Mount Timpanogos Temple

Mount Timpanogos Temple

Thursday, December 4, 2014

From Elder Conover

October 20, 2014


Hola familia!

Sadly I am practically out of time. This week has gone really well! We had another great turn up yesterday at Church. I was also able to give a talk during Sacrament meeting about missionary work and how the members can share the gospel more and help in this great work of salvation. Our district leader also spoke and the Stake President. They both gave super good talks. President Selaya talked about ¨be happy, be mormon¨. He has used that as a motto for many years in his life. It is so true. We truly should be the happiest people on the Earth. Sometimes we don't demostrate this happiness but if we don't we need to start! We are teaching a reference of Antony (a young single adult we are working a lot with) named Marjary. She asked us when we first asked her if we could share a lesson with her, ¨why are you guys always so happy¨ As we walk down the streets we try to smile a lot and say hi to everyone. We told her that the gospel and sharing our message with people makes us happy. It was so cool to hear her ask us that question. I know that by simply smiling and being friendly we can share the gospel. 

The Reyes family came to Church again yesterday! As well as the Martinez Family! We are still trying hard to answer all the questions the Reyes family have. They have tons!! haha I love it. They are reading the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we leave them and are progressing tons! We are praying that Brother Reyes will by some miracle be able to make it to church on Sundays. David Aguilar came yesterday as well! He is 18 yrs old and is on fire! He is preparing to be baptised this Saturday! We are very happy about that. One day this last week we were teaching David and his little sister Miline and then their Mom Digna showed up as we were finishing up the lesson. She sat down and we talked a bit and then out of no where Sister Aguilar said: ¨I testify the Church of Jesus Christ is true¨ My companion and I sat their stunned for a second and then asked her how she recieved her testimony. She frankly said ¨I prayed, I asked, and I received an answer¨ It was definetly one of the highlights of my mission. I hope so badly she can act upon this testimony she has recieved.  

Today we went to the Beach again! It was awesome to see the ocean and walk around on the cool wooden dock they are making. So many men were throwing out fishing line and reeling in small fish. It was cool to watch. We may try it another pday. :) A family in our area gave us huge king crab legs yesterday and Sister Salgada the member who makes us lunch each day made an awesome king crab soup with it today. It was good! I wish so badly I could keep writing but it's time to go share the truth. I love you all so much! Have another supercalifragalistikexpialidocious week! :) Hasta luego!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Elder Conover

Happy Fall Break!

10/13/2014

Dear Family,
Hey guys! I love you so much. Thank you for each of your kind emails. This last week was so good. I am very happy! The mission is a very beautiful thing. The biggest news I have to tell you is that we found a golden family. The familia Reyes! :) The husband and wife talked with the missionaries in the 1990s and were going consistently to Church. They got married and everything but for some different doubts were not baptised. On Tuesday we were walking down the street and saw Sister Reyes and her 19yr old son Ariel sitting outside so we walked over to them and started talking to them. Now we are teaching the whole family.They have already started reading the Book of Mormon. Everyone came to Church on Sunday except for Brother Reyes because he is working on Sundays. They also came to a noche de hermanamiento last night. They are progressing so fast! When we are teaching them they are on the edge of their seats listening. They are so receptive and sincere. It is truly such a huge blessing that we found this family. Another family we are teaching the familia Martinez walked from their house which is very far from the chapel to church on Sunday. They are so willing to put Heavenly Father first. It is great! This week the numbers of investigators progressing has increased dramatically. I am very happy with the people we are teaching right now and I know that many great things are coming. Please pray for these families as well as for David and his family, and that Roger and Natividad can recieve an answer to their prayers. I love you all so much! Have a great week and fall break!!! I'm sure you all are very happy to have a break! Please study the scriptures and pray everyday. It is so important. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the priesthood was restored through him. I also know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Stay strong! 
Love Elder Conover

General Conference was awesome

10/6/2014

Dear Family,

How are all of you?! Thanks for your kind emails. General Conference was awesome. I watched three of the sessions in Spanish and I could understand it! I never thought I would reach this point. With Christ everything truly is possible. Many of our investigators came so that was really happy! A great couple (married!) named Roger y Natividad came Saturday morning, One lady named Lilian came Sunday morning after telling us that she wasn't going to come. That was sweet! David who is 18 yrs old came Sunday morning then went home and came back Sunday afternoon with his mom and sister. His mom didnt want to go but he told her how awesome it was and convinced her to come. She said afterwards that she was so happy she came. Over the whole conference a total of 11 investigators came. The members in our ward were so great at befriending them also. It was so good. Oh and we watched all the sessions other than the priesthood session in our chapel because our Ward is so big. Our chapel has awesome wooden cushioned benches now! They are beautiful. 

I love you all so much. The work is going forward! I'm so happy to be here serving. Today I was studying Mosiah 24. I really like this chapter. I know that Heavenly Father if we pour out our heart to him will give us the strength to overcome the trials and temptations in our life. 

