"White Powers"

Welp, here we are again. 

This week was strange but good! Wednesday we went down to Choluteca to get Hermana Powers' feet checked out. Turned out she had warts all along the bottom, which they then removed. It was painful for her and we spent Wednesday and Thursday and Friday morning in the house recuperating. We watched all The District videos and read lots of Liahonas with our time indoors. 

Friday the other hermanas in our area had a baptism and our recent convert Jose got to baptize her! It was so so special to see it come full circle with him exercising his newly ordained priesthood authority, and it was a really neat experience for him. He was so nervous before, but did great. He is really progressing and becoming a regular member of the church. He has lots of questions and wants to learn as much as he can before his mission, which is awesome. This week he asked us to study about the tribes of Israel because he is getting his patriarchal blessing soon. 

Saturday was the Women's Conference which was just so wonderful. We got to watch it on a computer in the church in English, which was pretty cool. The messages were wonderful and I learned so much. It is amazing to have such an opportunity as that. And it made me really excited for conference this weekend!

Welp, that's pretty much it, other than yesterday I completed 4 months in the mission! That was crazy. It has all been one heck of an adventure and I just can't wait to keep it going! This week is the week of cambios [transfers], so we will have to see if I stay here in San Lorenzo or not. I really hope I stay here, I love the people and the area so much. 

Have a wonderful week!

-Hermana White

 By Alfred M. White

And then there were two...

Hola familia y amistades!

Welp. 

Thursday after District Meeting we went to this cool little restaurant on the beach that we have in our area, for Hermana Garcia's last week in the mission. Attached is a photo.

Friday we took Hermana Garcia up to Teguc where she stayed overnight with some sisters there and the next day flew home to Guatemala.

When Hermana Powers and I walked out of the house we just looked at each other and started laughing and almost crying because of the sheer realization that two teenage girls from Utah were let loose in Honduras and we somehow had to make it back to our area. Oh man. Luckily we got on the right bus and made it back to San Lorenzo!  

Such adventures we have had here in the last few days. Hermana Powers has been here one change more than me and is finishing my training. She's super great and we have been learning lots together! Like we are both pretty good at faking understanding when we don't know what the people are saying sometimes. The other day we were buying vegetables from the vegetable man and he asked us if we were from Spain. We told him well of course we were. Claro que si, hermano. 

We were teaching a new investigator, Hermana Domitilia, yesterday and when I asked her what she thought a prophet was, she said a man called of God, like Moses and Joseph Smith. We said Yes, Hermana! You are so right! The spirit was so strong during her lesson and she seems really positive. 

Before I left for my mission someone told me that you have lots of bad days but somehow you forget them, and it's so true. Of all the hard times we have, the handful of good times we have in a day outshines them all. It makes it all worth it in the end. 

The work is moving along here, however slowly. We meet the challenges and take everything in stride. I'm having a wonderful time and am so grateful for the time I have been given to serve the people here. 

Have a wonderful week! 

Lots of love,

Hermana White

Two teenage girls from Utah were let loose in Honduras...

Hola mi amado familia y otras!

Greetings from the beautiful country of Honduras! Tomorrow, the 15th of September, is the day of independence for Central America so everyone is super patriotic right now with parades and fiestas and all sorts of crazy! It's really cool, though. It makes me miss the US a little bit, but also makes me love this place even more. 

This week was pretty good, we are in a trio right now, which spices things up. Hermana Powers is from Roy, Utah, and she's super awesome! It's kind of cool to speak English with her and platicar about the great old state of Utah.

Hermana Garcia leaves to finish her mission on Friday, so it will be just us two after that. It has its challenges to be in a trio, but it's really awesome to teach with more power and experiences. I have learned a lot from her already. And I will miss Hermana Garcia! She has been a great companion. It's weird that she is going home, like for good. People keep telling me that one day I will have to do the same, but I still don't believe them. 

Also, earlier this week we had interviews with President Bowler and training from the APs for our zone, which was super great. We learned that first we need to strengthen ourselves with our studies, and then our companionship, and then together we can strengthen our wards and branches. This was really good counsel because the wards and branches here need a lot of help and rely a lot on the missionaries, but we received some great ideas about how to help them.

Here we have to focus a lot on less active members to get them back to church. Our rama [branch] has almost 900 members on the registros [rolls] but asistencia [attendance] of about 70 each week. As missionaries we have to help the church leaders find and strengthen these members and help them any way we can. It's kind of funny because about half of the contacts we do turn out to be members. 

To strengthen the less active families, this week we taught a lot using the Family Proclamation to the World. It is such an inspired document and is really powerful to teach from. It really can give us specific counsel on how to strengthen our families now and in the future based on principles of the gospel. 

I am still loving everything and doing great! The Spanish is coming, and every day I learn new things about how to be a better missionary.  I feel like I'm in Fall right now - the place where we write has air conditioning and my nose is frozen! But its super nice and I definitely won't complain. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Yours truly,

Hermana White

Hermana Garcia (Baja Verapaz, Guatemala), Hermana Powers (Roy, Utah), and Hermana White (West Jordan, Utah)

The week!

Hello all!  Todo bien aqui, I hope all is well with you all.

Time is flying and here we are in September! So crazy. 

Well, this week lots of prayers were answered because it rained every day! It was really a blessing because lots of people didn't have water for about a week, but I think everyone does now. Also, it made the nights a lot cooler and we slept wonderfully. We got caught in a few downpours, but it's all part of the game here. 

The work is going along here, we found some really good investigators. During a lesson on the Book of Mormon, Ana, an investigator, told us that if this book was true it would change everything. She said that her family is searching for the truth. It was a powerful experience to testify to her that it is true!

The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and like it says in the introduction, we can know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the Earth. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much, and I am so grateful to be able to read it every day. 

Also, my companion [Hermana Garcia from Guatemala] is finishing her mission the 19th, 11 days before transfers, to go home to work, and we will be in a trio with an hermana who will come tomorrow until she leaves. So that will be interesting!

Hermana Garcia's been a member her whole life, her grandparents were converts, and all but her dad are members. She's from Baja Verapaz, in the mission Coban. An hermana in our branch and a member of our district presidency both served their missions in her town when she was little and they know her family which is kind of fun. 

I'm doing great and I am so happy here! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana White

We have been praying for rain, and now look at those clouds!