April 15 2013 - Watercolors mixed with dirt

I doodled a picture with watercolor pencils this morning. I´ll send it as an attachment. It´s funny how paintings never turns out exactly how you plan, but often the result is better than the initial dream (and even if it´s not, at least it´s got character).  I feel a little bit like I´ve got vertigo here, not knowing what season it is in the rest of the world. I forget sometimes that the world does not live in eternal summer. 

For Eileen:  My most recent water color (haha.  It's a doodle I
drew this morning with watercolor pencils)

That´s cool about the families at the Youth Center. The more time I spend away from the temple, the more profoundly I miss it. It´s amazing what an influence the temple can have; I just ache and ache to go to the temple.

Thanks for sending the package! :) I´m pretty far away from San Pedro right now, so we don´t really have good contact with them. I don´t know if I´ll get it too soon, but I´ll be excited for it when it comes. :) I´m glad to hear the work is still booming. 

I was reading in DyC the other day and I came across 34:6 and 75:4 where the Lord talks about His servants declaring the word with the sound of a trumpet. It´s something that´s been picking at my mind, and the more I think about it, the more I think about the signs of the times. At the time of the revelation in those scriptures, there were very few missionaries in the world, so even when they ´sounded the trumps´of the gospel by preaching the word, not many people heard. It was like a mouse tooting a thimble-sized horn in the world perspective. However, as more and more voices join the chorus and more and more servants embark to declare the gospel, the more the sound of trumps fills the earth and the more this work becomes impossible to ignore. The scriptures say that before the coming of the Lord, the whole earth will hear a sounding of trumpets. While I have absolutely no problem with that being a literal prophecy, I can´t help but wonder with the increasing number of missionaries if the sounding of trumpets is not the proclamation of the gospel in these latter days. This work is no longer the ignorable squeak of a circus mouse, it is a chorus of trumpets sounding across the land as the servants of the Lord press ever-onward in sharing His gospel, and I can´t help but think that the time is not too distant when we will confess that He is Lord as we kneel before Him. This is only the gospel according to Sister Bayles, but perhaps it´s food for thought.

Best of luck with visiting teaching. It´s soooo important. I know that even more now that I´m a missionary. If people would be good visiting teachers, I would hardly have work reactivating inactives (but alas, that is not the case). I´ll talk more about my area later.

My place of residence is super nice. The people are great. There are cowboys and burros and yes there are members, but there are tons and tons of inactives. This little rama (branch) could almost be it´s own STAKE if all the members were reactivated. Holy Cow we´ve got work to do. The good thing is we got 4 inactive families to go to church this sunday, and 3 of them are helping us with missionary work. It´s amazing how excited people get about the gospel when they feel like they have a purpose. Also, it´s nicefor us because we don´t know anybody here. haha. There are tons of mountains, and quite a bit of campo, but not tooooo much jungle (it´s at the foot of the mountain). My area boundaries are the everything below the church all the way to the mountains (aka as far as the eye can see, 3 hours away). 

I´m not entirely sure how much longer these babies will last
(and they are the best pair of shoes I´ve got hahaa)

It´s weird speaking English and I can tell it´s going to be rough getting much better at Spanish, but I´m going to work at it. ´good enough´isn´t good enough for me.  Hna. Blanco is almost the same person as me, but also not at all. We get to work with the other Hermanas on a daily basis as we tag-team eating all of the food that Hna. Cano cooks for us (we pay her and she feeds us delicious food with lots of rice. It´s pretty awesome). Also, Hna. Archila tells me that cockroaches are going to crawl into my ear at night and lay eggs. We´re really good friends. She´s 25 and a judge. Hna. Lopez is a little bit like very strong minty gum. Clears your senses and overpowers you all at once. She´s awesome. We´re also really good friends. 

When you get a chance, you should totally listen to the other conferences; they were all awesome. Seriously.

I bet your Marriage class is like the best in the world. It´s crazy how you don´t realize how important marriage is until you live in a place where marriage hardly exists. It´s also humbling to realize that marriage is so much more than a ´contract.´ There are people here who have been together for 50 years without ever getting legally married. While it is unacceptable and devastating to see people live in such serious sin, it is also a bit of an eye-opener in that those people are staying together because of their level of devotion, not just because a piece of paper tells them they have to. The secret is getting both the paper and the devotion (plus an eternal sealing somewhere in there!) haha.  

I bet it´s great having Greg home, and it´ll be awesome to hang out with Arie. :) 

Those are cool scriptures, thanks. :)  It´s just about the best wisdom a person can have, to doubt not and fear not. Basically the answer is faith. :) I´m going to write more about my area and life later on, but I love you forever (I´ll like you for always... laalla my mother you´ll be). :)

I am indeed healthy and well and enjoying my new area. I do miss the beach, but I like seeing the mountains, and I like all the dirt here. There´s lots of it. I walk on it. All day. Thanks for the advice about the 2nd comp business. I don´t quite think that´ll be a problem for me. I love Hna. Espinoza, but it wasn´t as sad as I thought it should be to say ta-ta. Hna. Blanco and I will enjoy our time together, I think. I don´t really follow humbly very well, but we´re tag-teaming it, and that seems just fine. haha. I´ll work on the humble bit.  

I´m glad Debbie is happy with her calling and all the work she´s doing. Tell her to be sure to take care of herself in the middle of all of that. Missionary work is great, but the first rule of life guards is save yourself. I think that´s generally a good rule of thumb.  

That´s so cool that you have baptisms in your ward this week! Make friends with them and hang out with them all the time so they stay active in the church. It´s amazing how sometimes the members just watch as the new converts start drowning in a sea of inactivity. (ocean metaphors, I know). 

I´m jealous you get to see Arie. And that you get to go to Utah. And see other familiares. I don´t thinktahtñs a word in English, but it´s the perfect word, so it´s what <i´m using. :) I hope she´ll do alright being aways from home that long. It´s weird being away from parents for a long time, especially as a little kid. You´re right, Freud would be having a hayday. hahaha. 

I´m not really sure what´s going to happen with the mother´s day call. We´ll look into that. We write from an internet cafe, so idk if we can skype or not. We´ll see, I s´pose. 

I´m going to write the rest below, but I loves you Porgie! (For some reason George Gershwin just came to mind. Listen to a little jazz for me this week). 

 

Things in the life of Hna. Bayles:

People in Puerto could more or less say my name. People here call me Hna. Bay (Bye) or Hna. Bayles (bwaiiiiiiiii-lessssss). It´s great fun. Sometimes they also call me Hna. Negro (because it´s ironic... because I´m so white... and my comp´s name is Blanco...).  Olanchito reminds me so so so so SO much of Parowan Utah. It´s amazing how very different it is from Puerto. The good: people hit things a lot less (children, animals, etc.), people move a lot slower, everybody knows everybody. The bad: people gossip SO much, there are hardly ever people around, and it is WAY obvious if you´re new in town-a stranger. haha. But the people are really nice and the area is lovely. Also, it´s very safe. 

