Week 87: 4 grandsons baptized

Junior, Selvin, Kenny, and Kelvin.  I baptized Kenny and Kelvin and Elder Owen baptized the other two. They all live with their grandpa (Vicente Sierra), now there'll be a lot more Young Men in this ward.

This week was the culmination of a lot of the work we've been doing here in Tizatillo. This week we had the baptisms of Selvin, Junior, Kelvin and Kenny. We've been working with them since I got here in the area. They are the grandsons of a member who has been a returning member for a really long time, he wanted to come back and at the same time get his grandsons baptized. So Elder Owen and I got to work teaching and preparing them to be baptized and confirmed members of the Church. Selvin and Junior now have the Aaronic priesthood. SO since we have had 6 baptisms in August now we have to start looking for September and October. We have people getting ready, it’s just putting on the last touches, making sure they are decided and ready. Other than that the zone did okay this month, we are figuring out how to work together and what the strengths and weaknesses are here in the zone of Loarque. 

On another note I started reading the book Jesus the Christ again and it came to my mind how important it is to know the Savior and redeemer of the world. About him, of him and of his love for each and every one of us as his children. I'm going to be focusing on reading Jesus the Christ a little more as I've finished the Book of Mormon again for this year. I hope that I can get this out of my reading of Jesus the Christ and that I can grow to love my Savior more than I already do. I love you guys and hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Love, Elder Roberts

shorty's filling the font!lol (the way the glass makes your legs look)

I rolled my ankle this week and my knee hit the ground really hard. 

don't make fun... it hurt really bad!

Week 86: Doing the Most Just Thing in Tizatillo

This week was really good and the beginning of a change out here in Tizatillo. We had 2 baptisms this week. The first one was Junior Hernandez and the other baptism was Jeferson Aquino. They both are children of less active members that the parents wanted to get baptized. The boys are both 9 years old. 

This next Friday we should have another 4 baptisms out here in Tizatillo. The young men who are going to be getting baptized are super excited. Their grandpa brought them to church their first time and they haven’t missed a day of church ever since. So good things are happening out here in Tizatillo! We have a lot of new people coming to church, so we have more baptism possibilities for the upcoming months.

Elder Owen and I get along really well. We are enjoying the last couple weeks that Elder Owen has left on his mission. He's working really hard and is really grateful for what the Lord has put in his path while he's been out.

That’s it for our week. We are just preparing people who want to be baptized so it will be a pretty full schedule.  I hope we stay busy and do the Lord's work how he wants it done.

Love, Elder Roberts

The Hernandez family
left to right: Carolina (12), Paola (28), Fernanda (16), abuela Maria, Kelly (15), and then Michael (6) and Junior is 9.

Elder Owen with Family Aquino
Leticia is the mother, the father is Elvin. Elvin is baptizing his son Jeferson.  The little girl is Abril, and the guy at the end is Uncle Juan Carlos.

Elder Owen gave the newly baptized boys CTR rings. The kids love it!
left is Junior, right is Jeferson, and the one in the middle is Micheal, Junior's little brother.
HLJ: Haz Lo Justo (Do the Most Just Thing)

Making BALEADAS with the Garcia Family

Baleada's are SO GOOD! My favorite.

Baleadas are one of Honuras' most characteristic and famous foods.  A baleada is a wheat flour tortilla, generally quite thick, filled with mashed fried beans and folded in half.  This simple flour tortilla can also be filled with a wide variety of other ingredients.  The final result is a tortilla filled with food, and often sold on the street that is easily held in the hand and eaten on the go. 

I have video of us making them. It is just that the computers in this ciber aren't fast enough to load them.  We may have to wait until I get home.

Ready to learn!

This is Elder Owen with Karín (not Karen, it's a sharp i sound)
Karín is funny and really crazy.  He doesn't do a good job controlling his voice level, so he ends up shouting when he gets excited.

The beans! They come from the farms out here.  They buy them in bags and use them to cook. For Baleada's they just throw them in a blender. Pure bean baby!

You can find more info about BALEADA's on the internet. Hondurans make them all different kinds of ways.  

http://greathonduranfood.com/honduran-food/honduran-baleada/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baleada

http://holahonduras.net/food/baleadas/

The Origin of the Baleada

There are many stories and urban legends that explain the origin of the name of this dish. One story comes from La Ceiba. In 1964 when Teresa, 20 years old woman was abandoned by her husband and decided to take a loan to start up her business of selling tortillas to keep their five children. The business was located near the railway line where the train went to employees of Standard Fruit Company, which quickly became customers. The dish soon became the favorite of the company workers, passersby and people working nearby but it had no name. Once a customer who was eating made a funny comment “beans are bullets, cheese is gunpowder and the tortilla is the gun” and since then everyone called them ballads.

Another of these tells the story of a woman from San Pedro Sula who sold wrapped tortillas. She was well known for her delicious cuisine. One fine day she was fired upon with several bullets (balas in Spanish). Some say she died of her injuries, other say that it was not serious because she recovered soon and returned to selling tortillas. Since then the workers began to say “I’m going to the baleada” (“the shot woman”).

Others say the name originated because when people were biting tortillas the bite pressure made the whole beans “fire” by the sides of the tortilla, many said that they seemed to be bullets. And this fact all began to call the new dish “Baleada”.

Week 85: Ever been to Tizatillo?

My new comp! Elder Justus McKay Owen from West Jordan, Utah.