Love Elder Conover
This river is close to our house and that tall mtn in the background is called Pico Bonito

Loving our Honduras rain:)

October 1, 2014



Hey guys! Heres the news, Sadly Elder Guzman was transfered but he had 8 months here so we all knew. One of our zone leaders and our district leader were also transfered. The new companions will probably arrive here around 5 or 6. Love you all! Hope the week is going great!

Love Elder Conover




I miss playing football







Good morning!

September 29, 2014

Hello! Things are going great here! We have been teaching a lady named Julia and she was baptised on Saturday! :) She has had a great conversion. She was able to give up drinking coffee. I always admire people who give up habits they have had their whole life to follow Jesus Christ. Yesterday we were teaching a lesson to two older ladies who are sisters and their mom who is 103 yrs old. Randomly as we were finishing the lesson a man came in and started contending with us. He is the son of hermana Cruz (one of the daughters). He said that we can't have anything more than the Bible and that the Book of Mormon is just a book invented by a man. He said we are followers of Joseph Smith and that we are leading astray the people. He said a lot more things also but you get the point... We calmly testified and read passages of the Book of Mormon with him to show and explain to him that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ with the ancient inhabitantes of the Americas but he would not open his heart at all. He insulted his mom saying that people like her who aren't as smart and haven't studied as much will easily be led away by us. He said that he didn't want us ever to return to the house. His mom then started saying that everything she has seen in us and in the Mormon church in general is done in order and that we are doing the will of God. Then he said you guys aren't doing the will of God but the will of the devil and shouldn't be lying to people. We explained that we always start and end our lessons with a prayer because we believe God is our loving Heavenly Father and that he wants to hear us. He walked away and then the 103 yr old lady stood up and said pointing to us ¨you guys are in the truth, you guys are in the truth¨. We said a closing prayer and planned on from now on visiting at the house of the other sister. This was such a great experience! The contention that man brought into the lesson made it so easy for the other 3 to see the light from the darkness, the pride from the humility, the peace from the anger, and most importantly feel the truth of our message. The whole rest of the day I felt so happy and I reflected on this scripture: Matthew 5:10-12 ¨Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.¨I felt energized to keep going forth with the work. I love you all sooooooooo much!!! Thank you for always being so loving and supportive. On Wednesday I will have time to write more and respond to each one of you. Have a great day!

Love Elder Conover

Hey Family!

We each got our own little letters this week, but not much to the whole family!  He is happy, though, and who wouldn't be living by this beautiful beach:) 

September 22, 2014













Next Monday I will be writing at 10 in the morning because its transfer week! I wish that I could write more but I'm out of time. I will send more pics on Monday also. I love you all so much! Have another great week! I am seing miracles and enjoying every day here on the mission. I love it here!

Love Elder Conover

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Feliz día de independencia HONDURAS!‏

September 15, 2014

Hey family! I love you all so much. Thank you for your great and loving emails. Do Grandma and Grandpa have their mission call!?

It is pouring rain right now. I love the sound of the rain. When it rains here it really cools down, it feels so nice. Today has been really fun. We met up as a zone and played some awesome 3v3 b-ball, watched this missionary movie called A Mans Treasure and ate pizza. It felt so good to play some hoops. The companion of Elder Guzman also was playing Rugby for BYU before the mission so we have been playing sometimes in the morning during excercise time. Dont worry only two hand touch. haha Thats been really fun also. The Ward here is really great. When it comes to feeding us dinner a little too great... I am definetely ¨growing¨. ;) 

We have an investigator named Julia who is in her 60´s. She has now come to Church two Sundays in a row and is preparing to be baptised next Saturday. She is working on giving up coffee. She is great! Please keep her in your prayers. 

Time is flying by so fast! I can't believe we are already half way into the change! My companion and I are continuing to improve. We had a great week. We have seen many people we are teaching start to gain testimonies. This work truly is beautiful. ¨I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me¨Like President Monson says, it is the best feeling in the World following the Spirit and being able to find and help someonee at the precise moment. We have had some great experiences of getting to a house and talking to a family at exactly the right moment. One of these experiences was we went to talk to a family for the first time and we found the husband and wife. It was a miracle we found the husband because he works late as a taxi driver. He told us that he came home early because he was feeling sick. Turns out he is a member but has been less active for many years. He told us that our visit meant a lot and would seriously consider coming back to church. Its awesome things like this that make the mission so awesome!! At times the mission can be so hard but when I take a step back being a full time missionary is the best job in the World. To be an instrument for Heavenly Father and do the things he wants us to do to serve his children, our brothers and sisters without having to worry about anything else. It's a great thing. I love it.

I hear seminary has raised the bar. How's that going?

This video has helped me a lot.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y I invite you to apply it in your lives as well. Remember who we are. Have an attitude of gratitude. Be happy! Never give up. Go to the temple with family names as much as you can. I know Jesus Christ lives. I love Him.  

