San Pedro Sula Week 8

HOLA!

Hey everyone! How are you guys doing? Man was I blessed this week to feel better! Earlier this week one night I just couldn't sleep and my stomach just had the worst pain ever. And I asked my comp if he could give me a blessing so I could fall asleep and feel better for tomorrow. I don't remember him finishing the blessing because I'm pretty sure I fell asleep....haha it was amazing! I am so thankful for the power of the priesthood and that I was able to recover and feel better this week. And I'm grateful for my companion! He is such a stud. He is sooooo funny we just pull pranks and joke with each other alllll the time. I really haven't laughed like this for a while! He helps me enjoy the mission which is great.

When we stopped by one of our members houses this week we saw the mother of the family painting all by herself. This family owns all the 5 apartments in the building and she was repainting alll of them. When we went to help her I thought it was going to be a quick thing and we leave. But no thats not how life goes....we came back every day this week and painted all the houses!! It was super fun but now i have bright green paint all over my clothes....I forgot my camera today so i can't show any of the pictures but next week I will send them all! All the appartments turned out really good ( for Honduras ).

One of the best things I'm learning from my comp is to lose allll fear and just talk to everyone. He's really great at just saying whatever and getting people to talk. So we have been contacting alot and its been so cool to see the hand of the Lord. When I was with de Leon we came across a sister that seemed interested but we only talked in the street for a little bit and I felt like we needed to talk to her more but I had fear in a what to say. I was so mad later that day that I didnt say anything. Well weeks and weeks later, Olivas and I were walking and searching for a reference and we were asking some neighbors where this guy lived. And we came to a house to ask if they knew this guy and the woman that I met in the street answered the door! It was a second chance and it was so cool and trippy to find her in her house in a part of our area we hardly visit! She was super open and she came to church! Cool experience.

This saturday we have a baptism and I'm super stoked! His name is Jorge and is the son of one of the families we are teaching. His parents are going to get married this next month then they will get baptized in december! They are so diligent... its so great to see their strong testimony. The son was going to wait and be baptized with his dad but he told us he got an answer that he should be baptized sooner. They all read the Book of Mormon and they all pray together. They are so awesome! Teaching families is the best part of the mission.

Well this week was really busy and really fast and I can't remember anything. So sorry I can't write more :/ Oh ya if you guys are reading this and say wow Sessions can't write to save his life he just uses the same words over and over again, just know its because spanish is messing with my brain. Here in honduras they have the worst spanish so I have bad habits I'm sorry! haha love you all! 

-Elder Sessions

San Pedro Sula Week 7

My zone in El Carmen!

Buenas!

Wazzzz up family!? How are you guys! Que loco this last week. It started with transfers and I had to say bye to Elder de León! I really learned a lot this last transfer and I'm glad I had the opportunity to work with him. And as luck would have it I got another Guatemalan! His name is Elder Olivas and he has the same time out as me! I'm really excited to work with him and tear it up here in the Smith! He loves to contact and its awesome because we are in need of some new investigators! He is also super hilarious and its so nice to laugh and enjoy the mission like we should. I am super happy for this transfer!:) My bro from the CCM-Elder Porter had a change too and he got put in my zone! We are even closer now! It's the besttttt.

Same tie as Elder Itaehau at transfers!

So our first night together started out not so good....we had 3 appointments in the night time and EACH one fed us dinner. And it is super rude to say no so we ate with smiles and crying stomachs. Each meal was huge and that night I got super sick and that was 4 days ago and I'm still sick. I got food poisoning and it has been the worst. I can't sleep and walk a lot and have a huge fever. Sad to start the week out like this with my new comp but it just won't go away! I hope to feel better soon!

Even tho I have been sick, we were still able to have some good experiences and were really blessed. We have an investigator that is really amazing named Tañia who finally came to the church this last sunday with her little girl and it was great to see her talking with the members and getting along with everyone. She told us she really wants to be a better mother and wants us to talk to her husband but he won't receive us :/ but we are still trying don't worry haha. She came to all 3 hours of church! This was a miracle for us :)

I think I might of shared a story about this family that we are working with right now that are getting married to be baptized. Wow I love this family! They are so animated for this gospel and they came to church with white shirts and ties this last sunday and it was so great to see them all together and smiling. The father wants us to visit his family everyday he's so funny haha when we do visit them all of the family pays attention and they have great questions that shows they really want to learn. They always testify that what we taught them is true right after we teach it! And they invite friends over to hear us and they are already trying to be member missionaries haha! This family I will remember for my entire life.

