Group Activity

Well there isnt really much for this week, except for an awesome activity we had this week and I know that I just had to write at least about that this week. 
Well lately we have really been trying hard to get the members to church!! They neeed to come! We need to grow together. Last week we had great asistencia, and with investigators! But, we knew that wouldnt happen every week! So we had to plan an activity to get the members animated! We had an activity the same weekend when I got here, but it was kind of boring, the members were kind of bored and well there was a new missionary that they still didnt know. (Which was me lol) But now, I was ready to make an epic activity! We had it saturday night at 6, but of course the people showed up at 7!! But thats alright, we watched the John Tanner movie and it was awesome! Everyone was nearly in tears. But after the video, we shared a message, then we started the games! We had an introductory game where everyone had to present themselves and stuff, we did our best to get them all animated and hyped up and wow! What a success! We divided into teams and played some group games together. Some members that I have never seen laugh were having the greatest time ever. Well the bottom line is for this activity, we had about 35 people go, and everyone got to know each other better and now there is more unión! After the activity everyone complimented us for the organization. I have honestly grown really close to these members and I dont want to leave! After being in two really strong wards, it is really nice to be in a small humble group for a while!

Oh! Some of you have been asking how the water is here. (well its been raining like crazy) But I am sure that is not what you mean... Well. The tap water is not drinkable! There are ALOT of cases where missionaries get H Pylori. Its like a bacteria that you get from unclean water. So we always have to buy bags or buckets of water. You may be wondering to yourselve... bags of water?? YES! That is the greatest thing about Honduras, the bags of water! Its half a liter of water that costs from 5 to 10 cents! It is so convienent! Every Honduran house also has a Pila. I took a picture of the one at our house a couple weeks ago if you remember. Well with this pila, it is like your water storage. Thats the water you use to wash clothes, wash dishes, and sometimes, to shower. We have to be careful that when people ask us if we want water, that they dont just scoop up water from their pila. Thats just asking to get 5 different types of bacteria... but no worries! :)

                                                This is the best brand of water, Aguazul!    

Remember that investigator family that I talked about a couple weeks ago? 

that has all of the really obedient cows? 

Well yeah they are doing great and progressing! I took some pictures of some of their milking cows, and their horse, Paloma! If the cows are obedient, imagine the horse!! 

he definitely  respects hermano Portillo!

                           P-day consisted of, of course, about 3 zones at our stake center and we played soccer!

                                            Then off to Churrasquittos, a really good Guatemalan restaurant! 

                                                                               Our typical Pday. :)

Las Olimpiadas!

Ok, first of all... did you guys know that the Honduras soccer team made it to the Semi-finals in the Olympics!?
 I mean... thats no surprise right? haha! But wow! everyone was going crazy here! Well everyone is alwaysss watching the Olympics anyway, but these days theyve been watching it a bunch because of all of the crazy soccer matches. 
Well Honduras lost though... but hey, they put up a great fight! the score was 6-0 against Brazil... thats still a great fight though right? Soccer is all that people talked about this week! Speaking of the Olympics, some of the members would tell me about all of the mexican excitement because of the mexican boxer... which just so happens to be from Chihuahua!!
 (de donde soy yo;) Mannn I was soo hoping he would win! Speaking of that, i love how i alwayss have to explain myself when people ask where I am from. For example, this is usually how it goes:

Person: De donde son ustedes?

My companion: Yo soy de Colombia, de Barranquilla.

Person: Aaaa, usted conoce a Shakira, va? jajaja (we laugh, because they think that is the first time we hear that joke)

Person: Y, vos?

Me: De donde cree hermano?

Person: De aqui. no? De Guatemala?

Me: No, yo soy de  USA, gringolandia, los Estados Unidos.

Person: No!! en serio. De donde?

