Sunday Feb. 12, 2023

There is a member of the Church who lives in San Pedro Sula who has a business of making cloth bags, backpacks, scripture covers etc.  He uses colorful material with colors and patterns that are considered "Typical" of the region.  Many of the missionaries have bags made by him and it makes carrying everything around much easier.  Before we came here we spent a fair amount of time trying to find a backpack or bag that we could use for that purpose but we decided that we would wait until we were in Honduras to see how much we would have to carry around and what we would need to take with us as we go about our work here.  I am glad we did because we now have two new "Mochilas Tipicas" with our names and the US flag and the Honduras flag on them.  We are so happy to have them.  We also got a scripture cover for the spanish scriptures we brought and for the Hymn book.  We got to pick the pattern from a big list of materials that he had and he was really fast to make them for us and it really didn't cost that much.   I like the flags on them,  there are so many Hermanas and Elderes here from other Latin American countries and it is fun to see their home countries flag on their bags. 

There is a church not too far from here that looks really nice from the outside and it has two scriptures painted on the front of the building so I took a picture.   Both really good scriptures that mean as much to us as they do to them.  

It has been really cool and raining a lot today.  When we first got here someone said that when it is rainy then not too many people come out to church so I was interested to see what it would look like today.  At 9:00 am when Church is supposed to start there were a total of 8 people in the building and I thought, this is worse than I thought it would be but by 9:15 there were a quite a few more there so I felt better.   But still fewer than on a sunny day.  

The mission transfers are this coming Tuesday.  So on Saturday night the missionaries all received word of who is being transferred to where and who their new companions are going to be.  This morning is when we heard about it, but two of the 4 Elders are moving out and we will be getting two new elders here on Tuesday.  The Zone is all getting together tomorrow in El Progreso which is the more centralized city where most of the Zone missionaries are located to spend the day together.  Elder Pineda who is from Guatemala who is now serving as our district leader is moving to La Lima to be in the office to work there as the secretary of immigration.  He has mixed feelings about the change but I think he will like the new calling.  We will miss him here, he is a really great young man and we have grown to love him in the short time we have had together.  Hermana Chappell invited Elder Pineda and Elder Penrod over for lunch today after church and she fixed them lunch.  It was Elder Pineda's "first gringo meal" he said.  Elder Penrod who is from Arizona said it was great to eat gringo food again. 😀

We have had contact with Elder Dr. Jeff and Hermana Julia Chappell who are in Peru as area medical advisor. It has been nice to compare notes and they have shared with us some very useful information to help Hermana Chappell with her challenge to help with our mission health issues.  Stomach aches and ingrown toenails are very common events here. My final thought for today comes from one of the scriptures found on the front of the church.  Philippians 4:13. Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece.   I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  I feel like that when Jesus Christ is with us, we can overcome all things,  as well as do all things we are called on to endure in this life.