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

Week #10--"I'll go where You want me to go, Dear Lord"

"SOS!  My Hair is Purple!"
("Violet, you're turning Violet, Violet!")

The Street Where Emma Lives

With Sister Odekirk

100th Day Celebration!

"Donkey"

"Getting my hair dyed, Honduras style!"

Making Tortillas - "Better than the Latinos!"

With Maria de los Angeles - "I'm basically a giant compared to everyone here!"

The Hair



¡Buenas!

Sorry for not emailing last week!  I had my weekly email all typed up, but when I went to send it, the internet went out.  #honduras

This week was amazing.  Definitely the best week that I've had so far on my mission.  Hermana Muñoz and I worked really hard, and we taught 34 lessons!  And we found 18 new investigators!  ESTAMOS EN FUEGO.  

Technically, Hermana Muñoz is senior companion, but since she's new to the area, and I'm the one who knows the investigators and the members, I've been deciding where to go and who to visit.  

When I was with Hermana Alejandro, we spent a lot of time teaching this one investigator, Maria de los Angeles.  She was one of the people that we spent the most time with, and we taught her at least two or three times every week.  We taught her all of the lessons, but whenever we invited her to come to church or anything like that, she always said no.  So eventually, Hermana Alejandro and I decided to stop visiting her because she wasn't progressing, and we needed to spend more time with our other investigators. 

The first night that Hermana Muñoz got here, I was talking to her a little bit about all of our investigators, and for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about Maria de los Angeles.  And when we were planning that night and talking about who we should visit the next day, I felt that we needed to go visit Maria, even though Hermana Alejandro and I had decided to stop teaching her.  And so I said, "Hermana, Muñoz, I really feel like we need to start teaching Maria again.  I don't know why I feel like we should, because honestly, she wasn't progressing, but we need to visit her one more time.  And we need to teach her the Restoration."   

The next day we went to Maria's house, and we had the most spiritual lesson that I've had my entire mission.  We taught her the Restoration, and when I taught the First Vision, I could barely speak because the Spirit was so strong.  I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith with tears streaming down my face.  I looked in her eyes, and in that moment, I know that she knew.  She knew that it was the truth.  And I invited her to pray and ask our Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith really was a prophet and if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church.  And I said, "Hermana Maria, what are you going to do when you receive your answer that this is the true church?"  And she said, "Pues, voy a ir a esta iglesia."  And I said, "Hermana Maria, cuanda usted recibe su respuesta que esta iglesia es verdadera, usted seguirá el ejemplo de Jesucristo y ser bautizada en esta iglesia?"  And she responded, "Sí, hermana."

And she came to church with us this Sunday.  A miracle.

I feel like I'm finally becoming the missionary that my Heavenly Father wants me to be.  I'm putting my whole heart and soul into this work, and I've developed a love for these people that I never thought I would have.  I'm no longer here for myself...I'm here for the them.  I don't think about my problems anymore, because honestly, they don't matter.  The only thing that matters are my investigators.  And once I forgot myself and went to work, I learned to love being a missionary.  Yes, being a missionary is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's also the most rewarding experience I've had in my entire life.  I'm learning to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and rejoice at the successes of others. I'm learning to put aside myself and dedicate all my time and energy to the service of other people.  And while I've been spending my time serving other people, the Lord has helped me to grow and become a better person.  My mission has changed me.  Yes, I'm still the same Emma that I've always been: I'd probably still trip and fall if I tried to run hurdles, chocolate is still my favorite food, and math still makes me really happy, but I've changed.  I've learned to be happy and positive no matter what trials I'm facing.  I've learned to rely on the Lord.  I've learned to listen to and act upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  I've learned that when I'm in the service of my fellow beings, I'm really only in the service of my God.

