December 14, 2015

 

Send the email to me, I´ll tell ya if it made sense haha. And lemus....yeah, I know him, thats cool, all the missionaries are good or they wouldn´t be here. 

Was the party fun?? I´m glad everybody mingled well. Catch any kids making out? 

Curtis-why the heck did you ask for a machete?? I´m so sick of machetes...that´s cool though, good birthday? How tall is he now? 

And yes, our zone conference is wednesday. Still haven´t prepared :( Wish me luck. 

And yesterday we actually had a meeting with an area seventy and all the stake presidents and bishops and the zone leaders-it was excellent. Talking about working with members and missionaries. Same thing I´ve been preaching for a month now but now all the bishops are on the same page and some things are gonna change, and I´m excited. And on the car ride there President Klein actually asked me about some concerns (not the things I mentioned, but other concerns) and I told him and then he brought up those points in the meeting, so that was kind of cool. He´s a good leader, getting input from everybody. 

Get the surfboard! What´s everyone wanting for christmas? 

And talking about scouting-what could kids do to not be soft? Go fishing and hunting! And diving and work on cars and hiking! That´s why I´m always preaching that kind of stuff! Plus, scouts is super soft. Get them outside, find some trouble to get into, get hurt a little bit, get lost, whatever it be. Good thing our family is good though, let the world do what it may. 

Sounds like a stellar christmas break though. I talked to Julie the other day, it was nice to hear from her. 

And yeah, Jason emailed me and told me all about it. I´m excited, I´m happy for him. Good luck on the hire. And Jason told me that Connor is working a lot better now and is pulling his own weight. 

And Honduras is beautiful when you get out of the city. I´ll do better about sending pictures. 

And holy cow, snow in SJ! that´s a ton of snow. I want snow. 

And no, I´m good. I don´t really need anything except a usb port to charge my mp3 player, and as always contact solution. But nothing urgent. Also, always can use socks and shirts! 

Here´s my update-

First of all, I just love Honduras sometimes. I mean, I definitely have my days of frustration and disapointment but I just love how laid back everything is. Honduras is just like white-trash redneck in spanish. Anything goes. For example, the bus drivers. Early in the week we´re traveling on one of the buses, and all of a sudden the driver looks up at the clock, and then at his watch, and-oop, his shift is up-and he gets up and hops out the door, while still going 20 miles an hour. He hit the ground running, while in the meantime his assistant is sitting there looking at the empty seat and thinking ¨well, I guess I better drive this thing¨ so he sits down and we´re happily on our way. Navas and I are just dying of laughter. And then on saturday we get on the bus and our driver is reading the paper-like, a newspaper, as in, obstruct all of the windshield and drive with your knees, and he´s just honking hoping to avoid horses and cows and old ladies crossing the street. Anything goes. It´s sure growing on me though, really makes you redefine what are needs and what are wants. I could be perfectly happy with a cinderblock house with a tin roof with some wires pulled through holes in the wall attached to some bare light bulbs (and robbing energy from the powerpole down the block). I love unwinding in the night time washing clothes by hand and a washboard under our tin roof porch listening to some mission appropriate country music. 

Also, another thing I´m learning-I´ve really learned what it means to love the sinner and hate the sin. To love somebody and work to help them and preach repentance  and tell them what they need to do to fix it.  To be able to love them and respect them in spite of what they do. Love them to death and ask much from them-have high expectations. 

But yeah. I just feel good about everything right now. I always have struggled with feeling inadequate, like I´m not doing enough, worrying if I´m fulfilling my calling-all that kind of stuff. I remember that basically the only thing Mom ever told me about Dad´s mission is that he was ¨a good missionary¨. Never told me if he was a leader, lots of baptisms, obedient, etc-just told me that he was a good missionary and told me a few stories that showed me he made a difference in people´s lives. That has always been my goal. To be a good missionary. And I think I´ve made it. I love people, I serve them, I have fun with them, and I´m exactly who I want to be as a missionary. Plus the members love us. I´ve always said I´d never want to come back and visit but I´d come back and visit this area. 

So, Honduras. Things are getting hot. Lots more crime. We´re seeing more bodies. When I was off on divisions Navas almost got robbed again but a taxi parked between him and the robber and they were able to run away, by pure coincidence. But no worries, I´m still as calm as a summer´s morning. I still have no other logical explanation for my lack of fear-it´s gotta be the hand of God, pure and simple. The blessings of the temple, the temple garment, and the simple fact that I have the faith I´ll be protected-We go where we want to, we´ve been called to preach the gospel and that´s what we will do and the little honduran thugs that rob us can go to hell. 

On sunday, we came back from our meeting in San Pedro with President Reyes, in the stake presidency-easily one of my favorite men here. He´s got a small business and a small farm and he´s just a good guy. He reminds me of Ken Roberson and Dad. And he´s got some money, he wants to do business with me after the mission haha and I´m in. Anyways, we´re riding back in his truck and we stop to eat (on a sunday, ox was in the mire) and we walk into the restuarant and every single bishop and stake president from the norhern coast of honduras is in the same restuarant. Cracked me up. It´s like the Cirlce K in St Johns after church on sunday. And then we saw a nasty wreck coming back, bodies in the street and everything. It´s kind of sad how stuff like that doesn´t even phase me even more. There´s just so much death that it´s commonplace. 

Another insight-I´m working like never before. I´m seeing what it is to be completely dedicated-more than just leaving the house on time and doing our visits, but being completely dedicated to a cause, with no other distractions-totally focused on the work. 

I feel like I understand things a little better too now-I had always questioned how someone can start a business and sacrifice everything else to establish yourself and work around the clock and put in 80 hours a week but I get it now. Not like the mission is a business but the same principles of work and dedication apply. Waking up at 6 and going to bed at midnight, burning the midnight oil to plan, prepare, troubleshoot, whatever it be-it´s fulfilling.

But that´s all I got for you all, I´ll be on a little while to chat. 

Have a great week, love and miss you all!