I'm sorry I didn't have any funny or crazy experiences to share this week, too busy dying from food poisoning haha I'm just joking but I love you guys! Thanks for your prayers!

-Elder Sessions

San Pedro Sula Week 6

Eating soup of the sea....crab, fish, shrimp yayayaya
(the one food he was dreading eating)

 Family!

Yay P-day! I love being able to see how you are all doing! Had an interesting week here in La Smith. I cant believe I've already been here for a change! My comp has a change so I get my new comp this Wednesday! :). It rained a tonnn this week which was so nice to have some cold air in the nights. Oh and we also had interviews this week with President Dester! He really is such an amazing guy. I am so blessed to have him as my president for the 2 years im here! He really inspires us and gets us animated for the work.

We had something super crazy happen this week in our area. The majority of our area is nice houses and cement streets. We have one area that is just dirt roads and is more of a poor area and we were there one day going to teach a lesson. When all the sudden 15 horses started to stampede down this little road full of people. There were a ton of little kids playing in the street and in like two seconds we ran and grabbed 3 little kids and rushed them over to the side of the road right has the crazy horses ran by! It was insane! We were so lucky to be walking towards them and saw them sooner. The mother of the kids took our pamphlet  and we got a appt. with her next week so thats cool how it all worked out! crazy honduras horses...

We were visiting this part member family this week and the father and son are getting baptized later this month and we had an awesome experience with them. After one lesson the son told us he has been seeing things in the house like dark beings and has had weird feelings and they they started once he started taking the lessons from us. And at first I thought he was going to say that it was because we don't have the true church and it was a sign not to listen to us. But he told us it was Satan trying to pull them away from the church and he told us he is going to push forward and get baptized! We got to dedicate the house after and that was also a very cool experience. 

I am so glad I have the examples of my parents to teach the importance of the sabbath day because here in honduras....no oneeee follows it...everyone buys things at the store and stuff and they try to hide from us in the street when we walk by and they have their bags from the store haha its funny sometimes to hear their excuses but really its sad. It's more of a culture thing then a commandment here! But its something we are working on with the ward. But we were able to have a baptism this week of 2 kids of a family that is getting reactivated! really great to see the change in their lives and to see their testimony grow.

Have a great next week I love you guys!

-Elder Sessions

baby drinking pepsi in a bottle...

cool silver dudes that didnt move!

cool silver dudes that didnt move!

San Pedro Sula Week 5

Hey gringos

What a great week right?! You guys look like you are having a blast-that's awesome! One thing I realized is that this will be the first year I don't get to wear a halloween costume...sad right? This is the time when a boy becomes a man haha. This week was good but I was super sick off and on. It was rough because I never felt like eating but then later I wanted to buy like 10 baleadas (burrito things). Today we played soccer with 2 zones and that wasn't a good idea because now I feel super sick! Life in Honduras...

today playing soccer with 2 zones!

I have been studying Preach My Gospel a lot more lately and it has been a great blessing for me. I've realized I am so blessed to be a missionary in this time! The old missionary handbook was great and really worked for that time but now the world is different. One thing I love about PMG and something that President Dester talks a lot about is our job is to get people converted to the gospel and not just baptized. We have hundreds of inactive families in our areas that have fallen away for some reason or another and I love getting the chance to help them receive blessings the Lord has for their family. We have a couple families that are preparing to go to the temple now and to see the change and joy they have in their families is worth it all. Love this work!

We were able to get in contact with a family this week that is very prepared for the gospel. The mother is a member but hasn't gone to church since she was baptized at age 13. The husband is really really really excited for this gospel and already has a strong testimony and we love seeing his enthusiasm! They also have a 14 year old son that is a genius and understands everything. They all went to conference and had a great experience and are going to be baptized in a couple of weeks. One problem we had was that the parents aren't married and when we asked the mother what she thinks about that she said,"I told myself I would never get married to this man, never never, but if it means he can get baptized then yes we will get married" I was just like WHATTTT this neverrrrr happens! I have taught sooo many people to get married and not one has done it....it was a miracle! They are getting married this week! wooo yaaaaa!

