Monday, December 29, 2014

Tick...Tick...BOOM!

Well Hi!


There is a LOT of stuff I wanna say. So.... Wish me luck. I'll try to focus it in... I just don't know where to start. T_T

I guess one of the first things, is Christmas was freaking awesome here in Honduras. I think I'll explain why little by little.... You know.... Tick... Tick....

This week was a crazy week and it went really fast.  So, with that, I think I would like to tell you a bit about some of my investigators. So... Name by Name.

D: She is in her thirties, without husband and with two girls (K and C) and a boy with a man that has another family... Yeah, that was hard.  Since we have started teaching her, she has turned her life around.  She has dropped the man, changed her own morals and LITERALLY found her testimony while we were teaching her kids.  When we started, she was in a bad situation... And for that, we couldn't really help her progress, so our focus was on her girls. But, in a nutshell... We would leave a reading, and her kids wouldn't have read it. But she would have.  And another 5 chapters.  And taken notes.  And had questions.  And she had prayed and knew it was true.  Then finally, when she changed her life of her own will, she started moving forward.  We actually had her baptism ready for last week.... But the day before, she called her mom to invite her.  Her mother said if she was baptized, she would disown her and that she would NEVER talk to her again.  Talk about adversary.... For that, D is at a standstill as she fights that battle.  We can only support her, continue to teach to strengthen her testimony, and then.... Wait.  

Family B:  O, (wife whose name I cannot spell), E, K and J.  They are all wonderful.  So kind, so funny, so willing to listen.  However, they have trouble getting to church.  They pretty much ALL work every day of the week.  For that.... They don't come.  And for that... They can't progress.  It is truly hard, but they said that with the new year, changes in the schedule might come.  So... We can only pray and hope that God will prepare the way.  

M: A wonderful woman who knows the church is true, but her husband, V, refuses to marry and only wants to fight with us about the Bible.  He contends with us every visit, no matter how kind we try to be.  He is very set in his ways, and he claims he knows what we believe, but he has never done any of the things we have invited him to.  They have three kids, N (who is like my best little friend here.  He always wants to hold my bag while I'm teaching), A and E. Seriously, I WILL come back to Honduras just to see those kids again.  Guys... They are adorable.  As of right now, we are only hoping for the best and hoping that V will try to read a bit in the Book of Mormon to answer some of his questions.

A and G:  Youth investigators.  They are just.... Great.  A has a bit of a problem with modesty, but she has come to church twice now and she is slowly changing it without us having said anything.  When we come around, she just kind of fixes the problem herself.  HOW cool is that.  G is 9, and she is just adorable.  She loves church, she loves stories of the BOM, and she is WAY pilas (word for super hard worker and awesome).  Also, they have a 3 year old little brother that always has to come with us, cuz we are still trying to get their mom to listen.  His name is F - and he is a very angry little kid.  Seriously, he always looks angry, he always acts angry, and he does not warm up to ANYONE. Until.... when we walked them home from church this Sunday, HE TOTALLY HELD OUR HANDS (Elder Tuft and I, and he held mine first, and then another 7ish minutes later, he wanted to hold Elder Tuft's too.)  A FLIPPED.  She was like 'MILAGRO MILAGRO.  como... COMO?' (Miracle, Miracle, like, HOW?')  Yeah.  That was way awesome.

P:  One of the first investigators I had in Honduras, and I taught her pretty much alone cuz we did divisions with members every time we taught her.  With time, we lost contact with her.  UNTIL this week.  She is 19, and also has a kid.  We just teach little by little, and she is EATING it up.  Our last lessons, about 7 other teenagers all made their way in cuz of how interested she was in our lesson.  Also, she really trusts us.  She made a comment that throughout her life she has been looked at as an object, but from the moment we came in, regardless of how she looked or what she was wearing or what she did or didn't know, we always treated her with the utmost respect and genuine love, and that's a big reason why she wants to know more.  She is gonna go freaking far if we can help it.

