Life Among Los Catrachos

June 20, 2016

Hey Everyone,

I honestly never thought that this day would come. Even now, I feel like it all is just a joke and I really am going to go ahead and crank out another year here in the field. I feel a large range of emotions. I am happy that I have honorably served the Lord, and very excited to see my family and friends again, but also very sad to have to say goodbye to my friends that I have made here in Honduras. I have truly learned to love the people and all their weird quirkiness, along with my companions from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Ecuador. I have been in hard areas, and harder areas. The Lord truly qualifies those He calls and is aware of exactly what each of His children in the moment that they need it. I have seen bad people change and be baptized and good people find the path that they have searched for their entire lives.

Just to give a quick recap, I will go ahead and give my Honduras Top 10:

10 companions. As I previously mentioned, I have had a large array of companions from all over this half of the world. Each and every one of which has taught me something that has impacted me and each has had his specific trials. I have learned to be humble and know that I am not always right  (even though we all know that I normally am. Haha).

99+ golazos (Is that cheating? It has a 9 in it...). Playing soccer really is a way of life here in Honduras. The people eat, sleep, and breathe it. I have come to love it and I am actually not bad considering my Gringo Feet and lack of experience. Football (soccer) has really become a way for me to form relationships with members, investigators, and even people that don't even talk to us on a normal basis, not to mention the fact that I am THE MAN and have a never played with missionaries, members, or investigators and not scored at least one goal. Just sayin.

8 quarterly interviews with President Klein. I have learned so much from my mission president. It has become obvious to me that he is a man called of God to help not only the progress of the missionary work, but the missionaries themselves. He has been an excellent example and become an amazing friend. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have served under his leadership, especially as one of his office secretaries.

7 Elders from the "Frat Casa". This one will need a quick explanation. In the MTC the Elders from our district all lived in temple housing because the MTC was filled to more than it could provide beds for. Us gringos then named the house the "Frat House" which, we figured, translates into Spanish as "Frat Casa." For those who speak Spanish, you will know that fracasa is Spanish means "failure". So, we named ourselves failure before even entering the mission field. our MTC teachers and president sure got a kick out of that. The good news is, we have been anything but a failure. As a group, we have acted as maintenance men for the entire mission, being called to serve in areas that are struggling and be asked to bring them back to life. Each of us has trained several times or been a district leader for months at a time, or both. one was even a zone leader. It has been a blessing to serve along side of each of these Elders as the mission has progressed. I am sure that we will be friends for many, many years to come.

6 months in the mission office.  I was blessed to have been called to serve as the mission financial secretary for four and a half months and for a month and a half or so as the mission president's secretary.  I loved this calling and I loved to get to know all of the Elders from the office through the changes. I consider them my family. Getting to drive the pick up around Honduras was a definite plus as well. I got to help resolve emergencies big and small, like when some Elders crashed that same mission pick up. I then got to learn how to get around the most dangerous city in the world using only taxis and buses. The buses here are insane, just to be clear. It is like a roller coaster with no safety belts and lots and lots of people. just to give you an idea, go ahead and fit 30 to 40 people in your minivan, then drive around for a while. Haha.

5 areas. Olanchito, Miramar, Progreso (x2), La Mesa, and La Paz. I have learned so much from each of the people that I have interacted with in each ward that I have served in. I have made friends and hope to stay in contact with each of them. Something special happens with the missionaries form a strong relationship with the members. In the areas where the members work hard, I have seen twice the miracles than in the others that struggle. Every area has been a challenge. Every area had been said to been "burned" or "dead", incapable of baptizing and having success, but I have seen the hand of the Lord as I have worked and I have always had the success I have hoped for.

4 and a half months training. Training was probably my favorite field assignment that I had. There is something inspirational about new missionaries. They have such a great desire to work and a pure faith. They really do see themselves as Ammons and Almas and even kinda like Abinadi sometimes. I learned so much from my time as a trainer and wouldn't change it for any other position.

3  months as a district leader. Being a DL was probably the hardest thing I did in my mission. It was challenging, and after wanting to be one for so long, I learned that I should never have hoped for a leadership role. I did a good job, but it required a different kind of humility and hard work that I wasn't quite used to. I learned to lead by example, doing the best I can while asking for the others in my district to try and keep up, and then help them keep up when necessary. I made some great friends as I turned to leaders and past leaders for advice. I learned the power of service and to keep the mood light and the work moving along all at the same time.

