Moto Taxi´s are powerful

I am still in shock that another week has come and past. What has happened??

This week we went to Puerto Cortes two different days. I still love Puerto and I am still bummed that I never got to serve there. It was super fun though because I got to do divisions one day with ¨Hermana Casteneda who is from El Salvador! And the other day with Hermana Gisseman (we came together) so it was super great. I was also super happy because the second day we were going to Puerto Cortes I prayed and told Heavenly Father since we were going to Puerto (Puerto is right next to the beach) that if we could please find a way to eat some delicious fish I Would be so happy. And boom for lunch the member served us fish. Almost cried of joy and happiness. Oh the tender mercies of God. 

The first day we were in Puerto though was a little crazy. The hermanas there are Hermana Casteneda and Hermana Kumats. The people there aren´t as used to seeing gringas since the two hermanas there are latinos. Well, we got followed around by a drunk guy, I got kissed, and a million other things. But it was a great adventure and we laughed the whole way. 

Also about a week ago we went to go visit the family Gomez. To visit them we can either take a taxi or a moto taxi. Well we took a moto taxi, and when we take a moto taxi we always have to go through the bordo. Well, we were waiting to head out when a man comes running up, and talks to the moto taxista, and asked if the moto taxi could take some of his stuff since he was moving. Well, he put up his queen size bead, the mattress and the box part, his fan, and a bunch of other things, and put it on top of this moto taxi... and off we went through the dirt rocky road of the bordo. And everything lived and nothing fell off! We got to his house, the man said thank you, quickly unloaded his stuff, and paid 20 limps. Now, folks, that is the way to move. Pay 20 limps ($1) and move your entire house on top of a moto taxi. oh yeah. 

this is a moto taxi...

For el Dia de Amor y Amistad we made hearts to give out to people that we love. It was super fun. Sunday we had a miracle happen. We went to go search for this super crazy awesome guy we had met once and had never been able to find again. Well, we went, and still wasn´t there. So we left him a valentine´s heart with the security guard and left our phone number. That night he called us! And we were so happy we are going to visit him tommorow. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about the baptismal invitation. They always tell us as missionaries to invite people to be baptized the first, or no later than the second, visit. I read 3 Nephi 11 again, and I love what Jesus Christ does. He first shows so much love to the people, and the second thing he does? Invites them all to be baptized. I love how clear he is. Baptism is such an important covenant, and so often we forget how amazing it is and what a blessing it is. 

 37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as alittle child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowisereceive these things.

 38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptizedin my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowiseinherit the kingdom of God.

 39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, andwhoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gatesof hell shall not prevail against them.

 40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, andestablish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is notbuilt upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation,and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when thefloods come and the winds beat upon them

If we say anything more or less than repentance and baptism, we are not preaching the things of Jesus Christ. How important is repentance and baptism! 

And how much people need it, and do not even realize it. 

Well, I love you all, and hope you are all having a great Spring. 

Love you all!!

Elder Palma´s last P day :( With Hermana Miller and Elder Matamores. Eating Sopa de Caracol. Yum

Eating fish with Hermana Gisseman and Hermana Smith

And the last picture is with Hermana Kumatz and Hermana Casteneda (we are all going home together.)

Feliz Día de Amor y Amistad = Happy Valentine`s Day!

This week was filled with lots of great and stressful things... probably like every week in the mission. 

We were super happy to reach our goal to have 20 lessons with member this week!! It has been one of our goals the entire change, and we finally accomplished it. 

A huge highlight of the week is that we had a conference with President Dester. He talked about a few things super interesting. The first thing was he talked about how we need to be using the Book of Mormon more, and the power of the Book of Mormon. Sometimes as missionaries, and members, we forget about the power of the Book of Mormon. We forget to hand out copies to our friends and others. So my companion and I made a new goal, that the both ofus would always have a Book of Mormon, and to each hand out a Book of Mormon each day. It is something that the apostles and many leaders do, They always have a Book of Mormon with them wherever they go to give it as a gift to someone. An idea that President Dester gave us was to always have the Book of Mormon in our hands, so that others could see it, and ask about it, and also to help remind us that we needed to give it to someone. Also President Dester talked a lot about a new program that the mission is going to start in the end of March (I know... huge bummer) to help missionaries and members work together more. The program sounds absolutely amazing because there is so much more that we can do as missionaries with the help of members.

