Welp, this week has been another crazy one for the books. 

Monday we hopped on down to Teguc for a dentist appointment that Hermana Hernandez had, at this really neat clinic run by LDS dentists from the U.S. who come down to volunteer their time to help out future or current latino missionaries. While we were there I ran into a young man from San Lorenzo who is preparing to go to his mission, which was really neat to talk to him and get some updates on all my favorite people down there.

Also while we were waiting I was talking to some of the kids of the dentists there, one of which said he was from Eagle, Idaho, and happened to be in the same ward as Brad and McCall!  We both freaked out about how cool that was, and I got to send a letter up with him which I hope they got :)

While waiting for the appointment, it actually took a lot longer than we thought it would, and we ended up having to stay the night in Teguc with some hermanas in the city. 

Tuesday morning we got up and got right back to Danli, where at about 1:00 pm President Bowler called to tell us that Hermana Hernandez´s grandpa had passed away and we had permission to go back down for the funeral. We got down there at about 7:00 and went to the viewing, stayed another night with the hermanas there, and went to the burial the next day. Wednesday night we got back late, and I was feeling pretty crappy.

Thursday morning I woke up with a fever, took some acetaminophen, and we went out working normally. 

Friday morning I still had a fever but was feeling okay.  We went to a conference our zone had with President and Hermana Bowler. Getting there, everyone's all asking me what happened to my face. And why is my neck all red. I go to check it out and I had broken out in a cute rash all over. I talked to the mission nurse and she sent me home to rest and drink a bajillion gallons of water.

We ended up staying home Friday and Saturday on Tylenol and Benadryl and covered in calamine lotion, got to escape to go to Stake Conference on Sunday morning, but stayed in the rest of Sunday.

Today I am feeling good, without the fever, just real itchy with the rash. I went to do a blood test this morning to see what the heck I have, but don't even worry it is TOTALLY common here. Luckily I have just been real fatigued and not with bone pains or anything or it would be Dengue or Chikingunya. 

So anyways, things are on the upswing! Mostly it's the worst to have to be inside sleeping for so long and not working. Learning a lot of patience and trusting in the Lord's timing, to know that the area is all right without us for basically a week.

Stake Conference was really cool though.  We brought two kids of a family we are teaching who are really cool, and our bishop got made the stake president! 

We are hoping that this week will get back to normal and that we can do some actual work! Thursday we have a special conference with Elder Alonso which should be super great. 

Thanks for your love and support and prayers!

Have a great week!

-Hermana White

The two sisters in the middle are Hermana Oram and Hermana Harmon, the ones we spent the nights with in Teguc.

Funeral for the grandfather of Hermana Hernandez. 

Red Amy.

We had quite the week here!

We are getting along well, getting to know the area as much as we can. My companion is training me more than I could ever train her, she's been a great help and example here.  We went out with members to get to know where the members, less-actives, and investigators live. It's fun and challenging to be starting from basically zero, with basically no investigators and everything. We have a great family that we are working with. Their challenge is for the hermano to get divorced so they can get married and then baptized! But they are super great. 

We are assigned to Barrio Los Arcos at 9 [Los Arcos Ward at 9AM], which is in the Danli Stake. Our zone, all 22 of us, are assigned throughout the stake. [22 missionaries in one stake!]  We have stake conference this week with Elder Arredondo and Elder Alonso, which will be fun.  

We also moved! Thanks to the members, we were able to get our stuff in the back of two trucks and get everything over to the new house without any major problems. The only minor problem is that our big wooden bed frames don't fit in the door, so we have been sleeping on mattresses inside until an hermano can help us take apart the beds that are waiting outside the door... But the house is really nice, a lot nicer than the other one we were in! The other tiny detail is that the water doesn't come out of the shower, so luckily this mission has taught me how to shower with a bucket of water. 

We also helped with an open house at our stake center on Saturday that they did for investigators to get to know it since they recently remodeled it. We helped explain some of the programs the church has and hand out pamphlets and invitations for stake conference this week. 

In other news, Danli is gorgeous and I am loving it. The weather this week has been overcast with a little rain sometimes which is so great. I love that our area has a "downtown" where we live, and where the chapel is, and also two areas that we have to climb a mountain about a half hour to get to. The hills are killing me but it's really pretty!

Things are going well here, and I am doing great! This week I have been studying Ether and Moroni and am excited to finish and start again this next week! I love the Book of Mormon and have gained such a personal testimony of the Savior through the more focused study that we are able to do as missionaries. 

Love you and have a great week!

 "Los Arcos", which is this super old bridge they used years ago to carry water from the mountain to Danli.

Washing dishes for an hermana.

Lunching with Batman, the grandson of an hermana who gives us lunch on Saturdays.

Moving.

 We helped with an open house at our stake center for investigators.

The new casa. (So why is that table warped?)

(Uh oh... See that iron on the floor on the right?  Maybe that's why...)

Our pila where we wash clothes.

