Week 10

To address the email first, so yeah, apparently I just can't do math anymore. I would love to say I jut hit the wrong key, lol, but I meant 1-9th.  Sorry, this keyboard doesn't have punctuation... Hna P has been fine from the shot. I got the box with Christmas presents and the gingerbread house but I don't remember a vinyl tree...I will look through the box again though. Always DVDs if you want to send Disney movies.  We're allowed to watch those. 

I got a package from Angie this week! THANKS!!!!! I love the scarf, too, and the candied almonds are SOOO good! Oma and Opa sent me a really cute dachshund necklace -- I didn't know it was a Christmas preent so I opened it early.  Sorry!  But I love it!  People down here ask me what it is because they've never seen a dachshund before.  LOL

I did get the stress book the church put out and it does have good advice. A lot of it is stuff that I already  know or already try to do, but it's still helpful. That makes me laugh that Brie likes to compete with my gingerbread house. I deinitely feel weird not being at home for Christmas. Especially since it feels like summer here and not even Christmasy but its great. 

Pres Dester had good advice, but very direct advice which is good and what I need.  This is what he said,  Sister Gisseman, I have only a couple of thoughts for you. You say you feel frustrated that you have been here three weeks and haven't progressed. First, you have probably progressed more than you think. Many new missionaries feel just what you describe. It takes time (more than three weeks) to learn the language and to figure out how to be a missionary. It also takes patience. Second, I promise you that if you forget about yourself (how much you are learning, how much fun you are having, etc.) and focus on supporting and learning every little thing you can, the Lord will bless you for it, and He will magnify you so that you can help your  companionship accomplish His work. On the other hand, if you choose to dwell on everything that you wish were different, you won't accomplish or contirbute a thing, and the Lord will not bless you for it. Remember to count your blessings. I know that this will become easier with every week, and if you stop thinking about what you need and try to think about what everyone else around you needs, you will find yourself a very happy missionary. It's about "losing yourself" to "find yourself." I apologize if this sounds too direct, but with limited time, I have to make these e-mails honest and helpful in as few words as possible. Have a great week! Pres. Dester

So yeah, that was a slap on the wrist, but it's good and I know that I really  do need to be less selfish. We have transfers Wednesday and we will find out sometime today who is going.  

I doubt that we will get iPods or be able to use Facebook because no one here has internet so there is no point! I'm glad you got to spend time with Paula. I miss her! I just love how sassy she is!! She always makes me laugh lol and she's so thoughtful! I will be fine with any type of sandal, TEVA, Crocs whatever. But people say to send shoes in 2 packages, but it hasn't looked like my other packages had been opened or messed with at all, which reminds me we have separate mailing address for packages and I don't know if you have gotten it. The package from Angie had the right address but it's Mission Honduras San Pedro Sula Oeste, Apartado Postal 1956, San Pedro Sula Cortes Honduras CA. No, we don't get reimbursed for things like that but that's okay, since I'm so stingy I always have a lot of leftover money. 

1.  What was the highlight of your week? 

Familia B said in our last lesson with them that they were going to be baptized! They wanted a little more time, but they said they are going to get baptized on the 28th because they want to follow the Lord and walk in His path. It was awesome and definitely a very exciting moment for us. They are just so sweet! Hna D(the mom) invited us to go to the beach with them on a Pday and she has made us dinner and they gave us cake and juice. They are just always so thoughful and looking out for us. 

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

Hna B and I stayed up talking... bad example. I should have been exactly obedient, but we assume she is leaving this week and we just started talking and then it was like 12... oops. But she is so great and we are so similar! We would be best friends in real life, LOL, not that this is fake life but you know what I mean. It was just nice to be able to talk to someone and I just love her!

3.  What was the spiritual highlight of your week? 

I was reading in my scriptures. I was having a really hard time in the beginning of the week and then I read 2 scriptures: 3 Nephi 5:13 and 11:41 and they were just a huge boost! Because I have been called to declare the word and I felt like these scriptures were just for me. 

4.  I love the story you told about E, your miracle investigator.  I especially love that you had the inspiration to go see if he was home one more time – because that was definitely inspiration.  How are things going with him?  How are things going with A and V?  Familia B?  S?  Familia H?  And your other investigators?  Who can we pray for and what specifically should we pray for for them? 

A and V are both baptized and V got the priesthood this past sunday. A is struggling  financially and one of her daughters was sick so this week was hard for her. But this week we are going to have her teach us how to make a Honduran dish so that will be fun and will give her extra food. S, we found out, is on an excursion with her school and won't be back until January 1st...so that's unfortunate. But when she returns we will pick up where we left off. Familia H is having a hard time coming to church. the 2 daughters, O and J, have come for 4 weeks in a row. Just this week Hno J, the dad, came with them. BUT they ALL came to the Christmas devotional and brought 2 other neighbors with them and they have asked us to teach their extended family when they come over for Christmas. I think that the daughters and the father will definitely be baptized and will set a good example for the mother and the son who aren't as ready. We are teaching a young man named J and they had been visiting him for a while, but only just now did he come to church. We are hoping that he will keep coming. He has a great desire to follow Christ and do what's right, he just needs to be sure that this is right for him. Another investigator, C, is super great and is so receptive, but doesn't want to come to church. She had a bad experience 2 years ago when she went once and some of the youth were laughing and she thought they were laughing at her and she swore to never go back to our church and we found out that she is pregnant and so that's going to make the law of chastity lesson kind of awkward...but they are all great. Those are our main investigators as of now. We are struggling with having progressing investigators. We teach a lot of lessons every week, this week we taught like 50, but we only have a handful who are actually progressing. 

