The Man with the Money

January 9, 2016

Hey Guys,

This week has been really exciting. First of all, you will probably notice that today is Saturday. I had changes this week, and I was moved from my old ward in Progreso to La Mesa 2 in La Lima. I have also been moved from DL to Financial Secretary. Yep. That's right. I'm in the office, and I am in charge of the finances of the entire mission. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. I'm 19 years old with zero experience and I've been given quite a bit of responsibility.

This change doesn't surprise me a bit. The last 4 financial secretaries came from Progreso 1, my last area. In fact, President seems to send them there, let them train a time or two, and then he brings them into the office. For those of you who are counting, I was four transfers in Olanchito, four in Miramar, La Ceiba, four in Progreso, and I will now have four here in La Mesa, La Lima. Because the job is so big and complicated, financial secretaries stay for four changes: three as the financial secretary, and one training the new one. So, we now are 90% sure that I will be finishing the mission here in La Mesa.

My companion is Elder Perez from El Salvador. He has the same time as me. We will be going home the same day, and I have known him for a while. I am really excited to work with him for a few changes. Our area has only had sisters for a really long time, so the members are excited to see the Elders again. We don't actually have an assigned area because the financial and immigration secretaries require more time than the other two secretaries, so we will be in the same area as the sisters. It is different than what I am used to, but I am excited.

On Thursday we got to take all the missionaries who were headed home to the airport. We did it in two trips. One at 3am, and another at 8:30am. My companion is in charge of making sure that all the missionaries get in and out of the country without problems, so I just had to go with him to the airport. It was probably the most trunky thing ever. I watched two batches of missionaries go home. Haha. I will probably see a whole lot more of that airport before June rolls around.

Probably the coolest part of being in the office is the car. I am glad that I brought my license because I am now one of only four missionaries that can drive a car here in the San Pedro Sula East Mission. It is so fun to get to drive to and from the office and run errands and all that good stuff. We have a Nissan Navara. I think in the states they call it a Frontier. It's a sweet little pickup and I love just getting to drive it around.

I am really excited for the new opportunities I have been given in this new aspect of the mission. It will be such a great experience and I am so grateful. I hope that you all have a great week and enjoy The cool winter air.

Elder Aldrich

Goodbyes in Progresso.

Baptism At Last

January 4, 2016

Hey Guys,

We had a great week this week. We started it off with divisions on Tuesday, and I got to go work with Elder Ramirez again. That is probably the last time I'll ever get to teach with him, which is kinda sad, and exciting because we both are in our last stretch. We did lots of visits, and we even visited some members to talk about visiting with the missionaries. It was a blast.

On Thursday we worked during the day, had an interview for Hortencia, and then we were in by 8pm. The mission put in place that rule a week after Christmas. I wonder what happened to cause it. Haha. The other missionaries stayed at our place again and we played Monopoly several more times. Monopoly has become an addiction for the four of us. I won the last game of the year 2015 and Elder Ward won the first of 2016. I am currently 5-4 which is impressive because every round 1 person wins and 3 people lose. We usually just play on P-Day, but having the Christmas and New Year's celebrations helped us get a few extra games in. Today I lost just barely to Elder Ward. It was lame.

On Saturday we had the long awaited baptism of Hortencia. We contacted her after a reference another member gave us, gave us a reference in October. It has been a long road because she had a stroke several years ago and can barely walk, speak, or read, but we were patient and the ward was great. They showed up to help take care of her all this week after last week's event in church. The service was great, but the logistics of baptizing someone who can't walk right were weird. We slowly helped her into the font, and even though I was going to perform the ordinance, my companion also hopped into his baptismal clothes and stood in the font as well. His job was to hold her feet. We were only gonna be able to do it once. It went smoothly, until she freaked as she went under and went all stiff. We got her under but she stayed in the font a little while just floating until she calmed down.

Sunday was great. We had 3 people in sacrament, the most I have ever had here. The counselor for President Klein confirmed Hortencia. It was a nice way to finish off the transfer. I am so grateful for the time I have been given to be here in Progreso. Transfers are this week, and I am expecting to be transferred to San Pedro. It's never a sure deal, but that's where I imagine that I will end up.

I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

Scare in Sacrament

December 28, 2015

Hey Guys,

I had another great week this week. There was a ton of excitement here as you can probably imagine. Honduras really doesn't have any traditions as far as Christmas goes, so they just blow stuff up, but I'll explain that in a few.

On Tuesday we had our Christmas party. It was a blast. We ate a ton of food and had several investigators. I took my Santa hat and I was looking pretty good until every primary kid decided that I looked so good that they needed the same thing. So, I had six or seven people trying to steal my hat, and I actually lost it for an hour or two to a four year old. Haha.

Christmas Eve was an adventure. I spent the day in Corocol waiting to do some interviews, but they never came. I sat on the floor in front of some Honduran church building for about three hours, then we went home to buy some cake, then we went back. I did some interviews, then we went to the Christmas Eve dinner a family invited us to. The problem was that it was 8 at night on Christmas Eve. There were no taxis and no buses, so we had to walk a two or three miles back to my area and we were about an hour late for dinner. We ate quickly and then were home by 9:30pm.

