Email from Monday, 27 December 2010

Wow, I really enjoyed our conversation. Thanks for all your love. I miss you all. I can't wait to see you all again. I appreciate all that you do. Our baptism was everything expected. I had the privilege of baptizing her. I performed my first interview. I was really nervous. I think I did a good job. He was ready to get baptized. I know I'll do better for the next interview. Well, I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I know I did. Well, this week has been good. We are contacting a lot. I'm really excited for the work. Tomorrow I'll have my first district meeting. I'm sure everything will go well. I planned the agenda way in advance. Well, I love everyone. Thanks for everything. OK, I love you all ¡Adios!

Email from Monday, 20 December 2010

Hey family. Thanks for the packages that you all sent me. They're awesome. I really like the new pants you sent me. I'm wearing them right now. Wow, I've had an amazing week. One of our investigators didn't want to get baptized for the whole month until she saw another baptism from other elders. After she saw the baptisms I asked her if she wanted to get baptized and she accepted. It was a miracle. We also placed another baptism date for next Saturday. We found a sister who attended church before but never got baptized because her companion didn't want to get married, so they recently separated and she is living alone. We read from the Book of Mormon with her and we invited her to get baptized and she accepted. We're really happy here. They´ve called me to be the district leader. I'm really excited and a little nervous, but I know God will help me. Elder Bothwell is going to my old area. He's going to be a trainer. I'm excited for him. He's a good elder. Well, thanks for everything! I love you all. I can't wait to talk to you all.

Email from Monday, 13 December 2010

Hello family. Seeing the picture you sent me almost made me cry. The Lord has really blessed us. Our house is beautiful. You look so happy in the picture, and everything looks so beautiful. I can't wait to see our home and our animals again. Our cat looks really big. It sounds like the missionaries in our area are having a hard time. Maybe you should give them the missionary Christmas challenge. I'm going to start it today. I'm excited. People here in Honduras celebrate Christmas the same way we do. They just don't have as much money as we do. They have Christmas trees, lights, and they usually have a dinner on Christmas. They eat tamales instead of ham and turkey. Well, we are having a lot of success in our area. We found 22 new investigators this week. We've been working really hard. Last week was really hard for us and we didn't have much success. But all the people that we contacted last week turned into to new investigators this week. It's like a miracle. I fasted to find new investigators and God provided. I´ve never found 22 investigators in a week in all my mission. We found a family of 7 the other day. They have a lot of potential. It's especially exciting for us due to the fact that they're all men. A worthy priesthood holder here in Honduras is really important because there are none. I think Elder Bothwell is going to be leaving the area soon. We have transfers on the 22nd. I sure am going to miss him. He's been a good companion. We had an activity as a district on Friday. We went caroling in our neighborhood. It was really effective. We found like 7 new investigators from the activity. We had a good time too. We're going to do it again this week. I'm going to sing and play the guitar for one of our missionary conferences this week. I'm really excited. I'm going to sing Noche de Luz. My zone leader is going to accompany on the piano. We're going to practice tomorrow! Well, I haven't received your package yet. I'm sure ill get it soon. Well, I miss you and I love you. Have an excellent week.

Email from Monday, 6 December 2010

Hey family. Well, we had a hard week. We made more contacts than there is sand on beach. My companion is getting stressed. He keeps getting these really bad headaches. We had to leave church early on Sunday because it got so bad. This transfer with Elder Bothwell has been a roller coaster. Well, I don't have any exciting news. We are still waiting to marry and baptize one of our investigators. He's still in Paraiso. Well, I love you all. OK, have a good week. Well, I love you all. You all will be in my prayers this week.

