Goodbye Sense of Smell

Week number 99 down in the books (not sure if that's true or not but it's close) and we hit the grind and we saw some fruits of our work. 

First off shout out to mah sista for graduating from high school. Knew you could do it. Love you Ken! 

We had exchanges Thursday which was pretty fun. I went to the other area with Elder Bidó whose from the D.R. and we hit the grind. It was was weird cuz it was the first time I was with a Latino that was taller than me. We're basically the same height but yeah. Someone called us the twin towers which was pretty funny. That day we basically visited all of the widows in their area. OK not all but we visited a good amount. But it was fun because they were so nice and happy for us to pass by and share something. Oh also part of their area you have to cross a bridge that crosses a canal that's pure sewage. The "water" is black with floating substances and man did that smell delicious! In winter the saying is that the cold freezes you nose hairs, but this did the opposite. My nose felt like it was burning and my lunch wanted to take a peak at what was going on and come out but we hauled out of there. By the end of the day we had crossed about 4 times but the last 3 we did one of those deep breaths and then haul across. We got some funny looks because it was a good sized bridge and by the end we were kinda running. Good times haha

Saturday night the lady that normally gives us dinner was at the ward mothers day activity so she cancelled. Another family offered for us to come over and we could cook with their kids. That morning I had the idea to make some good ole Breakfast for Dinner. I wanted to make some French Toast cuz its been about 2 years since I've had some so we bought the ingredients and we made it with them. Their faces were kinda funny because they kinda looked scared to try it. They tried it and let's just say I'll be opening my own breakfast Café when I get home ;) but they liked it and I also made homemade maple syrup with the mapleine that mom and dad hooked me up with so shout out to them. While we were cleaning up they went to the freezer and grabbed the little ice that accumulates on the edges, and threw it at me while I was washing the dishes. We had a little water fight and ended with some good towel flicking. It was a good time and we had some good laughs. The awesome thing is their parents aren't members and yesterday their mom came to church so we were pumped about that. Speaking of people coming to church we had 7 people come. Yes that's right 7 investigators came and we were pumped out of our minds! Although there have been some big challenges for me lately, as I have used them to make me focus in,  miracles have happened this changes. I love being a missionary! 

This week one of the lady's that gives us dinner is going through and hard trial in her life and she was sharing as we were eating. A scripture came into my mind that when we finished sharing she asked for us to frame it in big letters so she can read it tons. That scripture is one of my favorites and is found in Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-9,

7  My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8  And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

9  Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands

This life is hard. Trials and challenges come. Heavenly Father and Jesus are there to comfort you. The good thing about life is the hard times pass by. Endure with a positive attitude and patience. You can do this! You're not alone! Turn to Him and find comfort and hope.

Elder Beardall

Hambre & Milagros

Pretty sure that's the first Spanish title I've done so pull out your dictionaries.

So this week we got a call Monday night saying that President Carlisle wanted to do a mission-wide fast Tuesday to Wednesday. The purpose was to be able to see miracles in this month and to be able to baptize those that are prepared. That explains the "hambre" part and the miracle part I was gonna share but I got my homecoming talk subject and its perfect for the subject so of you wanna know about the miracle we saw this week, Sunday June 23rd 9:00 :)

Wednesday morning we had a service project but we went in church clothes because 1. We had interviews at noon and 2. It was a lesson then a service so we brought shirts to put over our clothes. We read the Book of Mormon with her and she's finishing up almost but we were able to read and learn in Ether so it was good. After we went out back and picked a gnarly smelling fruit called "nonis" (sounds like "naw nees") I sent a pic when I was back in Calpules but they're gross. Supposedly they're used for medicines but they're gross. I don't like them. We actually had our lunch canceled that day and we were fasting and we still hadn't gotten lunch figured out when the lady offered to make us lunch after our interviews. The Lord blesses us when we serve and do what He would if He were here.

My comp went to get his residency Friday morning with one of the ZLs that share the ward with us so I stayed with the other for the morning. All we did was practice for a mission activity we have planned as a stake for this week. We did it last year when I was in Pineda (around October). I'll let you know how that goes next week. 

