Week 61: Dumbledore... Cheetos... I'm still laughing

Super Missionaries! 

So this week was a lot of fun for us. Elder Vazquez and I get along pretty well. He is a fun guy, but it’s easy to write him off because he is really kind of a serious guy. When you warm up to him, he’s funny and very open to mess around. 

We had our first kind of goofy experience while at a members house. She is known for giving references to the missionaries, her name is Hermana Pacheko and she is about 65-70 years old. She dyes her hair red, and she is just a funny person all around. There was one point where she was talking about how close she was to the old mission president, but she couldn’t remember his name. So Elder Vazquez put her knowledge to the test. He asked her a few names off the top of his head and if she remembered. She started thinking, and said no. So Vazquez started saying names from movies like ''President Potter?'' no she responds, ''President Frodo?'' once again no. Then my comp yells, ''Entonces era President Dumbledore!'' and she responds, oh yeah it is him, I knew him since we were young. I laughed so hard I was dead I couldn’t stop laughing, the poor lady.

This is Valeria's little brother. John Carlos his nicknames= botas or pelón
botas=boots  pelón=bald

Now I have to get to the little kid I have in this weeks photos. He is the little brother of our baptism of Valeria. He is very funny and misbehaves. So on Sunday Valeria brought him with her for her confirmation. He starts it off running around with his Cheetos in the church, he ends up falling and Cheetos go flying everywhere! I mean everywhere. Well, he started crying and so we helped save some of his precious Cheetos. 

Then here comes the best part. We are in the sacrament meeting and the sacrament is being passed, we are all reverent, but little BOTAS is going crazy. He’s running in the aisles and doing his own thing really, but so far not really bothering anyone. Me and my companion are really calm and relaxed... and then Botas makes a break for the piano on the stand! We are holding our breath as he trying to open the piano... I’m frozen, I don’t know if I can get up and stop him or if that interrupts the ordinance...? I don’t have kids... I froze, okay. You wouldn’t think a little kid should be able to open the piano, but with pure luck-- he gets the piano open! I can still hear his gleeful yell! It still makes me laugh! ''PIANO!!!'' And then you can guess... he strikes the keys in full fervor in the middle of the sacrament meeting! I was dying. A loving sister of the ward eased him off the stand and took him outside. 

The ward in my new area is very nice. It is known as one of the “magic wards” of the mission, because the missionaries always get references and the work basically does it itself. There are a lot of members here that want to help.

I’m really excited for this next change. It’s going to be good.

Love you guys!

Keep Truckin’

We found these masks in a members house my first day here in Country.  I think the lady's name is Hermana Duron. They live in the area Los Laureles. We are opening a new area there and just showed them the house they will be meeting at.

These are some of the missionaries in our zone: Elder Sullivan (St George), Elder Jimenez (Mexicon), Me, Elder Vazquez (Puebla Mexico), Hermana Cronin (Mississippi), Hermana Rojas (Costa Rica), and Hermana Laz (Guatemala).

We baptized 2 this week.
The little boys name is Jose Angel Rivas Velazquez. 

The girl we baptized is Ana Valeria Lopez Mendoza.  She is thirteen and her little brother is so funny.  He is the boy I was writing about in my letter this week. 

These are some members that were instrumental in helping Valeria get baptized.  Hermana Olga (I know right?) is the one in the blue and Vanessa is the girl in red.

John Carlos, Botas, or Pelón loves the Cheetos!

missionaries in our goofy district

The COUNTRY House

The casa in Country

Elder Vazquez and I are the Zone Leaders in the Country zone and the area we cover is called Santa Fe. The Country Zone covers missionaries in Santa Fe, Quezada, 21 de Febrero, Laureles, Residenciales, Las Mercedes, and El Country mission areas.

I found these sunglasses in the house. Magnum PI? I think they are cool and I might come home with them.
(mom thinks they're HIP-py!

my desk in the Country house.

This is the desk of Elder Vazquez. Back on the wall is where we keep track of our zone numbers.
Fechas are normally missionary set baptismal dates and citas are like appointments.

I live the life! this is where I sleep.

