Semana Santa

Well I am doing great!
 Last night was the night we knew if we had changes or not, and it turns out Im staying!!! woohoo! 
I love this area! And my new companion! We are working very well together and he is just a great guy, we´re helping each other out alot and ive already learned so much!
 The ward is pretty awesome too! We share the ward with two other missionaries, Elder Lujo and Alukubeze (an Elder coming in tomorrow, he is from my group in the CCM and hes from London!) Since we all know English we give free English classes every Saturday at 3! We have a great time doing that. 
Well this week has been pretty hard, due to the fact that its been Semana Santa! Ok so get this, this is Honduran Logic. Everyday of the 365 days in the year everyone complains about how extremely HOT it is in the South and how it always so horrible being there. But during Semana Santa, everybody goes to the south to burn and theyre super happy about it!! 
This area was completely DEAD! I have never seen a more abondoned colony than here during this week. It was dead, hot, and miserable. But we kept working, we talked to every single living human that we saw in the streets, and they were only a few lol. 
Picture like a zombie invasion and everybody died, and we´re searching for survivors (to give them salvation and eternal life of course;) . Bottom line is, it was a hard week. But we still saw miracles! We found a couple super positive investigators who are progressing really fast! We had an interesting experience Saturday night, we didnt realze because it was semana santa that the Villa Olympica hours would change, and they did. So we went into it at night to cut across it to go home, but by the time we made it to the front door, they already closed it. And so we hurried to get out of the back door where we came in and it was closed too! We were locked in! and we couldnt find the guardias anywhere! we were locked in there for a good 40 minutes trying to find the one guy that had the keys lol. I honestly thought we were going to get locked in there. Anyway, that was a funny experience, and probably the only experience. It was a dead week. But now I can appreciate people a little more, its really hard to contact when theres no one here, now that I know everyone is back in town, there are no excuses! Time to work!

P.S. Im so excited for General Conference this weekend!!!

Esperanza Zone loves taking pictures together! -Dont read the newspaper. Its always so negative and scary, it accidently got in the photo

Villa Olympica!

  Well i bet your all wondering how is the new area...    it is AMAZING! 
I am so happy here honestly! It was a realllly hard change leaving my first area, but now being here and getting used to it, I know it all happens for a reason. What happen was that the last companion of Elder Agren (My comp currently) was really bullying him and stuff, but then they had to have emergency changes, and so we did a switch, I went to Villa and he went to Miraflores with Elder Marin. Which Is sad for him because the elder that was here is going to reallly struggle with Marin hahaha We were great friends and all, but this elder cant keep i dont think with our pace of working! lol But anyway, So yeah, I am officially getting used to Area #2!

  So i am not far from Miraflores actually, maybe 10 minutes away.. so im still in the city! I got lucky! haha I arrived Monday, so i had to unpack and everything, not much of a PDay. but its alright! My comp is Elder Agren. He is from South Jordan Utah and is super cool! He is in Carter's group! He loves to joke around and have a good time so we instantly clicked! So monday night we got to work, and we visited some members. I was super excited! So we visited the first family who was going to give us dinner and at first they were really quite and stuf, but since i was new i wanted to get to know them and stuff and so i kept talking alot to them, they ended up opening up...alot! The mom at one point even sent her daughter to go buy banana soda (which is superr good!) and my comp just looked at me strangely, he says Wow... They changed alot! I said what do you mean... He says they were always really bitter towards missionaries, especially because of his last comp, this family has nevvver since the time he has been there bought anything for them for dinner or anything haha! So i dont know how but i got them to like me! lol The next day we visited the Stake Presidents family for dinner ( they live DIRECTLY in front of us, so yeah... we have a realllly good relationship with the Stake President! No big deal) haha So we vistied them my first time and I instantly got along with them! Theyre soo cool! The daughters served in Mexico so we 're always talking about how amazing mexican food is lol but yeah, the Stake President is always helping us out too! The best part... he has a picture of him sitting casually with ELDER UCHTDORF AND ELDER HOLLAND in his office!!! I know right!!  Well anyway, our apartment is really small, but it does the job, we have HOT water for once!!! woohoo! And I now have the amazing experience of washing my clothes! I finally learned how and its not bad at all! Once you start washing your clothes..idk, its wierd.. like... you start to bond and get attached more with your own clothes! lol 

