SUPER BAUTISMO!

What a week this week! We started off by getting a trio of Hermanas here! A bit wierd to see trios haha. We started running because my comp has gained a lot and wants to go home skinny haha. We actually woke up super early this morning and went running with a member! Its awesome to be running again!  

Anyway, we had four baptisms!!!! Francisco, Francis, Katerin, and Steffy!!! We had what they called a SUPER BAUTISMO! All the missionaries in the stake have their baptisms in the stake center, but we ended up being the only ones with baptisms. I baptized Francisco and my comp baptized the rest! 

The other picture is a game of chess we played on our floor with stuff form the kitchen and bathroom haha. (we are in a battle of chess, but I am winning 9-5) Other than that we had a normal week with great success! 

Hope all is well back home! I love being here in Honduras! I learn so much every day and I wouldnt trade it for anything! Keep me updated on all the news and know that I love you all! I love this gospel and the way it really changes lives and being able to be a part of that changing process in peoples lives!!! Love you and have a great week! 

Elder Oxborrow

Week 20

Hey Everyone! This week was pretty great! We had a good amount of success and I am definitely wiped out each day from all the walking! We have had a bunch of lessons with four children, Francisco, Francis, Steffy, and Katerin. They each want to baptized next week, but they have had some problems with coffee haha so hopefully they can kick that habit! We will be having a giant baptism next week with each investigator in the zone so I think their will be a ton of people! That will hopefully work out! 

I will try to send a letter home this week, but it will most likely take a long time to get to you guys... so patience. haha! Not too many crazy things happened this week, just getting out and doing the Lords work! I love being and here and being a part of all this! I am doing great health wise and everything else wise. Love hearing from all of you and I love this gospel! 

Elder Oxborrow

Conference was great

Well, conference has come and gone and how great it was! Priesthood sesh was easily my favorite! How great those talks were! Even though I could not understand everything, I could feel the power in their words! Fantastic to hear from everyone! We had a pretty slow week, but we were able to find someone that the Hermanas before us left in the carpeta. Apparently after two lessons, he left for a work trip and came back about a week ago. He told the Hermanas that he had recieved his answer and would be baptized before he left. When we talked to him he told us he had a few questions that he got from his work associates on his trip, but we were able to correct all these and we committed him to baptism as well. We recieved two new Hermanas so we pretty much spent all our time setting up appointments for them with members and helped them get to know the area. 

Also, There is not really easter here. They call it Semana Santa. Which is basically just that they all get off work and go to the beach and eat this really weird food called Miel. Super different! Haha Well That wraps up this week! 

Love ya!

Elder Oxborrow

Weekly Stuff...

Well this week was a very normal, quiet week, but we got a lot done. Yesterday we were able to bring six investigators to church! The only thing is that all of them had less than sixteen years... So yeah, we had a lot of lessons with little kids this week haha.

This week I finished reading the Old Testament! Yay! Never want to do that again haha... Just be thankful that we have the Book of Mormon... So much better... Now I am reading the New Testament. If you havent read it, I would advise you to read it! It has helped me so much to realize what it means to be Christ- like and what are his characteristics! It is fantastic.

Not sure if you remember Maynor, our really cool investigator, but we had a lesson with him on The Restoration and he told me immediately that he is going to be baptized. He said he felt something he hadnt felt before while reading from Nephi´s bold promise in 2 Nefi 33: 10-12! He has so much faith and it is awesome to be a part of all of it.

I recieved the credit card finally! haha after four months... Anyway, that is about all for me this week. We are working hard and loving it! Love all you guys! 

Elder Oxborrow

Note from another email:

If you want to know what music we are forced to listen to here just look up Romero Santos. Him or Prince Royce, both are quite popular here. It is called Bachata and at first I hated it, but I dont know what is happening

Happenings of the Week!

Well, this week was pretty great! To start off, on tuesday, Elder Zitting (the ZL) and I went on divisions to an area called El Chile/ Episcopal. We had a day of contacting here because we don´t have a single investigator there. We had a ton of success! One of the best parts of the day, however, was when we were walking past two guys playing basketball. The wife of one of the guys was sitting on the bench watching. Elder Zitting started a conversation with her and she was pretty shy. The husband noticed two guys in white shirts and ties interrogating his wife and he quickly came to the rescue.His name was Minor. Once we had a chance to explain who we were he seemed interested. We asked them if they would like to be baptized and start their journey back to Christ. They said they would love to. We were excited about that as we left, but we forgot to ask them where they lived. 

Well the week went on and we got busy in other places. Then, on friday we went to an area close to El Chile called Villa Isabel. I was sure that it would be hopeless to ask someone where they lived because I didnt even know if they lived near there. So we contacted a few people and went to leave. The member I was with Marvin (a 17 year old getting ready for his mission) asked me if we could do one more house, so I asked him which one he wanted to do. He chose one we had already passed and yelled "buenas" (which is like knocking on the door here) and out came a guy named Carlos. He didn´t seem interested at all, so dissapointed, Marvin turned to leave. That is when I felt to ask him if he knew a Minor. He surprisingly said, "yeah, he´s my best friend. He lives two houses down." He showed us the way and joined us in a lesson with him. We taught about the Book Of Mormon and Minor was absolutely in love with it! I think because of that, Carlos opened up, because after that he took us back to his house to share it with his family. Anyway, that was just a little miracle of the week that I got to be a part of! 

