¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Merry Christmas (eve)!

Man I love this time of year! The good ole Christmas spirit brings the best out of people (most of the time)

This week we had Zone Conference on Wednesday and it was decent. Sister Carlisle took some time to teach all of us how to direct hymns. Then we applied it to some Christmas songs and directed as we sang. President shared some thoughts as well. I don't know if I was still half a sleep or what cuz nothing really stood out to me. My notes were very blank this time. But overall I felt uplifted and loved by President and Sister Carlisle. Love em.

Update on David and Ruth. So during conference president made some changes to requisites for kids to be able to be baptized. Basically we now need to wait a month or two cuz their mom isn't active and all that stuff. Although I was bummed and kinda mad I had to take a timeout and think about it. It's OK if they need more time to be ready. President told us that too many kids were being baptized without an active adult/parent helping them so they would go inactive shortly after. So we're focusing on not only just baptizing but hoping them stay and find true happiness in doing so. In the end they'll be able to be baptized even though I may not be here to see it. Numbers don't matter. Now I'm just happy that David and Ruth have the desire to be good kids and do what's right. Love em!

Saturday was such an awesome day! In the afternoon we went to a place like the Charleston or like an old people home. The people that run it are Nuns which was pretty cool. They have my respect at how dedicated they are. But anyways we went to visit with the residents there and to sing some Christmas hymns. I LOVE OLD PEOPLE!! Haha i left that place with sore cheeks from smiling so much. It was awesome to be able to spend time with some of them and to get to know them. We pass by in front of the place sometimes and we got to meet the ones that always shout and say hi to us. Such great people! 

We also had our ward Christmas dinner. Waaaaaaaayy better than last year haha. First off it was an actual dinner haha. Also the primary prepared a little program for us and it was awesome. The rowdy and rambunctious kids were all calm and we'll behaved as they acted out the nativity scene. They also had a choreographed dance to the Happy song by Will Pharrell. For dinner we had what they call Chinese rice, chicken, a lettuce and apple salad and rolls. I got to help serve the drinks in the kitchen. There was a ton of soda being served. Also the people serving the food were faster than the drinks so all the kids and some adults came and we're complaining that there weren't drinks and I guess I learned to have a lot of tolerance and patience. Once everyone had their drinks and food I we finally started to eat but people started to come back and asking for drink refills. I'd take a bite and then fill up some cups and then take another bite and so on haha. There were some big pauses and yes I was able to finally eat in peace. Overall it was a good night and I enjoyed it.

Hope you all have a great Christmas and remember the real reason why we celebrate this joyful time of year :)

Elder Beardall

Walkin in a Muddy Wonderland

Such a great time of year! 

This week we were actually able to get out and visit. But Woah the streets are MUDDY! You know how it snows and the kinda rains and there's slush?  Well so I asked for snow and got slushy mud. And we are skating. Not on ice but in mud! Also with this load of rain it's been a "cold front" which has been so nice besides the showering. I guess I'm paying for all the times I turned the bathroom into a sauna. Sorry Mom and Dad! But man did it feel good to get out! We had lots of visits to make up for!

We found David and his sister and mom!!! The first visits we were able to only able to find David but this week we found all three of them! We brought a member with us and she was so awesome and helpful! She knows the mom well so she got talking and we were able to make an easy connection. We decided to change our plans and talk about the Book of Mormon. It was such a good lesson because they were excited to read it and the member that we brought said she would go and read with them! We came back and read some more and invited them to church. The mom is always working so it's hard to find her on and she's also a member but super inactive. But we said we'd pass by before church to accompany them and we got there and nobody was home but the neighbors said that they had left and that they might've left for the church. We get there and they told us we were too slow and that they were waiting but decided to go without us........  WHAT!?! Miracles happen. They really liked church and we're hoping to be all ready for the 29th of December. Lots and lots and lots of prayers for them! 

This week I went to San Pedro to renew my residence and things have changed in this last year. I wasn't as afraid as the first time and I even got some pics. I guess I worked myself up from before the mission hearing that it was super dangerous and all that. I felt like i was walking down Salt Lake City. But it was interesting to go to the other mission and we took some cool pics (featured below). I passed so I'm still legal ;)

A sad thing happened this week that really got me to the core. So two houses down from us lives a oldish lady (65ish years old). Everyday we pass by her house she's always outside sitting on a plastic chair in the corridor enjoying the fresh air. We pass by and she always has the biggest grin, like my sister Kenedi, on her face. Like everytime we walked by it just made me super happy to see that she was outside and we kinda were bummed when she wasn't there. Well this last Tuesday we were taking our dirty clothes over to the lady to wash them and we passed the lady's house and she wasn't out. Bummer. We walk a little further and one of our investigators that we've been with for a good time now comes over yelling and freaking out that the neighbor passed out and it's possible that she's dead and that they were hurrying her to the hospital to maybe save her. 5ish minutes later the car comes back and well she didn't make it. My comp and I helped them get the lady's body back into the house so they could prepare for the funeral. That was one of the hardest things to see. One day she was there smiling and the next she's not there. It made me reflect on how many times we felt we should've visited and done more but sometimes you can't do everything. The happy thing is she was a member but inactive and before she had said her and her family were gonna start going to church. We're going to work hour hardest to help the family because families can be eternal through the ordinances of the gospel. Although we felt sad for a minute, knowing that this sweet lady could be with her family again made all the pain go away. The Gospel helps bring happiness. All we need to do is accept it into our lives. To finish up I'd like to share a scripture that I really love,

John 16:33-

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"

Be of good cheer especially during this time of year! (that has a good rhyme to it haha)

Elder Beardall

Did that just happen?

