With Faith we can accomplish and conquer anything

Hello my wonderful familia!

There is so much I want to share with you, I hope that I can remember everything. Thank you all for your very kind, and great emails. Have you recieved my letter yet? Don't open it until Christmas.:) I can't wait to Skype next wednesday at 10am my time, 9 your time! That will be so fun! It's so good to hear that you all are doing well and that Cannon is healthy. It is very comforting each week to hear that things are going good back home. 

Last Thursday the other Elders and I woke up early and took a bus to Olanchito(you guys should google map sonaguera and the citys surrounding us) to pick up my new  companion! We had a zone meeting in the chapel in Olanchito and I met my new companion. His name is Elder Cruz. He looks like a gringo but he is from Costa Rica! When we got back all 4 of us ate hamburgers at a restaurant across the street from our house. Then we went to the other Elders house and I packed up my things and brought them back to our house. 

At 5:00 we had a meeting with the Branch President at a man named Jairos house. I have never taught a lesson with Jairo but I have seen him around a lot and we are buddies. He speaks a little bit of English and always says"brother" in his awesome Spanish accent. Almost every sentence he says brother. haha He is quite the character. I can see all my uncles getting along with him very good. I guess Elders have been working with him for 15 years and he hasn't wanted to be baptized but the president has been talking to him and this meeting was to plan for his baptism! Anyways, President Campos didn't get there for a while. While we were waiting the wife of Jairo, Yovely (I have taught her once and was with Elder Suazo when he dedicated their house) asked us to give her a blessing. She has cancer and recently was in San Pedro Sula and went through chemo therapy. She was very sick and lying in her bed in a lot of pain. This next part is the most spiritual experience I've had on my mission and I hesitated sharing but I hope this can strengthen your testimonies. It has strengthened mine. We went into her room with Jairo and my new companion talked with her about priesthood blessings. The other Elders and I about a week ago also gave her a blessing but she was still very sick. She said that she wants to be better to make it to her husband's baptism. She also told us that in her patriarchal blessing (she is a member) that it says she will go through the temple with her husband. My companion testified to her that all is possible according to her faith. My companion then gave her a blessing. During this blessing the spirit came over me very powerfully. I started crying and I looked up and Jairo was also crying. During the blessing many of my very strongest spiritual experiences from the past came to my mind. It was one of the most powerful blessings I have ever heard. I felt the spirit so strong and for a moment felt how I think we will feel in Heaven if we lived according to the gospel. Having a perfect remembrance of all our righteousness and all our sins. During the blessing I prayed with all the faith I had that she would be healed. When he finished the blessing she wasn't shaking and breathing hard anymore and she said she felt a lot better. We left her in her room and by that time the president had made it to the house. We talked with him and Jairo about the baptism. Jairo agreed to have a baptismal interview the next day! 

On Saturday we had the branch Christmas activity in a small city about 45 minutes away on a bus. There is a big river there and part of the activity was 4 baptisms! I'm going to explain more about this activity in a second but we asked Jairo if he would come to this activity and be baptized their with the others. The most important thing to him was that his wife Yovely made it to the baptism so he said if she felt better they would go and he would be baptized there and if not than later that day in the river here. So awesome! I had no clue that Jairo was this close to baptism. I guess the president has been working a lot with him or something. Jairo said that he was ready to make a covenant with Heavenly Father and serve Him and keep His commandments. The next day Elder Monterosa, who is now our new district leader interviewed him at their house. I relaxed wonderfully in their nice hammock looking at the green all around me and listening to the chirping of birds. I felt like I was in the mountains back in Utah. He passed the interview and Yovely also said she was feeling a little better. 