I love you all so much! Have a great week!:)

Hola familia!

September 8, 2014

Hola! Como están!? Mi vida aquí en La Ceiba sirviendo El Señor es increíble. Me amo esta obra con todo mí corazón. 

Thank you all for always sending such loving and inspiring emails. I have the best family in the world! I will miss being at the extended FHE tonight but tell everyone I say hi and that I love them all. 

Elder Solano and I are having a great time serving the Lord here. Although the mission has been the hardest path I've ever taken in my life it is by far the greatest and happiest journey I have ever been on. This last week as we were teaching the lessons I have thought to myself ¨man I don`t ever want this to end¨ Obviously I want to see each one of you so badly but being out here is undescribable. The days and weeks are just flying by. 

Elder Solano is a great companion. We are finding lots of people to teach and we are having great spiritual lessons. Everyday I feel like we are improving. One day we were teaching a lesson to a lady named Gloria and her daughter Kelly. We talked about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson we invited them to be baptised if they receive an answer from Heavenly Father that these things are true. They both accepted. Kelly said the closing prayer and she thanked Heavenly Father that she now has another testament of Jesus Christ. I felt so good knowing that with the spirit we were able to teach in a way that they understood the great blessing it is to have the Book of Mormon. My favorite part of the mission is when I'm feeling the spirit guide my words and actions. 

Yesterday I was in our area teaching with Elder Guzman's companion named Elder Lessard. By the way Elder Guzman says hi. We had a really great day. We had a reference of a 18 yr old guy named Oscar that we wanted to visit but I only knew generally where he lived. We walked to the area where he lived and I heard from the Elders who gave us the reference that his house had a lot of trees. I saw a house with a bunch of trees so we yelled from outside calling for Oscar. Sure enough we found him! I was so grateful the spirit guided us and the first house we tried we found him. It was really cool. But what's even more cool is we had a very powerful lesson with him. We asked him if there is anything he is going through that is hard and he told us that his two sisters (one of them is a member) are fighting a lot and he feels that is family is not unified. He wanted us to pray for them. We did and we promised him that if they as a family would listen to our messages the problem would be resolved. At the end of the lesson we asked him how he felt during the visit. He pointed at his heart and told us that he truly felt something in his heart. We opened the scriptures to Galations 5:22, he read the scripture and we explained to him that we were feeling the Holy Ghost. He promised to read the pamphlet of the Restoration and pray to know if what it says is true. We planned a time for this Saturday to visit with him and his whole family. 

This is only one of the many great experiences that happen everyday here. I wish so badly that I could share more but I'm out of time. Keep up all the great work family! I love you all so much. Have the best week of your lives! :) I know the BOM is the word of God and that Jesus Christ restored His church through the Prophet Joseph Smith in this great and last dispensation before the second coming of our Lord and King Jesus Christ. I know that Heavenly Father has a great plan for each one of us. I love our prophet President Monson and all of the Apostles. I love President Klein and Sister Klein. I love all my incredible leaders back home. I love each one of you. I love Honduras and its people. Most of all like one of my favorite songs the BYU mens choir sings says ¨Oh how I love my Savior¨ 

Love Elder Conover

Hey Family!

September 1, 2014


Hey guys! I'm practically out of time but I wanted to share a couple more things. A funny thing that happened was my companion and I were teaching a lesson outside of someone's house on this cement patio and it started pouring rain. It kept raining and the water reached the house so we were sitting in a small lake of water. It was quite funny. Another really special thing was last week we were teaching our first lesson to a man named Juan and we were sharing that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I told him that Heavenly Father loves us so much and is waiting with his arms open to give us a hug when we return to Him. As I said these words I felt the Spirit so strong. It felt like a warm, joyous energy that ran through my body. I know that the Holy Ghost was confirming to me that the words I was sharing are true. My favorite part of being a missionary is talking with the people and knowing that we are teaching by the Spirit and then to see peoples hearts change. It feels so good. I love being here. I am continualy praying that my companion and I will find the people Heavenly Father has prepared for us to find. I know that there are many. Our area is huge! We have so much work to do. I am so happy to do it. Thanks for all your love family. You guys are the best! Have another incredible week! We truly are in the last days. We must be prepared in every way, especially spiritually. We have a lot of big battles coming our way. I know that our Leader is Jesus Christ and we never will lose. I know our battles will be won if we fight them as a team, as a family, with Jesus Christ. We have so many wonderful tools to strengthen our faith everyday. Please use them. Our faith is like our body. If we exercise it, it gets stronger. If we don't it gets weaker. I pray that we will endure to the end as a family and remember our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ always. Thanks for everything.

Love Elder Conover

Hola from Ceiba!

