[from April 4, 2017]
Sorry about not being able to send this yesterday. Crummy computers, but I'm sending this from the stake family history center because I have district meeting today. It's a place where the computers work... But nobody ever uses them hahaha.
Hope everythings going well in France!
Eating at the Embassy sounds fun. There's probably all kinds of American food there huh? Something kinda weird about Hondurans is that they get their knickers in a twist if I say I am American. They start to say we're all American! So I always say I'm from the united states.
I have been out for quite a while... Today I'm completing 8 months as a missionary woohoo!
Anyways.... Honduras is going great, and I think this week we ARE going to see some baptisms. But what's crazy is that baptisms aren't the goal of missionaries. The goal of missionaries is to convert people. To be converted means you have a testimony for yourself that the church is true. So... You can be baptized but still not converted. Missionaries teach all types of people, even people who have been baptised a long time to help them to become converted to the gospel. So missionaries do a lot more than just baptize people, but it IS very very cool to help someone to make that huge step to be baptized. I hope that makes a little sense.
Our area is pretty much mountains and beach... there´s no in the middle. Either you can walk in the sand or up or down a mountain. Pretty cool actually, but we do get tired sometimes. Elder Reyes and I get along pretty great, he´s a good companion. He hurt his leg playing soccer and so in the mountains these last couple days we´ve been a little slower than usual.
The people that stood out that se taught this week were the people that we are hopefully going to baptize this Saturday (we hope/pray). One is named Aylin and lives literally on the beach (she´s garifuna) and Keidy who lives about as far up the mountain as you can get. Pretty crazy having a Keidy visit directly after an Aylin or an Aylin directly after a Keidy. Lots of walking, but it´s really good that they´re progressing like this.
Nelda and Jesus are doing really good. The only things they have to work hard on are like sometimes they´ll say weird things in church that don´t make any sense unless you´ve been a member a long time. Milk before the Meat right? Just stuff like that that I think converts anywhere have to get used to.
As far as conference goes... it was so much better to watch it this time cause I actually was able to understand it this time! My last one was in September and I remember trying so hard not to sleep cause I couldn´t understand a thing they were saying until I got to watch priesthood session in English. This time I was able to appreciate all the talks.
In my mission there´s a slang word thats used super commonly between missionaries: "machete." It´s used basically whenever there´s a good talk or zone conference or basically anything in the church. A good lesson with an investigator can be a machete just as much as President can machete you in an interview with a good scripture.
With that being said I want to point out some of the biggest machetes of this last conference (at least for me haha). The talks I thought were machetes in time order
1.) Cordon- talked a bit about how we need to practice the gospel language
2.) Causse- A frenchie...liked his story about his boss promoting him because of his values.
3.) Uchtdorf- I liked especially one thing he said he who is the best of us is our servant... or something to that affect
4.) Eyring- Our calling as priesthood holders is to walk with him but in his way.
5.) Christofferson- this hit me like a brick because I had read that watchmen scripture that morning and thought it was pretty cool. We´ve got a responsability to blow that trump (as in trumpet not our president)
6.) Costa- we had an investigator there and this talk hit him pretty hard. awesome machete for an investigator and for a missionary too I suppose. It hit me hard cause it hit my investigator (Abner) hard.
7.) Palmer- I think this was my favorite talk of the conference... how we should look at others as christ does. A great big machete. A machetezilla if you will.
Ranking order: Palmer Cordon Christofferson Costa Causse Uchtdorf Eyring.
I love you guys
Elder Stoddard
Monday, August 7, 2017
Adaptation
[from March 27, 2017]
Things are still going really well. Elder Reyes is really good, every companion is super different, and it´s always a kinda funny feeling working 24\7 with someone new. He´s a really good guy and super obedient. I´ll admit Elder Santillana and I were a little sad when we found out he had emergency changes, but really I lucked out again with Elder Reyes, a very good missionary. We´re getting along really well and working really hard.
The thing is there are large sections of the area that I´m still not super familiar with, and it´s a little hard because Elder Santillana had six months here when I got here. My last area I never had any trouble cause it was super small. But yeah Working with Elder Reyes is going very well.
Yeah, its a little warm here. I can´t believe you guys are still in coats and scarves. I haven´t forgotten what its like to be cold... but it´s been a very long time since I´ve been cold. I can´t really say I miss it either, but what I DO miss is the A\C. But even power that didn´t go out would be pretty cool. When the fans come on it really is a beautiful thing.