The work is going fantastic and I love to see the mighty changes that are happening in the hearts of those we teach! Every lesson we have just strengthens my testimony even more, whether or not they accept. 

Also side note, we are going to have the chance to listen to Elder Anderson on the 14th! How awesome is that! 

Anyway, love you guys so much and hope the best for this week and all it contains. Especially Shaynas wedding! Also the tennis team in Saint George...

Yo se que vive mi señor!

Elder Oxborrow

Another week!

Hey everyone! Another great week here in Honduras! We combined the Puerto Cortes Zone with the Choloma zone, so this week we were on the bus a lot! We had to take a bus to Cholome which is about 45 minutes away for Zone meeting on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, we went to San Pedro for a multi zone meeting! That was really fantastic! Hermana Dester can't really speak Spanish so she gave a talk in english and President Dester helped translate. They talked on the importance of being missionaries at all times. Elder Ochoa took pictures with all of us and gave a talk on personal study. Really great!

We have been asked by Elder Ochoa to make a list with each family in the ward of any one that we can visit so we have been getting a lot of referral's lately. Hopefully those can turn into new investigators and eventually baptisms!

Anyway, other than that we had a good week with plenty to do! We made a cake for one of our investigators with a birthday! It was on Saturday night so we were fasting which was highly disappointing, but we love seeing them enjoy it! We had a service project on Saturday as well just machete-ing a hill behind a members house to plant cacao trees! We got some pretty nice blisters, but were hoping by the end of the mission we with have callouses on our hands so we don't get them anymore... Anyway time is about up for me here in Puerto Cortes and its time to head back to Campana! 

Love you Guys a ton and have a great week! 

Elder Oxborrow

Cacao plant to make chocolate

Monkey

Cambios!

Well, changes have come and gone and I did, in fact, recieve a new  comp, but still here in Campana. Elder Tomas is from Guatemala and is super great! He has a super strong testimony and I think we are going to have a lot of success! Also, obviously he is  latino. So that has been fun! This week we have a member of the seventy coming to speak to us in San Pedro! I am super excited to hear from Elder Ochoa! That will be on wednesday.

This week was a bit difficult just with showing my comp our area, that I was still learning. We have a really large area so we had a bit of a slow week, but I am ready to really work hard this week! One of our investigators will be getting married pretty soon and the day after be baptized! They  asked us to help with the food. I hope we can, but I would understand if president doesnt think we should. That would take a lot of time and a bit of money. We have another investigator who is really progressing quite quickly and already has a testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon! Both those investigators names are Carlos haha so yeah.

We didnt have mail becuase of changes this past week so I will tell you next week if it has come! I would plan on like two more weeks at least, but who knows... 

Anyway, thats it for me this week. Hope you guys have a good week! 

Yo espero que todos de sus sueños se hagan realidad.

Elder Oxborrow

Baptisms!

Well changes are among us! I am not sure yet if my trainer is staying here or leaving this change. He has four and a half months here so he is definitely eligible to leave. He and I really are hoping that he stays, but whatever happens is the Lord's will! 

This week was a really slow week up until friday. We had a couple service projects fall through and such, but we still had a pretty good week! On saturday, Mireyli was baptized by Hno. Santos, a convert of three years. It was his first baptism so he had to take three tries to get it right, but no one is perfect.

On sunday, Francisco and Lourdes were baptized! They were my first real converts, from the first lesson all the way to baptism! They are absolutely fantastic and they will have the chance on friday to go to the temple for some baptisms for the dead! I am so happy for them! They were my comps favorite investigators he has had as well. He has almost read the whole Book Of Mormon and has already started in The Pearl of Great Price!

I am completely extatic to be able to help these people learn how important they are to Heavenly Father! 

This week we also founda guy named Levi in an area we hadn't been before. We had a really good lesson with him and asked him to come to church, but he gave us the same answer everyone gives us here. That they have to go to their church at noon and the pastor might not be too happy. So, we bore our testimonies and left. Well, sunday came and he showed up at church! He waved to us from the back, but all the seats near him were taken. He came to us after and said that he would be coming here from now on because he felt way more welcomed here! Really awesome guy and I don't think it will take him long to get the answers he needs to be baptized! 

Also, I went to the zoo last p day so I have pics on that as well...

Anyway, love you guys and hope you guys have a great week! 

Elder Oxborrow

Week 5...

Well... it is already the last week of changes. We are hoping that Elder Jones stays so that he can see all the wonderful investigators we have had be baptized. This week was a whole lot of trial and success, but I have absolutely loved the five weeks I have had. The person that said that you will learn more about yourself and the gospel in the two years on your mission than twenty years of normal life was absolutely right. 

