July 29, 2013

Howdy-doo, American folk.

Pues. Esta semana. Dònde empiezo? Pues. Primeramente, lo siento por no escribir Sabado. Me imagino que estàn preguntando que pasò. Tuvimos una reuniòn de todas las hermanas en la misiòn hoy y tuvimos que cambiar nuestra Pday para asistir a esta reunión. Entonces, lo siento mucho. No sean preocupados; todo està bien. :)

 

Ok. Back to English. Not sure why that had to be in Spanish, but it did. Anyway. This week was crazy. We saw so many miracles, so many tender mercies, and so much opposition. As with all good weeks, it began with pushing a car up a hill, a miraculous finding, a very angry taxi driver, and a bit of an encounter with the adversary. Nothing like a good Monday. 

So, the car was just a random act of service. The angry taxi driver was trying to rip us off because we´re two gringas (it ended up working; he ended up ripping us off, but it´s better to get ripped off than to make a Honduran extraordinarily angry with you. And let´s face it... he ripped us off of less than $1... I think we did just fine). 

The miraculous find was a family that desperately needed to hear our message; they just lost their almost-3-year-old daughter and were asking if 1. they would ever see their daughter again and 2. if God was punishing them for not going to church by taking away their daughter. We approached their door with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet in hand, and when I began to introduce ourselves and explain that we carried a message of comfort and hope, that families could be together forever, she broke down and cried. We then talked to her for a good long while, and we are now teaching her and her family. In the process, we also met her friend who is a less-active member of the church and we convinced her to go to church this Sunday.  

As for the last event, I will only say this:

When we are in the darkest of moments, when we are in the midst of obscurity, when we are engulfed by the very powers of Hell, we must only remember the light of Christ and we can endure with the hope and assurance of escape. No matter the situation, never forget that good will always triumph over evil, and light will always overcome the dark. You only need a speck of light to dispel and illuminate the darkness. So if you are in a moment of darkness, if you feel the strength of the enemy increase, if you feel the weight of sadness sink down across your shoulders, remember. Remember that the greatest flame begins with a spark. The warmth and comfort will return if only you will fan that speck of a spark. Strike that spark in the darkness and hold on. The light will come.

 

Now for a bit of silliness:

*Hna Tolliver is terrified of mice and rats. We were in the house of an investigator when a little boy came out to play with his pet mice. He held them, stuck them down his shirt, and even let them ride high-and-mighty on his head. I was thoroughly enjoying the little mousey-doodle-doos, but I could tell my compa was horrified, so I informed the little boy that my companion is terrified of rodents, so it would be great if he could put the little guy back in his cage. At this point he asked my comp, "You´re afraid of mice?" She affirmed with enthusiasm that, yes, she had a bit of an aversion to the "horrible little creatures." The little boy promptly plucked the mouse from his head and came walking toward my comp, holding the mouse by the tail, and said, "voy a quitar su miedo!" (I´m going to get rid of your fear), then plopped the mouse on her shoulder. I snatched for the mouse as my companion died a slow and painful death on the couch next to me. I finally got the little guy in my hand and all was well... ish. 

*Concepciòn (the grouchy and adorable 86 year old woman I´m teaching) always makes her grandson, Josuè, pray in our lessons. It´s almost a joke among us... we ask who she´d like to offer the prayer, but everyone knows she´s going to say Josuè. Anyway. We were in a lesson with her and Josuè when Josuè had to go next door for something. We had finished singing and asked the famous question, who would she like to pray. She got a really concerned look on her face, paused for a moment, then out of nowhere yelled, "JOSUÈ!!!!!!!!!!!!!" hahahahhaahhaa. She´s such a funny and crazy lady. I just love her. Sadly the Testigos told her that she´s going to Hell for talking to us, and God will punish her for going to church with us. She was devastated.

 

Ummm. We have to go to another location right now, but I´ll try to write more in like a half hour.

Toodles. Love yáll oodles!