How amazing was conference right? So many great lessons to be learned. I loved how the general authorities could speak in their native language! 2 talks in spanish ya ya! I loved on sunday how three talks in one session talked about the importance of following the prophet. Then when the prophet spoke he talked about following the Savior! Really powerful talk from President Monson. I love how he talks about the life of the Savior a lot and uses scriptures from the New Testament showing his love and mercy for all of us. I was able to watch all of conference in english so that was a huge blessing! I would love to hear about your guys experiences from conference so please write me about them! 

Enjoy your guys week and be a member missionary! love ya!

-Elder Sessions

eating at dennys after conference!

in front of the huge catholic church in the center of SPS.

making baleadas with a family!

San Pedro Week 4

My beloved family

I bet you guys are reading this in a room with air conditioning....count your blessings. Haha no I'm joking but it is crazy hot today! Its ok it will get better in a couple weeks. Thank you all for the emails I love seeing what you guys are doing. ( for the people not writing me, get to it). This week was so awesome! So many great stories and experiences. At the beginning of this week we had ward council but when we showed up, no one was there. But when we went out back to the basketball court everyone was playing tennis! They brought rackets and a net and it was awesome! We got to play for a little and man was it a good time. My comp told them I used to play when I was little and they want me to teach them on P-day haha. But I can't because I have to wash clothes....

I realized this week that I really don't know anything. Haha thats weird to say but its true! I need to rely on the Spirit for everything! We had an appt to go back to this guys house to teach the second lesson but in my head I really didn't want to go back because he was kind of rude, he didn't want to listen, and already told us he didn't want to get baptized ever. But the Spirit told us that we still needed to visit him. And it turns out that his cousin was there and is realllllyyyy prepared for this gospel. It was just a huge testimony for me that as missionaries we shouldn't do what we want to do but we need to do what the Lord wants us to do.

Normally when we are out walking around we are always greating people and saying hi and usually the people answer with same thing. But when someone says "Adios Elders" we always turn around and go talk to them because either they were baptized or they have talked to missionaries before. And this week it happened 3 times! The first was a woman that had received all the lessons but just wasnt ready and she told us she thinks she is ready now and wants the lessons again! Cool experience. Next one was 2 women that have been inactive for a super long time and the daughter had just had surgery and was feeling really sick. We were able to give her a blessing and they came to church this last sunday! The last one was a sister that is married to a non member that really has been praying for help for her husband to be a better person. And told us that she has been praying that the Lord would send her help. All these experiences happened just from people saying Hola Elders and us turning around to talk to them. I love this work!

This Saturday we had 2 baptisms! Alejandro and Angelo! Brothers of a part member family. It was such a great day, alllll their family that are members that live all around San Pedro came to the baptism to support them and it was so great to see the strength of this family. And all because one sister in the family got baptized 10 years ago. I had the blessing of getting to baptize and it was really special because they seem like my little brothers. They are excited to go on missions and serve in arizona and come to my house haha. Their testimonies after the baptism were so powerful for being younger kids and I know they are going to grow so much in the gospel. The friuts of serving this mission are worth everything!

Thank you all for your support and remember to write me! love you!

-Elder Sessions

Add caption

For one dinner this last week we ate at this sisters house but she wasn't going to be there so she gave us the keys earlier that day and said to use whatever food you want and cook because I'm going to be out of town.. haha we made tacos!

This baby really wanted my juice haha so adorable

My district leader and I study english ever day after lunch!

San Pedro Week 3

Hey Family!

So great to hear about your guys week! Everyone is on vacations which is just awesome....not. You guys are suppose to wait till I get home! Well I hit the 6 month mark this week! Woooo YAAA so exciting. Todavía estoy tan joven. I still got a sister mission left (the sisters serve for 18 months) to help the people in Honduras! 

At 6 months we burn a tie!

I'm loving it here! My comp and I had a good last week and we were able to work a lot of with our members! Early in the week we had a correlation meeting as a ward and it was amazinggggg! The ward is super focused on getting all the recent converts activated again and everyday this week we went out with members in the ward to go meet with the families that haven't been coming to church. It has helped so much in receiving references and new people to teach from helping people come back to church. And its so nice to see the ward animated and ready to help the missionaries. ( just like all you guys are doing right? ). Its a huge blessing for me to be in this ward and to have them to back us up when ever we need their help.

