We're gonna be neighbors!!!

This update will be pretty short since I spent most of my time talking to everyone about my brother's mission call! I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! He's been called to serve in the El Salvador Santa Ana Mission and I couldn’t be more proud to call him my future neighbor! Watching the video brought back so many great memories of holding those papers in my hands that would be change my life :) It was the scariest feeling but after you read where you're going you just feel this calm feeling that that country is where you were meant to be all along. I can't even describe how excited I am to have my little brother serving right next door :)

Something tells me someone knew we would be serving in Central America together when we went there for only a week a few years ago to visit Costa Rica with my parents. I remember having everything be so different but having the comfort of having my parents and brother there with me...and pretty soon by the end of the week I was feeling so torn. I didn’t want to leave at all. I wanted to stay and stay and stay! And here I am serving in Central America. So I guess part of my heart was always here :) Hearing about his call has gotten me almost re-motivated to serve with everything I've got. I'll probably wake up tomorrow morning and still be freaking out. It's just so exciting! And yeah just like my brother and sister said, my reaction was pretty much like the girl in College Road Trip when she yells "We're gonna be neighbors!?!?!?" I was shaking I was so excited! Every call is meant for each person, each missionary. It is something so special and so personal. It changes a person's life and can impact your eternity if you let it :) Love that me and him will be physically closer in a few months than we have been for this time that I've been apart! I know he will do a great job and that he will be such a good example for me :) Now we'll have two Despains walking the streets of the CCM in Mexico, and later working the streets of Central America :)

This morning I put these golden locks in the hands of a Catrachan! Yep, I got my hair cut today! It feels great. It's just a tiny bit shorter, I just wanted it to look a bit healthier :) Great experience though, the lady was very kind. As usual asked where I was from and if I was married...."no todavía...."

Just as a quick update of the work, we had a pretty good week. Our numbers hasn’t taken too much of a hit as a result of the mundial (World Cup) but it does distract a lot during the lessons and having to ask people to turn their tvs off is awkward cuz we want to watch it as much as they do! But it’s a great feeling to have their time and attention and respect. We thought we weren’t going to have anyone in church with us as far as investigators go but we passed by some kids we're teaching and they were like "yeah yeah, we'll get ready" and usually that’s an easy time for the mom to tell them no...but as we were walking back about 5 minutes later, they were there waiting in the street!

Not only the two kids, but their little sister and their little friend! So we all walked to church together and took good care of them in the meeting. they were all so well behaved and all I had to keep them from getting bored was a bunch of pictures I keep in my scriptures I use sometimes in lessons. It was great and it worked so well. I felt like such a mom :) my comp gave a talk and the lights went out in the middle of it so it started to get so hot but about 30 minutes later the power came back when we started to sing "There is sunshine in my soul today" in principios del evangelio. So there really was sunshine in our souls that day. One of the members of the class that goes to an evangelico church put his hands up and was like "Amen!". So I guess sometimes you just have to put up your hands and say "amen" and give thanks for the little things in life :)


We had to say goodbye for a little while to Hermana A. this Friday since she's had to go back home because of una enfermedad. But she'll get better treatment there, that’s for sure. Me and V. went so that was fun to be on divisions for a little bit. I love love love traveling on the mission. It makes me feel so cool. It's like "I'm on a bus in Honduras!!....." We didn’t know exactly where we were or where we were going but sounds like we were in one of the most dangerous cities in this part of Honduras, we were in Planeta in La Lima. It was cool though cuz we went and got licuados with her and her companion and the zls. It was great to say goodbye and I had heard a ton about those licuados :) Me and V. and A. all ordered the "beso loco". It was so yummy! Just a ton to eat :) It was sad to say goodbye but we're hoping she'll be back soon :)

Saturday morning we went to the fruit stand again to visit some of our investigators who are like 3 jovenes. They are super amable and really good guys but they still haven’t come to church yet, drives me crazy. But they’re really receptive and respectful and sincere. As we left the owner of the stand offered us cocos....so we walked away drinking cocos :) Definitely one of the best memories I'll have of Honduras...the nights of running to a cita eating baleadas, running through the jungles of Pico Bonito with the rain pouring down and drinking cocos after a cita under the hot Honduran sun :)

I hope everyone at home has a great week, and that all the missionaries work their tails off and enjoy the little moments :)

Love,
Hermana Despain

Pause while I hold this monkey...

