Monkeying Around

November 24, 2014

Hello Everyone,

 I held a monkey. It was awesome. Be jealous. For P-Day today, we washed a horse. At first I was like, we are wasting our time. We can't even ride this thing, but after we finished, the man offered to take us to his friend's house to see some animals. His friends OWN THE ZOO! There were all kinds of animals, and they were awesome. My favorite was the monkey. The Zone Leader gave him the planner, and we made  few lame missionary jokes. IT was definitely enjoyable.

This week was fairly uneventful on my side. Really, the most exciting thing that happened was divisions on Tuesday. Elder Gibbons and I taught together so that my companion could go with Elder Rodriguez. Elder Gibbons and I were in the MTC together, so it was pretty interesting. We did awesome. I was originally pretty worried that we wouldn't be able to understand completely, but the Gift of Tongues helped us out a ton. It was cool to watch how much easier it got to speak and understand as the Spirit got stronger in the lesson. It was an amazing experience, and I learned a ton.

My companion and I watched Tangled last week in Spanish. It was awesome. I understood everything, which was even more awesome. Unfortunately, Flynn Rider is less funny in Spanish (especially at the beginning). Just thought you'd all like to know. Haha.

Tomorrow I have to give the thought in Zone Meeting, and I decided to give it on Humility. Interestingly enough, humility isn't just understanding that you have faults, but sometimes it means that you have to understand that God's plan might differ from yours a little. If you can go to our Heavenly Father humbly, understanding that He knows best, He is a lot more likely to help you out. Humility helps us to accept God's plan, and follow it to the end.

I love you all, and hope you have a great week. Happy Thanksgiving!

-Elder Aldrich

All Things Through Christ

November 17, 2014

Dearest Friends and Family,

This week has been great, and I hope it has been the same for all of you. Unfortunately, I don't have any crazy/hilarious stories to share, but I have learned a ton.

This week we contacted. Basically our entire week consisted of contacting, teaching new people, and asking for people to teach. We found eight new people, three of which came to church. The most interesting thing to me, is that the people who progress, always seem to be the references.

We found a woman this week, who was super Evangelica (if someone can provide a translation, I'd be really grateful, because they're super hard to teach). We saw that she didn't want us there, and she wasn't very nice, so we shared a scripture about Jesus, closed with a prayer, and asked if she knew anyone who would listen to us. She directed us to a house and said, "go there. They need Jesus." So we went. And we found some awesome people.

We have again seen some great progress in the less active members here. We had Hermana Martha in church again this week, which makes three consecutive times. She was baptized as a child, but her mom sent her to live with her grandma, where she never went to church. Now, at 25ish years old, she's starting to gain a testimony for herself, and it's awesome to watch it happen.

My companion would like me to note that he beat me at pool today. I was winning, tried to do a goofy trick shot and sunk the 8 Ball. He ran around the table like a plane six or seven times, and told the story to President Klein. It looks like I'm bringing joy to more than just the people we teach.

To finish up, I found this scripture during Personal Study this week.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." 

Philipians 4:13.

I thought it was pretty cool. Just remember that it isn't important how hard something looks, or how impossible it seems. Christ is our strength, and through Him we can do ALL THINGS. All of them. It doesn't even have to be spiritual. Jesus Christ will help us and guide us in all things because he loves us.

I love you all, and hope you take the time to bring the gospel to someone this week.

-Elder Aldrich

Lost Sheep and Oreo Pancakes

November 10, 2014

Hey Everyone!

It's me again, you're favorite Honduran. This week has been fairly eventful.

First of all, I had another run-in with America Lady, but she didn't recognize me, so my companion told her I was from Canada. At first, she looked sad, then she quickly began to explain that I really shouldn't feel bad about being Canadian, and that lots of people are Canadian, and that really we all have the same heart. Then, she thought about it, and decided that she wanted to buy me some pity-bread.

I did not eat the bread.