--------------------------

Hna Bayles   

Pues. We had to do some work in the office, so I won{t have time to respond to your emails this week. I´m really sorry about that. But I´ll respond for sure next week. Last thing:

 

In regard to Los Santos de los Últimos Días: No somos santos; estamos buscando la santidad.

 

I love you all oodly-doodlies!!!

Hna Bayles

July 20, 2013

Hola familia!

De hecho, no sé que escribir en esta semana. jaja. 

Eileen, that’s great about Pioneer Day... I forgot it exists here in the land of Honduras. Today’s Lempira day here, which is to say Honduras Day. I think. haha. That’s so funny about Miah Aiono. jajaja. I’ll keep an eye out for him. I’m jealous of your apricots, but if anyone deserves a delicious apricot, it’s you. 

This week the nursing to missionarying ratio has been about 1-3, but usually it’s not so heavy a load. They say they’re sending a replacement for me, which will mean I might not have to be the nurse after all (woohoo!). Thanks for the love and for always writing. Love you tons!

Mumsie, I don’t think I got your Friday letter. I did, however, get your package today! Perks of being in the office... I get stuff wicked faster. Thanks so much! It’s such an awesome package. I absolutely loved it. :) Just so you know, as long as I’m in SPS, I can get just about anything (although it’s a little expensive here), so no worries on the survival account. 

I’m super stoked about Andrew and Kristen’s lil baby-poo! Man, it’ll be weird but awesome getting to know a new little somebody. :)

I really liked that little thing from Pres Larkin. It’s nice to think that it only takes 32 tries. haha. 

Sorry to hear about your health probs. The good thing is you’re getting errthing taken care of. I hope you continue getting better and better. :)

Love you lots, thanks for everything!

 

Pop-a-doodle-doo! We’re having a pretty wicked thunderstorm right now too. I’m writing from the mission office, which is up like 3 stories, so we get to see the whole valley all stormy and such. 

I’m jealous that you got to hang out with the fam and all. I bet it’s so fun seeing everybody changing and staying the same. Love it. 

If your incoming class has any sense, they’ll listen to y’all real good, cause y’all got some knowledge. :) 

It’s always fun when the bishopric changes around. It always causes a little bit of a stir in the ward. That’s one sad thing about us as humans, we have a tendency to be so devoted to our leaders that we sometimes get a little shaken up when things change. Let’s hope that not. 

Tell Spencer hey and congrats for his faithful service. 

Love you lots and thanks for everything!

 

Hope y’all have a great week!

 

Hna Bayles

 

Funny of the day: sometimes people wear t shirts in english that they don’t understand. Today an old man got on the bus wearing a shirt that said, “NANNY IS THE NAME AND SPOILING IS THE GAME” hahahahahahahahaha

July 13, 2013

Hey-a everyone,

Before I get too far, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Carlos and Elise!!!!!!! I meant to include Carlos´ in last week´s email since it was closer to last Saturday than this, but I was a little pressed for time.

 

I don´t remember if I told yáll but my Pres´s name is President Dester (James, I think) and he and his wife are from Highland area. They´re really great people. The other President and his wife (the Kleins) told me that they had been reading my blog before the mission and really were hoping to have me in their mission. And here I thought no one would ever take the time to read my mission blog. hahaha. 

 

Also, before I get going too far, I´d like to announce that I am completely healthy and well! haha. Apparently saying that the nurse is my companion brings up the question of my health, but I´d like to clarify that I am SO abundantly healthy that they´re putting me partially in charge of errbody else´s health. haha. Anyway, that´s what´s up.

 

Also, thank you Andrew and Kristen for that AWESOME package!!!!!!! Made my life. Not just my day. 

 

This week. Welp, this was an interesting week. We only had to go to the hospital twice (once was last pday, so that´s a bummer... haha... bummer... it was for a stool sample. hahahahahahhaa) which was nice. However, it was a rough week of finding new people and we had to leave all of our golden investigators, which is to say all but one of our investigators. Granted, I guess we´ve not permanently left any of them. They´re on probation. We´re leaving them to govern themselves for 1-2 weeks and if they have a mightly change of heart in that time or if they show up to church tomorrow, we´ll take them back, otherwise, we´ve done everything we can for them. Anyway, I absolutely love them, so I want to tell you about them. 

