La semana [The week]

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving back in the states! Here we celebrated with Little Ceasars, and my companion brought a little Mexicana to the table with her hot sauce that she carries in her backpack. She makes me laugh. 

This week we had some great lessons.  One was with Hermana Wendy, who showed up on her own at church and was basically like, "And how do I get in?"  

We were teaching her in the chapel with the Relief Society president, Hermana Rina, and her grandbaby.  When my companion was reciting the first vision the baby grabbed two fistfuls of Hermana Rina's hair and screamed and pulled really hard. Hermana Rina couldn't pull him off, and it ended up in all of us dying of laughter. It's the funniest things that happen, and it seems like especially during the first vision. 

This week I got to reflecting on gratitude, and all the wonderful things I am thankful for. 

-Being sealed to my family for eternity

-Having the scriptures that I can study and learn more about the love that God has for His children

-Being able to spread the gospel full time, 24/7

-Being able to communicate with my Heavenly Father at any moment through prayer

-Having the knowledge of the restored gospel

-Having a living prophet

-Knowing my Savior Jesus Christ paid for my sins, weaknesses, and imperfections

-Being able to speak Spanish!

And so much more! I feel truly blessed to be living in these last days and to be a servant of the Lord in this time. I only hope to keep working hard and improving and learning lots more with this short time He has given me. 

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana White

Thanksgiving at Little Ceasar's in Tegucigalpa

 Hermana Aldama's "muy picante" hot sauce

 View from their apartment?

Matching camisas

Happy Thanksgiving!

The week has come and gone and here we are again!

This week was pretty good, we taught some great lessons and found some great people!  On Friday we had divisions [splits] with the Hermana Leaders, and I got to go to the área La Esperanza with Hermana Montalvo!  [Amy's trainer]  It was super great to be with her again, she is a great missionary. La Esperanza is a beautiful área, built into the side of a mountain here in the city.

Erikson is doing super bien [very well]!  This week we had a great lesson with his wife, too, and they seem to be able to progress. Plus he is totally reading the Book of Mormon, which is a huge indicator. His daughter only bit me once this week, so she's progressing as well.

I love that here in Teguc we can be in the heart of the city with traffic and big buildings and bajillions of people but also be in the mountains with big trees and plants. It's really interesting to me how the houses are built casi [almost] on top of each other, practically in the mountain.  I am really enjoying being here in the city, but I miss being in the south with all the cows and chanchos [pigs] and chickens walking the streets. 

I think I have got a pretty good handle on Spanish these days. Every once in a while the gente [people] tell me I speak well for only having almost six months in the misión. I count that as a success. I still have lots to learn and improve but I'm working on it every day!

It's crazy to me to think that November is coming to an end and that this week is already Thanksgiving!  December and Christmas are close - all the people here already have their trees up.

This week for Thanksgiving, I wanted to share Alma 26:37 to remind us the real reason to give thanks to our God, for His son Jesús Christ. He is the light and the way!  I am learning every day how to rely on our Savior for everything, and that through Him we can find true happiness and peace.

Alma 26:37  Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

Have a lovely week!

Hermana White

 With Hermana Montalvo, her trainer for the first 6 weeks in Honduras.  
She is from Puebla, Mexico.

The "La Esperanza" area of Tegucigalpa last week during splits.

Guaymuras!

This week I had cambios! [transfers]

It was the weirdest and the awfullest to say goodbye to all the people I love in San Lorenzo, where I started out this crazy wonderful adventure. But I am now in Tegucigalpa, the capital, and my area is called Guaymuras. It's a whole different world up here. I feel like I am in a different mission! To start it off the weather is cool, and I pulled out my sweaters!

We have a ward here, and they are all really awesome and supportive. My companion is Hermana Aldama, from Mexico, and she is in her last month of the mission so I get to finish her off. She's really great and I am learning lots from her. 

It is beautiful here, with great big trees and flowers right in the middle of the city. Our area isn't very big but there are lots of people because all of the houses are right smack next to each other. The people are a lot different from my previous area, mostly because they have more money and less time for religion talk. It's all in the fun of it. 

We have just a few investigators but they are doing really well. One of the most spiritual lessons I have ever been in was with Erikson, where we were teaching about the Restoration, and when we explained the Apostasy he said, "Well of course Jesus would have to come down and restore his church again after it was lost." And we were all, just you WAIT, It gets better! And when we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon he couldn't believe we were just giving it away like that! It was pretty neat.

The only catch with him is that he has an adorable 2-year-old girl who is tremendous, and in this lesson my lovely companion gave her her pen and she proceeded to write aaaalll over my arms and legs. And then she bit me a couple of times. The spirit was so strong, and I didn't want to detract from it by making her cry. It was whatever. 

