Notes from Skype Call with Ben
Christmas Day 2015
normal working day--he had kind of forgot it was Christmas
went to dinner at Winger's--ate nuggets and fries. he loved it.
Didn't know if we had Winger's in Idaho.
Said it was soo hot, and this is the coolest part of the
year. But he said he's as hot as he can
feel, so he doesn't think any hotter will really bother him any more. He misses each degree under 80
individually--he misses 74 and 68 and 49 and 23 and 51, etc. J
P Day--he said his district is made up of a bunch of gimps so they
don't play sports much anymore but that they are all really nice people. he said to get called to their mission you
must have to be a pretty cool, nice person.
President Klein is awesome, Sister Klein bakes a lot--they love
that
Might be losing weight--pants are getting too big.
First area--hilliest area in the mission--he fell down a lot,
shoes don't have much traction
doesn't get fed as much here--just 2-3 times/week
lives about 10 minute walk from church.
they teach a lot of lessons, but nobody commits.
everyone has three things--a tv, a hammock, a machete. Doors on your house are optional, but not
those three things.
loves how cheap things are--buys these bags of water--you bite
the corner off of basically a sealed baggie of water and drink it.
bought a big thing of Gatorade powder--drinks that a lot, but the
food all tastes different. Nothing is as
good--not Kraft mac and cheese or Gatorade, etc. It says it's American, but it doesn't taste like it's American.
mosquitoes attack his ankles--sleeps with sheets over his ankles
now. Sprays bug spray on his clothes.
still hates boiled green bananas
things there are as cheaply made as possible--everyone is poor
and everything is dirty. We mentioned it
looked so beautiful and we'd love to come to Honduras and he asked, Why? He said it could be beautiful (and many parts
are) but there are shacks just spread out willy nilly and they are all slums
and everything is dirty, and lots of trash.
Also people have piles of burning trash in their yards all the
time.
He mentioned how Emmy had asked him if his apartment had a
fireplace--which made him and the other missionaries laugh pretty good. He says no one would ever try to make it
hotter than it is, and that no one could afford something as luxurious as
that even if they wanted it. One of the missionaries said,
Yeah, I have a fireplace--it's under a pile of garbage in the front yard!
His first day in the mission field--SUPER INSANE. They got up at 3:00 to leave the mtc and got
on the plane and changed planes in El Salvador.
He said both the Guatemala and El Salvador airports looked like airports
in America. Tourism signs on the halls, carpet, etc. When they landed in
Honduras--totally different. Just a long
hallway, nothing decorative anywhere, no tourism information, no windows, looked more like a prison hallway. They were pretty scared--they had to go
through Customs and they didn't speak Spanish well enough. They told them just to follow the Latin
missionaries through the airport. But
they had to go through Customs individually and they had answer questions about
how long they would stay. They only had
short term visas (because they were going to apply for resident visas after they
arrived) so they had to be sure and not say "2 years" when they asked
them how long they would stay, they had to answer "as long as we're
authorized." He said they basically
gave them a script and they had to memorize it. It was scary.
As they walked through the airport they saw a HUGE spider, one of
the missionaries tried to step on it, and it was too fast! They were pretty freaked out but he said they
haven't seen a spider that big ever again!
They were picked up by President and Hna Klein and taken to a
church, given their new companions and then sent off. He and Nunez got on a bus for a 2 1/2 hr bus
ride to La Ceiba (by now it had been a very long day). He actually feel asleep on the bus on his
comp, who took his picture! They got off
the bus and it was dark and POURING rain.
He thinks someone was supposed to pick them up (but he's not sure because
at this point he realized he actually speaks NO spanish.) They wait for a while in the dark, and then
his companion tries to talk to him, and finally motions to Ben to pick up his
luggage and then he takes off running down the street--so Ben just ran after
him. He still doesn't know if they were
running for safety reasons or just the rain or what!
He arrived at their apartment and there was another missionary
(Wilks) and they had the baby shower for him.
All in all, a HUGE and exhausting day.
"so crazy"
He liked the idea of sending some small toys that he could hand
out to kids--hot wheel cars, etc.
He found a Rubic's Cube in his first apartment but the stickers
were all peeling off, etc, so he found one in a store and bought a new one but
it's super cheap. The sides won't turn
or anything, so he's been peeling off those stickers and putting them on the
old one he found!
He was excited about the money in his account to go eat out.
He said his feet are doing ok and the socks we bought seem to
really help keep his feet dry.
He's never been to the mission office.
They don't do much service for people.
We asked what people do for a living and he said everybody makes
something and sells it--bags, jewelry, etc.
7 Zones in the Mission which correspond to stakes, usually.
-Zona Satelite—Satelite Stake
-Zona La Lima—La Lima Stake
-Zona Progreso Sur and -Zona Progreso Norte—both El Progreso Stake
-Zona Miramar and -Zona La Ceiba—both La Ceiba Stake
-Zone Olanchito—Olanchito District (branch:ward::district:stake)
Each zone has a couple of Districts and each District is made up
of 2-4 areas/companionships. Most areas
correspond to a ward or branch. (some
wards have more than 1 set of missionaries.)
Ben’s Areas so far:
#1: Zone: Miramar, District: Montecristo, Area: Buenos
Aires 1
#2: Zone: Progreso Norte,
District: Tela, Area: Tela 1
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