Week 78: Baptism of the Ziliezar's!

Valeri (14), Yenssi (9), and Alejandro (10) were baptized this week! They were our first contact together.  They really showed us the blessing of trusting in the Lord and the way provided for us.  Their mother's name is Adalia Ziliezar and I think she is 33.

So tomorrow is changes and for the first time in my mission I`m going to be staying in my area. I will be in the area of Santa Fe in Country for more than 4 and a half months! I`m going to be with an Elder Contreras from Mexico as well, so nothing too new. I am excited and worried, I honestly thought I was going to be the one transferred to a new area and was actually gearing up for it but lo and behold...

This week was really good too! Valeri, Alejandro and Yenssi all got baptized which is fantastic! The meeting was very sweet and they all liked it. The three of them were pretty funny pointing their fingers to who got to go first. 

Elder Hassell will be going to an area called Tamara out by the border to La Paz. He`s excited but he wanted to stay in the city. 

Not a whole lot to write about, just the fact that I`m staying stuns me and I think im going into shock. I know there are more people for me to find here in Santa Fe. With the help of the Lord I can do it and do it with a smile. 

I love you guys! Always remember the love the Lord shows us daily; I know right now I`m trying to find it, so tomorrow we`re gonna see what happens.

After their baptism the ward provided a little snack. It was a sweet time.

This is Hermana Rojas and Hermana Machado at this weeks District Meeting.  Hermana Machado is going home this week. She is from Uruguay.

Tomorrow at changes Elder Hassell goes to Támara and Jimenéz goes to Guaimaca. I'll miss them, they are fun.

This is Elder Thevenin after our district meeting.  He just posed like this. (got to make this a meme) He is from the Dominican Republic and is the District Leader right now.

Week 77: Families are Forever

Here we are with President Ferman at a multi zone conference. It was our last meeting with him. This next week are changes... it will be the last that he makes and then the new mission president is in charge.

This past week was definitely one of the weirder weeks I've had here on the mission. Monday we had a Zone p day. Our zone played a lot of sports together and then we separated to buy stuff for the week.  On Tuesday in the middle of a lesson I got a phone call about my Uncle Mark. He had passed away earlier that morning. I was allowed to call home and find out what happened and how my family was doing. I'm very glad everything is okay and that the funeral could be a good spiritual experience for most.

We had a lot of luck this week. We had 5 investigators attend church this week and they are progressing! So I'm very happy that the work right now doesn't have me stressed. On Thursday we had our last multi zone with President Ferman, it was a strong meeting, I felt the spirit in his remarks as he bore his testimony on eternal families and how we need to focus on them more here in Honduras. 

I loved the meetings we had and the people we have taught out here. Alejandro and Valeri are progressing and then we have Paola who looks really excited now to be baptized, I hope it happens. Next week will be changes so I'll let you guys know what is going on with that.

To the Roberts Family- I want to bear my testimony and say thanks for all the examples I have and had. We all have our downfalls, but I know the Lord Jesus Christ loves each of us. He tries us to see how much we love him so he can bless us more fully. I know it is hard, and I feel the hurt too, but I can say that I have received comfort. I know that we will see Mark again, but we need to do our part. I know the church is true and has the power and authority of God to seal families together forever. I love you all and pray for you in this time of grief that we can all love and feel the hand of the Lord in our life more fully.

Love you all!  

We are off to Paola's to teach a lesson. She is 19, she is the daughter of Zonaida Lanza. Zonaida has been a member for 30 years but is inactivated.

Elder Hassell, Elder Thevenin, Hermana Hernandez, Hermana Machado, Hermana Lopez, and Hermana Rojas in the back with me flipping Elder Jimenez.

Pday: We played a bunch of sports as a district. Elder Thevenin is the District leader. There are 18 in our zone right now and 8 in our district.

Week 76: Doozy and Dodgeball

This week was a doozy! 

We´ve been going ham out here in Santa Fe, the member visiting has been going good and we are helping the attendance go up. So little by little we are getting this place up to snuff. 

We had interviews with President Ferman and it was my last interview with him, it was pretty baggy or trunky. He talked about how he wants to stay in contact and that we need to leave the mission better than he found it for the new mission president. It was baggy. He told me if I ever come back to visit to Honduras that I have a place in his house to stay and that we would eat some lobster stew. It all sounds good, but it is thinking a little too far into the future for me right now. 

We have our baptisms for the 23rd and it looks like Alejandro and Valeri are going to be ready. We had a church activity this week where we played dodgeball and it was a lot of fun! We played one of the games where it was just Elder Hassell and I against everyone and we came out winning!  A lot of members liked it and had a good time. It should keep them coming to future activities. 

Well, there´s not a whole lot for me to write about this week.  

I hope you guys have a good week. I love all of you! 

There are no pictures this week. Sorry Mom! We are repentant over our lack of pictures. We will do better next week.

Week 75: Leadership Counsel with Elder Cordon

This week was a lot of fun! Elder Hassell and I are getting geared up for an awesome week. We got the ward membership list. We have the goal that this week we are going to visit every member, specifically every inactive member on the ward list! If they listen to us we are going to try to get them to come back to church again. The ward of Santa Fe is going to be better than how we found it. I´m pumped and can´t wait to get this thing going. Our investigators are good, they have been going to church and should be getting baptized on the 23rd and then on the 7th of June we´ll have another baptism.

Last Friday we had our leadership counsel.  We had a special visit from Elder Valeri V. Cordon. Elder Cordon spoke a lot about leadership and I feel that by hearing his message we are going to be much better leaders and with that we are going to better as a mission. 

Another thing that is happening here in Central America is that the missionaries from Nicaragua are leaving their mission because of the political unrest. And this means that we will be seeing a lot of new faces and that there will be more areas getting opened. I hope that everything is okay with all those in Nicaragua and also with my cousin, Elder Whelan who is serving in the Guatemala City Central Mission where Volcán de Fuego erupted. I´ve been told all missionaries in his mission are okay and that Kollin is being transferred to another area tomorrow. The ash from yesterday´s volcano eruption hasn´t affected us here yet, but we have been told that the eruption happened.

I know that we can all do a lot of great things in the work of the Lord. I absolutely loved the devotional yesterday that the prophet held for the youth. I was able to start watching around the beginning of his remarks and I loved the spirit of it. I hope everyone can appreciate this historic devotional and will take on his challenges and teachings.  

Congratulations Abby on your graduation! I´m glad from what I´ve heard it was a lot of fun and a special moment. 
I love all of you and hope you have a great week!

We had a mini Family Home Evening on Monday and celebrated the birthday of the Hermana Adalia. We are at their house. left to right: Valeri, Hermana Pacheco, Yensi, Alejandro, Hermana Adalia and Fernando.  We are currently teaching and reactivating all of the family. 

At the end of the Leadership Counsel I grabbed Elder Cordon and his wife to take a picture. He loved it! He was really happy to do it for my mom!

Here I am with President and Sister Ferman too. On July 1 he will be training the new Comayaguela Mission President.

This is all the leadership here in the mission. We have a leadership meeting every month with President, and Elder Cordon was here this month for it and spoke to us.

Elder Hassell and I at the leadership counsel. We got photobombed by Elder Michael!

Fighting off cavities!

at our lunch yesterday we had some fun messing with Ricardo (if you remember him from a couple of weeks ago) and this toothbrush.

We can go to a dentist to get checked out if we need it. I have been good. Elder Hassel has had his checked by a Hermana who is a licensed dentist. All is good.