 

First, Sarahí. Sarahí reminds me of a little kitten. She´s 19 years old and loves everything that is cute and little and fluffy and talks in a little squeaky voice. And she kind of looks a little bit like a human kitten. She´s extremely catholic and loves listening to our lessons and coming to church but doesn´t have any desire to be baptized. She tells us she realizes that we´re right and that she needs to do everything we´re talking about, but right now she just doesn´t feel the need to change or do anything. She´s been on strict no-sight no-sound probation, meaning we have practically been hiding from her to see what she does. haha. 

 

Next, Ricardo. Ricardo is a 60-ish year old man who reminds me a lot of Brian (in other words, he´s awesome). He´s got a ton of questions, and it usually takes about an hour to answer them all. He loves talking and he adores us. He always wants us to go to his sister´s house to eat dinner while we teach him, but we usually decline the offer and instead accept a very large glass of juice. He loves punctuality and reads everything we give him, including the entire general conference issue of the Liahona. He has a testimony of the church and has accepted baptism, but has backed down in the last little bit because he doesn´t like feeling pressured. He skipped the first two hours of church last week to watch the tour de france because he wanted to get to know france a little better. haha. He´s best friends with a crazy little old man named Ramón, who´s a recent convert. They both claim that they´re enemies, but then they stay up til 2 in the morning talking and laughing and remembering their 50 years of friendship. hahaha. Crazy old men. 

 

Last one I want to tell you about: Concepción. Concepción is an 86 year old very grumpy woman who can´t really hear. She pretends to be really gruff and ornery (is that how you spell it?), but she´s just a big ol´ softy. She yells at her grandson, then when he isn´t looking she winks at us and chuckles as she looks at him with the most loving look ever. She adores us. She always gives us juice and calls her her hijas. She just smothers us in hugs and kisses. She´s really cute. Last week, we found the testigos in her house. Apparently she´s also receiving lessons from the Jehovah´s witnesses. She says she likes us better and believes our doctrine more fully, but they won´t leave her alone and she´s scared that they´ll judge her for becoming Mormon. Also, she´s scared of her daughter judging her. 

 

Anyway, all´s well. Ummm. Love yáll! 

 

Hna Bayles

before I forget: tell Eileen that elder Aiono is in my mission and he´s a TROUBLE MAKER for us nursing folk hahaha. Poor thing only has 8 weeks in the mission and has already machete-d his hand and currently has Ghiardia (wicked little stomach bug-parasite-bacteria) and e. coli poisoning. Maybe don´t tell his mom that cause I don´t know how much he´s told her about his medical fun... ;) In fact, don´t tell MY mom about that... she´ll probably worry. hahaahahahahahahahahahahahaha. 

 

July 6, 2013 around noon PST

Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2013 12:59:55 -0600
Subject: Subalo subalo subalo! Jan Pedro directo! Arriba por el parque! Vamos al centro, papi!!!

In case you're curious about the subject line, the people who run the buses say things like that. But really fast. And then they grab you and pull you on the bus (unless you're getting off, in which case they `help` you off). This is all of Honduras, not just SPS, but in San Pedro, they leave off the Ss way more and say them as a jota.  

I wish you all could see what I see here in SPS. It is such a beautiful place. 

 I wish you could understand the beauty of the rapidito buses weaving in and out of heavy traffic, people flying all around as they speed through red lights and traffic signs and go flying around corners, going off the ruta to go pick up a little old lady who can't walk very fast, punching it into reverse to pick up another person when there is clearly not even room for a guinea pig in the bus, and all of this is seen at a nice 90 degree angle, because you're standing, and  you're so tall in comparison to this tiny little bus that not just your neck but your entire back is bent into a right angle against the roof as you hover over the people who are sitting in the moldy ripped seats. 

