Heading for Honduras!: Miracles, tender mercies, and life as a missionary‏

Dear family,

First of all... I GOT YOUR AMAZING CHRISTMAS PACKAGE! Thank you so much!!! Last Tuesday we had a zone meeting and at the end of the meeting the secretaries of the mission brought in a bunch of things, they told me one of the packages was mine! I was so pumped!! I had no clue I would be receiving it the day after you told me it was still here in Honduras. I did pray it would make it to me like Dad told me to, and sure enough the next day! What a joy it was to just hold my personal package from my family. At the same time I also got the package from the Robisons! I opened them both right there as we were waiting for lunch. Elder Suazo is in my zone here which has been fun but I had to make sure he didn´t see the stocking. haha [I put Elder Suazo's name on one of the stockings, thinking he would still be his companion for Christmas when he received his package. I will not do that again:)] I only opened the big present at the bottom, my back pack! I immediately put things into my back pack. It is perfect! I love it and it's much more comfortable to use than my other bag, hiking these dirt roads and trails. I also ate a few of the delicious treats Emily made and I'm guessing the other chocolate treats Mom made. They are so good! I wanted to eat a few because we started a zone fast that day also right after we ate lunch as a Zone. After the meeting I spent the afternoon in divisions with one of our zone leaders Elder Santizo in his area. I taught with him that afternoon in his area and stayed the night in his house.

I waited until the next morning to open the stockings with my companion Elder Flores in our house. So awesome you guys sang Joy to the World because we also sang Joy to the World in Spanish before we opened our presents! We took some pictures and then opened our stockings together. My companion was so happy, we were both so happy!:) He said it was the first stocking he has ever had. Thanks for everything! All the things that I wanted! My companion and I have loved the music, backpack, laundry bag, finger nail clippers, hand sanitizer, the super delicious treats, granola bars, protein powder (the writing on the bags was smudged, what did it say Dad?), and most of all reading the cards and looking at the pictures. The pictures you sent are so great. Thank you so much for everything that was in the package. What a challenge that package was but know that even though it was a bit late it was a beautiful, Honduras, Christmas morning. I felt very close to each one of you and am so grateful for your love. Thanks Emily for the Feliz Navidad banner you made. One of the first things we did was hang it up in our house. I love it. Everything has been so great to have. I am so blessed to have you as a family. Thanks for your support and love from home.

Saturday we had a baptism! My companion baptized a girl named E__. She is 9 years old. A week or so ago she told us her Mom wasn't going to allow her to be baptized until she was 12 but one day we were teaching E__ and we invited her Mom to join us in the lesson. My companion shared some great scriptures with her that I'm so glad he knew, and I bore my testimony of the blessing it has been being baptized at age 8. By the end of the lesson she was okay with the idea of her daughter being baptized. She joined us for every lesson after and by this last Friday she was completely willing to support her daughter in her decision. I know the spirit can soften hearts. The baptism went great! It was my companion's first baptism so that was awesome! Not quite like the river in Sonaguera but it was a beautiful service. There was a lot of support from the members and we

also had a few investigators who came. E__'s Mom was there and I hope one day she will follow the example of her daughter.

Yesterday was a special day. The blessing of my little brother Cannon. Fasting has become more meaningful to me and in a way easier. I fasted for you Dad. My companion also fasted to have three more baptisms this month. Here in the mission we start our fast after lunch on Saturday and break our fast eating lunch Sunday. I bore my testimony during fast and testimony meeting. My first time at the pulpit in this Ward. There was a record attendance of 163 people. Spanish is starting to flow a lot easier, especially when I am speaking with the Spirit. A great tender mercy of our Heavenly Father was I also said the closing prayer around 10:15 my time here which is 9:15 your time. Which I'm guessing is around the time Dad blessed Cannon. We may have been praying at the same time. :) It's the little things like this that always remind me that Heavenly Father is watching out for me.

Sunday night we were blessed again with an amazing experience. Some of our lessons fell through so we were walking around contacting people, trying to find someone to teach. After nicely being rejected by two or three people, we were walking down a street (by this time it was dark) still looking and I said hello to a man in his late 50´s who was walking by the side of his house. I almost kept walking but turned and started talking to him. We asked him if he had time to hear a short message about Jesus Christ and he let us in! We sat with him on his front porch in some awesome big wood rocking chairs. We taught him the Restoration. The lesson we usually teach first to our investigators. One of the most spiritual lessons I have ever been a part of. I know that all the difficulties we had before meeting him, his name is M__, was a part of the great plan of our omniscient Heavenly Father. He accepted our invitation to be baptized if he received an answer to his prayer. He told us he was going to ¨go and consult.¨ We have our next lesson with him this Wednesday. I'm very excited! I felt a great joy during and after the lesson. It's experiences like these that keep me going.

Funny/cool: We were sitting and talking with a lady who is a member at her house (which by the way is made out of clay blocks) and her little boy who is probably 3 or 4 was just standing there casually with us completely naked. That one is for you Miriam and Abby. haha The night I was with Elder Santizo in his area we were walking home after our last lesson and had to pass these two very angry, fierce dogs. Before we got to the dogs he told me to pick up rocks and be ready. We slowly walked past the dogs as they barked and came after us but we faked throwing the rocks and threw a few and that kept them away from us. Once we got to the next turn in the road we started running. First time I've had to do that! A cool thing is some little kids I saw in the street made some sling shots of their own out of wood, some stretchy band stuff, and sucker wrappers for the sack part of the sling shot. They were having a lot of fun! Awesome.

Things are going great here in the mission! I learn and experience new things everyday! There is so much great potential here in this Ward. Many great things are headed our way. I love you all so much. Thanks again for the package and for all your emails. You are all doing such great things. Keep working hard and serving the Lord. I'm studying Hope now. How did Faith go for you guys? Have a fantastic week. Sorry I couldn't respond to all of your emails. The ensign this month is super awesome. Challenge you to read it. Many of the articles I'm sure Dad will love and all of you. Thanks for everything. I love you!!!