Good Changes

So, I will write this quickly....

This week, we had CHANGES.  I happily packed my companion´s bags and took him to La Esperanza (the name of the church where we meet).  My new companion is Elder Parker from Virginia.  He is pretty chill, he has a little more time than me in the mission.  He was already here in the city, but in another zone.

That meant that the first two days of the week were packing and saying goodbye.  They didn`t give us the changes until really late (apparently the President kept on making more changes).  I think that the President, knowing this was his last changes, wanted to leave the new President with as few problems as possible, so made an extra effort to make sure that all the changes were by revelation.  I am happy with mine!

I have already seen a change in the work and in the energy that we have working.  We plan on working up a storm here.  I am very excited.

As for Elder Capacho, he went to Yuscaran to train a new Elder, and he is the new Branch President.  The triple responsibility will help him grow, and I`m excited for him.

Other than that, nothing really exciting happened this week.  We just did what missionaries do!

Elder Henrie

Some Q & A with Mom:

Q. Where in VA is your companion from?  

A. Great Falls.

Q. What is his family like?  Is he the oldest, youngest?

A. He is the penultimo (second to last).  He has 4 kids too.  His mom is from Argentina and teaches english as a second language.  His dad is a radio engineer.

Q. What do you have in common?

A. We have a lot.  He is chill.

Q. How old is he?

A. 21

Q. Is he musical?

A. Yes.  He plays the piano.

Q. Does he have a girlfriend?

A. No.

Q. How long has he been a member of the church?

A. All his life.

Slow Week

I have really learned to appreciate how much bigger futbol (soccer) is here than in the USA.  Everyone watches the mundial (World Cup), except a few people.  One told me that the mundial was vain, and it distracted people from what should be important, which is God.  Based on what I have seen, he has reason.  It means I have had to learn a lot about futbol these few weeks.  Everyone here is cheering the USA, because they don`t like Mexico and because Honduras will probably be out before the end of this week.

We made curascos today for our activity, it was very rico and totally worth it.

I am happy and content.  

Have a good week, I know I will (I always manage to have a good week, Thanks God!).

Elder Henrie

Graig wasn't sure he had anything to say this week so I tried to help him along with 
some Q & A:

Q.  Are there some branch members you are getting along well with or who are helpful in your missionary work?

A.  Yes.  We are blessed to have a lot of energized people.  We also have a lot of missionaries leaving, and several returning.

Q. What are the people like down there? Is money tight, or are you in a richer part of the neighborhood? 

A. We have half and half, and the difference is prominent.

Q.  Describe one thing you have learned or thought about this week.

A. Changes.  They are so unsure and slighly scary.

Q.  How are you sleeping?  Fallen asleep in any more strange places?

A. I am sleeping fantastic. No.

Q.  What are you doing for service?

A. We painted 2 houses this week.

Q. Did you already have your changes or are they this week?

A. They are this week.  We think that Elder Capacho will go.

Q. When will you get to meet the new mission president?

A. July 1 he arrives.  I don``t know when.

Q. Who is your favorite person to teach right now?

A. Gissela y Lideni.  Two sisters.

Q. Does the Ward feed you?  Do you have a cook?

A. They give us dinner, we cook the rest.

Q. Are you still washing your clothes by hand yourself?

A. Yes, but I think that will change.

Q. How do you feel like your Spanish is coming?

A. Muy bien gracias.

Q.  Please describe your apartment... where you eat, sleep, and study.

A. We have 2 rooms.  A bedroom, and a large kitchen-study area.

Q. How are your shoes/feet holding up?

A. My boots need a little glue, but everything is good.

Q. Is there a place in town where you can get your boots repaired?

A. Yea, an investigator says he can do it.

Q. How many members would you estimate in your branch/ward?

A. A lot.  About 90-100 come every Sunday.

Q. What are you reading right now in the Book of Mormon?  

A. I have not been reading all the way through.  Recently I was reading Moroni.  Moroni 7:35-37 is my new theme for this change.  It is now on the front of my new planner.

Meetings

Note from Mom:  I just couldn't do a blog post for Graig without a picture.  When he said he played the violin in church this is what I pictured in my head, although I'm sure he looks much older now.  This picture was taken during his Senior Violin Recital in 2012.

In general this week was very good.

