It's been super hot here recently. There’s like zero brisa but we do what we can...it’s just felt like another semana santa. But it looks like we've found a good place for me to run in the morning. And my comp said she'll just sit and watch...
I went and did divisions on Thursday in Pmo and it went really well. I was happy and I felt really liberated. I learned a lot from Hermana Bz :) It was fun to be with her again after I had been in SR for 6 months and she had been in R for 6 months. We taught a ton of lessons and had a lot of success. That felt good :) I liked being obedient, working shoulder to shoulder, and feeling confident in our ability to really reach those we were teaching.
We visited this little tiny old lady that was super fiery...She was like "I don’t go to church but God blesses me, I know he does". So that was interesting to talk with her about why we go to church and how God will bless us, but how we're losing more blessings that are there waiting for us. That night we were talking and we heard literally 10 disparos (gunshots); We later heard that someone had died there. Later we were with a member and she was buying us food when we saw some really horrible things. Believe it or not I do have a personal "filter" so I just won’t share what I saw. I just know that everyone has worth no matter what and that every soul is great in the sight of God. (D&C 18:10)
So I've found that tajadas con pollo are my weakness. They’re just so good! We went to Baleadas Express and I was not in the mood for baleadas so I asked for pollo con tajadas and the girl just starts piling them on and goes and goes and goes! It was crazy! It was a mountain of tajadas!!!
The Hurst family will be happy to know I found myself singing "The Leland Stanford Junior Farm" this morning :)
Yesterday we were having a really hard time finding who to teach. No one was home and I was getting really depressed about everything until the member I was with suggested a house and we just walked right up to it and I was like "Hola, venimos a compartir un mensaje con ustedes". (Hi! We've come to share a message with you!) And the girls just let us right in! Sometimes we just have to be direct and the people will accept us.
Could it be possible that it's easier to be obedient when you’re alone? We always hear that we should be obedient and do what’s right but that what really matters is when we're alone, as if it's harder...and I could see that, but honestly, being in a companionship and being with someone 24/7, sometimes I feel like it would be easier to be 100 percent obedient if you were alone. But don’t worry. This doesn’t mean I'm ditching my companion, just been thinking a lot about obedience...I've gotten so much better about waking up on time and exercising though and not sleeping in the afternoon. There are so many advantages. Sure I'm pretty tired throughout the entire day, but I sleep so much better at night and I know the Lord is helping me and that everything is for a reason :) Hasta el horario :)
Earlier that morning, me and my comp and two other elders were asked to talk about families to a bunch of parents at a school here in P called the SJ. It was great to talk about families and give some ideas of how to demonstrate amor (that was what I chose to talk about!) Some parents were really attentive and that felt great. It was great to hear the lady that introduced us say, "Today we have with us some missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints". Idk why, but hearing the name of the church and knowing we were representatives just felt so great and I couldn’t help but smile :)
We can now add the name "Claudia" and "Spinky" to the list of names people call me here..When I was on divisions, an investigator and N___ asked where I was but used those names. I have no idea where they come up with those! But its all good haha. Makes us laugh and sometimes my comp will call me them and it makes us laugh together :) Another time when I made my comp laugh this week was on Sunday after meetings. We were waiting to say goodbye to everyone when a little kid with a slobbery red lollipop shoved it in my face like three times and I went running after him. He wasn’t trying to be cute though. He was trying to annoy me...but my comp was laughing and was like "Hermana Despain...Hermana Despain!"
Saturday morning I looked back in my journals from the beginning of my mission. It’s been interesting to see how I've changed how I write, what I write and my tone in everything. It motivated me to finish strong and look at how I can still change and improve. I was reading things from "everything is just so dirty here!" to "these people's Spanish...?!" Huge flashbacks were going on though, it was really cool :)
N___ is working on memorizing the sacrament prayers! He's doing a great job! we're super excited for him to be able to bless the sacrament this next Sunday :)
Last night we stopped by to visit a family of recent converts and everything was going well as we shared lesson three...until the mom started complaining and complaining and started crying about this and that. It was so sad to sit there and listen to her...Honestly I wanted to record the whole thing to learn "what not to do". She was complaining about her kids while they were there in the room and talking about how she wants to leave them and I just couldn’t even look at her. I was just looking at the wall. I was just thinking, "This is so wrong..." It was really sad but just goes to show how important the decisions are that we make in our lives...If we study, if we go to school, if we go to church, where we work, with whom we work, who we marry, how we raise our families...everything. I had such a headache when we left that house. The whole time I was thinking, "This is stuff out of the league of 20 and 21 year old kids like us". But all we could do was emphasize the doctrine we are taught in the church and that Satan is real, but that Christ lives and how he is our greatest example. It was honestly one of the worst times I’ve had on my mission. And I haven’t had too many...but I just felt horrible during that whole time and I felt so helpless. But we followed the Spirit and did what we could to help. So as horrible as I felt, it was interesting to realize that it wasn’t something out of our league because Heavenly Father has left us all the tools to succeed in this life. We just need to implement them in our lives to have that success.We went to visit an older lady this week but she was talking with a friend who was a Jehovah’s Witness. I was thinking, "Oh no, here we go..." But I tried to open it all friendly and calmly. Then by the end things weren't going so well and I was like "Ok, this is just dumb". So I stopped everything and was like "Hermano, gracias por todo lo que ha compartido...queremos hablar con usted entonces necesitamos escuchar y no interumpir, para que escuchamos todo". So that went so well. I won’t lie, I was frustrated too. But in the end, the Spirit wasn’t there. So something had to be done. But you know what was interesting? It was starting to thunder and lightening and rain when the "discussion" was turning into a fight of interrupting but when I suggested listening more, I noticed the thunder stopped and the rain stopped....... :)
I know everything in life happens for a reason and that when we do what is right we are blessed. I love my family and love my friends and even the strangers here in Honduras. I love being a missionary here, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.
Con todo mi amor,
Hermana Despain
