These are the moments that I love!

Well this has been a great week! 
I´ve had a lot of moments when I said, Wow, these are the moments that I am going to miss. On the mission we always run into certain situations where it is so obvious that it was all part of Gods plan even though we didnt see it coming in the beginning. Here are some experiences that happened this week:

- So there are some days where all of our appointments fall, and we are left to just contact everyone and all of the houses! And so we were contacting every house that we felt should be knocked on, with no luck. Everyone seems to be busy or not home! Until we found a very poor looking house a couple blocks away from the church. This older lady came out and attended us for a while, her name was Marta, so how could I forget her! haha She said that it would be better if we return another day (everyone says that so that was too promising). But then after a few days, we decided to come back... and we knocked and guess what? It was Marta! But it wasnt the same one... It turns out it was her daughter! (We call them Marta One and Marta Two). Well the daughter let us in and we shared a message, it was so awesome! She was incredibly positive! She understood everything. So we put an appointment for another day, and when we went back... guess what? Marta 1 or Marta 2 didnt answer... this time it was Luis! Luis is the brother! So Luis let us in and listened to us, and Marta 2 arrived and joined in. It turns out that Luis is even more positive than Marta 2!! So we put another appointment... and when we came back, guess what? Thats right! Luis answered again... with Marta 2.. annnd? Cristina One! (She has a daughter named Cristiana too/two) So it turns out that Cristina is the sister and she is also positive! This week Marta 2 and two younger siblings came to church!! So if we look back to that first day, we would never even imagined we would have found this awesome family!

- So on another occasion, we were contacting and getting to know some other farther towns and we were talking with everyone. We came to this house in the middle of nowhere. We clearly saw some people hide when they saw us, and you can hear them say "son los muchachos". Well anyway, finally this nice lady came out and talked to us, she clearly didnt want anything, but the ones that usually want something better are sometimes too shy to come out, so we fight are way in! She lets us in and the people came out from their hiding spots! We met two other people who were very positive. One lived there and the other lived farther back in San Marcos. Her name was Bessy. So we get their directions and set an appointment for another day. They said Yes! They will be there. So that days comes around and we look for Bessy. Her direction was the white house in front the old buses by the main  road. I thought I knew exactly what she was talking about until we stood in front of the old buses by the main road, and what did I see? well not a white house!! I said Ahhhh! There was only one house there and it was a pink one with a popcorn machine outside, I always see a grouchy old lady out side, but I said, well, lets go check it out. So we knock and this 17 year old kid comes out. We start the conversation asking if he knew a Bessy Sandoval... he gave me a confused look and said no... well that was too bad. So we started talking to him. We talked a little about our message and we gave him a Restoration pamphlet. He seemed like one of those kids that think they know it all and everything else is false. So he didnt catch my attention too much. After about a week, we came back to his house. He was there and let us in, he still had that ´I know everything look´, but to our surprise, he read the whole pamphlet, and said I understand most of it, but I want to know more about this Joseph Smith. We gave him that ´are you serious?´ look! lol It turns out that he is one of the most positive investigators that I have ever met on my mission!! That day we left him with a book of mormon and he read what we left him! We were there yesterday and he understands everythinnnnggg! He feels already that the book is true and wants to keep learning more. He asked uss about church. The best part was yesterday, we were about to leave his house, and he said "So did you end up finding Bessy´s house?" I said "Who´s Bessy?" He said "The reason why you knocked on my door in the first place" I said "ohh yeah! No we didnt, but because we met her, we are here, and we know that this where we are supposed to be." He completely agreed.

- This other experience happened last tuesday. Well last monday we completely forgot to do laundry! So Tuesday morning we threw half of our clothes into the washer and then into the dryer as we were studying. Then we threw in the next load into the washer... as soon as the washer was filled with water.. guess what? the power goes out. Ahhhhh!! Long story short, the power didnt come back for a lonnng time! and so we still went out and worked (I had to wear one of my companion´s shirts) and we had a lot of great appointments in the morning, but after lunch was rough. Once again, we were contacting and getting to know the area. We go up, and up, and upppp! We were knocking all of the doors on this high hill. We met some nice people, some very mean people. But this was the best part... we were down to the last two houses. And we knock on the first door,and once again "son los hermanos!!" and they all hide! Well finally a nice lady comes out and she talks to us for a while, but she wasnt interested, she said " You know, God wants you to visit that house right there" pointing towards the second house, I said Really? She said "Yes, go knock that door" So we trusted her! We went to that door and knocked on that house and no answer. We looked towards the back of the house and found the husband cutting weeds, so we jump the fence and offer help, he says thanks, but no thanks. He talks to us for a while and says that we can come back another day. We had no idea what to expect. So when we go back days later, he was there! With his wife. He did all of his mandados earlier that day that he can be there when we were going to return! So we teach them the Gospel of Jesuschrist and they understood all of it!! They are soo positive its insane! Towards the end of the lesson it was getting dark, and we were far from home. But he didnt mind offering the closing prayer, and when we opened our eyes, the light in the room was on! The power came back! We all just kind of sat back and said Wow... (In my head I was thinking Woohoo! Im going to have clean clothes for tomorrow!! haha) But it was truly a miracle. We are really excited for the next visit. 