I think of Lauren every time I go to the house of family Navarro (which family successfully comprises 1-3 of the ward... there are seriously like 30 people in that house) because they have 2 piggies who love to oink at me (and as I mentioned last week, snout my leg with mud). 

We learned about food storage this week in that we made pan eterno. (eternal bread) It´s basically a very sugary and heavy granola bar that can supposedly last for more than 25 years on the shelf. Also, you only need to eat a portion the size of a tiny matchbox to survive. Too good to be true? I´ll let you decide. 

People here are much more superstitious, which we all know freaks me out. Yesterday I had a lesson with two girls in the ward, and in the course of 5 minutes, they told me about 2 spirits they had seen in the house, hearing creepy things, and the aliens that tried to abduct their friend the other week. How am I going to survive? hahahaha. But seriously. haha.  

Our ward mission leader is hilarious. He´s a recent-ish convert and has not even the faintest idea what missionary work is about, but he´s really excited to help us out, and he gives us all kinds of great advice. For example, in our last meeting, he told us, ´sisters, I think it would really help with the missionary work here if you would pray before you leave the house in the morning. I just think it´s a good idea.´ Thank you, ward mission leader, for advising us to do what we already do at least 8 times before we leave the house in the morning. hahahaha He´s got a good heart and is at least very entertaining to listen to. :)

I raced 2 zipotes (teenagers) becasue they were walking SO slow. The people think we´re crazy for running up the street in skirts, but at least they have to give us props for winning the race. 

We moved a small mountain of dirt with shovels. And we did it in skirts. We take service wherever and whenever we can find it (the problem was that we were fasting and they wanted to give us water becasue we were dying of thirst and sweating to death. We had to reject it, which isn´t quite so nice here). 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!

I met a toucan. He had really kind eyes.

We sweated so much walking to gracias a dios (a 30 minute walk, which we practically ran) that when we arrived a woman brought out a towel so we could dry ourselves. Que verguenza. 

We met a woman sitting in a  hammock. She was lovely, but she couldn´t come to our tour of the chapel because apparently she wasn´t wearing pants underneath the newspaper in her lap. She turned out to be a man. He was very nice, and he always waves to us when we walk by. He likes to rake up the trash in the lot by his-her hammock. He wears booty shorts and has better hair than I do. I can tell we´re going to be friends with him and his-her sister-brother-friend(?). 

I´m afraid that´s all I´ve got time for today. Love you all and I hope you have the best weeks ever!

Hna. Bayles

April 8, 2013

Conference was great! I too would love to have a mini-fireside conference review. It was all so good. I was privileged enough to hear 3 of the 4 sessions in English, which was awesome. I didn´t get to see the Relief Soceity broadcast, which makes me a lil sad, but I´m so grateful I got to see/hear the rest. (fun fact: in Spanish, Relief Society is Sociedad de Socorro, but everyone just calls it SocSoc, pronounced SoakSoak. haha) I bet you were excited to hear about the temple in Rio, and the temple in Cedar is going to be great. :) The more time I spend here, the more I realize how very lucky I was to be in traveling distance of a temple. We´re not allowed to go to the Teguc temple at all during our mission (except maybe when we leave), and it´s sad to think that >I won´t get to go to the temple for over a year. I wish I´d realized how blessed I was in regard to the temple. It´s really such a miracle and blessing. 

Spring has sprung! How great! :) I love spring time, especially in Utah where it´s not too hot and not too cold. Oh, I bet your garden is going to be so vegetable-y and awesome this summer. :)

My new area will be productive (said in a determined and defiant voice)! I was happy to see some of my investigators be baptized in my last area, but there were 7 more who were supposed to be baptized while I was there, and I´m sad I don´t get to see that. 3 of those 7 are family, and I was so excited for them. Some day they´ll go to the temple and it will be great. That´s why I´m here, to get people to the temple. I´m also going to miss the marriage of Yilian and Pablo, but the ward mision lider promised to send pictures. We´ll see if he actually does. hahaa I can drop them a note, but it won´t arrive for at least 2 months (if it arrives at all). I´m trying to decide if it would be timely enough to be worth it, but then again, it´s never wrong to do something nice.  

Thanks for the quotes and for always giving me such great encouragement. You´re a great example to me and such a great support. I sometimes think about what your mission was like as I´m out walking dirt roads, meeting scruffy little naked kids, and sleeping with the creepy crawlies. I especially remember your story about the cockroach crawling across your leg when you were praying... that´s a very probable situation in Honduras. hahaha. Anyway, I hope you have a great week and that you see a thousand and one miracles this week. Love you oodly doodlies!

That´s especially funny becuase my new apartment has, like, a gang of roosters that all wait until the middle of the night sing, and then they all sit around cockadoodling at each other. The funny thing is they have the ugliest cockadoodle doos I´ve ever heard, so it sounds like a bunch of drunk and deformed roosters. Leave it to HOnduras.... haha.  

That´s awesome that the birthday party went well and that you got to see the grand chillins. :) I want to see the pictures of grandma and grandpa as youngsters sometime. It´s weird thinking of people before you knew them. In my mind, I always just assume they came they way they are and that they only started changing once I entered their life. Bueno, that´s mostly an exhaggeration, but it´s kinda true. jaja I always laugh in my head when someone is trying to be quiet but they just end up being super loud because I always think of grandma´s story of riding her tricycle around shouting I´M TRYING MY HARDEST TO BE VERY QUIIIIIIIET!!!! hahahahaha.  But en serio, I´m glad everything went so well. I´m sad I had to miss it, but if I´ve gotta take a trade, I´m glad it´s for a mission. The pictures look aweomse. I bet it was such a great night. :)

The conference was great, although it was a little sad not to be sitting around gorging on delicious food, hardly being able to hear because all the family is making a rucus, snoozing in the boring parts, etc. hahhaa. It was awesome, though. Fun fact about Elder Scott: he prerecords his talks in Spanish so the people can hear his words from his own voice instead of having it be translated. His spanish is actually very good, and it´s fun to hear him speak Spanish. Elder Holland also speaks Spanish. Can´t remember if I mentioned that he bore his apostalic witness in Spanish at the dedication of the Teguc temple, but holy cow it was powerful. He´s got a wicked Gringo accent. :) (but that´s clearly not why it was powerful). jaaja

I saw a game of backgammon on someone´s shelf the other day, and you´ll be happy to know that in Spanish, it translates to Backgammon. It just goes to show that the best things in life need no translation. I hope you´re practicing like made, because now that I´m practicing having the spirit of discernment and all, there´s no hope for you in the world of backgammon. I´m pretty much going to be the queen. Just thought I´d warn you. hahahhaha. Hey, I´m running low on time, so the rest of your letter will be in the later bulk part. Love you a whole heapin bunch! 

