Friday, May 20, 2016 -- Month #15 - Week #66 - Day #459 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Got back home safe and sound! Got unpacked and whatnot, ran over to lunch with Hna Brenda, gave her some skirts to redo the hems (she has a Janome sewing machine and is making dresses all the time) and got ready for the day. Lots of lovely visits and contacting, and then a crazy rainstorm came out of nowhere! So we headed back home to wait it out because the lightening was really, really close and the light always goes out when it rains. So we waited a little bit and the rain passed, but the light didn't go out, which was a first. So we headed back out and did a little bit of work and then went back home.

And then I got to help out Hna Erickson with some health stuff with hnas we've done divisions with, so that was fun. She's doing great, and I helped encourage her a bit as it's hard being nurse. I lived with one for 3 changes. But I'm proud of her and she's a wonderful hna here in the mission.

And we found yet another church in our wanderings today! Iglesia del Dios Vivo, Columna y Apoyo de la Verdad "La Luz del Mundo". Long name.

Thursday, May 19, 2016 -- Month #15 - Week #66 - Day #458 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Divisions in Villanueva! I was with Hna Ordonez (who was in Potrerillos and is now here)

and Hna Cruz went with Hna Palencia.

Hna Ordonez also has knee problems so we stayed close to home and we visited the exact same people I had visited the last time we did divisions there. Anyways, good day overall.

And another church: Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo. At least it mentions Christ.

The church we found in Villanueva

But, awesome news!!!! Baby Fabian Andre finally was born!!!!! At 7:30 pm!! We're thrilled and Cesia is happy to finally not be pregnant. He was 4 days overdue, I think. 57 centimeters and 7.5 pounds, has a lot of hair and a big nose, apparently. We're so happy and excited to meet him when we get back to our area!

Fabian Andre Villeda Morales

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 -- Month #15 - Week #66 - Day #457 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Divisions in Potrerillos! I went with Hna Farao

Hna's Mower and Farao in Potrerillos

(she had emergency changes and was pulled out of Campanas on Monday and sent to Potrerillos...I feel like I've done a lot of divisions with her) and Hna Cruz went with Hna Zepeda who is a newbie and has 4 weeks in the mission

Hna's Cruz and Zepeda

(her trainer, Hna Tajiboy went home due to knee problems, that's why Hna Farao came). So we had a special sort of divisions with them. They're doing good, both kinda stressed because neither of them know the area, so we helped them out and grabbed a member to show us around. Hna Farao is pretty much checked out because she's finishing in 2 weeks in June as well. I hope I don't get like that.

Hna's Mower, Cruz, Zepeda, Farao

I also got my last name changed around a lot when I meet people, as usual, but today I had a full reversal of my name...apparently I'm Hna Womer now. That was interesting. I even said my name correctly 4 times and they still didn't get it. That's alright.

And we found another church! La Iglesia Casa de Misericordia. I'm seriously amazed at all these names.

Also, there's this guy in the Terminal in SPS that we always see when we travel, he has elephantitis and I swear his leg gets bigger every time we see him. It's pretty sad. I had never seen a person in real life with that disease, and now I do every few weeks as we come for divisions or the Lidership Meeting.

My 15 months! Thanks Aunt Anna for my countdown!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016 -- Month #14 - Week #66 - Day #456 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

District Meeting! And in the morning Hna Cruz and I prepped some banana bread to cook in the church's oven while we had the meeting. It turned out beautifully and I got to mix it all up with my hands. I was very happy.

Making the banana bread batter!

Got lunch and walked around a lot, and did a bunch of visit with people that aren't really wanting to progress. And we had Consejo de Rama. Long day, and I'm tired!

Honduran sky

But we got divisions starting tomorrow, so we're getting ready for those. Hna Cruz was getting bothered with all my white hairs that are coming out, so she sat me down and pulled out 15 of them! All about 1.5" long. 12 were pure white, and 3 were changing color from brown to white. So there you go. Viva la mision!

My white hairs!

We also saw a non-smoking sign as we were walking around: "Fumar es suicidio. Por favor, suicídese en otro lugar." It made me laugh. It's true. Don't smoke, please.

Monday, May 16, 2016 -- Month #14 - Week #65 - Day #455 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Palindrome date!  (16-05-16)  Typical Pday morning activities, went and got lunch, scouted out some labs and whatnot for Hna Erickson, shopping and writing our families!

Us eating pizza for lunch!

Me drinking my soda in the 
internet station where we email home

While we were writing, Hna Erickson and Medina came to La Entrada (they were in Santa Rosa looking at things down there) so then we got them to our house and let them rest while we went and did a few citas. We got to do a birthday FHE with the Aguilar Sanchez family since it was Gloria's birthday. So we shared a message with them and played the spoon activity and had pastelitos and horchata for dinner. Which was actually very delicious and I enjoyed it. And we ran by Hna Benitez and talked with her for a bit, as she's still on bedrest for her foot that's swollen. And then we headed back home and talked a whole lot with Hna Erickson and Medina. I like them a lot as well.