5.  Were you able to have more personal study this week?  What stuck out to you this week in your personal study? 

Yeah. I made a goal for myself that if we didn't have study in the morning, I would take the time to study personally. I finished up Mormon this morning so I am almost finished. But over and over in the scriptures is the example of just one person making a great impact. Abinadi who was the one who preached to the wicked and Alma, the only one who listened to him. But at the same time, there is on the other hand the one wicked person who can persuade people to fall away. I just thought it was very interesting the great effect even one can have on the rest. 

6.  How often do you have district meeting and zone meeting?  What are those meetings like? 

We have district meeting every Tuesday, but our whole zone meets in the same building so we usually have a zone game or spiritual thought after. We just show up and talk about our investigators with baptismal dates. We usually focus on a section out of Preach My Gospel and do some practices. 

7.  How has the weather been this week? 

HOT! It's hot again which I appreciate. 

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

I haven't really eaten anything strange. We had jamaica which is a drink made from flowers. It kind of tastes like cranberry juice. But it was really good

9.  What has been the most unusual thing you’ve seen this week?  Your biggest “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” moment of the week? 

Well, in sacrament meeting yesterday a dog just walked in and I was like WHAT in the world! So that was pretty funny and really weird. But also we will just walk by peoples houses and they will burn their trash in the street and that's really weird, too, since there isn't a public trash system out here,

10.  What have you learned about yourself this week? 

I get really intimidated when we teach couples. I am fine when we teach just a woman, but when men are there it really intimidates me. 

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

We got a little better at sharing while we teach. 

12.  Where do you think Amy  will end up going on her mission? 

I'm feeling Japan. That's so exciting that she's going! She's going to be great! 

13.  Do you know we love you to the moon and beyond?  And we are so proud of you?  And we miss you? 

YES

14.  What new investigators do you have this week?  How many lessons did you teach this week? 

51 lessons and 21 new investigators...but they aren't promising... everyone wants to hear the word of God here but no one will act on it. But yeah, nobody golden this week, unfortunately. 

15.  Any more water outages this week?  

Nope, the water is back and the rain is gone. Thank goodness!

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

We went over to the other Hermanas, there are 3 sets of hermanas  in our ward, and watched the movie Charly. We went to Wendy's for lunch and later we will probably nap and I will finish my laundry. Fun stuff.

17.  How often do you get to see/meet with Pres Dester?  Do you e-mail him weekly?  Does he reply to your e-mails? 

I only saw him at zone conference. As far as I know he doesn't come to anything else. But we email him every week and he always replies. 

18.  Any idea when you’ll know how you’re going to call home for Christmas? 

I have no idea... 

19.  How are your clothes holding up to washing them in the pila? 

Just fine! I'm a pro at washing clothes by hand now. lol

20.  Are there any interesting Christmas traditions in Honduras? 

All I know of is making tamales for the holidays.

Hna P and I had a great companionship inventory and now things are a lot better. We are trying to share lessons more and just be better friends. We were able to laugh and just keep planning and were super productive and we exceeded all of our goals this week. But yeah, in case anyone was wondering missionaries are not perfect and I am still me. lol. 

In other news, a dog ate one of the straps on my brown athletic Crocs, But I just cut off the strap and now they are Croc flats instead of Mary Janes and everything is fine and I don't leave my shoes on the porch anymore. My Downeast Basics skirt from Easter bled! I was super bummed! It still looks fine, though. It was just weird since it has been washed and everything. The pila just does strange things I guess. So yeah, color remover would be great.  

Oh another spiritual moment, I was reading in the Liahona and Elder Holland said something to the translation of God doesn't laugh at us. We are never the end of a malicious joke becasue God is God and He is just and loving. Sometimes I'm just like, I wonder if He is laughing at me right now, but NO because He loves us and wouldn't do that to us. He refers to Alma 42 when Alma talks to Corianton and he teaches that God is 1, JUST and 2, merciful. The fact that He is merciful is the ultimate expression of His love for us. Because He is just and we cannot return to His presence because we are imperfect, He provided mercy because He loves us. I just never thought about it in that way before, if that makes any sense. 

I got a letter from Grace Clark. She asked that you call her if I would like to keep getting mail from her. I think she is a fried of Grandma Cherril's and is related to us somehow. But her number is (deleted) if you want to call and tell her I really enjoyed getting her letter!

AND MIRACLE OF THE WEEK.....I GOT MY STUFF BACK (packet of information from the MTC that I lost the first day in Honduras)!!!! It was actually during our planning after I was in a bad mood, my stuff arrived. It was really cool, too, because the night before I jsut was feeling so terrible. I just asked that I would be able to see some sign of His love to let me know I could do it and the next day my stuff came! It was awesome!

Anyway, love you all

Hermana Gisseman

At A's baptism last week

At V's baptism last week

Thanks for the cute necklace, Oma and Opa!  I love it!

Last week I had a colorful meal...this meal this week wasn't as colorful -- eggs and tajadas (fried green bananas or plantains)

I put a mud mask on my face yesterday

It was so hazy outside this morning!