2 great years. Overall, the mission experience is incredible. I have accomplished things I never though possible. I have learned so much about myself, the world, and the Spirit. I have learned to follow the Holy Spirit's guidance in every moment and always hope for the best. The phrase "Pray as if everything relies on the Lord; Act as if everything relies on you" has taken new meaning as I have become an instrument in the Lord's hands as I walk door to door to door searching for the elect of God.

 1 Savior, Jesus Christ. I have learned a lot. In the words of President Klein, "If I would have known then what I know now, I would have spoken even more of Christ." I thought that the Restoration would be the most important lesson that we would teach. I thought that it would be the Book of Mormon and a true testimony of it that converted a person to the Gospel. I thought that hard work and obedience would be all that it would take to serve a mission. These things are important. It takes courage to speak and faith to try again. Hope that the next house will open the door and listen with their hearts. It takes love to see people as God sees them and knowledge to help them through the dark mists of the world. It takes mistakes, then it takes getting over the fact that you are not perfect and then doing it right. All of these things are only possible through Jesus Christ. You can't get up and try again without the loving hand of the Savior to help you, or see someone as God does if you don't know how the Savior sees you. I am so grateful for the love of Jesus Christ and for the opportunity that He has given me to serve Him. I have learned more than I could possibly explain. I know that He lives and that He loves me and everyone on Earth with the same, unwavering love.

I can't wait to see you all. I will miss Honduras very much. I can't express enough love for the people I have served and those who have served me.

Have a great week, and I'll see you all in three.

Elder Aldrich

The Final Stretch: Not Baggy, I Promise.

Photo credit Sister Klein

May 14, 2016

Hey Guys,

So this last week was changes, but nothing too exciting to report from that. No one from the office got changed, and only one of the APs, but we all knew it was coming. It is interesting to see President's stress level go up and then the three days of relaxed that come after the changes. Seriously, President always just seems 50 times happier when changes are over with. Haha.

We spent Thursday in the airport, which was kinda crazy. Two of the old secretaries went home, along with a few sisters. The craziest part is that the next time I help send a group of missionaries home, it'll be me going up the stairs to get on a plane. I still haven't completely accepted it. Even President Klein keeps reminding me that we are almost done. Just 40 days, not that I am counting.

During the changes, we were moved from La Mesa 2 to La Paz 3. La Mesa has about 80 people in church each week, and La Paz has about 150. I think that this will be my first ward where the attendance is so high on a regular basis. One of my good friends here is also in that ward, along with some cool sisters, so it should be a fun change. Hopefully we will even see some success. We went to a ward activity, and it completely filled the cultural hall. It was a blast.

In the office we are trying to get some "spring cleaning" done, and I have taken it upon myself to make sure that the house is organized, so I have been up late cleaning the last three nights. Just to give you an idea, every change, six to ten missionaries leave five to ten pounds of extra luggage in our house. And that has been happening for the last year and a half. I don't even know how it is possible to have so many things. I pull it out of it's hiding place, catagorize it, then neatly pack it into the main entrance so that we can donate it. It is taking forever, but the house looks so good. I am hoping that President decides to show up to inspect it by surprise this week so that it still looks rather decent, because in a house of Elders, nothing stays clean for long. Haha.

Well, I am excited to keep working hard until the very last moment. These last weeks should be fast and intense, and I really am excited. I hope that you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

Healing a Broken Car...kinda

April 16, 2016

Hey Guys,

This week has been really pretty interesting as we have been trying to get all of the things for the car taken care of. As I previously mentioned, the car is a little sick after having been slammed into a pole pretty hard... So it is my job as financial secretary to pay for damages to public property and tows while the other secretary talks to the insurance company about how we are going to pay for this. It's been quite the stressful situation, but we now officially have the car in our possession, just waiting to someday be able to move again. Hopefully we can take it to the shop this week and have it before the end of May. You know, maybe.

