Sunday Dec 17, 2023

Guess who finally got baptized!!!!  Aarón Enrique Martinez Juarez was baptized this past Wednesday Dec 13, 2023.   We are so happy for him.  His older brother David was baptized last April, then his younger sister Tatiana last week on Wednesday then finally this week Aarón was baptized.  Their mother and father are separated so they are raised by a single mother who tries really hard to give them a good life.   She has a decent job, but with three kids and rent etc.  she does amazing with what little they have.  Neither the mom or dad are members of the church, but their dads mom is Doris who is an amazing grandmother for all her grandchildren.  She has nothing when it comes to earthly possessions but she gives everything to her kids and grandkids.  So since last January when we arrived I have baptized 5 of her grandchildren.  It has been such a blessing for us to have been a part of their Eternal progression.  I know that it is going to be a long uphill battle for each and every one of these precious children to try to stay faithful to the church and keep coming and participating and living the way they should, but that is why we have good wards and branches, primary teachers, young men and women leaders and programs, and not to mention family and loved ones to help us along.   We met most all of these family members when we first arrived here and Aarón said that one day he wanted to have a missionary name tag that said "Elder Aarón".   He knows now that it is the last name that goes on the name badge but he still says that one day he wants one.  I sincerely hope that he can keep that desire to serve a mission and help others to come to know Jesus and His gospel.  After the baptism we were just waiting at the church and he put my name badge on,  I think he was happy.  

Aarón was so happy and excited to be baptized,  He is a very active young man and he just can't hold still very long so his excitement shows.   He is 10 years old so he is a fun kid to be around, he never slows down.  Their mom Yesennia is so very kind and generous, as well as being such a good mom for those three kids.  She will one day be a member of the church,  it is just that she has so much going on now trying to take care of the family that there isn't time for her to do anything more that what she is already doing.  She loves them and supports them in their lives, but just doesn't get them up and ready for church, if they want to come they have to do it on their own, which says a lot for the kids that they will just get up and get ready and come to church without mom.  

It has been raining a lot lately and whenever we get very much rain, the water in the house, comes out like it is just coming out of the local river,  It may be, in all reality, it is always dirty, but when it rains, it is not fun to wash dishes, laundry or to shower in.  I am so grateful for clean water back at home in Utah.  We really look forward to being able to shower in clean water, brush our teeth with water from the tap,  wash dishes without wondering if they are even clean enough to eat from,  but of course we eat from them every day.  

Last Monday for P day Hermana Chappell got what was needed to make a gingerbread house.  The Elders and Hermana's had fun decorating and putting together the gingerbread house.  It turned out very nice, and they enjoyed working on it.  We had christmas music playing and they have fun being together so it was a fun day.  

They also helped us with a project that Hermana Chappell wanted to do for all the missionaries here in the mission.  We have two multi zone conferences this week, which we will attend and have the opportunity to see all the missionaries here in our mission.  They are the Christmas conference so I really don't know exactly how they will be compared to the regular zone conference but in each conferences Hermana Chappell has a few minutes to give a health presentation to all the missionaries and she always tells them to "Drink Water", lots of water, and their big thing is, "No hermana, la coca".  They like to drink coke, so as a christmas gift for each of them we are making these little Rudolph coke bottles as a gift for all of them.  It has been fun for us and for the Elders and Hermana's here to help us get them all ready.  We will be going out to La Ceiba this week on Tuesday for one conference there then on Friday to La Lima for the other conference.  It will be good to get together with them all.  

We visit quite often with Hermano German Madrid and his wife Gloria.  We feel a connection with them that has been good for us and good for them.   One day shortly after arriving here we were at the front gates at the church and He came up to us and introduced himself to us and the missionaries we were with at the time.  They were of the very first people who were baptized here in Tela when the missionaries first arrived here in 1978.  They went with us one day all around town to show us where the different places were where they had held church in different houses before the church was built here.  We took pictures and have a little book printed with the pictures and his history of the Church here in Tela Honduras.  It is a wonderful history to have and thanks to German I have a printed copy of the history of the Church here.  We went by their home earlier this evening and had a short family home evening with them and with the Hermana's.  It was a wonderful experience to be there in their home.  We sang some Christmas songs and Hermana Lopez shared a wonderful message. Both Gloria and German shared testimonies of the truthfulness of the church and some of their experiences as members.  We knew that German had been excommunicated from the church but I had no idea how long it had been.  He told us tonight that it has been 15 years since he went through some tough times and lost his membership in the church.  He has been regularly attending church now for some time and is preparing himself to be re baptized.  In fact he said, "I want to share a secret with you,  I have a goal to be baptized on the 13th of February of next year, that is my birthday."  We were/ are so happy to hear him say that.  I knew that he has been working with the branch president and the Stake president to get things in order to be able to get baptized but to hear him share that goal with us was just wonderful.  I really hope that he can do that.  He also said that he would like me to baptize him,  I feel honored that he is doing what he can to prepare himself to return to the church.  His wife has health issues and doesn't leave the house so is not actively attending church but is a worthy active member in every other sense,  but it has been hard for her to have an inactive husband.  I am just so glad that he has been working on getting everything in order and that we are here to be a part of that process.  Maybe he is one of the reasons we were allowed to spend this time in Tela Honduras.  It is an amazing experience to be a part of someones eternal progression and to be able to be a small part in that process.   Next Sunday is Christmas eve.  Wow, how time flies we are so close to getting to our one year mark.  That will only leave 6 months, that is crazy to think about.