Wednesday, October 7, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #34 - Day #233 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Today the mother of Esperanza died in the afternoon, so that was sad news. She was 92 years old and got sick, so we're comforted that she's not hurting from a body that didn't work well anymore.

We went and worked in Las Flores again, and dropped some people that weren't progressing. We're getting really good at dropping people, as it's a weekly occurrence now.

But, to brighten things up, Hna Escobar and I made mole! (MOH-leh)  It's a food made all the time in Guatemala, and I love it. You slice up some ripe plantains and sauté them until all golden and soft. Meanwhile, you add water to the mole mix and put it on simmer. When everything's all hot and ready, pop the plantains into the mix, and serve! You can also make your own mole sauce from chocolate, chili powder, tomato, spices, cinnamon, salt, sesame seeds (I think), sugar, pumpkin seeds...makes a savory, chocolately, slightly spicy sauce over the sweet plantains and I think it's delicious.

Also, random fact from Honduras: we keep engines running while filling up at gas stations! So I'm kinda always praying that nothing bad happens when the bus decides that it needs a refill. Basically everything that is a law or guideline in the States is ignored here. I'm quite serious. Most daily activities/practices here are in some way illegal in my country. Not that they're necessarily bad, just prohibited. And somehow we all survive. Interesting, huh?

We saw a duck as we were walking to an appointment!

Tuesday, October 6, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #34 - Day #232 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

We were a little over an hour late to our interviews with Pres because for some reason the buses decided that they didn't want to leave on time. I love public transportation. But, interviews went well, Hna Dester gave us chocolate chip cookies and juice boxes! Best treat ever.

Then we FINALLY got back home after another fun bus adventure (turns out that the bus that said they passed for Santa Cruz didn't actually pass for Santa Cruz, so we had to figure out another route with a taxi, which is a like 3-5 times more expensive) around 4:00 pm and had lunch, and since it was raining we decided to warm up the leftover tomato soup and we had that with other assorted food items. Very tasty.

I forgot to mention that I was a little sore today, as yesterday as we were playing around in Pulha all the elderes decided that they wanted to do dips, so we found a spot where they could do that, and we all took turns trying to do dips. I discovered that I do not have very much in the way of triceps, but I can raise and keep my legs straight and locked like you're supposed to, so that's a start, at least. Most of the guys actually couldn't do dips very well either, so I'm not totally alone!

But we went and visited Guadalupe (the recent convert with a little baby boy) and since we were outside and it was dark and rainy, I pulled out my flashlight so we could see the hymnbook and scriptures. Turns out that Wilmer (the one-year old boy) thought that was the coolest thing in the world, and started pointing it all over the place, including his own face, and discovered that strong lights can make it hard to see. He's a little cutie.

Monday, October 5, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #33 - Day #231 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

Pday! We went to Pulhapanzak, which is a nature park thing with a big waterfall, really, really cool. Got all sprayed from the water droplets, so that was quite refreshing, actually. Hna Escobar and I enjoyed ourselves with the Zone today and got some really cool pics!

Hna Escobar and I! 
We also found a swing set!

We saw a rainbow as well! So cool!

Got back home to make some lunch and clean the house, we'll have to wash clothes over the next few days as we didn't have 3 hours to do all that. But guess what? I made tomato soup!

It was awesome and Hna Escobar loved it! Yay! I was pretty thrilled...this past week we've been slowly gathering ingredients and waiting until the right moment. So it turns out that Sandra has a basil plant at her house (although it was a very different basil than I'm used to, but it works pretty well) so we asked her for a bag of leaves, and we had to go walk around Central asking if someone knew where they sold cream (it's still not the heavy whipping cream we use, more like the normal mantequilla stuff we always have that's like a cousin of butter and sour cream), and then today we went and hunted down a blender to use for the afternoon, and I hunkered down and made tomato soup from absolute scratch and it was amazing. I am quite proud of myself. It was a sort of simplified version, but turned out well.

There was a little baby snake in our yard, so I got to hold it!

Reminded me of when we were little in our house in Corinth,Texas
and always found bugs and little critters...good times!

Sunday, October 4, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #33 - Day #230 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

More General Conference! Went up to Villanueva again, hung with the gringos, and came back home. And, I curled my hair this time, just to shake things up from the ever-constant bun or clip hairstyle which I rock almost every day. Really good day.

Hermana Escobar and Hermana Mower

Saturday, October 3, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #33 - Day #229 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

General Conference! Maybe it's the mission, but I seriously love watching 8 hours of talks in 2 days. So cool.

We watched General Conference as a Zone

So yes, I did end up ironing my hair straight, and it turned out really well! Also haven't straightened my hair in over a year, since it was shorter and I curled it. It was fun to feel it swinging around as we were walking today.

I haven't straightened my hair in forever since I had it curled for a year when I chopped it off, and then have been in Honduras for 7 months. Pretty funny :)

So Hna Escobar is super pilas and stuck to her decision to watch all of conference in English, so she was the only latina chilling in a room with a whole bunch of gringos. She's amazing. Understood the majority of what was said, if there was a new word she would lean over and ask me, and afterwards we went over the talks and gave a summary of each to check for comprehension. So that was super neat, I think she was able to be taught by the Spirit, if anything, as her notes seemed a little better in content than mine. Neat experience.

And just thought I'd let ya'll know that I swallowed a fly today. There are so many dang flies here, I swear it's a miracle that they aren't consumed more often. So that was a little surprising for me, and I can't say that I enjoyed it. I don't like flies.

Friday, October 2, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #33 - Day #228 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

We went exploring in El Zapote, part of our area that we have to go in bus and pay 10 lemps. We found some people, taught some lessons, hopped back on the bus to Santa Cruz, had lunch, then hopped on another bus to go to Las Flores, another part that we go to in bus. Same thing over there, and had dinner with the familia Bardales. Pretty much it.

But, I painted my nails for the first time in I don't remember, so that was pretty fun. Well, Hna Escobar actually did the painting part, they turned out pretty neat. Part of prepping for conference! She also straightened her hair with an iron, so that was also a first for me, I'll try it tomorrow morning.

Random fact from Honduras: we also sometimes call lemps "pesos" here, but they're not the same as Mexican pesos of currency.

Thursday, October 1, 2015 -- Month #7 - Week #33 - Day #227 - Santa Cruz de Yojoa

First day of October! Time keeps on passing by whether you realize it or not..."the wheel in the sky keeps on turning..." Eighties classic rock, man.

Today was interesting, basically nothing went to plan, so that was fantastic. Did manage to have some lessons, though, so that was good, did a lot of contacting, as always, since we have 1 or 2 lessons with someone and they drop...we're kinda in a constant flow of investigators, which is good in some ways and not so good in others. We're kinda not thrilled that we (honestly) don't have many progressing investigators.

Today was also fun because we went and figured out a private bus situation that could take us to and from Villanueva to watch General Conference in English, as Hna Escobar wants to watch it in English, and I speak English, so we're going over there with all the other gringos in the stake. Which means that we called a bunch of people related to transportation here in Santa Cruz, and asked about pricing and timing and type of bus and everything... we settled on a little bus that would take us for the 2 days for 2,000 lemps, which is about $100, so hopefully that will work out ok.

And we had Weekly Planning, so that's always fun. A little shorter than usual as we don't really have anyone to plan for.