Week #15--Pi Day

Zone Conference Selfie

Pacura

Best Mission Friends

My life every day at 6:00 am

 My papaya that brings all the boys to my yard

HEY BUT LET'S ALL PARTY BECAUSE PI DAY WAS THIS WEEK AND PI DAY IS THE BEST HOLIDAY EVER.

But what's really sad is that I'm a math major and I almost forgot about Pi Day and that would have been the worst day of my life.  Hermana Muñoz went to our last lesson of the day, and one of our investigators was finishing up her math homework.  And I was like "BUT OMG I LOVE MATH" so I helped her finish her math homework and then I was like "BUT WAIT TODAY IS PI DAY."  And I got excited, like really excited, like my investigators were probably like "Who is this crazy gringo" but it's okay because it's all worth it.  And then I was trying to explain what a cute math major I am because I always make pie on Pi Day, and Hermana Muñoz was like, "Why."  And I was like, "CAUSE PIE AND PI."  And she was like, "But in Spanish it's prounced pee," and I was like, "Spanish is dumb."  And then I didn't eat pie because people don't eat pie here in Honduras, and that's how I celebrated my Pi Day.

But can we all just get really excited about how amazing Pi Day is going to be next year cause 3.14.15.  Like stop, it's going to be the most perfect Pi Day in history but I'm going to be here in Honduras so what can we do.  Send me pie in the mail please and thank you.

Also thank you to all the people who sent me emails wishing me a happy Pi Day.  You all made my heart happy.

Hermana Muñoz and I have had a goal to challenge all of our investigators to be baptized.  Sometimes it's scary to throw that question around.  Sometimes I feel like it's like saying "I love you" too quickly in a relationship.  Ya feel me?  I don't really know how to explain it, but sometimes as missionaries, we get nervous to challenge our investigators to be baptized.  But Hermana Muñoz and I have been doing a lot better!  And we've already been seeing miracles.  For example, we're going to have our first baptism this month on March 29th!  We're going to baptize one of our young investigators named Alex.  Alex is 11 years old and is one of the sweetest young boys ever.  He has such a desire to grow and learn about the gospel, and he told us, "Hermanas!  I've prayed and know that this is the truth.  I want to be baptized!"  Put it in your calendars everyone.  Alex is gettng baptized.  SI HOMBRE.

Today the missionaries in my district and I went to Pacura again.  For those of you who don't remember Pacura, it's a mountain here in Olanchito.  The last time we hiked this mountain, it took us seven hours to reach the top, I slipped in a river and jammed my finger (which still hasn't healed all the way), and I fell down and basically died.  But I guess I didn't learn my lesson the last time and decided to return to Pacura again today.  But it wasn't bad this time.  We didn't get lost and stuff and I didn't fall down so life is all fine and dandy.  

One of our investigators has a little sister that literally bursts into tears everytime she sees me.  I think she thinks I'm going to eat her or something.  But like why does she cry?  I'm not scary...I'm really pretty soooo.......

Jokes.

Cough, but really.

Anyway, Hermana Muñoz and I are waking up at 5:50 every day to exercise.  Gonna get hot and skinny, obvi.  Our neighbor is a member of the church, and so we go over to her house every morning to work out with her.  She has a work out video that's led by this really big black man that is just a little too energetic for me (see attached photo).  Especially for me at 6:00 AM.  Emma at 6:00 AM wants to be in her bed sleeping.  Emma at 6:00 does not want to be yelled at by a big, muscular black man: "YOU GUYS ARE DOING GREAT.  BURN THAT FAT.  ONE MORE TIME.  AMP IT UP!"

-_______-

No I will not amp it up.

I have learned lots of things while I've been out here on my mission, but I have most importantly come to the conclusion that if you are in a workout video, I probably hate you .  You are not normal.  You should not be smiling and happy while working out.  Stop working out your bodies and go work out your priorities.

In other news, one of our investigators got robbed the other night.  And by robbed I mean that someone stole all of the clothes that were hanging up and drying on the clothes line.  They also stole the laundry soap.  So that's the gossip over here in Olanchito: QUICK LOCK UP YOUR CLOTHES AND YOUR LAUNDRY SOAP BECAUSE THE THEIVES ARE COMING.  But really though.  Sometimes I don't understand this country: if you're going to steal clean clothes, why bother taking the laundry soap as well?  Silly Honduras.