August 25, 2014

Hello dear family! How are all of you!? Thank you so much for each of your kind emails. I wasn't able to write on wednesday because we didn't have time. Last Tuesday was rough but special saying goodbye to the people I love so much in Jazmines. I hope one day I can return. On Wednesday we had transfers meeting in the morning. I was so nervous but excited to hear who would be my new companion and where I would be going. Elder Solano is my new companion! He is from Orange County California! Like 10 min from Newport beach! His Dad is from El Salvador and his mom is from Mexico but he was born in california. He knows how to speak english and spanish! It's awesome! He went to the Provo CCM for 2 weeks and has just arrived. He is pumped to be here. We are in La Ceiba! It was a 3 hour bus ride from Progreso. We had a whole bus just filled with missionaries. It was awesome. The ward I'm in is called Las Acacias. It is a huge Ward. Yesterday there was an attendance of 250! Now that we are here there are 8 missionaries in the Ward. We are opening an area called the Pizzaty. We are loving it so much. It is so fun! There is a member in our ward who was companions with Samuel Hughes on the mission! haha What a small world. I don't know an Elder Bingham Mom. That's funny you made a connection with them the same time I did. haha The guy's name is Ashtor Euceda. He said that they were zone leaders together and worked like crazy. Elder Solano is such a great companion. I'm so happy to be working with him. We are already great friends. Oh and guess what?! Elder Guzman from my district in Sonaguera is my district leader here! We live in 2nd floor apartments like in Jazmines here. Elder Guzman is training an Elder from Sacramento California. Elder Lezzard. They live right next to us. It is so great! I am loving it here so much. We taught two brothers who are in their 20s on Friday named Juan and Ricardo. They accepted the invitation to come to Church on Sunday so we passed by for them and they went with us. It was great! One of my new zone leaders named Elder Garcia could use your prayers. His older brother passed away on Wednesday. I went on splits with him on Thursday. He is so strong. He makes it look like nothing happened. He continues to work hard and set an example for everyone. I look up to him a lot. We played baseball today! That was fun. First time in so long! 

I love you so much! Each one of you. I wish I could keep writing but we need to wrap things up and get to work. I feel my faith growing everyday. We are going all out! I'm trying to just enjoy every second and make the most out of everyday. The time is flying so fast. I love the mission. Every hard day is so worth it. It's crazy you all started School! I hope all is going well. You are continually in my prayers. Happy Anniversary again Mom and Dad! 20 years! That is so great! As far as the package Dad, maybe just more music on CDs. and the jump rope! Thank you so much! I love you all! Have a great week! Talk to you more next Monday!

Love Elder Conover

picture:  Elder Solano and I heading out to play baseball today! At our house.

A unified and eternal family

Yeah, Visente!!!
August 18, 2014

Dear beloved family,
Thank you all for your emails. They always mean so much. I love you guys soooooo much.On Saturday we had a baptism! Hermana Irma was baptised. She is a relative of Henry. She has a strong testimony. I'm so happy that Henry's family little by little are accepting the gospel. We are teaching a boy named Osbaldow who will be baptised this Saturday. His Mom is a member but his Dad no. We have been trying to teach his Dad also but he is not very interested. I don't remember if I told you guys or not but we were teaching a man named Jefry but then he moved to Mexico. Well he came back super fast. He returned so fast he is able to keep his baptism date for the 30th. He went to Church with us yesterday. He is trying to stop smoking. He´s a great guy. I really hope he continues to progress. I have many mixed emotions right now. Our zone leaders just called us and told us who is being transferred. Like I guessed Elder Wilson and I both are being transferred. It's going to be sad to leave Jazmines. It feels like yesterday I came here. It's so special to think about all the people I have met the past 7 and 1/2 months especially about each person who was prepared to hear our message. I have seen miracles as I've been here. I love this place and I love the people here. Many people have grown to feel like family. I am so grateful for the time I've been able to spend here in Jazmines. I look forward to getting to know my new companion and a new place here in Honduras. I wonder who?? and where?? Wednesday we`ll find out. I should be able to write again on Wednesday and let you know!
I love you all so much. Keep going strong. Thank you for your prayers. I know that I receive divine help everyday. I have been showing some people the pictures you sent me. They love them. Mom and Dad I think they all said that you look young. That should make you happy. :) Our family is very unique and I love it. I used to think our family was normal. But as I have gotten to know more people especially here in Honduras. We have something so special, something that so few have. A unified and eternal family. Sometimes I think it's too good to be true all that we are blessed with. It's so amazing! I know that we are blessed in such a huge way because of our family's (past and present) obedience. We are a team and the choices of each person affects everyone. Thank you Mom and Dad for getting married in the Temple and keeping your covenants. You guys are the best team captains ever! Happy Anniversary! I love you both so much. Good luck starting school brothers and sisters! I hope you each have the best year ever! :) Keep up all the great things you all are doing. Talk to you on Wednesday!
Love Elder Conover
This is a baleada, the most common thing we eat here:)


Elder Conover

August 11, 2014

Hi family!

 Thank you all for your kind emails. I can´t believe that school is about to start again for you guys. Summer has flown by! Here things are going great! So far hurricane Berta has not hit us and other than having a small sore throat I am healthy. I am so grateful to be serving the mission. It's a challenging but great experience. I love this work. 

