Faja,
Your trip sounds fun and awesome. I bet it wsa great seeing
everybody. We´ve pretty much got the best familia en the world. I´m glad you
didn´t let Arie get hit in the head by anything hard haha. That is one precious
noggin. Gotta take care of it. I bet A and K´s patio is awesome, mostly becasue
I know that A and K are awesome, but also because I know they do awesome stuff.
I´m glad you got great up to school safe and sound, and that he´s got this time
to enjoy Provo in its glory season.
I wanna see pictures of Ellie (both of them, really, but
especially human Ellie). Also, say hello to Grandma and Grandpa for me and wish
Grandpa a happy birthdya if you will. ;)
Arie is a great kid. I´m a little sad that I´m missing the
last years of her childhood. Frankly it terrifies me to think that she´ll be
entering young women´s when I get back. Where does the time go?
I liked your story. Is it something you wrote, or something
you read? I always love thinking about the pioneers. I think people forget
sometimes how much we should be willing to sacrifice for Lord. Christ suffered
ALL manner of afflictions so we can have eternal life, and when we have to
suffer through even just a small affliction, we decide that it´s too much to
bear and we give up. If we could all just be a little more pioineery in our
faith and endurance, we would be giants in spirit and character. Wicked. Hey,
before I forget, ask Ari if you want to read about my favorite lesson to teach
and Honduran quirks, also about my tan forehead (I got permission from my
mission Pres to write her, and that´s part of what I wrote her this
week).
Also, you´ll be happy to hear that every single dog here is
either named ¨Bobby¨ or ¨Doggy.¨ It´s a funny place, Honduras.
Love you oodly doodly doos!
Eileen,
I met a 93 year old man last week. Believe me, you´re not
old. hahaha. But seriously, of all the 68 year-olds I know, you´re the youngest
(and coolest).
That´s so cool that you are listening to my mom´s CD. She´s
got a great voice, and I´m sure the family is extremely proud of her (I know I
am). I´m so excited for the day when I get to meet Grandma Ellis and take a
walk with Grandpa Ellis. I dunno, I´ve always felt a strong bond to them, and I
hardly even know them. I´ve decided that´s the injustice of being the youngest.
I had to say goodbye one by one to all of my loved ones in the pre-existence,
then sit around and watch them all have a jolly-good time together. Then, as
soon as I make it to the party, I have to start saying goodbye to them again.
Of all my siblings, I get the least amount of time with the family. First,
because everybody left me solo in the pre-existence, and second because I can
never catch up to them in years they´ve spent with the family. It´s completely
unfair, I´ve decided. hahaha. The good thing is, I´ve got forever to spend with
them. :)
Your cat story is funny. We have a random black cat that
likes to cross our path. No wonder we´ve been having bad luck. hahaha.
Sometimes it just sits in front of our door, waiting for us to come home so it
can cross in front of us.
I´m glad you got to see everybody and that you had a happy
birthday. Also that you have your favorite picture of me. I´m trying to think
of which would be my favorite picture and I´ve got nothing. haha.
I love the Lorenzo Snow manual. I´ve been trying to get my
hands on a copy in English, but seeing as I can´t even get my hands on a
Spanish copy, I think I´ll just have to find one when I get back. He´s a very
wise man (as are all the prophets). I suppose that´s what happens when you walk
and talk with God.
Love you like cake with sprinkles!
Mumsie,
That´s great that you got to spend time with Arie and
Gwogurdy. It always stinks having to say goodbye, but you´ll get to see them
again soon. :) No worries. Although I still think it´s unjust that I get the
least time with you and faja (if you´re confused at this point, refer to
Eileen´s bit).
Olanchito. Sometimes I call it Olanchiters
(Oh-laaaaan-cheeters). It just seems right. haha. I love Olanchito, but I have
officially decided that I cannot ever live in a small town. You know it´s bad
when you know where to take a bigger step in the road because you know the
potholes and rocks perfectly. I walk down this one certain road at least 5
times a day. I need a new road. haha. The good thing is lots of cool people
live on that road, and it´s the road to Rubi´s, the most magical bakery in the
whole world. Bakeries don´t usually exist in Honduras, except in Olanchito,
where Parowan took over Honduras. The woman who bakes everything is named Luz.
She loves us. If you want to talk about lighting up Olanchito, we´ll just talk
about Luz. Yes, her name means Light. Yes, her life work is the light of
Olanchito. Baked goods. Yes.
But the gospel is also good. haha. Most people here are very
closed off to hearing the gospel. It´s actually been a very difficult area to
open. It´s heavy work opening an area, I´ll tell you that. BUT. Every morning
we put on our shoes and we walk until we don´t want to take another step. Then
we take a thousand more. We talk until we can´t say another word. Then we open
our mouths and let the Spirit take a turn. We do all we can until we´ve given
all we´ve got. Then we give a little more. That´s the spirit of missionary
work.
I´m amazed every day by how good the members of the Church
really are.
The majority of the people here are very open about Christ.
They speak of Him, they preach of Him, they advertise Him on every bus and
every taxi. But the problem is (to borrow a phrase from Christ Himself): with
their lips they do honor Him, but their hearts are far from Him. Yes, they´ll
talk to you about Christ for hours on end, but ask them to come to church for
one hour, and where is their faith? Bound up in ¨I´m-too-tireds¨ and
¨but-my-head-hurts¨ and ¨I-need-to-cook-lunch¨. Ask them to change their lives
and where is their devotion? Caught up in ¨I don´t need to change¨ and ¨I have
my own religion (but I don´t even go to my own church).¨ The problem with the
world is that people are willing to believe, but they don´t have real faith.
You can believe all day and never have a grain of faith, because faith leads to
action and change. The people know about Christ. The people speak about Christ.
But they won´t act for Him, so they can´t love Him. I don´t have much more
time, so I´m just going to add bullet points, but I love you tons and tons!
*chickens here live in trees, not in chicken huts.
*Momosa trees exist here and they´re HUGE
*HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGARET!
*HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LAUREN AND KIRK (Kirk, you´ve officially
been in my life longer than you haven´t. I´m the only family member that can
say that. haha).
*Aundi: if you watch the church film, Mountain of the Lord
in Spanish, you will have the incomparable pleasure of hearing Spanish spoken
with a Scottish accent. Cheers.
*There was a parade for carnival. There was a giant Iguana
float. It was crazy. No one was home.
Gotta go! Love you all.
Hna Bayles
Fun fact: puzzles here are called rompa-cabezas. (head
breakers, essentially).
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