  So the majority of people here are allllllllllll STUDENTS! There are some universities here and the main thing here is the Villa Olympica. Its like a hugge Recreational Center. So alll of our investigaotors (which are actually alot) are all students, mostly a bunch of geepers! haha but there are some that really progress really fast! We have some baptisms already planned out after Semana Santa! Oh yeah, btw we are in Semana Santa right now, the HOTTEST WEEK of all Honduras. so EVERYBODY travels because they have this week off, and they all got to the south to the beaches. But the wierd thing is that yesterday, a cold front hit, and its pouring rain right now! Everyone is freaking out because its supposed to be realllly hot! Everyone is happy!lol

  I am really happy too! I love my new area. I love the people here. I love the members already, and the ward is already attached to me. I love my new companion, we work well together. I am having the greatest time ever!

  Today for Pday we went to Picacho with my new zone! Theyre so awesome!! I was already really good friends with ZLs so i instantly got along with all of them! Especially one of the ZLs, Elder Reinoso, he is from Cuidad Juarez Mexico!! 

There is also Elder Lujo and Heramana Cook from Cali, i dont know there is so many awesome missionaries! haha Here are some pictures

                                                
                                                               I just had to take a selfie with Jesus! 






                                                      The Elders from the Esperanza zone!

                Elder Reinoso, Me, and Elder Lujo. My comp had a selfie stick and I realized its alot of fun! haha

                                                   

                                                                        My new comp, Elder Agren!                                  

Big Surprise!!!!!!!

Well its been a really good week.

The beginning of this change wasnt as good as it is now. My comp and I had some differences to settle, but I learned to handle it correctly. And now, wow! We`re great friends!! Now we are always having fun times and spiritual lessons. Well we`ve had a lot of investigators lately,and we`ve gotten alot better at bringing them to church, and of course the ward families get all excited and invite us for dinner haha i honestly cant express how much I love them! Hmm... whats new? Oh! So I came up with a new strategy for finding young investigators. So we were contacting right? 

And so we see some teenagers hanging out and kicking a soccer ball around.So we got to them, and we made a deal with them. If I can dribble the ball on their foot more than they can, we teach them a lesson.If we lose, we give them each a gift (foyetos). Haha so ive gotten pretty good and i felt confident,so i went first I did about 12 lol. The youngest one goes and he does, I kid you not, 140. What?! hahaha so we definately lost but it was fun, and they said they wanted to hear the message anyway :)

Well, i honestly cant even think of the other experiences that happen this week because i am really shocked. Yesterday was an amazing day, we finished our fast, had amazing lunch, and had amazing dinner with Family Mairena and the hermanas and it was so much fun! We got done and had amazing lessons with investigators, my comp and I were having the greatest time ever. Then its 9:17and we`re planning, and we recieve a phone call, its one of the APs saying that I have mini-changes. Its like emergency changes.A certain companionship didnt get along and so the President switches them out. And I got chosen. He said pack your things, be at the office tomorrow at 1. Your going to Villa Olympica and your new comp is Elder Agren. Wow... just like that, things can change. It was so unexpected. But of course im sad, really sad honestly because this area and ward isamazing, but im also happy to experience things in other areas. I barely had sleep lastnight due to packing so I had a lot of time to think, but i realized that I know that myHeavenly Father has a purpose for everything, and I will be guided and protected. I love the mission so much and im always learning so much! Ill let you know next week how the new area is! :)

Popeyes!

Pues todo esta masiso aqui!

 Not much new, its been an ordinary week. Met a lot of new people, got some new investigators, lost some investigators, same ol same old.

 But probably the coolest thing about this week was this epic conversation I had with some guy while we were contacting, this is how it went: 

-Hola Hermano como esta! 

Bien bien, y tu?

-Pues bien, aqui no mas conociendo las personas, usted como se llama?

Nain

-Nain?

Si, como dice en Lukas 7:11. En la Biblia. No se recuerda verdad? Oh es por que Mormones no leen la biblia...

-Si hermano, cada mañana leemos la Biblia.

