"It tasted like Chicken" March 27, 2012

Well, these past two months have been flying by. This week for P-Day, we went to San Lorenzo to play fútbol at the church there. During the game, the Sisters filled up a bunch of water balloons and we all had a water war. It felt great in the scorching heat. We then went after to eat as a Zone and went back to our areas. Saturday morning, I went back up to Langue to do a Baptism Interview for them. When we were done and waiting for a bus, a police truck passed by and called us over. We were a little unsure at first but he was only asking where we were headed. So he gave us a ride all the way back down to Nacaome. While in the truck, he asked us why we didn't ask him for a ride. We told him that we didn't know that Police give rides. He then said, "Are you sure its not because of the stories you hear about the Police here in Honduras? Because I can assure you that every country has their bad cops and... " bla bla bla bla bla. He ended up being the Head of all of the police in the area and told us that we don't need to worry because his squad is working. We then told him who we were he started asking us questions about our missions and the church. After we talked a while about the church, we got to talking about his family. He said he has 3 sons and 2 daughters. He also had to mention that his 22 yr old daughter wants to marry a "gringo" and move to the United States. HA! I told him I can NOT help him out with that now or ever! The police here always carry around their big machine guns and when he dropped us off, I asked him if I could have a bullet from it and he popped out the magazine and gave me one. I was surprised that he actually did it, but then again we are in Honduras...

I have once again eaten something rare, Shocking! Right? We were at an investigadors house and he said he had killed a Garrovo with his slingshot and had cooked it up. A Garrovo is just like an Iguana, only more black and dark colored. We had some and it was really good, it tasted like chicken (no joke!) there was just a lot of bones in it. Yum!

"Feliz Dia de Padre" March 19, 2012

Feliz Dia de Padre! At least, down here it's fathers day. Well here we are, sweating and dying of heat here in Nacaome. Its so incredibly hot, I cant believe it. We have been working hard out here. We right now have 17 investigators and 1 complete family that we are working on getting married so they can be baptized. We have a lot of people that only have a mom and kids, its really sad to see. We have an investigator that has a 2 year old little girl and the father doesn't even know she exists because the father got up and left the mom. She is one of the strongest investigators that I have ever had. She is always excited for the appointments and we are even teaching her sister and her family. It has been a super busy week and has flown by. Well this Thursday was my first district meeting I had to teach as the new District Leader! Man was I nervous. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, mostly because we're all good friends in my district and were able to listen and help each other so we could make our baptism goal this month. As District Leader, it is also my job to go around in the different areas and do divisiones with the different companionship's and get to know their investigators. This week, I headed up to Langue and did divisiones with a fairly new Elder who is still in training. Elder Redd and I took on the day by teaching a small pueblo about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so crazy! We also went around and I was able to meet alot of the church leaders up there. That night when we went back to their house there in Langue, the owner of their room had told us that he picked a bunch of fresh mangos and brought them to us. Oh man, they were so good. I had about 3 that night, I was so full. When we were getting ready for bed, we had the choice of sleeping in the hammocks or the bed (Langue is known for their hammocks). I of course chose to sleep in the hammock, but Elder Redd said that by 3 o'clock in the morning, It gets uncomfortable and that I would end up switching to laying down the bed. The night started out fantastic, I was out. That is...until 2:56am. I woke up and i couldn't got back to sleep, so I hopped in my bed.

"New District Leader" March 12, 2012

This week was really busy! Well Cambios were this Wednesday and we had received a call saying that we would be receiving sisters in the area. This only meant one thing...we had to give up our nice Air Conditioned room to them... we weren't too excited about going out and finding a new house, but we found one. Now we have Hermana Piksma (from Idaho) and Hermana Maya (from Mexico). They are training and opening up the area like me and my comp were. I also had received a call saying that I had been suped up to District Leader! Wow, so I am now one of the district leaders here in the mission. On Sunday, we had over filled the church with investigators and didn't have enough room for some to sit down; in total we had 120 in assistance. Our new family that we had found contacting is progressing and they came and attended all 3 hours of church.

We were definitely tested this week. We gave the hermanas some of our old investigator's and they are all responding to the sisters and want to be baptized and married. We couldn't believe it because with us, they didn't want to be married or baptized yet. Then we visited our investigating family (different) and they had told us that they didn't want to be married or go to church. I was quite frustrated with this, mostly because we had already spent 500 Limpiras to get their paper work ready. But most of all I was sad for them because of the blessing that they would miss out on.

"15 Days Later!" March 6, 2012

Well, it's good to be able to write to you guys after a long week with no Internet! I couldn't believe it when we went looking for Internet every day last week so I could write. Good news is that it's now back up! So much has happened in these past two weeks. First off, I learned to use one of the old fashioned sewing machines. It may not be as exciting news as you may have thought, but it is a new skill I now have. We were teaching our investigator and after the lesson, she jumped on and was using the machine. I asked if she would teach me, so she did. This past week, my bike broke as we were riding across town to drop off our laundry. So we dropped my bike off at a member's house and made our way clear across town. We were running short on time to catch the bus, so my companion jumped on the back pegs of the bike and I had to pedal. We got so many weird looks riding down the main road with a giant man on a small bike and a small Latino on the back.