Week 9

Today is my 2 month mark!!! Woohoo! 1/9th through my mission.  LOL

Ok so to start off answering questions in the email....I got 2 packages from you this week along with a whole bunch of letters. Everyone was jealous because I got the biggest package.  LOL I got 2 letters from Aliscea and 2 from Alexa. I got a letter from Aunt Becci and one from Mom and one from Tania:) THANK YOU for the Nutella!!!!!

Unfortunately my MTC binder and notes have not been found yet.  :/ I seriously doubt if they will ever find their way back to me but I still pray everyday for them, too. 

When families fix us dinner it depends on their living conditions as to whether they are in the room while we eat. Lots of people only have one room to their houses so we sometimes eat outside. Usually they will check on us after we are about halfway through the meal, but typically they just let us eat in silence. There is no meal calender like in the states. The bishop's wife makes us lunch every Wednesday. We have lunch with a less active family once a week. Every Sunday we have lunch with a family in the ward...and they make very interesting food. We have dinner with another less active family every week too. Other than that the rest of our meals are on our own. 

Feel free to send me any disney movies--except Monsters University and Wreck it Ralph because I got those ones. We just buy them at the grocery store. There is a stand that sells them. People sell them on the street, too...I'm sure they are just copies, but that's all people have here. 

Angie did not get baptized on Thursday, but she did get baptized on Saturday with Victor, but not at the same time. There was a service at 3:00 and one at 5:00. I felt really bad becasue the water was so cold and then it was raining outside and now she has a cold.  :( She forgot a towel, too! 

We have changes on the 11th (we have only 4 weeks this time so people can go home for christmas)

 

Anyway, I love Ms. Swanson -- she is so sweet.  :) They are so great! 

You can send me lavender oils if you want, but I can survive. and I think that a 1/2 inch binder should be fine, but if you think I would use a 1 inch then you can send that.  And some of the cloth headbands that are kind of wide that girls wear when they don't wash their hair...i don't know how to describe them but they are like knit usually and a circle and people wear them right on their hairline... because we don't wash our hair everyday here and mine is always up so a headband might be nice.

Hna Dester doesn't speak Spanish but Pres Dester translates for her. She is trying to learn though. 

1. What was the highlight of your week?

 

We went to the beach today for P-Day. The ONLY beach in our mission: Omoa. It was really pretty, but there was no sand or anything. But we ate at a resaurant that had a deck above the water:) It was just nice to get out. We went as (mostly) a zone so it was fun to get to talk to other people. We could see Guatemala from the beach! And the mountains were gorgeous!!!! 

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

We had dinner at the other Hermanas' casa -- there are 3 sets of hermanas in Campana and 2 of us live together. But one hermana was playing music and then everyone started dancing and it was really funny.

3. What was the spiritual highlight of your week?

We were teaching who I think of as our miracle investigator, Eleu, who was the investigator who walked up to us and said teach me! Well, not exactly but that's essentially what he said. So all of our appointments had fallen through and we had like an hour and I thought -- well it was probably the Spirit -- that we should go see if Eleu was home one more time because we had stopped to see him like 3 times. So we went and he was just sitting on his front porch and we went to teach him and he is just great! So we are teaching and asked him about prophets and he was like "I will be honest, I have never read the Bible and I don't know anything about them." So Hna Pickett asked him why he wanted us to come teach him. And he said, "I don't know. I just got a feeling that I should learn the word of God. It jsut seemed like a good thing to do." And so we just kept teaching him and then we asked if he would say the closing prayer and he said "I don't know how. I have never prayed in my life." So we taught him and then he prayed like he had been a member his whole life. It was pretty awesome! He's just super great! 

4.  Where are you in your scripture study right now and what stuck out to you this week in your personal study?

Well...we haven't had personal study this week except for like 2 days. We had to go to San Pedro Sula this week because Hna Pickett got bitten by a dog and had to get a shot. We never have personal study  on Sundays because of church. We don't have personal study on Tuesdays because of District/zone meetings. And we don't have it on Mondays becasue it's Pday and we clean and go to Puerto. It really frustrates me, but I am trying to get in as much study as I can. The last I read was in Helaman. I was reading the letter that some Lamanite leaders wrote to the Nephites and just realized how many of Satan's tactics to tempt us were found in that letter. Satan will flatter us. He will make sin seem like the right thing to do. He will tempt us by saying that if we don't sin, something bad will happen -- like he puts pressure on us to do something. I just thought that that was an interesting parallel. 

5. Are your Crocs wearing out quickly?  

They are doing fine for now. I try not to wear the same pair 2 days in a row though. I should be fine for another little while. 

6. When you have baptisms at the church, do you have to haul in water to fill the font?

Our chapel is new and pretty nice so there is a font. We just turn on the water and it fills. 

7. Have you had to speak in church yet?  Or play the piano or lead music?

I have not. Hna Bahr plays the piano and someone from the ward leads the music. I did get asked to lead the hymn for Angie's baptism. Which really involves giving them the tune and just singing loud lol. People cannot carry a tune here to save their lives!!!

8. The big pink hibiscus flower you sent a picture of last week was gorgeous!  Are there many beautiful plants and flowers there?