So I told you guys that I had transfers last week so here they are. I left Santa Fe and am now in Tizatillo, in the zone Loarque with Elder Owen. He has 22 months on his mission and is going to be finishing it here with me. He's from west Jordan, Utah and is super chill. We have been working hard out here. The area when I showed up was kind of in the dumps. The zone is in some problems, there haven’t been a lot of baptisms so I hope with my companion that we can change things out here. Other missionaries have been working hard and with a lot of people but have never really challenged their investigators. So I showed up and we started challenging, we had 6 people accept baptism in under a week. 

I love this area. The people are so humble. Tizatillo is basically a pueblo.  Elder Owen and I get along really well! It was pretty funny because last Monday we had a choir practice. We  were going to be performing in a gira misional with a seventy and I saw Elder Owen there. The two of us just kept saying we were going to be comps and lo and behold it happened. We work hard together and are having fun. 

The members in this area are really cool. We actually have a bishop so that’s a big plus. There are a lot of young men in this area too, so we may be doing a lot of divisions once I get to know the area a little more. I’m looking forward to this change and getting to know a little more of Honduras. In my zone there is a place called Ojojona which is a big tourist spot. They sell a lot of souvenir type things so I’ll be looking to pick up some stuff finally. I haven’t really seen what they have but have heard and I’m looking forward to it.

This week I went through some of the talks my parents have sent me and the one I focused on was one that talks about the necessity of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Obviously we need it, we've all messed up, but the talk goes a little more in depth on how much Jesus suffered and also what the Father suffered watching His Son suffer. I was awestruck by the spirit that touched and testified of that divine sacrifice by both of these supreme beings. One having to go through all the suffering and the other not to intervene. I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven who have sacrificed so much that we can live with them again. Even though we mess up so much. I'm grateful for their guidance with latter day prophets and revelation. I hope all of you have a great week and can think on the sacrifice that was made for you and thank the Lord for the atonement.

with lots of love

Elder Owen finishes his mission in September. We were in the same zone when I was in the Bulevar zone. Even though we were in the same zone we only saw each other at changes. (which was two times) I feel like I know him though. We have had a lot of the same mission companions.

Elder Zachreson is being transferred to Country. He will be finishing his mission in September. His flight lands in Vegas at 9pm, I think on the 19th. (it is probably what flight I will be on when I come home in December)

Goodbye to Elder Contreras. The best thing about him is how loving he is with the people he meets. 

The green house is ours in Tizatillo.  We live in a residencial (a neighborhood) so there are a bunch of houses and we have security. Where we live is super safe. It takes us 30 minutes by bus to get to the city. We are in the city limits but out there at the same time.

We found these shirts in the street! Awesome right?! (30 limps)

BALEADA'S!!
my hair looks crazy because of something hanging on the back wall.
Elder Owen and I made these baleada's with a member.

Week 84: cake in my face!

turning 20 - cake in my face!

This week went really well and sadly at the same time I’m kind of glad its my last in Santa Fe. I have been in this area since February. I’m sad because there is still so much to do in the area, but glad that I get to see a new part of Honduras. I don’t know where I will be transferred or with who because the mission has changed how they announce changes. I got a phone call from the mission office and was informed which missionaries would be transferring. So we don't know the details until tomorrow around 9:30 my time. So lots of prayers that I can get to my new area okay.

Saturday I turned 20. My birthday celebration went well. The people here in Honduras made my birthday special. We went to Hermana Zonaida’s house. She with the help of my companion made tacos and bought a huge birthday cake! I was super surprised. I didn’t think anyone would be celebrating it with me this year as I had kept it on the 'down low' because I didn’t want any eggs broken over my head again. But it was a good surprise. I think I love the celebrations here, as they are all simple but full of love. I'm glad my companion thought of and organized the celebrating as it was good to see the good or fun side of the celebration, because last year I experienced the not so fun part. In my opinion an egg smashed on your head with the insides running down your face isn’t very fun. Paola, one of our investigators, did a good job getting everything ready she was the one who was really on top of the celebration. SO I thank her and the rest of her family who made my birthday special. It was one I definitely will never forget. And I thank those of you who sent your wishes via email, that made my day all the more special. 

I love you guys and can’t wait to see my new area and to let you guys know how its going! thanks guys!

Love you tons!!!

Congratulations Rober!
I guess the lady in the shop didn't know how to spell my name.  I think she's used to names like "Gonzalez" and "Hernandez"... lol 

w/some of the people that were at the party (Danny, Michel, Paola, Isabel, and Maria)
 Danny is investigating the church.  Zonaida invited him to the party. He is their neighbor. He is receptive in his learning of the gospel he just doesn't go to church yet.

Elder Contreras and I with Isabel (she is Paola's friend), Maria, and Zonaida.
I am very thankful for them making my bday special. I am glad I got to know them.  I hope the best for them and that I one day get to see them again after my mission.

cutting the cake

The Lanza family has been one of my favorites here in Santa Fe.

Michel and Blanca

Elder Contreras was telling our friends it was my birthday even though I was trying not to say anything.  So, I got to celebrate my birthday a couple of times.  This cake is a cookie cake. It was super good.  Hermana Cesia made it.  I don't have any photos with her.  She and her brother had Elder Contreras and I over on Friday.

Saying goodbye to David and his family before changes.  David and his family were so nice to my companions and I while I was here. 

Andrew

They have Mountain Dew here. My comp knows I like it.  I didn't know he was buying it for me. He surprised me with it Saturday morning. 

All for me!

Missionaries at Pizza Hut celebrating Elder Thevenin finishing his mission.
The sister missionaries names are Ceja and Hernandez.

This is Elder Thevenin's notebook.  Everyone writes notes and contact info.

a new suit! it is good. i like it, i'll definitely wear it to multi zone meetings

--birthday fun with the Lanza's!