Ahhhh!!! They never believe me! haha then I always have to explain why I dont look or talk gringo. lol

Anyways, everything is going great! We had a great week this week. We found a bunch of new awesome people! We have really worked hard on trying to get our investigators to church. I realized it is alot harder down here with that. For example, one of our most postive investigators is Fabiola, she is 21 and intelligent, but she isnt really good with keeping committments like going to church. So I tried something different, we taught and invited her whole family. Her brothers and sisters were incredibly willing to go and learn more! We have a really good relationship with the parents as well. So since the brothers and sisters wanted to go, she was olbigated to go as well! So Sunday we went to pick them up, and they were actually a little surprised we showed like we said we would, so they STARTED to get ready... yeah, we got to church late. But for a good cause! We also went and picked up other investigators. They all lovvvvved it! We had a great 1st hour and we taught a great lesson the 2nd one. They all said theyll come back next week. We had 6 investigators at church! Which is really good for this area! But heres the best news: We had an attendace of 40 people at church on sunday!! Wooohoo!! Pretty soon this group will be a branch! We all hope it is soon because its not easy being in a group. There is a lot of drama, mostly about the asistencia, who cleans the house (chapel), who pays for the rent. Stuff like that. Once we get a branch going here, we wont have to pay for rent anymore. Every saturday we help the ward give out meals prepared by the members, and they sell them, that is how our house is paid for lol. Its not easy. That is how people survive here. Mostllyyy selling tortillas. Like, people eat alottttt of tortillas here!And in every block there is always that house that sells tortillas. Something you hear alot in every household is ¨Valla compra tortillas!¨ But i love tortillas a bunch now :) Well, like you guys know I am fairly new to this area, but I already have a good reputation with the members. My companion has a parasite in his stomach so he doesnt eat that much. But its funny when members ask my companion ¨quieres comer pescado? y coca?¨ And then theres me ¨ooo yo si!¨ and they laugh and say ¨Siii usted come todo!¨ hahaha (I bet my Mom is happy to hear that;) 

The other day we had interviews with Presidente Bowler with the whole zone. It was awesome! he is such a great guy! He is from Nevada. Anyway, I remember when I used to think to myself in the beginning of my mission... Does he really know all of the 200 missionaries? Like, does he knoww us or just our names? But man, the more I am with him the more I have recieved an answer.  It makes me think about John 10: 14-15. For example, everytime he sees me he usually asks about that small town Wickenburg, and asks me how it is doing.  Well in this interview it was funny because I entered into his office and says, Elder Madero, how are you? I was looking through your files and I realized something, you havent been saying the truth..... you are Not from Wickenburg. You are from Morristown! hahaha and he made me explain! He told me of a story about his brother that used to say the same thing during his mission (but he would say that he is from St. George, but actually from a little town next to it) and well his brother shook hands and introduced himself to the president of the church during his mission, and said that he is from St. George. And then the president says, Oh, I thought all of the Bowlers were from (the small town next to it). So his brother had to explain himself, and he taught me that I should be proud of where I am from. I am from Morristown, Arizona!! haha We had a good laugh with that.

For P-day last week we went to San Marcos to go play soccer with the Cuidad Nueva zone, which was so awesome because the climate is different over there! Its the only place in the south where its fresco! But anyway, I saw two really interesting things there, one, is that there is Las Michoacanas there!! The mexican heladeria! So, of course, we all go get Ice Cream there! :) and the second thing is that, well, we went to the apartment of the Elders there, (which is Elder Johnson, who is from Mesa! and went home this week! anyways, lets resume...) their apartment is above the little apartment where they meet for church, but guess whats right next to the church?? A coffee shop!!! Who does that?!?! hahaha
This week for P-day, of course we played soccer again! We went a played at the stake center and then after, we all went to go eat somewhere... guess where? (Well I know you are never going to guess) we went to Chilangos! The best Mexican food in the south!! It was soo good! 

ICE CREAM "LA MICHOACANA'

THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD IN THE SOUTH!!  SOOOO GOOD

Check out my new hammock! 

Hammocks are a huge thing here! Theyre not even that expensive either! 

