A Message from the Editor

So my New Year's Resolution?

To keep up with this blog through the end of Christian's mission!

(Almost in frame)

So starting with the most recent contact, the family got to talk to Christian in the early afternoon of Christmas. It was something we looked forward to like nothing else.

We had a tense moment where we heard the crack-crack-crack of nearby shots. We know things have been crazy in Honduras since the recent  contested elections, and he is in an area known for gun violence. But he did not look at all concerned and explained they were firecrackers ... one of the main ways they celebrate Christmas (as well as most other holidays) in Honduras. Although he did not expect it to be one of the skills he acquired on his mission, he knows how to tell the difference between the sound of gunshots and fireworks.

Christian is doing very well. He left the office after 8 months and is very glad to be able to meet and teach people full-time again. Although his ability to go out and interact with people has been greatly curtailed by the widespread protests over the election. The government has put in place a curfew, and the mission further instructed the missionaries to stay in their homes for days at a time.

Upon being freed from his cushy office job behind a desk, he was assigned to open a new area in the middle of San Pedro Sula. We had been wondering how it was possible that there would be an area in the middle of his mission's main city which needed to be opened because there were not missionaries there already. The mystery was solved during the call when he explained that it was a particularly violent area and there had been no missionaries there since the last pair was assaulted over a year ago. Of course this did not concern Christian in the slightest -- at least not that he let us know. We joked that he needed to find and teach one of the local crime bosses who could give the "hands off" order, as he and his companion did accidentally in his second area.

While he recognizes the need for situational awareness in this and his other areas, it seems his strategy for personal security leans heavily on strict obedience to the rules. He was made one of the local missionary leaders in this new area and when checking in on those he is responsible for, he was concerned to find some of them were out teaching after the curfew and let them know it was not something they should be doing any more.

His biggest challenge is something which is about to be resolved. Before he and his companion arrived to open their area, the closest missionaries found them a place to live and paid the first month's rent. Christian and Elder Asturias were not very happy with the accommodations. It is one room which is so small they can only sit at the table or on their beds. There is no kitchen, and the bathroom does not have running water most of the time. So Christian went to work right away looking for a better place. After he failed to find someplace adequate within the budget, he put the negotiation skills he developed at the office to work. He got a prospective landlord to lower his price and the mission office to raise their allowance for rent. He was successful and was excitedly waiting for the month to end so they could start the new year at one of the best dwellings in the mission. Not only does it have more space, a kitchen, and running water ... but it is one of the only rental properties in his mission with air conditioning!

(There he is!)

There were a lot of other things we discussed on the call, but for all of us here at home, the highlight was something simple. One of us said something he found particularly funny, and he let loose with his unique tickled laughter which we had not heard in way too long.

So stay tuned for several more updates to bring you up to speed on what has been going on with Christian in Honduras since September!