week 42 Rocking Pants in the Mission

In the mission here, lots of missionaries get Dengue, Chikingunya, Zika, and all of those other sicknesses related to mosquitos. I think it is a good thing for sister missionaries to have the ability to wear pants. It`s better to be out in the field working, than suffering in bed with a rash all over your skin, and with all the pain that comes with those illnesses. For example in our mission we are allowed to drink water on fast Sunday. It`s better to drink water than die from heat. BUT, missionaries wearing sunglasses and hats, I`m not about that. They look too touristy from what I have seen on the mission, it just looks too unprofessional.

Training my kid has been going along great. He does not understand ANY of the rules, so I`m working on that, but he is super happy and exciting to work. He`s getting better every day in his teaching skills, also he is learning English super fast. I`m proud of my son.

Right now I have 13 investigators with a baptismal date. That`s the most I have ever had at one time. It is so hard to keep track of them and make sure they all learn and feel what they need. But the Informe de Progreso, even though it is super annoying to write in, is super helpful. I testify of the importance of the Informe de Progreso and the Carpeta de Area, even though I don`t remember how to say them in English.

Today we had a sweet Pday. We hiked up to some waterfalls, took pictures (not me of course, since I still don`t have one.) hiked a jungle mountain, and then saw MONKEYS. MONKEYS. They are the coolest things in the world. I don`t know how I lived in Honduras for almost 10 months without ever knowing that there were MONKEYS. Super cute. Just in the time of the mission when I don`t have a camera, they put me in one of the prettiest parts of the mission. How CRAZY.

Last Friday I had to go to Teguc again, but this time I went with the gringo crew, because we went to Migration. I stood in a line for pretty much half a change, but in the end, they decided to let me stay in the country. So that is good news. The BETTER news, is that I went to Denny`s afterward, and tasted the cinnamon pancakes there. They are super good. I bump those. (Unsure if bump makes sense.) 10/10 would recommend. Also I ate waffles, and I love waffles.

I got into a million bible bashes this week, which I never really did before, but I feel super cool being able to cite scriure and make people eat their own words. 10/10 would recommend to everybody that they read the bible... and the BoM...

So Elder Garry hooked it up today, here are some pics reppin a good ole Ohio State hoodie I found, just in case if you´d forgotten my face. Also the tall skinny blond guy is Elder Garry, and the chapin in the polo and jeans is my son.

week 41 Pokémon... err. Missionary Trainer

It's dangerous to walk out in tall grass alone, so the mission took out Elder Valladares and gave me my first starter... A brand new Elder Samayoa! (Pics not included due to lack of camera still. Also Elder Olivares is planching (mission slang for being lazy) and still hasn`t sent me pictures. Elder Valladares has a couple he needs to send me too, also we had 2 baptisms together, Elder Valladares and I.) Even though we only had two weeks together, we still kept me streak of baptizing with every companion, so that is gooooood stuff.

Elder Samayoa is from Guatemala, Coatepeque... I think that's how you spell it... He's a new convert of 2 years, is 20 years old, and before was studying graphic design! He is suuuuper green, but I really enjoy training. The reason for the emergency changes is because he arrived late to the mission. He arrived late because two years ago he bought a phone in the streets (cause cheap), but the person who bought his phone, stole his identity, did some illegal stuff, and got in trouble. So when my companion arrived at the airport to leave Guatemala, they stopped him because he was red flagged, and kept him in Guatemala for a while until they could solve everything out. I am not joking, but I think it is one of the funniest stories I have heard in the mission.

So just a few days ago I had to travel up to Tegucigalpa to bring my companion back to Danli. My area is HUGE. AND IT HAS PIZZA HUT. I don't know if I already told you guys that... But I bought pizza with Elder Valladares to send him off. It was cool. We ran into a problem today though, because we ran out of water... So I had to bucket shower with a small reserve I saved (Smart thinking, Elder Anderson, thanks, fam!) BUT IT WAS FREEZING. Our water is somewhat cold, but this water I saved was just straight Mr. Freeze. Supposedly tomorrow the water comes. AND I SURE HOPE IT DOES.

 

This week I worked my trainee. We have 10 people with a baptismal date now. I know they aren't all going to get baptized... in fact I know less than half won't, but at least for now they are progressing and maybe someday in the future they will get baptized.

Our most positive investigators are a mom and daughter. Reina and Nicolle. We met them contacting back when I was with Elder Valladares, I knocked on their door and they let us in. We start chatting with them to get to know the family, and that way we could teach the lesson according to their needs. After less than 2 minutes of getting to know the family, Reina just interrupts and asks,

 

 ´´Are you going to teach us something or are you just going to ask us about our lives?´´ 

 

and I replied to her, ´´We just want to get to know you so that we can teach something that can help you in your lives,´´

to which Elder Valladares notes, ´´for example, if you had recently lost a loved one, and we came and talked about tithing, you would learn anything.´´

And immediately Reina starts bawling, because her mom, the grandma, had just died days before, and she wasn't able to be there with her...

Inspired.

 

So we taught the Plan of Salvation, and this week they attended church. Nicolle liked church so much that she invited her friends to a lesson last night! WHICH resulted with Nicolle, her mother, and one of her friends all having a baptismal date for the 11th of June.

 

Also the other half of the family that Elder Valladares and I baptized also has a baptismal date, but the problem is that they struggle with quitting coffee... LIKE EVERYONE IN DANLI. Here they grow a lot of Coffee and everyone drinks it, so coffee is one of our biggest challenges to overcome. It`s something so simple that nobody seems to be able to give up... 

