So this week has been hot hot hot but strangely windy which is a blessing and a curse here in Santa Rita or as I like to call it el infierno...because it’s super dusty so we've been fighting dust storms and polvo and junk. Last night we were in a cita with a lady who started going to a different church and her friends were with her so we asked if we could share something with them. They said yes but one lady never even turned around. I was talking and then I stopped and realized none of them were paying attention and I just quit. I just quit talking I was so frustrated, I just looked at my comp, my poor little Nicaraguan comp. She is so patient with me. I love her to death. She is the best :) but the 5 minute gusts of wind with a ton of dust didn’t help the situation at all. What scares me is when they’re all talking, and then everyone laughs and suddenly I have like 10 pairs of eyes staring at me and I obviously missed something super important and the poor little gringa is just sitting there like "¿Cómo?, ¿Qué pasó?" and no one cares to fill me in....but it’s all worth it right? :) right.
So Honduras got a shout out on the cover of the March Ensign yeah? ;) Then there’s a pic somewhere in there of two missionaries walking and there’s a moto taxi in the street, don’t know if it was in Honduras but who knows?!I asked my comp at one point this week what she thought and felt when she saw my pic come up on the big screen at the changes meeting and she said she remembered me from the Christmas video we did of the mission. She told herself, "por lo menos voy a reir". That made me smile :)
We had lunch with a super solid member of the ward and she talked and talked and talked for like 2 hours with us afterwards but we loved listening to her and we realized that with all her crazy kids, she probably doesn’t get a lot of time to talk with girls or women or at least someone that will sit for longer than 20 seconds and nod and smile :) She told us how important it is to stick with what we know and was like "sigue fiel después de sus misiones" and we talked about how so many RM’s go less-active or don’t marry in the temple. To take that break and listen to a strong member’s counsel and advice, it’s like they turn into our moms for a few hours and we're all ears :) I’ve decided that here in Honduras and I guess in all parts of the world, there is at least 1 solid family in each ward. But its true, they’re the rocks that are keeping the wards together.
I talked to a Testigo de Jehová for the first time this week! It was really hard not to argue or fight or lose my temper with her. She was like "yo soy testigo de Jehová, con mi esposo y tambien mi hijo". She went on and on about numbers and the amount of people that are going to heaven and all that and then we met an Adventista in the street and tried to invite a Catholic woman to pray later about what we shared with her but she straight up told us no. :)
I decided to bring a picture around of the family to show people and man you guys it’s the cutest thing. I pulled it out during a lesson when we were talking about families and I was looking down like pulling it out and started to turn my scriptures where I keep the picture and I was like "Here is a picture of my family!" I have never seen people move so fast haha in like 2 seconds I had 4 women in my face looking at the picture. It was the sweetest thing :) It’s fun to hear their opinion of you guys :) Mostly they just say "¡Hay qué lindo!" and I have to agree :)
We got called Elderes for the first time like last week. That was pretty funny haha.
We did a teaching practice at our district meeting this week and it went super well and we taught with a lot of unity, as usual ;) But my zone leader told me and the other gringo that was our investigator with his comp, that we need to let our comps take the lead more. So I let my comp take the lead more this week and I’ve learned to really let go and just quit talking. It’s been a nice break :) and it’s really good practice. I’ve learned a lot about protecting my comp, not only physically but emotionally. I’ve started to show my comp a lot more of my love for her through service or just putting my hand on her back during church. She really hasn’t ever known what love is in her life so I sort of chastised myself when I was getting frustrated at the fact that she wasn’t showing me love haha. It’s been so neat to see the transition and the change in my comp, she has really gone from being shy and quiet to coming out of her shell and showing her personality and being happy and impulsive and spontaneous. It’s so great :) I felt like I trained her in a way....so that’s been nice to see. She feels like my daughter :) If she transfers to another town I’ll be really sad but I’ll be happy for her, to be able to get out of here, since she’s been here her whole time. But she’s also a really great companion because randomly we'll be walking and she'll tell me what the name of a tree is. She helped me eat a tamarino the other day. Those are the times I love, just taking two seconds to stop and eat a tamarino cuz she knows how since she's from Central America!James 1:8 "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."..is that not the coolest!?
I’ve noticed that my Spanish has gotten a lot better with all this time that I’ve spent with the latinas! It's great :) They’re the best!
We were going to visit a less-active sister, R., the one that gave us shoes that one night? She had visitors already so we shared with her nuera and she ended up telling us how she feels an emptiness in her heart but doesn’t know why cuz she has her husband, her friends, everything. I wanted to just be like "Don’t worry. We have the answer! It’s the gospel!!!" So we scheduled a cita with her for Tuesday. We'll see what happens. She works four days and has a descanso the next four. She told us, "Ustedes transmiten alegria". That made me feel so good.
I hope you guys have a great week, keep smiling :) cuz as members of this church we have the best gift ever. Really though. I’ll probably write again this Wednesday after changes and I’ll let you guys know if I have a new comp or not! Love you guys!!!
Con amor,
Hermana Despain