I don´t think anythings going to happen with those young girls, we´ll still work hard with them, but their mom is a little hesitant to let us visit. We do however, have a young single mother who is probably going to be baptized soon.
I´ll tell you the truth, translating is super super hard. When I do it, my english sounds pretty stupid too... It´s almost like English is just as much as a second language as Spanish is. I definately need more practice trying to find english words that make sense haha...
One time with my old companion we were working in the municipal government building to get some papers through and a kinda kooky american guy walked in and started talking to Elder Santillana in English and he couldn´t really respond cause he doesn´t really speak english, olny what I had taught him...but I thought it was very weird that he started talking to Elder Santillana who didn´t speak english instead of the obviusly white guy standing next to him.
I´m glad we´ve always had the church to be a calm constant thing in our lives, especially with you guys having some kinda funny moves recently.
I´m thinking about you guys a lot. I´m really glad you guys are enjoying yourselves there... try your best to take everything in because I don´t know if you´re gonna get to have many more experiences there in France after this... and when you talk to american people everybody there´s gonna ask you how it was.
I am really grateful to have you guys as a family who always write me...I´m a little prideful when I show people the pictures of my family. I know there are a lot of people (and missionaries) who don´t have that.
Anyways I love you guys and have an excellent week.
Elder Stoddard
Things are still going really well. Elder Reyes is really good, every companion is super different, and it´s always a kinda funny feeling working 24\7 with someone new. He´s a really good guy and super obedient. I´ll admit Elder Santillana and I were a little sad when we found out he had emergency changes, but really I lucked out again with Elder Reyes, a very good missionary. We´re getting along really well and working really hard.
The thing is there are large sections of the area that I´m still not super familiar with, and it´s a little hard because Elder Santillana had six months here when I got here. My last area I never had any trouble cause it was super small. But yeah Working with Elder Reyes is going very well.
Yeah, its a little warm here. I can´t believe you guys are still in coats and scarves. I haven´t forgotten what its like to be cold... but it´s been a very long time since I´ve been cold. I can´t really say I miss it either, but what I DO miss is the A\C. But even power that didn´t go out would be pretty cool. When the fans come on it really is a beautiful thing.
I don´t think anythings going to happen with those young girls, we´ll still work hard with them, but their mom is a little hesitant to let us visit. We do however, have a young single mother who is probably going to be baptized soon.
I´ll tell you the truth, translating is super super hard. When I do it, my english sounds pretty stupid too... It´s almost like English is just as much as a second language as Spanish is. I definately need more practice trying to find english words that make sense haha...
One time with my old companion we were working in the municipal government building to get some papers through and a kinda kooky american guy walked in and started talking to Elder Santillana in English and he couldn´t really respond cause he doesn´t really speak english, olny what I had taught him...but I thought it was very weird that he started talking to Elder Santillana who didn´t speak english instead of the obviusly white guy standing next to him.
I´m glad we´ve always had the church to be a calm constant thing in our lives, especially with you guys having some kinda funny moves recently.
I´m thinking about you guys a lot. I´m really glad you guys are enjoying yourselves there... try your best to take everything in because I don´t know if you´re gonna get to have many more experiences there in France after this... and when you talk to american people everybody there´s gonna ask you how it was.
I am really grateful to have you guys as a family who always write me...I´m a little prideful when I show people the pictures of my family. I know there are a lot of people (and missionaries) who don´t have that.
Anyways I love you guys and have an excellent week.
Elder Stoddard
Appreciating Weirdness
[from March 20, 2017]
I had a great week. Things here are all going good.
As far as the young girls go... Not a whole lot of progress with their mom... We'll see what happens there.
Nelda and Jesus are both doing very well, and they're both really active in the church (even though they're having some trouble adjusting to mormón culture). Basically if we're ever without lunch and super hungry we'll call them for a huge meal. This last week with them we ate something weird that actually wasn't too bad (heart and tongue) with them. Pumpkin spaghetti sounds pretty weird too. Sometimes I think Honduras eat some pretty weird stuff and then I remember people eat octopus in Japan.
I didn't bring my camera around with me this week because almost every day this week we went to parts of our area where things get taken. This week I'll make a new effort to take more photos... But no promises haha.
Oh in other news my companion had emergency changes so he's gonna be leaving the area and I'm gonna be getting a new companion (Elder Reyes) it's cause a couple Honduras who were waiting on visas finally get to go to their real missions.
