P-Day Video

Here is a video from Christian about "P(reparation) Day".

Translated transcript:

E. Chagas: Ah comp, how tired I am! I need a vacation.

Christian: Comp.

E. Chagas: What?

Christian: Look. Today ... is P-Day.

E. Chagas: Seriously?

Christian: Yeah!

<indistinguishable roars of delight> 

Building a Branch (2/26)

[from Febraury 26, 2018]

Hey family! My companion is way better at taking pictures than me, so I have lots to send this week! I`m gonna send them in the chat with dad though, cause it`s faster loading for some reason...

A photo of my district. Last Monday we climbed a mountain.
2 gringos, an Argentinian, a Uruguayan, an Ecuadorian, & a Panamanian

Yeah the sudden change turned out way better than I thought it would. I did feel way better after the interview, and I honestly really do like the area. I might finish the mission here, which is kinda weird to think. 

The extension is really good and I like it lots. It`s nice to be a smaller group... We have to talk in church and teach the lessons. It`s really fun! And we do it in such a way that everybody feels comfortable sharing a little bit in sacrament meeting if we ask them to. I don`t knock on doors as much anymore. I usually talk to anyone I see thats outside on their porch or doing something outside their house. It`s nice cause there`s nowhere to go, and actually lots of times they listen to our message. We don`t have a piano or a bishop.  Actually it might be a good idea to download some piano music to use at church on sunday. Thanks for the idea!

My companion and I made a chair tower in our house... I sent a picture on the chat with dad! 

Companionship Study.
The church is our house, so we have a lot of chairs.

Yeah, I`m feeling really good about this change to be honest. I really like this area and this comp. (Kinda like you guys right now) I felt sad to leave good stuff where I was for better stuff where I was going to go. Pulperias are everywhere in Honduras. I don`t know if there`s a place in Honduras where there aren`t pulperias. The only thing that`s different is the lunches and dinners that we eat. There`s lots of green banana and rice. Not a lot of meat. Thank goodness baleadas exist everywhere! It`s really cool here because we do just about everything on Sundays and just about everyone is an investigator. Pretty cool huh? I`ve never been in a branch and much less an extencion but I`m really liking it. There are good and bad things about everywhere. I love Sabà but I`m not a fan of the green banana for every meal (for example ahah).  

If everything goes according to plan with baptisms in these next couple weeks we`ll have enough priesthood holders to make it a branch here. (We still need 2 more). I really do love my district here. They`re a bunch of really good guys and they`re putting out a lot of good work instaed of causing problems ahaha. Yeah it`s way better writing here, even though the computers are super old! 

I love you guys all a ton...I hope you have an excellent week!

Elder Stoddard

Not a Ward, Not a Branch ... an "Extension" (2/19)

[from February 19, 2018]

Hey guys! Wow I have a lot to fill you guys in on! This last week was kinda nuts. So on Monday I let you guys know I had emergency changes, and I was still really suprised when I wrote. The next day I had interviews with President Carlisle and it went really well. He told me more or less how things were in this area, but he also said that he had had this area in mind for me for a while. It`s really small. Well, the area`s big but it`s an area where the church just recently entered into. There are just two member families, and previously they had to travel about 45 minutes to attend church in Sonaguera (a nearby town) where there is a tiny chapel. So it`s pretty small, it isn`t technically a branch here yet, because we still need two more melchezidek priesthood holders for it to be a branch- So technically it`s still considered an extension of the Sonaguera ward. This is the only area like this in the mission- where it`s an extension, and where the missionary apartment also serves as the church building. It`s an intersting experience and I think it`s different than anything I would be able to experience otherwise. It`s really cool to be somewhere where the church hasn`t been yet. Like I told dad, my companion is from Uruguay and he has a way thick accent. It`s funny when investigators ask me what he said. He`s the only companion I`ve had that`s taller than me, and we get along great. I was sad to leave behind Elder Asturias, but I wasn`t sad to leave behind that district. The other missionarys were being bad and stressing me out. Here my district is full of cool guys who are working hard and doing good stuff. Today we climbed a mountain together and it was really fun to hang out with them. When my comp gets together with the Argentino in the district they go nuts with their slang from that part of the world. But no, we`re working really hard. This last week we had a ton of new contacts and some look really promising. We`re also the only guys with permission to write every monday in an internet cafe.

yeah, i was a little bit still suprised when i emailed last week. i told you a little about sabà earlier. it`s way different than anywhere else in this mission. the church is so new here.

On wednesday I traveled all day to get here. I got here about six at night and nobody was at the bus stop waiting for me. To be honest I was kinda nervous to be alone with all my bags and stuff. I started talking to a guy at the bus stop and I called the ap`s who told gave me the number of the Sonaguera missionaries who were supposed to be waiting for me with my new companion. They told me they were in Sonaguera waiting for me. So I got on another bus, went to Sonaguera still alone. I got to the bus stop in Sonaguera and still nobody was there. I borrowed another phone and called Sonaguera who told me they had got to visit there close while they waited for the bus. It was a crazy day. My companion is awesome. He`s always smiling and laughing. We get along really well. He doesn`t have a lot of time in the mission, but he works really hard and teaches good. Thanks for praying for us, I think this change has gone way better than I thought it would.

I think Heavenly Father had a plan for sending me here. I want to do the best I can to get the ball rolling here in Sabà.  

I would love to go to spain, i think it would be a really good experience and give me a chance to use some spanish. 

All good here, I`m in a new place, but I`m really happy. 

Love you guys! Have a good week!
Elder Stoddard