YES!!! There are lots of pretty flowers. I took pitures of some of them. But, yeah, it's so pretty and everything is really green which reminds me of Georgia! Which reminds me that on the bus today there was a plaque that said, "Blue Bird, made in Fort Valley Georgia" :) It made me smile

9.  What are you doing for P-Day this week?

We went to the beach like I said. We still need to do grocery shopping and such. 

10. How is la familia Buh doing?  And Senia?  You said she is the first investigator that got to be yours – what does that mean?  Has she been to church yet?  How is Familiar Hueso doing?  And Familia Sabillon?  And how are Angie and Victor?  Did they get baptized?

So Famlia Buh did not come to church so they can't get baptized this week. We went by to wake them up and everything and nope. I found her with Hna Pickett. We keep records of everything we teach to investigators and at the top of the page it has a spot for the names of the hermanas that found them, so Senia was the first one who has my name on the page! She didn't come to church either and she wasn't home any of the times we stopped by, but we left a Book of Mormon for her and hopefully she is reading it. Familia Hueso is half progressing. Two of their daughters always come to church and could be baptized but none of them feel like they have gotten an answer to their prayers yet and the parents still haven't come to church! UGH Familia Sabillon...we vistited them again this week in the rain and mud...we took a member with us (luckily) and he had to help us climb up the hills without falling. But she said that they aren't sure if they will be able to get married now... she says they don't have the money. Which I don't believe because they are one of the more well off families that we teach. I don't know... But we already paid the 200 lempira for them to get one of their certificates they need to get married. The river we had to cross to get to them was even higher than last time becasue of the rain!!!  Angie and Victor are great! Victor even got up in church to bear his testimony on Sunday:)

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

I had some sort of fried fish at the restaurant today. They brought out the whole fish on my plate...it was staring at me, lol. It wasn't bad, though, but definiteloy not my favorite

12. Are you getting to eat dinner in the evenings yet?

We eat. I'm fine. We usually have a big lunch and so making it to 8:00 for dinner isn't terrible. Really, I'm fine. 

13.  What have you learned about yourself this week?

I know exactly how I learn and exactly what I need in order to progress in the language. I need to memorize some phrases in my missionary books. Then I need someone to teach me the flow of a lesson, scriptures that they like to use or analogies, the main points of the lesson, then I need to practice by myself putting things together so I have a bank of things to draw from. Then I need to practice teaching someone else. But if I don't have anyone taech me, then I just feel lost. I need a script to learn before I can improvise. Anyway, I had that realization this week on a crappy day when I was studying by myself. And then when I felt like I could teach it I asked Hna Pickett if I could teach her and then I did and it was awesome. So now we can solidly teach ayuno--fasting. lol 

14.  Where/what do you feel like you’ve improved this week?

I don't know... I wish I could say in the language or with patience. But I really just don't feel like I have progressed much in anything. Other than the fact that I can understand more and more and that I recognize more places and people. 

15.  Do you know we love you SO much?  And are so proud of you?

Yes:)

16. How is the language coming along?  Can you ask Hna P to speak more Spanish with you at home so you can get more comfortable/confident with the language? Yeah...I have and it doesn't happen. I pretty much tell her, "Speak Spanish to me!!!!!!" and she doesn't.

17. What is the most beautiful thing you’ve seen in Honduras?

The green mountains. They are just so pretty! And they are layered with different colors of green. They aren't rough or jagged like Utah mountains, but they are soft and just super pretty

18.  What has been the most unusual/strangest thing you’ve seen?

I have now seen 3 people using the bathroom in the street which is gross. 

19.  What new investigators do you have this week?

We contacted a woman making tortillas, there was a kid who just showed up at church with another family and he is like 9 and we started teaching his family. And, yeah, that's really all the new ones that I can remember althogh I know there are more. We teach a lot of people!! 

20. What can we do to be better member missionaries and to support and encourage you better?

Just keep writing and sending emails:)

Okay, so to answer questions to Aunt Becci--I can make rice crispies here. I really like anything with chocolate or anything that is sweet as far as food goes. I'm really not too picky. The weather here was hot, but this week it was REALLY cold! And it rained. Really out of nowhere it just got super cold! And we don't wear any hose here becasue it is too hot and too wet!

So speaking of the cold...There was a day that I wore both jackets that I have! It's crazy! It's not that it is eally that cold, but it mists and then the wind blows and it gets really chilly! But I am surviving, don't worry! Today the sun came out so that was nice. I think it will be like this until February--that's what I have heard people say because we are in rainy season now. Bummer. Can't work on my tan anymore. 

I ate some of the jellybeans from Mom and the black ones reminded me of Papa:)

Oh, so since it was so rainy, the water in our house went out. And we didn't have any water in the shower for three days. So I showered with a bucket full of water from the pila. It was great. Third world problems:)

This week was full of super interesting things. Hna P got bitten by a dog so we had to go to San Pedro. Well, she doesn't know her way around San Pedro so we got off at a bus stop and after a few blocks she looks at me and says she doesn't know where she is. So we ask people for directions and then we still can't find it and then we ask again and then find out that there are two 6th Streets which is where we got off, just at the wrong one. So then they couldn't decide which of the two different church chapels we were supposed to be going to. So we start walking with these poeople who were going to show us the way and we passed a park that Hna P recognized and then she knew we were going to the wrong one and she was freaking out the whole time and usually I would be the one freaking out and I just wasn't. But we found the church and all was fine. Then on the way home our bus ran into another bus... it just scraped the side of the bus and bent the mirror so it was fine but it was quite an adventure. Then we had Victor's baptismal interview and the elders showed up an hour late to it jsut as we were about to leave. Like I said, I showered with a bucket. It was quite interesting. BUT I am suriving and I really do love the mission. 

