Monday, September 7, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #203 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Go look up the addiction recovery clips on YouTube from the Mormon Channel, you will cry, they are beautiful.

Step 1: Honesty - David’s Story about Sex Addiction Recovery

Step 2: Hope - Preston’s Story about Drug Addiction Recovery

Step 3: Trust in God - Sharon’s Story about Crystal Meth Addiction Recovery

Step 4: Truth - Austin’s Story about Addiction Recovery

Step 5: Confession - Jessica’s Story about Food Addiction Recovery

Step 6: Change of Heart - Aram’s Story about Drug Addiction Recovery

Step 7: Humility - Holly’s Story about Drug Addiction Recovery

Step 8: Forgiveness - Larry’s Story about Drug Addiction Recovery

Step 9: Restitution and Reconciliation - John’s Story on Drug Addiction Recovery

Step 10: Daily Accountability - Adrienne’s Story about Cocaine Addiction Recovery

Step 11: Personal Revelation - Lindsay’s Story about Heroin Addiction Recovery

Step 12: Service - Erik’s Story about Drug Addiction Recovery

Landscape of the Mind: Addiction Explained

Drug Addiction and The Loss of a Loved One - His Grace

Saving Your Life

Prescription Drugs, Addiction, and Hope for Change - His Grace

Pornography Addiction: Is There Hope? - His Grace

Finding Your Purpose in Life: Does Faith Matter? – His Grace

Sunday, September 6, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #202 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Sunday! Almost made it through the week, and tomorrow's Pday! Looking forward to that and starting the week over again, this past week has been a bit crazy.

I was asked to give a talk about la Obra Misional next Sunday, so I'll be preparing for that this week. And Samuel and Estefani came to church! They didn't come the past 2 weeks. They're the couple that we're trying to help get married...he's 23 years, she's 17 years right now, have the almost 2 year old daughter...good stuff. Anyways, we were really happy about that. Good Fast and Testimony meeting, I love listening to all the members share their testimonies and thoughts.

I'd also like to share the translation of one of my favorite hymns:

#73 Yo se que vive mi Senor
(#136 I Know That My Redeemer Lives)

I know that my Lord lives; it brings me comfort

to know that though He was dead, He lives,

and I will always have His love.

He lives to bless, and plead for me before God.

He lives to sustain and inspire my soul.

He lives to uphold and protect with His hand.

He lives to listen and hear my complaints.

He lives to encourage, and calm my anguish,

He lives to help and comfort my soul.

He lives, my faithful friend; He always loves me.

He lives and I will forever sing: He lives, my Lord and King.

Because of Him, I will have life: I will conquer death.

My mansion will be prepared and I will live with Him there.

He lives, and I will honor Him. I will always praise Christ.

Joyfully I sing: I know that my Lord lives.

He lives, and I will honor Him. I will always praise Christ.

Joyfully I sing: I know that my Lord lives.

Also a quote that I like a lot from Jesus the Christ:

"In the face of all trials and even the direst persecution, it was incumbent upon them to persevere in their ministry, for the divine plan provided and required the gospel of the kingdom be preached amongst all nations."

Pretty neat, huh? I also woke up kinda sore from all our crazy moving last night, but it's all good.

Cool little caterpillar I found outside

Saturday, September 5, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #201 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Aaaaaaand we moved.  Honduras-style, of course, so that made everything more interesting.

In the morning we packed our suitcases and bags and everything and hauled that ourselves, about 3 blocks or so, uphill on a 40 degree incline, on all those blessed rocks to our (actual) house. We were very grateful that it's a relatively short journey, pulling everything and hauling backpacks and stuff, I actually felt like a pioneer for a few minutes and remembered the Trek I went on...although I think this time everything felt a lot heavier. Anyways, we got kinda tired from that.

Our new house!
(Duplex with Stake President's mother)

Sweet dreams for me!

Pila!!!

We returned to the member's house and got everything else packed up and clean (for it to get dirty again when we move, of course, as that always happens) and had lunch. Did a few visits, because at around 6:00 pm the elderes and a member with a truck came by to help us move the mini fridge, beds, mattresses, and the bigger stuff from the second story of the member's house. So that was helpful. I need to mention though, at about 5:00 pm it began to have another storm (usually gets rainy and cloudy around 5:00 pm every day, but it's been storming quite regularly this week) and we got worried about that. The power also went out and stayed out until about 7:30 pm. So it was cloudy and rainy and dark and stormy, but the rain stopped just in time for us to move everything over to our house. So (in the dark, with flashlights) we put everything in the truck bed, and drove it over to our house, unloaded and did a second trip. Fun things about moving in the dark: you tend to get, in every literal sense, clothes-lined. You also have a much higher possibility of losing house keys, which happened. First with the clothes-lining: as we don't have dryers here, we have everything on clotheslines outside. But, somehow these lines had gone slack, and hung very low. With the lights being out, it's really hard to see. So, as we were moving stuff around and everything, both Elder Pocock and I ran into those blessed lines. I hit on my neck, and that made it hang lower, so it hit him around tummy level, as he's a little taller than me. So that was interesting. And then with the keys getting lost (we found them the next day when there was light, so it's all good) the member with the truck and his brother and both Elderes Pocock and Olivas all tried to shimmy open the lock with credit cards, driver's liscences, and all sorts of stuff, which was all quite funny, actually, so we were able to laugh in the midst of a somewhat stressful situation. Finally we had to break a little glass window slat to insert a mop handle and open the door like that, but the member with the truck owns and works in a glass shop, so he'll come and repair it, no problem.