Tiffany with the branch president

On Saturday morning I called Jairo and asked him what he wanted to do. He said that Yovely was too sick to make it to the activity and that he wanted to be baptized here in the river later that day, the plan was at 4:00 when we returned from the activity. We met all the members and progressing investigators at the church that morning at 8:00 and all crammed into a bus and went to the house of a great family in the branch. This family is very unique. They switch from living here in Honduras and living in the Untied States every 6 months. The parents are from the U.S and speak both English and Spanish. Here they own tons of land, have a farm, and they run a clinic to help the people in the area where the activity was. They have a large house, a full size soccer field, and they own a lot of the river including the part where we had the baptisms. At their house we had the activity. It's difficult to explain the situation and I don't even understand everything but there is another family that also lives in the house and two of their kids wanted to be baptized. They have been going to church for a long time. Also the "daughter" of the parents was ready to be baptized. They found this girl along with another girl near death in the mountains right there by their house. Sister Evelyn told us that in those mountains is the poorest place in all of Honduras. They "adopted" both of these girls. It's crazy because it's not official at all because both the girls weren't born in a hospital and they have no paper work to work with. Both of these girls live with them right now and live as if they truly were adopted. One of them was baptized this last Saturday. I hope that all makes sense. It's crazy! Right when we got there Elder Cruz and I taught all of the Commandments lesson to the three kids who were baptized that day along with three other girls and one boy. They all live in the house also. Right after the lesson Elder Monterosa interviewed the three of them. All of the branch ate lunch together and then we all walked to the river and had the baptismal service. A girl in the branch named Tiffany also was baptized because she just turned 8. All the kids before and after swam and played in the river. It was an amazing experience. Jose, the husband of Evelyn, baptized the three and President Campos baptized Tiffany. Almost everyone from the branch was there by the river and watched. It was a great activity!

Elder Cruz, Jairo, Elder Conover

We made it back here to Sonaguera two hours late. It was getting dark and it was pouring rain! This did not worry the president at all and us and much more than I expected of the members walked to the river here to meet Jairo there for his baptism! As we were walking there it was pouring very hard. But like always here we just accept getting wet and love the adventure. Jairo showed up and his wife Yovely also made it!:) Brother Suamy the secretary of the branch baptized Jairo. They are good friends. By the time the service started it was dark but there was a beautiful moon. The rain also stopped which was a blessing. We sang a hymn and had two short messages like normal and then Jairo was baptized. Such an amazing experience! Baptism in the river in the dark. The witnesses had to walk out into the river also to be close enough to make sure it was done correctly. It was so beautiful only seeing the white clothes in the darkness. I will never forget this experience with Jairo and Yovely. Starting with the blessing, the miracle that Yovely could see her husband be baptized in the dark and embrace him after he walked out of the river, and all that lies in the future for this great family. 

My companion has been great! He is a very hard worker and we plan way better than Elder Suazo and I did. We are working super hard to improve the branch here. It has been stressful transferring to a new companion and trying to introduce him to all the members and investigators and also find my way around our area without getting lost because it's still new to me. But I'm trying to take things one day at a time and rely on the Holy Ghost. My companion has a great vision and a great testimony. I'm trying to get him to exercise with me because he doesn't like to exercise. I told him that he is my missionary trainer, because he is my second trainer and that I will be his fitness trainer. I hope that we can both help each other.

Today we played soccer on a turf field with the walls like indoor. We played as a zone in Olanchito. We had three teams of 5 and rotated through every goal. It was a lot of fun!

Sorry this email was very long. I love you all so much and will write you again next Monday and then Skype next Wednesday! CHRISTMAS!:) The Ward christmas party sounded like it was great. I'm glad I'm one of the wise men. [Editor's note:  Our family represented the Nativity scene for our ward Christmas party.  We were missing Eric, so I told him he was one of the wise men who came when Jesus was a little older:)] It's cool it worked out like that. I miss you a lot during this very special time. Heavenly Father is leading us to the people who are ready to hear the gospel. It is wonderful. Have a great week! Keep up all the great things you all are doing. I know the priesthood is the power of God and that with Faith we can accomplish and conquer anything.

Love Elder Conover