The biggest thing was that Berta was confirmed.  It was the first confirmation that I have been asked to participate, and it was a good feeling.  

I know that baptism is essential, but that it also has 2 parts.  The second part is just as special, and seals the ordinance.

I found out there is a Van Huesen store in our area (yes, its an american brand), and the stuff is cheaper here!  I only bought 2 ties, but my companion also bought a blender (it also sells household products).  I have no idea what he will do with it, but it will be interesting to see!

We had a conferencia de Zona (Zone Conference) this week.  Our last with President Hernandez.  It was the first time I have seen him cry.  He made it very clear to us that he loved us and wanted us to be the best we could be.  As missionaries, and fathers, and as men.  

All of the talks were well prepared and to the point, but the one prepared by a nervous Elder Henrie.  I was chosen from the audience to talk about the atonement (which was the focus of our personal study for the Month of May).  I think I basically talked about how I know that Jesus did the atonement because he loves us and knows our potential.  For him, the pain was worth it because now we can rise to be like God.  I talked about how we can share this with the people, that they have a potential that they can reach by Christ.

I also liked a lot a talk by one of the assistants about rededicating ourselves.  He talked about that when temples have changes made, they have to be rededicated to the Lord.  He challenged us to rededicate ourselves to the work and to being clean and holy like the temple.  It was very good.

Hermana Hernandez talked about how we need to have faith, and we need to remember the things that have happened.  We need to remember that Faith has done miracles in our lives, and this can strengthen us later.

The entire conference focused on finding our weaknesses and being better por medio de La Expiacion (by the atonement).  It was fantastic.

We also had a NDH with the president on Sunday.  I was asked to play the violin.  I borrowed a member`s violin and the member and I went.  We found another person there with a violin and so we decided to do a duet (we hadn`t practiced anything).  What followed was a miracle...we looked at a poor wayfaring man of grief and we quickly decided how we were going to play it.  Then, after tuning the violins, we just played it.  

I was told it was good, and sounded practiced, which was a miracle!

It was a good week with many tender mercies of the Lord.

Everyone here has Mundial (World Cup) fever, but that's normal for Honduras!

Thank you for all your support!

Elder Henrie

Pretty Normal Week with a Baptism

This week was good.

The best news is that we had a baptism.  Hermana Berta has been listening to the missionaries a long time now, and she has always said she wanted to be sure.  This time she decided she was.

Her baptism was beautiful, and private, meaning, not a lot of people showed up.  That was disapointing for us, seeing as we even announced it in church last week.  But it was good.

We worked a lot with her this week, making sure she was ready.  

The best thing I learned this week was how to make better Baleadas.  I have made them many times, but the masa (dough) has always come out hard.  Hermana Berta taught me how to make them better, and I tried it with the missionaries while on divisions with Elder Garcia.  The were fantastic.

We played a little water volley ball today, and then we came to write.

I still love my area, there is always something new to do, something new to find.  No 2 days are the same.  On Friday, while doing service, I found an aluminum chain bracelet, it is now a necklace on my stuffed moose (gift from Christmas).

We found some new people, and talked with the old ones.

It was a pretty normal week.

Elder Henrie

Rainy Season

So the biggest news is that I finally received the Christmas "Dear Elder" letters you all sent!  

I know...I think they had a backup or something.  It was kind of funny for all the Elders to be jealous about my HUGE stack of letters, and then to see that they are all 6 months late.

I enjoyed reading about Connie`s fundraisers (congratulations by the way, you raised a lot of money!), Family Christmas Parties, New Years with the Brown Family.  It was all quite great.  It was a little strange though, I mean, that was a LONG time ago.

In other news, 

We will have a baptism this week!  She has been an investigador for a very long time, and many missionaries have taught her.  I promise to send many photos.

We went to the temple with investigadores, and I felt like I brought home the distribution center (I bought triples y hymnarios para nuestros conversos esta mes).

The rainy season started in full force this week.  Meaning I pulled out my rain jacket (which I also haven`t used for 6 months) and it of course worked perfectly.

In terms of people progressing towards baptism, we are doing much better, we are bringing people to church and helping prepare those we have already been teaching.

Thank you for all your support!  Especially the letters (even if they do arrive 6 months late!).

I love you guys!

Elder Henrie