Another Awkward Moment

Well hi!

So.. I just wanna dive right into this one. Cuz this week was SUPER awesome and SUPER awkward.  So.. Shoutouts, Steph, Jessi, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Blythe (THANK YOU FOR PICTURES TELL EVERYONE I LOVE THEM SOOOO MUCH.), Emma-Lee, Alisse, Mexi, JOY, And..... I think that's all.... But yeah.  Thank you all, as always.... I cannot put into words my gratitude every time I see an email from each of you. You are all such blessings in my life and BAHHHH thank you.

Okay.  Story time.

Francely Denia Peralta and Elder Huff

First, BAPTISM!  Francely Denia Peralta (11) and I baptized her (I LOVE THAT FEELING GUYS.).  Pretty awesome. We have a few more lined up for this month... SO PRAY FOR SUCCESS. But anyway, she is freaking awesome and I love my job.

Next, a little bit of what Honduras is like. I feel like I haven't given a lot of specifics.... So... Here's a little of the day to day stuff.

1. Honduras is a different world. Completely. Like.... One Elder describes this place as Africa but a little cooler (unless you're in the south, in which case you are currently dying of heat stroke. DEFINTELY look forward to that area.)  This place is seriously third world, and I am not even living in the poorest parts.  The general forecast for Honduras goes as follows:

Holy freaking cold at night. Or maybe holy hot too.

Holy freaking hot during the day.

Randomly rains for like... 30 minutes to an hour. Spontaneously. No real warning.  And it's vicious. 

Then holy freaking hot 5 mintues later.

Then, you can look at my area and the colonies included. We live in a central Colonia Vista Hermosa.  The areas (mine is Laconse) are divided up by these said colonies.  My area ranges from Piedra Ancha (which is literally hiking a mountain to reach. We go at least twice a day, because why not.) to Los Robles (which is like traveling through a jungle and THEN hiking a mountain.  We maintain that colonia at least once a week because WHY DOES THAT COLONIA EXIST.) to Laconse (where our chapel is located. Yeah, we have a chapel. And it's actually pretty nice too!) to about 7 others. We proselyte all of them during the week, and we currently have at least 2 in every given area.  Not all progress, granted... But we teach still. And, this place is kind of a jungle. In some places. Well, a lot of places.  

That's the general layout of my area, but now on to the GOOD stuff.

2. Food.  We eat beans eggs and tortillas.  That IS our diet. And we eat these little pieces of heaven called Baleadas regularly too, and those are like... Burritos, but better.  Super burritos.  Also, burrito literaly translates to little donkey.  We buy at a supermarket once a week on P-Day, and the rest of the week, you can buy little snacks and bags of water (which aren't so interesting anymore) and other drinks and really just about everything you need at these places called Pulperias.  

Which, side note... All houses are squares or rectangles, rarely more than 1 level, and they have bars for all entrances.  Windows, bars.  Outer doors, SCARY looking bars.  Inner doors, huge thick rectangles of pure metal and muscle. (Yes, there are two sets of doors to get into the houses. There are some pretty sketchy people here.)  And, as a side note, there are no door handles. You CANNOT enter a house without a key.  Only locks.  Interesting, huh?  

Reason I bring that up, is cuz you buy everything through these little doors in said scary metal barred doors.  And, you learn how to pronounce all trademarks in Spanish accents... Or they LITERALLY do not understand you. 

'Hola, solamente quiero un Mountain Dew.'  

'.... Que?'

'.... Sigh... Quiero un mohn tehhhn jyew.'

'OHHHH Okay! Bueno!'

Like.... Really? Really?

Other than that.... Most stuff just tastes different. Like Mountain Dews, and Doritos (which are spicy and FREAKING AMAZING) and yeah.... Coke and gatorade taste the same... And... Yeah. Also, you only drink water out of bags.  Seriously was weird to get accustomed to.

3. People.  People here fall into three categories.... 

1 People you don't talk to.

2 People you try to talk to. 

3 Members.

1 People you don't talk to include the people who lack 2 or more limbs sitting on the side of the street begging for money, people who are clearly drunk, people coming out of another church, people who are smoking something that isn't a cigarette, people who see you and start toward you with clear purpose of asking for your money, or any combination of the above.  That's the general.  Also, groups of young kids are surprisingly frustrating.  There are areas where literally you will hear 'Ey Mormones, quieren cafe?' about 66 times in 15 minutes. I'm not kidding. That's like ALL people know about us. The coffee thing. Or they ask how many wives we have.  The usual.