Today for P-Day we went to Planeta to buy some crazy ties and drink giant shakes. Well, the ties were not a disappointment (I bought a dinosaur tie and a Mount Rushmore tie), but the shakes were closed, so we ate some chicken. Normal missionaries have a sister from their ward who they pay to cook for them, but, as secretaries, we don't have solid enough schedules to be able to do that, and we end up paying a ton extra for food. I am slowly but surely learning how to cook. My companion is really good at it, so maybe he can teach me a thing or two. So far all I have learned how to do is not burn ramen. Haha. You gotta start somewhere.

This week we will hopefully be saying goodbye to one member of our trio, as my new companion Elder Rosales is all trained and ready to go. We are hoping to prove in these next couple of weeks that the secretaries are missionaries too. We have a few people that we could baptize before my time runs out, and I really hope that everything goes well. I'm not trunky, but Elder Rosales will be my last companion if there are no emergencies, and that is definitely a crazy thought. I only really have about a transfer and a half, and I am ready to sprint to the finish, then sleep for my first few days home. Haha.

I hope that you all have an excellent week. You know the drill: read your scriptures, say your prayers, give references to the missionaries (and food. food is nice too).

Elder Aldrich

Change Week

April 4, 2016

Hey Guys,

As the title points out, this week was change week, and I have a new companion, and the old one I had before as well. We are in a trio until Elder Rosales learns his new responsibilities as the Immigration Secretary. I have known Elder Rosales since he started his mission, and he is an excellent missionary. I am really excited to have him as a companion and finish out these last two changes working hard. He is from Guatemala and speaks fluent English. Although I will never have a gringo comp, this is as close as I can get, and I am content.

Wednesday was a rather bittersweet day, because Elder Ramirez, my companion from back in Miramar and one of my favorite companions, finished his mission. It is really cool when you get to have a companion that you get along so well with, then get to be his district leader, then drop him off at the airport. We really got to be great friends,and I hope he will make a trip up to the Estados Unidos to make a visit.

Saying goodbye to Elder Ramirez at 3 am.

The highlight of the week was conference. It was so good! I really enjoyed the Priesthood session. Elder Owens' talk about being a great leader and a great follower was probably my favorite, followed close behind by Elder Holland's pep talk. Elder Holland's talk reminded me a lot of his talk "An High Priest of Good Things to Come." Also, I was excited to hear President Monson talk, and while his talks were short, the both of them were incredibly powerful. I love to listen to the prophet and apostles speak, especially in English. Haha.

We had an investigator and a inactive man who hasn't been to church since the 80s in church this weekend. I am really excited to see the slow and steady progress our area is having. I am excited to keep working hard in the office and in the field, even though our lack of car makes getting from one place to another kind of difficult. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

Lessons Learned

March 28, 2016

Hey Guys,

So, the office has been really pretty boring these last few weeks. We are working here like crazy, but we have been really good about getting to our area on time, and we have a few investigators that are progressing. It is cool to watch an area that was dead and unused before we got here start to show some fruits from our labors. The office has been hard and a definite learning experience for me, especially since this is actually the longest I've ever gone in an area without baptizing, which is really kinda sad. I guess that's what happens when you are opening an area as an office missionary. Hopefully we can see these small fruits multiply.

Yesterday, we had a pretty insane experience, and while I can't explain a whole lot of what happened, here is what I can say:

1) Obedience is not negotiable, and there are NO exceptions, especially in commandments (or mission rules).

2) Follow the Spirit, even when it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

3) It is better to run over the dog that live on the street and bites missionaries than to swerve and destroy power lines. Always.

4) Always be honest, even when it could be easier to tell a lie.

5) Warnings come in threes or fours, or fives, or any number more than one. The Spirit is strong, but it does not override your agency.

Long story short, two Elders from here in the office disobeyed some rules, took the car out and crashed into a power line. It has been a rough experience, especially since they could face some pretty major consequences, and we now are without a car for the next few months. I was in the house because I just felt like I should have them drop me off before they went to pick up the other Elders. We have been talking a lot about using the car as a taxi (because the car has a list of specific uses, and just getting around town is not one of them) and I decided to not participate in breaking a rule we had all been talking about so much. While in the house, I went to hop in the shower, and the lights went out, and I don't know how I knew, but I knew, so I called the other missionaries and they gave me the bad news. So, I tossed some jeans on and a white shirt and my companion and I went out to help them.

