Tuesday, April 7, 2015 -- Week #8, Day #50 San Pedro Sula

9:20 pm

It's already the 7th of April! Wow! And tomorrow's the 8th... crazy.

Anyways, today was filled with hospital stuff, and I am physically exhausted, so happy to go to bed early tonight. But today was good, we got through all the appointments and got in 3 short lessons tonight, and made plans to go wash Hna Lorena's laundry in the morning because she's in a lot of pain right now. So I'm looking forward to more laundry! Yay! I'm really good at it, yeah know.

I would like to express my love for mustard greens, or mostazo, and how they are quite delicious. We had some for lunch at Hna Fidelina's, in company of rice, pico, beef, kidney beans, and tamarindo juice. Quite the lunch!

Also, since we had to visit 3 hospitals and various pharmacies and labs, we took a lot of taxis, which has been a new experience for me. We also sometimes use rapiditos, which are very full and very small van things that drive around very fast, hence the name. But seat belts don't really exist here, and a lot of the cars are older and have poor suspension / cleanliness, so it's always a fun experience to ride around the city!  Also there's no painted lines in the roads, and if there are, they don't really matter. But it's nice to have a break from walking so much, and I guess the drivers here are crazy good, because they drive crazily, but we're always quite safe. Weird. I guess when everyone drives crazily it all works out! Like a whole lot of double negatives!

Rapiditos / Minivan

But yeah, I also got to see the police force chasing down a bad guy today, the police here are actually military soldier people. There's also armed guards all over the place in front of stores and stuff, but they're the good guys. So yeah, SPS is kinda different than the States. Good, but different.

We have a machete!

But I'm doing good, I'm always hot and tired and aching, but it's good to be out here, we're having a baptism for Hno Halsey coming up on the 18th, I believe, so we're quite excited for that!

Monday, April 6, 2015 -- Week #7, Day #49 San Pedro Sula

10:20 pm

Well, I had my 1st Preparation Day in Honduras, it was very nice. I hand-washed my clothes in the pila today, and that took about 2 hours, and I decided to count that as my exercise for the day... washerwomen have some powerful arms and hands!  But I enjoyed it, starting to feel like I'm living like someone in Honduras.

And had 2 visits, and watched the "Finding Faith in Christ" video with la familia Rios, and I noticed that in the Spanish version, when Christ heals the leper, after he said that if it be His will, He could make him clean, Christ answered, "Yo quiero," or "I want to," and I thought that was quite profound. Languages are so interesting, I'm blessed to be learning Spanish, and I did a lot better today, I'm getting really good at praying!  It turns out that our investigators usually like to have me pray, either because I'm white or I'm new, not quite sure which one yet. But I enjoy it, it's always good to talk to God and ask after the welfare of others.

Our house is the yellow one on the right!

Streets in Honduras

Honduras skyline

It was a good day, Hna Robles and I were on the phone a long time tonight because we had a whole bunch of sick elderes call in and need to go to the hospital or have doctor appointments tomorrow. We seem to have more sick elderes than hermanas, mostly because they do silly things and don't drink enough water. So I'm trying not to do silly things and am drinking a lot of water so I don't get sick. Good thing my companion is the nurse!

Sunday, April 5, 2015 -- Week #7, Day #48 San Pedro Sula

10:14 pm
General Conference was awesome! I particularly liked the music from this conference, it was really, really, really good, I thought. I also watched conference a different way every session. The Saturday morning I watched in English on a TV at the Benque. Saturday afternoon session I listened in English on the Mormon Radio 24-7 channel in the Secretary's office at the chapel. The Sunday morning session I watched in Spanish at the chapel, and the Sunday afternoon session I listened to in English on Hna Robles phone (she has a smart phone to help with her nursing stuff) while watching it in Spanish. So that actually worked out quite well, and I'm so happy that I got to hear conference in English. By October conference I should be fine watching it all in Spanish.

Also, it rained while we were walking home after visits tonight, so I'm all wet. Hna Robles was so happy for the rain. It has been a little bit cooler the past few days because of it, although it's still quite warm, so that's been nice. The rain smells the same here as it does in the states, so that's kinda interesting. I have to admit that I've never really enjoyed the smell of rain, it just smells like wet dirt and roads, but I'm glad that everyone else enjoys it a lot.

Things are coming along, I'm kinda getting into the swing of things, so that's nice. Our schedule usually looks something like this:

6:30 am  wake up / pray / exercise

7:10 am  shower / dress / get breakfast

8:00 am  personal study

9:00 am  companionship study

10:00 am visits

12:00 pm  lunch

1:00 pm  language study

2:00 pm  visits

dinner is sometime usually between 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm, usually with a family, so we visit with them, too

8:00 pm - 8:30 pm  be at home because streets aren't safe, grab a snack if already had dinner and start planning

9:30 pm  finish planning / start calling people for stats / call Hna Dester and update her on sick people

10:00 pm  take a shower and get ready for bed

10:30 pm  sleep!

