A few awkward moments . . .

Hola familia! 

Life is just a dream come true aqui in dear ol Campamento.... mas o menos. 

Before I forget, Honduras has elections this Sunday, so we will be on lockdown. They aren't expecting anything to happen and I am by far in the safest area of the mission, so even if anything happens it won't affect me. But I won't be able to write Monday. Quizás martes o miercoles. We aren't going to leave the house Sat, Sun, o Mon. Church is only going to be one hour on Sunday for all of Honduras. Yay elections. 

Area= Basically the only news is elections. Our mission had cambios, but it didn't affect us or anyone in our district because we are all in training. Yay. Our Sister Leader Trainer changed. We have intercambios tomorrow. I get to go to Talanga and my companion will stay here in dear ol Campamento. 

People=

There is a girl named Paola who goes and visits people with us a lot every week. She is preparing for her mission and finally got her call. Guatemala Coban! A girl from my freshman ward is serving there. She leaves in February. 

We had an activity this week! All went well! It was Cultures and Talents. The branch members brought food from Honduras, I pretended to make no bake cookies, but I forgot the recipe so they turned out just a tad bit different... But hey, no one knows what they are supposed to be like here. One girl went crazy on them. 

Entonces, Mother dear, o alguien, puede mandarme una receta de no bake cookies? Mantequilla de mani style? Gracias. 

The talent portion was way too funny. Mostly because the talents were a wee bit pathetic. There were a lot of dramas. As missionaries we did a mini drama about how family life is a lot happier with the gospel. It was funny and we asked for references as part of it. We also sang Christmas songs. Tis the season. 

All in all it was a success. 

We were really excited the last week because we had two families in Sacrament meeting. Then we went to visit one with the elders and they told us they didn't want anything to do with the church. Then the next day we visited the other family with the elders and it was the most awkward lesson of my life. The goal was to get the wife to pray. We taught about prayer and the Spirit was strong. And then everything came tumbling down. She said she did NOT like Church and she will not be baptized in the Church of her husband (our Church) and a bunch of other craziness. We still asked her to pray at the end of the lesson. We all knelt down and she and her husband closed their eyes and nobody said anything. Most awkward moment of my mission. Complete silence for 5 minutes. I am not even exaggerating. There were 4 missionaries and no one knew what to do. Finally Elder Carrillo tried to remedy the situation and it just got worse. Eventually we left and we all felt awful. But the husband prays for his wife to accept the gospel in all of his prayers and that the missionaries will fulfill their purpose in his house so that he can have a eternal family. It is powerful. Every time I look at him I can feel his potential. 

Spiritual= We are finding out that when we pray really hard, we find people to teach. Last night we needed to find one more family. We prayed fervently and within 3 minutes we saw a family in the street. We contacted them and the husband was a member. His wife was with him and we have a cita with them tonight. But we still needed a family. Withing 5 min. we found another family. There were fireworks outside and the family came out of their house and we attacked. They are great. We'll see how it goes with them. 

Funny--We laugh a lot, but I can't remember at what. 

We also leave our umbrellas in every house. Every house. 

Challenges/Blessings= We are having menos activos popping out of nowhere who have esposos o esposas who aren't members. Last night we found out where 4 separate couples live. 4 part member families! Yay! We have to work really hard this week to fulfill our goals because we are short 2 days. The 2 best days.

Well, that is all. I love you all so much. Make good choices. Go to Church. Help the missionaries. Feed them. Yep, AdIos!!!

Hello my dear family! This week has been... intersesting...

Primero, noticicias. Honduras has elections the 23 y 24 so we are not going to be able to leave the house for those 2 days and the 25. I think that there is only going to be Sacrament meeting in all of Honduras, so we can leave for that and then run back to the house. I don´t know what we are going to do for 3 days. I hate not working. 

Second, Mom´s questions= Our zone activity was quite unorganized. We played futbol, ate some burnt corn that some American elder made (crazy nasty, but we all ate it with a smile because we are missionaries and we eat weird food) and later went to eat at a chicken place. It was really good, but I felt kind of queasy the next day. 

We used to help in the Primary, but they honestly didn´t need us so we now help in the youth. They NEED the help. Ít is a lot more rewarding and we helped them start having mutual again. The 3rd hour we go to Relief Society. I love it. 

We share the entire branch and area with the elders. Our area is massive so it isn´t a problem. And the Elders sometimes visit our investigators with us. More info about that later.... 