2 People you try to talk to include everybody else.  Usually they don't wanna talk to you.  This introduces awkward moments... Like this week.

We have had doors slammed in our faces. Many times.  We have had people straight up say 'I hate mormons. Go away.' and even cuss outs where people bring out bats (Nothing ever happens though... Thank heaven.).  And... Then there was Friday....

On Wednesday I decided to ask a woman at a pulperia to hear our message. She was SUNNY as could be. 'Oh defintely! I am free EVERY DAY ALL DAY! How about Friday at 10:30? Okay! Thanks Mormons!'  

.... DREAM COME TRUE.

.... Until Friday came.  Her house doesn't exist.... Typical, no surprise, honestly.  Happens a lot.  UNTIL, we saw her at the SAME PULPERIA AGAIN!  I didn't want to be all awkward... I just wanted to ask her if she would rather not meet with us.  No big deal if no, right?

.... Oh if ONLY she had said no.

I go up.... She is facing away from me, leaning on a counter.  I ask, Hermana Lisek?  .... No response.  

.... a bit louder, Hermana Lisek? ... No response. 

Hermana Banegas?  As clear as I can be, Hermana BANEGAS? People are now looking at me, choking back laughter, including my wonderfully helpful companion.  The HERMANA is choking back laughter without ever looking at me.  I TAP HER ON THE SHOULDER FOUR TIMES. HERMANA BANEGAS.  ..... AND NOTHING.  

SHE SERIOUSLY PRETENDED TO NOT HEAR ME.  

PEOPLE WERE LIKE, HEY, THIS GRINGO IS TALKING TO YOU.  AND SHE PRETENDED TO HEAR NO ONE.  

...like.... What?  Who DOES that?  Hondurans do that.  Roldan, after having walked away awkwardly with no real resolution, says to me... 'okay.  I have seem some investigators that don't wanna hear it.  But that's tops the bill of all awkward.'  

Now, I don't know if the story seemed awkward to you all reading... But guys... Imagine living this moment.  Just... Try.  Oh, Honduras.... Other moments include using words that mean things they don't in English (thus calling a random dude marvelous and beautiful and my gift from heaven whilst trying to make fun of a gooey lovey dovey couple, amongst others.), getting asked if we believe Joseph Smith is Jesus and why Mormon doesn't appear in the Bible and if he doesn't, he never existed cuz no one existed outside of Jerusalem in that time and that Jehovah is DEFINTELY God the Father and Jesus is the Son and the Holy Ghost is a bird that only existed with Noah to tell him about the flood ending.  ....Um......

3 Members. Well... That's about it. They are just there. They wave to you and smile at you and invite you to come over once in a while. And.... Yep.

4.  General living.  

We live a pretty normal life other than that, comparatively.  We wash our clothes in our pila or use a laundry machine of our bishop if the situation permits here and there.  We eat cereal with milk that comes in boxes and doesn't need to be refrigerated and tastes like... not milk, at first. Not bad, just different.  We have fans which we use speratically during the night depending on the Antartica to Mordor scale that regularly makes up our nights.  We walk a freaking lot.  We work out and I actually think I am in better shape now than when I left.... And I DEFINITELY have built muscle. Even though I don't think anyone notices cuz my companion is the Guatemalan Hulk.  

We teach a lot. I sing when occasion permits and dance in the little things.... I tell stories and show pictures of shows I've done and friends I have and we have fun. All in Spanish, of course.  Which is kind of cool.... I totally got my first super compliment this week.  Friend of another pair of missionaries was talking to us and he stops and goes, 'hey you, gringo.  Your spanish is pretty good, bro. How long you got in your mission?'  'Um, a little more than three months.'  'Wait WHAT.'  ..... YES.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  That was an amazing moment, but seriously though, my spanish probably isn't that great.  It doesn't FEEL that way at least, but all in all... Learning a new language is a TRIP.  I dream in Spanish, I translate songs into Spanish, and I usually fall into a spanish accent whilst talking in English.  

Well... I just wanted to lay out the ground work of the mish!  I love it here. I love the work.  I am living in Heaven.... Just, Heaven in Spanish.  I probably sounded a bit sarcastic in this one.... That is ONLY for the sake of the funny stories.  I rarely get frustrated or angry.  I just laugh a lot at some of the stuff that happens here!

But anyway.... I love you guys.  Be safe.  I miss you, AND PRAY ALWAYS. 

Cheque!

Elder Huff

Song of the week: Where No One Goes by Jonsi from How to Train Your Dragon 2