Dos Caminos Week 4

How are you all doing??!! Man what a great week here in Honduras! Its been crazy hot here and i dont understand how one person can sweat has much as I do. Like where is it all coming from? oh well haha 

I think i will start of talking about our multi zone meeting. It was soooo great! It was centered around being a consecrated missionary. Basically a missionary who sacrifices everything for the Lord and the work. A missionary who doesn't stop working and is perfectly following the rules. We read a great talk about it and it was so eye opening and I realized that i want nothing more than to be a conseIrated missionary. As i have been trying my hardest this week i have had the spirit so much more and we are being more effective. i still have a long way to go but once the spanish comes i know it will be a lot more easier and i can fullfil my purpose as a a missionary. When ever I think about a consecrated missionary, Perry and Dad always come to my mind and I know they were consecrated missionaries and I am so grateful for their examples in my life. I love this work!

Something else that i learned this week as been the importance with working with members. Its alot different here than in the states with members because only some are full active members and they don't really like to share. But when we can get them to help us it turns everything around for our investigators! They will come to church and other activities and it gives them a friend to be an example. But another thing I thought about was all of you at home and how you guys could help further the work of the lord so much by helping the missionaries. Please please please contact the missionaries in your ward and tell them you would love to have them over with an investigator. They need to show that the members of the church are normal people! Just feed them dinner and be a friend and I know the Lord will bless your life and the lives of the investigators. You guys have it so nice with the organization of the church in the states because I feel like the church here is like a little baby and they dont understand things like starting on time. Haha every sunday church starts at 9:30 but it is supposed to start at 9...the bishop shows up super late and is never at the meetings either...they still end church at 12 tho hahah! Again please strive to be member missionaries!

I get free mangos everyday and its the best! Veggies are veryyyyy expensive but the house we go to on Sundays for lunch always has cucumbers or some salad which is nice.

I am very blessed I feel like because everyone says that it is a huge culture shock and it so different but i don't have that shock at all its just the spanish that is the hardest haha.  I always did my own laundry now its just a little harder and I'm use to being kinda independent and that has helped a ton!

Jarom with DL 

Muddy Shoes All The Time!

We had a great experience this week! So in our neighborhood we have a little store at the front gate and we always go there to get food in the mornings. We taught the daughter of the people who own it and after the third lesson she told us she didn't want to change religions. It was sad and i just wanted her to read the book of mormon! So now it has been 2 weeks since that and me and my comp went to the little store like always to go get breakfast and the father was at the entrance where you tell him what you want and they give it to you. and i walk up and he is reading  the Plan of Salvation pamphlet! It shocked me at first because i forgot about the daughter for a second! I think my mouth was just wide open just staring at him and he was like " hey tell me about these 3 kingdoms of glory". It was 7 in the morning I was in shorts and a shirt and I was thinking "this stuff actually happens?!" I was able to answer his question and we have an appointment to teach him more! And the best part was that morning in my prayer i asked for new investigators! He even said he had been reading the Book of Mormon that we gave his daughter. Man I was on cloud nine!

So the language is coming along slowly but i wish people will just slow dont a bit when they speak... is that too much to ask for? So the language of spanish is rough but even harder is the language of the spirit. The language of the spirit so much more important i think and its so hard to figure out if I'm just thinking that or is the spirit guiding me? The spanish will come but I want to know the language of the spirit now! haha who to talk to what to say where to go. I just need to have the spirit with me always.

Love you all! 

Elder Sessions

With District Leader

PDay Soccer

Water "Bags"

Dos Caminos Week 3

Family! I dont have a ton of time to write today due to the power and water being out for the last couple days. it just came back on but p-day ends very soon! So i have been showering with a bucket and thats been different....but its all good! 

Jarom's House

I have been so blessed this week with not having to eat anything crazy! Everything was amazing! I had baleadas like 4 times this week! 

We were suppose to have a baptism this saturday but something came up and it got post- poned to next week I think:(. but we are teaching alot and I'm loving it! (well my comp teaches alot... I try my hardest haha). The weather this week has been great but random. It rained soooo hard for like 2 days and I was just soaked and I dont know why but I loved it haha! It was better than the heat. The roads were rivers but hey that doesn't stop the missionaries! I was very very muddy when I got home.

I think 3 or 4 times this week we were teaching and the person was Evangelic and it was sooo hard! Their views are complete opposite and it just becomes a huge bible bash. My comp always wins but they just say your bible is different( even tho we use their bible when we are teaching them) And they have such a horrible attitude about Joseph Smith and its so sad because he went through so much and I know he is a true prophet and I know he restored the true church. All we can do with those people is bear our testimony and walk away. Its rough.

The reason my comp always wins the bible fights i think is because he is a convert and his bible is marked up on every page and is so organized. In my life i have never been good at marking my scriptures and my comp has showed me how important it is and this past week i have been doing it and it has been making my personal study so much more effective and i am always thinking about how this certain scripture can help one of our investigators. It has been such a great blessing and i feel the spirit a lot more each day. In one of our lessons i was actually able to use a scripture that i read that morning and it turned the whole lesson around and it just testified to me the importance of effective scripture study. In every lesson my comp uses the bible which is so great because they all know it and it is really familiar to them and I don't know anything in the bible that well so i always write down the scriptures he uses and then study them in the morning as well. It has been awesome and i know it will help alot in the future!

This family is awesome and they just want to get married and get married in the temple. They have been waiting for 7 months for someone to help them and I think  was an answer to their prayers. This is the family.

Family I love you tons and I am thankful for your example! Send me lots of packages with candy ok? Thanks your the best ;) Talk to you next week!