President also talked about how sometimes it is hard when we are out doing divisions to always have time to study the scriptures (and it is so true....) But he talked about the importance of finding time every day to open the scriptures, whether it is on the bus, in the night, or a few minutes in between. So the new goal is to always find the time! If there is not time, to make time. 

We also had a Noche de Juegos (game night) in the ward. Sadly, the bishop canceled it, but since we couldn`t tell everyone it was canceled, we still had the activity. Luckily we still found a few new people to teach that live close to the church and it was pretty fun. The best part was that we found a bunch of huge sacks that they use for the flour and rice and we did a bunch of racing games in the sacks. Even my companion and I played. Basically some of the funnest things ever. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about the life of Jesus Christ, and the things that happened afterwards with the apostles. One of the key doctrines that we teach in lesson 1 is about the apostasy. If people do not understand the apostasy, they never will understand the need for a restoration. It is amazing what the apostles were willing to pass through as they testified that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus died for saying he was the son of God, and many apostles and members of the Church were killed as well testifying that Jesus was the Christ. It makes me think sometimes, if we lived in that day, what would we be willing to sacrifice? Would we give up everything as we testified that Jesus truly is the son of God? Would we be willing to die? 

Maybe the apostles had such great visions and experiences with Jesus Christ because of their faith and their willingness to give everything to God. Maybe if we too were willing to sacrifice as much as they were, and show our faith, we too would see great miracles and visions. One of my favorite visions is the vision that John saw in Revelations chapter 1.  theSon of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen;

I hope we are all willing to give up everything for Christ, to be willing to sacrifice as the apostles did, and as many others. Through our faith, and our sacrifice, God will bless us. 

I love yo uall so much!! Have a great Valentine`s Day :D

First picture: with the awesome Familia Huezo last week in Campana and -Marco!

Second and Third is the baptism of Eduardo.

The last pictures are of us playing in our sacks

February 2nd

This week started out with ... sickness. The thing that is great here is that I have thrown up so many times that I am really starting to be a professional. Luckily after a few days I was back to normal and ready to work like a horse :D

Two amazing things happened this week. 

1. I got to go back to my beloved Campana and see the amazing Familia Huezo! It was awesome because they completed one year being baptized two days before I got to see them. It was so so so great seeing them again and we talked about some serious goals so that they can go to the temple and be sealed as a family. Marco who was also baptized came by to come see me. He is now a counselor in the Young mens. Jose also came by to see me, and I was so shocked since he is so much bigger now! I also saw my favorite friend Sergio... still hanging out underneath the same tree. I wanted to cry seeing all of them again! Definately the most amazing thing ever. Everyone is one year bigger. The babies that I knew are now walking, the pre adolescents have lost all of their baby fat and are tall, and the adults... well they still look the same haha. Just a few more grey hairs. 

2. The baptism of Eduardo. Eduardo was so excited to get baptized, and everything went smoothly for his baptism. He was so sweet in his testimony he said how happy he was to be baptized with a huge smile on his face and how happy he was that we had gone to visit him. It was so beautiful.

We have also been having some challenges with other families as Satan has been working hard to keep them from coming to church and confusing them. I feel like the more time I have on the mission the more complicated the challenges and questions are! The good thing is, is that the Spirit is with us always to help us and guide us.

I love Honduras. I love the people here. The mission is the best thing EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR and it is so sad that my time is going by fast. For all those starting the mission... don´t waste not even one day! Because it is one day you have lost to help the precious children of God, your brothers and sisters.

On random news, today I learned that a bus driver will never drive the bus that he owns because it is dangerous since someone is more likely to know his bus, and him, and kill him. What did I learn? Bus drivers are dangerous... wait... I already knew that. I feel like in the States people always say if you feel unsafe sit closer to the bus driver. Here..if I feel unsafe I move farther away from the bus driver. Speaking of bus drivers, last week a bus driver and his helper were killed. Mmmmm.... I am glad that Heavenly Father always sends angels to protect the missionaries.

This week I also got to read the awesome books of John. I love John! I think he is my favorite past apostle. He writes so beautifully, in English and in Spanish :) My favorite scripture I read this week was in 1 John 4
 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Truly, God is love. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!  

Let the blessings of Heaven rain down!

Well! Another week has rolled by. This week was filled with lots of craziness, miracles, and everything else.