 On Thursday Visente had his interview. He passed!! His baptism was held on Saturday. It was one of the very happiest days of my life. After so much time working with him it all paid off! :) He is someone who has truly changed. He has a new heart and a new way of being. How the gospel changes people is the greatest miracle there is. This work is so rewarding. 

On Saturday morning we had a big service project with the ward. It was great. On tuesday I bought a machete so that was very helpful during the service project. We all had machetes and were chopping down bushes and trees on the mountain. It was super fun! 

Today was fun. A sister in our zone's birthday is today so we played a little soccer and then watched Rise of the Guardians. Have you guys seen it? I'm thinking you have. It was a good movie. Pretty hilarious. Then we ate pizza from Pizza Hut with cinnamon sticks and then ate birthday cake! 

Next week are transfers! Time is just flying by. Monday morning at 10:00 I will write again. Have a great last week or so of summer! I love you all so much! Really I do, more than I can explain. 

Love Elder Conover

Hey family!

August 4, 2014


Hey family!
I wasn't able to get on to a computer until 5:00 today so I'm going to have to be brief. Things are going great here! Gratefully the members have been helping Elder Nelson a lot so he has been able to work in his area quite a bit. I am so grateful for the good health I have. At times things can be really hard here but always I feel so blessed to be serving the Lord. At times I don't quite understand how I was so blessed to be born into the covenant, to have righteous parents who love each other, for my grandparents, and all my extended family as well as for all the leaders and heroes in my life who have shown me the way. I know that where much is given much is required. Heavenly Father has trusted us with great blessings to build us into great soldiers to build His Kingdom. I know I have lots of room for improvement and that we can all give more. Thanks to Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation is working and will never fail. Thanks to Jesus Christ our lives matter. We have so much to look forward to and so much reason to do good thanks to Jesus Christ. I know He lives. I love Him. I know we are going to go through rough times but through Him we always have hope.
We had a baptism on Saturday! Sister Maria was baptized! The Mom of Jose and Oscar. We still didn't have water in the baptismal font at our chapel so we went to the chapel in Centro. The plan was that Brother Visente would have been baptized the same day but he still wasn´t quite ready. He still went to the baptismal service. He has now gone to 3! haha We have worked so much with him and are hoping and praying hard that this Saturday will be his day. I am learning to have lots of patience. :)
I love you all so much. You all inspire me to be better. Thank you all so much for your kind emails and prayers. I'm really sorry I can´t write to each one of you. I hope you have another great summer week! I'm glad things went so great with the Chinese girls. They sound so hilarious. Matthew and Andrew are really mean and naughty. hahaha You all look so good. Thanks Mom for always sending pictures.Cannon is so awesome. Always remember what really matters most in this life. I LOVE YOU!
Love Elder Conover




Hola Familia!!!!

July 21, 2014


Hola Familia!!!!!!!

Thank you all for your emails. I'm so glad to hear that the family reunion went well and spending time at Kassi's cabin. I'm very grateful to hear that Cannon is okay. I almost had a heart attack! You all look so good in the pictures mom sent me. Cannon is so cute. I'm so glad that he and all of you had a good time in the mountains. Wow, Emily and Matthew are on the run again! You guys just can´t stop the party! I hope that EFY goes awesome for you both. I know it will. EFY is the best! I am seriously considering being an EFY counselor the summer after I get home if I can. I hope the talent show goes great! You both are superstars. I'm pretty sure Abby Holman is also. I wish I could watch you perform. 

Things are going well here in Jazmines! On wednesday night my companion and I were not getting along well at all. It was really hard at first because he was giving me the silent treatment which didn't help at all to get things worked out. We finally got things worked out though. We both understand each other better now and our relationship is getting a lot better. 

Things are going alright with our investigators. Henry's sister Lilian who we have been teaching and helping a ton is not progressing at all now and doesn't want to listen anymore. So that's rough. We do not understand or know all of the reasons why but hopefully we will get a chance to talk to her again and help her with her doubts and concerns. Henry's cousin Irma has recieved a witness of the Holy Ghost that all we are teaching is true. She is progressing a lot as she continues to read the Book of Mormon and she came to Church with Henry yesterday. She is awesome but she is not married and is living with someone... Visente maybe will be baptised this week but for now we are not sure. He has completely stopped smoking which is so good but he is not willing to completley commit to the Law of Chastity. He thinks we are making a contract with him that he never has relations in his life but we are just telling him he can't before he gets married! We are going to teach the Law of Chastity again with him tonight and hopefully we can teach powerfully and clearly so he can understand and commit. Maria, the mom of Jose and Oscar (two of the three boys we baptised at the end of March) has seperated from her husband and has now given up coffee! She has a baptism date for August 2nd. Apart from these we have other investigators of which almost all are couples who are not married!!! Why can´t I just pay to get all these people married! haha That's how I feel sometimes. I know they need to sacrifice to make it more meaningful though and we aren´t even alowed. The hardest part is that they all need to get 3 different papers and they need to go to the part of Honduras where they were born. It is quite the process. We are teaching one man named Antonio and he isn't even registered! It's like he doesn't exist. Before he can even start the process he needs to get registered. All these people do not have sufficient funds so it's really rough. We are hopefully going to do another activity soon to try and raise some funds. Sorry for rambling on about all of this but this is how things are going right now. Two really awesome things are that Miriam finished the Book of Mormon a few weeks ago and Hermana Josepha wakes up before 6 in the morning and walks to church on her own, she then sits on the sidewalk and waits 2 hours until someone opens the fence door. She is amazing. We always tell her she doesn't need to go so early but she just tells us ¨it's because I can't go on the run, I walk slow.¨ She is one of my heros. I love her a lot. 