Oh, and arroz con leche is rice with milk and it's hot and really good

les amo mucho!!

Hermana Gisseman

A tree blew down in front of our house

The front of the house without the tree in front of it

This is what the skies look like this time of year

My Thanksgiving dinner (this makes two holidays in a row the Silly Putty we sent her has come in handy.....)

The castle they went to today

The view from the beach

At the beach

My lunch at the restaurant today

Week 8

(P-Day was postponed to Tuesday this week because of the nationwide elections in Honduras on Sunday.  All missionaries in the country were asked to stay home Saturday, Sunday and Monday for safety reasons and also to ensure that there was no appearance of church involvement in the elections.)

I'm super glad that you found out that our Pdays were going to be moved becasue of the elections because I definitely forgot to tell you that...but we stayed in for 3 days and now we are allowed out again. I did meet Elder D. We had a zone conference on Friday and he found me and said hi. He even said the opening prayer and it gives me hope that one day I will be able to speak Spanish! 

1. How do you get to Puerto on your P-Days?  Is it a lot bigger than Campana? 

We take a bus to Puerto. There are always buses traveling from San Pedro Sula. We flag them down and ride like the locals do. It's WAY bigger than Campana. Campana doesn't even have a grocery store. Puerto has several. Campana is more like a village in my opinion and Puerto is actually a city. 

2. Did they find your manila folder that you left at the church?  I hope so! 

Not yet. They looked and couldn't find it but apparently they will look again today because they forgot to check the one room where my suitcases were. I highly doubt that they will find it, though, which makes me super sad since my call booklet was in there and all the notes from my district in the CCM which I didn't even have the chance to read yet:( Hopefully one day they will return to me. 

3. You said the people that fix your lunch don’t eat with you.  Why is that?

It's a culture thing. They fix the meal and we eat. They eat separately and not at the same time as us either. 

4. Did you get a regular P-Day this week?  What did you do? 

Today is our P-Day and email is the first thing we are doing. We had study as usual and we will go have lunch at Wendy's again. Later we might watch Despicable Me 2. I need to fold laundy. P-Days are super chill. We have appointments tonight, too.

5. How was church on Sundays?  Did you have any investigators there? 

We had about half of the usual attendence because of the elections. Church was only an hour, too. Instead of 9 to 12, it was just 10-11. We usually get 170 and we had 95 attend. BUT one of our investigator families, la familia B., came to church!!!

6. What has been the most inspirational thing that happened this week? 

I really liked Zone Conference. It was all in Spanish and I could understand it! Pres Dester talked about how we can recieve revelation. But he also talked a lot about how leaders in the Book of Mormon had such great love for their people like Helaman and the 2000 stripling warriors. He compared that love to the Savior's love for us and how it is so much greater!! Also today I read in Alma about the stripling warriors and I really liked 58:11 which is when they are without provisions and they are kind of down and disheartened and they pray and the Lord blesses them with faith and hope. He didn't give them provisions, He didn't make the trial go away, but He gave them the faith and the hope to persevere. OH, and we totally had a miracle day this week. We set our weekly goals as if we were going to be out teaching everyday, but we got cut 2 days. On Tuesday we therefore had really high goals but we prayed that there would be a way for us to meet them and we did!!! And then the next day we met all of our goals again!!! It was a miracle for sure! We taught like 10 lessons each day and picked up 3 new investigators. It was amazing! 

7.  What has been the most difficult thing for you this week? 

Trying not to get annoyed with being with someone 24/7. I am so grateful for the hermanas in our casa, though.  Hna B is seriously just like me and we get along really well so someone can understand me. I just need to have patience and it's really hard. Also it is just very hard for me to have confidence in myself. I bet that's big shock to everyone out there, lol. I'm just such a perfectionist and I hate doing things I 'm not good at...like soccer last week. So it is just really hard for me to have the confidence to speak and to teach when I feel like I lack so much.  
8. What have you learned about being a missionary that you didn’t already know? 

It's really really hard for me to share things to people that I know. Like during companion study Hna P will just ask what did you learn and I just get super shy and don't want to share things. I knew that before, but I though I would be better at it on the mission and I'm not and I still really need to work on being able to open up to people. 

9.  What is the funnest/funniest thing that happened this week? Hermana G makes the most hilarious faces. Every time we are in the casa and she has a comment she raises her hand and waits to be called on to speak and it is just  super funny! She is the oldest one in the casa, but she is just super funny and acts like a little kid. 

10. What was it like washing your clothes in the pila?  How do you do that? 

It's not as bad as I thought it would be. You just put your clothes on the side with the washboard part and the other half is like a big basin of water. We use a bowl to pour water on the clothes and get them wet. The soap is like the same size as the inside of a toilet paper roll and its soap like body soap but for  your clothes. So then you roll the soap on your clothes and then use the fabric to wash the fabric because the cement pila eats clothes if you wash too hard. So you wash until they are good and soapy then rinse and hang them up to dry. It just takes FOREVER!!! The first day I did wash it took me an hour and a half. Yesterday I did laundry again and it didn't take as long. It's better when someone sits outside with you too so you aren't by yourself and there's someone to talk to. Hna B and I took turns wahsing some clothes and we just stayed out there for a few hours talking and doing laundry together. I don't feel like my clothes get very clean, but oh well. 