With love, and eating all the baleadas as always,

Hermana Holdaway

Pictures!

1.  My papaya that brings all the boys to my yard.

2.  We had a zone conference so I actually got ready and mirror pictures because we should always live life up to our fullest potential.

3.  Pacuraaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

4.  My friends.   :)  Remember how my mission prep teacher at BYU told me that I was going to meet some of my best friends on my mission?  Yup.  The truth.  And they're all Latinos!  I'm so cultural, like wow.

5.  My life every day at 6:00 AM.

Week #14--My papaya brings all the boys to the yard

T-minus 3 weeks until General Conference.  Basically my favorite holiday.  Basically super duper excited.

It's weird that it's March.  And that it's almost spring and stuff in the United States.  I just forgot how to spell united so I asked the other gringo missionaries.  That's kinda a thing we do.  Cause every Monday the internet cafe is full of missionaries, and oftentimes us gringos forgot how to spell things in English because our lives are always Spanish, Spanish, Spanish.  And so I yelled out, "How do you spell united?"  And Elder Kesler is like, "WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU FROM HERMANA HOLDAWAY.  UNITED STATES WAS MY FIRST WORD."  All the gringo missionaries are really patriotic because living in Honduras has made us realize that really nothing is better than America.  Because America.  

Anyway, I was saying that it's weird that it's March and it's weird to think that people are having lives and stuff and are going to school and stuff and are doing normal things cause I'm just casually gathering Israel every day, you know.

 Anyway.

BREAKING NEWS:  I found and bought a loofa.  Por fin.

This week was a little hard missionary-work wise.  A lot of our appointments with our investigators fell through and lots of our investigators are having difficulties.  Josue had a motorcycle accident this week.  It wasn't that bad, he can still walk and move and stuff, but he got a couple stitches on his face.  He was just like, "WAHHHHHH SOY FEO BLAH, BLAH, BLAH."  And we were like, "Freaking calm down, Josue, you're not ugly."  But he's going to be at his house all this week and we're like FINALLY we'll be able to teach him.  Because usually he's never home.  But anyway.  Rambling.

Also Kilber (another investigator) has a step brother in jail who's swearing to kill him when he gets out.  So that's been fun.  And Jesus (another investigator) lost the equivalent of 5,000 dollars.  And lots of other things.  So this week was just depressing listening to everyone's problems.  They all just need the gospel and then they'll be happy, happy, happy.  

That's another thing....Oftentimes the people here don't take the gospel very seriously: they don't pray to find out of it's the truth, they don't come to church, they don't read The Book of Mormon.  And sometimes I don't understand....like this is the truth.  This is the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  Don't you want to learn more?  Don't you want to find out for yourself if it is the truth?  Why don't you take this more seriously?

Whenever I have these thoughts, I find comfort in the words of Elder Holland (sorry this quote is a little long, but it's SUPER good, so read on):

Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

Super good, right?  And I have to remind myself that people have their own agency.  Agency is one of the most central parts in the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us.  Agency testifies that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  He loves us.  And because He loves us, He gave us the opportunity to choose for ourselves.  And I have to remember that just because I'm not seeing success right now, it doesn't mean that I'm falting something.  Yes, it's true that we can always become better people, and I can always improve and become a better missionary; I'm never going to be perfect.  But I have to remember that it's not just me.  My investigators have responsibility as well.  After doing all that I can do, some people are still going to reject the gospel.  

Colleen (one of my best friends) emailed me this last week: "I know that you really want a baptism, but remember that success isn't measured by events-it's measured by the invisible impact that you make on other people's hearts and lives.  You're doing something truly beautiful, and that's what matters."  

Tender.

THIS WEEK IN HONDURAS:

- An elder in my district told me that Olanchito has a grocery store that sells Nutella.  So brb my life just got fifty million times better.

-  During the summer in Olanchito, the light companies turn the power off sometimes.  So the lights will just randomly go out at 6 at night.  And it's a mission rule that we have to return back to our houses when there isn't light in the street cause we don't want to die and stuff.  But it's really inconvenient and kinda annoying.  Oh, Honduras.