They really didn't do much, but they did a few things that were against the rules, so the situation goes from an accident to something that could have been prevented, and therefore their fault. Plus, it is not only something that affects them, but all of us in the office, and in really all of the city La Lima. At 8 am we were already hearing stories about the "drunk Mormon missionaries" that knocked the power out last night. (They weren't drunk, just for the record, but that will be hard to explain to all of La Lima.)

President Klein has been really interesting to watch as it all has kinda gone on. The first thing he did when he showed up was walk over and hug the two missionaries and ask how they were, then he talked to the police and took photos and all that good stuff. He didn't yell or even look mad, but he definitely taught some powerful lessons. Today he gave us a ride to the office, and we just got pure life lessons the whole drive. It is cool to watch someone so  wise and respected by all the missionaries maintain his calm and do exactly what I imagine Christ himself would do. No yelling, no anger, just love. And a nice solid call to repentance.

I hope that all is well in each of your families and that you all were able to enjoy the Easter holiday. We had a few really cool lessons yesterday as we focused on Christ and His resurrection. I love Christ and the ability that he give us to be clean from sin and live again.

Have a great week. Be obedient.

Elder Aldrich

Spontaneity At Its Best

Hello Everyone,

This week was fairly interesting. We did lots and lots of work in the office, but we managed to skip Thursday and spend a whole day in the field. We had a conference for all of Central America, and we have seen more miracles.

I started the week expecting angry calls from landlords because I messed up on the rents, and I forgot to pay them the three days before the first. Actually, I payed them three days before, but I forgot to account for the weekend, so I ended up having to pay them on a Saturday, which would make the payments appear in their bank accounts a whole three to four days late. I have already had some bad experiences with certain owners, so I was dreading the idea of getting calls from 80something angry Hondurans yelling at me in Spanish. It didn't happen though. Most of them didn't even call me, and the ones who did just called to make sure there wasn't a problem with their account or something. I love when we can all just be understanding of the poor gringo kid trying to play accountant. Haha. I am definitely counting my blessings, and I will be starting much earlier this next month.

On Tuesday, we had a super crazy day. I was literally answering two phones and having to run all over the place. Some people hadn't received their allowance and others had received too much, plus we had to help the APs get things ready for the multi zone conference. It was pretty hectic.

Wednesday and Thursday were the calm after the storm. I had very little to do, so little to do, that on Thursday, we only came to the office in the morning and spent the whole afternoon working in the field. It was great to go back to being a regular missionary, even if it was just for a few hours. We contacted the pastor of a church in our area, and we even managed to get in and teach a lesson. We contacted her and her daughter. The daughter has been deemed rebellious by her pastor mother, but seemed pretty calm to us. She even agreed to let us come back on Tuesday. She had lots of genuine questions and concerns. It will be interesting to see if we can't even convince her and her mom to come to church a few times. It is really a blessing to work with someone who has the same amount of time as me in the mission. It makes it easy to teach because we both have done it thousands of times.

On Friday, we were back to the usual grind, but without the car. The APs took it to La Ceiba to get the Multi Zone Conference ready to go, so we had to go to and from the office in a bus. It is like getting on a 30-cent roller coaster. It is terrifying, not very safe, and comes with entertainment. We had a drunk guy get on while on our way home. The poor guy was so drunk that he couldn't even walk right, and every time the bus would start to move or stop, he would go tumbling down the aisle into somebody new. The driver tried to get him to sit down, but he refused, so we got to watch him bounce around the inside of the bus for a while.

On Saturday, we went to a tiny little town called Morazan, Yoro. One of the assistants served there and has been wanting to go back, so when we woke up, we just randomly decided to go. We called President, and he said it was fine, so we left. The Latins wanted to stay behind, so we went the three gringos in the truck. Its about two hours in bus, but we made the trip in about an hour and a half. The road is a long and windy mountain pass, then you come out to this great view of the valley. It reminded me a lot of when you go into Jackson Hole, and they have that platrunky)

ce to pull off to see the valley. This was similar. SO pretty. It reminded me a little of Idaho and all those family trips. #baggy(

Sunday was a regional conference for all of Central America. We got to listen to three Seventies, Sister Stephens of the General Relief Society Presidency and Elder Andersen. It was good until some investigators showed up, so we gave them our good seats and we went and sat in the back. I couldn't hear over the children around us. I am sure that it was spiritual haha.