Sounds like everything was rockin with the bday party. You´re right, the center pieces were great! :) You always do such great work with stuff like that. :) The tiarra sounds like aperfect idea, and the roses often go walking bit sounds adorable.  Sounds like grandma go t some great gifts, the best of which, I´m sure, was having all you family people around to celebrate with her. Tell her happy birthdya and congrats on a noble and beautiful life thus far. Oh, before i forget, tell Deb and Gail happy anniversary!!! :)

That´s awesome that you got to spend some car time with the chillinsies. I got to spend some valuable travel time this week also, but mine was in a non-airconditioned school bus and tjere weren´t really people to talk to, especially not cute grandkids. Haha. I traveled 2 hours to San Pedro for the cambios and another 6 hours to get to my new area. haha, but more about taht later. 

Sounds like the family is doing great things. I haven´t really heard too much from them, so it´s great to know they´re doing such awesome things. I´m proud to call yáll m´family. Then again, I´d be proud even if you weren´t doing those awesome things. 

It was definitley sad to leave my area, but I know that the cambios are inspired of God, and I´ve already told Him I´ll go where he wants me to go, so there we have it. hahaa. I do miss the nose smudges, but it´s been nice not having to change clothes twice a day becuase there are muddy paw prints all over me.... haha. I´m going to write the rest in the main letter, but I love you love you love you! Have a great week!

 

Ok, here´s the scoop. I bet you´re all anxiously wondering where in the wonderful world of Honduras is Hermana Bayles. Well, let me just alleviate your frantic excitement and tell you: I now live in Yoro. Specifically, I am serving in Olanchito, Colon. Also, the mission presidency has started dividing missionaries into their permanent missions (for the split in June), which means in all likelyhood, I will be in SPS-east for the rest of my time here. I won´t get to see the ruins of Copan if this is the case, but I´m happy to be where I am. I´ll probably get to walk the beaches of La Ceiba, and walk the mountains of La Lima. I might even get to see the Island of Roatan if they ever re-open it to sisters. :) 

Anyway. I am opening a new area here in Colon. There haven´t been hermanas in Olanchito in over 10 years, and I am excited to be here. This area is landlocked, unlike my last area, but it has beautiful mountains and a little bit of jungle-campo. It´s more rural than my last area, but is still a good-sized city at the center. Our area covers half of the city, which means from the center of town as far as the eye can see until you hit the mountains. It´s big, more or less. We came here with two other hermanas who have the other half of the city, and all four of us are opening this area together. It should be interesting. My companion is Hna Blanco from..... the USA. Whatt??? Hahah. It´s been so weird speaking English. It still throws me off sometimes. I worry a little about the progress of my spanish with her, but I´m going to work extra hard to get better. She´s been out a year, and our Spanish is at about the same level. I feel kind of bad, because people always think I have more time in the mission than her because I speak slightly better than her. I don´t say that boastfully. I know I can´t speak anything without the help of God. It´s just interesting how different people have different gifts and we all come together to make one giant gifted sandwich. Hermana Blanco is great. We´ll do miracles together. She´s from Latin Utah, and when she prays, she goes from a normal voice to this awesome nasaly *elder bayles I be liking you* kind of voice. It´s pretty much the coolest thing ever. I don´t think she knows she does it.hahah. The other two hnas are Hna Lopez, from Nicaragua, and Hna Archila from Guatemala. It´s Hna Archilla´s first area. Hey, did I ever tell you my last area went all the way to Guatemala? Cause it did. I saw Guatemala on Tuesday. It was pretty cool. haha

There are many more horses and burros here, which is cool. Sometimes we see men racing their burros across the main boulevard, which is always fun and slightly exciting (because the bus is coming). 

There´s a sister in the branch here that says everything in one word. Let me explain. She starts off with one word and when that word is over, she holds out the last sound all the way until she thinks of another word to say, and thus she progresses quite smoothly through an entire array of interesting noises. She´s great. She´s a member of the family Navarro, who successfully makes up 1-3 of the branch. I didn´t believe it at first, but it´s true. They have over 30 people in their family on the whole (cousins, nieces, etc.), and they  are pretty much the entire branch all in one house. They have two pigs, and one of them snouted my leg the other day after it had been nosing around in the mud. Made me think of LaDee and her love of piggies. One of them has a leash and is chained to a tree, because I think he likes to run away, or maybe eat people. 

You´ll be happpy to know that in Latin America, they sometimes forget that the Hermanas aren´t elders. I´ve officially been called elder by a member of the ward. hahaha. 

We don´t really have investigators (we have 2) and we don´t really know anyone or anywhere, and we´re not allowed to knock (really BUENAS) doors, so it will be a great challenge to open this area, but we´re stoked and ready to go.

Now that all the silliness is past, I want to tell you the final miracle of my last area. 

 

You all know about Marina. You know that she´s a woman of extraordinary faith and that I absolutley love her. You know she was baptized. You can probably infer that she cried like a child and gave me like 5 kisses when I had to say goodbye. What you don´t know about her is that she saw the tree of life. And she doesn´t even realize it. 

Last week we were talking to Marina about a FHE we wanted to have with her and some other ward emmebers. We were getting ready to leave when she told us why she had first listened to us when we came to her door. She said that she had visited every other church possible, but didnt´ever like them enough to get baptized (you know all this in more detail, so I´ll continue). She then told us that a night or two before she met us, she had a dream. She said she was walking down a narrow path in the darkness and it was hard to know where she was going. She was especially worried about falling off the path becuase of her missing toes (she doesn´t have great balance). She walked and walked and walked until finally she looked up and saw the most beautiful and glorious tree she had ever seen. It was white, and more lovely than she could describe. She looked at it and noticed that there was fruit hanging down, so she reached up and took a piece. She took a bite. She said it was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, taht it was beyond description, but it filled her with such joy that she turned around and called to her family to come and try the fruit. They came one by one and stood with her under the tree, but she woke up before she knew whether or not they ate the fruit. She told us that when we came to her door a few days later, she didn´t want to listen to us, because her daughter was washing her hair and she didn´t want to come to the door all wet, but when she saw us and heard us speak, she felt the same indescribable joy she had felt when she ate the fruit, and that was how she knew she needed to listen to us. Marina was the first member of her family to be baptized. She has since called her family close to come and be baptized. And one by one, they are coming. We don´t yet know if they´ll all partake of the fruit, but they stand at the base of the tree, ready to walk as a family into the light. 

I know that miracles happen every day, and that the greatest miracle of all is eternal families. I know that eternal families are only available through the ordinances established by the Lord and instituted by this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that even though the path is narrow and at times we can´t find the way, there are people calling to us every day to come and partake of the fruit of live. Come and partake and live. 

