"It scared the pants off me!" October 24, 2011

Oh man, this week has been really long for some reason. On Wednesday night I went into my room to put on my Vans to relax but a huge Tarantula crawled out of one of my shoes when I sat down to put them on! My pants were partially unbuttoned so when I jumped up to get my companion my pants had literally fallen off. When I got to him I told him about the spider, and then joked and said, "It scared the pants off me!" So we went in there and took pictures and then I decided to catch it, because smashing it would have been too easy. It was a fight, but I got it in one of our pots. We had a District meeting the next day so I decided to pack it along in a jar and let it go there, because I didn't want that thing in our Colony, let alone our area.

I am beginning to notice that there are only 2 types of music played here; reggaton and rock. There is a lot of Van Halen and Boston that is played on the radios. The L.A. Galaxy came to the national stadium to play a team here in Honduras called Motagua. When we came over to eat dinner at the Osorto's, the son pointed it out and said that David Beckam was down playing his team. It was good to know that others know were Tegucigalpa is besides businessmen and Missionaries. The next day, he sadly told me that Galaxy won.

Also this week, we were teaching one of our investigators and he wanted to see our families. He looked at the picture that I had and it said it reminded him of one that he used to have of him and his family when his mom was alive. He was holding onto it for a long time looking at it. Then he said that my brother Jack looks like Spanky from the movie Little Rascals! I was laughing for awhile after he said that. He then fed us dinner and there was some potato salad his wife had made. It was really good, but it reminded me of home and the salad Mom makes for Summer parties with friends and family.

Oh man and It is cold here in the afternoons and nights! I never thought that I would have needed a Jacket in Honduras. Everyone said that the "Dry" season is coming. Being from Bakersfield, when I hear dry season, I think of a lot of heat. It happens to be the exact opposite here. With all the work we're doing, I realized today that I need to make another belt loop on my belt. I have gone all the way down and have made one, but now I need another. I've only been down here for a Month! shoot.

Yesterday, Sister Osorto made a soup called Mondongo. (I think that's how you spell it) its contents include cow intestines and other goodness. It actually was really good. Chewy, but tasted great. When she heard that I had been sick the past couple of days, she got mad at my companion Elder Ames for not telling her. She started making all of this food that would help me feel better. She's awesome, she was upset that I had eaten it and said she was afraid it would make me feel worse. DON'T WORRY Mom,I am better now!

This morning for P day we were able to take a trip to the Temple and see how the construction was going. We came just a couple weeks too early, the Angel Moroni will be placed on the steeple November 4th. It is going to be beautiful. It lookes great already!

My companion, Elder Ames and I

My Zone

Challenge Accepted! October 17, 2011

This week we had a branch activity. Since we are a 'dependent branch' we usually have people from the ward in Buenas Aires come down. For the activity we went out in groups of two to go and have the members talk and get to know other less actives and investigators. I was paired up with a member from Buenas Aires, he was really cool. He had learned English from books his mom had brought home for him and his brother. So we went and taught one less active family and one of our current investigators. When we were coming out of their house, there was a woman and a little girl carrying wood. We went over and asked if they needed help, so we carried it down the road a bit and there were three more little girls carrying wood, all belonging to the woman. So I was loaded up with all of the wood. I thought they lived in Sagastume with us, but they ended up being the next Colonia over called Sausique. So we walked down the road and finally made it to town. We walked to the bottom of this huge hill at the foot of this mountain. Then we asked where they lived and she said, "Arriba". So we walked up this huge hill and finally we make it to the top of the hill. We were both so relieved that we had finally made it. Then we asked which house was her's. To our demise, she said, "¡Arriba!" and pointed to this house at the top of the mountain!!!... awesome, challenge accepted! So we hiked up there and dropped off the wood and headed back to Sagastume. What an insane work out!  Oh, and get this, we were talking to some members and they said that they were walking in the street in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and during a certain time of the year fish will fall from the sky! There were a couple of fish falling from the sky while they were there. It was hard to believe but they all said they witnessed it. Also, they celebrate Christmas at this time of year. Its weird going in and seeing Christmas decorations up already. It didn´t make sense to me at first but then I realized that they don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving.

My first Baptism! October 10, 2011

Me and my companion, Elder Ames with Heidy, Keidy, and Nelson,who were baptized and our Branch President, President Orsoto.

This is the "unofficial" Branch of Sagastume that came to the Baptism.

This is our transportation to the baptism. We had 25 people squeezed in this van!

