Great Experiences

Hola mí familia!

How is everyone doing? Thank you for all of your kind emails. 

Last Wednesday we had a multi zone conference with Elder Amada from the quorum of the 70. It was awesome!!! We started at 8 in the morning, paused for lunch and then continued to 3 in the afternoon. We had the most incredible discussion about a huge variety of subjects. We all participated by asking questions and answering his questions. He truly taught with the spirit and for the needs of each of us. I learned a ton. My understanding was truly enlightened. Among the many things we talked about one very important thing was something I have been trying to understand for years. How to be a man for others (think about and serve others more than myself). My football coaches, Bishop Juchau, President Scoresby, other leaders and Dad more than anyone have always taught me this concept. I know there is only one person who has ever mastered this way of being. Our Savior Jesus Christ. I am no where near where I would like to be but the conference enlightened my understanding a little more on this subject. This way of being is perhaps the most difficult and important concept we can ever learn in this life. It's following the Savior and saying "thy will be done" to the Father in all situations, it's forgettng about personal concerns and trials, and serving others. I do not believe I will master this way of being in this life but it is a subject I love very much and hope to improve on everyday. I did not want the conference to stop. It was wonderful. 

On Sunday Elder Flores and I got up early and left the house a little before 7:30 to go and remind many of our investigators and less active members about Church. We walked two of our investigators named Isis, and Angela to Church. They are sisters with Claudia. We watched the Testaments with them and they are progressing a ton! After we helped them into the church it was about 8:45. We ran to the other family of investigators we wanted to bring to church. We had to wait a few minutes for them to get ready and by the time we left the house it was 9! Because it was so late we jumped in a taxi with everyone and made it to church just as they were singing the opening hymn. I wish people were a little more punctual here but it makes for a fun adventure. We had 11 investigators at church. We are very happy with the progress many of our investigators are making and are working as hard as we can to help them into the waters of baptism. After Church Isis paid tithing, and we haven't even taught them about tithing! They have a goal to be baptized March 15! Elder Flores and I have been teaching with all the conviction and power we can. We are teaching a "teacher of teachings"; he is sort of like a pastor but he goes around to different churches and teaches. His name is Abraham. Our last lesson he told us he doesn't believe that Heavenly is a person but he does believe that he is our Father. He says that God is power. My companion shared some great scriptures with him and we shared our testimonies of God the Father, Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Ghost. Although he did not accept our teachings he was very respectful. I pray that he will open his mind and soften his heart, and most importantly let the spirit teach him these truths. I am so grateful for my testimony in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. These experiences everyday strengthen my testimony so much.

Today we had pday with President Klein! In January we were the "Celestial Zone" so our reward was a pday with Pres. Klein and Sister Klein. It was a lot of fun! We played frisbee golf and ultimate frisbee, played pictionary, and ate a delicious lunch with my first homemade cookie in 5 months! haha It's always so great to spend time with them. 

My Spanish is getting a lot better and I can understand almost everything! It is such a blessing and feels so good. :) I love you all so much and wish I could share more of the experiences I am having here in the mission! It is miraculous! Have a great week! :) 

Love Elder Conover

P.S This picture is Elder Flores and I last pday on this horse wagon thing that a 10 year old drives around selling this fruit called guineo, they are like bananas but don't taste too good. :) haha Him and his brother who is 12 and drives another one go around selling this fruit together. 

 Last pday we ate at this awesome restaurant called Mitchels. It was a lot of fun. I ate a big philly steak sandwich. It was super good. 

We bought pizza for this family and ate dinner with them because Gracie the girl on the far right gave us the refference of Skarlet who was baptized. Its the reward we have for the members who give us a reference of someone who gets baptized. 

First time since my baptism being in the water of a baptismal font (for the living):)

Dear Family,

Where we normally write is out of service right now. We didn't get to these other computers until way later than we would have liked but I will try to write as much as I can. 

On Saturday we baptized Joanh! He is 15 years old. He is awesome! A great young man in the ward named Suami is his best friend. Suami deserves all the credit because every week he brings Joanh to seminary, and church, and is with us every lesson with Joanh. We are so happy because Joanh will always have the support system of Suami. I was blessed with the opportunity to baptize Joanh.  It was my first time since my baptism back in Orem in 2003 that I've been in the water of a baptismal font. That is doing baptisms for the living. It was different from the river in Sonaguera but just as wonderful the experience. It is a very special thing being in the waters of baptism with someone who you teach and teach and love so much. Elder Reid and Elder Duran in the same district as us also had a baptism at the same time. A boy named Marvin. The baptismal service went great the only bummer was somehow the young man who was taking pictures for me with my camera erased all my pictures! ahh!!! It is quite sad. The good news is I have all the pictures saved on my flash drive up until the baptism of Skarlet. Today I transferred the pictures Elder Flores has from Skarlet's baptism, ¨christmas¨, and Joanh's baptism to my flash drive. Things could have been a lot worse. I'm so glad I had almost all my pictures saved. I have no clue how all the pictures were erased. But anyways the baptism was awesome! I'm so happy that we have investigators who are progressing. 

