Faith+Obedience=Miracles

January 12, 2015

Hey all!

I hope you all had a great week. Mine was long, but amazing. We have seen some miracles in all aspects of the work, and I am super excited to see some of the fruits from this last week. We found 19 new people this week from tracting, and we found four families! It has been a seriously cool deal. I would love to tell you all that it was totally my doing, but there is no way. God is preparing these people and we are only his tools that he uses to get the message to these people.

In other news, I scored the COOLEST goal this week playing soccer. I am pretty much the best gringo who didn't play soccer before his mission EVER. I am probably good enough to go pro, so that is my official plan for after my mission. You all can have free tickets to all of my games, don't worry. Haha

Today for P-Day we went to a member's house and played pool with our district. Everyone expected me to be super good because I am from Las Vegas, but it was our friend from Virginia, Elder Gibbons, that won. He beat everybody, including me. My companion had never played before, and it was hilarious. He played like the pool stick was a javelin and held it over his shoulder because holding it like that "gives him more control." I should have taken a picture. It was awesome.

I got to give the spiritual thought this week in our District Meeting, and I talked about obedience. In Alma 57:21 it talks about the two things we have to do in order to receive blessings and miracles. We have to 1) be obedient and 2) go forward with faith. If we do these two things we will be able to see the small miracles and blessings that we can have every day of our lives.

I hope you all continue to have awesome weeks and remember to always give thanks to God for the things you have. We are currently teaching a family that literally has one bed in a one room house. I never realized just how much we have in the United States, but the difference is insane. Just remember to be grateful.

I love you all tons, and I wish upon all of you a very merry week. Haha.

Elder Aldrich

Pictures from the Mission President's Wife's blog at a recent Zone Coference

Bienvenidos 2015

January 5, 2015

Hey Everyone!

You all will be happy to hear that I managed to survive the crazy celebrations of New Year's Eve. Watching the celebrations from our balcony, we got to see a very drunk man run down the street shooting his gun into the air, and we decided it was probably a good idea to go inside. Haha. Some people ring in the new year by getting drunk, throwing parties, and shooting guns, but I celebrate with a nice bowl of fruit loops and How to Train Your Dragon. Quality stuff I tell you.

I also would like to point out two interesting facts:

1) I will complete 6 months in the mission on Friday! How crazy is that?! It's a rather exciting accomplishment if you ask me.

2) The year 2015 will be a complete year in Honduras, which will be very exciting. There is a lot of work here, and I am excited that I have been called to do it.

I also find it important to point out that I met a man wearing a "Patriots Super Bowl Champions 19-0" shirt. I know where the guy lives, and I plan to buy it from him. I will wear it with pride. Haha.

I just would like to take a moment to share something I have learned this week. The importance of obedience. In this time of year, there are missionaries who think it is ok to break the rules because "all the missionaries are doing it." I was really disappointed to hear that, because I always thought of missionaries as super obedient and with their priorities straight. As members of the Church, people look at you and think the same thing. They see that you know who you are and stand for something. There are rules, standards, and commandments for a reason. Follow them. Even if they seem a little ridiculous at first, follow them. You will be blessed. People are watching, and it is important that we be the examples to them.

I love you all. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers that I receive. Have an amazing week!

-Elder Aldrich

P.S. I don't know how, but I managed to forget something important... We had a baptism this week and I got to do the baptizing! We baptized a little girl named Nathaly. Her mom is a member, but her dad is not, and when she turned eight, her dad wouldn't let her be baptized. Now she is nine, and the dad now lives somewhere else, so the mom asked me to baptize her. It was pretty cool :)

Post Christmas

December 29, 2014

 Hello Everyone,

First of all, I hope you all had a great Christmas with your families. I hope that you all got everything you wanted hahaha. Christmas here is strange. They celebrate on the 24th, and they celebrate it more like New Year's Eve than like the birth of the Savior. Everybody gets together, stays up till midnight (or later) and sets off fireworks. No one reads Luke 2, or even mentions Jesus Christ, and it was a little sad.

Our Christmas Eve celebration with a part member family.

I love the Christmas traditions, and all the symbolism that comes with it. On Tuesday, we had our Multi-Zone conference with our area of the mission, and Sister Klein, the mission president's wife, gave an amazing talk about Santa Clause. She read a book entitled "I believe in Santa Clause." It is short enough that I could write it word for word here, but I won't for copyright reasons. Basically it talks about the main things we notice about Santa, his read suit, white hair, he loves little children, and he brings gifts. It then makes the connection to Jesus Christ. His blood he shed for us was red, he is perfect, he loves the little children, and he is the greatest gift, and he gives us the greatest gift we can ever receive.

Sometimes the presents, lights, Santa, and even the food get villianized by people because they see them as distractions. I see them as the opposite. I see these things as arrows that all point back to Jesus Christ and the wonderful atonement that he has given us. For this reason, I really do love Christmas and all that comes with it.

In other news, we did move houses this week. Our new house is right across the street from Channel 23, a major TV station here in Honduras. Every night they throw a Christmas/New Years party outside our house, and we sit out on the balcony and watch it from 9 to 10 every night, and our investigators all call us excitedly saying, "We can see you! We can see you!" It is pretty funny.

It doesn't smell, and we even get warm water every once in a while for a few seconds!

