The Moria Report, Ed 24 Nov 2014

Well folks, this week went by really too fast. You guys ever had those weeks where you have about forty thousand things to do and not any time at all to do them? Well that was this week for sure. So the great news is that this week we baptized our super stud gator, Edgardo! It was amazing to see how happy he was after the baptism. He bore with us the most amazing testimony about how he had been prepared his whole life for this moment. It showed that everyday actions that we have can help shape people's futures. It wasn't really one missionary that made the overall difference but a combination of a whole bunch of people to help Edgardo.

Other things that have happened this week...hmmm let me see. Well we also have about six more people preparing to get baptized this next month which will be awesome! Well in other news we may have changes this coming Wednesday and so we will see if there is another Moria Report or if the report comes from another place in Honduras. Well I am sorry but it is short and sweet today. Can't wait to hear from you all. See you next week,

Mike

The Moria Report, Ed 17 November 2014

Well Folks,

This last week FLEW by. And by FLEW by I really mean that we almost were late to church because we woke up thinking that it was Friday and not Sunday. So the big things that happened this week...hmmmm...where to begin? Oh Yes! So I had to take a few of the missionaries from my district here in Mochito to San Pedro to take care of their immigration papers. So we loaded up in a bus bright and early Wednesday morning and rode the three hours in to the big city. Well it should have been three hours but after the bus going only 10 mph for an hour and a half plus construction and a wreck making pile ups turned into an almost six hour bus ride. Great huh? Well I don't know if you guys have even been in a hot tropical environment in an enclosed bus filled to overflowing with a bunch of sweaty catrachos, but the smell was...well I will let your imagination go on that one. So once we finally got in to the immigration building we then had to play the game of sit around and wait...another three hours. Well after sitting and realizing just how horrible re-runs of the hit Spanish program "Caso Cerrado" really are we finally got service. Only to realize that one of the elders broke the camera to take his pic for his residency card. Yes, what followed for the following forty-five minutes was ugly jokes. Then thanks to the delays, we ran back trying to catch our bus back to Mochito only to watch it sail away with a cloud of dusty defeat washing over us. So let me just list up what has happened so far in the story:

There we are, in San Pedro...at 6:00 pm. It is getting dark outside. I have the most experience out of the group of elders I am with in San Pedro which is a whole whopping two days, once...we have no food, no shelter, we are in the most dangerous city outside of a warzone, alone...I know what you are thinking but...

So we just stayed with the office rats for the night and after a rousing game of extreme tag where only three people were hurt we called it a night. Then the next morn we got back on the bus. This time only a four hour journey. And then the rest of the week was spent trying to teach and reactivate a whole bunch of people. It was a really fast week. Well I will have more to tell you guys next week,

Mike

The Moria Report, Ed 10 Nov 2014

Well folks,

So remember this one time that I was writing a whole huge email and then the power went out in the entire city? Oh you don't? Well it was last week. Right as I get ready to send an email BOOM! No power. So apparently I wasn't to write you all last week about the adventures I was having. So this week went by super fast! As in I feel like it has only been a few days and in fact it has been an entire week. So this week we have been focusing in on once again just trying to reactivate the new converts from the last two years. And let me say it has been a wee bit depressing. But hey we soldiered on nonetheless. So the big thing from this week is the fact that I have come to the point that my "I don't care about your excuses" sounds really good. So many people this week presented me with so many excuses it just got really old. My basic ploy was trying to turn it into a "they machete themselves after a really simple question" session and that question normally was one such as "but is that more important than your eternal salvation?" That was mostly the best approach was trying to get them to realize that it ain't as important as the reason why we go to church. So in short we have been just trying to reinforce the ward here by just getting them to take care of their own.

This last week we also got to do divisions with the other elders here in Mochito. I was with Elder Ambler, the really tall white one from Colorado. So we just got right to it and started contacting to get more investigators. It was really great to see the new guys trying to get at it. The motto for our time was YOMO (You Only Mission Once) and then we would just call out the people who the other guy would contact. We were walking and met this really old guy that Ambler wanted to talk to only to find out that he is blind and almost all the way deaf. So I was fighting back laughing as Elder Ambler was yelling at this guy in his, progressing but still gringo, Spanish. Like all the neighbors came out to see why two gringos were yelling at the old guy. Experiences every single day.

Well that is about all that I have for this week's update. Love you guys and can't wait to hear from you next week,

Mike