Touring Waterfalls on P-Day

Dos Caminos Week 2

Wow this week went by really fast! I'm loving it here in Honduras! We have a ton of investigators right now and we are super busy! I am trying to learn as much spanish as I can so I can teach more and it's coming along slowly haha. Sunday was so great! for 2 reasons. First... almost all of our investigators came to church and the building was packed! It was so great seeing everyone at church and seeing their faith in the gospel. We have a couple more baptisms this next Sunday and I'm so excited! Even tho I usually don't know what they are saying I can still feel the spirit so much when we are teaching. And the second reason Sunday was so awesome is because it was Mothers day! which means SKYPE! Man that was so nice seeing everyone and seeing how big the kids are getting! I think about them so much whenever i see kids here. Family you are amazing like always! Thank you so much for your prayers and your words of encouragement for me with my Spanish! cant wait to skype at Christmas ;)

The people of Honduras don't understand what an appointment is I think...so many of them weren't home when we came by! Thats the hardest thing, being prepared and ready to teach them and then they aren't even home. But a couple times that happened we talked to their neighbors and we had lessons with them! So it still turns out good but it slows the process of our investigators :( 

We walk for hours all day and we get superrrrr dusty but thats not the worst part. Its 110 degrees with 100% humidity and I am just covered with sweat all day everyday haha and no one here believes in air conditioning so we just bake in our houses and in members houses. I didn't think i would ever be so excited over portable fans. Sometimes people will feed us hot soup and i just don't understand because my body is already 1000 degrees...  haha

We try to do a lot of service because it's a great way to get in the door with people and the other day we were cutting some wood for an elderly sister and I didn't realize how much there was but it took us forever and my white shirt was brown after and my hands were covered in blisters and i was completely soaked in sweat! but hey we have an appointment with her in a couple days so it was worth it right?  :)

There are dogs everywhere and its so hard not to go cuddle with them because they all look so sad. Sometimes there are puppies just crawling around and i always pick them up and carry them to my next appointment then set them back on the ground haha. I better have a dog waiting for me when I get home.( hint hint mom)

I know that this mission in Honduras is crazy and different and I know if I didn't have the Lord on my side I couldn't do this. I know that when its hot and I have to go up this big mountain or when the food is so strange and I don't think I can eat it or trying to speak spanish, the Lord is on my side and he will help me through everything! Its amazing how much I feel his strength everyday. I am so thankful for the example of my family and i love you all! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

-Elder Sessions

Crime Scene
This is where a guy was killed. Happened right near where he was.

Dos Caminos

So Honduras is crazy...but awesome! Love it here! Once we landed in honduras and got off the plane, it was like someone punched me in the face with a fire ball. It's is a sweat box here. I will never talk bad about the CCM ever again. The ccm had laundry machines, warm showers, normal ish food, and awesome weather. Opposite in honduras haha. But its great here! Alot of walking and alot of not knowing what is happening because I don't speak spanish.....

My trainer is Elder Rios! He has been out 7 months and is from Mexico and he is great! I mean he doesn't speak english so i don't really know what he is like but he seems great haha. So i realized I don't know any Spanish.. I have no idea what these people are saying! I hope it comes fast because i think my comp is getting tired of teaching the whole lessons :(

Everyone lives in a wood or cement house with dirt floors. The people really don't have anything but they are so kind and humble. Before I got here I thought I wouldn't get to eat a lot and the food wouldn't be really weird but its the opposite! Every house we go to they feed us huge plates and the rule is you have to eat everything they give you. Everything. We have like 7 meals a day. I am going to gain 100 pounds. The food is bland and they always have this weird sour cheese that shouldn't even be called cheese haha. But i loveeeeee baleadas! look them up they are great! (Wiki note: Baleadas are one of Honduras's most original and popular foods. A baleada is a wheat flour tortilla, often quite thick, folded in half and filled with mashed fried beans.  People may also add other ingredients..Sounds like a bean burro to mom!). Every meal is beans and rice :/ oh well. 

My area is called Dos Caminos and is a massive area. It is about 30 minutes from San Pedro Sula. We walk alotttt all day. If we want water its in a bag and that's really different but cool!

We had a baptism yesterday! A sister named Yessica! I was able to teach her twice and it was awesome! She has a little daughter and has many friends in the ward so I think she will stay active. We have about 140 people that come to church (they actually just built a new church a couple months ago and its nice and is like Rocky Point's) and 140 that are members that do not come to church so about half of our appointments are with less active familyies. We have alot of work to do. It would help if I knew spanish haha..I was able to ask 5 people to be baptised in the next weeks and i am so excited! The branch president in my area doesn't let the missionaries baptize the investigators he wants people in the ward to do it so when we leave they still have a connection with someone in the ward. 

Its so strange in honduras..there are hardly any old guys. There are old women everywhere but no adult men. In church only the girls in the families come to church and it so sad because non of them have the priesthood in their homes. In a lot of the families the dad just left. Its so sad because the mom is stuck to work all day and care for all the kids. Its so sad. But the kids are so cute and funny i love it! Everyone just stares at me with a look that says,"oh my goodness a white guy" and NO ONE can say my last name. Every person i meet it's a 5 minute process sounding out my name haha.

The streets here are insane. They have little tiny 3 wheeled things called moto taxis and they are crazyyy. One time i got in one and a kid who was 13 was driving! Zippin and zaggin around other cars i thought i was going to die. I just close my eyes and pray that we dont crash! I know the Lord will protect me tho. I am so thankful for this restored gospel and i love being a missionary! Thank you all for your prayers! I love you very much! 

Elder Sessions

Our place