I leave this with you with all my love in the name of Him who I serve, Jesus Christ, the Savior of my soul. Amen. 

Easter Morning

March 31^st, 2013   Easter Morning

This posting was actually written by Maren on Christmas Day, but it bears such beautiful testimony of the Savior that it seemed most appropriate to post it today:

Today we had a devotional with Elder Russell M. Nelson. It was such a powerful meeting, and not just because of what he said. Yesterday we were teaching our investigator about modern day prophets and apostles, and we were explaining that, just as men walked with God in antiquity, there are prophets, seers, and revelators who walk the earth today, and commune personally with the Lord on a regular basis. As we were teaching, I realized how amazing our message really is. Granted, I believe I had realized it before, but as I bore testimony of the truthfulness of modern-day prophets, the spirit bore witness to me of modern-day prophets, and I felt the power and spirit of those men who are called of God to preach his word to the world. I've been given the opportunity to preach the gospel to a small portion of the world, but these men have the daily opportunity of testifying of Christ and His life on a global scale. What an enormous blessing and responsibility. I've heard it said that "Elder" means "defender of the faith, and I know that, both he and I have that opportunity to defend the faith. Today as Elder Nelson walked into the room and we all rose, I could feel the power of God enter the room with him. He carries the mantle and authority of one who holds all of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and though Thomas S. Monson is currently the only man authorized to utilize ALL of those keys, I was impressed with the love of God in giving His people wise men to lead us to Him.

I suppose it was just such a testimony to me of God's love: that He sends us means whereby we may return to live with Him forever. He's given us living prophets who lead and guide us, who know better than we the course and fate of the world. However, on this Christmas day, I am even more grateful for the other, infinitely greater means which God has granted us to allow us eternal life, and that is He whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Though He was born in humble circumstances, He came to this earth as our King, and through His mission, He magnified His role as such. This child whose birth we celebrate is the Christ, the anointed one, the Savior of the earth, the great and merciful Lord, the Messiah for our souls. This baby, who once lay in a manger is the Son of Man, who loves each of us so dearly that He was willing to suffer for our sins and perish for our shortcomings. It is He who bowed in agony at Gethsamane, and hung from the cruel cross. It is He who wore a crown of thorns, who walked the dusty road to Calgary, straining to support the cross which would soon bear His weight. This infant whose life we celebrate is He who drank the bitter cup and gave up the ghost, whose body lay for three days in a tomb. This is the Christ, who rose again to minister unto His people. This is the Messiah, who went to look after His other sheep. This is the Anointed One, who gathers His people as a hen gathereth her chicks, and enfolds them in His wing of mercy.

 This tiny little babe, whose birth we all sing about, is the Man who died for each and every one of us. But more importantly, this sweet little child is the Man who yet lives for us, who rose from the tomb that we too may arise from the dust of mortality. This is He, who lives today, who sorrows with those who sorrow, who pains with those who suffer, who cries with those that weep, who stays with those who are alone. On this Christmas day, and every day hereafter, I declare with complete and joyful solemnity  that Jesus is the Christ. That He lives. That it is He whose name I bear, and his word which I declare. That He is my Savior, and the Savior of all mankind. That this wonderful and beautiful Redeemer knows our pains and trials and shortcomings, but more importantly: He loves us in spite of them. For those who have power to read my words or hear my voice, know that I know. I know that He lives, and that He, who is greater than all of us, loves us with a love that is infinite and complete. He knows and loves us perfectly, and that is the true miracle of Christmas. He lives! I leave this testimony in His name, Jesus Christ, amen.

 All my love this beautiful day,

Hermana Maren Jenne Bayles

 

 

March 25, 2013

I have one investigator who has been investigating for 9 years and just can’t seem to join the church. She says she has faith and wants to follow God, but she won’t act (even enough to come to church) until she sees an angel. I keep telling her, if you want to see an angel, you either have to demonstrate faith worthy of seeing an angel or make God mad enough to send an angel down to smite you, and she’s clearly not doing either one. hhaha. In all sincerity, it’s not her time, but she’s married to one of the counselors in the bishopric, so we’re semi-obligated to keep coming back. She jsut needs to read Ether 12. You receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. As brutal as it sounds, she’s currently failing the test-trial of faith, therefore, she won’t receive any witness. (vicious circle, I know). BUT I have faith that some day she’ll come around. I know it because I’ve seen it in her eyes. It’s amazing what you can see when you look hard enough. At times, the very light of Christ which we were born with is visible behind all those layers of doubt and disbelief. Some day. Some day she’ll embrace that light and come unto Christ. And when that day comes, we’ll be waiting. Perhaps not me or my companion, but the beauty of the gospel is that it doesn’t matter who bears it. All that matters is that SOMEONE bears it and SOMEONE receives it. Anyway, I hope you have a beautiful happy week and that you eat lots of vegetables (we may not be able to do proxy work for testimonies, but proxy work for vegetables is almost as good). haha.

I forgot that it’s a little cold there. Here it’s the hottest week of the year! We’re just about dying. Today the expression "sweating meatballs" came to mind. I don’t know if it’s one people actually use, but I think it’s just about right for what goes on with my body every moment of every day (and we all know I’m not a very sweaty person... pobre sitos that sweat a lot hhaha). This week is also the vacation week for all of latin america, meaning that there are soooooo many tourists here. I live on the beach. In a port city. This equals 500,000 drunks on the beach 24-7 for the next week. hahaha. Luckily for us, they tend to stay on the beach, so we just go about our business as usual and just stay inland. Sadly, almost no one is home (because they are also at the beach) and there are almost no buses this week to go to other neighborhoods to find people. Did I ever mention how big my area is? It encompasses the beach, the port, and allllll the area around a VERY large lake (with crocodiles). If we go from one end of our area to the other, it’s more than an hour in bus. And that’s just one direction. Whew.

I’m soooo stoked for General Conference!!!! Especially because there’s the elusive hope that I get to hear it in English. I had never really thought about what a blessing it is to speak the language the prophet speaks until I watched the Teguc temple dedication in Spanish and everything was translated. I had the privilege of hearing and understanding both the English and the Spanish, and even though the translator was very good, there are certain things that are lost in translation. The sad thing is, the people all around me knew it. My companion looked at me with such sadness and said, “you don’t know how lucky you are to hear the words of the prophets and apostles directly from their mouths.” It’s so true. How blessed I am to speak English. Really. How blessed.

I’ll bet they announce at least one new mission president (in my mission!!!!) seeing as he hasn’t been announced yet and he starts his work in June..... hahah. Bueno, I should correct my sentence: I don’t actually know if it’s my mission or not, but for the moment it’s my mission. I’m also betting there’s going to be a MOUNTAIN of temple announcements. Mark my words, Nicaragua is coming. Maybe not this conference, but it’s coming. It’s the only country in Central America without a temple. Also, with all the new missionaries, temple work is going to explode as the church inflates to the fullest. SO AWESOME!!!