There are more experiences but I dont have time to write them all. The thing is that its insane how we never know when God is preparing people and putting them in our road, we need to always be ready!

Each 15th de Septiembre, Honduras always has parades to celebrate their day of independence. 

 Im glad I was able to spend both days in towns like El Paraiso and San Marcos. They are the best in small towns! EVERYONE was there watching the parades and no one was home, so we said, well lets check it out for a while! We were very impressed! My companion was a drum major back in highschool so was telling me which kids were off and which had no idea what they were doing! lol

Well one of our seminary students nearly died of boredom this week... I hope I wasnt like this when I went to seminary! 

-This poor little girl didnt make it to the bathroom.... 

Our little humble church!

Well, all is well in San Marcos!
 We are having a great time! The weather here is incredible! Its always nice and fresh, and usually rainy. Its been raining alot these last few days, I dont think that is has to do with the hurricanes and stuff, I think its just typical San Marcos! This week we´ve seen alot awesome miracles in our work here. I am so happy because of that I like knowing that Elder Taylor is getting a better training that I did. Its not that I wasnt trained right, its just that my first area was so darn hard! It was so hard to get a real new investigator! And here, we can easily see people in our path and we can truly see that they have been prepared to hear our message. Well yesterday was Dia de Los Niños... so it was pretty hectic. All of the kids knew that it was "their day" and they were going crazy, and all of the old drunk guys thought that i was their day to act like kids. So last night was pretty insane and hard to sleep. But yesterday at church we had a bunch at church so that was awesome! 
Here are some pictures of our little church.

 Its kind of on a main street, so there is always alot of noise by motortaxis, bikes, and people driving way too fast without a muffler, so that sucks... But the church is pretty nice! Its part of house that we rent. Its just one big room, divided by a homemade wall divider thing. In that way we can have Sunday school with the adults and primary in the other room. So yes, its usually pretty noisy! Whenever our group leader doesnt show up we have to direct the meetings, give the talks, and bless the sacrement. Yesterday we tried to have the youth speak to spice it up a little bit... luckily enough, 2 speakers, our sunday school teacher, and the third hour teacher didnt show up... So guess who had to teach and talk without any preparation? So while I was teaching the sunday school class, my poor companion had to take care of the Primary class on his own... Hopefully we did okay, everyone said they would be back next week!

 haha we gave them all bags of candy to celebrate Dia de Los Niños! But I love it! We also have to teach Seminary everyday to the youth and so my companion has had a lot of practice speaking spanish in front of people that can help him. His spanish is pretty good now! There isnt too much new this week, so thats all for today! Stay tuned!

Work, work, work!

Well here I am in lovely San Marcos de Colon! 

It is pretty much Wickenburg...so it is hard not to think of home! haha I love it so much! My companion is pretty awesome too! 

He is keeping up and is learning fast! Something that we are super happy about is that this town is alot bigger than we thought! A couple days ago we thought we pretty much had the whole area down, but then we found out there are still HUGE neighborhoods farter southeast! Its crazy! So we are super excited to see what people we find there. But anyway, we have had a lot of cool experiences!

Well first of all, like Ive mentioned before, we are in a small group. We are doing our best to have it grow. So we went around getting to know all of the members and guess what? The group leader is inactive! He hasnt even gone to church in the past 6 months!! what?! He hasnt been able to attend church because of his job. He is a driver of a motortaxi and they are alwaysss working, even sundays. And part of that too was the he wouldnt make church a priority either. But that job has been getting him into some serious problems. For example, the first time we went to his house to meet him he wasnt there, he was in jail... who would have known that was actually a blessing!! Why? because since then he has had the desire to change. It was his perfect way out! They took away his motortaxi, so he doesnt have to work on sundays anymore. He can start going back to church...wierd, exactly the same week when two new missionaries show up to his house ready to make a difference! So we are really working hard together! Its hard to get him going though haha our first week we animated him enough to get to church... the next week we animated him to get to church... on time! and also direct the meeting! So that was a huge accomplishment because he cant even remember the last time he directed, it has always been the elders!

The cool thing about this area is that we have an awesome cocinera! There is a lady that we pay and she cooks us lunch! The good thing is that she actually knows how to cook! Her name is Karla and she is one of the most active members in the group. She and her family are pretty awesome too! We had a really funny experience the other day... we were talking about where the church used to me here in San Marcos, and I told her that yeah I`ve seen it before because i`ve came to San Marcos before to play soccer with other missionaries, and that I went into the church when it was right next to Las Michoacanas. (If you remember about a year ago I sent pictures of that when I was in the south) and so she said Ohh!! I remember about a year ago I saw a bunch of missionaries there and all I remember were two papos (which means Idiots in Honduran language) taking pictures of Las Michoacanas when they should be taking pictures of the town and the park and the landscape!! .... I was like Hermana... that was me....... she got all red and was super embarrased! hahaha it was so funny! 

