Transferred! --Nov 23, 2015

This last week has been crazy! J

We had changes on Friday.  My companion left and so did I.  They closed our area and now I’m in Tela (Area), Progreso North (Zone).  So I’m in Tela all the time except Zone meetings.  Transfers were on Friday, but they called us Wed morning to let us know.  I think we were told early,  because we had to show the other elders our area and investigators.  Then we hauled our suitcases to the bus stop at 5 in the morning to catch our bus.   It was a 3 hour bus ride to Progreso, then another hour bus ride to Tela.   The last two days in La Ceiba were saying goodbye and showing the other elders our area.  It was hard to say goodbye to a lot of the people there. They’re so cool.  Friday was super long—long bus ride, an hour of waiting in Progreso, after that was another long bus ride.  Then we helped the hermanas move into their house, and the other elder’s luggage to his house.  Then I went to my area and met some people.  I met the zone leader in Progreso—it’s Elder Wilks!  He’s the other guy in those pics of me in a diaper—he’s my grandpa!  It was awesome to talk to him and we could talk about La Ceiba because I replaced him there, so he remembers everyone. 

Packing for Changes

Us. Sad about changes :(

An awesome member family

Eduardo and his sister.  he's only 10 years old, but goes to church by himself and is about to finish the Book of Mormon.  He has an incredible testimony.  We meet with him once a week to read a chapter with him.  

Ben with Raul (younger) and Kerol (older)  Reyes

Kerol and Ben

Ben with Sister Reyes

Ben and Darlin, his first baptism

The Reyes Brothers

Sister Bety and her daughter, Karmen

Our beds after we packed everything up

Saturday and Sunday there was  stake conference.  The church rented a bus and lots of the member here got on for the ride.  It’s super cool to see how dedicated they are.  The stake conference was similar to general conference.  There was 5 sessions, each 2 hours.  The only difference was there was no break in between!  So an hour and a half ride, 6 hours of conference, and another 1 ½ hour ride on Saturday!  We left at 1:00 and got back at 9:00 ish.  Then at 8 in the morning the next day another trip for the last two sessions.  President Klein spoke at least 3 times.  I loved everything I could understand. 

Sunday afternoon we visited more people.  We walked on these tiny trails across a couple lagoons to get to the house where we ate dinner.  It was FISH!!  Yeah!!  Super delicious!

It still shocks me how poor the people are.  It’s INSANE.   I could never describe it with pictures or videos or words.  It’s crazy.  And what’s also crazy is the ingenuity of the people here.  INCREDIBLE.  I can’t stop thinking about it. 

Today we went to buy food and clean the house in the morning.  It’s a big house (2 bathrooms!) so it takes a while to clean.  

The new casa

Then we met up with the other elders in our district and went to a member’s house.  There we played soccer and baseball and volleyball on the beach.  Then we ate lunch with the members.  Fish again!  Then we came here to email.  

I don't know much about our area yet, but I know we have 2 people with baptismal dates, Cristian and Aryani.  We try to extend the invitation for baptism in the first or second visit, depending on how we feel the Spirit says is best.  If they accept, we meet with them every 2 or so days.  The date is usually a month or a month and a half out.  The last week before a baptism, we try to meet with the person every day.  But the current focus in the mission is to strengthen the less actives.  There's a ton who joined the church, and never stopped believing the gospel, just lost the urge to attend.  So we try to meet with a ton of less actives.  The AP I met told me the easiest way to reactivate is to sing a hymn, pray, and read a scripture.  It's only 15 or so minutes, and the goal is to just help them remember what the Spirit feels like.  A couple of weeks of that, and they want the Spirit in their lives again, so we do a lot of that.

Life’s been crazy, but today, I was as happy as I’ve ever been.  I’ve learned to appreciate small things, like an air conditioned bus ride.  Sure I was standing the whole time, but I enjoyed it!

The view from the back door of a member's house

BASEBALL!! 