 I wish you could comprehend the streetful grace of the ayudantes (the guys who `help`people on and off the buses) as they go flying out the open door to punch the time card then come leaping back into the moving bus, as they swing out of the door and whistle to the people, telling them which ruta they drive, as they hand babies and little kids to their parents so the parents can get on or off faster. 

I wish you could walk down the (PAVED! :D) streets and hear the pop of the electrical wire that tops the cement walls as the voltage shorts out and resets the circuits, the clang of the porton as you bang the lock against the heavy metal to let the residents know you want to visit them, the distant shout from inside the house, telling you they're ``not home`` and you should leave and not come back, the loud BANG as a feroucious dog tries to eat you as you walk past, but is stopped by the heavy metal gate between you and him.

I wish you could feel the joy of talking to so very many random people as you stop them on the street, as you sit next to them on the bus, as you walk up to their gate. I wish you could see the change in their eyes from the moment you first say hello to the moment you walk away, wishing them a happy afternoon and telling them you'll see them in a couple of days, the softening of their hard exterior shell as their weary and mistrusting heart begins to let you in.

 I wish you could know the pure happiness of playing real-life Frogger as you cross beneath the shadow of a large and beautiful Catholic church.

I wish you sense the energy as we enter the hospital to try to find out what's wrong with this-or-that missionary, and as our amateur guesses come out exactly right.

 

I wish you could know how it feels to be a missionary. It is such a beautiful work. 

 

I wish you could see the change in a person from the first day we meet them to the day they step out of the waters of baptism, clean of their past and excited for their future. I wish you could feel the pride of a 70 year old man, who wasted away a fortune and a lifetime wandering the streets and the back alleys trying to scroung up money for one more drink or one more cigarette, as he fellowships and baptizes his best friend a mere two months after his own baptism. 

I wish you could see the love of a once-hardened rebelious and tough woman as the grace and mercy of years wrinkles her anger and hate into gentleness and kindness. I wish you could see the way she looks at her grandson the moment after she reprimands him, as all of the love and understanding of one who is oh-too-aware of her own imperfections tries to give him a better life.

I wish you could see the humble excitement of a sinner when you tell him there{s yet hope for him, that there is love and mercy and kindness in the world. I wish you could see the look of wonder when you tell him there is a living prophet, and then you hand him the word of that living prophet (conference issue of the Liahona, what a powerful tool). 

I wish you could feel the redemption of a soul as you tell a fallen and forgotten child of God that he will never fall too far, and he will never be forgotten. I wish you could see the way he looks at you, like a friend offering water after years of thirst in an endless drought.

  

I don't know that you'll ever see these things, and even if you did, I don't know if you would feel the way I feel about them, but know that I am forever changed because of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I've only been here a week, and already I'm in love with these people. That is the meaning of a mission, to love your eternal brothers and sisters to such an extent that you want nothing less for them than that which God Himself wants for them, to unite your purpose so fully with God's (Moses 1:39) that you simply cannot accept anything other than eternal life.

Here's hoping that you have a beautiful week and that you can see a bit of eternity in the world and the people around you. I love you all so very much. :)

 

Until next week,

Hermana Maren Bayles

3 Nephi 5:13

 

http://ourhondurasmission.blogspot.com/

 also, the Veirs old blog is veirsblog.blogspot.com

I'm responding to y'alls emails individually (at least a quick couple of lines), but I'll send a bigger email to the main hub (aka dad's email in outlook haha). I'm glad all went well with the move and that things are good down in SoCal. The mission is changing a lot and I love it. Things here are good and I'm loving the life as a missionary. I've met my mission president 3 times now, 2 times for about 5 minutes, one time for about 15. He's a reallly good man and his wife is a great woman. I also got to meet the other president and his wife (because of all this being the nurse business). They{re really great people and they{re going to do amazing things with the east mission, but I have confidence in the fact that my placement in the west mission was inspired; I need this mission presdient. :) President Dester (mi presidente) speaks very decent Spanish and his wife speaks a bit too. They're very excited and very great. Anyway, I hope you have a great day and week (with your new Iphone 5????? hahaha). If you get this right now, I{ll be on the computer for a while b-c we're in the office for pday, so you can send me something back real quick. Love you lots

hna bayles

Houdy Pops!