Last Sunday, we were sitting in our room studying when we received a call from our Branch President saying that there is a man looking for us. So we went outside and he ended up being a missionary from Guatemala that served here over 12 years ago! He introduced himself and we jumped in his car and he took us around to all of his old investigators that he taught 12 years ago. I was actually surprised that they all recognized him. We visited other inactive members that he had baptized and they said that we were the first Missionaries to visit them in over 12 years since he came last. The only problem is that they live 15 minutes outside of Nacaome and they don't want to spend the money on a taxi to go and come back for church on Sundays. We're currently trying to figure the situation out.

This week we had scheduled service to go and chop wood for a member. When we arrived I was thinking maybe a couple of logs that needed to be split. To my surprise, there was a tree lying there in the backyard waiting to be cut up! She said she only wanted a couple of pieces (BIG pieces) chopped that day. My companion wasn't too thrilled.

"The Taller you are, the Older you are" February 20, 2012

We had a bit of a different week this week. We first received a call from our Zone Leaders Tuesday afternoon saying that we had to be in Tegucigalpa the next morning at 8 am for a Workshop with the Trainers and Trainees. This only meant one thing...no sleep! I was a little skeptical about leaving and trying to catch a taxi out to the main Freeway to catch a bus to Tegus (pronounced Tay-Goose) at 4 in the morning. I asked my Zone Leaders if there were taxis that early and they said there was. Well, to my surprise, there was 1...but when we came up to take it they said no, because they wanted to sleep. So we were walking around looking for a way to get out to the freeway, but there was nothing that would get us out there on time. We ended up making it to Tegus at 9, but to my surprise there was no one there! I was a little frustrated because I didn't know where everyone was. So we went out to grab us some breakfast at Burger King and found everyone there. They said the meeting had been moved to 10. On the bus home, we were talking to some people and they thought I was 40 years old! I couldn't believe it! I explained that I was only 19 and they didn't believe me. They said the taller you are, the older you are. Man, I don't know what they taught these people in school.
Our investigators are doing good. They are surprised at how much we actually care about them and listen to them whenever we talk with them. We are now officially working on marriage papers for a couple who what to get baptized. We also have 3 other investigators who are progressing nicely and are coming to know the truth in the Gospel we bring. I'm thankful for the power the Lord has blessed me with the ability to speak the language here smoothly and close to fluent. After every lesson I always think to myself, "Wow did I just say all of that?" I have learned to calm down and just speak and it all comes out perfect. The ability I have is only possible through Gods will.

"I felt like I was in a Drag Race!" February 13, 2012

This week has been a busy one. We found out Tuesday night that the other missionaries that we shared the area with were taken out. Instead of putting more missionaries in (as usual) President Hernández decided to keep just us two here. This is the 1st time in a long time (years) that there has only been 1 pair of missionaries here. Oh man, we were so busy with the members and references and investigators that the other Elders had left behind. It felt so good to have something to do once again! Before, we had already contacted the whole area and weren't going anywhere. We have been in contact with the members more, since we now have the whole Nacaome Valle to ourselves. All of the Investigators that we have right now are references and friends to members. We have a couple that are really positive and are wanting to get married and baptized. They are doing excellent and look forward to coming to church every week. This week, we also were rounded up by the branch president's wife to sing in the choir for the branch conference last Sunday. Oh man, she must have been desperate if she had to ask me and my compañero to sing. We were the first men to be a part of it, but once the other members saw us, the teenaged guys started to come.
Oh yeah! On Saturday we went with a member to put a new light fixture in an other members house. When we showed up, she wasnt there, just her son. He was in the main room with two cords hooked up to his motorcycle coming from the outlet in the wall. When we asked what he was doing, he asked us if we knew how to start a motorcycle without they keys. Out of all the people, my kid, Elder Garcia said he did. Wow! Shocking! He jumped over there and started cutting cords and messing with some stuff from under inside and kicked it to life. The member and I were standing back, staring in awe at how fast he got that thing on. So he took off and we waited outside on the steps of the house waiting for the member to come. When she came up, the first thing she said was, "Who was the one that got his motorcycle running?!" My companion replied (hesitantly) and she told us that she had taken the keys away from him to ground him for his grades. Haha my comp apologized and we explained the situation on how we didnt know he was grounded. I later asked Elder Garcia how he knew how to start a motorcycle without the keys. I found out that he had worked in a workshop with only motorcycles and he learned in there. He can start almost any bike with out keys. I Want One!
Today I had the craziest bus ride of my life. We went to Choluteca, down south, for a multizone activity and the roads down there are flat and have long straightaways. So the buses always compete with each other and have races to go and get to the bus stops first, to get more passengers. I felt like I was in a drag race! We sat down and then the bus took off and wove in and out of traffic to get ahead of the bus in front. It was so funny watching the face of the other bus driver when we first passed. They were weaving and honking and yelling at each other the whole time...that didnt help with car sickness at all, but it was still enjoyable.

"The Girlfriend to the Sun" February 6, 2012

Ok, this week has been ridiculously slow. We have tried everything we can to find people to teach, but nothing seems to work. For example, We have talked to the leaders and members of the branch here, but they don't have anything. I was told that they were the best at giving a ton of references, oh well. Any way, we have been talking to everyone, but they usually run or close the door when they see us pass by. I feel like I'm back in the States, because its so hard here. The heat here is incredibly strong. The people here usually joke around and say that the devil walks these streets from 12-3 in the afternoon because its so hot. At first, I didn't really catch why they call this place "the girlfriend to the sun"... but to my demise, I now know. Training is going good, its just hard for my new companion because nobody is letting us in to teach. But, you know me, I always look for something to do to have fun.