Week 70: El Picacho visit and baptism of Cristofer!

So this week I have some very good news, Cristofer got baptized! He was so happy. I asked him how he felt before and he just responded with one word "Tranquilo". It was a great service and I had the opportunity to baptize him, I was very honored. Along with the sweet this week there was bitter, unfortunately. 

Gabriela, she is one of our best investigators, well we have had a visit from her pastor who went on to destroy a lot of the progress we had made with her. She believes the book of Mormon is true, the only problem is the pastor has impacted the faith she has in what we are teaching ...if you understand me. It was sad when we showed up and she felt like she needed to return to the Adventists because of how she felt originally. It was very sad and she feels that being baptized isn´t something she is going to be doing in the near future until the Lord responds in a different way to what the pastor had taught. I am still very sad but we will be visiting from time to time to see if there is anything that changes. 

We went to Picachu this last Monday. It was fun we had a lot of time to reflect in the spot where President Nelson dedicated Honduras to missionary work. I had time to reflect on the work and felt the spirit near the statue and the respect that you could feel there. 

This week we have planned an activity to make pizza and tacos with our district. It should be fun and we should get full.

Love you guys hope you have a good week! 

Elder Vazquez and I with Cristofer. He is 16.  I was able to baptize him and Elder Vazquez confirmed.

Us with our newest convert and Hermana Pacheco
I surprisingly got my whites back. I thought I would never see them again.

Me in front of The Christ at El Picacho. It's a monument that stands on the hill El Picacho in the north area of Tegucigalpa.
We went last p-day. 17 missionaries. Elder Vazquez, Roberts, Sullivan, Jimenez, Katashima, Castillo, Franco, Morales, Mesa, Hernandez, Rocha, Ordoñez, Hermanas, Velesquez, Peterson, Las, Rojas, and Hernandez.

Elder Vazquez and I. I lost my other name badge in a bus from Juticalpa, so I'm never seeing it again.  On Thursday I got a new magnet badge. 

This is a replica of a "Mayan" stairs and temple of others in Copan. Copan is one of the biggest ruins we have in the world after Macchu Picchu.
The temple and stairs were built by Mexican architect. The whole design looks more Aztec than Mayan.

I might have a headache later.

We took this picture in one of the gazebos that is between the temple and the statue. Elder Franco and I.

In these next fotos I am told we are about in the place where President Nelson was when he dedicated Honduras to missionary work. Elder Katashima conveniently had our prophets picture in his backpack.

Tu Y Yo = You And I

Your Favorite Missionary!

I have a problem every time I walk by this. Christ behind bars?
They just don't want us to touch and there is nothing near to explain.

I bought the shirt and shorts close to my house. All I packed for shorts were basketball shorts for working out. The shirt was 35 limps and the shorts were 20. Elder Vazquez liked my shirt so he bought one like it.

Our little field trip went from about 11 to 3, roughly 4 hours with travel time. I'm sitting by Elder Rocha.  We fit 17 missionaries in the van. It was 1000 limps there and back. We were packed in, everything here in Honduras is made for people 5'10 and smaller.

I don't know, he does what he does.

Hermana Peterson was taking our foto.  7 missionaries stuck in a box!

These concrete boxes... I have no idea what they are for.

7 months and me voy!!! In the distance is a view of the Toncontín airport takeoff and landing strip.

(someone is baggy;) me voy=I'm going) 

Bottle Flippin' -Honduran style- (flipping tortillas)

Elder Roberts trying ...

Elder Vazquez in 1 shot!

Week 69: Mexican Tacos and FHE at the Familia Cardoza

So this was another tough week, but it was a gratifying experience. I´m glad the Lord gives us trials as missionaries. I feel my thought process on trials isn´t the same as before. Now when the trials come I find myself looking forward to them because I grow and know I´m a better person after. 

Our investigator Cristofer had another emergency this week on Saturday. I´m becoming suspicious that he may not want to be baptized or is afraid. We are going to talk to him today and try our best to help him. 

We had an awesome experience with one of our investigators named Gabriela. She has always attended an adventist church. She attended the baptism of her nephew and came and talked to us after. Well, if you know anything about us missionaries you can guess what happened next... we kept talking to her. We shared our testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration and later gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She told us in the beginning, ´´I´ll read and pray, but I don´t know about you guys, I feel good attending the adventist church. And we respected her decision, and continued to go to her home and teach and read the Book of Mormon with her. She has arrived to chapter 13 in 1 Nephi in a week, and the last time we visited her she told us something that caused me to glory at the power of the Book of Mormon. She told us, ´´I don´t know what it is about you guys or this book, but when I read or when you guys teach from the book I feel so good inside. I think the feeling I have for the adventist church is something I put there, not God.´´ She said she was a little more sure of a baptismal date and she would continue seeking. I am so grateful to the Lord for giving us more of his word through the Book of Mormon. 

We have been contacting a little more frequently and on Saturday in the time we had planned to go and contact we felt we needed to go visit some members so we went speedily to the members house. Upon arriving the members, the Familia Ozorio (they are a very fun family), they let us in and invited us to sit down and upon sitting down the dad says very excitedly, ´´We have two references for you guys!!!´´ Literally, just two seconds in his home! My companion and I looked at each other and smiled. The two references names are Andrea and Angy and they are sisters. They are daughters of a less active who the familia Ozorio decided to visit and found the two daughters ages 12 and 9 who haven´t been baptized. Elder Vazquez and I once again found ourselves thanking the Lord for leading us to more people he has prepared. 

I hope that this week Cristofer can be baptized, that Gabriela will continue in her seeking, and that we can activate the mom of these two references. Thanks for reading love you guys! 

Have a fantastic week, Love you!!!

four elders in a bus on our way back from our pday trip to Walmart.
I bought the hat, some deodorant, and some soap that's american made.  It is nice to have and it wasn't super expensive like other places.  It smells better and works better.  I would say that in the States we have better merchandise and that the things that we sell are better than here for sure.  I have really come to appreciate good hygiene. 

The Elders and Hermana's.  Hermana Hernandez, and Hermana Rojas.  We rode in a small little bus, smaller than the van, but they put like 10 people inside. It's sooo cramped.  It costs ten lempiras and it took us about 10 minutes to get there from our area. 

Elder Vazquez did some mexican tacos for some members for a Family Home Evening Activity at the Familia Cardoza. 

We are at the Family Cordoza.  The Cardoza's are members in our area but invited Elder Sullivan and Jimenez to the FHE  that was last monday after we got back from Walmart.  Elder Sullivan and Jimenez are in our zone and serve in the Las Mercede area. We usually see Elder's Sullivan and Jimenez on pdays and for district meetings. 

This is Hermana Cardoza. She is a sweet lady. She has been a member for about 15 years. She has a lot of kids, most live in the states (Illinois, and Florida), 2 children live with her right now, her boy Ashmer is 15 years old, and her daughter Jasmine is 20 years old.  I don't know how many others she has.

This is how the people dressed and walked around for the protests. They have had the same flag since the party started. The bottom of the flag says freedom and refoundation.

This is a view of my neighborhood looking in the direction toward Olancho, my last area. I took the picture looking out my front door. I think it looks pretty!