Week #93 - Rain in Spain...er Honduras (Santiago)

OI!!!

Well this week was another very interesting one, but to start things off I don’t have changes. I am staying another change with Elder Baldwin, which makes me happy and also frustrated at the same time, which I will explain a little later. So this week we have been bombarded by a lot of rain, just about every night it rains, and right now it’s raining as well. It’s been pretty fun getting wet and stuff, sure beats the heat!

This week we found some new people, one is a lady named Regina who got in a nasty motorcycle accident a little before I got here. Her left leg is completely broken and they put in a whole bunch of bars in her legs, which in between each one is a break and they are holding the bones together. It is really gnarly, but she seems accepting and hopefully she can feel that the gospel is true. We have been trying to teach a lot this week, however, we left our area almost every day this week and we wouldn’t get back until 3 or 4pm and we would have to eat lunch. Tuesday was district meeting.  Wednesday I had to go to SPS to get my residency fixed and Thurs was a multi zona with Pres. which was awesome! I learned a lot and I really love being able to learn from him.

We made goals to help serve and help members in our area. One of which we had planned serve was our branch president but I am honestly done with him, I can’t handle him anymore. I understand he has a lot of problems (a lot at home and at church) but he can’t take out his frustration on me. Saturday he told a lot of members that I can’t teach, that I am a terrible missionary and that it’s my fault that there is low church attendance, no baptisms, and a whole bunch of stuff. I pretty much lost it since this is the third time that he goes behind my back and says a whole bunch of things that aren’t true to members. He even said that I am "buying" people so they can get baptized! I was furious, sad, everything and when I heard that it completely bummed me out. Luckily the lights went out because I was in no mood to work. My cook, who is the relief society president, was furious as well, for this and some other problems and went and told him what was on her mind. Yesterday he told me that we should focus more on baptisms, because he doesn’t want to tell the stake that we had no baptisms this month. He has gotten used to having at least one every month, but the vast majority, almost all, are inactive and he does nothing to bring them back. I honestly don’t want to baptize just to baptize, I want to make sure people are ready for it. I have had enough of him and this change I am just going to work. I won’t try talking to him, I won’t bother him, I will just work. I am just frustrated that he sits around and does nothing.

On the positive side, we are sure that we will have baptisms this month. Lorena came to church and she is ready even though her kids need a little more time. Ilsi could get baptized as well. I am trying my hardest, I know that I am. I have found that this is my toughest area, without a doubt. I have no idea how this next change will be, but I just hope that we can have some success. Thanks for all the love and support! I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Neher

Week #92 - Pupusas en Planeta! (Santiago)

Hola amigos y familia!

Well this week went by really fast, and every day this week it rained, whether it was sprinkles or hard rain, it rained and it was awesome! We got pretty wet and there was some crazy lightning, so that was a lot of fun this week. We have been working really hard this week to get everything ready for all the people to go to church. Supposedly we were having a special meeting with investigators in mind and everyone was supposed to invite a friend and bring them to church, but no one brought anyone.  I guess the stake postponed it till next week.

So all week we have been teaching and getting people ready. We have some new families and people that look interested, however the majority of them didn’t go to church, and Lorena, our possible baptism, didn’t go either. We were kind of upset and went to her house and she said something came up, but she is still looking forward to getting baptized, and her son made a comment about getting baptized too! Now we just have to wait for them to go to church again. We have people that say they want to go to church, but never show up. Gustavo´s brother has gone and he really likes church, and we were really surprised to see his mom there as well. Ondina, the mom, has a really big debt that she is working a lot to pay it off, and Sundays she walks everywhere charging people for products they have bought from her, and normally Sundays are hard for her. She usually starts at 8am and we wanted her to at least come for the first hour of church, but she showed up and stayed for all 3 hours! We were really happy and she seemed to have enjoyed it as well, so hopefully we have some progress there. We are still working with Ilsi and getting her ready, although she needs to leave where she is living and leave the guy completely.