So this week not a lot of exciting things happened due to my lovely sickness. I felt a little better Tuesday and Wednesday but after that not so well. We didn't get to work in the area as much which was a bummer cuz we weren't able to get to visit David. He didn't come to church yesterday either so we're going to get to the bottom of that. I didn't realize how much I love going out and visiting people. It takes me being sick to realize it. But this week is going to be a lot more productive cuz I'm feeling a lot better now and we're going to get things rolling again!

OK I lied there was something pretty cool that happened. So Thursday night 12:30 I wake up to vomit my guts out and then get back into bed. I'm laying there struggling to sleep because of my fever and achy body when I hear BANG BANG.......BANG.... BANG...BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG....... BANG BANG.... BANG.(or something like that. What I'm getting at was there were gunshots haha). Then silence. I roll over and see my comp is awake and we both look at each other with the look of "yeah that just happened" on our faces. Then about 10-15 minutes later BANG BANG and so forth. There was a showdown going on between gangsters, for drugs and all that good stuff, almost in front our house. After that everything calmed down and I guess I fell asleep. The strange thing was that our neighbors went on the next morning like nothing happened blaring there music and doing chores and I'm there cautiously looking out the street to see if there were any evidence or danger in the streets. But luckily nothing was to be found and life went on. Don't worry we're fine and apparently that happens every once in a while......  Welcome to Honduras haha

On a more cheerful note Christmas is still here!!! Thanks fam for the Christmas package!! It now feels a little bit more like Christmas here because I've got the lights up in our room, it smells like pine trees, jamming to some Kenny G and David Archuleta, and there are some presents under the tree (pictures below). The only thing left is for a miracle to happen which would be for it to snow ;) Miracles do happen!

A miracle that happened this week came in a way that I didn't expect. So we went to the doctor Saturday morning for a followup appointment and she said that if I still had a fever in the afternoon we couldn't go out to visit. Well come to lunch and I have a fever still. We call our cook to ask about lunch and she says that she's in San Pedro with heavy heavy traffic and probably won't get home until 3 or 4ish so goodbye lunch but we were able to obey the doctor and stay in the house and rest. 5 o'clock comes around and the family home evening we had planned for the light the world was then but the secretaries that share our ward covered for us. The family also happened to be the ones that give us dinner that night so we thought they were just give dinner then after all at once. 7 o'clock comes around and someone shouts outside. My comp and I look at each other concerned because we never get people to come visit US. The family Laines had made us dinner and brought it over!! Man are they such a good family and I love them so much! But yeah we were able to eat dinner without leaving the house. Although not being able to eat lunch  we were blessed for our obedience to doctors orders. Also I feel better for resting more too so that's a plus. But even though it's not something big like you would expect it definitely was a miracle for me. Miracles like that happen every single day. You've just gotta look for them. God is there watching out for us. All we have to do is be obedient to what He asks. 

Have a holly jolly week and enjoy Lighting the World with your service and good ole smiles. The world needs em!

Elder Beardall 

Illuminating the World

YAHOOOOO THE CHRISTMAS SEASON IS FINALLY HERE! I love this time of year because, well there's a lot of reasons but one of them is because there is a lot of love and sharing going around which helps us be more like Christ in which is what the focus of this season is all about. Missing the snow though! I'm jealous that at home you just got some good snow. We're still burning here just in case you were wondering ;)

This week I learned a hard lesson about the Word of Wisdom. So on Saturday we had a service for the worldwide day of service for light the world and we went as a district to go help a lady out in the sister's area. So we're there serving and they offer us coconuts which I've sadly developed an allergy to. Me wanting to eat one gave into temptation and ate it. Error numero uno. Now error number 2. The day before I started some hardcore exercise stuff cuz I've gotta start now if I wanna 6 pack by the time I get home ;) but yeah I did some hardcore exercise which destroyed my muscles and made me super sore. Now those two errors added onto the fact that when we were returning to our area we passed a dirt road and cars were going fast so a ton of dust, dirt, and who knows what else was flying in the air which I then inhaled. That started an allergic reaction which with my body being in a weakened state caused me to be sick yesterday and today and who knows much longer. But the lesson learned here was the Lord teaching me that I need to take better care of my body. If there are things that damage our bodies then we should avoid them. Also exercise in moderation. Little by little we get stronger. So for not obeying those lessons the consequences are being sick with achy muscles and a stuffy nose. But like my mom always says "Beardalls can do hard things!"

So this week we started to teach David. The first lesson went great! We asked him if he had the desire to be more like Jesus Christ and he said that he does. He really loves going to church and wants to be a good kid. We had another appointment to visit him with his mom but neither of them were there. But David came to church yesterday like usual which was awesome!

So in the month of December there is the initiative called Light the World (illumina el Mundo here cuz they speak Spanish haha). But what's gonna happen is we have I guess what you'd call Family Home Evenings with members every single night but here's a cool part to it. They have to invite one of their family or friends that aren't members so they can feel the Christmas Joy and also so we can meet them. The funny thing was that our instructions were that we just show up and are there to eat the treat and to get the reference. Yes we can testify or comment but they want the members to share the message and to invite and all that. That will help also to be able to have a friend in the Church and help them realize that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church that will help them find true Joy in their lives. We're going to have lots of work to do this month and we're pumped!

So a quick spiritual thought of the week. In my personal study I came across Mark 10:27 which reads:

27) And Jesus looking upon them saith,  With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Short and simple. With God we can do all things. Have no fear because you can do it! Enjoy every moment that you've got!

Elder Beardall