-  My kidney stone prevention measures are going really well!  I'm drinking lots and lots of water which means that I have to pee fifty times a day.  Which at times isn't good because I don't like asking to borrow people's bathrooms here.  Because......mejor no.  Just trust me on this.

-  My grey hairs are starting to grow back.  Why do I have grey hairs though.  That's all I want to know.  Life is hard.

-  I'm getting better and better at making tortillas!  When I get off my mission I'll make you all tortillas and we can eat baleadas together and listen to Latin music.  Here's a link to a video of a lady making baleadas:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALPxsntm67U

The first time I tried doing this I dropped my tortilla on the floor.  But I can do it now!  And I have 14 more months to practice.

-  Last week I made brownies and peanut butter frosting.  #america #chocolate #heaven

-  Genesis 24:7 and Genesis 29:20 are really cute scriptures.  #love

-  I started reading the Old Testament!  I've read a lot of it for seminary and stuff, but now I'm gonna read all of it.  The Old Testament is weird sometimes though...but está bien.

-  A family gave us a papaya that's literally the hugest thing I've ever seen.  I forgot my camera this week, but stay tuned for pictures.  I'm gonna make some papaya smoothies that are going to bring all the boys to my yard.

Sorry for the super long, kinda ranty email.  Just living the life over here in Olanchito.

La iglesia es super verdadera.

Love,

Hermana Holdaway

Week #13--Creo en Cristo

Casually Modeling the Book of Mormon

 The best District Leader, Elder Menchaca!  He's hilarious.

Elder Reyes es masiso.

 Selfie cause even though I live in Honduras I'm still a white girl at heart and taking selfies is just part of my genetic makeup.

  The Hermanas of Olanchito (cough, cough, the best hermanas in the mission)

 My hair is a different color in literally every picture, pero pregunatame cuanto me importa.

 Casually being adorable with Hermana Muñoz

 Hermana Odekirk, Elder Kesler, and I have all been in the mission for the same amount of time.  We were all born here in Olanchito!

Casually modeling in the streets of Olanchito.

  Missionaries are actually just a bunch of little kids.

Hey soul sisters.

I've been sitting here for practically the millenium trying to figure to how to start this email because this week was pretty boring and nothing really happened.

But anyway.

In Honduras, there are these little convenience stores called pulperias.  People usually just have them in the front room of their house, and you can go there to buy toilet paper, chips, or niños.*  Just little stuff like that.  And these pulperias are literally everywhere.  We have five or so just on our street. 

One day Hermana Muñoz and I were going around all these pulperias trying to find one that had tortillas.  We wanted tortillas cause we were hungry.  And we live in Honduras so we decided to embrace the culture and eat tortillas.  But I digress.  So we went to this one pulperia and this crazy woman was like, "NOPE YOU GUYS ARE MORMON.  YOU GUYS WORSHIP JOSEPH SMITH.  I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE MORMONS.  BLAH, BLAH, BLAH."  And we were like "K, but do you have tortillas."  And she was like, "NO BLAH BLAH BLAH."  And we were like, "K."

So we left that pulperia cause ain't nobody got time for Mormon haters.

But since this particular pulperia is on our street, we walk by it basically every day.  And on Friday Hermana Muñoz was like, "Let's go sing 'I Believe in Christ' at the pulperia, hahahahahhahahahahhaha."  And I was like, "K, let's do it."  And she was like, "Wait no it was a joke I'm scared."  And I was like, "Nope we're doing it."  So we went to the Mormon-hating pulperia and were like, "Buenas!  Queremos cantar un himno por ustedes."  And we sang "Creo en Cristo."  And then I read the scripture in 2 Nephi 25:26 and was like, "We believe in Jesus Christ.  Have a nice day."  

Except I was all nice and happy and missionary while I was doing it cause #missionary.  But they don't want us to come back.  Their loss, right?

A guy came to mow our lawn this week.  And by mow our lawn I mean he brought his machete and chopped at the grass for a little while cause Honduras.

Also this week I had literally no clean clothes.  Because I don't like hand washing para nada.  And our neighbor has a washing machine so I just hollah at my neighbor when I need to wash my clothes.  So she washed my clothes for me the other day, and I hung them all up on the clothes line to dry and went back in to my house to read the scriptures because I'm really spiritual and stuff.  And then our neighbor was like, "Hermana Holdawayyyyyyyy, su ropaaaaaaaaaa."  So I went outside, and the clothes line had fallen and all my clothes were lying in the dirt and I was like, k.