I hope you have a groooooovy weeksi-doodle doo. Lovesies!

Funny that you should sometimes call me Herman. In the MTC all the hermanas called each other Herman A. (last name). I always liked that cause it reminded me of Herman Daggett Bayles. Therefore I will gladly take the title Herman. haha. In fact, Hermana Carpenter and I still call each other Herman (Herm for short).  hahahaha

Que Tal. haha. Macheteadas are a form of bubbly baleada tortillas that have slits in them and puff up when you deep fry them. They are delicious, but will definitely make you feel like the stay puffed marshmallow man afterwards. Oh man. I just had a vision of what I’m going to look like to the people of Honduras. Hugely tall, very white, and “puffy” to the max. hahha I am stay-puffed marshmallow Maren. Ugh. hahahaa Here’s the thing about Honduras. You try to eat healthy. You try to exercise. But at the end of the day, you just can’t stay ahead. Here’s why. It’s rude not to eat the things people offer you. So you eat them. No problem. But they give you so much rice when you go to their house for lunch. No big deal, just skip dinner (you’ll still be full anyway). But wait, every single house you go to is going to give you a little something. A package of cookies, crackers, baleadas, licuada, SOMETHING. Multiply that by how ever many visits you have in a  day and you’ve successfully consumed all of New York. Also, consider that even if you tell someone you’ve already had lunch or dinner, they’ll still give you lunch or dinner as  a sign of how much they like you. It hurts to be loved here. haha. Stay-puffed marshmallow Herman it is.

The package arrived. Thanks so much!!!!! I’ve been saving mostly everything for Easter, but the reeses peanut butter eggs fell out of the package and into my stomach. Don’t know how that happened......

I still ahven’t found pretty shoes yet, but my day will come.

I loved the quote from presidnet Hinckley. There’s another one by him that says [if you want to be happy... live the gospel of Jesus Christ.[ I love that becasue so often we say, [I have faith, I’m a good person, why am I not more happy_’ But at the end of the day, we haven’t LIVED the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s engaged. Holy Cow. Good for him. ;) Tell him congrats.

I’m not sure about Easter day, but here Easter is a whole week long, full of partying and [worship.[ hahah.

Elise sounds so cute. I met a cute little girl named Brittany )Breeeeeetaneeeeee) haha who always makes me think of Elise. You should definitely send me pics of Elise.

Pizza. Mmmm. We have a pizza hut here in El Centro (the center of Puerto Cortes). It’s funny cause here, pizza hut is a classy sit-down restaurant. It reminds me of applebees in the US, but for the people here, it’s like the top of the Eiffel tower or the palms or something. Good stuff. I hope you have a rockin week! Love a dove a doo!!

 Ok, to be brief:

A short list of things Rocky has destroyed with his face (Rocky being the overly large and excitable puppy-man-dog we have).

 one pair of short, one dress, 4 socks, one bra (my comp’s), 4 dog bowls, 2 buckets, three pails, one pot for plants, one wooden post, one cat, two toads, one screen door, 3 soccer balls that got kicked over the fence, 2 large water jugs.

 Aria, thanks so much for the post card. I got it this tuesday and it was AWESOME. Tahnks so much!"

Yesterday I met one of the counselors to the bishop. He’s completley inactive, so we went to meet him. Imagine a mormon Professor Snape with short hair and a Honduran accent and you’ve got him. He talks exactly like Snape!!!! So awesome.

Birds of paradise grow like weeds here. Makes me think of mumsie. The weird thing is that they’re so good at growing that they have 5 or 6 heads.... Doesn’t make me think of mumsie. She’s only got one head.

Yesterday I saw the tree that Rafiki sits in in the Lion King. It was awesome. It lives near Brother Professor Snape.

Cat on a hot tin roof is so much more than a cliché here.

For Heidi: you’ll be repulsed to know they don’t refrigerate their Mayo here. It’s a miracle I still have intestines. (for you others: every good lab scientist knows that Mayo is the swimming pool that bacteria love to pee in. Ew. Don’t know where that came from, but let me refrase. If you want food poisoning, eat something with Mayo in it that hasn’t been refrigerated for more than one hour.)

Food for thought, bc I have to go and don’t have time to elaborate:

What are you willing to fight like a dragon for? (Mosiah 20:11)

The Father introduces His Son like so: “This is my Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” How would He introduce you?

The future is as bright as your faith.

 

Somebody give my love to Ari! Tell her I hope everything’s great for her.

 

Love you all bundles and bundles and bundles!!! Send me pics ;)

Herman A Bayles.

 

March 18, 2013

Thanks for the ST. Patrick’s Day wishes! To be honest, I forgot about it. It doesn’t exactly exist here, but there’s plenty of green to go around, so I think we’re good on that account. hahha. That’s so funny about the little girl. hahaha. And how great that she was able to be sealed to her family. Some days the song [families can be together forever] just plays through my head all day, because that’s the end goal of all of this. Yes, I’m here to help people come unto Christ. Yes, I’m here to help people realize the need to make covenants like baptism with their Heavenly Father. But in the end, I’m not here to preach, I’m not here to baptize; I’m here to get families to the temple. What a beautiful moment for that family, and what a great example of how all of life can be seen through happy and innocent eyes.  To be honest, I don’t really know much about St. Patrick, but I’m sure he’s a lovely person ;). haha. I’ll have to do some research when I get back.
I’ll have to ask about the alien tree. Maybe I’ll cut one of the fruits open to see what happens. I’ll let you know if an alien comes out. Or if it’s the fruit you’re thinking of. :)
Thanks for those quotes. I always love getting tidbits like that. :) The one by Elder McConkie reminds me of what Elder Holland talked about in the Tegucigalpa temple dedication this Sunday. He said: ALL things in our religion take their significance from the Atonement of Christ. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the culture or the details of the church that we overlook the entire foundation of it, and that is the Atonement. It’s always nice to remember the Atonement, and the fact that we’re never alone. :) Anyway, I hope you have a stellar week and that you laugh until you cry at least once (those are always the best). Love you lots!

