I have changes!!! So it's time to say goodbye to Santa Rita! I'm content honestly. Like I wouldn’t say I'm happy but I feel good about where I'm leaving things in the area. So maybe we didn't have any investigators in church yesterday and I only baptized one person in my 6 months here and maybe we were told she was drinking coffee again and has so many doubts all over again and just isn’t the same person and not in a good way...But I know the work I've done here and I've learned so much about relying on Heavenly Father and loving the people and seeing where they’re coming from and just being patient with them. We had like 4 less actives in church yesterday. One of which we had been visiting ever since I got here. Six months later and probably 2 or 3 visits a week, and she finally came to church with the family that had been having a ton of marital problems. In the end they were the ones that were encouraging her. That's how its supposed to be anyways, the ones that are recent converts should be involved with the members and they should be invited by the members. It's the idea of handing them off to the ward. But we're looking at the possibilities and we're thinking I could go to Roatan, Olanchito (super small chance its not even funny), La Lima or Palermo. But I'm hoping for Olanchito and Roatan. We'll find out on Wednesday in the changes meeting and if my area isn’t too far I'll write you guys once I'm there so you know!
WE WENT TO CEIBA! Wednesday we get a call from our zl and I thought he was joking when he said we needed to be in Ceiba the next morning for the training meeting because my comp is training. I can’t remember the last time I felt just so happy. I thought I would never get to go back to Ceiba and my heart was just in the clouds I was SO happy. I was literally screaming and laughing and just going crazy. So we did some citas and then left that afternoon and we cut it so close with all the times because certain busses leave at certain times obviously so it was SO stressful. But it was a good bonding experience for me and my comp. We had a lot of fun just taking it all in and breathing a big breath of that Ceiban sea air :) And seeing the mountains?! My goodness. We were out on the balcony thing the hermanas have outside their apartment and I was looking out at the city when I actually got to see all the lights go out. It was actually really cool :) It was cool to go back with someone that was born there too cuz we were both just that excited :) We stayed with the hermanas of the other zone in Ceiba so that neat to see the other side, but after the meeting we ran to go see a few investigators and I went to see Natividad!!! I almost cried when I saw him sleeping there in his chair outside his house with his Bible and his gospel principles manual in his lap. He was so happy and we took a video and pictures :) Hermana Urresta got to go to the meeting so he let me know that she had stopped by to visit him. It was heartbreaking to hear him tell us how the hermanas that are there now, "just aren’t the same". But even though that may be the case, he is still going strong. He has a calling and goes on visits and goes to church and reads his manuals and everything. He showed me the card I had written him when I left Ceiba and he had kept it in his manual. It was the cutest thing! It just made me feel so good to see how he's doing so well. Those are the times when it's like, "Ok, if I don’t baptize anyone else the rest of my mission I'll accept it and feel good about this one man that we helped put an end to his drinking and sadness and crazy sailor life and showed him a better life". It was so so so hard to leave Ceiba again, but it felt better to know I had gone back :) Even though we were so stressed on the way there and on the way back with the traveling...even though we had to pop a ton of ibuprofen because of headaches...even though we to live on practically no food since we were paying so much in travel...even though we had to stand up in the huge bus for more than 2 hours, it was so worth it! It was a quick trip honestly but to be walking back in my area was the coolest feeling. I loved it :) Loved it, loved it :) It was a huge surprise and such a huge blessing.
I got sick this week, actually 3 out of the 4 in the house were sick. Not fun. We're not throwing up but we all have different symptoms, mostly cold stuff so thats been a mess. And our dueno wants us to move and we're stressing with cambios and stuff but Hermana Villegas (my angel) helped me pack my bags last night so that was a huge help!!! I've also had random sun spots show up on my hands and arms. I should probably use some sun screen maybe...feeling like an old lady...They should make a lotion you use to lose weight. Just apply and lose it! Wohoo! Sounds good to me!
