Week 51 Pictures

I'm pretty sure that when Lehi and his family were coming to the Americas to hangout in the promised land, they 100% did not pass through Choluteca, Honduras.  There is nothing "promised" about it, just a crazy sun burn and heat stroke.  It is literally so hot here.  But I feel so free.  There are like no rules here.  The girls all have kids at like 14 years old, the guys are stoners until like 100 years old, no one is married and I think the best part is that like no one sleeps in a bed, they just sleep in hammocks because of how hot it is. I mean it is really something different here.  But there is a Wendy´s and Burger King and KFC here so I will not complain.  I cant even tell you how much I missed a hamburger haha

So my new companion is Elder Hernandez from Copan Honduras.  So now I am only mission a companion from Costa Rica and Panama to complete the whole central america list!  He is so funny.  Let me just say that his process to become a missionary had to have taken longer than most peoples.  Like if you name a drug, he has 100% done it.  It is hilarious listening to his stories.  Like now he is more mature and a stellar missionary.  I thought he was going to be super rebellious but he is so awesome.  I guess his last companion was finishing the mission and just didn't want to do anything at all so for the last two transfers he basically hasn't done anything.  I walked in the house for the first time and dumped my bags down and he grabbed his stuff and was like "You ready to go?".  So I already know we are about to go and work like crazy.  And our area is literally HUGE.  My last area used to have 3 sets of missionaries, my area now used to have 4 sets.  And it is all like little tiny towns with houses made of sticks and mud.  I love it!!  I feel like I am back in my first area and I loved it there!!  So I love it here already!

The only problem is that my district just doesn't do missionary work.  I guess Pres. Bowler just threw me a curve ball and gave me this mess.  Last week as a district, the contacted 34 people.  There are 8 people in the district.  that means that they each did about 2 last week... and they had a combined 10 lessons taught...  if I tried, I could beat those stats in one day.  I did the verification on Thursday in District Meeting and not one district had a progressing investigator.  I had a class prepped, and instead i taught a class on setting goals and accomplishing the goals like I did for my first class.  And I like had to bite my tongue a lot because I wanted to just scold all of them.  But I will love them all and together we will make this district the best district that there is!!

Another cool thing is that my whole group from the MTC is down here in the south!  Elder Anderson, Pickron, Baller, Boucheger, Hernandez and Sister Saldivar.  So we all got to see each other for the first time in like a year!!  It was like a really fun family reunion.

Lets see.  Funny things about my area you ask?  There is a lady here named Martha, She is like 50.  When we went to go visit her, she was watching TV with this dude who is ancient.  Like one swift wind and he is gone.  He is 98 so you know.  So trying to create small talk, I asked about her family.  She told me that she was married, she has kids.  And I asked if he was her dad... nope.  Hes the husband.  So I was like trying to justify it in my mind.  Like maybe they knew each other when she was like 20 and he was ....68.  And I just gave up and realized that Honduras is the best country ever and I never want to go home hahahahaha

I love you all!
Elder Garry

That's me with the freaking dopest 12 year old you will ever meet named Axel.

My girl squad!

 My two best friends in the mission.  I almost cried when I said goodbye to them.

Elder Anderson(middle) and Elder Pickron(right side)

Week 50 Headed to Choluteca

Alright so we have some new items to discuss this week!

To start off lets just talk about my week in the mission.  So it has literally been raining here like crazy. Like we get back to the house and it looks like I got pushed into a pool.  So my agenda got totally destroyed because of the rain, all of my money got soaked, my wallet soaked through my pants and even left a wallet stain on my undies hahaha my companion laughed so hard when he saw that.  Also it ruined my temple reccomend so now I am not longer worthy haha  I had to call President Bowler and he was laughing so hard.  He just said "well I'm glad to know that you are working in the rain!"... he thinks he´s funny hahaha.  We had a family home evening activity where like the whole ward was sopposed to go and bring investigators but literally like only me and my companion came.  Then like an hour later a family came so my companion and I just played a game with the members there and called it good.  I feel bad because I was soaking wet and the member told me to sit on her couch. And then we had another activity the day after and we were told that the whole ward was going to bring a ton of investigators and that the plan was to have 100 people. Because it rained like 30 came.  We walked in the pouring rain with 3 investigators!!  It was so funny because one of the investigators is the sister of a recent convert so she and I are like buddies.  She was talking on the phone the whole way and I was holding the umbrella for her while the rain was falling down on me haha #missionarywork

At that activity we were finally able to bring an investigator named Marlon Flores to an activity.  This guy is 17 and loves talking to us and loves the doctrine but he just is afraid of going because he says that if he goes, he wont like it and wont want to talk to us after.  So after like 3 months of working with him, he finally went to an activity.  I think we won him over with the free food haha but he loved it and I know that he will now start to progress and we will baptize him and his sister!

