Bienvenido Semana Santa!

This week we have had the wonderful experience of bringing the Lord's children closer to him.

We had the baptism of Carolina! Carolina is the neice of Marco and Maria Huezo. We have been teaching her for about two months now and she was finally ready. I have to say it was one of the most beautiful baptisms I have seen yet. When she came out of the bathroom in her white baptismal dress she looked absolutely beautiful, and after her baptism she looked so clean and happy. It was so beautiful. The Spirit was so strong.

This week starts Semana Santa (Easter Week). Semana Santa is known to be the hottest part of the year here in Honduras, and we have been building up and building up. It is basically an inferno, and everyone is going to the beach to try and escape the heat. Lucky us we get to keep walking and visiting :) Luckily everyone stinks, so it is not really a problem when we are wreaking of sweat, because everyone else is too :) (Maybe that was way too much information...) I have to say though, I will take this inferno any day over the icy cold snow of Utah! The cool part about Semana Santa is everyone gets it off... it doesn't matter if you are working or in school, everyone is free to play at the beach.

These past few weeks I have also had the wonderful opportunity to eat large intestine, small intestine, and snail. Also yesterday in church we were in sunday school and out comes a HUGE HAIRY TARANTULA. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh yes I definately had a gringa freak out. So did my companion. It was freakishly gross. Everyone kept saying that it was small...

We also had a miracle with Amilkar. We have been planning for his baptism for a while now. About two days ago he told us that his Dad was not going to give him permission. We told him that we would talk to his parents and see what we could do. On Sunday we were passing by, reminding people sweetly (a little forcefully :) to come to church. We passed by Amilkar and his parents were there (this is rare, I think I have seen his mom once). We took the opportunity while we had it to talk to his Dad. I said a quick prayer in my head and then started. We started talking to his Dad about how much Amilkar had changed, and how he was praying, reading his scriptures, and coming to church and what a blessing baptism is. After about five minutes his Dad agreed, and luckily by chance we had a baptismal record there for him to sign. It was such a miracle. Later we found Amilkar and he told us that his Dad was even ready to buy him a white shirt and tie. We were all in shock and so grateful for the Lord softening the hearts of others.

Raffaella, our sweet grandma who lives an hour and a half away, came to church again this Sunday! This is the second time she has come. She is such an example to me of climbing down a mountain, paying for a car, and then a bus, to come to church. She is my hero and she is the sweetest! Whenever I see her I always think that I need to sacrifice a little more for Christ. I can give a little more to him.

On Saturday we were also working in an area called Rondon. In my area we have a bunch of differen colonials we work in. For example I live in Nueve Campana. We work in Nueve Campana, Seis de Mayo, La Gran Villa, Rondon, 19, 21, Baracoa, Las Floras, y Puente Alto. It is a pretty big area. When we are in an area we usually try to just work in that area for a good amount of time, because sometimes we have to go pretty far. We were in el Rondon and we were walking to visit someone else, then suddenly we decided we should try to go pass by for a house one more time. We had met him one day at another investigators, and he wanted us to come over. We had passed by his house three or four times, and they were never home! But it was Saturday, so we decided we should try. We passed by, and miracle of miracles, they were home! We had a beautiful first lesson with Wilfredo and Daisy. As we left I told my companion that I can see him being one of the counselors for the Bishop. On Sunday they came to church! And, another miracle, they are married!!! (Almost no one is married here...). After Sunday School when it was time to go to Relief Society and Priesthood, they were about to go home because they did not want to be seperated. It was the sweetest.

I have also started the Old Testament! I was reading Jesus the Christ, and I realized I have only ever read the Old Testament for Seminary in 9th grade, and that I needed to read it again. This is going to sound really weird, but Genesis is really a page turner!! I started Friday and I am already on page 50, all I ever want to do is read! I think this book should be a New York Times Bestseller or something. Every chapter is a climatical part! There is always something exciting happening! I am definately geeking out about the Old Testament, so much now that I have gotten my companion to start reading it too! I always thought of the Old Testament as dry, boring, and sleep invoking. Who knew?!? Maybe this is just one of the side affects of adapting to missionary life.

Well I love this work so much. Every day is challenging and beautiful, and every day I have the opportunity to draw nearer to my Savior.