Monday, April 27, 2015 -- Week #10 - Day #70 - San Pedro Sula

9:27 pm

Today was Pday! And probably the hottest day I've had here so far...I was talking to Hna Dester this morning and she asked us to make sure we drank a ton of water today, as it was supposed to be somewhere around 106 degrees, I don't know if it reached that temperature, but it sure felt like it did, the air itself was hot and felt heat waves rising off my body...and so of course I drank copious amounts of fluid, as always. Hopefully it can rain this week and bring the temperature down a bit, that would be wonderful.

Every day brings new things to learn, and today I learned that it is possible for your elbows (outer sides) to sweat, I didn't know that before. But lo and behold, the sun rose into the sky, and there appeared on my elbows...moisture! Crazy stuff happens here, man, it would just blow your mind to be in my life for a day.

Also, everyone is amazed that I can eat so much, but that probably has to do with the fact that I'm burning calories like crazy. Today we went to Wendy's for lunch, and I had a big salad and a baked potato and fries and about 3 refills of Sprite (they don't have Root Beer here! I'm so sad! There's Coke out the wazoo, though, and so I prefer to have Sprite when I can) and was still hungry... I have a great capacity for food.

Today we also washed laundry and cleaned house, as always, and went and played some futbol with the other zone, so that was fun. It was actually nice to run around again after so much walking, and not have to carry around a backpack full of scriptures and such, so that was also very nice. It's so weird to wear pants and a t-shirt, I don't feel like a missionary without my skirt and multiple layers of clothing! Funny how we get used to associating things together, probably is more cemented when you do something every day, all day, so that was kinda funny.

And today in personal study I finished up 1 Nephi 22 and read the first 3 chapters of the Book of Ether. The scriptures are so cool! I will say that it wasn't until I came here that I actually have a love for the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I have a healthy respect for them and think it's important to read them and use them in lessons and stuff, but I've lived 19 years and am just starting to look forward to studying and reading them for an hour every day, and there are so many things that seem new to me about them. That's pretty sad. I struggled a lot in seminary because of that, I think. I really didn't understand what is actually in these pages. There is some seriously neat stuff in here.

So I encourage you, if you have some difficulty reading the scriptures regularly and actually enjoying it, to try to find some sort of impetus to read them. Have a question in mind each time you read. Pray beforehand to have the Spirit with you so you can understand what you're reading. Look up scriptures about a topic you are thinking about lately, and follow the footnotes around. Take a hymn or a talk you like, and find the cited scriptures. I personally like the suggestion to read the Book of Mormon and circle or somehow mark each mention of Christ...you can't go a page without His name marked somewhere.

Try to find a specific purpose for reading that day, whatever it may be. Take as long as you need, you are not accountable to anyone but your Heavenly Father with how long you spend reading the scriptures. We sometimes tell our investigators to just read 5 mins a day, but in reality, the time factor isn't what's important, it's what you're reading and understanding from the words of the prophets, that testify of Christ, and provide for us the knowledge of what we need to do to fulfill this great Plan of Salvation of God. And if that doesn't work, you can always read 2 Nephi 33:11,14 and know that we can't plead ignorance after this life when we have the incomparable blessing of having the scriptures in our homes, in our own languages, and opportunity to hear the prophet and his counselors and the apostles of the Lord speak twice a year, and read their messages every month, week and day... should we so choose. So I would also give the counsel to read or listen to something of God each day, if anything to be obedient, but to also enjoy that obedience, because therein lies the promise of eternal life.

And, on a lighter note, just wanted to let y'all know that I love ya, and you're awesome. I know some more things now about life being tough, and my goodness there are some weird things that can happen, for better or worse, and they might throw ya for a bit, but in all reality things will look up, even if it seems like the world is ending for you. God loves you, more than you can imagine, and if you ask, He will help you. He won't take away a trial or hard time, but He can strengthen you to the point where it isn't a trial anymore, and you've overcome it. And you can retain that strength and keep on climbing that mountain of yours.

Tonight we were sharing a message of faith in the Lord with a sister who is having a hard life right now, when it occurred to me that we are strengthened to overcome trials by doing the things the Lord has asked us to do...makes sense, right? Reading scriptures, going to church and renewing our covenants, helping share the Gospel with our brothers and sisters, praying, serving, teaching, doing temple work for loved ones, and trying with all our heart, might, mind and strength, to come closer to our Heavenly Father, is how we are strengthened to the point where we've overcome all the things that we were sent here to accomplish, and we are ready to be with our God. If we receive a blessing, it is because we are obedient to the principle upon which it is predicated. Everything is cause and effect. Pretty neat, actually.