Only $15! I cant wait to go back home and lay on my Honduran hammock! :)

Most of the houses are honestly not much, nothing more than just pieces of wood with tarp around it.

 Sometimes they are made out of just sticks.

 Its a really poor area here, but I truly love it! 

Mondongo!

Well this has been a great week! 
We have found a bunch of new investigators and even a really powerful family! 
The people are really interesting down here, but i love them all! I`ve taken a bunch of pictures of the area so you guys can see how it is here! It is really green, rocky, spread apart, and of course, Hot! 
Its awesome! Oh! So there is this family that is investigating the church that is super awesome!
 The dad is kind of like the main man around here, the alpha wolf, the head honcho, el mero-mero. But he and his family have such a big heart that I am honestly shocked sometimes! I`m not used to so much cariño (love) haha! The dad owns a farm with a whooole bunch of cows! I remember the first time I met him, he was working with the cows, and after a while I asked him, Well, do they have names? To my surprise he says Claro que si! Esa es Mancha, Gorda, La Columbiana, El Macho, Negra, oh! y Maria! Maria! Venga para acá! and next thing you know...here comes Maria! hahaha he has all of his cows trained and obedient! They even know their names! haha that was awesome! And well they`re family own a pulperia at their house as well. Every time we go to teach a lesson...they always give us food. They are really postive! They always receive us and ask questions. Well anyway, they are one of my favorite investigators! We just have to marry them before baptizing them. Thats the hard part. Usually missionaries have to marry couples before baptizing them, because families live together but are never married, not a civil marraige at least. But thats alright! Alot of our other investigators are not that good with keeping commitments... which makes our job harder! haha We could have the greatest lesson ever taught with them, but if they do not pray or go to church with us, it doesnt really do us any good. We really emphasize the fact that the people neeed to receive a respuesta from God so that they have a tesitmony before baptism. 
Sometimes it is really hard for the investigators to concentrate because there is usually a lot of children in a small house and they are usually always yelling, crying, or hungry. 
And when the kids are hungry they eat. 
And well, the women here do nottt care, when a baby needs to be breastfed, they do it not caring where they are or who is there! haha that was really strange for me at first! But now its an everyday thing haha Oh!  The other day we had Mondongo! Its like a soup with a bunch of vegestables and cow stomach! It reminds me of the mexican menudo! (which i miss sooo much!) but it was super good! I`ve had it like 3 times in Teguz but it was soo much better down here! :) 
 And of course they gave us a bunch of Cocacola! haha Coke is like the water here! My companion is really tired of it, but not me! At least not yet haha our Stake President here took us out for Pizza Hut the other day for having a whole bunch of baptisms as a zone! Which of course was a lot of fun and good pizza!  
Yesterday for church we had an asistenia of 39! And it was testimony meeting...and well we sat in silence for a while of course haha not everybody wants to go and speak lol Yesterday we also had a really great lesson with a member! It was funny because we as missionaries do our best to teach, in clear spanish so people can understand... but when we take a member it helps alot because honduras understand other hondurans alot better! We tried explain something, and the family understood...but then the member chipped in to help, and the family was like Ohhhhhh! Now I get it!! I thought to myself: I justtt said that! haha
There are not alot of members here in this group, but most of them are always ready to help us! 

We made a home made slip and slide for P-Day today! So much fun!

 

  Having pizza with the zone

This is how our area looks. See that yellow house all the way in the middle back? We live still past that. Our area is pretty big!

 

   eating Mondongo!!!!!!

This is our chapel for our grupo! :) 

       
                     This is our house :)

 
                          Our backyard!


                         
This is our pila. Where we wash clothes and wash dishes. Every single house has one in Honduras! They usually have fish swimming around so that they kill the mosquitos growing, but we accidently killed our fish! lol

Las Unidas!

