Heard in Honduras . . .

Heard in Honduras . . .

Or
 The best of missionary blogs :)

I don't know if you have time to occasionally read some of the awesome Honduras missionary blogs in the right sidebar . . . if you do, you know how inspiring and fun they are!  I don't know why everyone in the world doesn't want to be a missionary in Honduras!!??

Anyway . . .

Thought I would share some of the  fun and inspiring things . . .

Heard in Honduras. (accompanied by the faces of missionary work!)
"So for the past few weeks or so I´ve been really contemplating and thinking about what my vision could be here in the mission, and I finally finished! My objective here in the mission is the same as every other missionary, "Invite others to come unto Christ," but how could I PERSONALLY do that? I studied my patriarchal blessing to find my own personal talents and gifts that I can contribute to help these people, our brothers and sisters to come to know of the truth. And I found a scripture in 3 Nephi 18 that talks about holding up your light, and that Jesus Christ himself is the light the we should hold up. 

So how can I hold up the light of Christ? By becoming like him. So a lot of my goals are focused around studying the life of Christ, studying his attributes and trying to apply them into this work and into my life. It´s incredible how different of an outlook it has given me. I feel more of a genuine desire to talk to people and am starting to love them even more! "

"I had divisions this week with Elder _____________, one of our Zone Leaders. He's a really good guy and a good missionary! When we got back to the house that night we had a little bit of a heart to heart talk. We started with a prayer and he told me some of the attributes I have that he has noticed. He said that I am really obedient, I try to follow all the rules. That I am very observant, and like to see and take in everything that happens before I start to speak, and that I am really patient in criticizing anyone. I think he is right about all of those things. But I was thinking about the me before the mission, and I can see pretty clearly some of the changes that I have gone through! I'm definitely not the same person I was when I left! But I like all the changes that I can see. The Lord is helping me change into the person I need to be!"

"I accidentally locked our key in the apartment on friday night, so we went and got the locksmith. He came to our house, but instead of bringing a lockpicking kit or something of that regard he brought brought a laminated piece of paper!! He pulled out this piece of paper and proceeded to try and open it the way you would do with your credit card. And that didn´t work so he took out his wallet and pulled out one of his other laminated papers and tried some more. He just sat there giggling the door with this piece of paper in the door crack for about five minutes. Then the door opened, but only an inch, which makes no sense. So I took a closer look and realized he didn´t actually unlock the door he just broke our door frame! Oh, Honduras... He was really nice about it though, he came back and nailed the door frame back together but then the door wouldn´t close! So he asked us if we had a knife and he proceeded to whittle away our door frame with our kitchen knife. When all was said and done our door works better than it ever did before, so that rocks."

"So this week I would like to focus my email on the topic of the importance of the little things that we do every day. What brings good habits? Good habits bring results that are good. What shall we do to see these great results? We must be obedient in all that we do. We must be obedient at all times, no matter the circumstances. ¨Selective obedience¨ isn’t the way. We must all stay steadfast and obedient during both times of good and times of turmoil. When we do things with obedience we will see that we can do all things in worthiness, and this is when we put ourselves where we will have to be to have uplifting thoughts and actions. Our gap in our standards and the world’s standards should be greater every day. Set your bar high and keep it there. Just because the world’s standards are lowering, does not mean that we should lower our personal standards. When we keep our standards high we will reap the benefits later. We may have to stand alone at times, but I tell you with all my heart it is worth it."

"One of the biggest miracles came yesterday, when as we were going to church with some investigators when we arrived a car showed up, and to our surprise was the wife and daughter of a family that we had invited to church the day before. What faith is that! This family has been so amazing. We found them as we were knocking on doors. They invited us back and we have continued teaching them. They have read all of the pamphlets and many chapters in the Book of Mormon, all in the matter of 2 weeks or so. The biggest miracle came when we were in church, the Bishop’s wife when walking out saw this lady and recognized her and ran over and began talking with her. To our surprise they were in college together, from then on, this wonderful member was by the side of this lady and her daughter. I find that to be one of the most special times, to see the members mingling with investigators and helping them."

"This week was interesting. Elder __________   and I had divisions with the President's Assistants. (I think that's how you say it in English...) It was awesome! I went to their area with Elder ___________. He's from Colorado and is a really good missionary! I always like working with other people because there are little things that you can learn from everyone. He legitimately talked with EVERYONE that we saw. I usually pick and choose the people I decide to talk to based on if they are busy or if they look like they are ready to accept the message. But he really talked with everyone who would listen. And by doing that we actually found a whole lot of people who I wouldn't have guessed would be interested, but they really were. He told me something like this, "God gives the best references. If we show Him that He can trust us, He will put the people who are prepared right in front of us. We just gotta talk to them." 

"We went to visit Hna Wendy, the menos activos (less active member), and we found her on the side of the road waiting for a taxi. She had been waiting for a while and I just felt like she was thirsty and I know she doesn't have much money so I bought her a bag of water that is like 2 lempiras. And I gave it to her and she was like, "How did you know I was thirsty?" And I really didn't know. I just felt like I should buy her the water. but she drank it up so fast and I just know that it was the Spirit that prompted me to buy it for her to satisfy her temporal needs. It was a tender mercy for me to be able to serve her."

"We were late for church and then our investigators were walking super slow and I was worried we wouldn’t be able to take the sacrament, but no we got there! Attendance went up by 53 this week - from 97 to 150! It was incredible! Everyone in the ward worked really hard this week. We ended up having 7 investigators in church! We normally have like 1 or 2! But it was such a miracle and it felt like such a success. But what made it even better was to see all the less actives and inactives that went! People that hadn’t been to church in months or even years! I saw them and I was like "I played a part in that :)" After sacrament meeting was over we were gathering everyone up to take them to class and I felt like a hen gathering her little chicks. It was so cute. And everyone was coming up and hugging me and saying hi and talking to me and my comp and it just felt so good :) So maybe I had the worst experience physically that day, but spiritually I felt so so good!"

"Also this week I was working on llenando un libro de Mormon (filling a Book of Mormon), marking the scriptures that I like to use when I teach. I was surprised and humbled to see the number of scriptures that I felt were worth marking. The Lord really has blessed us by giving us the book of Mormon. He directed the prophets to fill it with doctrine, all of which we can apply and use to mejorar (improve). I loved reading and seeing all the different scriptures that there are. Funny thing was, on Sunday, I felt that I should carry the book that I had spent hours filling. While we were toquing (knocking) doors on Sunday, we met a joven (young guy) that was really interested in the Book of Mormon. I have a testimony that he was prepared to receive more of the palabra de Dios (word of God). Now we just have to follow up and get him to read!

"Today we went with the other Hermanas and visited the sweetest old lady ive ever met named Margarita. You have to take a bus 30 minutes and walk another 20 minutes to get to her house. Margarita is totally blind and has raised her 4 year old grandson all by herself. I dont know how she does it. She is alone all day long and was so thankful to receive visitors. She told us her kids live close to her, but never stop by to see her so we told her she can adopt us as her new daughters. I got to brush and braid her hair for her. She is a great example of  Elder Uchtdorfs talk this conference,  showing gratitude no matter your circumstances. "

"And finally, You know you´re in Honduras when: Elder ________ says "That´s a nice tie." and Elder __________  says, "Thanks. I got it in my christmas package... last week."

Just a little glimpse of some of the 
goings on  . . .

Here in Honduras!