Miracles and Blessings

How was Halloween?! I hope everyone had a good, candy-filled evening and fun times smelling the cold crisp air and the pumpkin spice candles :)

I loved being the first person to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Hermana L. She had never had one before! So of course I took pics, but I loved sharing my culture with someone, it felt monumental. She liked it, nothing special but she liked it :)

When we taught B. this week we taught her about laws and ordinances. My first thought was..."Are there laws in Honduras?!" Apparently on the 24th of this month, there will be elections for the President. It's a Sunday and we'll be allowed to go to church in the morning, but one of the counselors in the bishopric told us we shouldn't go out the rest of that day because when people hear the results, if they're not happy, they just start going out and shooting and killing people...so we'll be staying inside that day. The Elders in the área next to ours were telling us how there is a drug cartel that goes right through their área...fun times here in Honduras ;) Sometimes I hear stories from elders and think that i will never really experience Honduras as a sister missionary, but then it only takes about two seconds to be grateful that I will never really experience that side of Honduras...on our walk to the estaca (stake bldg) one day with Hermana L, we noticed that amongst the layers and layers and piles of garbage there were two big black trash bags...we should have never looked....seeing the paw of who knows what sticking out was plenty for me :/ talk about third world country. But then we saw a dead dog just chillin' about 2 centimeters from our feet on the walk back from church on Sunday...

We went and helped a less active in her bread making business. Its interesting to realize that people sell food, to be able to buy food, to be able to live, to make food to sell the food to buy the food to live. It really is the circle of life here and its pretty humbling. It's also humbling to see the little kids literally playing with trash, they'll play with the soda bottles in the street or just play with random trash. It's also humbling to stand on the balcony and watch skinny little 4 and 5 year olds heave a cart down the street collecting empty soda bottles so they can buy food....talk about the most humbling thing.

THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE:

One of the members here had given me and Hna L. some oranges which are in fact green, one day and we decided to gift some of them to the other Hnas, so as i was passing them through the window where we talk to them, i felt like the guy from the movie RM when he's feeding the cookies through the mail slot of the front door to his home teachee....it was hilarious and I laughed :)

Hermana B. went through her clothes and stuff before she left and gave us a bag to go through if we wanted, so I took a Costa Rica shirt she her dad served there and I also took a skirt and some tops but  I took some super CUTE shoes! They're like ridiculously colorful Toms! They're great!!! and I love them to death, they make me smile :)

Last Tuesday after our district meeting, we were not too surprised to walk out into the hall to then duck after almost being hit with marshmallows....Elder G., my "dad" here in the misión because he was my first District Leader, had been sent a package from home and yes, he was sent marshmallow guns :) It was fun to see the elders look right at home with all their artillery :)

I cracked up this week when I heard the guys yell for agua. Normally there are two teenage boys who sit in the back of a truck filled with the jugs of water and they just yell "Agua!" but it's just funny how they say it and its fun to mimic it :) But! then one day I was on the balcony eating some oatmeal and doing my hair and all the sudden, as a joke one of them just yelled super loud at the BOTTOM of his lungs in a super deep voice, "AGUA!!!" and I just cracked up! idk! 

We were contacting the other day and I was asking the lady her name so we could write it down and get her info...she said Elena and I was like "en serio?!?! That's my name too!! Oh pero, you're not supposed to know that....soy Hermana Despain, mucho gusto :)" It was pretty hilarious, but yeah she spelled it the same way and everything, I loved feeling connected to her within seconds!

Some common things I've noticed about some Latinas:

1. They like to wear nightgowns. T-shirts don't exist.

2. They eat sandwiches for breakfast.

3. They feel perfectly comfortable pointing out flaws. :)
4. They also like to describe people by their body size. "ahh, la gordita??".

5. They don't like to exercise.

6. They're great and they have good hearts. and they're children of God :)

MIRACLES:

Rocky, the dog of Familia R. still randomly shows up and protects us :) We also noticed some more miracles this week as we were booking it down from lomas de buenos aires last night since it was getting dark. All the sudden we Heard a motorcycle to only find out that it was the Ward misión leader and his wife :) They went down with us and I could tell they were sent from heaven :) It was nice to talk to the Ward misión leader as we walked down, hes pretty much like the bishop. He's definitely changed and has a real desire to help us and I think after he realized I was the senior comp he knows he needs to help out. we'll go have dinner with them tomorrow night to a talk about the work and everything :) He said he's happy for me and that felt good :)

As we were lugging our food back from the Maxi Dispensa today and I was geting nervous about looking for the right bus, we witnessed a miracle as Hermana A. pulled up next to us in her little aqua bus that she drives kids to school in. She took us back to the apartment and I know she was sent from above!!! It was crazy! But honestly we see miracles here all the time. I love it :) Our bus ride to the Maxi Dispensa was unnaturally good, as the women around us were unnaturally kind and sweet. they all laughed when I started laughing and making fun of the fact that the bus driver was stopping and going really quickly. It was fun to laugh with strangers :)

 

The first real night with my comp, we went to go get licuados and ended up talking to the 5 girls that were all there together eating and talking. It was great! We offered them like 6 pamphlets and they all chose which one they wanted. They had a ton of questions about the work and what we do and the countries we're from. It was great cuz they were all pretty much our age and I was like this is what missionary work should be like! It was pretty dumb though when the guy that was with them sitting at another table was staring at me and I was like "hola...." then he didn't stop staring and I was fed up so I was like "Qué pasa..." and then he was like "Yo soy miembro" and i obviously didn't belive it...so then I was like "de nuestro iglesia.......la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos días?" and he was all irritated and threw up his arms and was like "yes!!!!" so i asked him his calling...genealogy.