Grateful for this shower!
I get to . . . 

. . . RESET THE WAR CLOCK!!
This shower has warm water.  I will enjoy my time here in Country!

my closet like area.  My sneaks are still surviving!

Our kitchen.  Our apartment is nice.

A cool thing about this area is that there is a tailor here.  He is known for doing amazing suits. I've been thinking about getting a new suit since the one I have is really, really big.  Every time I put it on I feel like a weight watchers commercial.  Even President Ferman called me out last Wednesday.  We were giving a presentation to the new missionaries that arrived and President talked about my weight loss and showed a photo of fat me when I arrived to the mission field.  

February 7, 2017 - my airport arrival to Honduras from the Guatemala CCM
Meeting President and Sister Ferman for the first time

February 12, 2018 - 1 year in Honduras with my companion Elder Huscroft and President and Sister Ferman.
This mission is a lot of walking and the terrain is all hilly and mountainous. We missionaries work our butts off.

So anyways... the cool thing is the guy does suits tailor fitted for about 75 bucks, thats 1600 to 1800 limps.  He says I can pick whatever colors I want.  I don't know if I could do that? or if it would be a burden... just let me know.

(we told Christian to have a suit made and ask if the guy is able to tailor some of his 😉baggy pants.)

anyways... Saturday, March 3, 2018 here in Tegucigalpa we have a meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve! It's something awesome.  I enjoy it when a member of the Twelve or the Seventy comes to speak to us.  A lot of the times they end with a Q&A. It's cool to have them answer questions on an individual level. We are definitely looking forward to next Saturday!  

Week 60: Headed to Country

This is the Soleno Family! There are six kids. Jeffrey (in the blue shirt) is the oldest, he is the father of the little little girl. On the far left is Jimmy, he is the second oldest. Barbara (20) and Isa (16) is behind her mom, she doesn't like photos.  Willy (12) is in front by me.  They have another little girl Sina (5), but she was sick and asleep when we took the photos.

So another week down and another change. I will be going to the city in a zone called Country. My new companion will be Elder Vazquez. I don’t know if you guys remember him from one of my last changes around last May/June. While I was serving in Campamento with Elder Valdetano he was companions with Elder Zachreson in Guaimaca. He is from Puebla Mexico. I now have had every Elder that is from Puebla Mexico as my companion in the mission, crazy huh? 

--but yeah, this week we had a leadership counsel and President commented on a couple things our zone could do better. It is just sad for me that I won’t be there to carry it out. My time with Elder Huscroft has come to an end. I am very happy that I could have him as my companion. 

Another set back happened this week-- Huscroft got really sick and we couldn’t work for a while. All the gringo’s here call it the Juticalpa Bug. Seriously, almost every gringo that comes out to Olancho gets really sick and you just can’t work for a bit. We did what we were supposed to. I am leaving Juticalpa and feel that the Lord is satisfied by our work. I’m going to be packing most of my p-day and making sure everything is good here for when Elder Huscroft’s new companion shows up, so that they can kick it right off.

Hope everyone had a good week. I am including photos of a family I worked with for most of my 3 changes here, the Soleno family. They are so much fun and the father has overcome so much to prepare to go to the temple in a little while with his family to claim the blessings therein. 

My new area is like in the smack-dab middle of Tegucigalpa almost. I will be a little bit further in than the zone Torocagua. If you want a reference, Bulevar is the outskirt (or the Nueva) then Torocagua where I was during the lockdown and then Country moves a little farther into the city. So it will really be my first city area. I’ll be on guard for more robbery attempts, but I know if I follow the rules I will be blessed and shouldn’t have any problems.

I love you guys! Hope you have a fantastic week and can keep loving the Lord and his gospel! I know it’s true and it brings peace and strength to our lives if we seek it out. I love you guys and 

keep truckin’

This is the Father. His name is German. He is a school director.  The Soleno's live about 25-30 minutes walking distance from our house.

German is a lot like my dad-- if ya know what I mean... he is funny and he is a very loving man.  He loves his family and every missionary that walks through his door.

Me on Pday after our morning workout.  We are at the church and had just finished some P90X.