How's life goin? It sounds like you had a good ol time in California. Dunno if you're still there or if you've gone back home by now, but wherever you are, kiss that good-lookin American soil for me. It's funny how 4th of July in a place like Honduras makes you miss that old red white and blue. hahaha. No worries, I'm not baggie (trunky is I think what they use more in america), I just am learning to appreciate the land of my inheritance, as it were. 

It sounds like L and K's new place will be good. I bet they're excited for a fresh take on things. It's super hard moving a lot (i'm realizing that more and more as I spend more and more time moving every couple of months) but it's always kind of nice having a new place with new faces and new possibilities. 

The work is indeed going well, I am indeed healthy, and I don't know if I could be much happier. It's amazing how things just don{t get you down in the mission. People reject us daily, often to our face. People belittle us, mock us, and make us feel like scum, but somehow I still just love em. Missionaries would be considered clinically crazy if they weren{t called of God to be the way they are. We talk to all sorts of people, we do all sorts of things, and we act all sorts of ways that other people just can't understand or comprehend. I love it so much.

I love you tonsies!

Love

hna Bearchen.

June 29, 2013

Hey-a familia!

Prepare yourselves, cause y{all bout to get some news. So I did in fact have cambios. From one mission to another. haha Surprise! I{m now in the West mission. I{m a lot closer to cambios meetings these days as I{m serving in San Pedro Sula. I{m working in a barrio called primavera and it{s really cool. My area goes all the way up to Cocacola mountain (I don{t know if I ever told you about it, but there{s a trademark mountain here in the city with the words COCA COLA written in sign boards... it looks like the Hollywood sign in LA, but more soda-pop-y and it lights up with red lights at night). It{s been a little different coming to such a big and advanced city after being in Olanchito for so long. It almost feels more like the states here b-c of the technology and all the big buildings and such. It{s a very different feel. VERY different. haha. Sometimes I feel a little like I{m in the book Brave New World or one of those other new world-new society kind of books. There are some very rich and some very poor people here. The very rich sit around in their modern, air-conditioned houses and eat delicious food while pretending that the poor and ugly part of the world doesn{t exist. The rest live in about the same conditions as the people in Olanchito (but more urban houses and conditions) where they have to fight to eat and have all that they need. At first I was a little disgusted with things here; then I realized it was about the same as the USA and I very abruptly how very much I{ve changed since I{ve got here. Things that were once completely normal in my life back home are now foreign and unnecesary to me. Hot water (or for that matter, running water), dependable energy, air conditioning, washing machines... all these things that these super rich people have were once [necesities[ in my life... now they seem so meaningless and unimportant. I kind of miss the fields and animals of Olanchito, the humble mudhuts, the small cement rooms, sitting on tidy dirt floors and tree roots, having chickens peck at my legs during lessons, having pigs come and sit on my feet, having everyone in town know who I am, what I{m doing, and everything else about me. When you go from somewhere so rural and so humble to somewhere so urban and so advanced, it kind of puts things in perspective as to what{s important in life. I{m super excited to serve here in SPS, but it will be a definite transition.

For one thing, we walked for HOURS everyday in Olanchito. Here we will still end up walking a TON, but we can also take buses, and every night we go home in taxi. For another, there are stores with pretty much anything you could want or need. There are tons of people, but they{re not quite as friendly. The roads are all paved (or at least cobble-stoned-ish... i guess they{re more like cement blocks). I dunno, there are tons of things different here. 