So that's what I'm usually up to, unless we have a slew of hospital visits, so there's a lot of walking involved and my back and legs and feet are quite tired from literally carrying the Word of God around for hours, but I've adjusted decently well, I think.

I guess I ought to mention that I am in the city of San Pedro Sula, in the neighborhoody part of town, I'm not sure exactly where I am, but comparatively speaking, it is a very nice living area.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Saturday, April 4, 2015 -- Week #7, Day #47 San Pedro Sula

9:50 pm

Ah, I love taking my showers at night, get all the sunscreen and sweat and bug spray and dirt and everything else that I've accumulated during the day off of my body. The showers are still cold, since no one has hot water here, but the cold water is actually kinda nice for a little bit because it's so hot right now. I still shower in the semi-darkness because we don't have a light in the bathroom....and we are missing a shower curtain, so it's always an adventure here, no matter if you're walking the streets or getting yourself clean! Viva Honduras!

But on a more wonderful note, we watched General Conference today and Hna Robles was awesome and found us a place to watch it in English for me. 

I also got my first taste of caracol, or sea snail, in the soup a member family made for our lunch, so that was interesting. It's a light, creamy yellow meat, and soft and slightly rubbery, and doesn't taste like much. I was alright eating it in the smaller, bite-sized pieces, but there was a big, golf-ball sized chunk that I just couldn't eat. But I was grateful we were given food for lunch.

Also, we have a hammock on our patio that I used this morning while Hna Robles was doing nursing calls, oh, I've missed hammocks!  It's nice to sit and rock gently as you read. I'm pretty sure I want to acquire one sometime during my lifetime, they're wonderful.

Got my few minutes in the hammock this morning!

Also, funny story, we went and visited the familia Enamorada last night, and I just thought the contrast between "Captain America: Winter Soldier" playing muted on the TV, and the sound of the Primary Songs CD playing in the house was quite amusing. Bucky and Cap were fighting in the street to "Raindrops Falling All Around" and "Popcorn Popping" made for an interesting mix. But both got turned off for us to talk with the family.

Fun fact: I'd venture to say that the vast majority of words in Spanish end with a vowel, and so when I teach Hna Robles words in English, she's always tacking on letters to the end of them, it's fun to hear her sound the words out and learn what they mean. I guess cuz I don't feel like such a baby! But I really do enjoy talking with her, she is simply wonderful to be with and accompany.

My listening skills were somewhat better today, I could understand some more of what people were saying today, although there are a lot of times when I honestly had no idea what people are saying. It's quite disconcerting to know that people are talking, but it's just sounds, and doesn't make any sense in the Spanish or English that I know.

But I've been informed that I have a wonderfully neutral accent to my spoken Spanish, so that's good. Perhaps when I can figure out what is going on, I can speak more like a native person, but for now I have to go off cues from Hna Robles or what I piece together from 5 people all talking at once in the lessons. I'm doing a better job than some of the missionaries who've been here for months, so that's comforting, I suppose.

Anyways, life here is good, I'm getting more used to lessons and am talking some more, it's still quite hot here, and I enjoy my cold, dark showers in the evening after we plan for the next day. Haven't gotten sick yet, which I'm so grateful for, and had a PB&J for dinner, so I also enjoyed that. Got my fan, and my sheets, and my glorious bed to enjoy for 8 hours, so I think it's safe to call myself blessed.

Friday, April 3, 2015 -- Week #7, Day #46 San Pedro Sula

Good Morning!

Most people here don't know how to braid...
let alone do a double french on one's self!

2:21 pm
Just had lunch, Hna Robles made Spanish tortillas, and they were delicious. We have a tiny little 2 burner electrical stove that we have sitting on the ground, so I felt like I was camping as we were preparing lunch, it was pretty fun.

I had a somewhat of a rough time with Spanish this morning, it's always a little tricky to get my brain back into language mode that early, so we took a break and sorted that out, and I'm fine now. Getting better and better each day, still tricky to get through the Honduran way of dropping half of the words, but I'm understanding some more, and that's at least some progress, in my book. Hna Robles is learning some English for the test when she gets back home (on the 26th of April, I believe she will have been in the field for 11 months!) and we learned "coconut" and "The man is angry," quite useful phrases.

Part of my desk and my WELCOME note from Hna Robles

We also went over food names as we were cooking lunch. I'm also learning a lot of medical terms in Spanish, and taking anatomy has really helped as they are more closely related than the English words for things are (case in point: "renal" is "kidney" in both cases, as well as "cerebrum" and "cerebro" compared to "brain"). But it's fun to translate everyone's health issues from Hna Robles and relay them to Hna Dester every other day or so, and then relay back to Hna Robles what she said concerning them. 

Also, there were some clouds this morning, so that was really nice to have slightly cooler weather, now it's pretty hot again. Our poor little house is quite warm, as always, as most of the dwellings here are also quite warm... actually any structure is hot. Also outside is hot. But I guess it's a blessing to have the sun and roads and houses and running water, although we can't drink it, but somehow it's alright to wash our dishes and fruit and things in it, and then use them? 