My new district

My new companion is Elder Queme.   He’s from  Guatemala.  He has 8 siblings and his whole family is members.  He’s been out for almost 18 months now and he’s the district leader for Tela.  He’s really cool.  Great with people, super dedicated to the work, and he’s pretty funny too.

Elder Queme

First P Day together

Q & A from the Gozart Family:

Mia:  I like ladybugs.  Have you seen any ladybugs or roly-poly bugs?  Or bees?

Ben:  I don’t think I’ve seen any ladybugs or roly-poly bugs.  I’ve seen a couple of bees.  Most of the bug here are the gross ones, like spiders and cockroaches.

Josh:  How hot has it been?  What was the highest temperature?

Ben:  It’s been super hot lately.  I don’t know how hot it is because no one has a thermometer.  I would say easily 90s.  I sweat like a maniac.  The humidity doesn’t help.  I sweat like I just ran a 5k, but for the entire day.

Paisley:  What is it like in Honduras and what do they wear?  I’m doing a project where I have to dress a doll up from somewhere else.  But nobody in my family history is from Honduras so I couldn’t do it.  I love you to Honduras and back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ben:  Everyone here wears the same stuff as the United States, except most of it is in English, so I’m the only one who knows what is says.  Everyone wears crocs.  Those are HUGE here, but other than that, it’s really similar. 

Paul:  Are you getting used to the boiled bananas?  On my mission I paid way too much for a box of Frosted Flakes for Thanksgiving because I wanted something American for Thanksgiving.  What are you going to have?

Ben:  I honestly have no idea what we are eating.  We always have dinner at a member’s house, but I plan on eating after the day is over to celebrate.  I have some pudding to replace pie, but I need to go to the store and buy some more food. 

Allyson:  What is the hardest thing about your mission so far?  What is the best thing about your mission so far?

Ben:  I would say the hardest thing about the mission now, is the language.  Not because I can’t understand what people are saying, and not because I can’t talk.  I can usually understand and communicate with others, but I can never say exactly what I want to, and sometimes I don’t know what’s going on.  And every day, my brain is EXHAUSTED from translating all day long. My favorite part of the mission is the people.  They are soooo nice.  If you show up to their house, strangers will recognize us as missionaries, and invite us in, turn on a fan and point it at us.  They offer us water or juice.  Then they tell us they’re not interested in our message, but they think it’s awesome that we chose to be missionaries, so they love us anyway.  We have been offered dinner by people who we don’t teach and who aren’t members, just because they want to help us. 

Other questions from us:

Us:  Talk about the baby you blessed.

Ben:  We blessed a baby who was sick in her house.  It was a blessing of healing.

Us:  Do you tract much?

Ben:  We rarely tracted in my old area, because the streets are so random and houses are just wherever.  I think we’ll tract more in this area.  We never actually knock doors though.  Everyone has a fence and gate, even if its made of garbage. 

Us:  How did the homemade baseball glove came about—very resourceful!

Ben:  I remembered Dad talking about baseball players from Latin America who grew up using cardboard as mitts, and one day we were throwing the golf ball back and forth and the idea hit me!

Also,  I’ve gotten all the packages from you and Grandma.  That’s a relief to know it’s reliable and safe. 

A scripture that I really like is Mosiah 4:27, especially for pondering.  It's super inspiring and it makes you think too.  I love it!

I met the couple missionaries.  They’re from Spanish Fork and they said they know some Menloves.  No more time. 

Love you guys.!

PS.  I’ve met 2 elders who leave in 2 weeks.  One of them has never gotten sick, and the other has never gotten robbed.  So I think I’m pretty well off in those aspects.  Hopefully I can match both their records.  

Flipping pancakes--so DELICIOUS!

Last District meeting--Nunez knocked us all over

Ben and Elder Micheal

Ben and Elder Sorenson

Ben and Elder Saunders (and Sorenson)

Ben and his Zone Leader, Elder Hansen

Ben and Elder Ouzounian (who's mom said Ben is like a brother to him).  And Valenciano.

Companions who brush together....get transferred after 6 weeks I guess!

"Our shower curtain.  It's a little moldy."