How are you all doing??? If you get chances, email me little snippets about your life. For those who already do, (This week, Dad (I love your letters.), Mikaella (Freaking girl I love you.), Elizabeth (OH MY GOSH THAT IS SO WEIRD), Steph (love the pictures!!!!), Crys (You know I love you. Look for things directed to you in this - the Spirit will help), Nanny (not quite a scholar yet... But I am on the way.), Jessi (Hey, thank you for all you are doing. honestly.), and Blythe (I LOVE getting stuff from you. Seriously. How do you find time for that? That is amazing.)) KEEP SENDING AWAY. I LOVE it. But... Never with pressure. Only when you can. ;)
OKAY.... To start, HOLY GENERAL CONFERENCE. I mean, wow. Talk about inspired messages. What I got out of it, (in a small portion) is We really freaking love our Prophet, we need to take better care of the poor, and we need to realize how important the sacrament really is...
Interesting....
All this leads back to one person....
But I am sure you all know who that is.
I wish I could write more, but I totally forgot my GC book. So... Next week I will give more specifics.
HONDURAS TIME.
Okay, to start.... Honduras really is wonderful. I am living a dream. Yeah, there are hard times, and I might share some here and there, but overall, I just marvel at the fact I am here and what I am allowed to do. It amazes me and I am just... Humbled. Always. I rarely get a chance to take things for granted here - and that is a true blessing in my life here in Honduras.
This week went by FAST for me. I swear, I was just writing last week's letter. But, I always have stories.
To start.. Just to get the weird stuff out of the way, that I hope makes you guys laugh first, then kind of consider the implications. For me, I see both the humor and the haunting truth at the same time.
Mont Connell, if you ever read this, this is totally directed to you.
... THERE ARE SO MANY NAKED PEOPLE HERE. SERIOUSLY.
They just... ARE. SO OFTEN. In the middle of a lesson, a woman we are teaching starts nursing (in an otherwise.... OBVIOUS way), or a grandma walks in without ANY clothes on, or people just forget miscellaneous pieces of clothing that are otherwise a little bit important.
OR... As of THIS MORNING, people just walk through the streets naked as well. I am a little bit convinced the man was not entirely in his right mind.... But the thing about Honduras? There are no cops, and... well... no real law enforcement period. So.... The traffic is TERRIFYING, and the naked man walking down the street is... well.... almost acceptable.
.....
I find this both a little funny and a lot of disturbing.
.... Implications? Now, for the man this morning, I am guessing it was a result of alcohol or other substance abuse. Odd, and sad, but the implications I am talking about are a lot less about the sad aspect, interestingly enough.
Living here is like being a part of one, huge, intimate (to weird extents) FAMILY. Seriously! These things are normal, not because they are uncivilized or crude or dont care, but because they are unaware that it is weird! Here, in Honduras, everyone is perfectly comfortable together, regardless of religion, age or circumstance. Everyone knows everyone, and no one has anything to hide (quite literally). Yes, it is weird to a white boy from Utah, but I got used to it strangely fast. It is endearing how safe everyone feels in such a humble country. And, in a flattering (kind of?...) and untraditional kind of way, I have been adopted as the pet gringo into the giant family that is our area.
So... Yeah. That is my story of Honduras for the week. Hope it brought some smiles. Also, teaching the Word of Wisdom IS HARD. Like, 11 year olds cry over the no coffee rule. And so do like, 60 year olds. Oooof....
Now, for a more spiritual story.
Our bishop lives next door to me. And I actually give his 18 year old daughter english lessons. She is very good as it is, but that just means time for me to speak in english. Hallelujah.
This girl is truly a sweet spirit. And, as such, she asks me questions and loves hearing about America. As a result... This week was full of flashbacks.
First, A Day in the Life and the Disney Concert. I dream about those shows still, and more so this week. All I want to say, is I love each and every one of you from those concerts. Everyone in Glee, everyone in Dance Company, everyone in band and orchestra and choir and my choir boys that set up the stage perfect EVERY time and everyone from theater and the casts and gosh.... I love you all. One song in specific of this week was It's Time. I still hear all of your voices singing the parts.... Starting with Jocelyn and Olivia, Kailey, then myself, Jessi, Jonah, Kelsey, Sabrina and Janaya, Austin, Reesa and Allison and James, Lizzie, Josh and Alyssabeth and finally Sophia, with dance solos from Megan and Jessika and Rose... And of course, the new people of this past year, with Alexa and Joy and Tyler in there somewhere, and Avery and Crys and Mary and honarary Timmy and JB and Shawn and MiKayla (oh how I miss you, girl.) and Kaleb (OH how I miss you Kaleb) and Natalie and Jared and KEVIN GOSH KEVIN I MISS YOU AND BAAAHHHH FREAKING ALL OF YOU. (If I missed anyone, i am sorry.... I am rushing and those were the ones I recalled the fastest, But I dont think I missed anyone from Glee. Camille, you are in there too.) She loved listening to my million stories about all of you... And gosh how I miss you. Thank you Niki and Kimie and Rochelle and Greg and Robinne for the many opportunities I had to share with these people.
These memories are precious to me. And speaking of which, I want to kind of post... A tribute. Alomst. I hope it doesnt make him feel uncomfortable... But I have seen him uncomfrotable. That was NEVER a place we wanted to reach.
So...
Second. This is hard for me. I dont ever want to be sappy... So I just want you, my friend, to know how sincere I am right now. A message of love and appreciation to my brother this week. To my mexican, Assael. (you know I love you, Jakob.) I have been missing you more than I can describe. Showing this girl pictures of you made me cry. And... I just want you to know how much I love you. I love you, with all my heart. Brother, there is a special place in my heart for you. And I dont care how old we are, when we get back, we WILL watch happy wheels and adventure time and HIMYM and eat hot pockets and talk about all the weird stuff we would and laugh and cry and play guitar and vent and stay up until who knows when and sing Green Day just like we did when I left. Right now, and this week, those have been the most cherished of my memories. I love you, Assael. I love you, my brother, and my best friend. No one will ever be who you are to me. And that is my best friend in this world. Remember when we got yelled at for singing Animal on the roof? Or when we got the cops called on us? Or that night when those guys came to my grandmas house in the middle of the night? or 'nahhh man we're sleeping' during fast offerings? or setting up the Africa Project page? or interwebicles? or our handshake that I literally do on my own all the time? Or singing Les Mis and getting Taco Bell and wrestling and making really weird songs about kind of inappropriate things? or the nights you stayed up with me when i was heartbroken? Or vice versa?
I do.
And I put this here because I want everyone who reads this to know how special of a person you are. If you dont know him, you should start. You are one of the best people I know. Thank you, brother. (Songs of the week are dedicated to you, Assael: 'When the Cold of Winter Comes' from Lord of the Rings and 'Run' by Snow Patrol)
In the words of Green Day...
'We'll soon be home... We'll soon be home... We'll soon, we'll soon soon soon be home....'
I love you all. Until next week.
Elder Kristian Ooof
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