Dos Caminos Week 17

Like a real catracho ( a Honduras man) eating fried chicken and tortillas!

Hola!

Hows everyone doing?! This week had a lot of ups and downs but ended up being really awesome. It all started when we were teaching this family and this little girl coughed into our faces maybe 20 times. She has bronchitis. So of course the next day when we woke up we were almost about to die. We were coughing our lungs out and couldn't open our eyes. But we had a lot of appointments that day that we had to go to. The Lord blessed us with strength to finish the day but right when we got home it was just horrible. I had my magic juju oils and by the next day I just had a head ache but Duff didn't want to be healed so for the next 3 days he suffered. We all have our agency right? haha I'm just joking he just thought they smelled weird. Which is right I'm not going to lie.

So I had a lot of time for about 2 days while Duff couldn't walk so I did a lot of reading and studying. But after a while you just gotta move you know? So I decided to be productive and clean the whole house. Well I still had time after that so I decided to chop the front and back yard. Well I was almost finished and my foot landed right on the main water line for the house. Darn hondurans use PVC pipe for main water lines....who knows why..well we headed to the hardware store and bought new pipe and glue and borrowed a saw and fixed it but dug deeper in the ground so it wouldn't happen again. See Mom? This is what happens when I try to be productive. I break things.

One cool thing that happened this week was with 3 different times teaching the Word of Wisdom. Almost every single time we have taught this the investigator has had problems with coffee and tea. But the three times we taught it this week each person said they hated coffee and tea and that they liked juice better. Which was just a huge weight off our shoulders and was awesome for these investigators. I thought it was funny how each one said they liked juice better haha maybe they can become friends and have juice parties together and stay active in the church :)

We had a cool activity for all of our investigators this week. We had a movie night at the church and watched the Restoration! Man I love this movie. It was great because so many of our investigators showed up and they all had so many questions and they got all their answers! And the best part was the family Donaire gave us a ride home and they were able to express their feelings about Joseph Smith with out everyone else around and they said that they believe he was a prophet and are excited for their baptismal date! It made me super stoked and I'm so thankful for the spirit for touching this great family!

Had a really cool experience this week. I had divisions this week with my DL Elder Bingham. We were in his area and I loved meeting all these new people. Makes me excited for my next area. I had the great opportunity to meet this investigator that was about to get baptised. Before we taught the lesson I felt like she really trusted me and she went in detail of what has happened in her life in the last 6 months. She just had her baby 6 days earlier and now she has 4 little kids. Her husband was murdered 6 months ago and she hasn't had a job since because she has been pregnant. they live in this tiny tiny shack on the top of a huge mountain and don't have water. They have to carry water all the way up when they want some. I felt so bad for her and the hardest part was we planned to teach the law of tithing with her! It was a very spiritual lesson and at the very end after we taught where the money for tithing goes she said." wow that makes a lot of sense because there are a lot of people in this word that have it way worse than me". And I was speechless. I really just wanted to cry and thank her so much for being so amazing! Even tho she has this huge trials in her life she knew what was important. That is one of my favorite things about this gospel.

Love you all! till next week! (send me candy)

-Elder Sessions

A member during divisions gave us money to go eat at this place
that made super good meat!

Came over to our ward mission leaders house to talk to him
and found him asleep on the couch!

Our investigator Isis the doctora gave Duff a HUGE shot when he was sick hahaha it was hilarious

Dos Caminos Week 16

                             Average doors in Honduras

Hey family!

   Fast week here in the mission! It looks like everyone is having a great time enjoying the heat! Just know that it's not hot there at all. Come take a trip to Honduras and you will know what hot is! Except we have been having these crazy thunder storms that are just insane! The thunder is literally right over our heads and hurts our ears it's so loud. But don't worry I always have my emergency plastic bags for my books haha.