Update on my study of The Book of Mormon:  I'm reading it in Spanish and I just got to the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi.  And Isaish is even harder in Spanish.  So if I die this week you guys will know why.  Well, I am in Honduras super close to the murder capital of the world, so I guess there's a possibility that I could die from being shot or something, but vamos a ver.

Hermana Odekirk, Hermana Calpa, Elder Passey, and Elder Real all had baptisms this week.  But none for Hermana Muñoz and Hermana Holdaway.  Wah, I want a baptism.  It's hard sometimes because I feel like I'm working really hard with my investigators but that it's not going anywhere.  Our purpose here as missionaries is to help people come to Christ through faith, repentance, and baptism.  And that's not happening for me.  I've been out here three months and haven't had a baptism yet.  And I know that I can't rush people into it, and people need their time, but still.  It's hard.  But I know with a positive attitude, more time, and the Lord, things will get better!  I'll have a baptism one day.  

I was talking about it with Hermana Muñoz the other day, and I said, "I just want one person to remember my name" (because converts always remember the names of the missionaries who baptized them and stuff like that).  Like that's all I want: one person, one baptism.  And Hermana Muñoz was like, "I'm going to remember your name."  And it was like, awwwwwwww, okay that was cute.  My cute, little companion.

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"  - D&C 18: 10, 15

Until next week,

Hermana Holdaway

- PS:  I'm starting my 5th month in my mission.  What the heck, right?!?!?!?!  Time is going by super, duper, duper fast.

- PPS:  I want a brownie.

- PPPS:  To my non-Mormon fans:  If the Mormon missionaries ever come knocking on your door to share a message with you, listen to them.  Don't say no.  It's really hard when people slam the door in our faces and stuff like that.  People don't really do that here in Olanchito because everyone is super humble and loving, but rejection is hard.  Being on a mission is hard.  So listen to them out of compasion.  I'm not saying that you have to get baptized or anything like that, just listen to them and don't turn them away if they ever come knocking on your door.  Pinky promise?  Gracias.

Week #12--Chickens have large talons

Gringo Selfie

Emma's investigators Hector and Nancy

Hector

The Hermanas of Olanchito

Emma's favorite Chapin

P-day!

Mas P-day!

Hello, everyone!

Here's a joke that was on the inside of my coconut-flavored sucker wrapper this week:

¿Como se dice perro en ingles?  - Dog

¿Como se dice veterinario en ingles? - Dogtor

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

I can't believe that I'm already almost done with my second transfer.  Time is going by so quickly!  I feel like I just started my mission yesterday, but I'm already in my 12th week in Honduras, and my 18th week overall (I don't remember English very well, so I don't know if overall is one word or two.  I tried Googling it but Google here is in Spanish and I'm too lazy to change it to English.  HOUSTEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM).

As you all know, I spend most of my day teaching people about the gospel.  I realized this week that I haven't really talked that much about the people that I've been teaching, so I thought that I would take some time to introduce some of them to you.  I love them all, and they're each so unique and special.  LATINOS ROCK.

- Hector Martinez:  Hector is the funniest 50 year old man I've ever met.  I've been teaching him the whole time that I've been in Olanchito, and he knows a lot about the gospel.  He always has really good insights when we're read The Book of Mormon, and he wants to be baptized!  Sometimes he's like, "Hermanas, I don't have time for a lesson today, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah" and then he'll talk about how his belt is from America for like 30 minutes.  And it's like, "Oh really, Hector?  You don't have time to talk about the gospel for ten minutes but you have time to talk about your belt for half an hour?"  Este chistoso hombre.  And then once I was like, "How many kids do you have, Hector?"  And he was like, "19."  And I was like, "AÑSDLKFJASD FASDAASLDKFJASJFF WHAT SO MANY."  And he was like, "Don't worry, they're with lots of different women."  And then it's like, #facepalm #lawofchastity.

