Monday, August 15, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #546 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

Today I had my last Pday in the mission! It was really good, though. We went up to SPS as a zone and went to a natural history museum, so that was a refresher from all my school growing up. It was a good reminder that I don't really remember ANYTHING from school...I'm scared for my BYU classes! Agh!

I also got a copy of the Popol Vuh, which is an old Mayan manuscript that tells the creation and some other history stuff,  so that was actually pretty neat. I've been wanting to read it all this time, and I finally got a copy of it! It's in Spanish, but now I can read Spanish without any difficulties, so I'm good to go!

Then we had lunch at Johnny Rockets (for the first time in my life) and we all got the 89 lemps combo, but with all the tax and service fees and whatnot, it came out to like 140 or something. Yeah. Darn American restaurants. I'm ready for things to be so expensive back home.

And we also took pictures with the cathedral in the SPS park, so that was neat. I hadn't been there in over a year! Running around SPS made Hna Vasquez a little nervous, and I realized again how crazy my life was when I first got to the mission. All full circle.

And we finally got ourselves all piled into a rapidito to head back to Villanueva, and we went and wrote our families and we didn't buy that much food because I'm taking off, and Hna Vasquez will be staying in La Victoria like I did when Hna Artica left, but they'll be working every other day in Las Flores and La Victoria, so that should hopefully be good and we won't lose so much work there.

I also got my homecoming talk topic, so I've been trying to think a little about that. Although I think I will have to write it out and read it because I don't really trust my English!

Sunday, August 14, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #545 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

Today Hna Mora has 10 months! Whoo! My 1st baby is getting all grown up!

Well, we went running around to bring people to Ward Conference, and they didn't want to, so that was sad. I love walking around in circles at 7:00 am on Sunday. But that's alright, it's what we do. I also said goodbye to Bishop Coello and his family, I'm gonna miss them!

And our little neighbor pet! I call him Osito (little bear),
although he has a different name. But he still comes when I call him!

And the other dog, Beethoven...

 There's also a 3rd dog, but I don't remember what he's called...

A picture of me with the light,
and then when the light went out!

We went and bought Hna Vasquez some candles
for when this sort of thing happens in the future.

And also our phone signal went out. So we stayed put. When the light came back it was already late, and the rain continued for about 4 hours, so we just sort of camped in our house and I got some more little things finished up for when I go.

So we had that, and then we also stayed after for a meeting with the Stake President and all the ward leaders, so that was fun, and we finally got out at about 2:00 pm, and ran out and picked up our lunch from Damaris, and went home to eat fast and relax for a few minutes, then went looking for people again up in Miguel Yanes, but the citas all fell through, so we ran back to the house again at about 6:00 pm to pick up something I forgot, and then all of a sudden another huge rain storm hit! So we decided to wait it out a few minutes in our house, but then the light went out so we had to stay home because it really was very dark.

So we had a chill day, mostly just sitting. I'm really tired of sitting.

Saturday, August 13, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #544 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

Soooooo today was fun! Hna Escobar and I had to get the hnas from El Bosque over to Hospital del Valle for a cita, and then pick up my Hna Vasquez, hang with all 4 of us for a bit, and then get Hna Vasquez and I back to our area!

Me and Hermana Vasquez

The sky before it rains

And have lunch, get unpacked, visit Lucia, cancel an activity and Coordinacion Misional, go looking around for some less actives to invite to Ward Conference tomorrow, and get back home before the rain came! I'm really tired. It's hard to end a mission!

Only 5 days left...

But I saw a millipede as we were walking home, so that was neat. Hna Vasquez is a little unnerved with little critters like those, but she does like animals, so that's good.

Friday, August 12, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #543 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

Today I went up to SPS for my goodbye with Pres and Hna Bush, and it was a long day! Hna Vasquez and I came up at about 11:00 am and did a companion switch with Hna Erickson (the nurse) and Hna Escobar (that was my companion in Santa Cruz) because Hna Vasquez needed to go to the dentist and then Hna Escobar stayed with me for one last day. So it all worked out quite well.