The most exciting news this week is that the lovely Mercedes was baptized! The baptism was absolutely beautiful! Just that we had some water problems beforehand haha and flooded the church. We started filling up the baptismal font, and an investigator came to the church so that we could teach him. While we were teaching him the font filled up too far. So for an hour we were pushing water out of the church. Luckily there is no such thing as carpets in Honduras =) After pushing out all the water we had the baptism. At the end Mercedes shared such a beautiful, strong testimony, and yesterday left to visit with us! Score. Awesome new members!

We also contatced a bus this week. We had divisions in Choloma, and we were coming home, and when we finally made it back to San Pedro, we realized we had left the phone in Choloma. We had a baptism and Sunday coming up, so there was no way we were going to be able to live without a phone. So we made the trek back. In the morning we prayed so that Go could help us have courage to contact a bus, because it is something we have wanted to do forever. Well, we made it back to San Pedro without being brave enough, so we decided it was God´s way to help fulfill our goals. On the way back we got up in front of the bus, introduced who we were and shared cards with everyone. It was pretty awesome. 

Also, yesterday was dia de la mujer (Women´s Day) here in Honduras, so the ward gave each women a rose. It was super beautiful and awesome. We also had a crazy experience walking down the road, and a man shouted out to us, ¨Elderes!! Come here¨ And we were like what?So we went over and found a man super crazy but super awesome, and we are super excited, and a little nervous to teach him. 

Today for P day we hiked up the mountain to the Coca Cola. Here in San Pedro there are big letters on the mountain that say ¨Cocal Cola¨ kinda like the Hollywood sign in California. Honduras is awesome because going in the mountains is basically like walking into a jungle. Afterwards we went and had lunch with Family Gomez with the other hermanas, and we brought a piñata to celebrate the birthday of their baby, who turns one years old this year. He is named Angel, but everyone calls him Rungita. He is hilarious too because he is completely racist. This baby totally likes gringas more than others. We also bought a piñata, and it was completely adorable watching all the kids hit the piñata. 

This week my companion and I were studying a little bit from the article ¨living the gospel joyful¨ by Elder Uchtdorf. I love what he says that sometimes we block the blessings of God. We put up an umbrella and stop the rain of the blessings of Heaven. And it is so true! Sometimes we walk and act as if we don´t want to be obedient to certain commandments of God, and while we are doing so, we block the blessings of God. I testify that if we live the commandments, if we are obedient, he will rain down more blessings upon us. 

I love what he says

Part of our challenge is, I think, that we imagine that God has all of Hisblessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to usunless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has setup. But the commandments aren’t like that at all. In reality, HeavenlyFather is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, andsin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us.

His commandments are the loving instructions and the divine help for usto close the umbrella so we can receive the shower of heavenly blessings.

We need to accept that the commandments of God aren’t just a long list ofgood ideas. They aren’t “life hacks” from an Internet blog or motivationalquotes from a Pinterest board. They are divine counsel, based on eternaltruths, given to bring “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world tocome.”⁶

So we have a choice. On the one hand, there is the opinion of the worldwith its ever-changing theories and questionable motives. On the otherhand, there is God’s word to His children—His eternal wisdom, His certainpromises, and His loving instructions for returning to His presence inglory, love, and majesty.

The choice is yours!

Have a great week!!!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/living-the-gospel-joyful?lang=eng

First full week in Los Castaños!

Well! This week has been full of craziness but it has been super beautiful.

The most exciting news is that Kenth got baptized last Saturday!! And it was absolutely beautiful. I have to say that we did a bunch for this baptism! Cleaned the church, made a collage of pictures and a big banner with his name, and a huge card for everyone to sign. Haha my new companion does a lot for baptisms, and since we are both perfectionists, It means we spend a lot of time making sure everything is good.

The baptism was super beautiful, but we are super sad because yesterday, after Kenth received the holy ghost, he left for Tegucigalpa where he will be living and studying. Such a bummer!!!!

We also had an awesome experience with Family Gomez. They are super awesome. They make about 1,000 tortillas every day to sell.... yes... 1,000 tortillas. Imagine that! The hermano told us though that a lot of people have been coming to pay him visits every since his kids got baptized. (His two kids got baptized three weeks ago, but we are waiting for them to get married so they can get baptized). But he has been doing a lot of standing up for the church! He told us that a pastor came over to visit him, and the pastor was super mad that he is visiting the church. Also that another friend told him that he should stop going to this church for a million reasons. He told him that he likes the church because we never criticize other churches, and we use our time instead of criticizing preaching about Christ. Basically this family is super legit, and we are trying to help the hermana decide to get married! I am not sure what it is here, but everyone wants to get baptized but no one wants to get married. Asi es Honduras.

