San Marcos, Ocotepeque, Honduras (San Marcos Branch)
Companion
Elder Clement
Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece
Hoy! Qué tal?! Cómo están? Ya viene el día de la acción de gracias y aún no sabemos de cómo vamos a celebrar porque aquí esto no se celebra. But yeah, it has been a really good week and we are seeing more success with the people that we are visiting. The Lord is blessing us and is helping the people that we are teaching to feel the truthfulness of our message We're preparing for the Light the World Initiative which is going to be totally awesome! We can't wait to attend the family home evenings to hear the members testimonies and get to know new people who are ready to learn about the gospel message. On Thursday we had our interviews with President Bush. On Friday we had divisions with the Elders in our District from Naco.
Something funny I don't think I've mentioned yet from Honduras. They turn a lot of their S´s into J´s. The J in Spanish makes a hard "h" sound and so people will say "Jan Pedro" instead of "San Pedro", "Jan Marcoj" instead of "San Marcos" and "maj o menoj" instead of "mas o menos." Interesting right!
Tuesday was a really good day because in the morning we found some new people who were interested in our message and we heard some great news about a member who is moving closer to where we live so that we can start visiting him. I can't remember what else happened but I remember it being a really great day.
Thursday was also super awesome because we had our interviews with President Bush and it went super awesome! We got Sister Bush's delicious brownies and she also gave me a ziplock bag full of Hershey's chocolates and we ate that up real quick haha. I also talked to Sister Bush and found out that she possibly knew my grandpa and that she lives in my Dad´s mission. Elder Clement received his first package from his family which was super exciting. That made him super happy. He shared a lot of the candy with me which was awesome!!
On Friday we went on exchanges with the Elders from Naco, Elder Garay and Elder Ence. Elder Garay is from Tegucigalpa, Honduras and he's just an amazing missionary full of love and charity. Elder Ence is from Salt Lake City, Utah and he got here with Elder Clement. They were companions in the MTC and now they're here with us. The exchanges went super well. Just like last time I went out with Elder Ence because we can't put him and Elder Clement together yet - I mean we could, but neither of them speak well enough yet to realy be able to do anything. I really enjoyed working with Elder Ence, he is a great missionary and I learned a lot from him. We had one visit that was just amazing where we had the opportunity to bear powerful testimony to a new lady we are teaching named, Karla Nufio, of the Restoration of the gospel. I'm so grateful for the spirit that testifies of the truth and helps people to feel the truthfulness of our message.
We are teaching a couple of investigators right now that are progressing:
Gladis Aguilar: She is the mom of 6 kids and she is the only person in her family who hasn't been baptized. She has firmly believed for a long time that the Book of Mormon is not true but she loves going to church and feels the spirit as she goes. But on Wednesday this week we were able to commit her to read the Book of Mormon for her family and it was a very spiritual experience. Our follow up visit was supposed to be yesterday but it fell through because she was sick. We're hoping to pass by again this week to see how she's doing!
Lionel: He is a new person we are teaching who really enjoys attending church but we can only visit him on Sundays after church because of his heavy work schedule. He's a really fun guy and he loves learning about the gospel. Hoping to see a lot of success with him!
Selvin Peña: He is a new person that we are teaching and we are hoping to help him overcome some addictions and come unto repentance. He is really tall and he is really good at singing.
José and María: So in the end, José didn´t get baptized this week due to a few problems but we set the date for the 1st of December. He has a few doubts that we are trying to resolve.
This week I'd like to bear testimony about the power of prayer. I've been trying to follow an invitation from Sister Bush who told us to find a place where we can pray in peace and then to open our hearts to God and ask him our questions and look for answers. I have felt the spirit so strongly as I pray to my Heavenly Father with sincerity of heart. I know that He loves us and that He listens to us. He is best suited to lift us up in our own personal trials and He knows how to strengthen us in our weakness. He has power to do all and we can improve our relationship with Him as our father through secret prayer. I´m so grateful for Him. I love you all so much and have a great week!