You all will be happy to know we had our own little July 4th celebration after we got back to the house! We bought little cohetes (fireworks) and shot them off in the street. It was fun cuz two little neighbor boys heard us and came over and we all had fun running away after settting them off. So even in Honduras, you can celebrate July 4th :) I honestly miss America so much, I miss the feeling of safety and freedom. I miss knowing that if something happens, I can trust the police, I know they aren’t drug traffickers or anything like that but that they’re there to help and that they really do offer protection. Let's hear it for Merica ;)
We saw a man being taken away by the national police this week. We were headed back to the main road from Calle Ocho when we saw the police and I was like "Oh, the police! La la la la..." And then saw a bunch of people that started to watch and we sort of stopped and realized they were putting an older man into the back of the truck. It was sort of awkward but we asked someone if we could pass by and they said we could so there were two innocent sister missionaries eating little quequitos on a cloudy afternoon, walking by a man that was being taken to jail by the national police because he was a drunk and sold marijuana...we really do preach in hostile venues if ya know what I mean...We found out why he was being taken away since we stopped to talk to an old man a little ways away. Gotta find out the chambre ;) Don’t worry, we invited him to church!
I brought my gospel art book out with me a few times the last week and it was really helpful. Too bad I totally feel like Elder Calhoun in The Best Two Years! During one cita I was literally using the pictures for like every other sentence my comp was saying. It was pretty hilarious and I actually started laughing but we still had the Spirit with us ;) The pictures are really useful here though because it helps the people pay attention and understand.
I read Cinderella to the Garcia family when we went to visit them way up there at the top of Pueblo Nuevo last week. We were setting up the John Tanner video when I saw it sitting there and the family was like "Yeah, but it's in English..." So I started to translate it and it was the cutest thing to see everyone sort of stop and listen. The mom, the dad, the three adult daughters. It was really cute :) And a really good Spanish exercise :)
I feel good about where I'm leaving Santa Rita because we have a new ward mission leader that might help everyone get more and more excited for the obra misional and now we're consistently having noches de hermanamiento (Friendship Night) on Fridays and futbol on Wednesdays! It's great because every week more and more people are coming! We share a little spiritual thought or watch a video and then we play a game! We played fruit basket this week after watching the John Tanner video and it was a huge success cuz all the parents could learn a lot from the video and the kids had a ton of fun with the game afterwards. The first week we had 3 people come, not including the missionaries, and this past week we had 30!
The old lady Dolores, who is baptized Catholic but goes to the Adventista on Saturdays and sometimes the Mormon church on Sundays when she's invited? She gave me a package of mustard seeds when I asked about them and she was like "keep it!" So I gave one to Axel, one of our jovenes that has such a sweet, sweet heart when we were talking about faith. My comp gave him a kleenex he could keep it in. It was neat to share it with him and leave him something physical he could keep, not just memories of when the hermanas came to visit him.
I loved studying the timeline in the February Liahona! Did you guys see that?! It was crazy! My mind was blown, more like cleared up as I realized who was who, who was the dad of who. I don’t think I had ever realized or put it together that the same man that was asked to sacrifice his child, had had the same thing happen to him earlier in his life. As I was reading it and studying it, it was interesting to see how they were all really tested for their obedience but they were rewarded después. Makes me think of the marshmallow Mormon Message. Pretty sure we all want our two marshmallows instead of just one...I also finally realized what it means when it says "that portion" in Doctrine and Covenants 84:85. I guess I always thought "portion" meant something different. Too bad it doesn’t and it’s totally right because some people don’t need long lessons and lots of soul searching questions, they just need their portion.
The Elders had a baptism a few weeks back and I got to play the piano for it so I was shoved in the corner near the baptismal font. But it ended up being really cool because I got to see Carlos's face when he came up out of the water. Like seconds after. It sounds SO weird but I felt like a mom that saw her kid for the first time. Because we always say that baptism is like being born again. Or having a fresh start. Ok yeah it sounds so weird but it was cool to see his huge smile after coming out of the water :) Priceless.
I've started keeping a miracle book. I write little miracles or the blessings we see throughout the day. It would have been nice to start it at the beginning of my mission but better late than never! :)
Con Todo Mi Amor,
Hermana Despain
