"You espica spanish gringa?"

Pico Bonito - photo courtesy of Heinz Weber

HEY!!!!!!!

So I'm pretty much beastin' Honduras now ;) It’s pretty great. The days are still long and the mornings/afternoons are still hard but the weeks are going by faster. If I let myself think about how many more months I have, that’s just dangerous cuz I get super depressed. So I’m doing a lot of thought pattern changing....I’m also learning a lot of self control just with things that my companion does that bugs me. I’m also learning what is important and what isn’t, as far as talking goes with my companion. I’m learning to let a lot go, so it’s good.

About two weeks ago, there was a point where we had no power and no running water, which meant we couldn’t really go to the bathroom. Talk about hell. I was like you've got to be kidding me. But about 6 hrs later, the water came back. Talk about stressful!!!

My companion is 23 and from Guatemala. I don’t really know how to describe her. She's pretty much burnt out cuz she’s been in the same area here for about 7 months, but she's a servant of the Lord! And we're in this together! The cross between cultures is rough sometimes and sometimes I just want to flippin’ speak in English to someone. Like I said, I’m learning self control. I’m teaching her some stuff too that we can improve on so that’s good for her I think because she's been out so long.

The other night on the way back to the apartment a kid yelled to me, "Hey, you espica spanish gringa?" So of course i replied with "si, por su puesto, ¿habla ingles?" and he was like "yes". So that was cool. One of the investigators we taught for the other hermanas, G., asked if I was a cheerleader at my school and I had to tell him that my school didn’t have sports teams (BYU-I). It was kind of funny. Could’ve been the pink bow I keep on my bag to remind myself that I’m a girl here where I feel like I’m camping everyday.

You know you're serving in Honduras when you look in the mirror of a car for 3 seconds and mistake yourself for a man....you guys I was wearing pink! and some make up! but I totally thought to myself, "What Elder is in the car with us?" Evidence that I had my hair up and pulled back and my glasses on hahaha. So I guess that was pretty funny, I could’ve cried though when I realized it was me in the mirror :) ahhh good times aquí en Ceiba.

There’s a fast food restaurant here in the mall called "Baleadas Buffet", thought that was funny. Something else super funny was this cat that lives in the house/pulpería of this one lady L. We were singing "cuenta tus bendiciones" or whatever and I look down and the cat that is like 2 feet from me is having a legit staring contest with me. It was the scariest thing! I stopped singing it was so bad! Its eyes just got bigger and bigger and bigger! We had to start the song over ;)

Fun fact, Elder Ochoa that spoke in conference, apparently he was in the room we watched conference in, like a couple months ago for a missionary training, sort of cool :)

There’s a billboard here and a power line that when combined and late at night are lit a bit to look like a temple :) I like that.

One of our less actives, A. got her clothes stolen so that was her excuse for not being able to come to lessons with us. Just another reason to remind me that I’m in Honduras, when the member you want to come with you gets their clothes stolen, poor thing. Her husband told us the story of how they didn’t eat for 15 days so they could afford to get married. Talk about sacrifice!!! These people are so amazing sometimes. Oh and I’m also having fun finding out how many of these people are related! Like weeks later I’m finding out like everyone is related. It’s actually pretty funny, but i shouldn’t be surprised.

We celebrated Hermana B3's bday the other day with little chocolate cakes from the pulpería, pizza from both Dominoes and Pizza Hut cuz the other hermanas accidentally ordered pizza too and soda and watched 17 Miracles! It was a ton of fun! We watched the RM the other night. Little questionable, but they’re the sister training leaders, so I don’t argue.

I think something is burning....probably trash haha. Gotta love Honduras.