We had two other missionaries in our house. We played Monopoly several times (I won twice). At midnight, people started blowing things up. Some people have fireworks, but most people just blow things up. Some of the explosions are pretty strong, and we were out front hiding behind the house sticking our arms out trying to catch some on camera. It was fun.

Christmas was great. I loved taking to my family. It is always a special day. Only one more skype call left and I'm out. Haha.

On Sunday we had a scare in sacrament meeting. Do you remember when I was a teacher and passed out during the sacrament? It was pretty funny, right? Well, we had 58 year old investigator with many health problems pass out during sacrament meeting on Sunday. Luckily we have one doctor and two nurses in the ward and they went right to work. It was scary because the doctor took a very long time to find a pulse. We thought that she straight up died on us. It was awful, but they got her heartbeat back and we gave her some food. Like nothing happened. Her blood pressure just dropped. To zero. But she's ok now, and she still wants to be baptized this week. I will let you all know how that goes.

Have a great week. Be awesome. Do something nice for someone else.

Elder Aldrich

Merry Christmas

December 21, 2015

Hey Guys,

This week was pretty special. The work here in Progreso has almost come to a complete stop for the holidays. We are in a richer part of Progreso, so everyone has gone to the States to see family and snow. That, or they are all with family here and heaven forbid the Elders come in to share a message with the whole family. It's kinda weird really. Elder Sop and I just have a few investigators that are really progressing and we are going to take full advantage of the season to preapre them for baptism.

We are working so hard that we actually went to finish a service project early this morning. I smell great. Grass and sweat make a great combination. Haha. On Friday morning we went to help a lady cut her lawn, with machetes. You see, lawn mowers do not exist, so machetes it is. In her old church, they told her not to have Christmas trees, and since she is going to get baptized, she asked if she could have a tree next year. Since she didn't have a tree, we asked around, and we found a tree, lights and ornaments to give her. So two people chopped her yard and two set up the tree. I ended up chopping half the yard, then having to go in to set up the tree because no one knew how. Haha. It was a blast.

Machetes are fun.

Secret Santa

So, last night we were invited by our cook's nonmember husband (Doc) to come to house to be part of their "posada." It's a catholic thing where starting like 10 days before Christmas they follow Mary and Joseph as they search for an inn. Last night they went to our cook's house and did a little program. Well, they told us at 7, so we showed up at 6:50 to be early. I walked past the window and yelled "buenas" all obnoxious like I normally do when we show up, and then we noticed that they had started early. Great move, Aldrich. I was mortified. Haha. I felt so bad interrupting the program by my obnoxious yelling. Everyone was really great. The older people all wanted us to know that we were welcome, and it took everything I had not to contact the nun. Truthfully, I loved that Doc invited us. I am always looking to understand other faiths better which is why I always talk to the JWs and the 7th day adventists and whoever else I can find. It was a great experience and I was glad that he allowed us to be a part of something that was important to him.

Afterwards we ate dinner in their house and sat around telling stories and joking around. I sat on the floor for lack of chairs, which was funny. I haven't sat on the floor since I was in La Ceiba. We had several families there that simply didn't have chairs. I felt humbled last night as I thought about those familes. Sometimes we forget just how much we have. Couches and chairs are simple things, but I am very grateful that we have them. Just a thought.

I hope you all have a great Christmas. Remember that the missionaries in your ward don't go home for Christmas, so invite them over, but don't be offended if they don't eat. They might be full from the last six homes that gave them some dinner. Haha.

Elder Aldrich

Last week p-day

Christmas Multi Zone Conference

December 14, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week was fairly interesting here in Progreso. I feel like I still haven't been here that long, but I am getting close to five whole months in this place. Last night after dinner we all were sitting around telling stories about things the missionaries have happen to them (like dogs eating my phone, painting doc's office, birthdays), and I am the only one who even was here for most of them. I have cycled through two groups of missionaries here, and I am still going strong.

Christmas here is way bigger than it was in Olanchito last year. My area here in Progreso is the richest area I have been in, and they are taking the season very seriously. Everything is so lit up and it is so cool. I would take a picture and send it, but taking a camera out at night in a Honduran street falls into the "bad idea" category. Sorry.

This week has been pretty chill. I am feeling better, well, as good as I can feel. Sometimes I feel like the Honduras food wants to kill me, haha. We have had water on and off all week, which basically means that I am back to the old routine of bringing in water from outside, filtering it with a sock, and bucket showering. It might not clean me, but at least I smell a little better than before. It's good stuff, I promise.

This week we had the Multi.Zone Conference with President Klein and Zona La Lima. It was really cool. President talked a lot about obedience, and even more about Jesus Christ. I was definitely on a spiritual high. It was so great, as meetings with our mission president always are. We even had a white elephant gift exchange. Everyone made something by hand (I made a scripture cover that doubled as a white board), and then we passed them around in circles for a while. I thought my gift was pretty cool until I watched the sister missionary open it, not like it, then put it back. Haha. But whatever. It was fun.