This last Saturday I had my first baptismal service in Honduras! It was great, everyone was excited for the three that were being baptized. There were two girls, Heidi (14) and Keidi (13) and then a man by the name of Nelson (47). All three of them were excited to finally be baptized. The closest baptismal font we had was about 20 to 30 min away from Sagastume, so we had organize a way for all of the members and families in Sagastume to get there without paying to rent a bus. Well, when the time came, the bus ended up being a van with no seats in the back. We were all squished in the back of that thing and it was hot and we were driving on windy bumpy roads. That didn't go too well for me, I was car sick by the time we got there. But everyone was filled with good happy spirits which made it all worth it. I was talking to the two girls afterwards and they asked how old I was. I told them, How old do you think I am? and one said 24, and the other said 30!!  Seriously?

 

This week was a little bit interesting... well as you know, we go and eat at the Familia Osorto's house once a day when we have time. At least once a week she likes to surprise us with something different. Last week we had this really hot soup and as I was digging around eating the rice, I pulled up a chicken leg! Two of them! I didn't know whether to eat them or to set them on the table and let them run around! It was a mind game eating those things! It tasted like chicken skin, and you had to eat all of the meat off of them so she didn't get offended. I was eating the talons when one fell off in my mouth. Awesome. Afterwards, she asked why we were so read and sweaty, Well, only because it was burning hot outside and we just ate a hot bowl of soup that's why! The strange thing we ate this week was in another one of her soups, as shocking as it might be. We were eating the meat and things in it and we started to ask what they were because there were some strange shapes and textures. Okay, when in a foreign country and you are eating something with a strange texture its probably best not to ask what it is. It ended up being some intestines and guts from a chicken. The parts that we had asked about were the liver and the bladder. Yum! I usually just eat and apple for breakfast, that one meal of hers and a quart of jugo de Piña.

 

Just a little side note, yesterday I went to put on my pants and a gecko ran down my leg and out the bottom! It scared me a bit. Then right after that, I got in a fight... with a giant cockroach! It came out from behind the door. This thing was huge! It was about the size of my name tag. I went to smash it with my shoe and it jumped on to me and was running on my chest toward my head and I brushed it off and it started running at me from across the room... but it never made it to me, but it made it to the bottom of my shoe!

 

 

This is me and a member, Alejandro. He is the only member in his family. His mother and sister don't believe but his mom likes to read the LdM (Libro de Mormon) with him.

 

 

Alejandro challenged me to an arm wrestling competition. I am champion of my zone!

"It will test your will to survive" October 3, 2011

We walk this staircase every Tuesday to get to a city called Buenas Aires. It's the highest city on top of the hill.

This week was good. It rained a lot and it got really muddy. We had an appointment down by the river and when we were walking down the trail to get there, I ended up being covered in mud all the way up to my shins. The people here in Sagastume are very nice and invite you in no matter how muddy or wet you are and they sit you down and are ready to hear from you. We have coordination in this city called Buenas Aires. We had to walk up this really steep stair case to get there. In the words of Brother Wagner back in Bakersfield, 'It will test your will to survive'. We walk up steep hills and stairs all the time, but this thing was a monster! We go into the city alot to go to our zone and district meetings in the stake center, so I´m still squishing into the buses and craning my neck so I can stand up in those things. We also come here to the stake center on P-day's to email, play fútbol and go out and eat American food, usually McDonalds or Wendy´s. The menus here are completely different and filled with different items like fried chicken or rice.

We're still teaching our investigators and getting some of them ready for their baptism this Saturday! Right now, there are 4 that are planning to be baptized. Also this week, we had divisions. I was in charge of going to all of our investigators and teaching with Elder Olmos from Panama city. It was fun, we had a lot of contacts and taught our appointments. I feel that things go over more smooth in lessons with a native speaker on your side, ha ha! My trainer was shocked to find that during the time that I had a Latin companion, he spoke English to me the whole time. But its okay, he taught me alot.  General Conference was a ton of fun and really good. We spent all day in the city on Saturday to watch all the sessions.

October 3, 2011

These are all the new missionaries that arrived and the Mission President and his wife

My Mission President, President Hernandez and his wife. They are from El Salvador.

This is a look out point on the road where you can see part of Tegucigalpa.

I found Elder Casey during changes! It was fun catching up on everything, he is doing great!

The cows that walk the streets of Sagstume with us. Behind me there is one running right towards me!

This is my area, the town of Sagatume. This picture shows about half of the town.