We also had interviews with Pres. Bowler this week!  I love him so much.  I only had one question in my interview and that was how can I use my time wiser because I work super hard every day and I just feel unsatisfied after every week with what I did.  And President really helped me with that.  He looked at all of my dats over the past 6 weeks and tells me that we are working really hard.  His only advice was to just contact more.  So we did it a lot more this week and I feel more satisfied but still I feel like I could give more.  It is tough because I dont know where I am losing the time.

And now the fun part.  The transfers have come and I am going to Choluteca!  It is like the hottest part in all of the world.  And there is like no food, no paved roads, no electricity so I will literally be like camping in my new area!! So it has been a pleasure knowing you all.  I will see you in the next life..... but everyone says that my area is really cool and that there is this lady that will cook for us and the food is delicious so I guess that is a win!  Only bad part is that once again, I am getting a very rebellious missionary.  I get one good missionary after like a year and then they just throw me back in with some crazy guy.  And the worse part is that I already know him.  He and I were in the MTC together and in the same zone so I feel like he will just get comfortable with me really quick and start to try to be lazy.  I swear President is just testing my patience hahaha but it will be good!  I know that he and I will work really hard and have a good time down there in the inferno!

I love you all so much!
Elder Garry

11 Months!

So this week wasn't the best in the world.  Like it wasn't awful just wasn't that great either.  We had planned on having a lot of baptisms for the 11th.  But I guess people have agency and decided they just didn't want to haha dumb agency.  We had a lady named Cinthia.  We had all thought that she was a witch but I'm pretty sure shes not because i asked her if she wanted to see a magic trick and she didn't seem too excited.  But she loved my tricks!  Anyways, so she had a baptismal date for the 11 and she was 100% ready to do it!  We had planned the interview for the Thursday at 3:30 and she was all good for it.  The only problem is that the Zone Leaders went and did divisions with the Assistants to the President.  And because of that they had to go to teguc the whole day.  So we were trying and trying to call Cinthia to tell her that we couldn't do it.  But she never answered.  The whole day.  Until Friday the day after and she wasn't a happy camper.  My companion talked to her first and she was like "yeah I don't want to do it anymore" and hung up on my companion.  then i called her because she and i are closer.  and she tells me "I don't want to do it anymore, I will just get baptized in another church.  and don't bother visiting me anymore" and hung up on me!!!! Allllll because we couldn't do a tiny interview we lost a baptism.  It isn't anyones fault but it just sucks that it happened.  So tomorrow we will go and visit her with her friend and try to figure out whats up with her.

And right now there is this really cute niña that is watching me write haha she is 6 and her name is Alexa.  She and I are best friends now.

Continuing haha
I also did my first divisions as District Leader.  I did Gringo divisions.  Elder Anderson and i went and worked and Elder Samayoa and my companion went and worked.  It was actually a really fun day!  we got back to the house at 8 to eat dinner and we played cards and ate pasta all night!!  It was like a missionary sleepover!  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  I love my district so much!!  I call them District Alpha because they are really the best.  The hermanas are working so hard and they are so awesome.  And the elders are so cool.  Every night I have to call my district and ask how they are and see what they need.  And I talk to my district for like 20 minutes each just talking and getting to know them all.  I just love them!  The only bad part about being District Leader is giving the class on Thursday but even that is fun!  Like this week I taught about how to be a good missionary, we need to have a perfect balance of Love, Obedience, and Work.  I thought I killed the class.  It was really powerful!!  I just love these guys so much!

