They have 11 investigators in his new
area. Yuscarán is a small town. He lives directly across the
street from a park. It is about 8 km to the edge of his area. His
companion just finished training and is a convert to the church. He
likes his companion, and he said they get along well.
His new “apartment” is actually a
room in the church. The church used to be a hotel. I think he said
it is more modern than many buildings, but is still older and falling
apart. He said the bathrooms there and in the other missionaries'
apartment are like in the United States. In the kitchen, they have a
microwave, a 2-burner stovetop, and 2 small fridges. He and his
companion put a pull-up bar in a room downstairs, under the chapel,
so they can have a workout room. Most of the time they have water,
but not always. He said most faucets only have one handle—and one
option: cold. Most people have buckets of water to store water—like
50 gallon buckets—because the water is so unreliable.
We asked what the neighbors thought
about the missionaries. He said that they think the missionaries
worship Joseph Smith, and they also think the missionaries are paid
for their service.
There were about 25 people at church
and about 85 baptized members. He taught Primary again. There were
six children at the beginning, but some left before the end. If the
people live in this village, the church is close for them, but for
those living in other villages it is far away, so they don't usually
come.
They did a Mother's Day activity either
Friday or Saturday night. They encouraged the branch members to
bring an investigator with them. He said they had lots of food, and
it went well.
The elders make up the branch
presidency. He is the secretary. There aren't a lot of worthy
priesthood holders in the branch.
They spend a lot of their time running
the branch: Meetings, interviews, etc. They are also the janitors,
gardeners, etc. He thinks they probably spend about 1/2 of their
time running the branch and 1/2 of their time doing mission stuff.
They were getting up early in the
morning to have seminary, but no one was coming, so they are going to
try having it in the evening.
He said his testimony has grown on his
mission. It has been a gradual process through study and teaching.
He encouraged us to put pictures of
Christ over the tape on packages we send to help them to get to him.
He said packages often arrive banged up a little, but not too bad.
He has received every package we have sent to him. The mail is a lot
slower in getting to him now because they changed the way the zone
leaders pick up the mail.
It takes 45 minutes by bus to get to
the weekly zone meetings. It is 1 1/2 hours to the mission office in
Tegucigalpa. He had to go there last Monday to sign papers so he
could sign checks for the branch. Only he and one other missionary
of the four in the area have residency. There are 6 missionaries in
their district, 60 in their zone, and 250 in their mission. He has
interviews with the mission president and zone conferences about
every 3 months.
It sounds like he can get most things
down there that he needs like toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, etc.
They go grocery shopping on P-days and usually go to the little
stores in his area. He compared them go a store you would see in a
gas station here. If they want to do serious shopping, they have to
go to Tegucigalpa. On P-days, they have to dress up in their
missionary clothes if they go anywhere besides to exercise (like to
go play soccer).
They plan to visit different villages
in their area a couple of times this week. When we asked him if they
speak different dialects in different villages, he said no.
His favorite food that he has had there
is a fried tortilla with salad, chicken and guacamole. He said they
eat a lot of eggs, beans and tortillas. In his last area, the
members fed them a lot, but the members don't feed the missionaries
in this area. This affects the amount of money they have to live on,
but he said he is budgeting and doing okay.
For breakfast, he usually has cold
cereal and powdered milk (he said he can't get milk from the store,
but it only comes in liter bottles and is expensive). They either
make something or go out to eat for lunch and dinner. He said it
costs about $1.25 for a meal out at a local place there, but he
prefers to make something at the apartment because it is even
cheaper. He said the ice cream isn't good there. They don't sell
any local chocolate that he has seen, but they sell American candy
bars, and those are good.
He said he has been tired a lot in this
area. They walk almost everywhere. He thinks it is because it is a
bigger area than the one where he served in Tegucigalpa, so they are
always running around going places/exercising more.
We asked him what animals he has seen.
He said turtles, chickens (which roost in the trees), frogs, dogs,
cats, pigs, and parakeets. When we asked if he had seen wild
parakeets, he said no, they were pets.
At the end of the call, he bore his
testimony to us, and that was so neat. He testified of the Savior
and the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. It was wonderful
to hear his voice and see his face! We miss him a lot! It is
exciting to see the changes in him and hear of the experiences he is
having! We are so grateful he has this opportunity to serve the
people in Honduras!