You know it's funny you asked about if I'd ever had to translate anything. it's actually so so hard to translate. one of the things that starts to happen is your English starts sounding really funny, like a guy who just recently learned english, but it's because your translating from another language and the things they say don't make as much sense in English. i've translated in church before and that's really not that big of a deal. Because if you mess up the only person that's gonna know is you and maybe the American guy you're translating for. What's really stressful is when I translated for the mission presidents wife in a zone conference (because I'm the only gringo in my zone).
You guys are really enjoying that French food huh? Did you know that in el salvador they make French bread too?
Yes we burned a scorpion and this week we burned a venomous looking spider. Those things aren't super common, but what is really common are lizards and frogs. One time we went to a park and there were some Americans there freaking out about how there were lizards. My companion was a little weirded out he said "it's like me going to America and seeing a squirrel and freaking out"
The laws here are kinda weird. There are two types of cops here the National police and the municipal police. The National police are almost a military force with ak47s trucks riot gear... Municipal police you really don't pay any attention to. And the motorcycle thing [the highly-enforced prohibition against two riders] is only for Two adult men... ive seen whole families riding on the back from a single motorcycle.
People here who smoke will buy 1 cigarette from the pulperia and take one puff and share it with there buddies. I think it's pretty rare to find somebody here with the type of cash to smoke "a pack a day" like an American or French chain smoker.
french people sound weird with clowns and mimes and stuff. I think one of the mistakes a lot of travelers make is that they want things to be familiar and don't really want to experience things in the way that they do in other places. I'm really glad you guys are doing all you can to enjoy the French culture no matter how weird and strange it is.
There are lots of weird things that go on, but the truth is by the time it gets to be Monday I forget lot of them.
I love you guys
elder stoddard
I had a great week. Things here are all going good.
As far as the young girls go... Not a whole lot of progress with their mom... We'll see what happens there.
Nelda and Jesus are both doing very well, and they're both really active in the church (even though they're having some trouble adjusting to mormón culture). Basically if we're ever without lunch and super hungry we'll call them for a huge meal. This last week with them we ate something weird that actually wasn't too bad (heart and tongue) with them. Pumpkin spaghetti sounds pretty weird too. Sometimes I think Honduras eat some pretty weird stuff and then I remember people eat octopus in Japan.
I didn't bring my camera around with me this week because almost every day this week we went to parts of our area where things get taken. This week I'll make a new effort to take more photos... But no promises haha.
Oh in other news my companion had emergency changes so he's gonna be leaving the area and I'm gonna be getting a new companion (Elder Reyes) it's cause a couple Honduras who were waiting on visas finally get to go to their real missions.
You know it's funny you asked about if I'd ever had to translate anything. it's actually so so hard to translate. one of the things that starts to happen is your English starts sounding really funny, like a guy who just recently learned english, but it's because your translating from another language and the things they say don't make as much sense in English. i've translated in church before and that's really not that big of a deal. Because if you mess up the only person that's gonna know is you and maybe the American guy you're translating for. What's really stressful is when I translated for the mission presidents wife in a zone conference (because I'm the only gringo in my zone).
You guys are really enjoying that French food huh? Did you know that in el salvador they make French bread too?
Yes we burned a scorpion and this week we burned a venomous looking spider. Those things aren't super common, but what is really common are lizards and frogs. One time we went to a park and there were some Americans there freaking out about how there were lizards. My companion was a little weirded out he said "it's like me going to America and seeing a squirrel and freaking out"
The laws here are kinda weird. There are two types of cops here the National police and the municipal police. The National police are almost a military force with ak47s trucks riot gear... Municipal police you really don't pay any attention to. And the motorcycle thing [the highly-enforced prohibition against two riders] is only for Two adult men... ive seen whole families riding on the back from a single motorcycle.
People here who smoke will buy 1 cigarette from the pulperia and take one puff and share it with there buddies. I think it's pretty rare to find somebody here with the type of cash to smoke "a pack a day" like an American or French chain smoker.
french people sound weird with clowns and mimes and stuff. I think one of the mistakes a lot of travelers make is that they want things to be familiar and don't really want to experience things in the way that they do in other places. I'm really glad you guys are doing all you can to enjoy the French culture no matter how weird and strange it is.
There are lots of weird things that go on, but the truth is by the time it gets to be Monday I forget lot of them.
I love you guys
elder stoddard
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