I love it here! Las Unidas is an awesome place! 
It is such a huge change from where I have been this whole time in my mission, but i absolutely love it! Its not that I am suffering here, but my life is harder here. And thats why I like it. The people are alot more different, alot more humble and loving! The members and I got along really fast, and they are so willing to help us! Well, I guess I`ll start with our house. We are actually in a house, not in an apartment like I have been. Its not that small, Its really comfortable. We have running water every morning, we have a pila, electricity, and a fan. What else can we ask for? haha! There are alot of places down here that dont have that stuff. This house had a reputation for getting broken in alot by robbers not too long ago. But its all fixed now, we have more security. The area is not that big, and mountanous. Well, mostly just steep hills. The weather? One word: HOT. But it honestly reminds me of Arizona alottt, except for the humidity. I had to get used to teaching lessons while continously sweating. The houses are alot more seperated than in the city (obviously) and its funny because I also had to get used to practically walking into their house when we contact. Since the doors (a curtain) are always open (because  of the heat) we walk into the patio and to their door steps, and contact from there, with our heads poking into their house pretty much! Thats just how it is here! haha! And everybodddy has a hammock. Every single house has at least 1, but average about 3. The people dont alwayssss recieve us, but the majority of the time they do. Even when they do not want anything to do with us, they still let us into their house and give us coca-cola! Yes, coke. We drink coke allllll day. Water to survive, and coke all other times. My companion is sooo tired of it, but I still like coke... for now! lol My companion is awesome! Like ive said before, he is Elder Saucedo from Columbia. He is a great missionary that lovesss to work! He has been in the South zones for practically his whole mission so hes teaching me the basics on how to survive here! Man, it is crazy how loving the people are here. Our invesitgators are incredible! They are always offering us stuff, food, water, coke. And I`ve learned to never reject anything. Not just because its the right thing to do, but because I truly love these people in Honduras! I know its pretty much all they have. And in exchange, they listen to our message about the Restoration, which is the most important thing that we can give. We usually have to teach really basic, many of the people here didnt grow up with much education, or have gone to the same church their whole life due to family tradition. Walking around, you will pretty much always have the smell of smoke because of everyone burning trash. And always here music, mostly banda and oldies, like vicente fernadez or bronco because of the billares. There are alot of pool/bar places here that are always blasting music. There are also alot of house-churches. Alot of churchs (mostly evangelicals) create their own church in their front yard, its hard to contact sometimes while their is a pastor yelling/preaching right next door lol. Well, we are no different! We also have a church at a house. We are renting a house, and that is where we have our reunions on sundays. I love being in a group! (which is smaller than a branch, and way smaller than a ward) Last week the asistencia was 22 people, we worked hard this week and we raised it this week. :) Oh! (the struggles of being in a grupo) Sunday morning like at 8:25 we were about to leave our house to go to church, and I recieved a phone call from the bishopric, saying Elder Madero, the asigned speaker for today wont be able to make it to speak today, I need you speak about Dia De Reposo for 20 minutes, ok?ok. I was sooo happy! because everyone always talks about that happening, and I finally got to have that experience! But once I realized that I had to give a 20 minute talk soon, I really had to start preparing what I will say! haha We have to talk, pray, direct the hymns, and bless the sacrement sometimes! Oh! I loved how the sacrement bread was Bimbo chocolate chip bread lol. That was a little different lol. The South in general is realllly different, but I truly love it! All of the other missionaries here always talk about their experiences here and say that never want to go back to Teguz haha! Today was official changes, I got that news that I am staying here with Saucedo in Las Unidas! :) 

 P-day was awesome! We played soccer with the zone! This is just a piece of our zone! Porvenir zone is one of the biggest zones!

One of the members from the Villa Olimpica (that would always, alwaysss help us with the obra found out that I`m in the south, which is where he is from, and since the students arent studying he is down here as well. And he came to a members house down here and visited us! Everybody pretty much knows each other in Honduras it seems like! haha 

Oh! You can also see my new belt! Its a black boa skin belt. (Yes its real) Everybody down here has different skins of different exotic animals! haha