- Ingrid:  I started teaching Ingrid with Hermana Muñoz.  We've taught her the Restoration and she's come to church with us once.  Last week during one of our lessons, she said that she prayed and got her answer that this is the path that our Heavenly Father wants her to take and that this is the true church.  #winning

- Alex:  Alex is an 11 niño.  His mom is a member, but she's been inactive for basically her entire life.  But Alex is amazing!  He's so excited about the church and the gospel.  He loves singing the hymns, has come to church with us twice (he even has a white shirt and tie now!), and is reading The Book of Mormon!  And he gives the most beautiful prayers.  Que masiso este niño.

- Nancy:  Nancy is 23 and is basically me in Latino form.  Aka she's super sassy and sarcastic and I love it.   

- José:  José is amazing!  We started teaching him last week, but we've already challenged him to be baptized and he's accepted!  He's prayed and knows that this is the true church.  When we started teaching him, he didn't have a job, but since he's been taking the lessons, he found work!  This was such a testimony to me that this gospel really blesses all aspects of our lives.  Heavenly Father is answer José's prayers and blessing him as he moves forward in this gospel.

- Josue:  Josue is really cute.  But I'm a missionary sooooooooooooo.  But lemme just say that if I was gonna marry a Honduran, it would be him.  So yeah.

Hermana Muñoz and I have lots more investigators, but you guys probably don't wanna spend all day reading mini bios about the people I know here in Olanchito.  But now you guys know a little bit more about my family here in Honduras.  I truly love the people here.  I love walking down the street and knowing everyone.  I love walking down the street and having little kids scream "Hermanas!!!!" and come running up to hug you when they see you.  These people are my family.  

Hermana Muñoz and I started teaching a new family this week, and the second time we went over to visit them, they were like, "Hermanas, we need your phone numbers and your emails before you leave Olanchito.  Never forget your family here."  How amazing that I grow so close with these people so quickly.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

This week in Honduras:

- I saw a dead animal in the street while we were walking to church on Sunday.  And by dead animal I mean I don't know what kind of animal it was but it was the size of a cat and it had the tail of a rat.  And it also had other rats crawling around it and eating it and crawling inside its organs and stuff.  Super yummy.

- An investigator gave us a drink called pinol this week.  It's basically corn meal dumped in a class of water and it's really not good.  Like at all.  But when they ask, "Hermanas, do you like it?!", you smile and say that it's the best thing you've ever tasted.  Let me just say that my acting skills have come in handy down here.

- A cow literally almost killed me.  We were sitting on a bench outside an investigator's house (and by bench I mean log) teaching a lesson, and all of a sudden this cow comes running, AND I MEAN RUNNING, CHARGING, GALLOPING (idk if cows can gallop but please humor me) AND I ALMOST DIED.  The end.

- I was helping Maria de los Angeles make tamales this week and there was a chicken leg in her pot of meat.  Not like a chicken leg like "Oh, I'm gonna eat a chicken leg from KFC" chicken leg.  Like an actual chicken leg.  With the talons and stuff.  And in response to your question, Napoleon, yes, chickens have large talons.

- Hermana Muñoz and I saw Jevovah's Witnesses in the street the other day.  And it felt like one of those Star Wars moments when the bad guy and the good guy see each other and then whip out their lightsabers.  Except we don't have lightsabers: just Books of Mormon and umbrellas.  But it was like an epic struggle between good and bad, truth and lie, life and death.  Just kidding.  Jevovah's Witnesses are fine.  It was just funny cause like, lol Jevovah's Witnesses.  This was funnier in my mind.  Sorry guys.....I'm not funny.......

- Someone call 911 cause I'm actually starting to like Honduran food.

May the force be with you.  And sorry that this email sucks this week.  But you know you love me.  Xoxo.

Hermana Holdaway

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ." - 2 Nephi 25:26

Week #11 - And then I found 100 lempiras

Cute Emma

Emma's Mission Style

Emma and a Machete--NOT a good idea!

"My best friends" in Olanchito

Hermana Munoz

Elder Reyes chopping the coconut!

Emma's Shower!!

"Our favorite treat, coconuts!"

Buenas tardes mis gipers!

Hermana Holdaway here, reporting live and grey-hair free from the wonderful city of La Ceiba!  All the missionaries from Olanchito are staying in La Ceiba for the next couple days because we have a big mission conference tomorrow with a general authority.  They're pretty much probably just going to tell us that we all suck as missionaries cause the numbers of baptisms have gone way down over the past couple of months.  Yikes.  We'll see what happens.  But they're giving us free lunch so it's all worth it.