I am really loving the last holiday season here in Honduras. It is hard not to get a little homesick, but we are gonna work it right out of our system. We put a goal as a district this week to find 60 new people to teach, so we will see how that goes. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

Sick Week

December 7, 2015

Hey guys,

We had a rough week this week. I spent two days in bed with a fever, one day with a zone leader, and one day on divisions with another Elder in my district. It was hectic, and really rather miserable. I know that isn't what you all hope to here each week, but sometimes the mission can be difficult.

The Christmas Season is in full swing here in Progreso. The rainy season has started, two months late, but it has started. It appears that our Christmas is going to be a little less white, and a lot more damp. We are very grateful for the weather, as the last two months have been horribly hot. Now we are down to a nice comfortable 87 degrees.

On Tuesday I did divisions with Elder Ramirez. It was fun to work with him again. He is still a funny guy and there was never a dull moment. However, I started to feel sick around 5 and I was about ready to die by about 7pm, so we called it a night. Wednesday and Thursday were the same. I stayed in bed and we went to only one important appointment each day. LAME. I hate staying in bed as a missionary. I might as well be home if I am in bed. At least I would be able to turn the TV on, you know? Haha. Anyway, the ZLs called me at about 10pm Thursday night telling me that we would be doing divisions, so we did even though I wasn't 100%. We took the day to make up for the two days lost, and we even managed to have 10 lessons and find 3 new people. It was really kinda fun.

I loved the devotional on Sunday. We got to watch it in a member's house, and Elder Ward and I pulled it up in English on the computer while the rest watched it in Spanish. I loved it. Can anyone say "LDS All-Star Team"? Like seriously, L Whitney Clayton, Linda K. Burton, David A. Bednar, and Dieter F. Uchtdorf are all in my Top 10. Elder Bednar really stole the show. I feel a common theme in the words of the prophets these days, and I could here it again last night. "Just hold on. It won't be much longer." I feel that they are pleading with us just to remember the fundamentals. Read. Pray. Go to Church.

I hope you all have a great week. Enjoy your holiday season. I'll be sure to work hard to have an extra-special email next week.

Elder Aldrich

Elder Aldrich didn't send pictures this week, but this collage was on the Mission President's Wife's blog.

Painting Progreso Properly

November 30, 2015

Hey Guys.

I hope that you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. I certainly enjoyed mine. It has been a great week filled with preaching, thanking, and painting. To start, Thanksgiving is not a holiday anywhere but the United States, so people all think we are weird, gluttonous turkey-worshipers. Well, not really, but we couldn't really use it to an advantage to ask people what they are grateful for and stuff like that. However, this time of year everyone seems to have a little more money around here (I think the muggers take the holidays off), and everyone and their dog is painting their house. I am grateful for paint, and I will explain why.

First of all, paint does not come out of shirts. The paint here is supposedly "water-based" and will come out of clothing. While it conveniently washes out of cement and other things, it does not come out of clothing. I have a designated paint outfit now. After our adventure painting Doc's office a few changes ago, people are always a little nervous to see me show up to their house to paint with more paint on my shirt than they actually bought to cover the walls. Stained shirts are a pain, except when you are walking to and from the place you are painting. People see you. As missionaries, we stick out. It's even worse since I am a gringo walking around. They all think we are weird, but they seem to change their thought process when the tie is left at home and we serve others. We have had several people stop us and ask if we paint houses for free. We are always a little hesitant to just straight up say yes, but we take a moment to explain the importance of service in the life of Jesus Christ. Kinda nifty.

Secondly, no one likes to paint. I doubt that the people we pay to paint houses like to paint. This makes it easy to offer help to investigators because they hate it so much that they let go of the idea that they can do it themselves and they let us hop in and help out. This week we painted the house of our recent convert Oscar, and we spent three days doing so. We showed up Wednesday morning to just paint one room, but when we got done, Oscar's mom asked us to paint the kitchen and the outside. We thought that it would be fine, so we hurried and painted the kitchen and decided to go back Friday morning to paint the outside. So, we went back on Friday, painted outside, and she said, "I know that you guys have painted so much already, but could you help paint this one last thing?" as she gestured towards her two rooms she rents out as apartments. We kinda just sighed and agreed, and we went back Saturday morning to finish it up. We spent a lot of time on this house, yes, but she went to church on Sunday. I wish I could show you the smile on Oscar's face as he led his mom into the chapel. It was so cool. He was so excited to be sharing the gospel. We got to spend a lot of time with a convert and his mom just by spending a few mornings painting and making friends.

Being a missionary is such a cool experience. It can get frustrating at times. I don't think I have ever been so sure that I can't go on. I definitely have never lost faith in the human race like I have here, but I also have never been so filled with hope and love for a group of people like I feel for the people of Honduras. They are so humble, irritating, and friendly all at the same time, and I love them. It is a difficult feeling to describe, but I am sure that mothers feel similarly with their children. Haha. I am grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of us no matter where we are.

This week was a rough one as far as finding, teaching, and really anything that can be reported to the Zone Leaders, but it was full of all sorts of other great experiences. I wish you all a Feliz Holiday Season. Have a great week.

Elder Aldrich