Pics in the Hospital switching companions!

And we got to stick together and go through all the interviews with Pres Bush, and Hna Bush gave us a training about what we should do when we get home that was actually pretty good, I got to think about some things that I will and won't do when I get back, and then we all went over to Plaza Tipica to buy some last few things to take home, and then over to the Bush's apartment to have dinner and testimony meeting. I played piano, and it was weird to play a normal, actual piano! I miss playing and want to get back into practice again, and LEARN ALL THE HYMNS! That's something I didn't do as a rebellious child at home. Oops.

And we went over and stayed at the house of the HLE's in Castanos, since they were doing divisions in Potrerillos, and Hna Escobar and I talked about life and some problems we were having and got to spend a little more time together. I'm going to miss that girl.

Hermana Escobar and me!

Thursday, August 11, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #542 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

We finally had divisions! I went with Hna Escobar (the HLE from Copan) and Hna Vasquez went with Hna Quinteros, and we both had good days! Just that right when we left it down poured for about half an hour, and then it was all sunny again, and then at about 6:00 pm it down poured again. But I ran around with my giant umbrella sword, so I was alright. But we still got wet from the waist down.

But I finally fulfilled my dream and we climbed up the Miguel Yanes mountain and went contacting around there. And we climbed up 363 stairs. That was the second longest trail, there's one that's probably 80 or so more stairs taller, but I don't think we'll have time to climb up that one. But at least we got up there! So I'm happy.

Climbing up Miguel Yanes

And with the rain, we went to have dinner again with Marilyn and Inesita, and we had baleadas. I haven't had a baleada for a while, I realized, so that was a nice little dinner.

Also we found another church: Iglesia de Cristo la fiel y verdadera.

And if you gargle a cup of lime juice you can cure tonsillitis. Very interesting. There's a lady that swears up and down by lime juice.

And my pen finally died! I thought I'd use more pens in the mission, but the ones I have have lasted for a while.

We also watched a chicken try to eat a Styrofoam food carton while we were teaching a lesson. I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to eat Styrofoam, animal or human.

And we saw a SUPER pregnant dog in the street, and it was actually a little sad to see her waddling around, poor baby.

But that was our day! Hna Vasquez had a good day as well, so I'm glad for that. My first time having divisions was not a good experience, so I tried to prepare Hna Vasquez for what was gonna happen and give her very clear instructions with the route of the people she was going to visit so she didn't get lost. But she did well and enjoyed them! So I'm happy about that.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #541 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

"Your faith will grow not by chance, but by choice."

- Elder Neil. L. Andersen

The lady that was going to leave on visits with us this morning flaked out again, so we went to conquer the world by ourselves. We went and found our investigators that aren't really super interested, and then the fumigator people fumigated our house, and we went and taught some more people that were slightly more interested. And then we waited for an eternity for our dinner and we got a slice of pizza and a cup of Pepsi. Whoo!

Some of our area!

Hna Vasquez, my dear hija!!

We also found a treat that's called "donkey hoof" or casco de burro, so that was neat. I'm pretty sure that's not what it's called in English, but that's how it is in Spanish.

Also, Lucia's prayers are awesome, even though they're really long. But it's sweet when she prays for us and asks God to take care of us and our families. She's a good lady.

Looking pretty good with my bag of water from the pulperia!

And also the light went out this morning, from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. So it was kinda hot when we studied in the morning and all that and there wasn't much breeze even when we opened the windows in the house. But we survived!

Tuesday, August 09, 2016 -- Month #17 - Week #78 - Day #540 - Las Flores, Villanueva, Cortes

"Each faith-filled step will be met with help from Heaven."

- Elder Randall K. Bennett

I like that quote, and it's true.

Today was a bit crazy, we had my second-to-last District Meeting again in the morning, and had lunch, then went looking for people that weren't home! Yay! But we did find a bunch of different people to teach, so that was good. We went hiking all over creation, but Hna Vasquez's legs are getting stronger and don't hurt so much, so that's good. She's gonna be an awesome missionary!