Honduras is hot.  I've died this past week.  And everyone is like, "Oh, this isn't even bad, just wait until March."  So here I am waiting until March.  But I'm a little confused because Hermana Muñoz wears winter boots all the time.  We were getting ready to leave one day and I look down and she's wearing Uggs.  And I was like, "What."  And she's worn them more than once.  Spoiler alert, we're in Honduras, and spoiler alert it's really hot here.  And I'm just still really confused about it and thinking about it makes me ask all of these deep soul searching questions LIKE I WOULD LITERALLY RATHER DO LINEAR ALGEBRA THAN TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHY SHE'S WEARING UGGS AND I HATE LINEAR ALGEBRA LIKE I JUST REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND.  We're in Honduras.  There's no such thing as snow here.  IT'S HOT.  CALIENTE.  CALOR.  But anyway, now that I got that off my shoulders...

Everyone this week has thought I'm a stupid gringo who doesn't understand Spanish.  We had one investigator point to a dog and say, "Hermana Holdaway, PERRO.  PERRO.  ESTE ES UN PERRO."  And I was like, "En serio.  Este es un perro?!  Yo no sabia este.  MUCHAS GRACIAS AHORA YO ENTIENDO LA VIDA."  This woman thought I didn't know what a dog was.  And everyone has just talked really slowly and loudly at me LIKE HELLO I'VE BEEN HERE FOR BASICALLY THREE MONTHS I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU.  And I'll be like, "Yo hablo español," and they'll still be like, "Hermana Holdaway, entiende?"  And k, so this didn't end up being very funny cause it's hard to describe, I guess you just had to be there....

And then I found 100 lempiras.

^^^^^^This is funny because 100 lempiras is only $5 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH so funny.  But I say this at the end of my stories when my stories suck so I basically say this at the end of all of my stories.^^^^^^^

Yesterday was Hermana Muñoz's birthday!  In Honduras people smash eggs on your head and throw flour at you when it's your birthday because they think that that's a fun and exciting thing to do.  So that's what we did with Hermana Muñoz.  And smashing eggs on people's heads actually is a fun and exciting thing to do.  So then we had this huge water fight and oops we were some soaking wet missionaries.  I don't have pictures, but one of the members took some pictures on his camera and he's gonna email them to me so when I get them, I'll email them to you.  COMING TO AN EMAIL NEAR YOU.  No, Emma, stop.  And then I found 100 lempiras.

But it was super fun.  And we also got together as a district to eat dinner together for Hermana Muñoz´s birthday Friday night.  An Elder in our district from Guatemala made some Guatemalan food for us.  And by Guatemalan food I mean we ate hot dogs with guacamole and lettuce and mustard and mayo and ketchup and I was just really confused, but apparently that's what the Chapins eat so que ya vaya bien.

When I get back from my mission I'll make some Honduran food for ya'll.  And by Honduran food I mean baleadas.  Which is basically a burrito but more gross.  It's just a thick, flour tortilla with some mashed up beans, some scrambeled eggs, some hot dog, and some cheese.  #honduras.  But I learned how to make pan de pan!  And it's actually pretty good.  It's just basically soggy bread, but once you get over that fact, it's actually quite delicious.  I'm getting fat I think.  But I don't care so it's all good.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.  For Valentine's Day our branch had a party.  And Hermana Odekrik and I sang "My Heart Will Go On" in English for the entertainment.  It was super funny cause the lady introduced us and was like, "And now the missionaries are going to sing us a hymn," and we're like, "Lol, it's not a hymn."  And then I found 100 lempiras.

You guys should look up the song "Vivir la Vida" by Marc Anthony cause Latin music>>>

Mmmmhmmmm, so sorry for the boring email.  This week was actually pretty hilarious but I guess you had to be here for it to be funny.  And you guys probably don't want to come to Honduras cause like.......it's Honduras.  So you'll just have to trust me that my life is funny.

My life is funny.

Con amor,

Hermana Holdaway

PS: I ate a peanut butter jelly sandwich the other day.  And it probably made me the most baggy that I've been my entire mission.  #america