11. What is the weirdest thing you ate this week? 

Nothing too weird actually. They have these boiled banana things which I don't care for. 

12.  How is the language coming along? 

Eh. I think it would be better if Hna P spoke Spanish to me all the time and made me speak in Spanish, or gave me 2 seconds to say something during a lesson because she talks a lot! I can speak better than I think, though, if I would just speak. I can understand more and more every day. 

13. Do you know that I love you more than I can even begin to express? Yes:)

14. What is it like to teach people lessons?  Have you done more teaching this week? 

Yeah...just not as much as I know I need to be doing. It's easier to teach lessons than it is to teach fake investigators in the CCM. Most people are really receptive and don't usually have lots of questions or doubts. They are really open to hear our message. They just have problems reading or actually coming to church and keeping their commitments. 

15. Do you get a lot of referrals from members?  Are the members helpful and excited about missionary work?

We get about 8 a week. I don't really know what other people get, though. There are some members who come out and help us all the time and are really willing to help, but those kind of strong, committed members are few here. The ward is just so new here and the church I guess is so new as well. 

16.  What scripture passage have you read this week that meant a lot to you? 

Already answered above.

17. Do you do much cooking for yourselves? 

About half the time. Breakfast is alwasy on us and then about half the other meals. I have easy mac, sandwiches and eggs. Since we don't have an oven or really a big stove or a big fridge it is hard think of real meals to make for one person. AND the grocery stores obviously don't sell a ton or usual American food so it's been hard to think of things I can eat with the ingredients available. 

18. What clothing items do you want/need? 

I really don't need anything. I always want more athletic shirts (preferrably with a round neck since all of mine are v-neck, but I don't like super high cut ones so that might be hard to find.) Patterns are always good too. 

19.What have you learned about the Savior, or about your relationship with him, this week?  Or how has that relationship been strengthened this week?  

I don't know... The Savior loves us so much, but at the same time we have to be doing the right things to put ourselves in a position to feel that love. I have really just prayed a lot this week and really since my mission started to help me understand more and more in Spanish, to have more patience and charity and I see that I am able to make improvements all the time with HIs help. I'm still working on having a better relationship though, but I definitley think it's something I always need to remember that He loves me and He will help me in this work. It doesn't matter if I'm not perfect, the work will go on. 

In other things, I got a package from Grandma and Papa with my Christmas presents in it. I also got a letter from them:) I have not yet gotten a package from Mom, but we only get mail every Week at district meeting. If you did want to send me a binder and page protectors so I could work on putting that set of notes and lesson plans together that would be nice. If you wanted to send me a Honduran flag that would be great too! There was one Elder who got a flag for all of his companions to sign. I thought that that was a really cool idea. I do have that little banner thing, but a flag might be cooler. Also American mascara would be great. Hna P says the mascara here is terrible. My skin is also really bad here and I asked then nurse to check for more ampicillin for me. If you could send me a big t shirt from my shirts, or just a big t shirt. I always like colored pens. AND NUTELLA!!!! Sorry lol I realyl don't need these things, but if you are putting packages together they are things that I wouldn't mind having. I feel like I ask for so much, but seriously I am fine and don't need anything. 

We actually have a box with Liahona copies in it, so you don't need to send me any. I have access to some. 
The weather here actually reminds me of GA without air conditioning. There are tons of mosquitos too. Bleh. 
There are NO addresses here! Which is super weird and makes it difficutl for me to orient myself. 

Our 3 days in the house: We watched movies. We are allowed to watch Disney Movies. We watch Monsters Univ., Wreck it Ralph, Rise of the Guardians, Rio, Despicable Me. We cooked baleadas and tajadas which were super good! Hna P made chocolate arroz con leche which was really good. We did laundy and sat around and talked. It was a little boring sometimes but really fun at the same time. We made popcorn with cinnamon sugar on it and it was delicious. We also ordered pizza from Pizza Hut and that was super good!!! Obviously we still studied and such things like that. We had to call an exterminator becasue we woke up and there was a swarm of wasps on our porch and it was gross! We tried to spray them with bug spray but then some got in the house and we went on a rampage trying to kill them all. We cleaned our casa, too. 

Our investigators, if you would like to pray for them:

S. - the first investigator that got to be mine. She already feels that this message is true and we have taught her 2 times. She lives in Baracoa--by that bridge. She didn't come to church sunday but it was rainy and there were elections so we are hoping for next week. 

Familia B has a baptismal date. It is a husband and wife and two little kids. They are super sweet. She is way cute too and they are an upper class family here. 

Familia H is upper class too. It's family of 5 and the kids have come to church but the parents haven't.  Mostly becasue he is a politican and has been busy with elections. They know the gospel is true and they just need to come to church! 

Familia S...well she is 19 and he is like 60. But they hopefully will be able to get married next week. Weddings here are difficult for people because you need paperwork from the city you were born in, official papers that say you are single, you have to pay and most people don't have the money. You have to go to certain places to be married. It's a hassle, but we are helping them with that and weddings aren't like a big deal either. You go get married and go home like nothing changed. But they have 2 kids and they will get baptized after they get married. They are the ones who we have to go through the jungle to go see. 