We also stayed up late Saturday night making awesome invitations for this Saturday for Mercedes. Mercedes is the younger sister of a member who is going to get baptized, and we are super excited. The invitations were also super awesome. 

This week I got to go to La Victoria on divisions. It was super awesome. We contacted a million people, and then at night we ate delicious baleadas at a members house. At night there was no water in their house, so we had to bring up water in buckets from the pila #HondurasLife I also got to see my awesome friend Elder Rodriguez since he is in that area! It is great getting to see people again.

This morning we also did some serious studying on how to receive personal revelation, because many of our investigators are having problems receiving personal revelation. We came up with a list of things to do to receive revelation:

-pray

-listen

-think it out

-think on other experiences you have already had, maybe God has already answered you

-act

-read the scriptures

-be humble and willing to accept God´s will

-fast

We also made a huge list of blessings of baptism. It was pretty extensive. We made a banner and gave to a family so they can start preparing for their baptismal date. I have to say, there are a million blessings of baptism, and I am so grateful I get to have the blessings of baptism in my life.

Today we were in the bus, and a man came and sat down by me. He said he has just been deported from Mexico, and started telling me all his problems. I realized he had so many problems, and was sacrificing so much, but all in the wrong areas. He needed to put his priorities straight. He needed to put God first, and everything would work out. I told him that. Hopefully he will listen. It sounded like he was going to try to go back to Mexico. I realized really, if we put God first in our lives, everything else will be okay. Everything else will work out. Matthew 6:33 says it all  33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Have a great week!!!

Giving our life to God, and loving him above all else

Well!!

I hit my last changes. 

I am in my last area, with my probably pen ultimate change. So sad.

My new area is all of five minute bus ride from my old area! Crazy right? I get to go grocery shopping at the same place and sometimes see the same people. Now I am just closer to the city and closer to the danger... bum bum bum. No it really is quite calm here :)

My new companion is super awesome. She is from Dominic Republic and she came to the country with me! We have the same time in the field, just that I will go home a change earlier for my time in the mtc. 

I am super excited though because I get to go on divisions and I get to go back to my old areas of El Bosque and Campana! Just Santa Rosa will be left out. But I am super stoked. 

Yesterday was super weird as I entered the sacrament meeting and it was chuck full of people! I have to say 9 months in branches gets you shell shocked seeing a real ward. Our area is also HUGE! Gigantic. So that is super great. We have the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor in our area. In one part there are the biggest houses in Honduras, and in the other part is the bordo, which is where the people that have nothing live. I will have to send you a picture. It is pretty crazy this area. 

We also live with another companionship, so it is super fun getting to live with two more missionaries! I have also been called, and set apart, as official hair stylist of buns and braids in the house haha. 

This week has been full of meeting new people. We have met some pretty awesome people. We are also teaching a bunch of great people so we are super happy. 

Yesterday we had the best relief society lesson in the world! It was so so great. I do not know if all you had lesson one out of the new Ezra Taft Benson manual but it is amazing. It is called "The Great Commandment, love the Lord" I even read it last night before falling asleep and I re read it this morning. It is so great! It talks about how the most important thing that we will ever do is serve the Lord. We should always put him in first priority. We should put him before work, school, husband, or children. We should put him before everyone and everything in our lives. 

In the manual it gives the example of Jospeh of Egypt, and how he gave up everything for God. He gave up his job, his status... everything to be obedient to God and not be with Potipher's wife. I love it because it asks us the questions how much do we really love God? Do we really put him first in our lives? What are we willing to sacrifice for him? 

Because if we give our all to God, he will do amazing things with our lives. 

I love at the end President Benson gives this quote>  

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.

I think President Benson sums it all up beautifully. God can do more with our lives than we can ever do with our lives. Why not give it all to him?

The great test of life is obedience to God.

The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.

The great commandment of life is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30).

We also had an awesome meeting with President Dester, and he talked about how we should study more of Chapter 6 in Preach my Gospel in the attributes of Christ, because if we truly want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to have his attributes. There is also an awesome quote in preach my gospel that says becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is action for action, decision for decision. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, and putting him above all else, is our quest for our entire lives. 

I love you all so much! 

PHOTO Hermana Lopez and I. We both had big buns yesterday! Just that you can't see my big bun. 

Have a great week!