All worth the sweat and tears!

I was in a lesson with my comp, sitting in a hammock talking with our investigator D. who is super old and born Catholic but goes to an Iglesia Adventista but has come to our church twice haha. She's a good lady though, probably won’t progress because she can’t remember what we tell her two seconds later, but everyone needs the gospel. But we were sitting there and the wind blows suddenly and out of nowhere I felt something fall on my hand, I thought it was a leaf....turns out it was a gecko! Hahahha it was pretty crazy! I like flung my hand to get it off but I was laughing so hard. The lesson ended well :) Another animal story, we were up visiting the familia G. up in Pueblo Nuevo where you can see like all of Santa Rita and Progresso and all the lights, when I saw this HUGE cockroach run over a rock. Man I about lost it! We were singing the opening hymn and I was just speechless! It scared me so bad! It was like the size of a size 5 shoe probably. Then the mom explained to me after I freaked out, how "she’s good because she eats the baby ones". Hah!

We have a really great progressing investigator R. from Colon, near Olanchito I think. He’s there visiting for a few weeks but when he gets back we're planning on having his baptism! He is super pilas and such a blessing for us! He is really attentive and receptive and learns really quickly. He was asking questions about the planchas mayor and menor (large plates and small plates) and after so long of "simplifying" the gospel I was a little shocked but we did some good studying and were able to explain things to him. It’s such a blessing to have investigators that really work hard and do their part like Elder Moreno says in the district. We're really trying to emphasize that with our investigators lately and with everyone we talk to, that we do our part as missionaries, but that they do their part as well.

I decided I hate tortillas this week. I like eating them and that why I got fat probably, but they are usually the problem here. It’s why people can’t go to church. They either make them or sell them and the maza will get ruined if they don’t use it in a certain amount of time, but it’s just a challenge we have to work with.

Hermana A. got confirmed! We had a member go by to bring her to church! It was about 10 when they finally got to church but she finally got confirmed! It was such a neat experience to be sitting there behind the keyboard watching her be confirmed. I mean closing my eyes ;) It was like "That’s my investigator over there!" The meetings here have really improved. More reverence and we're back to having our third hour lessons. Por fin.

So a lot of the time during the day I’m reminded of the district training videos where Elder Christofferson says, "It is the Holy Ghost that bears witness of your words when you teach and testify.  It is the Holy Ghost that, as you speak in hostile venues, puts into your heart what you should say and fulfills the Lord’s promise that “you shall not be confounded before men” (D&C 100:5)." I've seen this in literally every lesson. If it’s not a husband, it’s a chicken, if it’s not the kid, it’s a rooster, if its not the cell phone, it’s the bar down the street, or a man yelling and trying to sell something from his truck or a bus going by on its way to Progresso. Talk about hostile venues. But it's neat when we actually can feel the spirit. It requires a TON of patience and a lot of eye contact, but it's always worth it and sometimes you just have to laugh about it and be grateful for those experiences that a lot of people will never be able to have in their lives. But it's real, the Spirit works and He can be present if we invite Him.

An elder here in the past said that this is "la zona mas chasta" in the whole mission and it might be true that the area is one of the most difficult, that if we're talking about numbers and baptisms and retention, we're not the best, but we're definitely escogidos if we've been chosen to serve here. I told my comp that when she came. I was honest with her about how difficult things are here because she deserves that, but the zone is improving because little by little, the elders and sisters that come are more and more animated to work and just generally more strong so the Lord is working with and blessing Santa Rita.

The dueno of the house here, Don M came to church the past two Sundays! It was hilarious because normally he's drunk but he came to church and this Sunday when he walked in he waved to everyone. He was the alcalde here of Santa Rita like 10 years ago and everyone knows him and they say he helped a ton of people. He’s very direct but I will definitely miss him when I leave Santa Rita! :( We decided he needs to get baptized and married in the temple to his wife so that he can be the new Bishop in a few months because this ward would mejorar un montón. It’s not even funny.

We should all read the talk by Pres. Ezra T. Benson, Beware of Pride like everyday. It’s so, so good.

Like the title, this is all worth the sweat and tears. We had a good week, I’m learning a lot with my comp. She's teaching me a lot and I’m teaching her a lot I think. We've had a lot of talks and heart to hearts that are really necessary. But the sweat and tears are part of the mission and they are worth it. If we save one alma, it’s worth it. and that why im here :)

Love,
Hermana Despain

I'm just here in Honduras eating Cow Tongue

Well.......yeah. Training is hard. I don’t like the responsibility and getting used to a different companion is always challenging. But what can I do but pray. I’m still not very good with change and its hard for me to adapt. I’d rather have everything change than just a few little things, but that will all come soon enough.

You know you’re in Honduras when you start commenting on how much you like peoples pilas....I'll just be like "ay hermana que bonita es su pila!" They’re all different too. Definitely want a pila in my future house :)

The changes meeting was amazing as always. Its always the best to be able to see everyone from past zones or people that left your area or past companions. I was so, so excited days before, it was so much fun :) Then it's like the worst right after changes after you’re going back to your area because its like "oh, back to reality...". But Semana Santa was rough. Everyone was down at the river. There was fish being sold everywhere. We had citas fall through for the first few time because normally no one does anything here so they’re all at home. There were a few deaths too, but that’s pretty normal. Lots of drunks and lots of people just messing around being high, so that always makes things fun...and the gym was closed all week haha. But luckily that’s all over with and everyone will go back to their lives again. Oh! Something else they do here is a bunch of delinquents will go around with creepy masks on and they dress up in trashy nasty clothes and they walk around with huge sticks and basically beg for money from people. But it's super creepy. I think in the states I'd be like "that’s weird" but here? It's downright scary. Talk about disturbing the peace...

