So this week has been insane. So to start thing off, I actually got to ride in an elevator this week, what an experience let me tell you.
Oh ya and President Klein gave us root beer. Root beer!!!!
We had to go to the big city this week (San Pedro Sula) because my companion’s residencia expired and we had to go renew it. While I was there I saw... Elder Criddle ... Again!!!! Whooooo. Stud.
San Pedro Sula is a completely different country than the rest of Honduras. Oh my gosh. People are always on the move, and if you don't watch out, you'll get blasted by a car or bus in the street. Amazing.
Other news I got a haircut. Again 15 limpiras (75 cents). We then were invited to play soccer with the guy who cut our hair (Chiki I think), along with all his old guy friends. That was weird. And none of them would pass to me because I'm a gringo. Whatever. We still won.
We also had a Christmas party in Confité and it was super crazy. I don't even know how to explain it. Stress was being felt by all the missionaries that night. We had like 300 Catrachos (Hondurans) show up. We fed, entertained, cleaned up, and did it all for them.
Pues, (well) here are the stories everyone wants to hear... the pelegroso (hazards) and what not:
So pig is the food to eat here around Christmas, keep this in mind. I was studying one morning, and there was a pig screaming for some reason right outside my window. Well is was being slaughtered, like 5 feet away from me. All of a sudden, 5 or so guys jumped on top of it, to pin it down, then the man with the machete rolled up. He stabbed it in the neck a few times, I won’t go into a ton of detail, because it was graphic. Then they hung it up, threw some boiling water on it, so they could take off the hair, and then the machete guy rolled in again. This time he was hacking and cutting and blood and who knows what else. Chancho (pig). Sorry for telling you all this but it was so crazy, I had to.
Anyway the other thing was that a couple of days ago, in the middle of the night, we woke up to the sound of footsteps and Spanish outside our room. The lady across the street parks her car next to our house because we have a better barbed wire fence than she does, and I guess she likes that sense of security. Anyway, these guys in the night, were trying to break in and steal her car, we watched them out of the crack of our window. One of them we even recognized. They were all high, so they couldn't get into the car. They were all super mad, then one of them got the idea to, instead, steal one of her pigs. And that’s what they did. This all happened about 4 feet from where we were sleeping. But no harm fell upon us. Missionaries.
Nothing else happened, except I heard that Bastille did a remake of the song ´´I just died in your arms tonight¨ by the Cutting Crew........ ok 80’s are still supreme.
I am so thankful for all of your support. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, with joy and peace. We need to remember the story of our lord and savior, and even though we are celebrating his birth, we also need to remember that God gave the first gift, His son, and Christ gave the second.
Always remember
Santa-Santa Catracho!
PS. Its still like 100 degrees here…
Con Amor+
Elder Smarty
We had a great time Skype-ing Andy on Christmas, he looks awesome and was very positive and happy. He say’s that he loves his mission, and that it is, by far, the “hardest and funnest” thing he has ever done. He was very thankful for the Christmas cards and emails he received and asked how everyone was doing… going through what he calls the Laird family, the ward family, friend family, family family, missionary friends, etc.
We asked him tons of questions, and thought we’d relay some of them here:
- What will be your dinner plans for Christmas Day?: three PB&J sandwiches for breakfast, a cup-of-soup for lunch, and beans and rice for dinner. On a side note, they seem to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and all of the missionaries had “P-noche” together. There was a lot of fireworks last night, fireworks and gun shots. I heard a machine gun go of off just down next door. I ate all of the candy and stroopwaffles you sent really fast—probably too fast. They tasted awesome! Packages are the best!
- How is your Spanish?: It’s OK. They seem to have a lot of slang or short cuts here, and I have a hard time understanding the meaning of those words. If it’s gospel related and they’re not speaking too fast, I’m fine. But they always speak fast. One of the missionaries here is from California but his parents are from Peru so he speaks fluent English and Spanish. I can understand his Spanish perfectly and we can communicate very well. He has helped me the most. One thing I find interesting here, is that they make up names. They also spell things phonetically (maybe because of literacy) Even peoples birth names will be made up and then spelled phonetically.
- What’s the plumbing situation?: we have indoor plumbing, but whenever it rains the water lines get contaminated and the water turns muddy… and it pretty much rains every day. So quite often we run water in the concrete basin out back, let the dirt settle and then sponge bath. There are no hot water heaters in the jungle, so it’s always a cold bath or shower. The toilet is indoors, and usually working.
- Have you gotten very sick?: not really. I’ve been a little sick a few times, but nothing like you hear about. Sometimes I forget and use tap water when I fix breakfast or dinner but I haven’t got into trouble. If you only drink a little it isn’t too bad.
- How is the budget?: We are always running out of money, so we decided to do our own laundry and not pay someone to fix dinner. This should allow us to buy more groceries and maybe even go to a gym and work out. I get up every morning and do sit-ups and push-ups and curl cans of paint that the landlord has left in the house… but we’d love to go to a gym, at least on p-days.
- How big is the church there in La Masica?: We have about 20 people come to church, and usually we have about 3 investigators each week. The Bishop lives in another town and usually does not come to church. I don’t know if he is a bishop of several wards or branches and just comes on rotation, or is just less-active. It’s not a good situation regardless. We are still meeting under the awning, out in the open every week.
- How many people are you teaching?: we currently have 3 people who we are teaching and who are progressing in the gospel. The two ladies we baptized last week are neighbors to each other and we found them together as we were “contacting” on their street.
- How do you “work” with so much rain?: we are out every day regardless of the weather. Sometimes the weather knocks out the electricity, and we aren’t supposed to be in people’s homes in the dark… so if the power goes out we are limited to what we can do. We have only been confined to the house (because of weather) for 3 days since I’ve been here.
- How are people treating you?: on the streets some people yell at me and call me names… usually about being white. As they get to know me they still tease me a little, and like to touch my blonde hair. But in general, they are so very kind and humble, and I love them very much.
- How are the bugs?: my ankles are always raw from mosquito bites, for some reason I can’t keep them from biting through my socks. I even used permethrin on my socks but Hermana Martha really scrubs them hard on the washboard so it doesn’t last.
- Is there anything you need?: no, not really, I’m doing fine. I may buy another pair of shoes. I can’t keep a dry pair with only two. I have a fan on them 24/7 but they are still always wet. I also need a Spanish/English dictionary that isn’t “British English” but American English so things translate better.
- Andy’s friend Madie got her mission call to Chicago, Illinois and he didn’t know anything about it. She and Caden came over and told him in person and his reaction was priceless! He is so excited for her and even more excited that she will be speaking Spanish too. He was even more surprised that we kept it a secret from him for the past few weeks. Probably his best Christmas present ever!
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