E Wing said that this is the hottest time during the year, so it can only get better from here. I don't know how much better, but it will be better. And I really do like it here, this is one of the nicest areas of the mission to work in, E Wing was telling me about some others he's worked in, the people there have a little hut with a mud floor in the middle of nowhere that's about 20 sq feet and 8 people live there...crazy.

Looking to the window from my desk

Our little half-broom
It makes a valiant effort to help me clean!

10:02 pm

Tengo bastante sueno! Estoy bien cansada... basically, I'm very tired. I've learned in my 4 days here that you use "bastante" to indicate a great amount of something, and can use "bien" as a way to express "muy," por ejemplo:  "Ella habla bastante!" "She talks a lot," "El fue bien enojado" "He was very upset," "que bien chistoso" "that's very funny - that's hilarious," also "bien tarde" for "very late"... interesting stuff, it's fun to pick up on new words and how to use them. People are always amazed at how well I know Spanish, I still struggle with some of the speakers here, but Hna Robles is an angel and is helping me out a lot. Most of the time I just need her to repeat what the person said, since I understand her perfectly, but even she doesn't understand what these people are saying sometimes. She's from Peru, and I understand her almost perfectly, so that's really good. So now I've got Mexican, Guatemalan, and Peruvian dialects down, I'll need to work on my Honduran Spanish next!

I also received 4 mosquito bites last night, so I'm making sure I bug-proof myself tonight, not really a fan of getting sick from a stupid virus right now.

10:25 pm

There's some interesting things down here, people included, so everyday is pretty different, granted I've only had 3 days in Honduras, but it is quite different from the States and also the CCM. But, it's good, the eternal Girl's Camp experience continues!

We had Marisol come teach with us today, she's a convert of 4 years, and she's amazing, can barely understand a word she says, but she's awesome, I like her a lot. And we set 2 baptismal dates with investigators, so that's also something to be happy about. 

Just wanted to show off my lovely shoe tan line on my feet....my arms and face are still pretty white, we'll see if they end up tanning at all.

Thursday, April 2, 2015 -- Week #7, Day #45 San Pedro Sula

7:35 am

So it turns out I didn't have a minute to write last night, I was unpacking and planning today etc... and was exhausted, so I went promptly to bed.

Girls Camp -- June 2010

My overall feeling so far is how it is during Girl's Camp in a Texas August... it's quite warm and humid, and I'm constantly sweating and feeling dirty, but that's ok. I took my first shower this morning after exercises and feel better about myself, though once again, I am sweating and feel sticky and dirty. It's just kinda a constant wet heat, I sleep on top of my sheet on my bed with a fan, though throughout the night it drops a few degrees, so I end up turning the fan off and rolling under my sheet for a little bit before it's time to get up.

Here's our house -- San Pedro Sula

I'm pretty happy with it!

Pretty sweet living conditions
compared to most places around here!

Our house has no air conditioning, and has 2 lights, one in the bedroom, and one in the main room, I'd say we have a square footage of about 640 feet. Roughly 16' x 40' I think, those two rooms and a bathroom with no shower curtain and some lovely dark blue plastic sink and toilet, but I love it here, we have it very good compared to most people we visit.

My companion is Hna Robles, and she is fantastic, it's her first time training, so she's a bit nervous, but she's starting from ground zero with me, so she can't mess up too bad. She is also the nurse, so I'm kinda in training for that capacity as well and go along with her to the hospitals and doctor's visits and figure out the medications and medical terms in Spanish and do all the insurance paperwork. I'm the middleman between Hna Robles and Hna Dester, because of the language barrier. So that's pretty neat to do. We also are proselyting missionaries, in addition to the medical stuff. Pres Dester said that my biology and science background would help in this capacity, so I'm glad I have that at least.

My first companion and trainer, Hna Robles! and President Dester

But yeah, yesterday was kinda crazy, we left the Dester's apartment and went to Baleadas Express for breakfast, then went back to the Benque and got my stuff and met back up with Hna Robles and went over to the hospital for a little bit, then went shopping for food for the week, and then finally went home. And then went out and worked our area, and came home around 8:30 pm, because it's not safe for us to be out after that time.  And we finally had dinner at like 9:30 pm, and we hadn't eaten since lunch around 12:00 pm, so that was nice.  A sister from the ward brought us something similar to a chicken bake and we had that and some milk for dinner. Oh, that was so delicious.

So now I'm eating some cereal, and gonna start personal study here.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015 -- Week #7, Day #44 San Pedro Sula

7:02 am

So that was probably the nicest sleep I've had since I left home, dang that was good. The bed was incredibly comfy, much more so than the beds at the CCM and probably for the rest of my mission, but I enjoyed my 9 hours of sleep in my bed of unreal comfortableness.

Hna Gutierrez is finishing up getting ready for the day, and then I think we'll have breakfast and then go back to Benque to get our stuff and get started with the day, we need to have some more meetings and stuff, and meet our trainers and get some more meetings, and then we're off!

Last photo with my arrival group!