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.

Fun at the Beach

February 16, 2015

Hello Everyone,

I don't know if I have already informed you all, but I love my new area. Miramar is such a blast, and it is so cool to be so close to the beach all the time. I just look in one direction and there it is! It's awesome.

We have had a little excitement in another area in our zone, so Elder Hansgen's companion has an emergency change. Elder Hansgen spent the night with us again, and now the day with us waiting for his new companion. There was some sort of problem, so we think the new companion will come tomorrow, which is fine because it's fun to hang out with these guys.

We are just cranking out the work here. Our area is really small. It's tiny, really, so you would think that every house would have been contacted 2,000 times, but we still manage to find new people everyday. We have a baptism date for March 28th and another that we are hoping to have ready by the 21st of March. I am really excited.

In other news, an apostle is coming to Honduras! He is going to talk to all the missionaries in a Multi-Mission fireside that is going to be AMAZING. They haven't told us who yet, but we are all taking wild guesses and are super excited to hear from him, whoever it may be.

Today we went to the beach, flew kites, and took a ton of pictures. It was a blast. It is kinda lame because we can't swim, but I struggled through it. Haha.

I love you all, and thank you all for all the support and prayers. Have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

Welcome to Miramar 2, La Ceiba

In the picture are (from left to right) Elder Mendez, Elder Ramirez, and Elder Hangsen. I'm the good looking one on the far right ;)

February 9, 2015

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all have had an outstanding week. Mine has been insane. As you all know, I was expecting changes this week, and I did in fact get transferred. I am now, as the title implies, in La Ceiba. It is the second biggest city in our mission (San Pedro is bigger) and there are a TON of people here. Our area is small, one mile long and a quarter mile wide, but the edge of our area is the beach. Like, what?! How lucky am I?! It is a super cool area, and there are people to teach, so I am excited.

My new companion is Elder Ramirez from Guatemala. It is kinda funny because I replaced him when I went to Olanchito. He got sent to La Lima and then to Miramar, and now we're together, so that is really cool. He is a really cool guy, and super funny. We have a ton of fun, and we are working like crazy. I only have 4 days here and he is already quizzing me on names, places, and members like I have been here several weeks. I am really excited to work with him.

I also am in the same district with the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and my grandpa (the guy who trained my trainer, Elder Diaz). It's funny because Elder Hansgen runs around telling everyone how I am his grandkid, and people who don't understand the mission lingo get really confused. He's a seriously cool dude, and his companion, too. We usually eat dinner with them because the members don't feed us much, so we see them a lot.

Last night Elder Hansgen and Elder Mendez had a problem in their house, so they had to sleep in ours for a night. We played a little ping-pong, uno, and talked about home. It was a good way to spend my birthday.

I am seriously pumped to be here in La Ceiba. It is going to be a blast. For those of you who are counting, I complete 7 months in the mission today. I'm pretty old now, and excited to see what my new companion and I can accomplish.

Elder Aldrich

Q and A

Question:  Is that Elder a colts fan or is that your shirt?

Elder Aldrich:  It is my shirt. He didn't bring a shirt to sleep in, so I lent him mine. Haha. He is a super awesome Elder. He has 20 months in the mission, so he will be home soon. I can definitely learn a lot from him. He has a reputation of being one of the best missonaries in the mission.

Question:  Do you have a cook? How is your apartment?  Is is safe?

Elder Aldrich:  We have a cook for lunch, but we just buy baleadas and hang out with the other two Elders for dinner most nights. Our apartment is on the third level of an apartment building. It has hammocks and you can see the ocean from the window. Our area is the safest (or one of the safest) in La Ceiba. It's super rich, all pavement, and very well lit. It is awesome.

Question:  Is it humid living by the ocean?

Elder Aldrich:  No. Not that I have noticed. Here is so great. We don't have to walk much, it isn't 4 million degrees, and my companion is awesome.

Trujillo Here I Come

February 2, 2015

Hello Everyone,

I would like to begin by saying that I have seriously missed the beach. It's not that we used to go all the time, but we went today, and it was a blast. Elder Gibbons, Elder Saunders, and I got reunited with Elder Tobler, bringing the "Chill Crew" back together. I didn't pick the name, but it works. Elder Tobler got sent to Trujillo a transfer ago and we've missed him in Olanchito. It was fun to hang out with everybody on the beach.

Unlike the title of my email implies, we have not yet received our changes. That won't happen until tomorrow around noon, but I want to go to Trujillo very, very badly. The Elders live in the same house, and it has a balcony overlooking the beach. I seriously don't know how it could get better.

In other news, we played American Football today. Man have I missed that. I scored a few times, but probably dropped more passes than I caught. Now I'm better with my feet than my hands. Haha.