L:  This girl has been our investigator for a while.  We found her by knocking on doors, and if I could describe the change that has come in her from day 1 to now.... Gah.  There aren't words.  BUT, I would say the difference is the light that is in her eyes.  She started out in a really bad place.... But she has never accepted anything blindly.  For that, her progression was slow.  But ALSO for that, everything she has a testimony of, she REALLY has a testimony of.  She is 17 years old, and she is actually pregnant... She is now literally days away from delivering.  And.... Although I don't know if she was serious... She told me she thinks she wants to name her baby... (in her words) 'well... I'm kind of thinking... I like the name.... Christian.'  ....!!!!!!!!!!! (and yes, she DOES know my name.  That's kind of why I am telling you guys. ;D)



So... There are a few of our more pilas investigators.  They are all wonderful, and I have learned SO much from all of them.  Maybe this helps give a bit of insight into my every day life, although it is still IMPOSSIBLE to tell you all of the people we are teaching.  There are also a lot of members that I can probably tell you about soon.  Maybe the next email!

Now, the reason for the 'tick, tick' at the beginning.... well.... This week was nuts.  I already told you that the last week was rough... That didn't necessarily stop after the email.  But.... The 'boom' came in many different ways.  

Boom Number 1....
I talked with my family face to face.  For the first time in 5 months.  .... That was a HUGE boom that was honestly VERY needed in this week.  And once the call ended.... I just felt... Ready.  Like I needed it, and now I am good to go again.  Yeah, I miss them.... But we're good.  I'm good.  THIS is good. That was the boom, and it was probably the best boom I could've asked for.

Boom Number 2....
Yesterday was HARD.  We got up really early cuz we had to go to the R.... Which is REALLY far away, so that we could bring investigators to church.  When we got there, it was 8, and church starts at 9.  It would take at LEAST another hour and a half to get to the chapel.  But.... The hardest part.... Not a single investigator came with us.  They all stright up said 'no, I'm just too busy. I can't. Sorry.' .... Whew that was rough and discouraging.  Like... really hard.  We were frustrated, but knew we were doing what we were supposed to.  So....
On the way back.... We passed this young girl.  And... well, we asked this random girl if she wanted to come.  I've had the feeling to talk to her before, but I always missed the chance.  And she said YES.  OUT OF NOWHERE.  Then, also unexpected, A AND G got themselves ready without us saying anything.  They were ready to go when we happened to pass by.  And they brought about 3 other kids, cuz the parents didn't wanna come, and they figured we would kind of babysit them.  Now.... Coming late into church here is a SIN.  They are MEAN about it.  We haven't been late yet, but other members have... and they hear about later.  So.... half an hour late, here walk in THE MISSIONARIES.  It started with glares.  Then... In walked all these kids and investigators behind us.  Within seconds, the glares turned into awe, realizing that we had been walking for about 3 hours straight, bringing people to the church from the furthest area in the ward.  They filled a full row, and afterwards.... THE WARD FLOODED THE KIDS WITH ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD.  Showing them around, giving them little snacks, giving them pictures of Jesus, just.... TOTALLY taking them in.  Elder Tuft and I were like.... 'sigh.... Mission Accomplished.'
Boom.

Number 3....
BOOM.  ALL NIGHT LONG.  ALL DAY LONG.  LITERALLY.  Christmas in Honduras sounds like a WARZONE.  These FIREWORKS people.  They pretty much put gunpowder in a little role of newspaper then LIGHT IT UP.  Freak.  We didn't sleep.  So much fireworks.  So much boom.  So FREAKING AWESOME.  I LOVE MY MISSION.


So... anyway.  What can we learn from this?

Life is a constant clock.  Always leading up to the next BOOM.  So.... we obviously can't control everything.  But we can control many things, including how we prepare ourselves for the boom..... This next week is the end of a year.  A new year.  A new opportunity.  A new chance.  One More Boom. So with that... Tick.... Tick.... Tick.....

Hope Christmas was as wonderful for all of you as it was for me.  I love you guys.  I'll talk to you soon.  Do the stuff you need to.  You know what I'm talking about.

Elder Kristian 

Song of the Week - You Are My Sunshine (Version by Johnny Cash is good!!!)
Elder Tuft and Elder Huf
Ukulele received from Hermana Bleak

Elder Huff with President and Sister Bowler


Zone



**Names have been removed from this email to protect the privacy of the investigators***

No comments:

Post a Comment