The past few days I had no clue what I was going to teach in District Meeting this Tuesday but last night and this morning I prayed to recieve revelation to know and as I started to write the agenda for the meeting everything just started flowing into my mind. Who, What and How this week's district meeting should be. It was awesome!

I love you all so much. I set a goal to finish reading the New Testemant in 30 days. I just finished Mark. Who´s up for the challenge? You guys are the best family in the world! Are you guys studying Preach my Gospel? How's family history going? Please tell the Armstrongs that I have recieved the dearelders they have sent and I have loved reading them. Tell them I love them and think they are great. What's their email adress? I miss you all but love being here on the mission. I hope you all have another fantastic summer week! I was reading the talk given by Elder Perry this last general conference and I like what he says a lot. ¨Obedience is an emblem of our faith in the wisdom and power of the highest authority, even God.¨ When we obey it shouldn't be just a passive obedience. Obey just to obey. Our obedience should be based on our faith in the reality of our Heavenly Father and the blessings He is willing to give us if we obey. I know God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know He wants more than anything that we make it home to Him and live with our families forever and that we grow to become like Him. I know we can do it.

Love Elder Conover

July 28th, 2014


Hola!!! Hello family!

Thank you all for your great emails. I have been thinking a lot lately of how blessed and grateful I am to be a Conover. I am so happy and grateful I have the Mom, Dad, brothers, and sisters I do. I love you all so much. The greatest blessing and promise we have is that our family can be forever. We have the potential to live eternally as a family with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This as well as helping others recieve this will bring us never ending happiness. We can all do better to remember who we are, where we come from, our purpose here on Earth, and our ultimate goal and potential. Our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is a huge blessing that should determine all we think, act and do. Keep enduring to the end! :)

We had a kind of crazy but great week! Last Monday, right after emailing we found out that Elder Pernillo in our district needed to have surgery done. It was safer to have the doctor who helped him the first time do the surgery so sadly friday night he left us and headed back to Guatamala to have the surgery done. He may return if all goes well. I hope he will be able to. Keep him in your prayers. So starting Friday night Elder Nelson joined our companionship and for now we are in a trio. We don't know for how many days we will be in this situation. Gratefully he has members that will be able to go on splits with him this week so that we can keep things going strong still in both our areas. On Elder Pernillo's last day here they had a baptism so that was sweet! The chapel didn't have any water so we filled the font with buckets again. Luckily it was a small girl so we didn't have to fill it very deep. It still took a while though. 

Miriam's Mom moved in with Miriam and we are teaching her. Hopefully things go well with her and that she will progress. Yesterday was an excellent day! Our investigator Visente who we have been working with for months now committed to be baptised this Saturday. He has been so close to being baptised earlier but has not been willing to commit to live the law of Chastity. Yesterday he told us he´s ready to "put himself in the water" and be baptised and he is committed to obey the commandments! It's a miracle! I can't explain how happy I felt when he told us this. When we talked to him on Tuesday he told us that he was willing to obey everything other than the Law of Chastity. We had a huge discussion with him and he just wasn't willing to commit. As we were walking away from his house we decided we would have to start visiting him only once or twice a week and wait until he was willing to commit. On friday he went to the baptism. He has now gone to two. He goes to Church every week and is almost finished reading Alma. The Law of Chastity was his greatest weakness and now he has conquered it! (1 Cor 10:13) As he talked to us yesterday my companion and I looked at each other and I said under my breath "this saturday". We proposed the date and he happily accepted. Hermana Maria also has a baptism date for this Saturday. We have also been finding many great new people lately. The Mom of one of our investigators before ever teaching her started reading all the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon. She told us that she has been having some problems in her church and that she has decided to go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She loves all that she is reading and accepted a baptism date when we taught her for the first time yesterday. Another miracle! I am learning a great lesson: If we wait patiently doing all we can, the blessings will come. 

I wish I could keep writing and writing all the great experiences we are having. Sadly we need to go. I am so appreciative of your love and prayers. It means more than you can imagine. I think I forgot to tell you that we have cell phones now. It's nice to be able to call from wherever. Thank you all for everything! Keep going strong!