 

Also, this Sunday in Church the Relief Society gave me a calendar for food, and everyone gave me references... I love wards.

 

So everything is great, I am healthy, and I love being a missionary. Training is super fun, and I am learning magic tricks with the other missionaries, (This zone is obsessed with magic tricks with playing cards.) I think it's kind of lame, but it's actually fun, (says the guy who loaded his email with Pokémon references.)

Love you all

Elder Anderson

week 40 Manly in Danli

... if you didn`t read the title of this email just take a second to do it...

 

CHANGES!

 

Let me first explain the set up of the mission. There`s the City of Teguc with a bunch of missionaries, then there`s the South that is the middle of nowhere with a bunch of missionaries too, and then there`s the east. It`s possible to go your whole mission without going to the east because there are only two small zones in the east. Zona Valle Verde which is supposedly the ugliest and most negative zone in the mission, and Zona Danli, which is part of El Paraiso, and it is the most coveted zone in the mission. You can probably see where I am going with this.

 

After spending a solid 8 month s in Southern Hot boiling Honduras, I have been transferred to El Paraiso, in the city of Danli. El Paraiso is Paradise, and it is true. It is cool, and rainy, and green. I am even in a WARD. A WARD. What?? I have a bishop, a mission leader, a baptismal font, everything. That`s not all... My house... I HAVE RUNNING WATER. It`s freezing. BUT I HAVE A SHOWER. I WAS MADE CLEAN FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE I LEFT MEXICO. My house has everything.

 

Best part? My companion. My companion is Elder Valladares from San Salvador, El Salvador. He was actually companions with Elder Avila, my old companion, in the MTC. He is super pilas, and we work really hard. We have 5ish or so days together but he is already one of my favorite companions. We work hard together, we study well together, teach well together, and we even cook together. Here in Danli we don`t have anyone to wash our clothes so I still clean with the pila on a scrub board, but I used that for my workout time. IT IS TIRING I PROMISE. I`m going to get ripped, just wait. (I still do exercise.)

 

Since Wednesday we have found 9 people that are pretty positive. We have 3 families with the last name Sosa, and a couple other people that are progressing. When I met Lela Sosa, we knocked on the door and her daughter came out, who is like 10, so we asked, if her mom was home or an adult, and immediately her mom rushed out with a gun thinking we were trying to rob the place. Elder Valladares raises his hands and says, ``Calm! Not many thieves walk around with a gringo and scriptures, no?`` and she laughed and told us what she thought was happening and invited us in.

 

Our area is huge, it used to be a ward with 6 missionaries, but this last change they closed the area of the sister missionaries and now there are just us two. It`s huge but I like it that way. Lots of walking, and lots of houses to contact.

 

Today we played soccer, but it wasn`t that fun because one Elder invited a bunch of members to play, so the field was full making it very similar to little league soccer with a million and a half people crowding the ball.

I`m super happy, but I feel bad that I still don`t have a camera to send you all pictures, Elder Olivares didn`t send me the pictures still... So waiting on those for the next week. Here are some pics from the camera of Elder Valladares. I was kidding next week I will send pics. The memory isn`t working. Love you all still.

 

Love you all have a great week!

 

Elder Anderson

Week 39 Mother's Day

Won´t say a whole lot since I already had skype yesterday.

 

Yesterday I walked 13 kilometers to get to the chapel to skype, and it went super well, I am super happy to have seen and talked with my family.

 

Today we didn´t do much for Pday and we haven´t received the notifications for changes or anything.

 

This Saturday I had a baptism, her name is Gloria and she has 15 y... And she is fifteen years old. Or... 14? She is super pilas. I don´t know what that word is in english or in spanish, because I am pretty sure it is slang... She was super prepared and she´s a very good person, and she is legit. That is what it means.

 

Her entire family seems super positive and I am almost sure we will baptize more of them.

 

Have a great week, I love you all! Elder Olivares´ camera is broken so wait a week and I will have a TON of pictures for you guys...

 

Like 4. 

Love,

 

Elder Anderson

week 38 Hammock

So, this week I met a sister in the branch in Monjarás, and her uncle-in-law, was visiting her. I talked with her for a bit, when she stated that her uncle was from Santa Ana, I don´t know if you remember but Santa Ana was a little village I visited in the middle of nowhere in the mountains north? of Orocuina, my first area. I sat down with her uncle for a long time... and well he ended up selling me a hammock. I don´t know if I mentioned it then, but everyone in Santa Ana makes hammocks for a living. I talked with the landlady of the house, and we are going to put up hooks in my house for a hammock. SUPER EXCITED.

I broke my 6th pair of shoe laces. Super depressed.

This week we had zone conferene for all the missionaries in the southern region of Honduras. President Bowler of the mission was telling us that when we are on divisions that we split our numbers in half, and give half the dats to one area and the other half to the other area. He then asked, ´´what happens if you have 7 lessons in one day? What do you do?´´ jokingly, I raised my hand and said, ´´Do one more lesson.´´ It was pretty funny, and as it turns out, it was the right answer.

We were playing soccer with a bunch of guys in Guapinol the other day, and none of them had shoes so I took mine off, Elder Olivares didn´t want to get his feet dirty,  so he kept his on. About 30 minutes into the game, he kicked my foot and destroyed my big toenail. It is now purple. RIP. I´ll forgive him if he has changes next week.

I love you all, and miss you all. This week we will Skype, and  it´ll be super great! I´ll probably get on in the afternoon, I don´t know what hours, sorry, so just be ready at whatever hour in the afternoon! hahaha please send me your Skype addresses family.

Take care, see you all soon.

Elder Anderson