Merrill & Colleen's Honduran Adventure

 Sunday March 31, 2024 We were in San Pedro Sula this past Thursday,  and it was rather odd, because of the fact that today is Easter Sunday and this past week has been Semana Santa, (Holy Week),  most businesses were closed and schools are out, so everyone is out on vacation.  There was not hardly any traffic in San Pedro at all, so we took advantage of the situation and took this picture of the San Pedro sign.  Every city has their own, painted sign with the name of the city.  It is a fun thing they do here.  There were people here in the park but not very many, usually it is crazy busy.  We have always wanted to stop and take a picture but usually the traffic is crazy and there is nowhere within blocks to park the car.  There is a grocery store in San Pedro that is a very upscale grocery store for this country, there are a lot of imported goods, mainly from USA, but there are also things there from Europe.  We have been there several ...

 Sunday March 24, 2024 We walk out to the beach in the evening sometimes to unwind, listen to the waves, and feel the moist breeze.  It is relaxing and we enjoy getting out there when we can.  We have taken so many picures of sunsets from the beach near our house.  Even though the beach is close, we don't get out there often enough.  From our house we walk down to the end of the street, which is a dirt road, then across a soccer field, then through the cemetery and then we go through a small area with palm trees and there we are.  Speaking of palm trees, today is Palm Sunday.  The beginning of "Semana Santa",  Holy week.  I think that in Honduras it is a major holiday for an entire week.  The people here in Tela who make their money from the tourism are working overtime, and the rest of the country comes here for holiday.  The beaches are full of people.  They have set up tents, with food/drink/music for all to enjoy.  Eve...

  Sunday March 17, 2024 This past week has been busy, but good, mostly :)   Elder Godoy from the quorum of the 70 was here and so we had a missionwide conference in La Lima, as a whole mission.   That is the first time since we have been here that that has happened.  A year ago Elder Giuffra from the quorum of the 70 was here also but they had two separate conferences.  It was really great to have everyone in the mission all together this week on Thursday in La Lima.   There are around 160 missionaries total in the mission, and we are spread out across northern Honduras, and out in two islands north of the mainland.  So for everyone to travel to La Lima was quite a task for some.  For us it is about a 2 hour drive, others are 6 - 8 hours, partly because they are on buses that have to stop every so often rather than in a car like us where we stop every so often too, but not the same.  Those that had to come in from Roatán and Ut...

 Sunday March 10, 2024 This past P day we went out to La Lancetilla as a district, since none of the current missionaries had been there.  There are two new missionaries here in our district,  an Elder from the Dominican Republic, Elder Rosarios, and a new Hermana, from Guatemala, Hermana Puac.  It is a fun new group.   We enjoyed a couple of hours in this beautiful park getting to know each other better and enjoying being away from people, work and the regular life for a while.  It is so quiet and peaceful there, with so many birds chirping and a beautiful semi cared for, forest, garden, mountain area.   Tomorrow is P day again and they all want to go out to the Aquarium, another fun place to visit when you are in Tela.  It is getting hot again here and that means that weekends, especially on Sunday there are busloads of people that come to Tela for the beach.  The law of the Sabbath is not obeyed very well here.  I suppose th...