Area= This week we are going to have an activity. Cultures and Talents. Gracias mom and dad for the papel sobre como encontrar personas. It is going to be a smashing hit. 

We served a menos activa named Gilma. With machetes we mowed her weeds. It is quite normal here and quite ineffective when a group of Americans are doing it. Within 15 minutes my hand was bleeding from the Machete and my companion spent the week helping my finger not receive an infection. It was great. 

We are learning how to make tortillas. They are getting better and better. You are welcome, future family. 

People. 

Ummm... I love my companion. We made schedules for every hour of our lives so that we don´t waste time. I love schedules. 

We are having more and more success with Menos Activos. We are starting to have an activity every Saturday with the members to find menos activos and invite them to church. I hope we see the fruits. It will help the members a lot. 

We HAD 61 PERSONAS IN CHURCH. About 10 were investigators, 5 were visisting and 15 of our strong members didn´t come. There is hope of 70 this month. We had 2 families in Church. Success. It was a miracle!!! Ahh! 

Funny= I had a dream in Spanish! My companion woke up because I was teaching a family in Spanish in my dream. I am FLUENT.:-) I was so so happy! 

Blessings- Challenges. 

We have 2 really positive families that we are teaching. Armalia y Bany. They both came to Church, accepted a date to be baptized. We went to visit them with the Elders and they were packing all of their belongings because they didn´t have money and they have 2 months of rent to pay. They left for their house in the Mountain this morning. We returned to their house in the night to see if they could still come to Church and everything and Bany spent the whole time being crazy and complaining to Elder Carrillo. It was the worst lesson ever. But maybe his wife will still come. 

The other family is a miracle. The husband, Santos, is a menos activo and God seriously led us to his house. He and his wife went to Church this past sunday and are preparing to go this sunday. We need to start their papers for their wedding aHORA if we have hope of baptizing them this month. We are going to talk to them again today. Jeni, the wife, wants to be baptized, but I don´t think she understands why yet. 

Life is just peachy! Love you all! Happy Birthday Dad! 

Birthdays and Shopping??

Hola Familia. 

I am writing a tad bit early because we have a zone activity in another pueblo. Its 30 min away in bus. Its crazy I used to be terrified of buses when I lived in the states. Then I came to Honduras and it seems really normal to ride on the public bus. 

Primero, Gracias Mom, for the cartas. I love love love them. I haven´t gotten the package yet from Camille, but the odds are really high that I could get it today or that it is sitting in the office in Tegucigalpa. 

This week was really good. We had a lot of meetings which is frustrating because we don't teach as much. We had the reunion por nuevos. I always love these reuniones. So good. We had training on planning, 12 Semanas y more planning. We got real food, which is always a treat. Carne. Y no carne that I can´t recognize. 

We also had a reunion de nuestra zona. En Talanga. It was good. We have good zone leaders. I don´t remember what they taught, but we practiced inviting people to chruch and to Baptism. Ï never am afraid to invite, I just get frustrated with people´s agency. Saturday we woke up early so that we could climb to the top of a hilll and help a family get ready for Church the next day. I got sunburned and they didn´t come. But their neighbor did, so that is nice. 

I also had MI CUMPLEANOS!!! my companion is so great. She coordinated with the family Garcia (Isable was baptized from this family 2 weeks ago) and I joined in their celebration for their family. 2 people in their family had birthdays during the weekend, so we celebrated for all 3 of us. It was great. It was nice that it was p-day. 

We also found some clothes super cheap for us. I found 3 skirts for $4. Oh, Campamento. Ï love it. I also found a Christmas Jacket for $0.50. Best 50 cents I have ever spent. 

We also went to the house of Gethzel y Kelin, my first baptism. We had a noche de hogar con ellos and then they fed us Baleadas. Basically I ate a lot and the next day my companion and I were a little sick. But it was worth it. And Gethzel collected flowers from outside and with her grandma made an arrangement. Everyone is so so nice. And so willing to sacrifice. It means so much more when I know they are doing it with love. 

Astrid was baptized this week. She is 17 and is the neice of a member muy inactive. She cried after her baptism. tears=success. It was so great to see. And she wants to go on a mission and get married in the temple. I hope she can influence her family. 

We are trying harder and harder to help people fulfill their commitments. Helping them understand and act. I hope that we are beginning to see the fruits of our labors. 

I feel really blessed to work here. I love this gospel and I love the chance I have to share it.

Adios! 

Mucho Amor! 

Michelle