Monday, April 11, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #420 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Pday! Today was good, we chilled at home and washed basically everything to do with clothes and the floors! We're squeaky clean now! I swept out about a pound of dirt and dust in our garage space (it gets in through the cracks of the porton (gate) and then we track it into the house) and we even scrubbed our shower curtain. And we had lunch and bought some food for this week (we only have 1 more day of divisions!) and then wrote our families! Hi family! So that was enjoyable. The elderes went to Tejute, and we would have liked to have gone, but the last time I went I destroyed my legs, and that made working a little harder...so I don't think I'll be going to Tejute again for a while, even though it's really beautiful.

But anyways, we did all that and then we did an FHE with an investigator couple that we're teaching, and we played a fun game that I'll have to teach you guys when I get back. Basically it helps teach the difference between what man sees and what God sees in a person, good for small groups.

As for news from Honduras, apparently I look like Joseph Smith, according to the image in the first few pages of the soft-cover Book of Mormon. So that was an interesting comparison. Never heard that one before. I've been told that I look like one of the Catholic Virgencitas a lot of times, but never Joseph Smith. Interesting.

Sunday, April 10, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #419 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Sunday! Had all our lovely meetings and Consejos and everything and started our fast. And had some more visits! Also chill day, ready for Pday!

Saturday, April 09, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #418 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Today was good, just did all our normal work and helped sing a song in the baptism of the elderes, so that was sweet. And yeah, chill day, not much to write about.

These are corn husks that hold achiote drying in the sun... pretty neat, huh?

Friday, April 08, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #417 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Aaaaaand our last stop is SPS! Had to get up at 6:00 am to get ready in time to catch a rapidito that passed at 7:00 am to get ourselves over to the Terminal (that's why we didn't get pics with Hnas Ordonez and Tajiboy, we left before they had gotten completely presentable) in SPS, buy myself a hair straightener and Hna Cruz a doughnut, then hopped on a bus that went to Choloma, hopped off at 6th street, and walked 4 blocks to get to the Benque for the Leadership Meeting at 9:00 am. Yeah, we're awesome.

But the Leadership Meeting with President and Hna Dester and all the ZL's and the other HLE's went really well, we were able to agree on some reasonable and doable solutions to some issues we've been encountering. And President Dester gave us some wonderful words of counsel, and we listened to the testimonies of the ZL's that are finishing their missions in 2 weeks. So that was a really good meeting, we felt strengthened and refreshed. And I always love when we all sing the opening and closing hymns. That's probably my favorite part, to be honest.

Hna Cruz and I continued hauling our stuff all over SPS as we walked over to the City Mall (where I always had lunch with Hna Robles when we were in the office doing paperwork) and I got myself a very nice BBQ chicken ranch salad from Wendy's...I miss salads! And President and Hna Dester also sat at our table and we got to talk for a little bit before they had to leave to run some errands. Then we met back up with the elderes and we hopped in another rapidito to take us back to the Terminal to get on a big bus that would haul us back to Copan in 3 hours.

We finally got back home, got ourselves a little unpacked, and headed back out to got find our citas. But we're home! We have crazy days planned for Saturday and Sunday, and then it's Pday again. Time goes a lot faster when you have to do divisions almost every week.

But, good news, I got my little Easter package from my family! So of course I opened it before the Leadership Meeting started and shared some of the jellybeans with Hna Cruz (who's never had jellybeans before and we were still really hungry) and played with the wind up chicken toy that lays bubblegum eggs. Hna Dester saw us playing and started laughing, saying that that was something her grandkids would love. So thanks for sending me that! And I loved the quote papers as well, I stuck one of them in my desk box so I'll see it all the time.

Good day overall, now we're just super tired and hungry and emotionally up and down, but we're good! Always takes a day or two to recover from divisions but we'll get back on track for another week.

I found a tiny little lime! It didn't taste like anything...disappointing.

Thursday, April 07, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #416 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Divisions in Potrerillos! Just had to hop on a rapidito that took us right to Potrerillos from Villanueva, not too bad. We did get a small bfast/lunch from Wendy's as we were both really hungry (apparently nobody believes in eating breakfast or dinner) and I got some bacon! Whoohoo! Been a long time without bacon. And it was just a little bit and really skinny, but it was good. I miss when my family had pancakes for dinner at home.

But we got to Potrerillos alright and did divisions with the hnas there, I went with Hna Ordonez and Hna Cruz went with Hna Tajiboy. Good day, also did a lot of work! And we're both really tired from hauling our double bags around and walking all over creation and traveling, but it's good. And it's good to get to know the hnas better and help them in their areas.

And a lovely tree in Potrerillos!

It's actually really sweet when we visit people and when we ask them to say the closing prayer, they almost always ask that God would bless the families of the missionaries. Whether they're members or investigators. So just to let my family know that there's people in Honduras praying for them as well.

Wednesday, April 06, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #415 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

Divisions in Villanueva! We hopped on the bus that goes to SPS and then in a rapidito that went to Villanueva, and walked over to the hnas' house. Dropped stuff, had lunch, came back, planned, and took off to conquer the world. After world-conquering, came back, planned, showered, and talked about everything under the sun. I went with Hna Palencia, Hna Cruz went with Hna Velasquez. Both are good hnas and work well, so we were happy to be with them. And we found another church over there! Ministerio Mi Vina.

Divisions in Villanueva!  Hna Cruz and Hna Velasquez

Hna Palencia and Hna Mower

Tuesday, April 05, 2016 -- Month #13 - Week #60 - Day #414 - El Dorado, La Entrada, Copan

District Meeting! Which means that it was our turn to go find the blessed building keys. But we had a good meeting with a whole lot of time for practices, which was good. Even with all our older missionaries, it's good to practice and see things as an investigator or as a missionary. And it's fun to play it tough and act ridiculous as an investigator, use all the common phrases we hear all day long. Helps you get in the head of all the people here.

And we had an awesome lunch! We found a place that had shrimp today, so we had half a fried fish and 4 breaded and fried shrimp! Been over a year since I've had shrimp, and they were very, very fresh and tasted wonderful. Actually reminded me a little of crab meat, which made me remember all my special lunch dates with my Mom when we went out and had crab. So good!

Our fantastic shrimp we had for lunch

And then we did some work! Whoo! That's the best. We actually got a lot done, we're quite happy with ourselves. And really tired. And we have divisions tomorrow! So we had to put all our return dates for the weekend. But we did meet some good people, so we're happy.

Honduras update: I think I might have mentioned previously how we almost always sing a hymn at the beginning of a lesson. So, since we don't bring around a piano with us all the time as well as all our scriptures, you have to sing the first line and then count 1 2 3 and we all start singing. With all the multiple key changes and timing adjustments according to tradition, of course, but it works our fairly well in the end.