This week I had a really cool experience, we just barely got the Liahonas for March and April, and I read the article by Elder Bednar on the Atonement, and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things that I had never realized, like how the Atonement can give us strength through whatever trial we may have, not just spiritually but physically as well. I really enjoyed it and I think it is going to help me finish these next few months great. Today we made pupusas in Planeta; Ciudad de Paz, *cough cough* haha, so that was a lot of fun today, I was going to send pics, but I forgot the cable at home, sorry! Well I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Hasta pronto!
Elder Neher

Week #91 - Lights Out! (Santiago)

Hola a todos!

Well it was awesome to talk to everyone yesterday! A lot of elders said today that they got "baggy" from the calls, but I feel more than ready to keep working and that would be thanks to the advice and help I received from everyone. After the call we had a party for our cook, not only for mother´s day but it was also her birthday, so we smashed a piñata, ate some cake, and had a lot of meat, it was awesome!

So this week I think I will keep it relatively short, but we have been helping a lot of people try to come back to church. One thing that is upsetting is the story of is Ilsi. She has been an investigator for a while but she can’t get baptized because her "boyfriend" doesn’t want to get married and he doesn’t really want to be with her. She has been feeling bad because she finds him talking to another girl and he doesn’t care and she still wants to stay with him! So we have been helping her feel better about the situation and have found a lot of scriptures to help her, but she still doesn’t want to make a decision, so I think we are going to have a good talk with her so she can see really what she needs to do. We have also been helping Lorena as well, and she wants to get baptized, we are just waiting for her to come to church! So hopefully we get some baptisms this month.

I am so excited to be here, I feel like I have a new drive to be better and to do my very best, and even when the lights go out like they did this week, the Light of Christ can always shine through to help others. I hope everyone has a fantastic week (I had to finish writing this late because the lights went out as I was writing it earlier, go figure!)

Hasta pronto!
Elder Neher

Week #90 - Umm...delicious! (Santiago)

Hola familia y amigos!

Well another week has come and gone and everything moves along in Santiago. This week started off with a great surprise, a call from Elder Hall in Tegucigalpa, haha! We got home after our internet time and he called around 5pm and we talked for about 20 minutes! He asked for my number a while ago but I didn’t think he would call me. Well he has been trying to take out some papers for a marriage and thought that I was still in Puerto Cortes. It was totally unexpected but don’t worry, he got permission from his leaders to call me! He sounds great and it was awesome to be able to talk to him!

So on Tuesday it was a national holiday and all the buses were not leaving, so we were stuck here all day. On Wed I had divisions with the ZL, Elder Acabal, and we had some good lessons. We are still having problems with people progressing and actually seeing the importance of this gospel in their lives, but we keep trying! I feel like this is the hardest area of my mission. There are just a lot of different problems and I’m not really sure where to begin with them, but we are moving one step at a time. I feel like there are days where I am just totally exhausted after working all day and have a hard time functioning. The heat right now is killing me, but supposedly it will start to rain soon, so hopefully we'll get some relief.

We have people that we are teaching, but it’s hard to finding new investigators because rumors spread around this tiny pueblo like a forest fire and a lot of people have heard a lot of things about the church & members. It’s all lies, but still, it affects us. My comp is doing well, sometimes he´s a bit eccentric, but he´s fun and willing to learn, as well as willing to receive critiques on his Spanish. Anyway, he is doing really well and I hope that he can continue to improve. Ooohhh, before I forget, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS MAMA! Sorry I forgot to write that last week, but I hope it was a great birthday!

So Lorena wasn’t able to go to church this Sunday, but she is planning on it next week. We went last night to her house and found her reading the Book of Mormon, along with the Bible, and the pamphlets that we leave her. It was awesome! We had a great lesson about faith last night with her and another family. We have a great Relief Society president here named Ruth. She is a recent convert, who supports us in everything. It’s awesome to have at least someone help us here! Regarding the title this week, we were in La Lima and I saw a sign that said “Lima Pizza, umm…delicious” and it made me laugh, like they had to think about if the pizza was delicious or not! Just something dumb I saw this week. Well next week is Mother´s Day and I am excited to be able to talk to everyone, although it feels like yesterday that it was Christmas.

Hasta pronto!
Elder Neher