I made pancakes for our district last Monday because I was bored, and they were awesome. My companion liked them so much that he woke up early on Thursday and made Oreo pancakes for us. It was awesome, but he made 15 for each of us, and pancake flour isn't really cheap. But it's the thought that counts, so yeah. Haha.

Lately we don't have many investigators, and contacting isn't really going super well. Since we don't have many investigators, we've just been visiting inactives and less-actives. Firstly, there is a certain missionary who was here about a year ago who baptized almost 45 people in Olanchito, and 1 is active right now. Anyway, we've made some new friends, and we've really been working hard with these people. Yesterday, we had 3 investigators in church, and my companion was pretty down about it. We were expecting more like 6 or 7, but only 3 came. He saw that I was pretty pumped, and he asked me why. I had him look around the room. There were almost 15 of the less-actives that we had visited during the week in Sacrament Meeting.

I tell you this not because I'm just that awesome (because I am), but I tell you that because we saw a huge change in the hearts of these people. We've been working and praying and teaching these people, and we finally got to see some of the fruits of that. What's even better, is that through these less-actives, we have found many more people to teach, and the work is continuing. Never doubt the power of visiting someone. One of these ladies hadn't been to church since 2005, but with the help of the Holy Ghost, she came yesterday, and plans on coming next week.

I love being a missionary. I feel like the weeks are flying and the Spanish is almost here. I have learned a lot so far, and I am so excited to continue learning. I love you all.

-Elder Aldrich

Halloween in Honduras

November 3, 2014

Hey Everyone,

Hope your Halloween was awesome. Mine was certainly interesting.

For those of you who don't know, Halloween doesn't exist here (lame, right?), so I had to improvise. I used my towel with my name on it, and became Super Aldrich. Basically my costume beats yours because I've got a fancy name tag. My companion really wanted to participate, so he was Santa Claus. He lathered a large amount of shaving cream on his face and walked around saying, "Ho Ho Ho," for like twenty minutes. Haha. One of the youth in our branch here in Olanchito, Josè, visited us at our house, and wore a bag on his head as a mask. I am teaching these people things. You should all be proud of me.

It has started to rain as I expected it. Non-Stop, with pauses to trick missionaries into putting away their umbrella. It started so quickly one time this week that I was thoroughly soaked before we could take the five steps into the house. Olanchito's drainage systems don't function, so the roads become rivers. We bought some stylish black rubber boots. They're pretty awesome, and are awesome for river-jogging.

I locked our keys in our house this week. I had to very shamefully walk over to the lady in charge to give us her spare set. The problem was that the spare set doesn't exist, so she broke through our window thing we had and, with a long stick, broke into our house in less than five minutes. I fixed the window, netting, and removed the ability to open our door with a stick. The goal now is to not forget the keys again. I've been successful so far.

I don't remember if I had already shared this story, so I will share it. We had a girl we were teaching, who accepted to be baptized, but then moved to another part of Honduras, outside of our mission. Yesterday, we visited the family she was living with, and we asked about her, we received an interested response. The little girl smacked her forehead and said, "Oooh Hermano. She got married!" Even more surprising, she moved in next door. They seem happy enough. We still haven't decided what to do there.

I want to finish my email with an invitation. I would like you all to listen to (or read, watch, etc.) a talk by Elder Jeffrey R Holland from the October 2009 General Conference. (the link is https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng) It is a seriously amazing talk about the Book of Mormon. If you feel as though you are struggling with a testimony, or struggling with anything else for that matter, the Book of Mormon is the key for you to find the help you are looking for. This talk is a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and you really should listen to it.

That being said, I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I don't just say it because everyone else does and I don't want to stick out. I've read and prayed and read again, and I know that it's true through the Holy Ghost. This talk by Elder Holland is excellent, but it won't give you a testimony. You have to pray to Heavenly Father and ask for one. They begin small, and grow gradually (see Alma 32), but they are there, and they are gifts from God.

I love you all, and I hope you guys all take the opportunity to share this wonderful Book with someone in the week to come.

-Elder Aldrich