Thanks for the thoughts et al. :) I always love hearing from y’all too. I forget about pday every single week, so I wake up, ready to rock and then I’m like, HEY, IT’S PDAY! haha. Yuperdoodles. Macizo.
That’s great that Sunday school is going so well. You can always tell if you’re a good teacher by how interested the class is by the subject. The fact that you have good participation means people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and experiences with you. I’m glad everything’s going well with that. :) That’s cool that you got to hear from pres. Teshima. I love spiritual giants like that. My mission president is like that. We’ll be sitting on his couch and he’ll be like, ‘what do you see in that picture?’ and we’ll spend the next hour talking about all manner of spiritual things, all based on a picture of the saints crossing a river. How cool. :)
As far as mowing the lawn goes, just be glad you’re not Catracha. They ‘mow’ their lawns here with machetes. hahah. They just walk outside and start hacking away at the ground with a machete and when it’s short enough, they walk away with their machete over their shoulder (likely going to hack through the jungle or chop up a coconut). hahaha But That is a lot of grass if it filled up one trash can. holy cow.
The hermanas here almost all wear plastic? rubber? shoes. In fact, I’m wearing a pair of my companion’s right now. I was looking for a pair of my own, but they only had ugly ones and bright pink ones. I’ll look again tomorrow in Choloma. I still wear my leather shoes on non-rainy day (which are soon to be non-existent) because they’re more comfortable and give MUCH better support, but I’ll switch over in the rainy season, because goodness gracious there’s a lot of water here when it rains (which is frequently).
I liked your Delta joke. hahahahahaha.
I heard from Greg today. I’m glad that everything’s going well for him. I bet it’s weird for y’all having 2 chillins in different countries, but we’re blazin trails here. :) It’s all good.
Thanks for everything and for all your support. I hope you have a loverly weeeeek. :) Lovesies!

I successfully made pupusas and yesterday I forced a less active member to teach me how to make macheteadas. hahaha. Perhaps forced is too strong a word, cause she loved teaching me (she thinks it’s fun talking to me in Spanish because she just can’t wrap her mind around the fact that Spanish words are difficult for a Gringa to pronounce haha). Anyway, they’re pretty rockin. I’ll make them for you someday. I’ll also make you wicked awesome salsa. People here don’t value vegetables unless they’re fried, and even then they don’t like them. haha. If it’s not fried, sugar, or lard, it’s not food. At least that’s how it seems here. hahaha
Our runaway is completely fine. She’s kind of hilarious. She’s a little bit crazy because she has very severe diabetes that has gone untreated for years and years and years, and she lost more than just her big toe because of it (I’m implying that she’s not all there in case it’s not clear in the text). (Moral for you and Faja: take care of yourselves, cause once the diabetes takes out your toe, your vision, and your brain, life gets a little loopy). (Did I mention that she can’t really see because of the diabetes? Cause she can’t. Everything’s dark, and she can only see well enough to do daily tasks, but not much more). Anyway, as I was saying, she’s completely fine and, as always, determined to be baptized. Every time we see her, she’s like: I’m going to be baptized. And we’re like, Yup. And her daughter’s like, ‘name even ONE prophet’ and she smiles loopily at us, cause we all know that she can’t hardly remember anything. She’s a beautiful person and has such a kind heart. Though it’s obviously hard for she and her family, it’s a blessing that she has the difficulties that she has now; sometimes when we can’t be baptized at 8, the Lord takes us back to 8 to be baptized so that after the baptism, we can remain pure and clean until our time is done. How beautiful for her.
Very good stuff to think about right thurrr. :)

Greg’s translation stuff sounds wicked awesome and way over my head (meaning that things are completely normal in the Greg department. :) ) Tell Gail I say Hi! I think she’s so great. There’s a cute little lady in my ward here that reminds me so much of Gail. Every time I see her it’s like a little piece of home. She comes to English class every Tuesday and Thursday, so I get to see her a lot. :) If Gail had a Latina doppleganger, it would be this marvelous woman. :)

Awwww. I’m glad my palm is a-growin. You know how I feel about plantypoos. ;) Yes it’s hot and humid here, but we have a fan, so most nights things are manageable. :) We’re just becoming accustomed to constantly sweating. It’s not so bad when there’s no other option. :)
Thanks for the letter and the love; I hope you have a groovy week! Love you! :)

Errbody:
Andrew and Kristen,I forgot to wish you a happy anniversary last week. Happy anniversary!

Did y’all get to see the cultural event for Honduras? It was on BYU TV. Dunno, but it was AWESOME. We got to see a broadcast of the temple dedication which was also AWESOME!!! president Uchtdorf and Holland were the presiding authorities and it was SPECTACULAR. A few quotes from the dedication:
No sacrifice is too great when it comes to receiving the blessings of the temple; there exists no greater goal than to always be worthy of a temple recommend. (don’t remember who said it)
Let us be known as a people who love God with all our heart and who love our fellow man (president Uchtdorf)
Sacrifice is more than an action, it’s an attitude (don’t remember).

Anyway, I hope you all have a happy week and that all is well. That’s all the time I have for now. I’ll be sending one picture in a separate email. Love you all! Adios!

Hna. Bayles

p.s. The cigarette cartons here have a horrific picture of a creepy man with a hole in his neck as a warning not to smoke. Funny, eh? The sad is that people still buy them like crazy.
p.p.s. Tattoos hardly exist here. The only people who have tattoos are the really “bad” ones or the ones who have spent a lot of time in the us. Cool, huh?
p.p.p.s. Hey, will somebody tell Jordan to drop me a line? I had a dream that he’s engaged. hahaha.

Peace and Blessings, all!

March 11, 2013

I'm glad Spring has sprung there. It sprung here about 3,000 years ago and it's been going strong ever since. I take that back: I live in eternal summer. jaja.

I'm definitely eating. The Hondurans take good care of that. The only problem is that EVERYTHING is fried and they have two food groups: carbs and protein. Yes, it's delicious, but I miss baked, non-fatty foods. Also, I'm dying for some veggies and some more fruit. haha

I haven't had to put the snow chains on my tires (aka my shoes) here , so we're good to go on that. hahahaha. The kids all sound like they're doing great and growing fast. Wow. It's weird to think how much everyone will have changed by the time I get back. Wowsers. That's great, though. I love when I see people and they tell me I've changed since they saw me last; I always think, "Isn't that the point?" Haha. God is a God of order, but He encourages (and even asks for) change. That's one thing that's been slightly frustrating about Latin America. Everyone does the same things as their great great great grandparent and everyone else, and when you ask them why they do it that way, they say that it's just the custom. They don't know why they do it that way, and they don't think about how they could do it better, they just keep doing it. In one sense, it's great taht life can be that simple. But for an American Dreamer like me, I'm always trying to think of new ways of doing things (and I tend to be pretty good at it too). Honduras stifles my creativity in this sense. hahahaa. I have to do things according to custom, even if I see a very different path. haha. Anyway, taht was a tangent. Thanks for the quote. I absolutley love Mosiah.

