Week #22 - The Wheels on the Bus go round and round and round...(Bellavista Branch)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well this week went by super fast, but, as always, we could have done more. Almost this entire week we have been in a bus, everyday except Friday and Sunday, and it’s terrible. Tuesday we had to go to Arenal once again to get a Partida, so we left around nine in the morning and got there about 11. We got there and a lady got it ready for us, but unfortunately the main person wasn’t there to sign it, so she told us to wait until the last bus came for Olanchito so we could get it because she said he would be back soon. So we waited there forever and while we were there she had some questions for us. Apparently the elders had been there before and talked with her, they left a pamphlet with her, but since we don’t have missionaries there yet they couldn’t really continue with her. But she told us how her church is and asked us if we did the same, which surprisingly we do, so she said when she has the opportunity she would like to visit our church. I was able to teach a little, but my comp had his mp3 in or was sleeping, I don’t remember, but he didn’t say much. Well, needless to say the guy never showed up and we almost missed the last bus to Olanchito, but we made it home and we went back out on Wednesday, another 4 hours round trip! When we got back I don’t think we did anything for the rest of the day.

I don’t know if news of this got back to the states, but we have had some decent rainfall recently. On Thursday we went to Tocoa for a zone meeting and it rained pretty hard while we were there. The streets were flooded when we left and apparently it got worse over the next couple days. When we got back to Olanchito it was pretty bad, the roads were falling apart in some places (most of them are dirt) and we ended up not doing anything that day either because it was raining so hard. On Friday the elders from Coyoles came to our area so we could all go to SPS to listen to Elder Christofferson and Bishop H. David Burton, so we did divisions and I went with Elder Diego, who is new in the mission. We went out to go work and tried finding one investigator, who wasn’t home, so we talked to his father-in-law who is inactive. We are trying to work with this family so they can get baptized/re-activated. Afterwards we went to go see if we could find Alejandra, we found her when Elsion was here, but apparently they moved, and we have no idea where to. She seemed to have been progressing pretty well, but oh well hopefully the missionaries will find her again. Afterwards we went to talk with Ingrid, who left today for Saba, and will then continue on to the island of Guanaja. We tried to encourage her and remind her of the gift of the Holy Ghost that she has, because Saba doesn’t have the church, and I don’t think Guanaja either, there aren’t missionaries there. Well we got to see her before she left, she was really awesome and I hope she continues in the gospel. Well it was a bit early, so we went to our cook’s house to get an early dinner so we could sleep early before the trip to SPS. My comp was already there cause he planned to teach Rey's boyfriend Oscar (Rey is a daughter of the cook) but it didn’t seem like they did anything… figures.  Well that night I didn’t get any sleep because my comp and an elder that came from La Ceiba were up messing around.  They were in the same district over there so they were just goofing off and what not all night.

The first bus that left for SPS was at 3:00 in the morning, so we left around then and got to SPS around 8:50am. We barely made it in time as they had just finished the opening prayer. Well I don’t have my notes, but I’m going to try and remember a little of what was said. Elder Christofferson wanted President and Sis. Veirs to say something first. Sis Veirs spoke on gratitude and Presidnet Veirs, bah I can’t remember…sorry, I’m sick right now. Well anyways Bishop Burton got up and spoke on how the mission reflects a lot about how your life will lay out in the future, and Elder Christofferson talked about how Honduras is one of the highest baptizing areas of the world, and our mission is one of them. He said that every Thursday the Quorum of the 12 Apostles meets with the First Presidency to decide who will do what and go where. When it was decided that he would be coming to Honduras, he said that President Monson´s face lit up and he joked saying he might have been a little jealous, haha! Well there was a little Q & A afterwards where elders expressed the problems they might be having, and later we got pictures with him as zones. It was pretty awesome.

While I was there I got to see Elders Elison, Staples, Garcia, and Nelson (my companion from the MTC), haha. He seems to be doing good, which makes me very happy! Well we left to the terminal where the nicest bus company was leaving for Olanchito at 1:30pm, giving us about 45 min to eat. I wanted to go on this bus but my comp wanted to leave on the last one at 3:30pm so he could go buy some new shoes (he has 7 pairs, I swear he's worse than Amos :P) and my ZL told him to take the 1:30pm one. Then my comp suggested that me and elder Diego take that one and he stays with the other elder from Coyoles until 3, which didn’t happen. Well later someone told him one left at 2:30pm, so he said we would take that bus. During lunch my comp left with the other elder, I think his name is Andrade, and I had no idea where they were. Elder Diego went with Elder Osoy somewhere, so I was stuck because the rest of my zone was leaving for Tocoa and I couldn’t go with them. Eventually it all worked out, and on the bus ride home is where I think I got sick. I had the window open for a little bit and the air was nice and cold after the rain. Well we got home around 8:30pm and yesterday my comp told me that after hearing what Bishop Burton said, that he would repent and we would start working harder after today. Hopefully we can, but this is the second time he has said this, so if it doesn’t improve I’ll say something about it.

Today I have been feeling miserable, terrible headache, coughing a whole bunch, but I hope it will pass soon. Rey expressed her concern for me today saying that it is getting out of hand that we are there every day, and I reassured her I would fix it. Hopefully this change is better than the last and that all goes well, I hope everything is great back home!

Elder Neher

p.s. I am downloading the antivirus right now but it is taking forever. Hopefully I will be able to send pics later today.