Church was actually really good this past week. We actually had Relief Society and we split into groups and we actually felt the Spirit. We all learned and surprisingly stayed on topic so that was really good! I was impressed.

There was a drunk guy with a machete in a street this week. nothing like that to freak you out a little bit as an innocent sister missionary.

This is not cow tongue by the way...

We found out as we were eating with a member this week that we were eating cow tongue. I sort of poked it at first not knowing what sort of meat it was but it looked normal...hah...so I ate a bit and was like "idk its fine" and then about halfway through one of the hermanas whispered and was like "this is tongue" and we all sort of looked at it and realized she was right. I was like"oh that explains why its so long.....and....squishy" I just haven't ever, ever asked what kind of meat they've served. It's just better not to :)

Sunday morning we tried calling Hermana A. but she wouldn't pick up so after some debating we hiked up Bella Vista to go get her. We were sweating within like two seconds. But it's true, you pretty much start sweating right after you take a shower...fun stuff. When we got to her house she was making tortillas. I swear I'm learning so much patience. She had been making tortillas since 4 that morning and we were like Hermana, it's time to go to Church. Can we help you? Just one hour...but no....no matter what we did. We were late for Church anyway so we'll work extra hard with her this week because like we explained to her, baptism isn’t complete without confirmation....Talk about frustrating, dealing with people's agency. But it's super great when it works out the way its supposed to and people use their agency for their good and accept fechas for baptism! My comp is really sincere in her lessons so that’s really good. I had her desafiar (challenge)  the people and it went really well! I was proud :) So we have 4 with fecha (a baptismal date :) and an asistencia (attendance) in church of 141! Things are going well despite the smelly fish during Semana Santa :)

Something that definitely helps me though is when I get big hugs from like the lady we eat lunch with on Fridays and Sundays. She has been through some hard times and lost her baby a little bit ago so we hadn’t gone to eat there for a while, but the last time we did, she practically ran to hug me and was like "oh hermana...." Man it just broke my heart and warmed it at the same time and I knew she needed that hug. She hugged me so tightly and I think it helped us both. There are these little girls that are part of a family that we've been visiting and they always come running and hug and just don’t let go :) Even when it's hot outside and you think it’d be sort of annoying, you just learn to not care about the heat in those moments and just hold them a little longer.

I hope everyone had a great Easter and that we all remember the Savior after Easter, because we can't just remember him twice a year, but the whole year! Give someone an extra hug this week, cuz they probably need it! :)

love,

Hermana Despain

It's Never Too Late

I swear every week feels like 3 months at a time. it is really amazing how that happens. So this week is Semana Santa so everyone and their chicken will be "en vacaciones" or "andando en el río" or something so I’m pretty sure it will be a challenging week. We also have transfers this week and that always shakes things up. But im excited, things will definitely be changing around here....

So this week someone touched my knee, my forearm, and my shoulder, and someone tried to hug me. I swear it’s the most awkward thing to try and deal with. I just like back up all awkwardly and its like "whoaaa ho ho umm ok, bueno..." But I learn to deal with it.

Something super sad that happened a while back was that we were visiting Hermana A. One of her grandkids who has some special needs but they don’t treat him any different, poor little guy :( so he was playing with a pink belt and he threw it up in the air when it landed on me and I knew what was coming so I just sort of laughed it off and I was like "No, no hermana no se preocupe, no era nada..." and then they started hitting him and it was the most horrible feeling ever you guys. You have no idea. I felt so helpless and he was crying and I just couldn’t teach after that. There are just some experiences that happen here that I wish would have never happened.

But Hermana A. got baptized on Saturday! It was such a miracle! It felt so great because it felt like my first baptism :) and what I love the most is that me and my comp found her and we got to see the fruits of our work before my comp gets transferred :) So beside the fact that she didn’t get confirmed yesterday (oops) We'll get all that figured out and get her back here in Santa Rita. Church on Sunday was a nightmare. I swear it’s the biggest test of faith those 3 hours, after an awful "consejo de barrio" and after a good long cry, we went and visited a few people and then we met with one who is named R. who is just pure gold. My comp wants to come back for his baptism :)

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." I found this quote in a book one of my zls lent me and it’s by George Eliot. I really really like it because being about half way through my mission (no puedo creerlo) there are some things that I wish I had done better or not done but there are a lot of things I want to improve and this reminds me that there is still time :) and that when my mission is done, it’s not the end of my life or anything and as long as I’ve put everything I’ve got into my mission and learned something from it, that’s what’s most important. I also really like what Elder Russell M. Nelson said, "You are never too young to learn, never too old to change...each day brings opportunities for decisions for eternity." Sometimes it’s hard to see the big big picture and realize how important the decisions we make everyday are. They effect our eternity even if we don’t realize it! Everyday matters :)

Love, Hermana Despain

P.S. I'm training...surprise! hah! So um if anyone has any advice or inspired thoughts, send them my way? I’ll be back on Wednesday afternoon after transfers so just pray for me !  :)