Me, Hna Erickson, Hna Medina, Hna Cruz

Hna Medina is finishing her mission this change in June, and Hna Erickson has 7 months already! And I almost have 15 and I feel old. But it's all good! I'm happy.

I started cleaning the grout in the kitchen because it's dirty
and was bothering me.

Sunday, May 15, 2016 -- Month #14 - Week #65 - Day #454 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Guess who came on a surprise visit to our branch? President Dester! I got surprised when we rounded the corner to enter the church doors and all of a sudden we saw Pres. Dester standing there talking to a lady. And then he greeted us and told us he had cookies for us from Hna Dester. We had our meeting like normal and I played piano and everything and we listened to Pres. Dester share his thoughts towards the end of the meeting. And he also gave us our cookies in a secret hand-off. He's funny about little things like that...REALLY didn't want anyone else to know that we had cookies!

But we did all the fun Church stuff like normal and we had lunch and headed out to work. Found some more fun people. And that was our day!

And Hna Cruz and I exploring all over the place on Sunday,
trying to find people that want to repent and be baptized.

There's always random fires because people burn trash.
We always smell like we went camping by the end of the day.

We found a cashew tree along the way 
(the owners of the tree didn't like us).

In our adventures we went down the equivalent of 3 stories of rock and steps.

But I was thrilled because when we were home making our small dinner, I made mashed potatoes with sage! Momma sent me a whole bunch of spices that we use at home in my last package, so I've been adding them here and there when we cook in our house. And it was so weird to taste something from home again! It's because no one uses spices here like we do back home. So that made me really happy. Thanks, Momma!

And we also had another run in with a drunk (that happens on nearly a daily basis, I think) but this one was friendly and gave us fist bumps because I'm American, so that was a first. Since I'm white, everyone says I'm American, which is true, but I'm also North American, Hna Cruz is South American, and everyone in Honduras is Central American...so we're all Americans, technically (I learned that in the CCM and it's stuck with me all this time). But anyways, that was a fun little experience. We always let our latino DL know what happens, and he laughs at all our crazy adventures because I'm white. Good times.

Me looking out across the mountain!

Hna's Cruz & Mower - Got our shiny on!

But we're excited for Pday tomorrow! Hna Erickson (the nurse) is gonna come down from SPS and go look around La Entrada for clinics and labs so we don't have to go all the way to SPS if we have a health problem. So we gotta help her navigate around our area. Even down in Copan I'm still involved in health stuff!

Saturday, May 14, 2016 -- Month #14 - Week #65 - Day #453 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

I made breakfast!

Did a bunch more lessons in the morning, and went over to Hna Aide for lunch! And we tried a plant called kilete for the first time. Interesting taste, sort of like chamomile tea with lots of honey. Except it's a fuzzy leaf that's really juicy and it had a sort of bitter taste to it as well. Anyways, that was interesting. We drank Coke, like normal, and had rice and beans and tuna noodles (the 2nd time in my life I've eaten tuna) and talked about life and everything. I love that lady.

And we ran by some more people to visit them, but they didn't want to, so we went and helped set up for the last of these activities and participated in that. And practiced piano again. And that was our day.

But we got to play with Monse! She's the little 3 year-old daughter of Gualdina, the one that calls us the gemelas (twins). And she was telling us all about this guy that lives in a tree and eats seeds, and how butterflies sing. She's probably my favorite child in all of El Dorado. She always dances around and gives us lots of hugs and sits and talks to us. Little cutie.

Hna Cruz hanging out with Montserrat (our favorite little friend!)

But, missionary-wise, we've been struggling with people not praying lately. Like, more than usual. Which is annoying because you know who messes up things like that, darn it.

Anyways, we heard the new excuse that someone couldn't pray because they didn't have a Bible in their house. I don't really see the connection between not having a Bible in your possession and not having the ability to pray. But apparently that was an issue with someone and they refused to pray. Other common reasons:

- they don't go to church

- they only know the Lord's Prayer

- we pray differently

- the missionaries should always pray because we have the Word of God

- they're embarrassed

- they only pray in silence 

- the gringa should pray because they want to hear me speak Spanish (very common)

- the new companion should pray because they're new (that always happens the first half of     a change in a new area)

- they don't know anything about God

- they don't feel like it

- they want to have really long prayers

- they want to have really short prayers

- they don't know how to pray

- they only pray in school

- they have to go grocery shopping

- they just don't feel like it

Those are just some common things that people say. And we've come up with a response to every one of them, believe me, but we still have a battle of wills every single time we teach someone.