Love Elder Conover

"It's raining, it's pouring the old man is snoring"

July 14, 2014

Hola familia!

Thank you all so much for your wonderful emails. I have the best family in the world! I hope that the family reunion was great. I'm guessing you're driving home right now... well if you are i hope that you are all safe and make it home healthy and peacefully. 

All is going well here in Jazmines! We played some more soccer this morning, it was a lot of fun. The young men don't have school this week so it was fun to play with Jonathan, Jose, Oscar, and Carlos. Brother Yanez the Elders quorom president also played with us. 

I forgot to tell you guys last week that Kevin, Jonothan, and Christian, the three boys we were teaching a while ago, Elder Flores and I, moved into the boundaries of another ward so we passed the reference to the other Elders and now they were just baptised! Super awesome. 

Last week I was blessed to do two more baptism interviews for Elder Wilson and Elder Rodriguez. They are working hard. I'm so happy to be working with all the Elders in my district. They are all great! The baptism of the two sisters went great. As the font was filling up the water suddenly shut off so we had to fill it up to a sufficient level by going to houses around the church, filling up buckets and dumping water into the font. That was a lot of fun! :) During the baptism service I just felt so much joy. I don't know what it was I just felt so happy! 

Brother Visente is moving along very good. Yesterday we went to his house later in the afternoon. We yelled to alert him that we were there (yelling buenas tardes or something like that is how you knock on doors here) but he didn't answer. We walked through his gate and found that the door into his house didn't have the lock on it and the window was open so we kept yelling, I yelled super loud right through the window and he didn't answer. We decided to go and teach another family. After teaching we decided to try again. The house was in the same condition but this time he answered! Turns out he was just sleeping like a rock! He happily welcomed us into his home made of clay blocks and we talked with him. Brother Yanez has been so wonderful with him also. He almost always goes and visits with us and one day we found him sharing a message with Visente as we got to the house of Visente. That got us pumped! Visente having a good friend in the ward is helping a ton! Last night he told us that now he has no desire to smoke. He used to be very addicted. There was a time when he was smoking three packs of cigarettes a day! He told us that the church is changing him. It really is the happiest thing I can hear as a missionary. He is such a great example of the power of repentance. The gospel truly blesses people and changes lives for the better. Please continue to pray that Visente can conquer his temptations. Thank you for all your prayers.

I love you all so much. Things are going great here! Have another fantastic week. Keep living happy. I encourage you to read the general conference talks. They are so powerful. Today I was reading the talk given by President Packer this last general conference titled The Witness. It is one of my favorite talks. Near the end of his talk he says ¨I know the Lord¨. We are so blessed to be led by apostles and prophets who know our Savior Jesus Christ and teach us of Him and His teachings. I know we belong to the true Church of Jesus Christ. It is a great blessing to be sharing this message everyday. I am so happy to be here with the power and authority to teach with the Holy Ghost and watch the gospel change people. 

Love Elder Conover

Pictures:  our church; chopping weeds and grass...with machetes for Hermana Josepha; after soccer, our bishop is the man with the grey shirt and hat. He is hilarious! We have been playing some good soccer lately.:)

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Transfers and Missing Thornton Family Reunion

July 7, 2014

Dear loving family,

Thank you all so much for your kind emails. Thank you mom for sending all the great pictures as well. I love to see each one of you. You are all looking great! :) As you know tonight we find out who from our zone is being transfered. I am very anxious and curious to know what will happen. I am willing and happy to follow what the Lord would have me do. 

Last Thursday we had a meeting in La Ceiba for all the trainers, and those who are being trained, and with the people who are going to train. It was great to spend time with President Klein and Sister Klein and learn how we can be better. Sister Klein is having us all start to prepare 72 hour kits and have them ready in August because hurricane season is coming up! That night as we were back here in Jazmines visiting people I started not feeling very good. Friday and Saturday I was in quite bad conditions. On friday I worked with Elder Wilson in his area and Elder Rodriguez worked with my companion in our area. I dont want to go into details but that day and Saturday if I started walking around within minutes I had to use the bathroom. We would teach a lesson and then start walking to the next house but I couldn't make it without asking a member or investigator if I could use the bathroom. It was not fun. Oh and some of the bathrooms that I had to use made out houses look like heavenly toilets. :) Yesterday I was a lot better and am doing good today thankfully. :) 

All is well here. We are still preparing and helping Visente, and Lilian prepare for baptism as well as other people but them for this month. That's the goal. Change is hard and we are trying to patiently help others make big changes in their lives. It's definetely a challenge but I know with the guidance of the Holy Ghost and as each person we teach turns to our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement they will have the power to change. 

The Book of Mormon is a great blessing. It is a very powerful testament of Jesus Christ, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Church is true. Those who read it myself included have come closer to Jesus Christ and have been strengthened to overcome trials and changes in life.