Her husband is very interesting. He is Honduran but grew up in the states all of his life. His life has been being in and out of different prisons in the usa. He grew up in cali and so he knows the gang life. But the other day we were really chatting with him and he told us everything about his life pretty much. He most talked about the things that hes done, but the most important part is the part where hes had a mighty change of heart. Hes changed completely! Now, he didnt just spill the beans, we had to gain his confidence first over time. But, well my parents know, most of friends were kind of like that anyway haha so im kind of used to it. My poor companion was pretty much scared to death! But it was good for him, I really want him to learn to love EVERYONE. It doesnt matter what theyve done or who they are. So the husband told us that he has been working with President Bowler with the repentance process, but since President Bowler is gone now... he doesnt know whats next. Thats when I thought... hmmm... I know someone that could help! President Chase! And so we are working alot with him trying to change and become a better person. He knows perfect english and so he also helping me teach my companion to learn spanish. Just that night, guess what happened? We went to sleep early because the lights went out, and so I was asleep from like 8pm. And at around 10:10pm I receive a phone call.... from?? President Chase!! So I get up and he says " Okay Elder Madero, I need you to remember some AP things and help me with some information" Ahhhh! But I left the office!! jk I didnt say that lol. But it was perfect that he called because we talked about Karla`s husband and how we can help!

As we`ve been working here in this area, my companion and I have really learned something important, REALLY following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Something that I`ve repeated in my head alot while contacting is "Why am I here in this part of the area? Why were we sent here?" And from there, we ALWAYS find someone, someone is really willing to listen to us, or an inactive member. There is always somone, if we stop and listen. We had a really cool experience the other when we contacted two really positive people, Karen and Sandra... it was insane how positive they were when we went and taught the first lesson!! Insane!! So for our next visit, we went with Karla so she can help them progress and guess what? The father said Theyre not here! But I could see into his soul that he was lying!! Ahhh! I was sooo mad! So Karla went back home and we just kept on contacting, but I did not feel good at all. Because as we were walking there we turned the corner to the road, and I saw someone with a white shirt in the next door house that ran inside when she saw us, and I thought it was her or someone that went and told them Hide! The mormons are coming! And so I just kept thinking of that person... who wasss that?? After about an hour I told my companion, Look man, I dont feel right, I`ll feel alot better if we go back and knock on Karen and Sandras door to see if theyre there. He said Okay! So we walk all of the way back, and when we knock on their door guess what? Nothing! no answer... bu then we went and knocked on the next house where I saw that person... and sure enough, it was that same person with the white shirt! i said WHO ARE YOU!!?! lol just kidding... we introduced ourselves and we contacted her and guess what... she became of our BEST investigators that we currently have!! She is really catholic, but super smart! She completely understands our message! Not only that, but when we finished with her, we knocked on Karen and Sandras door and they had just arrived! So although we werent expecting that, it was all part of the Lords plan... we just had to be obedient to the promptings to go back at that time! 

Another cool experience was our first week here, we were completely lost... and so we start contacting to meet some new people! we found a lot of awesome people and some even let us in and teach. There was this one house where they easily and lovingly let us into their home, we shared our message, it was a little rough for my companion because it was one of his first, but it was good! It was strange because when we finished, the mom said, where is your church? so we gave her the directions and she asked what time is started, and so we told her... and then obviously we invited her. And she just like that she said Yes. It was funny though because when we left that house I told my companion, man, if I had a lempira for everytime someone has told me that they would go to church and wouldnt go, I`d be rich! But this experience kind of reminded me of the movie the Best Two Years. That one part of the investigator actually calls them back! Because on Sunday, guess what? She came to church!!!! What?! That was a miracle! 

Something that Im really trying to teach my companion is that we need to love everyone here! If they dont want to listen to us thats fine, but we can still serve them. And we`ve been putting that into practice! We have been giving service to everyone! One time we were walking around and we saw a sister that was resting, she had a broom right next to her so we went up to her door and asked if she needed help sweeping! She said No she already finished. So we offered to Mop! She laughed and said no, but instead we can go to the back of the house and help the guys finish shoveling dirt! (She said it in a sarcastic way, thinking we werent serious) And so we say Okay! And she yells Gordo!! Los muchachos te van a ayudar!! And you can hear him say, Mandolos atras pues! And she laughed, thinking we were still just messing around! And so we say, Podemos pasar? And she sure, we went to the back of the house and we asked... Donde esta la pala?! and we started shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling! But they were super fun!

And they were actually really grateful for te help and they put the appointment to come back! It turns out that one of the guys working has actually read the book of mormon and wants another copy! Yes!! We also helped one of our most positive investigators Seidy with her house, shes pregrant right now so she is super sick, but she said >jokingly< you can cut the weeds and trees at my house! She didnt believe us when we said That we would be there the next morning in working clothes ready to clean her house!! It was alot of fun, we taught my companion how to use a machete the honduran way! haha