Email from Monday, 29 November 2010

Hello family. I love you all. My companion and I had a good Thanksgiving together. We ate turkey hot dogs and we played football with the camel that you sent me. I saw pictures of Kaitlyn and Nolan. They look so much different and I didn't even recognize them. I cant believe how much they have grown. Our house is really beautiful. God has really blessed us. I wish I was there for the party. We had a good week. We baptized 5 people this week. We thought we met our goal but one of our baptisms didn't go to church to get confirmed, but next week she's going to get confirmed. We really worked hard this month to reach our goal. We almost didn't baptized one. Her name is Eliadora. We have been teaching her for a month, and she hadn't gone to church because she was studying. So last week was her last week of school and she went to church, so we called she president to ask if we could baptize her with only one attendance, and he gave us permission on the condition that she would be baptized with her father. Her father isn't a member and he wasn't married so we planned a wedding in about a week so that they could get baptized this month. Her dad had already attended church like 4 or 5 times, so yeah, he went out of town for a month.. So he never showed up for his wedding, so we had to call the president again to get permission to baptize her without her father. So it was all kind of a hassle but she ended up getting baptized without her dad. We are going to baptize him next month. He´s going to return in December. Last month we baptized two families, and we are teaching some of the grandchildren of the one of the families. Their parents didn't want to give us permission to baptize them so we did a lot of praying, and on Thursday this week, the spirit really took over as we were talking to their parents about the baptism. I don't know how we did it, but we got permission to baptize them. We also have been teaching a girl named Cynthia. She´s really special. She´s the girl I wrote about in my previous letter. On the day of her baptism, it seemed like all hell was fighting against her so that she wouldn't´t get baptized. She is about 20 years old and she has a kid. She lives with her mom and I don't know what she heard about our church but she was punishing Cynthia and her daughter for getting baptized. So when we came over to take her to church to be interviewed and baptized she started crying and she really didn't feel ready to get baptized. So my companion and I told her that everything was going to be okay and we offered a prayer with her. She offered the prayer. After the prayer she felt better and decided to get baptized. The church is true, and Satan knows it's true, and I am completely convinced that he will do what ever it takes to put us off course. Even as member of this church we need to be careful. We never know what will come. This week has been exciting and very stressful. I'm glad it's over. We are really excited about this next month. Well, I love you all and I miss you all. Thanks for your letters and your love. Have a good week!

Email from Monday, 22 November 2010

Well, this week has been good. We should see some miracle this week. We have a goal of 5 baptisms this month and we haven't baptized anyone yet but we do have 5 people who are going to get baptized but we have a few situations that we need to resolve. We really need to get them resolved fast because this week is our last week of the month. We are going to marry a family this week and we don't have their birth certificates yet. We have to take their birth certificate from where they were born. The mom was born in another state here in Honduras and its not in our mission so we have to send other missionaries from the other mission to retrieve it, and the other baptism candidates that we have are kids and they need permission to get baptized and the mom has not given us permission yet because she hasn't seen a change in them. I had a really spiritual lesson the other day. We have been trying to get this girl baptized for like 2 months. In one of our lesion's I promised her if she would pray to know that she needs to get baptized that night after the lesson, she would receive an answer. The following day we visited her and she received an answer. We asked her if she prayed to know that she needs to get baptized. And her answer was yes, I prayed and I felt joy., a lot of joy and happiness. Then my companion asked her what that mean for her. And she told us that she should get baptized. The spirit really filled the room that night. It's an experience that I won't forget. God really does answer our prayers. I finished reading the Book of Mormon again. I love the Book of Mormon. I learn something new every time I read it. I was thinking about reading Doctrine and Covenants, but I decided to read the Book of Mormon again. I have also been studying a lot about the gifts of the Holy Ghost. We all have gifts and a way that we can know what gifts we have is by reading our patriachal blessing. Well, my companion and I are planning on celebrating Thanksgiving together. I think we are going to buy some turkey hot dogs and have us a little Thanksgiving dinner. I'm glad I'm with a gringo. We have a lot of fun together. Well, I miss you all and I love you.

Email from Monday, 15 November 2010

Well, I'm learning a lot about the gospel. We found someone to wash our clothes. It's heaven in my area. Well, this Sunday was good. One of our converts bore her testimony in church. It was powerful. Her kid also bore his testimony. It almost brought me to tears. I'm happy that you have decided to have Thanksgiving in our house. You'll have to send me pictures of the party. We are not going to have a Thanksgiving dinner here in Honduras. They don't celebrate the same holidays. Well, this week has been pretty normal. I don't have any good stories to tell you all. I love you all. Have a good week.

Email from Monday, 8 November 2010

Hey family. Thanks for your letters. I've had a good week. We are having success here. Elder Bothwell and I do not have transfers this month. I am excited! I love being with Elder Bothwell. He is a good missionary. He deserves to be the senior companion. Today we went bowling! It was so fun! I guess we did well last month so we got permission to go bowling. Well, I have a question for you and dad. How did you receive your testimonies? Oh, well, I am really enjoy the gospel right now. It's so true! I can't deny it! Joseph Smith was a prophet, the Book of Mormon is true! I love the Book of Mormon. I hope you are reading it. If not, I exhort you to read. Make it a daily activity. Every night before you go to bed, read from the Book of Mormon. You don't have to read much. Just a chapter or two. I usually read a chapter a day. Read a chapter a day to keep Satan away. Hehehe, ok, I love you all. I miss you all. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life. I'm learning about life here on the mission. The people here are so poor. I wish I could do more for them. Well, I loooove each and everyone of you.