The morning exercises we're doing are kicking our trashes so that’s fun! Makes me feel good ;) The other day this guy in a taxi yelled like "guapas" to us and I was just so fed up that I punched a palm tree. I was so done. It actually really hurt, I hit it pretty hard. I just hate the lack of respect for anything here other than soccer. The other day we were talking to an investigator and her kid just started peeing on the steps, I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me. Then later in the week, we found out N. had lied to us when he said he had gone to conference and said it was beautiful and everything and he said he didn’t want to get married until he felt like it, which means he wont be getting baptized anytime soon. Then on our way back home some guy yelled at us and said we were proud or something because we wouldn’t respond. Man did I feel so just kicked when I was down. It made me remember the Jeffrey R. Holland video on missionary work and the atonement, where he talks about how maybe, just maybe, we'll experience a little of what the Savior felt when he was suffering and when he was rejected and spit upon and left alone. But we're never really alone are we! It was hard cuz i just wanted to cry and cry. I couldn’t even get through the prayer that night. I just felt like I had been kicked and kicked and beaten. But we're never alone. Ever. Ever! Ever! Heavenly Father is always with us, especially His missionaries. And we never walk alone either. That’s always a neat thought, to think we're never walking alone :)

It’s interesting to hear people’s ideas of the states here, they like ask about how work feels and how fast time goes and A. tried to tell me there was no poverty in the US so I told her about the time we went and visited the homeless people in Garner.....I hope that hit her pretty hard cuz people need know that everyone suffers everywhere in the world.

Fast Sunday! I thought I was going to die of thirst! We probably walked a total of 6 miles that day without water, more evidence that the Lord watches over his missionaries. cuz I should’ve died haha. We walked to the capilla for a baptism that didn’t happen :/ but we brought B. who said she would get baptized in the 26th of Oct! We'll see if it happens! She's 11 and has a bit of an attitude, but it might happen :) We've got faith! We were so happy to hear her say yes to being baptized! It was probably my super cool plan of salvation puzzle that won her over;) but everyone offered us food the night when we were fasting, like real juice and banana bread and everything, It was such temptation! But we made it through! Ward correlation went so well and the Ward mission leader is so impressive now! He's completely changed. Truly a miracle. One guy sang a song during his testimony. Couldn’t believe it. Then we listened to a lady give a literally 6 minute long prayer at the end of one of our lessons this week. We had a total of 35 lessons this week, idk how that compares to other missions....

Pico Bonito  - Photo Courtesy BCMCF

Pico Bonito - Photo courtesy of Heinz Weber

We went to Pico Bonito this morning as a double zone pday activity! I have never sweat so much! It was crazy! Such a strenuous hike to a waterfall! We were booking it too! But then we got about 75% of the way there and then they said there was a bee or wasp nest and we decided to go through it. You would’ve thought we were on Survivor! We were all sweaty and dirty and wet and nasty and had bees and junk all over us, but we had our gaffettes (missionary name tags) which was the most important ;) It’s the inside that counts :) Then on the way back it started pouring rain and it was SUCH a long hike back but it was a blast!!!! I was so surprised that I was having fun, like I was like you’ve got to be kidding me, I should be miserable! But there I was literally in the jungles of Honduras sweating and dripping wet and dirty and covered with mud and bees, having a blast! The waterfall was pretty (but NC is prettier;)

The sisters went and visited Roatan this week to check on the other sisters and brought me back sand!!!!!!

Some Elders in Buenos Aires have 11 people with baptismal dates! I wont tell you how many we have. it’s not 11 though ;) We're working on it though. I like the song Peace Like a River. I didn’t understand it at first. I was like how can a river have peace and hope, but it really can, and we can have peace and hope too! I’ve worked at noticing the little miracles that happen throughout the day. Cuz they really do occur. Like me still being alive. I should’ve died so many times by now. And then after a hard day, we meet a girl in the dusty, rocky road of Lomas de Buenos Aires wearing a Hannah Montana shirt and she says she's 10 and her name is G., and asks us if we only visit members of our church, and then she says she'll read the Book of Mormon, then we go back and she's read it and has questions grown men here can’t even think of and then her sister gives us flowers and then she runs off and we realize we've just witnessed a miracle! A little bit of sunshine in our day :) or in my case, a cloud covering the hot sun :)

Don’t forget to look up and look for miracles. They happen everyday :) I promise! si hombre!!!

vaya pues:)

con amor,

Hermana Despain