Sunday January 29, 2023

We have had some wonderful experiences this past week.  I will try and capture what it has been like for us.  Monday morning we packed our bags and drove out to a rather distant part of our mission.  Our mission President and Hermana as well as the 3 assistants to the President were in their car and we traveled together, somewhat.  Driving / road trips, are an experience here.  Roads are very narrow at times, semi two lanes at times, have many potholes, many speed bumps inside towns, are not marked with lines in the center or on the edge,  people drive on the sidewalks at times to get around traffic, it is just crazy.  I don't mind driving during the day but nighttime driving is one thing I really do not like. Thank goodness it is not often when we had to be out after dark. There are people walking along the side of the roads which you cannot see until you are right next to them,  many of the motorcycles, of which there are many, do not have lights front or back and many of the cars and trucks lack lights or have one dim one.  Any way, we have had our guardian angels working overtime to keep us safe this week.  I know for a fact that we have been given many miracles this week as we have had to get from one area to another.  That is the difficult part, now on to happier thoughts.😊

We attended a Zone Conference in Olanchito, which is a meeting the missionaries have once every 6 weeks together with their mission leaders.  It is always an uplifting experience in so many ways.  Of course meeting and visiting with the Elders and Hermanas is always the highlight.  They are always so happy and fun to be around.  In the meeting they invited to recent converts to share their conversion story and their thoughts about what it means to them to now be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It is always wonderful to hear their story of how they came to know the church, some from missionaries, but many have learned about the church from neighbors or friends.  In one of the meetings they had the two most recent converts of all the missionaries in attendance share their story.  One of the Elders who spoke was Elder Burgos who has been a member for 5 years.  He was 15 when the seminary teacher in his city invited him to attend seminary.  There were also sister missionaries in the area so he went along to be around them. He really gained his testimony when the missionaries taught him and when he read the Book of Mormon.  After that he knew he wanted to always be a committed member of the church.  He is at the end of his mission and will be going back home on the 14 of February.  He and three other Elders from the Tegucigalpa area are all leaving the same time.  It has been fun to learn from their testimonies and experiences.  

We attended church today in the Tela Branch.  Of course we had to introduce ourselves which was great.  Hermana Chappell is getting better all the time with spanish. They are so kind, happy and helpful with us.  Then this afternoon we went out to visit a nonmember couple with Elder Penrod and Elder Pineda.  It was a pretty drive out to their home in a very rural area not too far from here.  There were cows walking down the side of the road, which was fun.  

The couple committed to come to church next week, they said that they would come if we were going to be there so we said that we would be there, So I guess we will go back to this branch next week, hopefully they are there.  After the discussion the man went out in his backyard and picked coconuts off the trees, cut the tops off with his big machete and poked a straw in them and passed them around.  

We drank the coconut water then they cut them in half and passed around spoons to eat the meat part.  It was kind of like a chewy pudding consistency, yummy, sort of, but rather odd, we have never eaten anything like that before so that was a new experience for us.  They sell fresh coconut everywhere around here and so now I guess we know what they do with them.  They had 3 or 4 different varieties growing in their yard and they explained what each of them were best for.  

The member couple and their son was with us for the lesson Brother and sister Morales, They are all so happy and just fun to be with.  This next week we will be here in the area working more with the missionaries so I expect we will get to meet more of the people here.  The blessing of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is so important to us.  It helps us in so many ways to have the knowledge that comes from Scripture, Prophets and Church leaders. It gives us Faith and hope for an even better future.  As well as making life easier knowing about the plan of salvation, and knowing that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  I am so grateful for that knowledge and the blessings that we have in our lives knowing what we are taught by the church, prophets, and scriptures.  I am so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and all that means to me in my life.  We have been so blessed in our lives to have lived where we have and to have the gospel in our lives always as a guiding light to direct us in all we do.