The Field is White: Week 17 -- I Saw the Sun

Familia Miranda is awesome. J studies in Tegucigalpa which is shy she left. B will leave to to graduate but he is finished taking classes so he will most likely be here for the whole time I am in Santa Rosa.

We should totally do a 5k together when I get home. Assuming I can still run that is, lol.

That makes me so excited that Robert was able to help the missionaries and that sister. That's so awesome. And I will continue to pray that he can find a job and that they can sell/rent their house until you tell me otherwise, lol.

1. What did you do for P-Day this week?

Since Hna A and another elder from our district are leaving (they both have been here for 6 months and President Dester has told both of them that they are leaving) we didn't play sports! This is the first P-Day here that actually feels like a P-Day!!!! YAY! Hna M and I woke up and we did our exercise routine. I can do 40 push-ups in a row without stopping! Not everyday, lol, but I pushed myself to do it last week and I did it like a boss! It bothers me, though, because I am stronger than I was before I left and I do an ab workout everyday and it's not like I am getting fat or anything, but I'm not as skinny as I was because we eat so much here and my stomach has grown to be able to eat more. :( But all my clothes fit and really I'm pretty sure no one else can tell. Anyway, then we made fried cinamon apples for breakfast. I washed a little bit of laundry because I really hate it. I have to wash every like 3 days so that it doesn't build up on me, lol. Then we cleaned the house. I swept and she mopped. I took a nice hot shower and got to sing to myself because it was later in the moring and Hna A was awake and washing her laundry. The sun is out today and it's so warm. :) Hna M and I found some old clothes and are going to make rugs for the house so that we don't track in as much mud. And now we are here. Hna A wanted to email early today which is fine with me! I will buy her a birthday cake later since her birthday was this week.

2. What was the best thing that happened this week?

(If you look closely, you can see Alyssa in the first row of people on the far right)

We went to San Pedro for a bi-mission conference with Elder Soarez of the Seventy. He gave a talk in last conference. It was so good! There was doubt as to whether or not we would be able to go since we are so far away and the conference was in the afternoon and the last bus from San Pedro to Santa Rosa leaves at 4:30 so we wouldn't have had a way to get home that day BUT President Dester wanted us to come so they got us a private bus! So my whole zone rode on the same bus to San Pedro and it was super fun! There weren't enough seats so we had to share and we were all really close but that's nothing different than a regular bus ride, lol. I was so happy that I could understand everything that Elder Soarez said! We sat on the front row and he even asked me to read a little bit out of the missionary handbook in Spanish! It was only 4 lines, but still! He talked about how missionaries need to be diligent, obedient and focused in order for the Lord to bless our efforts. He compared it to the brother of Jared and how he asked the Lord what they should do about the light situation in the barges. The Lord told him to think of a solution. So the brother of Jared thought about it and he gathered each one of those stones and then presented them to the Lord that He might touch them and illuminate them. It is the same with our efforts- missionary or otherwise- we must be diligent, obedient and focused in order for the Lord to touch and bless our efforts.

3. What was the funnest/funniest thing that happened this week?

Going to San Pedro. I got to sit by Hna M on the way there and on the way back and I just love her! I think she will be one of my best friends for life, en serio! She's awesome and it was just so fun to be with her. Oh, and last week's district meeting was interesting. We had it in our chapel instead of the elder's chapel, but apparently no one told the other set of hermanas....so we left first because we were ready and the other sisters went to the other chapel and showed up an hour late.... But while we waited we played basketball sort of with a bottle and a trash can. Hna A and I won!

4. What was the spiritual highlight of your week?

The conference with Elder Soarez. And President Dester sent us a talk to read for our zone conference on February 7, The Consecrated Missionary, and it was SUPER good! It talks about how a consecrated missionary truly puts everything on the altar for the Lord, everything. It helped me to see how I can grow. Also Hna M and I started reading The Fourth Missionary together. If you could send me a copy of that it would be awesome. I don't know....this week was just full of learning opportunities and tons of insipring messages. Hna A and I had a good experience on Monday. We were planning for a lesson with a menos activo (less active member) and we wanted to share a conference talk with her but we didn't know which one. So we both just started looking at the titles and we were drawn to the same one. Then we read it together and talked about the parts that stood out to us, and it was the same parts! So that was awesome to see how we did have the spirit and were guided to the same things in our preparation. But the member ended up not being home so we couldn't share it with her which was sad.

5. How are your investigators doing? Was K able to come to church? How are C and G doing?

They are doing alright. Nobody came to church again, but I thnk it was because of the weather. It was cold and rainy again and C is pregnant and he house is down a super big and muddy and dangerous hill. So when it is muddy she can't leave the houuse. And K doesn't like to take her baby out in the cold which I don't blame her for. So yeah, nobody came which was disappointing. But K wants to be baptized and she is already sharing the gospel with others which is awesome!

6. Were you able to teach more lessons this week? Find any new investigators? Do any service?

Nope. We found a few new investigators but again they don't seem promising because we don't really have firm appointments with them. We did clean Hna W's house again this week (the menos activo that we were actually going to visit with the conference talk). It's amazing how dirty houses and floors get here...