This is a baleadas (giant taco). This is a restraunt in Tegucigalpa called "Coco Baleadas". It is like a Subway for baleadas. ( a tortilla wrap thing).



Honduras! September 26, 2011

Well first day in Honduras went like this: we didn´t sleep at all the night before with all of the flying around. So when we arrived, I was dead tired. On both of the flights, there were these touch screen headsets that you could watch movies, play games and listen to music on. Talk about temptation! When we arrived in Tegucigalpa, the lady almost didn´t let me in because I didn´t have a solid place were I was living. But they let me in anyways. One of the AP´s and the Mission President came and picked us up. We went to the Mission Office and ate some pizza, drank banana flavored soda and wen´t through orientation. After orientation, we went to the Mission home and waited for the president for dinner. We ended up going to Applebee´s with the AP´s and the President´s family. He insisted that we get the bottomless ribs & fries, so of course we did. One of the AP´s kept on challenging us to eat more ribs with him. We ended up making it back and went to bed.

The next day we were introduced to our trainers that morning. The president bought us breakfast and we sorted out and went to Changes. I was able to see my friend Elder Trevor Casey! It was a great seeing him and talking about everything. We are in the Tegucigalpa Zone, Sagastume Area. We took a bus from the city a little ways out to the mountains. When we got out, I had to carry two 50lb suitcases up this huge hill up to our ´home´. I was a little bit surprised at how small the houses were. The people live in these small houses with maybe 2 rooms, but in every single home there is a huge sound system that they like to blast music on. I don´t know what it is about our house, but there are a ton of creatures that wander in. We´ve had multiple geckos and huge moths the size of my palm.

So I finally came to a conclusion; in the U.S, we like to trick out our cars & trucks. but in Honduras, they like to fix up their buses! We you get inside one, there is always a new stereo system inside. I was even in one that had a sub woofer in the middle of the bus, it was crazy! I met our branch president of the branch we´re in. His name is President Osorto. His wife cooks us lunch everyday. They have 2 kids; the daughter 19, and the son 14. When we went to church, I was shocked at how small the branch is here. We are an 'unofficial' branch because there isn't enough members to make it official yet. We had 26 in attendance yesterday; including 5 investigators. There is also 1 teacher, 2 priests. I also taught Sunday School yesterday! I was asked the night before to teach and I pulled it off and did it! I was teaching the youth but they were all older, around 16 yrs old, there was 8 in attendance. They would laugh when I made mispronunciations and when I didn´t understand what they were asking, but I got through the lesson and they understood it.

It´s strange being the biggest person in my zone, let alone the people that I teach. They always look at me when we walk up and contact them. We were in the middle of talking to this girl and in the middle of it she cut in and told me, 'que bonito oyos'. which translates into you have beautiful eyes. Everyone´s eyes here are dark and they are all fascinated when they see colored eyes. For example, we were talking to this elderly lady at her door and my companion was talking to here but she would stare at me in the eyes and talk to him while looking at me. It was really awkward!

Yeah Sagastume is awesome and i´m enjoying it here. As of today we have 4 baptisms scheduled for October 8th and 1 for the 22nd. Also we have 2 families waiting for their marriage papers so that they can be baptised, both with little kids. We´ve also got a couple investigators we´re working on. I'm staying busy! From our house we can see the statue of Jesus and Tegucigalpa. It starts to rain about 5 o'clock every day with lightning. You can always see this massive wall of rain slowly moving over Tegucigalpa. Laundry is done by wash board, showers are done by buckets of water in a small room, and the toilet has to be flushed manually by dumping a bucket of water down the bowl to force it down. I haven´t eaten anything out of the ordinary yet, usually rice, red beans and either chicken or fish. Well I´ll write back next week! we´re going to go play fútbol with the zone at the stake center. Oh also, we´re all excited for General Conference!

 

Love you all,

 

Elder Harding

September 15, 2011

This week was good. We had another apostle speak to us on Tuesday at our Devotional. This week was Elder M. Russell Ballard. It was a great talk. There is supposed to be an unusual amount of Apostles coming to speak within the next 7 weeks. Of course after I leave! Yep, I also received travel plans last Friday. It'll be interesting flying out of Salt Lake at 1 in the morning. I don't really have alot to report on, we've just been getting ready to leave and giving away all of my extra food and candy. Oh and just for the record, I've only gained, .8 lbs during my 9 weeks in the MTC. HA! I'm proud of myself. Everyone says you will gain 10 lbs on the MTC food. If I don't write an email in awhile, Its only because I can't. Don't worry!

Cole