You know you're serving in Honduras when you walk down the dusty hill towards a street corner and see a bunch of people huddled around what you think is a cat...and you realize it’s a monkey. A MONKEY. IT WAS SO COOL. AND I TOUCHED IT hahaha. The thought of catching rabies or something did cross my mind but it was like "this is a monkey, and I'm in Honduras and how am I going to pass up this opportunity??" So yeah it definitely climbed all over my head it was hilarious. It was the sweetest little thing...I took a video of it and we took some pictures! Just super neat to be able to play with a monkey between citas :)

We also had a run in with a bigger lizard that got into our house this week. My comp, once again like most in the past, is scared of a lot of things, so animals, loud noises, dirty things...not her thing. So there she was like standing on a chair while I was outside trying to take off a little bit of fuzz from the eye of the poor lizard with my eyebrow tweezers after he had run under our fridge (sorry, tons of prepositions...I blame the Spanish). We took some pictures though and a video of course.



We also spent some fun time with some cows and their little babies as we were out doing visits. We contacted a nice looking house because usually they’re the ones that are married. We yelled "buenas" and then "de repente", like literally 6 little husky puppies come running to the porton. CUTEST THINGS EVER. And it was such a little miracle because that morning I was not happy.....para nada. I was super annoyed and just frustrated how everything was in my life at that point. But then you throw in six husky puppies and suddenly things look a little brighter :)

We're getting SUPER SUPER excited for the mundial (World Cup) this Thursday. (NOT. Cuz it definitely means we will have no citas). But we're pumped cuz we went to Progresso today and bought matching cups that say Honduras and Brazil 2014 or something. And we also bought matching shirts that say like "we left one in Brazil" and its got a thumb print with the Honduran flag on it. It's the coolest looking thing! So we'll wear those on Thursday....in the house....when we aren’t out working I guess haha. Or maybe we'll just pair our shirts with some nice faldas (skirts) ;) Anyways, we'll see if we have some éxito (success) that day with all the craziness of the mundial. The streets will probably be totally deserted.

I have been sick the past few days though. Don’t really know why, but I've just been sort of congested and my head has hurt and my throat was bugging me. But nothing like a little sleep and hard work and polvo and visiting sick people and walking in a thunderstorm to cure you....I'm doing better though. But I also felt like I was losing my mind recently. I don’t know, it was weird, I asked the Hermanas, I was like "Can a person really go crazy on their mission?" Just after doing the same thing over and over and over again and being disappointed in the same ways over and over and over again you start to sort of lose it and invite people to do things and wait for them to say "bueno......fijese que...." when you just explained about the importance of putting God first. Just sort of interesting....But yeah we're all just like "it's got to be Santa Rita, or the sun, or the polvo...something!" But I think we'll be okay :)

We had ward conference this Sunday. I thought it was okay. We had 5 inactives and less actives in church! But one of them was Rolando! Man I was so happy to see him, I felt like he was an investigator because he hasn’t been to church in what I think is 16 years? So, so cool. We have a noche de hogar planned tonight with him and a pilas family in the ward so we're super excited for that.

Even though I feel like I'm losing my mind, I've been doing better. Feel like I'm in rehab a bit but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I'm just trying to make the months count instead of counting the months like my brother-in-law told me :) I'm learning from the past, living in the present and excited for the future :)

Running in Slow-Motion

Sometimes you just need to take a break from companionship study and go out
back and bajar some mangos. We have a lemon tree, an avocado tree, a banana
tree, and a ton of mango trees in our backyard. It's pretty neat. So we had
fun taking pictures, laughing and dodging the dropping mangos.

I was so, so sad to not be at the wedding of my brother and my new sister
in law, but I am so happy for them. It sounds like it went perfect of
course and I just want to say congratulations! I wish with everything I've
got that I could have been there, but I know they'll be happy for eternity

R. left again for Tocoa. I was so sad to hear that he was leaving. I
just looked into his eyes and it was like "he's leaving again..." each time
it's like Satan is pulling him away, distracting him from what he knows is
right just because of his work. But we all ended up talking about how
Olanchito and Tocoa and he told us how pretty it is out there. I really,
really hope I get to serve there, it sounds just perfect. His dad was
cooking when we came up to the house and we asked him what he was
making...turns out he was making "mangos dulces" or something. Basically he
was just boiling the sugar blocks they create from the sugar cane they burn
here and put some mangos maduros in. It was really fun to eat, quite the
experience though cuz the mango gets all stuck in your teeth and the whole
time I was trying to sort of scoot the 6 ants I found to the side. But it's
just sort of what you do. R. should be back though in a few days so
we'll keep up with him.

There's been a lot of dengue going around lately so that's a little scary.
I also keep my bug spray with me though so lets hope I don't get dengue and
die.


When we were visiting with the two Rolando's this week, there were a lot of
falling mangos...since they're starting to ripen, they start to fall
randomly and the tree was right above us! So we'd be sitting there teaching
when randomly we'd just hear one hit the tin roof of the house near us and
we'd all duck and it'd just be like "I'm trying to feel the Spirit here!"
So we can now add "falling mangos" to the list of things Satan uses to
distract and interrupt lessons...