We have 2 investigators-A and V- who will be baptized this week. A is scheduled to be baptized on Thanksgiving!  She was going to be baptized last week but couldn't because of some personal stuff.  They are both great!

Oh yeah,have a good Thanksgiving! We won't be doing anything exciting. Actually, hopefully A gets baptized!

Anyway, I survived another week!!!
les extraño mucho! Les Amo!
Hermana Gisseman

Washing clothes in the pila

The pila

My clothes hanging out to dry

A tarantula!!  I went outside to wash my Crocs and there it was!  (And I told her she needs to give me warning next time she decides to send a spider picture home!)

Tajados -- yummy!  (Fried plantains)

Our capilla (chapel)

Our beautiful Alyssa

A typical Honduran road

My tan lines -- already!

Hna P and me at church

The swarm of wasps outside

Killing the wasps (Those of you who know Alyssa know that she is absolutely terrified of bees -- so I consider it a miracle that she was able to kill a bunch of wasps without freaking out.  She said she didn't freak out because she thought they were flying ants.)

Alyssa and Hna P in their casa

Pizza Hut!

Christmas is coming.....

And you know missionaries love to receive mail!  How about including Alyssa in your Christmas card list?  Her mailing address is on the right side of the blog.  :-)

Week 7

(Hna is the abbreviation for Hermana)

I just love you guys. This week was probably the hardest week of my life. 

1. What were your first impressions of Honduras?

When we were flying over the country all I could think was how beautiful it was and how even though I have never been here, it felt like home. It`s so green and pretty. There are lots of mountains--not really big ones where we are, but still mountains. We flew into San Pedro Sula and there were only 4 terminals at the airport...It really is a third world country. When we got to Campana (which is my area) and we started walking around I just about died. I was like ¨How am I going to live like this for 17 months?¨ It`s not so bad on day 5, but the people have nothing. Some houses are just wooden panels with a tin roof. The nice houses are the ones with floors. Most people only have lawn furniture. It`s so sad. In Campana there aren`t even roads. There is a main highway and the rest is dirt, although they are paving the street that our casa is off of. It feels like a big neighborhood and not like a town. It`s just house after house. There isn`t a grocery store here either, only small shops called pulperias that are like tiny gas station stores but in people`s houses. It`s just a completely different world.  

2. How did you spend your first day or so in Honduras?

When we first arrived, we went to a big chapel for meetings and orientation and such. Then we went to the Desters' for dinner. They`re apartment is SO nice! It`s in a big building that looks like a hotel. There is like an art gallery in the lobby and they have the whole 20th floor to themselves. It was sooo pretty. That is where we spent the night, too. I took pictures, and it was gorgeous but very misleading. I had my last hot shower there lol. The next morning we went to get baleadas which are tortillas with beans and eggs, more or less. It was alright...and then we went to the cambios meeting and the newbies sang which was weird because latinos can`t carry a tune... There were only 6 of us gringos and like 10ish latinos from the Guatamala CCM. I got my companion. We went to the grocery store since there isn`t one in Campana and we headed off on our hour and a half bus ride out to Campana. I really like Pres Dester. He reminds me of Bishop Sybrowsky. And I felt like he knew me before he even met me which is just really awesome. Bro and Sis John were great. They seem really funny. I was SUPER bummed out becasue I left my manilla folder with my mission call packet in it in the church and my binder with ALL my CCM notes and my CCM packet, just things I really wanted to save...I left those at the church (or at least I am 90 percent sure that I did and I am hoping nobody threw them away and that they will find their way back to me.)  (Note:  We asked the zone leaders to talk to Bro and Sis John to see if someone picked them up and can send them to me.)

3.  Who is your companion?  What is she like?  Where is she from?  

Hna P. She is from Washington. She is a theatre person so she can be loud and fun which is good. She is short. Sometimes I feel like she really doesn´t understand how hard this whole talking to people thing is for me, especially in another language. She has only been here for 12 weeks though and just got finished being trained herself. I don`t know. She`s great though. She talks a lot during lessons and doesn`t make me say much which is nice but really not good for me at the same time. She loves Doctor Who lol. 

4.  Where are you serving?  What was it like getting there?

We are in the Choloma Zone, but I am serving in Campana. To get here we rode on a bus for an hour and a half... that was interesting. There are tons of buses here and you really just stick out your hand and a bus will stop for you. And they PACK the buses here. It was a pretty drive though, very green. It`s a really safe area. There are 3 sets of hermanas here and we actually live with one set of hermanas but both are gringas too. It`s really safe here which is why it`s just hermanas and no elders. Serisouly they said it`s one of the safest places here so don`t worry about that. There is a really big mountain right outside. There are lots of dogs that just roam the streets which is so sad. It`s HOT and HUMID for sure. Like a Georgia summer everday. It feels really nice when there are clouds though. Everything is just dirty. 

5.  What is your housing like?

The 4 of us hermans live in a duplex so we live in just half of the house which I think I forgot to take a pic of the outside, so I will do that. You walk into an open room with 2 large tables for our desks against the wall. Then there is a tiny kitchen which is actually nice for here because we have a little 2 burner heating thing, a microwave and a mini fridge!! People hardly refrigerate anything here... not even eggs which is weird but apparently you just don`t have to here. Then there are 2 bedrooms and a shared bathroom which gets really gross because you can`t flush toilet paper here... And the shower is always cold which is sad. But we have a tile floor which is super nice here. And there is a pila or a concrete washing structure for washing clothes and it has a basin that always has water in it. I need to take a pic of that, too, today when I wash my clothes for the first time...