So we had interviews Wednesday morning and it was awesome. President is doing his last interviews with most of the missionaries because he finishes at the end of June. Luckily I'll get one more as I'm heading out. But it was a good interview. It was probably the most relaxed I've ever seen him and we were joking around about each other working hard to the end and we had some good laughs. I loved the message he shared that comes from Elder Uchtdorf from this last conference. 

Elder Beardall

Photos: so it's kinda dangerous to pull cameras out here and I just got my camera charger, so next week I'll get some good shots. Next Week will be better! 

The Oven

Well round 2 here in San Pedro might actually kill me! The powers gone out in the middle of the night with a bed that you can feel the heat coming out. But we've been working hard.

First off my new comp is Elder Catu from Guatemala. He speaks a native tongue from there which sounds kinda like a mixture of Spanish and Chinese and like Native American all together. It's pretty cool. He has 3 brothers and 1 sister so their fam is basically opposite from mine. He's been out 6 months and actually started where I did which is kinda cool. We talk about members and the good ole stuff in Mezapa. 

Also from now on I'll be writing at 8 here cuz they assign writing times and if you don't show up you lose your time to write so it's pretty intense.

So this week I've been meeting everybody in the area and not that many names are sticking but we do have some awesome investigators. One is a couple that their daughters got baptized last year but they didn't due to not being married but now they're gonna get married! This last week we put them on date for the end of May. We'll see tomorrow how the papers and everything is going. Other than that we don't really have any progressing investigators. But yesterday two less active members came that we visited so we were pumped. All in all it was a good week!

I came across a scripture this week that was a good one. 2 Nephi 33:6

"I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell"

Sometimes the plain or simple is what's best. Keep it simple. Keep it true and keep it real. Doing the simple things will allow us to do what the last line says redeem our souls from hell. Choose the right. Do the small things. Enjoy the blessings of life!

Elder Beardall 

San Pedro Sula Round 2

Well summer has officially hit it's peak here in Honduras! The fans aren't really worth it because all they do is blow hot air. It's like using a blow dryer but with more air.

So we got changes last night and sadly I have changes. I'm pretty bummed even mad because I really have loved being here in Trujillo 1. It's a beautiful paradise 2. I have really come to love the people here. They're part of my growing family here in Honduras and they'll be truly missed. I'm headed out to San Pedro one last time in a part called Planes. Funny thing is its up against one of my old areas (Calpules) so I'll be able to visit some of the members there which will be cool. I imagined Trujillo would be my last area but I guess the Lord has other plans. We'll see how San Pedro Round 2 works out.

On Saturday we helped the Elders quorum clean the Church. I almost used the edger(weed whacker) to clean up the grass but the blades weren't working. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but here nobody uses lawn mowers. People just let the weeds grow and say that's their lawn. But it'd damage a lawn mower to cut the weeds because they let them grow tall and then use the weed whacker or a machete to clean It up. But there was a member that sent someone to cut the weeds so we cleaned the inside. It brought me back to the good ole janitor days because o was put on bathroom duty. I was OK with it because I've cleaned bathrooms and have cleaned nastier looking bathrooms before so it wasn't that bad. But we left the chapel sparkling when we left so I was content.

This week we were visiting one of our investigators that's a PF (part-member family). We've really been able to connect with this family and there's not a time where we are joking around (OK during lessons we're about 99% serious). This last Thursday we taught about baptism and invited the mom (who's not member) to follow Christ's example and be baptized. She didn't accept but we're gonna keep teaching her but the funny thing was on Sunday during Sunday school the teacher and members were talking about baptism and how you can't return to live with Heavenly Father if you're not baptized and my comp and I are sitting close to her and as they say it we do a little "heh" and she just laughs and hits us. Hopefully that was a help for her hearing that not only from us but the members. Hopefully she progresses.

So spiritual thought real quick. I was reading in Mark 5 this week and part of the chapter it was talking about when Christ was asked by a man to go and heal his daughter that was dying. On the way there was a lady in the crowd that had faith and touched his clothes and was healed and this made Christ stop and talk. With the little delay there was a messenger that came to report that his daughter had passed away and to bother Jesus no more. I love what he says in verse 36

 "As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe." I love the part that I bolded because we should not be afraid. Jesus and our Heavenly Father can work miracles in our lives if we only believe. Believe that he can help. Believe that he can work miracles. Believe that he can heal.

Elder Beardall