I saw a tarantula for the first time this week! It was just chillin' there
on the church wall outside before we went in for correlation! I was so
freaked out cuz I've only ever seen those in zoos....We saw a snake in the
street that night too. Super tiny and black though. There have been a few
dead dogs lately so that's always fun to walk past or drive past in a moto.
Ew.



I went on divisions yesterday with a member from the ward. It was a really
positive experience and I was able to focus more on the investigator and
not be so stressed about what exactly we were teaching or how we were
teaching and I didn't feel so judged. The member did a great job and she was
such a hard worker. Again, it was a really positive experience.

We had correlation the other night and it was really good again. It has
really improved even though according to the others, it was really bad.
It's been interesting to see how my view has changed with a lot of things.
On Sunday I was sitting up behind the keyboard and realized how much
reverence there was and I was so impressed with everyone. So I think I've
learned some tolerance...and just an acceptance of how things are but I'm
still trying to keep that view of how things can be so that we don't settle.
But yeah there I was, getting along with my ward mission leader and
laughing and joking with him and he's like "esta hermana, me calle bien..."
never thought he would say that. Just goes to show that in 4 months you can
actually come to get along with someone who bugged you at first. My comp
walked away super angry from the correlation and little Hermana Despain was
just smiling like "it's whatever, you'll learn what Santa Rita is
like...just have patience little grasshopper..." 

I'm learning a lot of patience.

I was watching a few Mormon Messages and I really liked the one "Rescued by Christ" 

The part that stood out to me was when he says "a lot of people
wanted to put him down, but I wouldn't, because when I was a bit of an
idiot, nobody put me down..." As a missionary or any person really, you can
apply it in a ton of ways. As a missionary, we visit people and visit them
and invite them but they still have their agency. It's like we're Christ in
that aspect, if that's not too blasphemous or llena de apostasía. We're
like Christ because all we do is invite. We give ourselves to these people
and we invite them to share in the happiness we have and are hopefully
experiencing. We sometimes do have to let people go for a time, but because
they're people with souls and hearts, we never really put them down. We
give them the opportunity and let them choose. But it's like us, we're
given the choice to obey and be happy, but we suffer the consequences or we
enjoy the blessings. Christ will never "put us down" so we should never put
ourselves down either...physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually.
We have to lift ourselves up. We're given challenges to strengthen us and test us.

At the end of the video it says "There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, 

minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save. Are we doing all we 

should?" And that's from President Monson. It's true. We need to help other people,

but we also need to help ourselves along the way.

Towards the end of our lessons, we'll be like "¿Cuáles preguntas tiene?,
¿comentarios? ¿dudas?" and normally the response is the same...but I think I
can count on my hand how many times people have sincerely thanked us for
visiting them. It happened with the two Rolando's and R. They thank you
and you just know they really mean it. Normally when we ask people if there
is anything we can do for them (usually we mean service) they say "solo,
siguen visitándome..." and sometimes that frustrates me because I get the
sense they just want to lay back in their hammock and receive what the
"palabra de Dios" has for them that day instead putting down the baleada,
getting out of the hammock and going to church. But then you have to look
at them like nursery kids, or the bruised, hurt, abused adult that they are. 

It's interesting to look into people's eyes and try and imagine their past, 

where they've come from and how they've gotten to the point in their lives that 

they're at. Then you're able to connect with them a bit more and realize that 

you're just like them, you're imperfect and you need just as much help as they do. 

I guess that's why I like working with less actives and inactives so much, even if 

it drives me nuts sometimes...you just connect with them and try to do what you can

for them as the child of God that they are. I also love when they say that they 

know that God has placed us in their path for a reason as cliche as it is, 

cuz you really start to believe it.

After watching so many Mormon Messages and especially "What Matters Most"
and the video "Gracias a Él/Because of Him" about the Savior, I've really come to

love the
little things in my mission, throughout my day...the rocks I trip on, the
dust storms that I'll probably never experience again, the dirt I think is
a tan line on my feet, the random trickle of water down a hill, or the six
girls in white tops that came running towards me one afternoon as we were
walking back down Calle Ocho...(like in the Gracias a El video where
all the kids are running). I saw them all playing together and we
really don't know them that well but they helped us find a house once. They
all turned and just started running for us and I realized they were only
running for me and they just ran and ran and ran and all hugged me. It was
one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. They're the things I wish I
could record. The things I wish I could watch in slow motion over and over
again...six little Honduran girls running and laughing to hug a gringa just
because... with the dust kicked up in the air behind them and the palm trees 

swaying in the warm dusking evening as the sun is setting behind them. So we can
submit a new video entitled "What Matters Most on a Mission..." where we
record the real smiles and tears of random strangers...the women with their
backs aching from making and selling tortillas all day, the men with real
cowboy hats sweating under the hot Honduran sun, the poor kids in dirty,
ragged clothes that go galloping off on a horse past me...and six little
girls all in white running towards me.

Love,
Hermana Despain