Last monday night we made a huge pan of macaroni with real cheese and gave it to some of the families that did not have anything to eat that night. I always love doing that kind of stuff! We had a ton of citas with our investigators that fell through, but the really faithful ones always are open for our lessons. One of the biggest trials of this week was when Jose Antonio, one of our top investigators started avoiding us. He would pretend not to be home and send one of the neighbours to tell us that he was out. Then, he finally came out with the Book of Mormon in hand, (which we noticed he had clearly read because of his book mark in a completely different chapter) and told us that he could no longer see us. His wife was strongly opposed to us and his daughter refused to be present when we were there. It felt just like how Alma describes it when those he had taught were decieved  "my soul was racked." 

After that, we had a great last lesson with Mireily, who will be baptized on saturday. We also had plans to baptize two others, Francisco and Loordes. They are absolutely fantastic and love the gospel so much already. We told them that they could go to the temple on the 21st and do baptisms for the dead if they were baptized this saturday. This would also mean that they would have to go to church on sunday because of the rule that you need three church attendances for baptism. They decided to go for it! However, they did not come to church this last sunday. This means they will not be able to make it to the temple for a long time... We got pretty upset about that, but we couldn't stay upset because every time we visit them, the spirit is so strong! 

We have had a somewhat less productive week, but we feel that this week is going to be the week we really start to kick in into gear and get to work. We had another set of divisions, which was with the zone leaders this week. They are definitely the most obedient missionaries I have met in this mission. I have so much to learn from them and look forward to learning it! 

Other than that, I am doing very well! Love it here and look forward to the next change here! The people are wonderful and the members even more so. Love you guys and I hope Jarin had a great birthday. Love you and wish you a good week!

Elder Oxborrow

Elder Oxborrow

Misión Honduras San Pedro Sula Oeste

Apartado Postal 1956

San Pedro Sula, Cortés, Honduras

C.A.

Good Week

Well, this week we had some really good days and some really bad days haha. One day we had nine referrals! All of them are really good too! But, the next day was really slow and unsuccessful.

So we went up to Familia Calderone for lunch, but this time they are super excited to see me especially. They kept calling me chef and cook and then they pointed to the chickens. They also gave me a machete... So we had chicken nuggets for lunch! Pretty crazy.

We have been having a lot of luck in the new areas and the areas that are farther away from the Missionary houses, so the days we are there are usually the good days. We had divisions and I went with an Elder Itaehau. He is Tongan and loves his ukulele. We had pretty good success together, but he eats so much haha and so fast! It was actually interesting to watch... 

Anyway, I think we are going to be having a lot of success in the next change because of the amount of really good investigators here.

So James got his call huh? That is pretty cool! He will really great! How was kaitlin´s concert thing at the tabernacle? I really miss seeing temples all the time. It will just be that much cooler when I get back! 

I am no longer sick and I am absolutely loving it! Love hearing from all of you... Except for Brenden this week (he should know what I am saying) and love every one of you! I am doing great! See ya!

Elder Oxborrow

Finally Got Pictures!

So yeah, I finally have some pictures and not as much time... so this will be a bit short.

We had a baptism! Yay! But also I got sick again pretty bad... But I seem to have recovered so all is well. We baptized Jonatan on saturday in the greenest water I have seen in a baptismal font...

I am pretty sure we are going to have a couple more baptisms coming up here pretty soon so that is awesome! Francisco and Loordes are progressing very quickly and they have already gone to church twice! All is going very well and spanish is still pretty difficult, but I am starting to get the hang of it I think... We went to the beach today so that was fun! Anyway, we are gonna be going here soon so see ya! 

Con amor,

Elder Oxborrow

Sarcasm, as it turns out, is not universal

Hey guys! This week was an awesome week! We had a bunch of success! First off, one of our investigators, Francisco, that I have been here the whole time to teach, has committed to baptism! He came to church yesterday and loved it! We took over an area from some former Hermanas so we have so many investigators/ inactive members that we need to visit... We haven't had to go contacting because we already have like a hundred people on the list. So really awesome, but really confusing and stressful as well. The other day we took Gloria, an awesome member that lives near us, to some of the lessons. They went awesome, but the thing about Honduras is that there are a ton of churches! There are like five different churches on our block! So these churches love to sing and play guitar and clap. The only problem with that is how terrible EVERYONE is at singing around here! Not even kidding, I sound like Josh Groban compared to these guys! Whenever we hear them we have to ask, is that a bar or a church? So I say "Oh this is my favorite song" while they are singing and my companion laughs, but all the natives we were teaching were like, "Wait really? It sounds terrible." So we spent the next ten minutes explaining what sarcasm is... so yeah... 

To answer your questions, my zone doesn't include San Pedro Sula. I am what the other Elders call a "Jungle Rat" because I am in the jungly area. My area is called Nueva Campana. We mostly eat Baleadas down here which are tortillas (corn or flour) with manteca (an almost sour creamy thing,) frijoles, eggs, and if you are lucky, chicken. We have these almost every meal with the members. 

Our whole area only has one ward, so it is pretty hard to get the people that live like three miles away to go... (no one really owns a car) and we are about an hour and a half from the mission home...

Have fun at the dance Kaitlin! Just hope you don't get sent to the fairgrounds like we did... haha anyway have an awesome week everyone! I am doing great here! Love you guys!

Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos,

Elder Oxborrow