La Biblia! No el Libro de Jose Smith

-Ok bueno pues, Yo me llamo Elder Madero. Igual como dice en Hechos 10:39. Se recuerda? en la Biblia...

(His eyes were all big and surprised)

Then he starts laughing and gives me a high five, then he says hes an exmissionary messing with me haha That was fun. Lets see whats new.... not much, the weather is nice, nothing spectacular this week. P-day was a lot of fun with our zone! We played soccer and watched movies at the capilla. Then we went to Popeyes and it started pouring rain like ALOT! 
So we stayed there for a lonngg time, which is alright because its Pday haha but theyre all alot of fun!

Tilguant!!

Hey guys!

Man what a week!   This is the main highlight... 
Remember that family Carter and I found? That we found by pretty much pure inspiration? 
Well we have been working hard with them for a very long time. Trying to reactivate the mom, and teach the girls everything. Its been hard because they starter their business, its a smoothie shop in front of a university.
 we decided that is the only place to find them, so we always taught the girls there! haha Ive gotten a little fatter eating smoothies everyday! haha But yeah, the Tilguant Family is amazing! There are 3 little girls, Maria Jose(8) Adrea Sofia (10) and Michelle (12). So anyway, they are really smart and learned everything fast! They passed all of the interviews and when the ZLs asked who they wanted to see baptize them, each individually said ´Elder Madero´! Awwwww!haha 
I was so happy because i honestly care alot for that family. So we set up the baptism and everything and it all came out as a success! The spirit was honestly really strong there! You shouldve seen me do the 3 baptisms because I got pretty good at it lol I did it perfect, smooth, and clearly.
t was an amazing experience for everyone! My leaders were so proud of us. My ward mission leaders were VERY happy for me. But were kind of sad because they realized that this is my 5th baptism in my first area, its very very very possible that I am leaving this next change in March! Which will be really sad. But I also want to explore more of Honduras so its alright! haha Man, you guys have no idea how much I love this ward! Theyre incredible! Well anyway, now we just have to baptize the Tilguant dad and its mission complete :) then theyll go to the temple together and hopefully ill be able to go!

Adán!!!!

Well, where should I start...

My second sunday being here in the Ward I remember a member coming up to me and Westberg and asking us if her grandson could be baptized in this ward even though he doesnt live in the ward boundaries, but he goes every week here. We just kind of said I Dont Know, especially because i honestly didnt know anything at all! I was trying to remember all of the members and now that i think back i remember that i just shrugged it off and didnt think much of it. But then recently they gave us Las Brizas right?  While Carter and I were there we were meeting everyone and we found Adan. 

Adan was thatttt grandson she was talking about, and hes been wanting to get baptized for a long time. But since there is so much contreversy in this area its always been hard for the missionaries. So since we were there we worked hard with him and tried to work on the baptism. 

We talked to President Bowler and everything and it wasnt until this week we got the papers filled out!   Adan is 12 years old, lives with a poor family in a shack type of  house. He doesnt have much friends because he cant really talk, i think he was abused when he was younger. 

I always get sad seeing people like that. So the time we would be at his house we actually got to be pretty good friends! Hes a jokester too! haha We taught him everything and he got it all!  As well as another joven, Daniel. We set up their baptismal dates for last satuday. 

So the day of the main interview comes up and we have the ZLs with us in Las Brizas, and during the interview I get a call from President Bowler asking me about that area and what the ward is doing about it. (Because its gold mine here!) and he says that there is a lot of contreversy in this area between barrios and other misions and we are not allowed back there until further notice. (estimated time, months) But we got everything signed and we are ready for the baptism.

 And it made my day when Adan specifically wanted ME to do the baptism!   Ohhhh mann!!   haha    my first one! 

So the baptismal day comes around and it was an amazing time! 

A lot of people came and we had a great time! My favorite moment was before the baptism, when we were taking pictures. Me and him were taking pictures, then him and his mom, then his grandpa comes in and he just starts balling. He was so happpy that he was finally getting baptized and he knew his grandpa was sooo proud of him. 

It felt amazing that I had that oppurtunity to make his dream come true. The ward was really happy for us too.

 It was a good week!!!!