AND BLESSINGS:

We were on our way to an appointment the other night when BAM! the lights went out so my reflex was to grab my comps wrist and I was like "Hermana, se fue la luz, necesitamos regresar a la casa!!!" Then I started busting up laughing because I reacted in like a split second. It was crazy to realize that Spanish was what I reacted with. Kind of cool :) We were safe though and on our way back the Ward misión leader and his wife rode past us on their motorcycle and yelled out, "a la casa!" It's great to recognize the blessings of the Lord in my life as a missionary :) He really does protect us.

We only had 2 investigators at church and all the rest "fallared" on us (didn't show up). The two were part of families that are part member :( but it's okay. We'll keep trying hard. It's just hard to be training and showing someone an área and not have a lot to show for it. But I love Ceiba and I'm willing to defend this city and these people because they've become my family :)

So with Hna. L. and a returned missionary, one time we went looking for C., our special investigator who we're about 100% positive is gay. The first time he came out to meet us from his house, he was wearing boxers that had hearts all over them and I noticed one of his toenails was painted....but he's great! We can really tell he needs the gospel though. He's really a great person and I probably want him to be baptized the most. But funny story, one time we yelled "¡Buenas!" to find him and one of his special friends from from utila was visiting. B, answered the door and I swear all our mouths dropped to the dusty earth of Honduras. B. was decked out with idk what clothes, super dangly earrings, makeup, hair did, nails did, everything did. (not done mom, did, it's from a song ;) and it was super tricky to talk to him or her, we don't know, because in English you can just be like "It's great to meet you, what is your name?" But in Spanish you have to deal with being like "Hola hermano, hermana? y ¿cuál es su nombre?" Pretty chistoso, but we haven't seen B from utila again, but we'll keep looking for C. :) I'll never stop looking for him :) He needs this gospel in his life :)

My new comp is Hna. U. She is from Quito, Ecuador. She's 21 and homesick for Ecuador, her family, her baby sister who is only 7 months old and Santa Rita, her past area. Training is rough but I'm learning a ton. We love to plan and sit and study on our balcony. I love it! She has such a good heart. I love it. We get along really well and we've already bonded so much. Our first real day together we were both just like...."I just want to cry Hna" so we just cried and cried together. She has some pretty deep questions and I love talking with her. She wants to have a really good connection. Her teaching style is really different and she's really demanding but chill :) Each comp is different. She wants to teach with love and i do too. We established the fact that we are both here in this area to animate the people and get them excited. So we decided we're going to do it :)

The G. family came to church on Sunday. MIRACLE: Lets all sing the song from Fiddler on the Roof because honestly, it was worth fasting for our investigators and everyone. I turned around on Sunday and my jaw dropped. This family was menos activa for like a year and i didn't think they would come back and they looked so sad. But then I saw them and almost fell out of my chair I started shoving Hna. U. and was like "Familia G!!! Ellos están aquí!!!" It was so great. We visited them later that day and i had a real bonding momento with hermana G. when i told her that she looked so much hap
pier and that i was so happy to see her with her family in church. Her husband was asked to say the opening prayer in sacrament meeting and it was great :) She was laughing and smiling and it was truly a miracle :)

I bore my testimony yesterday. I wouldn't have done it because we typically let the members, but Hna. U really wanted to so i was like alright let's go! So as i was walking up, the bishop was like ""hermana despain!!" idk what he was talking about but i was like ok! It was funny :) It went really well, I was a little nervous and then I realized that I bear my testimony all the time. I was super sincere and tried to ignore the lack of reverence and i realized that this Ward really has become my family. When I was showing my comp around  the ward members this week, as we went to visit M. (I LOVE her Spanish, it is gorgeously clear, she is super animated and speaks loudly and clearly, best thing ever) and her mom L. as i was talking with them and asking them how they were it just hit me that these people have become my family. I loved it :)

We have an investigator G. who is a very strong evangelico but I want him to progress so much! It's hard to let people do what they want and let them have their agency when you want so bad for them to change and accept the gospel but then I have to remind myself that they have their agency and that it's their life and that it's great even if we just talk to people about the church. Numbers are there to motivate us and let us know how we're doing but not to get us down.

I love missionary work. It brings you to your lowest point and breaks you into a billion pieces then fills you back up and puts you back together again. It makes you look in the mirror and ask yourself what you really want to become and transforms you. I have such a strong testimony of this work, this misión and Heavenly Father, he protects his children and wants to bless us. We just have to follow his plan. Hna. P., one of my teachers in the CCM told us, that her friend once said, :"I'm not perfect, but I can follow a perfect plan :) 

Love it. Live it!

con mucho amor,

hermana despain