This week was hard because Hermana Maradiaga, who has been sick the last little while, had to return to her house until she is 100% better before going to Mexico, which she didn't want to do. We stayed in the house 3 days so she could rest before she went home. President called and told her pretty much it was her only option, which was hard. [First she went to the MTC in Guatemala, then had served in Honduras for 5 months.]

So we shipped her off Saturday, and I received Hermana Hernandez, a mini missionary from Tegucigalpa. She is waiting to go to her mission in Chile in May and will be with me until the end of March. It's a little hard because I got her straight from her house, without being set apart or going to the CCM [MTC], so we have had to go over a lot of things. Lots of patience and humility :)  But she is really great, super animada [animated] and willing to work, with a strong testimony. 

So basically I am training in an area I don't know. But the members are good and are willing to help a lot, which is nice. So hopefully we will be able to go out and find investigators!  It's crazy and challenging but we are doing well! 

Dia de Amor y Amistad [Valentine's Day] was great. The Young Women president gave us a bag of candy after ward council and we celebrated the Amor de Dios [the Love of God] by preaching the gospel :)

Yesterday, during the last 2 hours of church, we had a special class with video training sessions from the general auxiliary presidencies and a few Apostles on the Sabbath Day. I don't know if the rest of you saw it, but it was really good. The focus was on making the Sabbath Day a delight by doing some things specifically - like arriving early to Sacrament Meeting to listen to the prelude music - and making simple meals. I really like the new focus the Church has put on the Sabbath Day and how it really is important. 

Have a lovely week!

With lots of love, 

Hermana White

Hermana Maradiaga

Hermana Hernandez, mini missionary from Tegucigalpa.

This week was crazay.

Monday night the elders called and told me that I would be going to the Arcos area in the city of Danli with Hermana Maradiaga. Later that night the elder from immigration called and said that Hermana Maradiaga, from San Pedro Sula - who started her mission here but is waiting for her visa to serve her ¨real¨ mission in Puebla, Mexico - needed to go to San Pedro the next afternoon. I would be going with her (outside of our mission) for her appointment at the Mexican Embassy on Wednesday.

The next day I met my companion and we took a 4-hour bus ride, where the elders from the San Pedro Sula East mission picked us up and took us to the house of the sisters there. We stayed the night and in the morning went to the embassy for her appointment.

We had been told that we would leave that afternoon back to our mission, but Wednesday they told us it would take another day. Wednesday we worked with the sisters in San Pedro, which was interesting.  We five visited together: the hermanas, us, and a young woman from the ward. It was different and weird working for another mission! 

Thursday afternoon we picked up the visa and took another bus back to Tegucigalpa, stayed the night there with the hermana leaders, and finally Friday morning took a 2-hour bus ride to get to Danli. It was a pretty crazy adventure, but it was fun, too, to visit another part of the country.  :)

My companion is awesome and I am sad that she is leaving me next week for Mexico. I am nervous to be left here in our area with a new companion, but this week we are trying to get to know all of it! Our area is huge, and we have to climb some mountains to get to some parts, which is exciting. But I do love Danli. It has the country feel of the south with the fresco clima [cool climate] of the city. 

Hopefully this week will be lots more normal!

Have a great week,

Hermana White

Mitchel, an investigator and his family in Guaymuras (before Amy went to Danli).

Kevin, other investigator in Guaymuras.

Dad was in my area?

On the bus to San Pedro with Hermana Maradiaga.

In San Pedro!

Our area - The Arcos area in the city of Danli.

Also in our area.

Happy February!

Saturday night the bishop called to ask if I would give a talk in church on the Sabbath Day. I played the piano for the meeting but they were hymns I had never heard of and no one knew them, so I was glad when the meeting was over :) But it was a beautiful day yesterday, and we had FIVE investigators and THREE menos activos [less active] families who showed up. It made me really excited. 

President Bowler called last night to say I will be transferred this week, and Hermana Delgado will be a trainer, so that was hard. I love this area and feel like I have had such little time here. I really wanted to stay here with my companion. The ward is so great, they love to work with us, and I love the people we are teaching - we have some that are so close. So that's a bummer, but I guess it's time for me to go somewhere else. I learned lots of great lessons here.

This afternoon we will run around saying goodbye to everyone and in the morning at 10:00 I will go with the hermana leaders until I go off to my new area on Wednesday. They will call me tonight to tell me my area and companion. 

My birthday was really good.  A sister in the ward made me a cake that was sooooo good - chocolate with peaches. We also had some killer lessons that made me real glad I'm here in Honduras. I love so much being in lessons that go really well, where the spirit guides everything. I don't know if I like to talk about specific investigators in my emails because they change so often. One day they can be positive and I'll get excited about them just to have them drop us the next day, but I'm learning to accept that kind of behavior :) 

Other than that, the adventures of everyday missionary work are pretty average. We get rejected a lot and get weird stares and funny comments, but when you find someone who will listen it's the most beautiful thing. This area is pretty normal, but we will see what the next one brings! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana White

A teenager no more.

Chocolate cake with peaches.