Broken window

So we finally got everything into the house and unpacked and in the end it actually turned out well. So we're very grateful for all the help from the elderes and the 2 brothers, and that it didn't rain while we were moving stuff around, and that we could get into our house and sleep, and that we found the keys, and now everything's ok. Crazy adventures over here in Honduras, man.

Friday, September 4, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #200 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

We're moving tomorrow! Short notice, but we went this morning to go clean our original house that's been under repairs this past month of August, but now it's ready for us to come back. So we wiped everything down, swept and mopped, as everything was covered in cement dust and paint drips, and random stuff that was left. So now it's ready to get all dirty again when we move. Whoo!

Most everything also fell through again, but we did do some visits. We went to our dinner appointment, and another big storm came through, and the power went out twice. So we had to stay in the house until the member with a mototaxi that we usually ask favors from could come and drop us off at our (current) house, as we live quite far from where we had dinner, and it was raining and the power was out and everything was crazy. So that was good. Thanks for the flashlights, Dad!

Honduras roadside

Some shots of Honduras

Thursday, September 3, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #199 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Weekly Planning! Again! Fun stuff, my friend. It's still kinda funny how we plan for a whole another week when we're only half-way through the current week, but it all works out wonderfully, of course. Just makes me feel old, in a way.

Basically everything fell through today, so that's fantastic. Even our weekly Coordinacion Misional didn't happen because no one answered their phones or came, although us and the 2 other pairs of elderes came and we waited about an hour. It also started to rain, so we sought shelter under the roof of a pulperia. Yeah, really good day.

Sugar cane!!

Sugar cane - chopped!

Yummers!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #198 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Hna Dester was worried about my upset stomach from a while back as it's been pretty touchy lately, so she asked me to go run some tests. Problem is, we don't have super reliable clinics over here, so we had to go up to SPS to the beloved Hospital Bendana. So that was fun to travel, do my things, and come back all in the same day.  But, I got to see Hna Robles and Hna Estacuy again, so that was nice. Hna Rosas looked like she was trying really hard to figure out my previous life the whole time, I'll admit that it's quite different from that of a normal missionary.  She couldn't believe that we would have to sit and wait and go to so many doctor's appointments, go and buy medicine, and travel to all the hospitals and the office so often, on top of missionary work, every day. Seemed a little bit bewildered. She determined that this is where I learned to be patient and calm, and get unruffled with things happening and so much not in our control. She's still working on the developing patience part, but is a wonderful sister to work with, I like her. But yeah, it was kinda fun to go tromp around my old stomping grounds, contacting all over the place in taxis and waiting rooms and everything. Good times.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015 -- Month #6 - Week #29 - Day #197 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Ya estamos en septiembre! Crazy how that happens, already feels like Christmas. 

Had District Meeting over in Potrerillos, about a 40-60 min bus ride, had lunch and went from there. There was a huge storm that rolled through towards the evening, lightning and thunder and everything, totally awesome, except the power went out and didn't come back until after we were asleep, not quite so awesome. Hna Rosas doesn't like thunderstorms very much, so I explained how lightning happens, and she seemed to think that was pretty interesting, so there's hope! 

I also figured out how to make cinnamon tea, which is good to take in the morning and night because it helps your tummy feel better and just tastes fantastically delicious!  Take a liter of water (we're in the metric system over here...actually almost all the world is metric, we're just crazy Americans that tend to do our own thing, as always) and boil it with about 4-5 pinky-sized cinnamon pieces (the whole, flatter, bark kind, not ground up) for a few minutes, then turn the heat on low and let it simmer another 10 mins or so until it's a rich amber color and the water tastes all cinnamony, then fish out the cinnamon pieces, add a bunch of sugar, stir around, and drink it (preferably from a cup, not from the pot, although you could do that as well if you wanted to, but I wouldn't recommend it).  I actually like it cold, but it's really yummy warm as well. I don't know if it's the same if you use the hard, rolled cinnamon sticks we have back home, I'd imagine it's similar, but we got the more raw, straight from the tree kind of stuff here. Gotta go where they sell good spices like that. Good luck!

My lunch