I got a really good question this week,
 ´´i am really interested hearing how you are learning to deal with adversity. Whether it is a door slammed on you or a less than enthusiastic comp.´´
 I really liked this because i was thinking about this this week. well lets put it this way. Ive been in this city for about 3 months now and im compeltely used to it. Elder Marin just came from the South. The people in the south are REALLY humble and loving. When you contact down there they usually always let you in. Here, not so much. So his style of, being a missionary, was really different then how it is here, and it was hard for him to transition.
 I took him contacting once he got here and show him around and in about 30 minutes he was already desanimado.
 He said     ”Wut da Hake? Why doesnt anyone talk to us, or let us in, or even wave back?!” 
And at first I didnt take him seriously but then i realized that he REALLY didnt understand. I had to remember that this is almost a different culture. The people here are really rich and snotty. Just picture Scottsdale here.
 Then i realized how much i have adapted to all of the adversity here. All of the slammed doors in a day doesnt faze me at all anymore. Elder Westberg, my dad, taught me something really important, we are here to find the prepared people that the Lord has for us, we just have to be obedient and work hard to find them. When people openly reject us, it means they were not them. And this early in my mission I can clearly see and testify of that. Many times we know that certain people were put in our path for a reason. I was talking to a member about this the other day and they were laughing saying I am really lcuky to be starting here because my next area can only be easy as far as contacting goes. lol which is true! Being with Elder Marin also helped me realize how much ive improved with patience, like theres ¨no worries´. I guess I used to be really impatient with people in general, and when things dont work out like theyre supposed to. But i was just say ´well.... ni modo´. and just keep on going. haha
 My comp is still working with this and im trying to help him because he easily gets frustrated when things dont work out. We help each other out alot actually, even though out of my 3 comps, this has been the hardest lol. 
He especially helps me with my spanish and my knowledge of the gospel.
 Ive actually gotten pretty good with my spanish.


ADAN AND ME!!!

ADAN AND HIS MOM

Picacho!

Hey guys!

  Everything is going great here! I am having a blast every week! Yeah there are a lot of desafios but you learn to overcome them and just have a great time! 

We have been getting a lot of progress this week. Probably because of my new comp, Elder Marin. He is from Nicaraqua and has 20 months in!

Hes not baggy at all either lol. But yeah I heard hes one of the fletchest in this mission, so its been a really hard transition from Carter to Marin. I guess its good for me though, and im already getting used to it. 

The hard thing is teaching our whole area to someone againnn... he got confused alot at first but he got it down. I never really realized how much I love the people here and the members and them back to me until Ive had a comp like Marin. Hes a little more duller and straight to the point, not much love lol. When I contact people I make sure to let them know that I care about them, he sounds like a robot sometimes lol. But we´re working on that. Weve been having a lot of success lately. We can EASILY see that the Lord is putting prepared people in our path! This one time we were contacting streets that i have already contacted before, and then we arrived to this small street in Colinas, at first I didnt want to even try there, but then I got a small hunch to just do it. Annnnnnnnd of course, the second house I contact the dude lets us in instantly and says Wow! Missionaries! I havent talked to missionaries in forever! Well it turns out that hes a previous progressing investigator that no one knew about. And he even says, hes ready for baptism and he believes in everything already. I just looked up and said, Really? haha I just love the blessings the Lord gives us for our obedience and faith.

 We have found a lot of investigators lately so the obra is going good!:)

  Oh! You know how in movies there is always that scene where its raining and someones car breaks down and people come to the rescue and help? Welllll yeah that happened and it was epic! haha its been really cold here lately,and its been raining. And this one day we were contacting and we are coming up to a house and this lady is like Elderes!! Come help please! And you know us, we went and helped! It was a really fun experience changing a tire in the rain :) 

   With these changes that happened, our zone is so cool! Elder Westberg,my dad, is back as a Zone Leader here! woohoo! and there is the other chicano here too! Hes really cool and is from Utah.
Well today is P-day and as a Zone we decided to go to Picacho! It was a lot of fun! You can literally see the whole city from here and the statue of Jesus is huge!

This ZL, Elder Rosario from Dominican Republic, 

He loves me and we are always messing around doing the flexing stuff ;D

I CAN NEVER GET TIRED OF THE CITY!!!   I LOVE TEGUC !!