Well I love you all!!  I hope you all have a great week!!  It is raining here like crazy so while I am soaking wet in the street talking to people who sometimes curse at me, I hope you all are enjoying your summer break and living it up!!!
Elder Garry

Week 48 Ticks and what nots

This week was good but a bit crazy!  But it was full of success so that is always a win!

So as you all know, I went to the water falls last week.  We were literally in the jungle climbing a mountain to find monkeys and see some cool waterfalls.  We were climbing trees and falling over in mud and everything.  So just keep that in find as I go along with this next story.  So this whole week was just tough.  I had parasites, and the medicine was just wrecking my stomach.  I was like sickly the whole week for that but now I finished the pills and I should be clean.  And then I noticed that every once and a while, I would get these weird like vibrations in my heart.  It was weird and I was just ignoring it.  Then on Wednesday I was like okay this is getting a bit ridiculous so i called the nurse and she was like oh don't worry your just stressed and I was like nope I am perfectly fine. and she was like no you are just stressed and I told her again, no I am fine.  And she just insisted on it and I was like NO I AM HAPPY!  and she was like okay well tomorrow (Thursday) Pres. Bowler and Sister Bowler will be at your district meeting so just talk to them when you are there.  I was talking to them all day and Sister Bowler was like I just don't understand what you have.  She checked my pulse and everything and no problems.  So she set an appt in Teguc for today.  So I was just like in the mind set of im going to die.  Also, side note, I didn't have any water this whole week.  I have gotten to bathe twice this week.  So on Friday, I finally rolled into the shower.  It was raining so I scraped enough water from the pila and the rain water to go ahead and bathe myself.  While showering, I found a tick on my thigh!!  And I realized that it had been there since Monday!  So I pulled that off real quick called the nurse and she was like "OH I think that is why you felt so sick!"  And since Friday I haven't had any heart problems nor felt sick!!  So, I am not dead, nor am I dying now!

Lets talk about the work this week!  So we had planned on having like 6 baptisms for this Saturday and they all might have just fallen.  No one went to the church yesterday and all of the niños that we were going to baptize want to do it in July for some reason.  I wont fight with them about it haha  but we found 9 new investigators for this week!  And they are all so positive.  Like excellent!  We were able to teach them all and they loved the lessons!  And the best part of it all is that yesterday when I was giving the weekly numbers, the leaders got angry because we didn't meet the goal of contacting. And so I taught them a little lesson on the phone. I was like why do we contact? To find people to baptize.  And I was like and what is the goal for finding people every week? And they said 8.  And I was like then why are you mad at me for using my time more efficiently than you?  I just think that this mission is like a little backwards.  All they want are numbers and they don't focus in the people that we are actually teaching and helping.  But it was a great week for us really.  I really feel great about the lessons that we had and all of the new people that we found.  We were even able to go and visit a lot of the investigators with members and they now all have friends.  We even found our investigators in the street days after and they would call us over and ask to talk to us!!  They weren't even scared to do it in front of their friends!  It was just so great!  I love my investigators.  They all are starting to give us food and everything!

AND the fun story of the week!!
So last night I was talking to my comp and I was like we need like 2 more contacts in the street to meet the goal for the day and it was like 9 so i just said lets do it real quick and then go to the house. So we contact one person and then move on.  They didn't want anything.  And then we see this chick who looked like a hooker.  and I was laughing and joking to my companion like hey lets go contact her with the law of chastity and he was like NOOOO!!  But they she came up to us!! And was like "heeeyyyy do you cute boys know where the town San Miguel is??" And I was like no.  And she was like okay that's fine and left.  then suddenly this pick up truck comes zooming at us in reverse.  and then this dude just starts screaming at us in English like "heeyy what the, you got a problem bro? what the" and i thought I knew him so I started screaming back like "nahhhh bro!! you got a problem though" and then I see that I don't know him and I was like oh shoot!!  And he is like "that's my girlfriend!! go get your own" and then more curse words.  And I just start laughing and I was like nahh dude she came to talk to us!! And then he just zoomed off.  I was laughing so hard from it all and my companion was like shaking in his boots!!  I love Honduras.

So I mean, over all this week was great!!  We found a ton of great people, and taught a TON of lessons.  I mean it was just so great.  I feel so content with this week!!  I taught some lessons, found some great people, almost got into a fight.  I mean what else do you ask for!