7. How is your personal study going? What are you studying, and what stuck out to you this week?

I finished True to the Faith this week (I think it was this week, anyways) and there was a part that I really liked and it said that only the home can compare to the temple in sacredness. I thought that was interesting because it wasn't chapels, or I don't know what else, lol, it was our homes! I started reading the New Testament and I am reading Jesus the Christ again so it's cool to be reading the stories in the scriptures and then about them in Jesus the Christ. I studied 2 days to prepare for a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening?) that B and I are in charge of tomorrow. I didn't really get too far by myself. They want us to talk on strengthening the family. This is a part member family and all the kids are grown up and married or almost married with kids and it's just a lot. So last night we went over to Familia Miranda's and B and I planned out our lesson together and it was awesome!

8. What has been the strangest food you’ve eaten this week?

I haven't eaten anything unusual this week.... which is sad.

9. Did you see anything unusual this week?

YES!!!! Okay, so we were walking down the street and there was a man and a woman walking towards us. So they say Buenas. So then we say Buenas. And then the woman starts making the kissy noises that men make when I walk by here. And SHE starts saying Oh, sus ojos. Que precioso. Una Muneca. Que Bella.....UGH! like oh your eyes, you're so precious, like a doll, how pretty. REALLY, A WOMAN! SO yeah, that was weird to be hit on by a lesbian in Honduras...

10. What have you learned about yourself this week?

I got to see Hna P at the bi-mission conference and I gave her the biggest hug and we got to talk for a little bit and I just love her! I realized that I had so much pride when I was her companion. She is awesome and I didn't appreciate her because of my own pride. I can see that now. I realized that I have been humbled a lot during this change.

11. In what area do you think you’ve improved this week?

Not being offended. So interesting story.... on Saturday morning there was a little bit of tension. I didn't feel super great (dont worry, I am fine) and she didn't feel well and I was nervous for our noche de hogar today and she was trying to help me by having us read more material when I really just needed someone to talk and give ideas and feedback. Anyway so we were both a little annoyed and then we did our weekly planning and it didn't go very well. Later she asked if we could talk. So she said a lot of things that I could take offensively. Partly because some of them aren't true, others because she doesn't understand me and who I am, and other things just because they are things I really can work on but could still take offense to someone calling me out on. But instead of getting upset, I am actually grateful that she told me. I was a little sad the next day because I guess I haven't been what she needed or I haven't been doing this or that but then I realized that I really have been trying my hardest. We can always look back and say, Oh I could have done this or I could have done that. Which is bad, but right. There are ALWAYS going to be things that we could have done. The difference is that in the moment we may be really doing all we can. We can say I could have done that, but when we are acting with all we can do we shouldn't say that. I don't know if that makes any sense. But I all I can do is do the best I can and take critisism to be better.

12. Have you found it easier to enjoy yourself and be happy this week?

Yes. I realized that when I was writing to President Dester. There have been moments that I have been sad or disappointed because of the situation, but I have been able to find moments to be happy and just enjoy what is going on rather than criticizing everything.

13. Do you know that I love you SO much and I miss you?

Yes:)

14. What has been the most beautiful thing you’ve seen this week?

The sun! lol And I straightened my hair this week and it was really long, lol.

15. How has the weather been this week?

Super cold again...except for today!!!!!

16. What ways have you found to serve Hna A this week? To serve others?

It was her birthday so I made her a card. I bought her shoes last week that she wore to San Pedro. I try to wash her dishes and clean the house always. I am going to help her pack later on today because she doesn't know how. I also carried her backpack on our walk home one day because her back hurts her.

17. What did you learn in your district meeting or zone meeting this week?

That we shouldn't judge others and that we all need to strip ourselves of pride. Something interesting that our District Leader said, he pointed out two missionaries in the room and one is in training and has the same time as me and the other his trainer. He asked us what the difference between the two was. Then after people had given some answers he said, no, the only difference is time. I thought that was really interesting. But he talked about how as trainees we have fear but as trainers sometimes they have pride so we need to fine the balance and not be prideful but at the same time have confidence in ourselves and in the Lord.

18. Did you have days this week where you ran out of water or had power outages?

Nope. Right now we have water and power.

Other stories: So after Hna A and I talked on Saturday we said our prayer to leave and it was like 4:30 and we got a knock on the door..... and it was Elder and Sister John and Hna Dester. They just happened to stop by because they were driving through the area and they wanted to see the house since Hna Dester has never seen it before. So they came in and Hna Dester could tell womething was up and so I got to talk to her for just a few minutes. We showed them around the house which was luckily cleaner than it had been. Then Elder John saw my food... there had been a huge section of mold on the wall in the kitchen and I tried to clean it when I got there and I put my food on the only shelf that we have since that's were I was told to put it. Since then I have also put some on the floor like everyone else. But I still have some food on the shelf..so Elder John sees my food next to this moldy wall and takes a picture of it to show new missinonaries what not to do....so that was embarrassing, plus the fact that we hadn't left the house yet. Ugh.

Hna A stopped me in the middle of a lesson yesterday to take pictures of a pet rat. LOL!

I have been reading in Spanish in my Book of Mormon and I finally got past the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi and it's so much easier to read now, lol.

I think that that is all for now. Love you all!

Hermana Gisseman

(Not many pictures this week.....)

Facial masks...gotta get pretty....