Hey guys, this week was a crazy one! Maybe not as nuts as your`s was, but it was still crazy. This week was Holy week (Semana Santa) the week leading up to Easter. Here it`s like spring break... School`s out... nobody works and everyone`s on vacation to one of the nearby beaches. THe week started out normal... I wrote you guys on Monday and Tuesday was a normal day.
On Wednesday we had divisions with the zone leaders (two really cool guys, I really enjoy doing divisions with them) and we had to travel about an hour and a half to get to their area. We slept the night there in Olanchito and in the morning on Thursday we all woke up to go to zone conference in Tocoa. Getting out of zone conference we found out that the last bus going to sabà/sonaguera/olanchito was leaving in 15 minutes. Sister Carlisle drove President`s car to drop everyone off. Because there weren`t enough seats, we waited axiously at the chapel hoping we would be able to get on the bus... Sister Carlisle made it back in time and we were able to get on the bus.
We were super anxious to get back in time because we needed to get to sonaguera- the elders there had 3 baptisms planned for Friday and they still needed interviews. So we arrived in Planes which is past Sabà but still on the way to Sonaguera (you have to take another bus to get to Sonaguera) turns out that all the buses to go from planes to Sonaguera had been rented out by vacationers for Holy Week! I called the Zone leaders and asked them what they thought would be best. I felt bad, because I knew if I didn`t do everything I could, those three people wouldn`t be able to get baptised. I also knew that we couldn`t stay the night in Sonaguera, because we had interviews in Sabà with president the next day (they had told me at 11 o`clock in the morning).
My good friend Elder Sanchez who`s the ZL I talked to told me that he trusted me to make the right decision, and that it was up to me. I said I would make the interviews happen and that I would also be home in time for the interviews in the morning with President (I was thinking maybe we could hitch-hike our way home).
I decided to walk back to Sonaguera with the other two companionships in our district. My companion and I both had some pretty heavy backpacks, because we`s been in divisions with the ZL`s the night before and had extra clothes and toiletries and stuff. So we made it back to Sonaguera after about an hour and 15 minutes of walking. That`s when the other missionaries told me just how far outside of Sonaguera these investigators lived.
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| mototaxi |
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| ayote & miel |
As we went walking and talking with the companionship of missionaries (And I went along pretty worried) a bus came rolling along with a bunch of workers from the fruit company who had finished the days work. I knew they probably wouldn`t even stop for us, but even still I started yelling and the other guys did too. It didn`t stop, so I took of running with Elder Gonzalez (another skinny kid like me from panama) and we were banging on the side of the bus trying to get it to stop. We ran for about a half mile and finally gave up. We continued walking and I couldn`t help thinking man, that might`ve been the only chance we could have got to go to Sonaguera. Now we have to walk all night...
After about 15 more minutes of walking another bus from the fruit company showed up. I yelled "Jalón!" and they stopped. Where are you going? They asked. "Sonaguera," I answered. "No, sorry man," he said. "We`re headed for Sabà." No freaking way! We hopped on that miracle bus and it cut through the banana fields and we arrived super fast to Sabà. In fact, we arrived in Sabà sooner than Elder Gonzalez and Elder Bruno arrived back in Sonaguera! (They did end up walking.)
The next morning the Zone Leaders called me at 7 and said "you have interviews earlier than you thought." How much earlier? I asked. "In 30 minutes" So we scrambled to get the house cleaned up. We try to keep it pretty clean, but still, we wanted it to be spick and span for President. Interviews went good.
Friday was a good day because we also got permission for Suri to get baptized! Woohoo! So this Saturday will be awesome! Saturday we weren`t sure how to watch conference because the closest church is in Sonaguera. What we ended up doing is we went to different investigator`s houses and had them watch conference on their smartphones, and we watched too. It went really well.
On Sunday there was a bus that was supposed to come and bring all the people from Sabà to Sonaguera to see the conference. On the way to come pick us up, the bus broke down. They sent a member with a minivan and we somehow managed to fit almost everyone in. (we couldn`t fit a couple of people, but they were members and said they`d watch at home. My companion and I? We got squished into the trunk and every bump in the road we just about died haha.
Josel, Azaelea and Jorge also went to SOY (something kinda like Youth Conference) in San Pedro this week so we decided to cancel Seminary cause none of the member kids were gonna be there. So that`s the week. Crazy huh?
PS Sorry for typo`s and context errors. If it`s hard to understand maybe I can explain a little better in the mother`s day call.
everythings doing good with the aleman family... They were all sunburned cause they went to the beach in Trujillo. this last week, we visited them a couple times and we watched a part of conference in their house with them... they really enjoyed it. cool new announcements huh? i wasn`t able to see the whole priesthood session, but my companion and I are gonna watch right now after I finish emailing.
I`m doing good! I can`t wait for the mother`s day call either! I honestly don`t know if I`ll finish the mission here, but I sure hope so. I`m really liking it here.
I remember as a new missionary not understanding or being able to say very much, but everybody was fine with it, and din`t expect a ton from me. In contrast, now that I`m an old man missionary who is more Honduran than my companion, everyone expects quite a bit from me haha. Kinda like the Penguins of Madagascar... Smile and wave, boys... Smile and wave.
Yeah, we actully did get permission in this week, so if all goes according to plan, a baptism will happen this week for Suri!
Can`t wait for mother`s day... I gotta check and see if my comp took a lot of pictures this week. We were honestly so beat by the end of this week, I din`t see him pull out the camara too much, but we`ll see.
That`s it for me. I`m gonna go watch conference, but if you guys want to chat (I know it`s super late there) I`m gonna still be online. I love you guys and I hope you have a great week!
-Elder Stoddard
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