in New Caledonia and was shocked at how high our numbers were, which I thought were pretty low so that was nice. And then he gave us the equivalent of 20 bucks for dinner. So, if you´re ever somewhere away from home and you see missionaries, go talk to them, it´ll probably make their day. Also, on the same vein, when you have to cancel on missionaries for dinner give them some money or something-whenever people cancel on us we can only afford to spend about the equivalent of $1.50 on dinner. Missionary budgets are tight!

Oh! And we lost three days of work traveling to San pedro sula. we stayed the night in la ceiba, which is great-always love ceiba, hope I get to serve there. The wards are very strong. We went and played soccer with the other missionares for a ward activity and they had 16 investigators there. The members are solid. It´s hard to not have a ¨grass is greener¨mentality about other areas but Roatan definitely has its own struggles. Money is always a struggle because everything is so expensive. And this isn´t even like part of honduras. It´s a totally different people and culture and language than I´ve been preparing for. But yeah, its still pretty cool.

We have also had a little opposition for the first time this week-we had one pastor approach us at the entrance of a neighborhood and tell us to leave and that we can´t preach here. I kept walking like I didn´t understand him (cause I can still pull that off for now) but then my companion stopped and talked to him so I had to retreat and then I was getting all ornery with him but then my companion was like "ok, we´ll go". which was probably the responsible thing to do but that situation still makes me mad. I don´t know what the right thing to do in that situation is but i´m sure it will happen again.

Also, the local paper here published a little paper about joseph´s smith´s polygamy in their religion section-nothing untrue, just skewed a lot-so we had to spend some time fielding questions like that for a couple days.

But, all in all, the opposition is good. Thanks to that pastor I´m gonna go preach the gospel in that neighborhood like never before, dangit. And the members need a little opposition too I think, its good for us.

That´s all for me I think. Still struggling with church attendance and having people sacrifice a little bit. If it´s raining or cloudy, forget about it. no one will walk to the church. And the people that live in our other area away from the church won´t spend  the money for a taxi-and its hard to fault them when they don´t have any money, but a taxi costs about as much as a 2 liter bottle of coke that they drink everyday and I can´t imagine it would be that hard to go without a bottle of coke for a couple days.

Kate-Your spanish was spot on! except parts seemed like google translate, did you cheat? what song did you play? what did yall do with orrin, just ice cream and movies? Are you and Marissa friends and all? I always liked her when I would hang out with her sister, she´s a good one i  think. sorry math is hard. suck it up I guess. And I´m so jealous about the weather. And way to go on the missionary work and all. do you still love highschool?

Dad-so glad yall finally made it out to the river! that weather is the best. Favorite time of year. Long sleeve shirts without sweating, bass are energetic, deer season, chilly mornings...the best. Like my shirt? And was the buck in hard horns or velvet? That´s a shame about the sand, I do worry about the ecological health of the river. Once the sand comes the fishing goes. Julie told me about this hydrilla chemical, have they sprayed it yet? What topwater baits? Thanks for the little update on the good life. Anything specific going on in politics, as far as issues go? anyways, yup, I´m doing good. what truck are you gonna buy??

Mom-I´m probably not gonna be taking any selfies haha. I´ll get some pics in a couple weeks, there are pictures of me on other missionaries cameras with monkeys and parrots and cruise ships and all. soon! And The food is usually pretty good. The fish is just a pain cause you have to eat it with your hands and no one here uses napkins. And its funny cause they´re always mangrove snapper, the same fish I would bring home in florida. our usual meal is chicken though. and rice and tortillas of course.

And that´s cool about the family from san pedro...san pedro is the hood. A family from AZ that knows the Ramseys and has been to roatan? small world, thats funny. Are they up there for oil too?

And yeah, Matt´s solid. Been through alot and overcame.

Thanks for the packages! I have high hopes.

And I love having people over at the house too. It´s fun. How are the fruit trees?

And I love that scripture haha I think back in my seminary days I drew a little picture of a deer next to it. And thats exactly right about climbing mountains. I never pictured honduras having mountains but my gosh...my quads are gonna be massive when I finish. So steep.