I love you all!
Elder Garry

The littlest one is Natalie.  I will probably come back to marry her when she is not 5 years old.  I just love her so much!  And then the other niña is Gabby!  She is hilarious!!!  She always has the best stories.  And then the lady is Mirium and I called her over to take a picture cuz I wanna baptize her but she doesn't want to go to church so I am trying to become friends with her so she wants to go!

Week 47 Legal Resident

So this week was just something else! A lot of work, and traveling, a bit of sickness, and even some drama! All of the characteristics of a good week!

So lets start by talking about the work. This week we worked like dogs. We were out trying to find people and teaching the people that we have! It was actually really fun. We talked to our mission leaders and we came to the conclusion that we could have like 5 baptisms this next Saturday if we work hard enough. I mean like 3 will be some niños but souls are souls right!! And on the 18th we are planning another 5!! I would lose my mind if we were actually able to get 10 baptisms this week! it would be so great!

Also this friday I got to spend the whole day out in Tegucigalpa! We got to get our residencies that say that we are legal people in the country. Before I was an illegal immigrant!! haha but now I am 100% catratcho!!! I feel it in my blood now!! I only crave beans and eggs with tortillas! I do all of the weird Honduran things and even talk all ghetto like they do. I've come to the conclusion that Hondurans speak like the equivalent of east St Louis. It is the same language that every body speaks but just more slurred and really no one understands of them. Every person who comes here says that they all speak weird and now I am one of the people that speak weird! I love being Honduran! hahahaha and when I was in Teguc, I got to eat at Denny's!! I had some real pancakes with real syrup!! I mean it was delicious. It is the little things that make me happy. I don't ask for much. Just real pancakes and syrup haha

And this week I have been a bit sick. Starting last Monday i had some really bad stomach pain. I was in the house the whole day on Wednesday. And I had to go to the doctor that day. Turns out I have parasites!! But it is chill because the medicine is supposed to be excellent to kill those guys. Only problem is that I am poor, and I can't buy the medicine right now so I am just suffering until I get money to buy it. But I mean it is all about the experience so I am not even mad.

And finally the drama. So I gave my first district meeting class on setting goals and achieving our goals. It was really good too!! I bought a snickers bar and threw it up on the basketball hoop and told them that they had 3 minutes to make a plan and get the snickers bar. The sisters were chucking water bottles at the back board for like 5 minutes and couldn't do it!!! It was golden. And the elders were like jumping and nothing. Until I told them that in life sometimes we need to change the plan to accomplish the goal. So the elders just got lifted the others up and grabbed the snickers. It was great. Then we went back in the class and I taught the rest of the class. Then I ended it by saying that to me the numbers don't matter but the investigators matter. I told them that if they cant do a lot of contacting in the week but they do a lot of lessons then that its a perfect week to me. I guess the zone leaders didn't like that I only focus in the people and not the numbers and they called me that night a bit grumpy. I told them that to me the investigators will always come first them the numbers. And that I 100 percent defend what i said and that I don't take it back just because they are grumpy with me. And he was like elder but you cant say that !! So I just told him that contention is of the devil and that we wont fight about it haha fun times here in Danli like always.

I love you all!!!


Elder Garry

Week 46 District Leader

So this week was one of the biggest in the mission for me hahaha lots of hard work and a curve ball added in calls for a fun email!!
Let us begin....

So I have kind of figured out my companion.. like more or less... just a bit.  He is like a bipolar hypocrite hahaha he will randomly have huge spurts of "I wanna work!!" and then be in the street like "Elder, I dont want to do ANYTHING right now".  Then he will sometimes be like "Elder we need to be the most obedient in the entire mission if we want blessings!!" Then I will find him asleep during his study time.  So I just kind of let him talk and just let it go in one ear and out the other haha he is really great! Like a good teacher, he can be fun!  It is just the little stuff he does.  But I pray every night and we get better and better every day!! We get a long fine though!! And I enjoy being with him.  He helps me and I help him so it's a win win!!

