"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.

"Cambios (changes)" January 30, 2012

Oh man, I don't even know where to begin! Alright, so I did end up
having changes this transfer. I got the phone call last Tuesday night
and they told me that I would be leaving tomorrow to go to the town
Nacaome. I automatically knew what that meant...This town is infamous
for its heat during the Semana Santa (first two weeks in April). I
then found out that I had to be at the Mission Home at 8 in the
morning. That only meant one thing... I was training! Oh man, when
they told me that I had been called to train, the first thing I said
was,"No, really. Who's my new companion?!" But sure enough, I have been
called to be a trainer, in Nacaome. To make things EVEN BETTER I was
going to be opening the area that I was going to. So now, I am
starting from scratch in this area and I'm training Elder Garcia from
Guatemala (he is now 1 of the 6 Garcia's in the mission). Everything
has gone good so far, we luckily share this town with 2 other Elders
and I have a ward I can work with. Its so hot down here right now,
that I cant wait for la semana santa...yeppi! Nah, it'll be fun, its a
calm little town. Its definitely bigger then my last area, and a lot
more flat. As nerdy as it sounds, the mission calls trainers Jedi
Masters. So therefore, I also have my padawan.

"Standing Firm" January 23, 2012

Moments before the demise of our beloved "Semita"

These are some of the local kids here in Colonia Sagastume.

This is the Church building in Sagastume.

This is a semita. Its a sweet roll. We eat them for breakfast. They are usually small. This is a giant one that happens to be the same size as my head! And Yes, I shared.

 

This week has gone by pretty well. Last Monday, we went and rented a turf fùtbol field and played against each other in the zone. It was a ton of fun, I don't remember having so much fun playing fùbol before either. Our team dominated the zone once again. I was goaly and also moved up the midfield and I even scored a couple times. This week was mostly a busy one, we had a bunch of baptismal interviews to do for our district. That took two days out of our week doing that. Then we had meetings and other goal planning with the branch here. These past couple of weeks I've been cooking for myself because we were getting over charged and for other reasons. So for lunches and dinners I've been eating spaghetti, burgers, salad, apples, mac&cheese and baleadas. We've been eating so much better now, and its even cheaper.  All my cooking skills that I have learned all come from Mom & Dad. This past Friday I completed 6 months in the mission! I've learned so much from just these past couple of months that I'm afraid of what more I could possibly learn. Also this week, my companion and I stood up and contacted the bus down to Centro. The bus I talked to had 41 people in it, and Elder Belnap's had 48. It was a great experience to get up and bear testimony of the church and to stand there firm in my beliefs. Everyone was looking at me too! Holy cow, all 82 eyes couldn't believe that a giant "gringo", who cant even fit in the bus, was standing up and speaking Spanish. It was an awesome time. Today for P-Day, we went and saw the Temple again, but this time Angel Moroni was on top of the steeple. The progression is coming along nicely.

The work on the Temple is coming along. On this visit, the Angel Moroni was on top!

Pointing to my area, Sagastume. It's in the furthest mountain on the left.

Zona Tegucigalpa.

"6 Months" Monday, January 16, 2012

Completing the 6 month tradition for the Mission.

 

Well this week, I would first like to confirm the saying that the days are long, but the weeks go by really fast in the mission. This past week went by really fast. I have contacted all of the colony that I live in, so these past couple of days we've gone out to the more deserted villages in our area. We've been having some luck out there, but not much. The Pentecostal church here did a bunch of service projects out in the small villages and put on orange roofs on the houses they built. So we know where to expect a bible bash when we contact the houses with orange roofs. But that's alright, I personally am not out here to bible bash with people or the prove these other churches wrong, its about helping others. Whether it's through the gospel or through service, that's my purpose. We have one solid family that we are teaching out there though. We were in the middle of teaching when the husband's uncle pulled up with a truck full of Coconuts! So we ended the lesson and they gave us 3 each so we could drink the water and eat them. It was a ton of fun. Lets see, what more happened this week... oh! Friday night at 3 o'clock in the morning we were all of a sudden woken up by some cats fighting on our roof...our tin roof! It was so loud and annoying, it woke us both up. They were up there for about 10 min and then one fell off the roof and sat there in front of the door and growled at the one on the roof for another 5 min! Holy smokes, I couldn't believe this was really happening. So I went up and hit the door and the one on the ground took off and the other on the roof walked slowly back across the roof crunching the roof with every step. Then Sunday morning, I was outside brushing my teeth when all of a sudden I heard chickens on our roof. So I went up there and was about to run up and catch them, when all of a sudden, the dog next door crawled through the fence and started chasing the chickens on the roof! It was so loud, I could hear my comp yelling, "What in the world Harding?!" and then the chickens flew off the roof and made it over the fence. Sadly, the rooster flew and ran straight into a post and fell down into our backyard. The dog jumped off the roof and caught the rooster! In my fury at the dog, I grabbed a rock and I threw it at the dog and the rooster ran into our shower room and I locked it in there. That dog was running around everywhere with feathers on its mouth looking for that stinkin' rooster. Once the dog went away, I let the rooster go. It was crazy! This Friday I will be completing 6 months in the Mission! At the 6 month mark, you're supposed to burn a tie so I'm going to be doing that as part of the Mission tradition.

"Evangelio de Jesucristo" January 9, 2012

This is one of my mission friends, Elder Cuque. He is from Guatemala and is the shortest elder here. When we go on divisions together we are a funny pair...The shortest and tallest missionary walking together on the streets!

This week I feel like not a whole lot happened. But the truth is, ALOT happened. We went to a further part of my Area called La Alta Villa and Reina Nacer. In Reina Nacer, we finally found a complete family this week! Usually its either only the husband or the wife home, but we found the whole family there. We taught them a little bit about the Evangelio de Jesucristo and we set a return cita. Then we went to La Alta Villa and we found a house that had 3 other families inside and we taught them and made another cita to come back. We were on our way back yesterday and we passed by the first family and said "hi", and made our way to La Alta Villa for our cita there (But what we didn't see was that the Iglesia Pentecostes was there with the family and saw us talk to them and swooped in to talk to them and spread nonsense about us.) So we finally arrived and taught a beautiful lesson on the Restoration of Christ's Church and all three of the families were still interested and one even said,"No hay una duda que este es la Iglesia de Jesucristo" So we'll see how they progress! As we went to return back to the family in Reina Nacer, we definitely noticed the difference in the family. They weren't as welcoming and they told us that our religions are different and were too different and they didn't want anything. That was a bunch of nonsense, I don't know why, but the churches here don't like us. They always ignore us and think that we're bad people. We ended the night well with dinner in the Mission Presidents house! His wife, Hermana Hernèndez, invited us to dinner. We also had ice cream! We were talking all night and he asked us if we wanted to stay the night in the Mission Home. So we stayed the night with 2 other missionaries and had a good night.