May 25, 2015

The Hammock Report, Ed 25 May 2015

Well this week was a really good one...well sorta. So to begin with last Monday we played some soccer as some of you might recall. And due to that my comp got all banged up with his ankle. Personally I think he is just a giant faker but we had to go to San Pedro to a doctor's appointment. Yeah it was pretty great. Just tons of fun. What have I learned from all of this? If you whine to the right people things happen. Yeah so I had to drag my comp to San Pedro and then he had the address of the doc office. Only problem is that this kid has no sense of direction. As in I, the kid with less than two weeks in the area, has to remind the elder who has more than 18 weeks in the area where things are. Yeah just a wee bit sad. Well after finally wrestling the directions from Elder Rodriguez, I came to realize that he had been leading us in the completely opposite direction. We quickly turned around and headed back to where we should have been. That is when we found some cool graffiti of Star Wars stuff. Then we came back and my comp had two days of rest to recover his ankle a bit. Then we got right back at it.

So one day this week when all of our lessons just fell through we decided to go contact an entire street until we got to the end of it. Well after a long afternoon teaching we found something at the end of the road...the ocean. Yeah so this area is really beautiful. There are just a whole lot of different stuff to see every day. Well it would be more beautiful if it wasn't in the 100s almost every day but eh...that's the life I guess. Well I will make sure to update you all next week as to more adventures but until then I love you all and can't wait to hear from you all.

Mike

May 18, 2015

Photo Dump

Well I am now officially out of Copan...and on the beach!


The Hammock Report, Ed 18 May 2015

Well as you may have guessed from the name, I did get transferred. I went from the jungles and mountains of Copan to the beach of Puerto Cortes! I have been moved from one side of the mission to the other. Yeah it has been a really big difference. Just look at the pictures and you will be able to see. (The first is Copan and the second, my new area.)

Well it was a big surprise to me when we got word last Monday about the changes that were coming but hey that's the way the cookie crumbles, just got to get a glass of milk and eat it anyway. But "el colmo" as they say here, is that I have been put back on "helping elders ADJUST how they are" duties for my last change. Well might as well go out with boots on right?

Well today was a really good day. So first, for all you history buffs out there, what is old, made of stone, filled with cool cannons and helped a European power dominate an indigenous people? ...That's right! (Dora reference) it's an old Spanish fort. So we went to see Fortaleza San Fernando VI de Omoa this morning. It was built under orders of King Fernando VI of Spain 1759 and was completed later in 1775 and was used to protect the Spanish gold ships harbored in Omoa for English pirates. So we got to go in and look around and realize that the Spanish were very efficient at robbing a whole bunch of Mayan/Aztec/Incan/(insert ancient American culture here) gold and valuables and then when it's all dried up they just take off. The fort is pretty small but built with the same design that was used at Fort McHenry only just a really, REALLY smaller version.

Well in other news I am getting more tan and it will get worse this week with the LOW being only 71 and the highs all week at about 97. Got to love Honduras sun right? Well I love you all and can't wait to hear from you guys,

Mike


May 11, 2015

The Jungle Report, Ed 11 May 2015

So friends and family and enemies kept close for your unexpected demise,

This week...hmmm where to begin? Well it is hot...again like always. But this week was a little longer than normal. So my companion was sick for most of this week with the locally spreading chiconguña (no idea how to spell it) which is just this really really really stronger version of dengue. So that started on Tuesday night and last until about Saturday. So I was the nurse this week. I was so bored. We were just stuck in the house until he felt good enough to go out again. During my free time I cleaned our house a lot. Which sounds like it takes a lot of time but we only live in a two tiny roomed apartment and so that took about five minutes. Yeah so after cleaning the house about 4000 times and reading the Book of Mormon a whole lot more than usual I had to find other things to do; doodling, trying to cook new things with the stuff we had in the house, carving ducks out of soap, chopping wood for the neighbors...it got real creative. Interpretive dance practice. Using the pila as a cool tub to chill out in for a bit. Can't really explain how much craziness went on but yeah a whole lot. Well then we had Mother's Day which was always a crazy spectacle. So first after trying for like two hours to fix technical issues got to talk to the family and yeah that was all fun and games like always. Shenanigans would be a better word. Yeah that is about all that has happened so far this week. Sorry for the crappy adventure time in this week's report. I will work on making it better for next week's edition. Oh we have changes this Wednesday so I will find out tonight if I am being changed or am getting a new comp. So I will update you all on that one. Well love you all and can't wait to hear from you guys.

Mike

May 4, 2015

The Jungle Report, Ed 4 May 2015

Well folks this week the trend was once again work hard and try and get more investigators. Sound like Groundhog's Day much?

 
 
But aside from that we just keep working to get new people to teach. But as that long process has been hard, there has been a great thing happen...the rains have come and now there isn't so much heat. Well that means there has been LESS sweating. Which is always a good thing so as we were getting a little tired of the whole sweat to death thing. So we are all happy for that.
 
Also this week we had the opportunity to work on a new thing that the presidency of the area want which is where the members are more involved in the finding of our investigators. If the plan works it will be revolutionary but as of right now trying to get it implemented is like herding cats. It has been frustrating but we are working to get it up and running so that later on it will be easier and the work can progress.
 
In other news...today was the official best day every. Can you guess why? No? Because it is the official Star Wars day! "May the 4th be with you..." yeah so all day we have been trying to live in a way that would feel more Jedi-like. And for that we went to COPAN RUINAS! Yeah that is right folks! I was back in my old stomping grounds and to be honest...hasn't changed at all. We went into the ruins today and it was really strange, kinda like a dream. Just this time I understood Spanish and it was all better. I forgot my cable to my camera but we have some epic pics that I will be sending to you all next week. Well that is about all the news for this week. But in honor of official Jedi day, all of you have the assignment to take pictures this week doing Jedi stuff and send them so that we all can enjoy it together. Love you all, just some more than others,
 
Mike