Baptism, Beaches, and Blessed

June 22, 2015

Hey Guys,

We had another great week out here in Miramar, La Ceiba. It has been another eventful week in Honduras. Well, kinda.

To start, we had a baptism this week. Her name is Yetisley (good luck saying it), and she is another in the huge family that we are baptizing one at a time. Now there are only 3 more, and two of them will be getting baptized July 11th. It should be really cool. She was hoping to wait to get baptized with the other two, but it is taking more time than we had planned to get them married, so she decided that she didn't want to wait anymore and we dunked her. Haha.

We have been focusing on asking for references this week and received a whopping 9. Haha. We have been focusing on finding in really anyway possible. We had a pretty good week and even one of the heavily fortified houses (this thing was like a bank vault, 3 iron doors and 50,000 cameras) opened up to us. They didn't let us in because their dad is a lawyer. Lawyers here are way different than lawyers in the states. Here, lawyers have unfortunately short life spans because they are always against someone, and one side always loses, so someone is always mad at the lawyers. We stood outside and talked to these two guys, one is 19 and one is 17, and I just couldn't help but see myself and Tyler in these guys. They are religious, but they don't go to any specific church because their dad won't let them leave alone.

As another, somewhat similar, note, our cocinera's son got robbed this week behind his house at 5 in the afternoon. They shoved a gun into his stomach and went through his bag. Then he just walked into the house and was like, "hey mom, I just got robbed again." Like, no big deal. It's just everyday life down here. He started to talk to her about it, and he said, "they didn't take anything, they saw my Bible and got spooked." He kinda chuckled and made some comment about how lucky missionaries are to be protected because EVERYBODY knows that we have a Bible. Haha.

The two experiences together have been really eye-opening to me. I was so blessed and so lucky to be where I am, and who I am. I got lucky that I was born in the States, that we aren't begging for food, and that we have the Gospel. Talking to these two kids stuck behind metal walls all day, and the one who gets robbed and just goes on like nothing happened, really put some things in perspective for me.

I hope you all have a good week.

Elder Aldrich

These are just some pictures of the beach in my area. I am livin it up here in La Ceiba, and I don't have plans to be leaving my beach behind anytime soon.

Fourth Transfer in La Ceiba

June 15, 2015

Hey Guys,

As the title of my email implies, I did not get changed. I am still here in La Ceiba working away. I was honestly hoping to be transferred this week, but I am happy to keep working hard with the people I have been helping to prepare. In fact, I should get to see the majority of their baptisms if all goes as planned.

This week has been fairly uneventful except for a few events that happened this week. First of all, I did not get changed despite the HUGE number of changes that happened in our zone this week. Our companionship was one of the 2 companionships that did not have at least one, if not the two, companions get moved to another area. Even one of the missionaries in our ward who was only here one change got moved to San Pedro, and somehow I managed to hang out for another round.

Secondly, a HUGE group of missionaries finished their missions this week. Like 25 missionaries finished up their two years. I only mention them because when I started my mission, they had just over a year in the mission, so it crazy to see these guys finishing, especially since I am now where they were, and it has gone by so quickly. I still haven't hit hump day, but it's getting close...and I am having mixed feelings about the whole deal.

Thirdly, I finished Jesus the Christ. Holy cow that is a HUGE book, like 799 pages long. I loved it. I read twenty pages or so every night before bed, which is about one chapter per night. I learned so much about Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and actually quite a bit about the Jews. The book was written before WWII, so a lot of things are different, and his examples of Jewish sufferings didn't include the Holocaust. It was just a super interesting book and I am feel like I am closer to the Savior for having read it. Plus I am impressed with myself because I was pretty sure that I would never read the entire thing. Haha.

And finally, this week was Stake Conference for the La Ceiba Stake. We had a Seventy, Elder Galvez, the president of the Tegucigalpa Temple, and President Klein, our mission president. As missionaries we had to be in ALL of the meetings. We were in the church building from 2 on Saturday until 3 the next day. We stayed after to clean up, and the stake president invited my companion and I, along with the two zone leaders, to participate in their post-conference meeting to discuss what was learned and what the stake should do to keep progressing. It was a cool opportunity.

I am so excited to be able to work for another six weeks here in La Ceiba. I am grateful for the Plan of Salvation and for the new meaning it has taken in my life. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and the opportunity He has given us if we are willing to just humble ourselves and follow Him.

Elder Aldrich

Caleb lost a good friend on June 6, 2015 in a tragic car accident.  He expressed his love for Ciara, her family and the Savior.  He was deeply honored and touched to be included as an honorary pallbearer at her funeral services. Ciara will hold a special place in his heart, and for our family as well. God be with you Ciara-Broox Jackson until we meet again.