Pasen adelante. :)
Macizo is a Catrachan (what the Hondurans refer to themselves as) word for cool or great. It's like a double s, unless you're from Spain, in which case it's a double "th," a fact which I pointed out to my companion. The English class is going great. I love teaching these loverly poeple, and they seem to like me as a teacher. We've been having 10-ish in class,a nd we think more will come. Hondurans don't commit to something until they're sure it's on the up and up, which means that they should start coming around. ahah
You'll have to remind me of USA manners when I return, because I'm going all-out here. hhahaha. As far as not having slobbery dogs, Rocky has this nasty white booger slime that he likes to get ALL over me. He likes to try to bite my hands and shoes (playfully) and also jump up on me, which means I'm usually covered with indescribable goobers. Also, I'm pretty sure he weighs more than me, so he's just a danger zone altogether. And he's only 6 months old. hahaha. He's a muscular dog, but he's also got chub on him, so he kind of waddles when he walks. (Like dad's dog kissy whose whole booty moved when he wagged his tail; Rocky does that when he walks, perhaps because he doens't have a tail).

LINDSAY WILLIAMS GOT A CALL TO JAPAN!!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhh!!!!!! That's so great. Tell her I'm proud of her, and that it'll be the hardest thing she ever does, but that she'll love it and the Lord will always protect her if she's doing His will obediently.
As far as people relating to me... I'm a white kid. haha. They're very polite here as far as conversation goes, but they assume that I don't understand them. Once they get to know me, they love me, it's just the first bit that's tricky. Lovey-dovey-doos!

Welps, I gotta go, but I hope you're all so good, and that you're soo happy. Final thought before I go. Sometimes we're more than willing to invite friends, family, and even strangers into our homes, but we're not willing to invite the Holy Spirit. If them, why not Him? Someone told me a story about a meeting in which, as a demonstration, the teacher opened the door to the classroom and "invited" the spirit to enter by telling Him to "pasen adelante" (like, come in). They said that the lesson was so powerful and that the spirit was present. I'm not suggesting that you do goobery things like physically invite the spirit in (unless you're prompted to do so by the spirit), but it was jsut kind of a nice reminder of how easy it is to invite the spirit; it's like opening a door for a guest. I hope that you all have glittery sparkly happy weeks and that you get a little dirt under your fingernails (those days are somehow always the best).

Ahem. HELLOOOOOOO FAMILY! Or should I say Hola. :)
Guess what? This keyboard is in English, so you can expect mostly normal spelling today! Hooray! Ummm. I just sent un monton de fotos. There are more, but you'll just have to wait a year and a half to see those, cause I don't have more time to send fotos and they're not that exciting anyway. haha Except that I'm going to include one of Kathy Zabala and her cousin who loves having her picture taken.
Ok, before I respond, things I have to tell y'all:
*Funny story: Last week, when we were all at the fortress, I asked Elder Cervantes of Mexico (companions with Elder Rodriguez... they're the only elders in our district jajaja) to take a picture of ME right after he had taken a picture of someone else. The only problem is that I said, "Elder, puede tocar uno de mi?" (Not, "Elder, puede TOMAR uno de mi?") For those of you non-speakers out there, I asked the Elder if he could "touch one of me," not if he could "take one of me." He was naturally very confused, very flaburgasted, and slightly lacking in the ability to breath as a result of the guffaws of laughter he was trying so dearly to stifle. He was not successful. (And nor was I when I realized my error. Ooops. jaja)
*Por Favor: ask Ari and Tyler if they've gotten my letters yet. Also, tell Ari happy 3 years as a member!!!!! I know it was in February, but I don't think she ever got my letter, so I'm sending this late. :) I'm so glad you took that beautiful step into this beautiful church.
*Also for Ari: I met the Honduran boy version of you. When he found out that I'm from the US, he proceeded to tell me he's a music fanatic and that he loves to watch MTV all day. He then told me some of his favorite bands: Good Charlotte, My Chemical Romance, Guns N Roses, and (prepare yourself) NIRVANA. He then proceeded to tell me that none of them even came close to his favorite singer, MADONNA. He then talked about how awesome Madonna is for about 3 minutes until I cut him off. Haha. If you ever meet him, you're going to be good friends. His name is Cristian and he's in my ward.
*I now know how to make tortillas, baleadas (the typical Honduran food: tortilla with beans and cream and sometimes other stuff), tajadas (fried bananas or plantains. Also a typical Honduran food), and by next week I will also know how to make Pupusas (typical El Salvadorean food).
*I found a plantain tree in my yard last night. That adds up to one enormous mango tree, 4 papaya trees, 1 mystery fruit tree, 1 alien-growing tree (nobody knows what the fruits are except that they're good for "medicine." My theory: they're growing aliens. If you saw them, you'd be in agreeance), and 1 plantain tree. Translation: awesome.
*Did I ever mention that the sun always goes down at 6:30 here? Because it does. Year round. It was weird at first, but now it's just normal.
*Funny/horrific story:
Our golden investigators have hit the road bump we were waiting for. Marina (the mother) ran away from home last week because of an argument over 5 lempiras (which equates to 25 cents). She went to live with her other daughter, who lives by the creepy toothy dolphin statue down the street. May I note that this woman is over 50 years old. And she ran away. I absolutley adore her. She's so crazy and funny, but underneath it all, she's very sweet and quiet. She has diabetes and lost her big toe over it, so the whole "running away" bit must have been tricky, but Sunday came and there she sat in the pew, waiting for us to arrive. Jajaja. Every time we see her, she says, "I'm going to be baptized." She's great.
Sadly, this episode caused some tension (obviously) between her and her daughter, to the extent that when Yilian arrived at church, she couldn't stand to sit in the same room as her mother and left (crying). We think the crying may have also had to do with the fact that she's pregnant, but one never mentions these kinds of things around an upset pregnant woman. This is going to be a fun week. haha. But no worries. They know the truth, they believe the truth, they just need to fix a few family problems in the mean time. They're still going to be baptized, and they're going to patch things up no problem. They're just being stubborn in the moment.
*It's bad luck to ask someone how many months pregnant they are. Don't ever do it in Honduras. They'll be very angry and lose confidence in you. (My companion made this mistake... apparently it's not rude in El Salvador).