I hope that you all have a great week.

Elder Aldrich

Rainy Season

February 27, 2016

Hey Guys,

This has been another crazy week, especially since I have been glued to my computer all week. I've been changing houses, opening areas, and in meetings with President trying to help the missionaries have better houses. As you all have heard from some of my house experiences, the housing situation here is not great, and sometimes that makes it hard to feel the Spirit, so we have been talking about a way to make the houses better without paying a ton of extra money. I think that we have finally found a solution and we should be able to improve all of the houses in the next 4 months or so, just in time for me to hit the road. It should be fun.

 On Tuesday I went with Elder Ruelas (the new office Elder) to do the Ruta (and our companions went to the district meeting and stayed in the area to work). We get to drive from zone to zone taking everyone the things that they need in order to be missionaries. It is a blast. I get to hang out with an Elder that I get along with and go see old friends. Anyway, we started about an hour late because of a small issue, so we were racing to get it all done. In our haste, we forgot to give some Elders the packages they had received, so we had to double back afterwards and take care of that. It was this guy's first time, so some errors were expected. Haha.

Elder Ruelas (Texas) and I washing the car in the rain.  It was so gross and black that we had to wash it, even in the rain.  #HelpFromHeavan (get it: Because the rain rinsed it too) :)

So we got back to the office, and I got a call from the landlord in an area across town, so we had to go over and look at the house and pay her. (But first we went and picked up the packages from the post office, and that took a long time.) We got the keys and decided to help the new Elders move in. So we ran back and forth between their house and ours taking them the beds and chairs and table and so on that they needed. Of course, we decided to go ahead and do all of this during rush hour traffic... It took almost three hours to get it done. Now it was 8 pm, and we still hadn't actually gotten what we had to get done, done. We went to dinner at 8, then headed back to the office to actually get started on our days work at about 9 at night! We stayed in the office until about 10 and then made our way back home, where I collapsed into bed, exhausted. Talk about a busy day.

Late night working at the office.

On Friday morning, I got to go drop President Klein off at the airport so that he could go to Roatán with Sister Klein. I got to drive President's car, which was super awesome. He has a neat little Toyota Rav4. It drives way smoother than our clumsy little pickup we drive. I was tempted to go for a joy ride of sorts and go flying across Honduras, because it is just a blast to drive it, but I withstood the temptation and flew only to our house, where I safely parked it. The bad news is that it is leaking some fluid onto our tile floor, which should be interesting to explain to President when he comes to pick it up tomorrow. Wish me luck. Haha.

When President came to pick us up on Friday morning, he came in to see in what shape the house was in, and saw my make-shift ping-pong table I had thrown together. Last year I got a ping pong set for Christmas, and it has been a hit in all of my areas, but somewhere between Miramar and Progreso, the net went missing, so we always have to improvise with our net. This time I used tape and two pencils (I feel kinda like Grandpa "B" when I think of clever stuff like that. Haha), and it seems to work nicely. Anyway, President saw it and, without hesitating, picked up a paddle and challenged one of the assistants to play, follwed by my companion. It was fun to watch, although I think I will have to invite President over this week to play me, I want to see what he's got. Haha.

Last night I managed to download some talks, and I printed one that I couldn't find a recording for. It is called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" by Tad R Callister. Wow. That talk is so good, and it reminded me of some of the things I could be doing better. Anybody who is serving or is going to be serving a mission (cough cough Tyler) should read it. It is really so great.

Well, I hope that you all have a great week. I am enjoying my time here in the office, but man does time fly. Be good.

Elder Aldrich

Our window from the inside

Our window from the outside.

Me waiting on the last 2 Elders before going to eat. #DesignatedDriver

Us eating lunch.  We all bouth the exact same thing. Chicken fingers and Mtn Dew. Good Stuff.

53 Lempiras (about 2 dollars) buys us dinner for two and I love it.  #Baleadas4Life #BetterThanTheDollarMenu #ImLovinIt #Catracho