Sunday, Moms birthday! Before church we went to pass by an investigator that we have to walk with her and her kids to church. When we got to the house she told us she wanted to go but wasn't going to be able to because she ran out of a specific powdered milk named two pints that her kids needed and none of the pulperias(the small stores all over the place) sell this milk. Only the big stores in the center do. But guess what?! That is the exact milk that we had in the house and have been using! My companion saw they had two bikes and asked her if we could borrow the bikes and ride back to our house and grab the milk and then head to church. Jahaira the Mom said that they would get ready as they waited. It was an awesome ride back to the house. Just like good ole times mtn biking back home. The only difference, the bike. It worked good enough though and we hauled back to the house, grabbed the milk, rode back to her house, and made it to church just as the Bishop was opening. Not only was it a fun experience, but a great testimony builder that there are no coincidences with an omniscient being, our Heavenly Father. Another similar experience happened later that night also. We were visiting people with Suami and our ward mission leader. We wanted to visit Manuel but he wasn´t home. We talked there in the street for a little bit about who else we could visit and then remembered Manual's next door neighbor was given to us as a reference a few days earlier by a member. Right as we walked to the front of the house the Mom named Digna was panicking and telling us that her heart was hurting so bad. She was trying to talk with someone on the phone and wasn't able to connect. With George, the ward mission leaders, phone we helped her connect. She told us that her Dad is about to die and is on his way to the hospital. She started to cry a lot. We talked to her and asked her if she would like a blessing of comfort. My companion gave her a blessing. We told her we are missionaries for the Church and gave her a plan of Salvation pamphlet. She then told us that she was baptized a while ago but has not been active. She told us she needed to start going to Church again. We set up a time to visit her again this Thursday. Keep Digna in your prayers. Another incredible example that the spirit is literally guiding us exactly where we need to go at exactly the right time. 

I love you all so much. I hope those of you who went skiing today had a great time! Also all those who did other things. I hope you all have the best week ever. We are trying as hard as we can to get Renae and Marixa married this week and baptized but it may not be possible until next week. Pray that all will go smoothly. How'

s the work of salvation going back home? Keep being the best family ever. Count your blessings. Hasta luego! 

Love, Elder Conover

Happy Valentines!

Hola Familia!

Thank you for all of your emails. I took some time today to respond a little more to each of your emails so this email is going to be shorter. I'm so happy each week to hear from each one of you. I am so blessed to call you my family.

We are working with 4 different couples that need to get married before they can be baptized right now. It's quite the different culture here. So many people here just ¨live together¨. It's quite the long, costly, and difficult process trying to get them married. We are having a dinner with member family the Rodriguez´s and two of the couples tonight. We are going to share a message about the importance of marriage and play a fun game with them.

We are working with a young man named J__, he has a great friend named Suami in the ward. He has been going to seminary which by the way they have at night time here in the church. He is super awesome and happy for his  baptism this coming Saturday.

M__ is one of my very favorite investigators to be teaching. He didn't make it to church yesterday which was a bummer but we taught him yesterday in the afternoon. He is reading the Book of Mormon and all the pamphlets we give him to read. His testimony is stronger each time we teach him. I always feel the spirit so strong and feel so much joy with him because he is an honest seeker of truth and is learning so much. Yesterday he asked us what our opinion was of a little book the Jehovah witnesses gave him. (so awesome he would ask us that question) I told him that he can read many different things but we invite him to read the BOM which is the most correct book in the World and that we are here to testify of the one and true church. We have a goal for his baptism March 8th. He has accepted to prepare for that date.

We have grown to become great friends with a family who are missionaries for another Church. N__ the Dad told us it's his work so I think they get paid so it's very hard for them to change. I know one day if they truly pray with faith they will receive an answer and change. We testified that families can be for eternity through the covenants we make in the Temple and shared with N__ the Plan of Salvation. He has his doubts but I know he is running the truth we have of Gods plan through his mind. We are eating dinner with them tomorrow. They are great people. Pray that they will pray with real intent and change their lives.

We have many other investigators, I wish I could explain the situation of each one of them but I'm out of time. I love you all so much! Have a super good Valentines Day and Happy Birthday Mom! Everyone give Mom a big hug for me. Until next week! Mucho amor! Adios!

Love Elder Conover

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!!!

Love Elder Conover

Here's his info again:

Elder Eric Conover

San Pedro Sula East Mission

12 Calle Av. Circunvalacion S.O.

Edif Yude Canahuati, 3 Nivel, Oficina 4

San Pedro Sula, Cortes, Honduras C.A