 

All my love,
Hna. Bayles

pasen adelante

March 4, 2013

Hola hola hola todo!
My responses to yáll with be a bit brief, bc I want to finally tell you about my investigators. haha. Maybe I´ll talk about them first so I can be sure to get it in.
Familia Sandres: We had had a really bad day on Wednesday and were stopping by our house really quick in the tarde-noche to switch out stuff in our mochilas (which are so hugeand heavy hahah). We had just lost practically all of our investigators all at once. We even had one woman tell us with not-very-nice insinuations never to return. We had also found several people with very tragic stories and we were feeling a bit of the weight of the world. Anyway, we knelt to pray before we left and asked to find the people we needed to teach and the people who would be prepared to hear the word. We´ve already fasted for this twice, so we were really praying hard. Anyway, we got up, walked out the front door (getting mauled with slobber and nose marks from the woof woofs) and started to cross the street. We were about to enter an avenue when we looked up and saw a man sitting on his front steps with his head lowered and his hands clasped in front of him like he was praying. Even though he´s our neighbor, we´ve never seen him before, so it was strange. My comp made a beeline and said BUENAS! (did I tell you, youdont knock doors, you BUENAS doors... you stand at the gate and shout as loud as you can BUENAS!) He lifted his head up, looked at us and said pasen, meaning come in-come here. We stepped inside the gate and he disappeared. We were naturally nervous, but he returned only a moment later; he had gone to put on a shirt. We sat on his steps and talked to him, and a few minutes later, he called out his wife and she came and listened, and a few minutes later she called out her mother, who came and listened. We taught the plan of salvation, and everything we said was met with "claro" (of course!) or "tiene razon" (you have reason). They believed everything we were teaching, and when we discussed the Lord´s earthly ministry (as part of explaining the atonement), we explained the need to be baptized by someone with the proper authority and they stopped us midsentence to say that they didn´t think they´d been baptized witht he proper authority because they hadn´t felt anything at their baptisms and the men who baptized them were just men, not men with the authority to baptize. Naturally we liked this, cause we happen to know a plethura of men who have the authority. The mother then stated that she had never been baptized (with the exception of infant baptism, which she clearly didn´t count) because she was waiting to find the right churhc with the right authority. Checkaroo. We talked about this and invited them to be baptized once they found the truth of our message for themselves.  We then continued talking and they interrupted us again to say "You know, we´ve been thinking of getting married (they´re just "together")... I think we´ll definitley do it now". Checkaroo. We continued and they interrupted us again to ask us what time our church was, becasue they were coming. Haha. Essentiallyy they invited themselved to attend churhc, get married, and be baptized. Macizo. That´s golden right there. At the end of our lesson, they told us that they believed everything we said and that there was something different about us, that they had talked to bastante other religious missionaries before, but they had never felt the way they felt with us.
We came back with priesthood holders to give them a blessing (the mom had just had a toe amputated and the husband had a problem with his shoulder, and the wife was pregnant for the first time). By the next day the husband was practically completely better and the mom was up around and walking. They told us they were being healed because of their faith. We agreed.
We went back the next night to take them to English class (did I tell you, I´m teaching an English class). They came, met members, and loved it. Friday we went back to teach them the Restoration and they interrupted us to say, "It doesn´t make sense to us that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are one person... we think they´re three people." We told them we agreed wholeheartedly. They then told us that, of course Joseph Smith was  a prophet and of course we don´t worship him. Check. They then asked us if we had a Book of Mormon and if they could read it (they had heard about it from someone).  We said of course and handed over two with the assignement to read the introduction. We saw them on Saturday and they asked us if they could please read more. We said of course. haha. Yesterday the mom and daughter went to church for the first time, and when we asked them how they liked it, they said they loved it. Then the mom (she has maybe 50 or 60 years) looked at us and said, "I´m going to be baptized in your church, ok?" Ummm ok. (!!!!!) "It´s my first baptism! I´ve never wanted to be baptized, but I know this is right."
God absolutley prepared them and put them in our path. The husband, who we saw on the porch that first night, had been asleep for the entire day and had only come outside not even five minutes before, just becaseu he felt like he should go sit on the front porch. Just think, there are people just waiting to hear the gospel, and God has prepared them to hear and to believe. The amazing thing is sometimes they´re right in front of us (in this case, literally).

Idon´t have time for Familia Rauda, but let me leave a brief one about the husband. He asks so many questions and genenrally believes the exact same things as us. However, he always wants proof of what we say, especially from the bible. Someday he´s going to be  a general authority, just you wait. Anyway, as a testimony of how great he is going to be in the church: we were teaching and we were coming to a high point in the lesson. The spirit was so strong and he was beginning a serious and question that had great spiritual significanc. Suddenly the chickens all started squaking, the rooster s all started crowing, the cat strted yowling, the wind picked up, someone started pounding a nail peg into a cement house, his neighbor started chopping down a palm tree, the dog barked, and his wife started yelling to him from the house as his daughter started crying in the street. As very real as the Holy Spirit is, the adversary is just as real and active, and sometimes he tells us how great a work we´re doing by how hard he opposes us. Be careful when you embark on a road to spirituality or to bettering yourself, becasuefor every good action, he will try to tear you down to the ground. Don´t you dare let it happen. Don´t you dare. When you feel opposition for something good that you´re doing, count it as a testimony of how great you can become.

Now. Funny things about Honduras. If you try to have manners, they will mock and scorn you. They will look at you trying to cut your meat with a knife and say, "pick it up and eat it like a catracha!" If you´re hands aren´t messy by the end of the meal, you did it wrong. If you didn´t eat at least a little bit of bone and cartilage from gnawingon the bone so much, you did it wrong. That´s not to say that we eat  a plethura of meat, but when we do, we do it right. Also, this week I ate my  first full fish. It had teeth and spines, and it´s eyeballs looked at me while I tried to get the head meat. It was delicious.

Now very breifly because I took way too long. (sorry).
Popadoodle, I´m gladeverything is going well with you and that  yougot to go t the temple. Sounds bien macizo. We definitely don´t fertilize in Honduras, unless you count all the poo in the dirt roads. Good for da Bodda.Hope the birthday party goes smashingly well. no chnges in the mission til June.Ill pet the doggies for you. They like to jump on me and slime me every time they see me, so I don´t think that´ll be too hard. haha. I have nose marks on all of my faldas. haha. Lov eyou lots!

Eileen,
Sounds like things are fun but busy. Did you know that a lot of the temple presidents here are from the US? Theyré called almost like missionaries to serve as templepresident in Latin America. Apparently it´s pretty common. I didni´t know taht.  I´m excited for Nigil and for Evan´s baptism. He just took one of the greatest steps of his life (  that applies to both of them, but it was intended for Evan haha). Power going out, that doesn´t sound fun. Thanks for the quotes. D and C 88 is perhaps my favortie section of modern revelation. Love it. So much. Anyway, I hope you´re doing well. Love you Lots!

Mums,
Samoans are rather large, I´ll admit. haha Great thoughts youvé got there from the temple. It´s such an important and beautfful place. I´m glad the class is going well and I like that quote from sister Hinckley. She´s a very wise woman. As far as the Whitings go, I think you know where I stand with them. Celestial kingdom on earth, right there. They´re are indeed two very fine people. I hope they realize I´m counting on them as family in the eternities. haha Soudslike a lot fo things were broken, but sounds like life is staying fun. I´m glad your trees are alive and well, good metaphor. I´ve gotta go now, but remind me to send pics of the castle-fortress I visited today. Apparently Honduras has been around for  awhile... it´s almost like it was semi-conquered by Spain or something. Weird. haha Anyway. Love you!!

Lovesies hugsies and all of that! Staystrong!
Hna. Bay