Our zone meeting this week ended a lot differently than most. Everything was normal, we had a good lesson everything was good then when we went to leave....both of the gates were locked!!! Zone meetings are in the church and we don't have keys so the workers let us in every week. But this time they forgot about us and we were stuck in the church for 3 hourssss. The only people with keys were working super far away and it was 1000 degrees with no water. But what did we do? We played basketball outside the whole 3 hours to pass the time haha It was a waste of time and I was frustrated that we couldn't leave and go get lunch but it was a good zone bonding activity. We just had to work extra hard the whole rest of the day ;)

One thing that's been great is that we have a gym in our area that we go to every morning! My comp has a heart problem so I make him go to make him feel better haha. The guy who owns the gym is like a trainer and he tells us what to do and one day this week he made us do legs..I told him, hey I walk allllll day please don't make me do legs I will be so sore. He didn't care and he ended up murdering my legs. I was walking like a drunk guy for 3 days my legs hurt so bad haha Other than that, the gym has been a positive experience and it's good to work off that fried chicken.

My comp and I had a really cool testimony experience this week about the power of the priesthood and the role it has in everyone's lives. We are teaching this family that comes from a very humble background and at this time the father didn't have a job and everything was going to downhill. They wanted desperately to get baptized but didn't have the money to get married first. This week when we stopped by he was very sick and we had the chance to give him a blessing. The next day he felt completely better and he called and asked for another blessing to find a job. And the next day he got a job! He was so happy and I'm so glad to see his family progress in the gospel and to receive the blessings that the Lord has to offer! 

Love you all!

-Elder Sessions

This is where you find me on p-day!

San Pedro Week 2

A family that is preparing for baptism

Hey hey!

Hows everyone doing?! It seems like last week was full for you guys! My week has been very very different. I think I am going to learn more in this change than in all my other time in the mission...which isnt a good thing haha. Having a Latin comp is just so different and they do things so different so its going to be interesting haha but today we got to go eat pizza and that was awesome! Its so nice being in the city!

Early this week one day we were getting ready and we got a surprise call from our AP's that they were coming to do divisions! Which was great because we got the gringo Elder Lindsy in our area. He's so legit and its sad because he finishes his mission this change....he's a great missionary and we learned so much from him that one day that he was with us. He gave us some pointers which was awesome because we need it! Poor kid had to sleep on the ground because we only have two beds. But hey thats what you get for doing surprise divisions haha!

One thing that is so funny here is that alottttt of people can speak English. Not perfect or anything but enough to communicate. And when we talk they switch back and forth from english to spanish and it hurts my brain! Some of the people that have a little more money pay 1000 USA dollars for an english school which is a lotttt of money down here. One day this week we were with a family and she pays that money for each one of her kids and she told the kids that they could only speak english when the elders are in the house. Well one of the kids came in and yelled, Good Morning! Its was 8 at night. I said its "Good Night". and he goes nooooo its Good Morning I know it. Then I said, " well there goes 1000 bucks down the drain" haha only my comp understood me but it was hilarious.

Because people have more money here they buy more expensive food but just because it cost alot doesnt mean it tastes good haha! Well for them it is good food but for gringos like me its the stuff you throw in the trash. This last week I had cow tongue, cow stomach, cow tail again, and some type of cartilage from an animal I don't know haha crazy! For you that dont know, Im not a huge fish fan but I got fed that this week a couple times. One time I accidently swallowed a sharp bone they call a spine and I almost died! No I'm joking but everyone was freaking out, I just ate a tortilla and it went down normal. See this is why we should not eat sea food people. haha

The fish that almost killed me!

We have these 2 younger kids named Alejandro and Angelo that are getting baptised in 2 weeks and its like a breathe of fresh air teaching them! Their mom and sister are members and we reactivating! These kids can see how bad the life around them is and they want to change and be better people. They have had a lot of good examples and bad examples and its great to see their desire to have bettter in their life. Thats what I love about this church and gospel!

Love you all! 

-Elder Sessions

I get to eat cereal out of a cars bowl and it reminds me of my nephews

I got a free shirt and hat!