Because of our trip to Trujillo, my time is very limited, so my email is short. I love you all. Thanks so much for the support!

Elder Aldrich

P.S: Happy Birthday to my main men Tyler Aldrich and Elder Quintadoza Payne. I hope you guys enjoy your birthdays whether you are in Vegas or tearin it up in Mexico. Love you guys.

Here are few answered questions from today's emails:

Question:  Did you get wet?
Elder Aldrich:  I was sweaty in some of them, Haha.  I only put my feet in...it was a pretty big temptation for us, but we held strong. Haha

Question:  Any progress with the families you've been teaching?
Elder Aldrich:  We are teaching like crazy, and some are progressing, but I won't be here to see any baptisms.

Question:  Will we be getting a mid-week email?
Elder Aldrich:  No. President changed the way we are gonna do it.  We will have a P-day like normal on Monday, and the missionaries who don't have transfers will go on exchanges with ward members until their new companions comes, so I will write again next Monday.

Question:  Is there a chance you will be staying in Olanchito?
Elder Aldrich:  There is a chance, but a very small one.

Comment:  Happy Birthday
Elder Aldrich:  It is kinda rough to be away from you guys for it, but I know that I am here for a good reason.

Hugs for Everyone

January 26, 2015

Hey Everyone,

It is always so great to hear from you and to hear your great stories. Our week has been super busy, and not super eventful (which is good because this is Honduras, we don't want events.) Haha.

I figured I would give you a better idea of what the work is like here. My companion and I average about 35 lessons a week (which is a little above average for the mission, but about average in our zone) and we have 35 total investigators (above average, but it is because we have more families than most). Our district averages 3 to 4 baptisms per month, which is the average of the mission, but below the mission goal (frowny face). The work is moving along amazingly here in Olanchito, and it will be very bitter sweet when I have/get to leave in a week and a half.

Yes. Next week is transfers, and we are 97.5% percent sure that I am getting transferred. I have 5 and a half months here and it is about time to see something new. I will miss the people we know, but I won't miss the people we don't know.

People we don't know are full of false doctrine, and therefore dislike us. However, a kind, drunk man gave me a hug today. We were walking in a group of about 8 missionaries and I was in the center, talking to one of the zone leaders when this dude split the group and wrapped me up in a hug. It was uncomfortable, especially as two missionaries pulled him off me, but I didn't die and I suffered no physical wounds (I am still waiting to see if I have any emotional ones, hahaha). I did smell a little funny afterwards haha.

I am finally at the point where I understand jokes in Spanish, but the puns still confuse me. I can't tell them yet, but I don't know if that is because I am not translating them right, or I'm just not that funny.

I love you all a ton and am so grateful for all the love and support I receive. Prayers are even better than letters because they take less than a month to get to me, but letters are super cool too ;) I hope you all have a great week. Good luck.

Elder Aldrich

Long Change

January 19. 2015

Greetings from Honduras to those of you in the United States and around the world.

We had a super calm week without holidays or visits from President Klein (I think I forgot to mention last week that President came to Olanchito to visit everybody. Haha). We taught 33 lessons, our second best week so far and currently have 28 investigators. We have seen some serious miracles in our efforts and I am so grateful that I am able to be a tool in the Lord's hands.

One man we found, we found yesterday during a "Super Contact" in our area. We had 14 of the 18 missionaries (7 companionships) in our area help us in finding new people to teach. I got to go on splits with a zone leader for the two hour period. In the very first house we contacted, a guy walked out, shirtless and smoking a cigarette. He yelled, "Leave something! I'll read it later!" and walked back into the house. As I wrote our phone number on a pamphlet, he came out again with a shirt on, and the cigarette had disappeared. "Wait a minute. I have a question," he said, then sat down on the curb. We sat down with him and had one of the coolest, most powerful lessons I can remember. As we left, Elder Orizabal turned to me and said, "that is what we talk about when we talk about the people God has prepared." It was the coolest feeling.

In other news, I scored THE COOLEST goal this week. Even the obnoxious "too cool" teenagers thought it was cool. Just saying ;)


I seriously love being a missionary. Sharing the gospel and watching people change is a great blessing and way cool. Just remember that you don't always need a missionary tag to be a missionary. We love it when people give us referrals because it is way better than contacting. Help out your missionaries. Haha.

I love you all a ton. Thank you for the unending support and prayers on my behalf. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

P.S.
I forgot to mention what "Long Change" means. Normally, this week would be transfers, but we are in a "long change" of 8 weeks. Changes are usually 6 weeks long, but we had to have a "short change" in October, so this long one will put us back on track. Haha. Hope that made sense.

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