Doin' the Dirty Work

February 23, 2015

Hey Everyone,

I'm alive, for those of you who were worried about it. I've successfully survived another week here in Honduras without anything major going down, so it was a definite success.

It has been raining pretty hard here, so we have gotten a ton of opportunities to serve people. Being on the beach brings problems that living inland doesn't. Here, when it rains, the gutters fill with sand, and we have to shovel it all out, put it in buckets, and haul it far enough from their gutters that it doesn't just fall back in the next time. It is tough, dirty work, so people are glad to let random people help them out a little. We are constantly finding people to teach this way.

Just to make it perfectly clear, being a missionary is one of the coolest things on the whole planet. We get up early, eat an egg or two, shower, and hit the books (the scriptures) for two hours. After that, we walk around searching for more people who will listen, visit recent converts, and beg people to pray, followed by an hour for lunch and additional study. Then we study English. Teaching a language is super hard (and I thought learning it was difficult). Afterwards we walk and walk and walk. Appointments fall through, people slam doors, threaten us, and yell rude comments, but it's all worth it when you see the recognition in the eyes of some person when they feel the Spirit. That's the moment we live for, and there is nothing better. Then we get home at 9:30, eat some baleadas, plan for the next day, and go to bed. And repeat. It's a serious blast.

 Elder Ramirez and I are working super hard. The days are seriously flying by. This week we got to give four different priesthood blessings. The Spirit was so strong in every one of them, and I love that I can participate now that my Spanish is good enough.

I have started to read the New Testament this week in my spare time. I am in Luke 10, and it is seriously cool reading. I love getting to follow Christ as he walks around teaching people, just like I am doing. If you never have read the New Testament, I encourage you to do so. Just a chapter a day will give you a whole new perspective.

As a final note, I scored another goal, and I make the best pancakes in Honduras (something I inherited from my dad, I think).

I hope that you all have a great week. Thanks so much for your support and your prayers.

Elder Aldrich

A Baleada (Spanish pronunciation: [baˈljaðas]) is a traditional Honduran dish composed of a flour tortilla, often quite thick, folded in half and filled with mashed fried beans. It originates from La Ceiba. Aside from beans, there is a whole variety of ingredients that can be added to the Baleada.