And I do have a cell phone, but I´m not sure how they could call it with an american phone. not sure how that works. But they´ll be in church right? I´ll just see them then.

so the wards grown huh? Anything else interesting going on with the new stake and things like that?
 
As always, glad to hear that everybody is doing well. Tell me about extended family and sunburst and all that good stuff.

I´m sure I´ll forget something and send another email shortly. But as always, thanks for the support and updates!

Love you all, miss ya, rest assured that I´m working hard and safe and well fed.

Elder Hansen

So yeah, here I am. Good to hear from you all, as usual. Nothing super exciting has happened thats out of the ordinary for honduras. Stuff from the week:

had two good service opportunites-took up this ladie´s floor in her house and it felt good to work with my hands again. took up all her wood floor which was interesting because her house is built on a steep hill and we were walking on this framework of 2x4´s over a 20 foot drop while taking up the floor. Also went and cleared some land with machetes. They use machetes for everything here. Everyone has at least a few machetes.

Had a great sunday yesterday-church was great, and, always an adventure. Was thinking the whole time of the blessings of the temple and the family unit and how I can´t wait to go to the temple with all the family one day. And we played a game in our gospel principles class where we divided the room into teams and it became an all out war. full on shouting. always an adventure. Then after church this sister in the ward who floods us with referrals invited us over to lunch along with other people and it was fun getting to her house-we crammed 4 elders and 2 hermanas and 5 other people into a ford ranger and cruised up to her house flying over hills with a view of the ocean. And then lunch was good-I´m understanding everybody and participating in the conversation and jokes and it was just one of those moments where the mission is getting pretty good.

And this place would be the easiest place to live off the land. We were waitin for someone the other day and I realized that I am sitting in a grove of mango trees, with a beehive above my head, surrounded by fields of banana and coconut trees, with chickens pecking the ground around me while surrounded by an ocean full of fish. No one ever goes hungry here-even the poorest people can always go catch a fish or pick bananas.

I´ll tell ya about one family-I still don´t know their last name but they are misquito, which is an indigenous group of people mixed with indians and slaves. Their oldest boy is alonzo, whos 23 and we are struggling to retain. He is the embodiment of people that have recieved witnesses to the truth of the message but will not lift a finger to do anything about it. But their younger kids are awesome. We challened them to read the BoM every day this week and then we happened to pass by their house later in the week and the two younger ones were sitting at the table reading the BoM by candlelight. We´ve really been preparing David, the younger boy, to recieve the priesthood-and the other day when we were leaving he just comes up and gives me a big hug. All their kids love us. I gave them scripture marking pencils and they just about died.

The weather is getting really nice here-its still Africa hot during the day but in the mornings and evenings its really pleasant. fairly dry, and our area is all coastal so we get a nice breeze all the time. The best times are when we´re teaching people on the hills and we teach them outside of their house with a view of the ocean and a nice breeze.

Spanish is coming along great. I´m up to understanding about 60 percent of what people say but i can always get the jist of it.

Hardest thing for me this week has been patience. We spend an unreal amount of time waiting for people. Waiting for the Hermanas. Waiting for investigators. ya voy a venir, which means, basically, I´m already coming! has become profanity to my ears, because its always a lie and usually means I´m gonna have to wait another half hour. So that´s a struggle.

Had an interesting experience with an evangelical pastor this week-which I actually always enjoy because everytime I talk with an evangelical my testimony of our faith grows because of the apostasy and ignorance that dribbles from their mouths. It was cool at first because he seemed sincere and wanting to kinow but as time went on he just kept trying to preach. We managed to maintain control of the situation but still...it just made me realize how much of a waste of time stuff like that is. We have better things to do. We ended things when he told us how sinful it was to play sports or to wear shorts or for women to cut their hair.

That´s about all I got, time´s ticking. I´m gonna send more pictures and reply to everything.

lunch one day. typical meal. usuallly rotate between fried chicken and fish with a litle stack of corn tortillas.

 

one of my favorite little areas to work in-its clean and the houses aren´t jammed together

 

this pic is the house of our cook, one of the nicest houses i´ve been in. her name is Hermana Garay and is a great and upstanding member of the church.