One thing that{s especially different is that I{m kind of an office hermana sometimes. What I mean by that is that I{m in the office every monday until like 2 in the afternoon I think because... well, my companion is the mission nurse and... I{m kind of in training to take over for her. So... that{s new. That{s why I{m writing today, because us office folk have pday on Saturday. Weird, I know. Anyway, I get to decide at the end of my time being [trained[ whether I want to take over as nurse or not. I don{t know that I really want to do it, but we{ll see what happens. My compa is Hna Tolliver from Pennsylvania. 

Our new mission president arrived two days ago and they seem great. Us nurse-like-people had meetings with him and his wife and other office people all afternoon yesterday, and with nursing calls and worries we don{t always get to do everything we want to as far as prosyliting goes, but it{s fun, and Hna Tolliver is great, so that{s always chill. 

Our baptism with Edil fell through last Sunday, but I know he{ll get baptized in these coming weeks. I{m just sad I won{t get to see it. It seems like my very favorite converts always have to get baptized the week after I leaave the area. Oh well. Oh! That reminds me: every single one of my previous comps is in the other mission. haha Horrible, right? I won{t even get to see them at change meetings anymore. The awesome thing, though, is that all of my future comps will be in THIS mission, so that{s something to be happy about. hahahahaha. Um I{m gonna end here for now so I can send a pic or two. Love y{all tons! Pray for success in my area. :)

Lots and lots of lovesies,

Hna Bayles

 

I{ll write more if I{ve still got time after sending pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 18, 2013

Hey-a family!

So, I´m sorry I didn´t write yesterday. I was in San Pedro. De hecho, I went to San Pedro Sunday in the afternoon (because it´s a 7 hour bus ride if you take the direct bus, which consists of an old beat up school bus if you´ll recall haha) and stayed in the BEAUTIFUL apartment of the mission nurse, Hna Tolliver. She´s a super great missionary and a super awesome person. :) Monday we had a Pday de hermanas because it was the last pday before the mission splits, and we were saying goodbye to all of our cute hermana friends and Pres and hna Veirs. Sad, but very very fun. The entire mission is going to the change meeting next Wednesday because it´s Pres and Hna Veirs´ last change meeting and it´s also the official split of the mission, which means we get to make the same horrible bus ride again next week. Woohoo. We´re the hermanas farthest away from SPS in the whole mission. That´s some kind of trust God and President have to send us so very far away. The funny thing for me is that I went from one side of the mission (my area in Puerto Cortes went all the way to Guatemala) to the other extreme (at least as far as Hermanas go). Anyway, the bus wasn´t fun, but no importa. I can´t read in buses, and the whole motion sickness thing is even more likely when the bus is jam-packed with people all crowded around you (standing, sitting, whatever) and there´s no air (AC in buses, you kiddin me?), but todo salió muy bien. We even got to cross a few rivers in the bus. Three of them were only rivers because of the rain (they´re usually streets) and the other is always a river. You´ve gotta love off-roading in a Honduran school bus!

Next, two things: HAPPY FATHER´S DAY, POPADOODLEDOO! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIE!!! Woohoooooooo! I hope you have super dooper days. :) I would have sent you cards, but let´s just face it, pretty much anything I send takes 2 months to get there (minimum) and that´s IF it get´s there, which has been more and more of a problem lately. haha. 

We only got permission to write just a little bit so you all would know we´re ok. So here goes: hey guys! I´m ok! haha. I´m actually doing super great. We´re having a really good time here in Olanchito and I like to think we´re changing lives. I absolutely love HOnduras, and what´s more important, I absolutely love the people here. Also, we had a baptism this last Saturday, so that was really great. :) Anyway, I´ve gotta go predicar now, so I´ll talk to yáll next week! Love you all lots and lots!

 

Lots of Love,

Hna B

 

p.s. thanks for your work on my mission blog. I met a brand new sister yesterday (hna Davies from Utah) and when I was like, ¨hey mucho gusto. Soy hna Bayles,¨ she was like, ¨I know... I read your mission blog. It totally helped me prepare for Honduras.¨ hahaha Cheers for that.