I need to go but will hopefully talk with you on Wednesday. Keep having a great Summer! I love you all so much! Keep going strong! 

Love Elder Conover



July 9, 2014 (Wednesday)

Hello dear family,

Ive been transfered to Roatan!!! haha no I'm just kidding I'm going strong here in Jazmines! None of the 6 Elders here are being transferred. Today I have 6 months here! This will be my 5th transfer. I'm grateful to spend more time here with my companion, the other Elders, the members, and our investigators. The only problem is the more time I spend here the harder its going to be to leave. 

We were given permission to watch one game in the World cup so we watched the game today. Argentina vs. Holland. So that was kind of fun even though the game wasn't too exciting. We stopped watching after the first overtime. 

In the morning today we played soccer with the other elders and a few of our investigators at the church. Three brothers Fransisco (17) Denis (16) and Orling (14). It was a lot of fun. Then we went to the super market ¨La Colonia¨. It's where we always buy our groceries for the week. Today I started buying for my 72 hour kit. 

I love you all so much and hope that your week is going good! Please keep praying with all of your might for our investigators. That they will soften their hearts, read the Book of Mormon, and recognize answers to their prayers. 

Love Elder Conover




Thornton Family Reunion
Dear Family,

I am going to miss so much going to the family reunion this year. It's always so fun. I love you all so much and miss each one of you. I hope that all the family (including those I don't have the emails of) is doing great. I owe much of who I am to each one of you. Thank you for giving me a great legacy. Have an enjoyable weekend. Send my love and let everyone know that I am doing great and love what I am doing. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that the work of salvation is true and marvelous. I encourage each one of you with all of my heart to continue working to bring souls unto Christ. God is our loving Heavenly Father and He wants the very happiest life for each one of us and He wants us to return to Him and live with Him and our families forever. I know this to be true and I don´t know what my life would be like without this knowledge. I love you. Be happy, we have the truth. :) I know that we are not alone as we share the gospel. Have a great week!

Lots of love from Honduras, Elder Conover

2 Nephi 31:20 

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Keep Building the Kingdom of God: June 30, 2014

Hola familia!

Thanks for all of your emails! I love you all so much! Sadly I am almost out of time so I can't write as much as I would like to.

Things are going good here in Jazmines but could be going better. Last night and today I have been sick but I took some tylenol and am starting to feel a little better. 

Things are going alright with our investigators but it's so frustrating when they don´t keep their commitments! I think I feel a tiny portion of what Heavenly Father feels when people don´t keep their covenants. The good thing is we have been finding a ton of new investigators! 

Visente sadly did not pass his baptism interview again. He still is not fully commited to keep the commandments. He unlike many others though is growing and progressing a ton! He is now reading in Alma! He is also consistently coming to church. He has very strong desires to change. We wrote down a plan with him to help him overcome his temptations and are preparing him to be baptised at the end of July. 

This transfer has gone by super fast! I can't believe next week is transfers! We will see how that all goes. I almost have 6 months here in Jazmines! On Monday we will be writing in the morning. 

I have been studying more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I invite you all to study along with me this greatest act of love to make it possible for us to return to our Father in Heaven. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ leads His church today and that Thomas S. Monson and all the Apostles are special witnesses of Him and when they speak it's the same as listening to Jesus Christ. (D&C 1:38) Keep building the Kingdom of God. I know that He is the King of Kings and we are so blessed to be a part of His kingdom. 

I love you all so much! Keep having a great summer! :) Adiooooooooos!

Love from Honduras! June 23, 2014

Hola Familia!
Thank you for all of your loving letters. I have the best support team in the world. Things are going good here in Jazmines! Time is flying by as we are now half way through the change! On Saturday we had the baptism of Hermana Josepha! It was beautiful. She is 89 years old! The plan was to have her baptism next saturday but we felt that she was prepard to be baptised a week early. She also told us of a very interesting dream she had. She told us that the Lord told her in a dream that He was only waiting for her to be baptised to take her. When I was teaching her last week one day with our Zone leader Elder Cluff she told us that she had everything ready for her funeral. We decided we better baptise her! I thought she was talking about white clothes for her baptism but Elder Cluff told me she was talking about her funeral! I hope she still lives with us a little longer! She is so awesome and a great example of faith. She can barely walk even with a cane but wakes up early every sunday morning and walks to the church on her own.
Hermano Visente for some personal reasons didn't pass his interview for baptism but we have been visiting him practically everyday and yesterday the Bishop went with us and now he is fully commited to be baptised this Saturday! He will have another interview on Thursday. It should turn out well! Please pray for him.
Lilian and Irma, sister and cousin of Henry who was baptised in May are also preparing for baptism! Please keep them in your prayers as well.
Tomorrow we have a conference with Elder Ochoa! It is going to be wonderful! I'm very excited! I wish that I could write more but I'm out of time. Thank you for all of your love. Keep having an awesome summer! Talk to you next week! ;)
Love Elder Conover