6.  Have you eaten any weird foods yet?

Yeah, so yesterday we had fried fish. Hna P got the half with the fish head. But it was really strange looking and tasting. I had boiled bananas which were GROSS.  I guess it`s not really that weird though. At one house they made us really good nachos but there was a whole cut up tomato on top and I had to eat it... it wasn`t as bad as I thought but it was still icky. And then someone put ketchup on my rice and that was not good... but I had to eat it. I think most days someone makes us dinner or lunch. My first Honduran meal was rice and pasta. They are really big on carbs here. It`s different that the families cook for us but they don`t eat with us. 

7.  Are the bugs bad?

I don`t think they are any worse than Georgia. There are lots of ants and mosquitos at night, but the DEET bug spray works REALLY well. There aren`t any bugs in our house really which is good. 

8.  What has been the most inspirational thing that happened this week?

I don't know.  Pres Dester and Hna P reminded me that the Lord doesn`t expect us to be perfect so we shouldn`t expect ourselves to be perfect either. 

9.  What have you learned about yourself this week that you didn’t already know?

I really don`t like saying hello to people, which I knew, but I just feel weird. But here you have to say hello to everyone and their pet rock. And to greet someone or say goodbye you have to kiss them on their right cheek. I just really like my personal space. 

10.  What has been the funnest/funniest/happiest thing that happened this week?

I don`t even know... nothing funny is popping out at the moment. Mostly it has just been a super stressful week. 

11.  How big is the church where you are serving – a ward or a branch?

There is a ward and a church building right across the high way from our house. There are usually about 170 members which is pretty big for here. 

12.  What was church like today?

Yesterday...it was church. It was in Spanish... They don`t know how to lead music. I don't know, it was like normal church. 

13.  How is the language coming along?

Yeah... it`s coming. I couldn`t understand anything my first day. They slur their words really bad here and sometimes don`t say ¨s¨at all! Yesterday I just tried to focus on understanding the words they were saying in Spanish instead of thinking about and translating into English and that helped a lot. 

14.  Do you know that I love you “to infinity and beyond”?  Do you know how proud we are of you?  

YES

15. Have you had to do your own laundry yet?

No, I will do that today since I didn`t have laundry soap. 

16.  What have been your first impressions of the Honduran people?  

They seem very friendly. I haven`t met anyone that is mean. Most people are very receptive and are willing to talk about religion and are willing to listen to us. They seem really happy even though they don`t have much which is amazing to me. They are all very close it seems and very independent. I don`t think they like me very much, or at least I make them nervous but they make me nervous!! 

17.  What is the best part, so far, about being a missionary?

I don`t know. I like that here I actually feel more like a missionary than I did in the CCM. These are real people and not fake investigators. 

18.  What scripture passage have you read this week that meant a lot to you?

I have been reading in Alma about the sons of Mosiah and how they were just great missionaries. it gives me hope, I guess. They suffered through so much, yet had the most happiness. They found so much strength in the Lord on their missions and saw miracles because of the great faith that they had. I just hope I can be a fraction of that kind of missionary. 

19.  What has the weather been like?

HOT and humid. It has only rained like twice though, although apparently rainy season lasts until Feb. I already have a tan line. Super attractive.

20.  What can we do to help support you in your mission?

I don`t know. Keep sending me emails and love!!! 

Today for P-Day we had a zone activity and went and played soccer (well, I didn`t really play because I hate soccer and don`t know how) and other games like signs. Then we went to Wendy`s and now we are writing. So that has been fun. 

All of the guys here whistle or say things in English like "I love you baby" when we walk by which is super creepy but whatever. 

We have fantastic investigators. We have 4 with baptismal dates and one that will be baptized this coming Thursday. 

I just wish I could understand everybody and I wish I knew what to say. It`s weird to teach with Hna P because she teaches in her own way and it`s different than how we taught in the CCM so I have to learn how to teach with her and, I don't know, it`s just a lot... missions are hard work. We study in the morning and go out for an hour to teach and then we have lunch and language study but from 2 to 8 we are out teaching. Very long days... we don`t come home for dinner which really bothers me even though we get an hour for dinner. They just eat afterwards. I`m sure I will get used to it, it`s just a long schedule. 

I don`t know... it`s just very very different here. I am so grateful for everything we have in the US. 

I left my list of things to write about at home... so I don`t remember everything I wanted to say:(

le quiro mucho!

Hna Gisseman

Flying over Mexico City

Flying over Honduras -- it's so green!

Our kitchen

Our "stove"

We have a microwave and a mini fridge

Our desks.  Mine is on the left.

Our "closet"

They don't have mirrors in the bathroom

I thought the sky was really pretty

My first investigator form -- but you can't see my name on it (I *SO* love her smile in this picture -- she looks so excited)

On the way to an investigator's house

We had to walk through a jungle-type place to get to the investigator's house

Still walking....

We had to cross a small river....

Just dirt streets

We came across these stairs when we were out teaching

Honduran baleadas, rice, beans, and cream.  It was good.

A beautiful rainbow.