This is the Lord's work.  I'm here in Honduras on the Lord's errand, and as a missionary, I'm an instrument in the His hands.  This isn't my mission: this is the Lord's mission.  He's telling me where to go, what to teach, and who to talk to.  The Lord prompted me to go back and visit Maria de los Angeles.  The Lord is guiding and leading this work.  I know that He lives.  There is no doubt in my mind that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ.  There's no doubt in my mind that I'm a child of God, that He knows me, and that He loves me.  I know that this life is hard.  I've seen the people here suffer in ways that I couldn't have even imagined, but I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can all find the peace and strength that we need to carry on.  

Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives: I know that my Redeemer lives.

THIS WEEK IN HONDURAS...

- I cannot find a loofa in any store, anywhere.  Given, Olanchito doesn't have very many stores, but anyway.  I thought bucket showers were bad enough to begin with, but bucket showers without a loofa are on a whole different level of janky.  I will be accepting pity donations in any form of chocolate all of week.  Gracias.

- I found out yesterday that I have grey hairs.  And by grey hairs, I don't mean like just one or two.  I mean I have a whole section of greys hairs that's about the size of a quarter.  I kind of had a panic attack when I found that out, and so I dyed my hair today, and now it's this dark brown with this purplish tint and I hate it.  But I guess yolo.

- Elder Passey (an elder in my district who's been on his mission for over a year) said the following at dinner the other night: "Amanda Bynes is a rockstar."  He then got really depressed when we informed him that Amanda Bynes has offically gone super loco.  This probably wasn't that funny to you guys.  You had to be there I guess.....

- So many people gave me fruit this week!  And I drank out of my first coconut this week.  And then they gave me like six more, so now I've had like seven coconuts.  And everyone's like "OH HERMANA.  COCONUT WATER IS SO GOOD FOR YOUR KIDNEYS SO HERE ARE TEN COCONUTS."  And I'm like, "K."

- I've been on my mission for 104 days!  Thursday was day 100, and everyone in my district got together to have a party to celebrate for me, Hermana Oderkirk, and Elder Kesler.  We got liquados.  Which is just the Honduras way of saying smoothie.  But apparently people put corn flakes in their smoothies cause there was a corn flake liquado on the menu.  Honduras is weird sometimes.

- There was a donkey outside of my house one morning and I took a picture with it.

- I learned how to make corn tortillas this week!  And I'm better at it than my companion and she's Latino.  GRINGO SWAG.

- Arroz con leche is really good.  Word.

- I'm going to try to make chocolate chip cookies this afternoon.  We will see what happens.

- I really want to listen to Christmas music and I don't know why.

Vaya pues,

Hermana Holdaway

1.  Lunch with Hermana Odekirk!  And my hair sucks, wah.

2.  The street that I live on in Olanchito!  The houses in this area are a lot nicer than lots of my investigators houses, but this will give you a little bit of an idea about my life.

3.  Hermana Odekirk and I.

Week #9-"This too shall Pass!"

Emma's Second Companion: Hermona Munoz

Hello, everyone!

Hermana Holdaway here, reporting live and kidney stone free, once again in Olanchito!  I'm so happy to be back here in my home in Honduras, which is away from my home in Brazil, which is away from my real home which is in America because America.    

I would like to start off this email with a list of hard things that I have passed:

1.  A kidney stone.

2.  Brazilian immigration officials.*

3.  Math 313.

*If you guys didn't know, I illegally lived in Brazil for like a month because my visa expired.  So if you thought you were hardcore, you're actually not because I'm more hardcore than you, just saying.  Also I'm currently living in Honduras with a toilet that doesn't flush soooooooooooooo.....point made.

I have a new companion!  Her name is Hermana Muñoz.  She's 23, and she's from Columbia!  She's super sweet and nice, and we're going to get along just fine.  I've been showing her around the area and introducing her to the members of our branch and all of our investigators.  Technically she's the senior companion, but I've been in charge of what we're going to do every day, who we're going to visit, and what we're going to teach.  So pretty much I'm going to be a zone leader next transfer.    

Hey, remember how I got robbed that one time?  Well, it turns out that the guy who robbed us is actually a member of the church.  He's not active, but he was baptized when he was a kid.  But still.  Like what the heck.  Oh, and he got murdered the other day, so now he's really not active.