P Day at La Playa--Nov 2, 2015

This week has been crazy.  I might end up saying that before every email for the whole mission.  First of all, it hasn't rained for a while, which means it's hot.  It's hot like I can't explain down here.  It's hot enough that the natives are sweating, so I'm absolutely drenched.  But you get used to it.  I hope.  (Weather Channel says it was 95 today with 85% humidity.)

We had interviews with the President--it was awesome.  He is such an amazing guy.  Super nice and knows a ton about the gospel.  I hear that other missionaries get "The machete", which means he tells them what's up and basically reprimands them, but I was safe, as was my companion.

Halloween here isn't much.  A couple of investigators brought it up, but they don't do anything to celebrate.  Obviously, dressing up and walking around at night sounds insane (and dangerous) to them, especially since it gets dark at like 6:30 or 7:00 here.  I bought a Snickers bar and ate it in the house.  Happy Halloween!



I got your packages, all three!  All the other missionaries were jealous because my family is apparently the best one out there!  I knew that all the time.  The Morris's sent us Christmas presents.  I gave my companion his present and he opened it immediately!  Oh well.  It was a Juicy Drop Pop.  He had never seen one, so watching him eat it was hilarious.  Thanks soooooo much!  I love you guys and I can't wait to open my presents!

Details about La Ceiba:
La Ceiba has four companionships I believe, but I never seen other missionaries besides P days and meetings.  My District is Buenos Aires and there's two companionships in it.  It's not a huge area, just part of the hills of La Ceiba.  My Zone is Miramar.  There's a lot of missionaries here, but I don't know exactly how many, maybe 25?  I don't know a ton about my area, district and zone yet.  It's difficult to talk to my companion language-wise sometimes so I'm still figuring things out.
I haven't seen any gardens here, but my area is literally 100% hills.  I know there's other areas that are big farms though.  They supply all the produce for the people here.  The fruit is CHEAP!  Like 5 cents for bananas or dragonfruit.  We have to put our fruit in a pot of water and add bleach to it before we eat it though.  Same with unfiltered water.

We played soccer again this week for mutual.  It's the only way to get some of our investigators there, and is actually really useful for inviting investigators, but I'm not a fan of futbol.  This week we were able to play in a mini stadium thing.  Too bad I didn't have my camera.  The whole ward went, it was a big game.  It was our ward vs another ward and it was surprisingly serious.  The bishop was yelling and running around like a professional, and he's like 50-something years old.  Super exciting to watch!

All our lessons are going well.  The main obstacle is finding our investigators.  In communities like this, it's ok to spend all day in someone else's house, including napping in their hammock, so it's tough to find the people we want to teach.

The P day crew--multi zone activity

Today we played basketball down by the beach.  I love the chance to play a sport besides soccer, and playing with the Latinos is super fun.  They have no idea what they're doing but it's fun. We had lunch at a restaurant called Super Chicken, it's right off the beach  I ordered a burger and fries.  It was the first potato I've tasted in weeks, and you could tell it wasn't an Idaho potato!  But it was good.  The burger and fries were missing that American taste, but oh well.  I think I'll have to get used to that.

Lunch at Super Pollo!

I've gotten a little tired of beans and tortillas.  The people here love them.  I don't understand why--they taste good, but they eat them every day of their lives.  They just like to keep it simple.  That's one thing I've noticed about people here.  They are humble and happy beyond belief.  This week we taught a man who's had trouble finding a job and is exhausted 24/7.  His family lives in a tiny one room house, and if you ask him his first thought about religion, it would be, "I know that God exists, that He loves us, and I have so much to thank Him for!"  I love it.  Everyone is totally satisfied with what they have.  It's doesn't matter what's going on in their lives; they're just happy to live.  The kids are always laughing and playing and I've never seen them with a toy beyond a ball or a stick.  I've tried explaining it and now I don't think I can, but it amazes me what these people's attitudes are.

I just remembered a video from the CCM that I LOVED that I want you guys to listen to.  It's about missionary work and the atonement by Jeffrey R. Holland with some stuff from Elder Eyrng at the start.  Make sure you listen to it--a video or audio, because it's super powerful.  I love the feeling it brings.  It's incredible.

(Here's the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spGtVY6L5jY&sns=em)
It's from this talk:  https://www.lds.org/liahona/2001/10/missionary-work-and-the-atonement?lang=eng

Ben and Elder Ouzounian