   This week as been full of blessings and great experiences for Elder Duff and I. One thing we love doing for our early morning visits is doing service. It's something Duff has taught me and has helped a lot in our area. This week every single day we had an appt. with someone to help with chopping their grass and things like that. We built a new wood fence for a sister and redid someones whole barbwire fence. And i love it! I get to work on my tan which is great but also the people start to trust us more and talk to us more as friends which is what our goal is through service! I also have you guys as great examples on doing service which I'm so thankful for! Can't wait to chop the grass at home back in the states with my machete ;)

   This last Tuesday my life flashed before my eyes and I almost died. No not really but it WAS scary. We stopped by this members house to teach a lesson and she had us wait while she put her dog back behind this cage thing on the other side of her house. Well this isnt just any dog....its a massive HUGE pit bull! The biggest scariest honduras pit bull you could imagine. So we start to walk around towards the back door when all the sudden we hear metal moving around and the sisters eyes get huge and she yells "Elders! Run! Get inside!" Then this insane dog comes bolting around the corner straight for me. In 2 seconds I jumped over this dog who wants gringo blood and jump over 3 stairs to grab the metal gate and swing inside like Indiana Jones. Duff was already in the house and was laughing like crazy at how scared I looked. I got a huge bruise on my leg from jumping on the metal gate. It was a great lesson we had afterwards though and we got a good reference haha!

The crazy Pit bull!

In our zone meeting this week we learned a lot how we need more confidence. Which I need a lot so it was great! When they asked what I had a problem with when contacting people I said talking to groups of people. So th y made me practice with the district like they were a whole family and I just got to know them and ask questions and teach a little of the gospel. It was great and I learned al ot and I got to practice it a lot this week! As missionaries we sometimes get scared to talk to people but it nice to know that the worst thing thing they can say is no they don't want anything. And that's not even bad because our job is to invite everyone to come to Christ! And as member missionaries you guys have the same purpose ;) just remember they can only say no or yes :)

One experience teaching this week was with the family Donire. They are one of the first full familyies that I have taught that have been progressing. They have a real desire to learn and be closer to the Lord and this week we taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Which I love because its just the simple principles and they are easy to understand and know that they are true. They have an 8 year old boy who after we taught about baptism is said " I want to get baptised". Which was awesome! But he also said he didn't feel prepared yet. And it was great to teach that as missionaries we are here to help prepare you for baptism. They all accepted a date and they are loving coming to church! Those kind of lessons are the best in the mission. Love being here in Dos Caminos and I'm going to be sad when I leave! The spirit is so strong here! Love you all!

-Elder Sessions

Baby turtle they are watching for a few days

Sweet looking spider

Dos Caminos Week 15

Jarom and Elder Rodriguez

Hello land of the free and home of the brave.

So good to hear about your guys week! You all seem very busy which is good ;) I really had a great and funny week here in my area! There were 4 murders in my area this week and thats all anyone wants to talk about. It really is hard for the people here. Now I understand why whenever I say my area is Dos Caminos people always say, " oh where your life doesn't cost anything". its not the best thing to hear when you are about to walk home and its 9 o'clock haha. But we are protected by the Lord so no worries haha. 

Well the week started off with a muti zone conference with the President. And it was reallyyyy good. President Dester is the man and he really knows what we need to hear. So after the conference I had divisions! My zone leader Elder Rodrigues came to my area with me and Duff went to the other area. On the way back we took a bus and I had to sit next to this lady and her 3 year old kid. Well this lady is just shoving chips and pepsi in this kids face for his lunch I guess and this kids face is just like "mom please just feed me some normal food". Well he had his limit and threw up all over me.Yup right on my lap and shirt and shoes. But the best part was the mother didnt even acknowledge that it happened! and continued to feed him. So that's what I deal with everyday haha. After this we had such a great time teaching and I loved practicing my spanish more. Just picture a mexican santa clause and thats Elder Rodrigues. He's just a jolly positive man and we got along really good.