I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a missionary, and I am especially grateful that I can be in Honduras, as strange as it is. I love the Gospel that I have been called to teach, and have a testimony of it. Have a great week, and I can't wait to hear from you all next week!

Elder Aldrich

Our trip to La Ceiba

Merry Christmas

December 22, 2014

Hey Everyone,

I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Here it has been pretty interesting. We are currently trying to move houses, so everything is kind of crazy. All our stuff is packed and ready to go, but we just got a call saying that maybe we will have to wait a few days. Maybe. Haha. We'll see how it goes.

My new companion, Elder Flores, and I had an insane week. We pretty much just contacted, and I can count the amount of times people rejected us on one hand! It was a amazing. We found 15 new people to teach. It was a great week.

I am starting to really be able to teach. We did special visits yesterday, and I went with a priest to visit the people who didn't go to church, and I totally lead the lesson. It was a pretty cool experience.

We also played soccer this week again, and I was once again the star. I hope you all are following my progress, because one day I'm going to be the best soccer player the world has ever seen ;)

I encourage you all to look up "He is the Gift" on YouTube (El es la Dadiva in Spanish). It's a great video that really brings the Spirit. I love the Savior. He isn't just there to take away your sins, but to help take away pains and heartaches (and even homesickness) caused by everyday life. He is the gift that never expires and never runs out. Use it often.

I love you all and wish many happiness upon you and your families this Holiday Season.

-Elder Aldrich

New Adventures

December 15, 2014


Hey Everyone,

As I have said previously, this last week was changes. My companion was changed, and I now have Elder Flores as my companion. He is from El Salvador as well, and he was even companions with Elder Diaz in The MTC. He's cool. He is great at teaching and especially with service. We have contacted a ton of new people to teach and we have probably moved fifty pounds of dirt for several people.

Olanchito is pretty cool. By pretty cool, I mean freezing. I don't really know where the cold came from, but it's here. I had to use a long sleeve shirt, and I almost used my suit. Who said Honduras was hot?

We played soccer today as a zone, and I totally rocked, just saying. I scored a few goals, then saved some as goalie. It was super fun. We have an awesome zone, and I think this will be a fun change.

That's all I have for this week. Our days have been filled with walking and visiting every house I have ever been to. I can't wait to share all our awesome stories from this upcoming week with you all. I love you all.

-Elder Aldrich

¡Somos Famosos!

December 8, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well. I personally am doing great, and we are in Christmas Mode here in Olanchito. I've learned all the Christmas songs in Spanish, and we even went on TV to sing some Hymns. It was cool, and all sorts of people have been stopping us saying, "We saw you on TV!"

We've had a week full of service. On Friday we visited the Old-Folks home here in Olanchito and cleaned. Elder Gibbons found an old guitar and played each one a song on it. One guy took the opportunity and begin to sing at the top of his lungs an opera about the Holy Ghost. It was strange, but he was happy, so we all just listened and smiled. Haha.

On Saturday we built a "Bathroom Hondureño," which is basically a giant hole in the ground covered by a slab of cement. We used coke bottles to put holes in the cement for the toilet pipes and everything. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

During a lesson Saturday afternoon, a dog peed on my leg. He somehow did it from behind, and under a chair. I didn't even see him. It scared me pretty good, and I got to make a mid-day wardrobe change.

I am seeing miracles here in Olanchito. My companion and I have been teaching a man that we never expected to accept us. He is the husband of a recent convert, and when I showed up in August, he wouldn't even shake our hand. However, he decided to listen to us in the beginning of November. Now, he has a baptismal date December 27th. We have truly seen the power of fasting and prayers offered by his wife and other family members.

I would just like to finish with one thought. It isn't just important that we do things. We need to do them happily, with faith in God. What's the difference between Nephi and Laman and Lemuel? They all followed their father, went back for the plates, crossed the ocean, endured hunger, and set up a new home in the Promised Land, but we all want to be like Nephi, not like Laman. I leave you all to think about that and hope you all work through your daily trials a little happier ;)

I love you all so much and am so grateful for your support. Have a great week.

-Elder Aldrich

My Main Man, Dengue

December 1, 2014

Hey All,

Unfortunately, my week has been very boring. I have a sickness called "Dengue." Pretty cool right? Basically it's a fever, joint pain, and boredom. I was told by the Mission Nurse that I should be be better by Wednesday. I have been ordered to stay in bed, and drink as much water as I can.

I have left the house since Thursday, but it isn't all bad. I pretty much read Preach My Gospel entirely, and I got to hang out with a priest named Jose. He just put his papers in and is awaiting his mission call. He stayed in the house with me so my companion could visit our investigators.

This experience has definitely given me a new perspective. Time flies when you're working hard, and crawls when you have to chill in bed. Moral of the Story: Work Hard. Haha.

The one really interesting thing that happened was today. We played kickball as a zone today (I watched), and pretty much all of Olanchito came to watch us. They were so confused, it was genuinely entertaining.

Also, my companion and I are preparing our investigators for the very strong possibility that Elder Diaz will be having a change. The good news is this has scared them into learning my name. Haha. Changes are next week, so we'll see how this goes.

Anyway, I'm really so my email is so short and lame this week. I'll be sure to make it twice as good next week. There will be car chases and quadruple back flips and everything. Promise.

Love you all. Stay awesome :)

-Elder Aldrich