Also this week we had a lot of luck with the investigators!  We found a guy that is in 4th Nephi in the Book of Mormon.  He got it as a gift a while back and has just be steady reading.  He was never an investigator of the missionaries though!!  The only bad part is that his dad is a pastor but he told us that if he gets an answer to his prayer, he will be baptized!  And we worked and found some even more people who are solid.  We have 4 people who are really positive with a baptismal date. And even more that we will put a date this week.  I mean I know that we are doing something good because we had 9 investigators in the church yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have never had so many!!  My whole district had 17 together and we had 9 of them!!  It was incredible!! and they are so great and only a few are kind of iffy.  I'm way excited to work this week with those people!!

What else.  My whole zone had some crazy changes.  Like the whole zone except me and my companion and the zone leaders had like emergency transfers within the zone.  So my district leader left and went to another area.  His old companion is training now.  Then a ton of other people got moved around too.  I didn't know any of this until Elder Pickron called me screaming with the news haha his companion got moved to the office to be in charge of immigration and so now he is senior comp and was so excited.  He called and said that my District leader moved to his area and now is the district leader out there.  So I was like what the heck "who is my district leader" and he was like "you really dont know? You are!!!"
So after about 5 days as senior companion I just got moved to disctrict leader hahaha
That is basically like a regular missionary just with more responsibility, If there is a problem in the district it is my fault, I teach a class every Thursday, and less sleep haha.  Like last night I had to call for the stats of all of the missionaries in my district and I was up for so long adding numbers and calling the zone leaders haha

So in summary
We are teaching like crazy,
and I am now a District Leader who doesn't get to sleep
Good times in Honduras!
The Church is true!
Elder Garry

Week 45 New Comp & Sunburns

So another week has went by!  I think I only have like 7 weeks until a year in the mission!!!  Look at ya boy!

But this week was definitely different.  So Elder Juarez had transfers randomly so he is now in Tegucigalpa.  He loves it because he can buy all of his little knick knacks before he goes home.  So he left and my new companion is Elder Martinez from Nicaragua.  He has 6 months in the mission. He is still new.  Like so new it hurts me.  I hope I didn't act like him when I had 6 months hahaha.  He is different though.  I can already tell that I will learn patience with him.  Mostly because the first thing that asked me was if I was a patient person.  Yep, he asked that before my name hahaha.  I was like "ohhhhhhh noooooo......".  and I know exactly why he asked me that.  This guy is crazy!!  He is a full 20 years old and still acts like he is 14.  But he is super excited to work and to find some new people so that is great!!  Especially since my last two companions weren't the most "motivated".  Our first day we went and dropped off the bags and then he was like alright lets go! So we left and we only contacted the entire day.  We didn't visit any investigators, we didn't visit any members, we only knocked on doors.  And it is what we did the day after  and the day after  and the day after and probably this whole change.
         
But yesterday I sat him down and I went papa on him and explained some things.  I guess he has only been with people that ONLY contacted.  They only focus in the numbers and because of that he is so worried about having numbers.  I told him that we are working hard to find souls and not to have numbers.  I also told him that he needs to calm down and kind of act his age.  But since that day we have actually gotten  along really well.  I can tell that he and I will actually work REALLY well together and I am actually really excited to be with him.
         
I was praying all this week to know what to say and I was definitely blessed.  The spirit was really strong and he didn't take any of it as an insult but took it as advice.  He is a good guy!

What else.  So we actually found some really good people.  Some people that have read the entire Book of Mormon.  They have gone to church a bunch.  They have a ton of family that are members. And we have appts with them this week so I am excited to work with them this week and to not contact as much!!!  Let me just say that it was VERY hot this week and I got very sunburned from being in the street hahaha  also we gave service for 7 hours in the morning on Saturday.  They all said I looked like a shrimp because I was so pink haha. We literally mowed a ridge around a hospital with machetes and rakes!!!!  I've got some nice blisters!! hahaha  But that night we celebrated with the most awesome church activity I have ever seen!!!  The church hired a professional dance team!!! They came and did some cool native dances and even had like those giant doll people things and those were dancing too!!  I was so tired that I almost slept through the entire thing though.  It was funny to see all of the elders in the back almost passed out hahaha  We are working hard here in Danli!!!  We brought 5 investigators to the activity as well!!!  It was awesome!  And then at church we had 4 investigators with us!!!

This week was just a week of hard work and hot sun!! But it was worth it!

I love you all!
Elder Garry