This mission has been changing me alot and I am loving it. But one thing I don't think it will change is my love for pulling pranks on people. And Duff and I decided Elder Moose was a perfect target. I changed our contact in his phone to say Presdent Dester and gave him a call acting as someone in the office. We told him that the president needed to talk to him as soon as possible and to come to the office right away. Well after the call he runs in our room freaking out that he is in trouble or something and we just kept saying hurry hurry get dressed! Well he was just about to leave and we couldn't keep it in any longer and just busted out laughing and I still don't think he has forgiven us. But man was it a good one haha. Dont worry mom I wont do anymore pranks on people....

Alot of progression happened this week and it has just been the best feeling ever! We have 8 people with a baptismal date right now and its been so cool to see the change in their lives. One experience I want to share is about our investigator Isis who I talk alot about, I'm sorry but I just love our lessons with her. So recently our lessons have been really easy for her to grasp and understand. She thinks its all great and has been praying and reading to receive answers to know that its true. Her answer has just been taking alot of time and she was getting discouraged so we decided to help her and we watched The Restoration video with her. The hour long one that is just full of the spirit. Well after the movie the first thing she says is " why are those people so mean to him! There is no way he wasn't a prophet". So I just asked, " If you believe he was a prophet what does that mean for you?" She starts looking at us and her eyes get huge and she had an "Oh Shoot" moment. She says " That means everything is true! He saw God and Jesus and your church is the only church with the power to baptize!" I dont think you could understand my joy or imagine how big my smile on my face was. She accepted a date for baptism and this experience just testified to me how important the restoration is and the role the spirit has in conversion. 

Until next week! Love you guys and thank you for your support!

-Elder Sessions 

my best friend Kennedy who always calls me dad...

...and then Duff let me cut his hair...it turned out ok I guess.. hahaha

Me playing with this cute cat at a members house!

Dos Caminos Week 14

Family!

What a great week! so many great experiences its just been awesome! We got a new zone leader after changes and we had our first zone meeting. It was a great meeting. All the new people and the zone leaders gave a great talk on our purpose and how to be more organized with the work. But on the way back Elder Duff lost his wallet and it had all of his money in it for the last 4 days....I felt really bad because we just ran out of food and the members dont usually feed us but we got through the week with zero money and bought sooooo much once we got money again haha!

So out of the 3 members in our area that are active we went out with each one to meet their friends and get referrals... And its we AWESOME. It was great having someone that they trusted testifying of what we were saying. We were able to get a lot of new investigators and a lot of them showed up to church! Just another testimony of how important member missionaries are!

There is this family called Donire and we started teaching them about 3 weeks ago. They actually came first to church sunday just to see how the church is and that was how we met them! They even live 3 houses up from us but we have never met them! Just a crazy awesome experience about how the Lord has been preparing people for us to teach. They have come every week since and have agreed to be baptized and we are putting a date for them in our next appt! I'm super excited! 

So this Sunday was fast Sunday and I've never had fast Sundays like this back at home. Missionaries here fast after lunch on saturday till sunday lunch. Well as soon as we started fasting I'm pretty sure the weather heated up like 20 degrees. It was the hottest day ever! And then on top of the heat we had two appts for service that afternoon to chop wood and grass. Now after this I felt like I was about to die of thirst. The sister even brought out water with ice in it and it was just right in front of our faces tempting us. But we powered through and had a miracle! The sister's friends come over and we were able to teach them and man were they ready for the gospel! and this happened throughout the entire day! It was awesome to see the Lord on our side when we do the little things.

We were in our neighborhood talking to a man about our church and inviting him to come this sunday when all the sudden Isis, the Doctor who we are teaching, walked up and joined the conversation! Turns out they are friends, and she literally says, " These men have a great message and you need them to come to you house, and I don't know if they have invited you this sunday but you have to come to church with us its so beautiful!" And I'm just like amazed at her for backing us up and it was just a great situation and he ended up coming this sunday! We actually had more investigators at church than members from our area haha! Love seeing the work progress and I love this church! Have a good week family and remember to write me! 

-Elder Sessions

making baleadas

This little girl insisted on giving Elder Duff this dragon tattoo and it was so funny!
Don't worry we washed it off right after ;)

The new Elder in my house Elder Moes!

A poster of the President of my branch when he tried to run for mayor!

Boys being boys