So anyway! I'm doing great here and taking every challenge as it comes! Have a lovely week and remember to take in count the tender mercies of the Lord. We are so blessed to be here on the earth in this time with the restored gospel! We have all the blessings of the priesthood and a living prophet. I love this gospel and I love the mission here! 

Much love, 

Hermana White

Three pictures from San Lorenzo, before Amy went to Tegucigalpa:

Hermana Aleida.

 And here she is in Tegucigalpa.

 View from her new apartment?

"All of the houses are right smack next to each other."

Amy's new companion, Hermana Jessica Aldama, from near Mexico City.

Amy's study area in the new apartment.

Hello all!

Welp, here we are again.

Last week we started it off great with a noche de hogar [FHE] with a less active family who want their nine-year-old daughter baptized. They are really a good family, but have been inactive for about 2 years for one thing or another and we are working with them to get them excited about Church again. We watched "The Restoration" and the Spirit was so strong.

Afterwards they gave us crackers with caramel sauce (super good) and curiles* (super gross) which I accepted with a brave face. I started eating it but after a few bites I think my face gave me away and the hermano [brother] laughed and told me I didn't have to eat it. I gracefully gave up the fight. 

Tuesday we woke up good, but quickly thereafter Hermana Martinez started to feel pretty sick which got worse and we ended up not being able to leave the house until Saturday afternoon when she felt better. Lots of people in our area have been sick, including the other hermanas in our area, who also stayed in all week. It was reeeeaaally boring in our house all that time, but I had time to wash lots of clothes and clean the house and also read all of the May 2013 General Conference and read a good chunk of Jesus the Christ, which was good.

So we pretty much had the boringest week ever, but we are both feeling good and ready to take on the world now!

Hermana Aleida is doing great. We didn't get to visit her this week but we did call her every day and she is reading the Book of Mormon! 

Also cambios [transfers] are this week and we don't know what will happen quite yet, but I am hoping I get to have one more change here! I really love it, and now feel like it's my home, and I know it will be hard for me to leave the people here. We will see what happens! 

I didn't take a single picture of us this week, but I will send some next week!

-Hermana White

*This is Amy's dad.  Here's a picture & description of Honduran curiles that I found online:

"Curiles are a local clam with a dark, iron-rich blood. The clams are served raw in their blood mixed with chismol (salsa) and lime juice. They're yummy."

Honduran curiles

My dear friends and family,

I hope all is well with you all! 

The week was pretty good. Hermana Aleida is doing just swell. She accompanied us at a baptism that the other hermanas had on Saturday and was really touched. She is still timid to set a date for hers because she feels like she doesn't know a lot yet, but we have asked her to pray for the 14th because we know she can be prepared for then. She has told us that she has received a great peace and calm in her heart in this time we have been teaching her and the times she went to the church with us.

She has lived in San Lorenzo her whole life and knows lots of the members, some since her youth. She was talking to an hermano the other day that she's known since her childhood, who said he's been a member for 18 years. She said something that really struck me, she asked him if he's been going to this church for this long why is this the first time she's heard of it?  No one from the branch had ever mentioned it to her or invited her to church. Imagine that.

Think of all the people you know that are waiting, prepared to receive the gospel but haven't found it yet because no one has invited them. She said that something this wonderful needs to be shared, and we were all, "We know, hermana! We're doing it!"

She is a really special lady and we feel like her daughters [she's "50-ish"]. She has a hunger and thirst to learn more about the Gospel. She has a hard time reading, and when we taught her about the Book of Mormon she said with our help she plans to learn what's in that book! She's sweet. 

Today for P day we went to an area called Puerto Grande, a teeny tiny mountain town about half an hour by bus and another half hour by mototaxi from us. We hiked around the mountain an hour to an iguana reserve they have, which was super cool. In the picture where I'm standing there is in a corral that has 1,300 iguanas. There were three others with other ages of iguanas, which was pretty neat.

Also we went to this house on the beach where they have tons of parrots, which was awesome. We arrived when the guy there was feeding them and they all came flocking. Pretty neat. 

We get the Ensign every month, in English and in Spanish, and I have never appreciated it more.

There are challenges every day and it's hard sometimes, but it's all worth it. I am enjoying myself here and learning to enjoy some of the things I didn't when I was just starting out.  

Well, you guys. I am doing wonderfully. Every day has its challenges and its triumphs. The Church is true and He lives! 

Have a wonderful week, 

Hermana White

Notice the iguanas in the background.

More iguanas in the background.