LIFE IS DANDY

What up World!

Quite the swell week here in Jardines del Valle. But just an update from last week, I definitely did make it out of the center of San Pedro Sula alive. On our way out though, a prositute screamed at me and then blew me a kiss soooo....yeah, that happened. Cross that one off the bucket it list I guess. One tell to the grandkids about haha. Aside from those shenangians, it was a great week. We had some awesome lessons with some awesome people. We had been teaching this one girl who is a college student here, but is from El Salvador. When she told her parents that she was meeting with us, they like freaked out on her and it caused all these problems. It made her super sad because she really liked what she was learning with us, but felt torn because if her family, so she decided last week it would be best to not continue. We were way bummed because she is seriously so cool, so we prayed and fasted for her, and then this week we got a phone call. After a week of no communication, she called us on Wednesday and asked when we could meet again! We were kind of shocked, but obviously super stoked. When we met up with her, she said that she felt was missing something after she decided to stop talking with us, and that she wanted to continue! She hasnt fixed things with her parents, but she knows this is what she wants to do. It was seriously the coolest thing. She is going to be baptized. On Friday, I got to have my first baptismal interview with someone. It was super cool/weird knowing that I had to be the one to do the interview, when I feel like I was being interviewed like last week for my baptism haha. The interview was super cool though. Im stoked I have the opportunitiy to do them now. Saturday was the most american day I have had in my entire mission. President Dester called the AP's in the morning and invited the whole house to breakfast at Denny's to celebrate the three birthdays that just passed. It was super cool to go hang out with him. Then at night, Elder Dawson and I got Subway for dinner and went to Cinnabon for dessert. I was thoroughly convinced Cinnabon was only an airport thing and didnt exist in the wild, but no. It is alive and well here on a street corner in Honduras. I seriously am so stoked to be in this area and be doing what we are doing. Life is dandy. Stay classy!

Elder Shuga

HONDURAN BEVERLY HILLS, LOVING THE MISSION

What Up World,
Another week has gone by in the Honduras version of Beverly Hills, and Im loving it. We are working crazy hard, so it feels like time is just flying by. You have to work super smart here because the people are just not as receptive as the majority of people are in other areas. Its quite fun haha. I guess I will just get right to some stories, because thats what the people want. I guess, I dont know haha. Ummmm I still cant get over how rich people are here. It like baffles my mind. I met a guy who has 3 Rolex's, all around the $10,000 price range. Like, American money. Crazy, right? I keep asking him to trade me, but he hasnt obliged yet. He will soften his heart one day. The majority of houses we go to have air conditioning, which is a whole new thing to the gangster's paradises Ive been living in for the past 10 months. I dont know if I like it more or less haha. Who am I kidding, its awesome. Crazy story time. We are teaching this lady who works in this clothing store closer to San Pedro. One day, she got a call from some gangsters saying she had to pay a "war tax", and that they hope she will follow their instructions so that there isnt a death in the family. That is like a COMMON thing here. Why are people so crazy?!?! We are praying that she will ok, and Im sure she will be, but it is still super scary. On a lighter note, we saw some miracles this week. We had a lesson with this lady that was SO awesome. She is the mom of two girls who are both return missionaries, and pretty much of all her own family is mormon, except her. They have been inviting her to church since essentially the beginning of time, but she has never gone. Well guess what? After our lesson with her, she went for the first time in her LIFE! So sick. It was so awesome. We celebrated the birthday of two missionaries (some of my best friends in the mission) who live in the house with us and have the same birthday, and one who's birthday is on wednesday. It was super fun. Living in a gigantic house with a bunch of cool friends isnt as bad as it sounds...haha. Life is super cool. My comp is the man, my area is sweet, and I seriously cry like every day from laughing so hard. I love the mission. Funny ending note: I am in the center of San Pedro Sula right now at an internet cafe because we had to come here to buy some stuff. In other words, I'm in the murder capital of planet earth. The biggest threat is this little girl sitting in this chair across from me, staring at me because I dont think she has ever seen green eyes. I think she wants to kill me and eat my eyes. Stay classy world!

Elder Shuga

RICHEST AREA IN THE MISSION, LIFE IS SUPER SWELL

Greetings, 

Well, quite a lot has happened this week. I left Cerro Verde, which was quite bittersweet. I have really come to love all the members, and especially the people I was able to teach. My last day there was crazy. When missionaries leave, if we dont say bye to everyone, they get really offended when they find out we left without saying goodbye. With that being said, its like IMPOSSIBLE to get to everyone. We were legit running around my area trying to say bye to everyone. I thiiiink I got everyone, but we will see who is still mad haha. I am in my new area now! Im in an area called Jardines del Valle, aka the richest area in the mission, and also the most difficult to work in according to the last mission president. So thats cool haha. Im a district leader now too, which means I just have to give training every tuesday. We will see how that goes! My new companion is Elder Dawson from South Jordan, Utah. He is super cool and has about 3 months in the mission. He reminds me of a mix between Steve Carrel and my cousin Adam haha. I live in the house with the office missionaries. So it is us, the AP's, and the secretaries. This house, and every other house around it that makes up our area, is GIGANTIC. It has 6 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, ALWAYS has water, and is just nuts. It is so big because it is the house that all the new missionaries stay in their first night in Honduras, and the ones the missionaries who are leaving stay in for their last night. I came here my first night, and now Im back. It is seriously so fun. Im way happy with where Im at. Some crazy stuff has happened this week. People said it would be way hard working here, but we put 2 baptismal dates and are killing it right now. We had to go on an adventure to save missionaries that got stopped by the police and didnt have their identification, because we happened to be in the truck with the secretary of immigration who is in charge of all that. Oh yeah, the office missionaries use a super nice truck, and we get the benefits of it sometime haha. It is super weird being over here after being in "normal" honduras areas for so long. It legit is like America. Everybody and their dog speaks english like SUPER well. Everything is just really weird around here haha. Life is super swell though ,and I couldnt be happier with where I got put. Im stoked to see what happens here! Stay classy!
Elder Shuga

BEGINNING OF THE END, CHOW CHOW, CHANGES

What Up World,

I forgot to write last week. I doubt any one noticed, I have been out 10 months. My mom is probably the only follower left haha. Well, it was quite the swell week here in Cerro Verde. We had two baptisms! One of this lady named Desiree, that is the mom of a recent convert. I remember knowing after the first day I met her that she would be baptized, and this week she was! She is seriously the best. It was an awesome service and everything was just dandy. It has been raining a ton here lately, but for the past couple days it has been SO hot with zero rain. I think this is the beginning of the end. Who knows. We had another baptism on Saturday as well. We baptized the daughter of a recent convert, and that was pretty interesting. This girl is seriously quite the character. Teaching her was an interesting experience, but it all worked out in the end haha. I really dont know what to type...so this is kind of awkward. I met 2 chow chow puppies this week and fell in love, so thats a thing. What else.... Yeah I got nothing haha. Ummmm well....Sorry this week is such a short letter! I dont really have too much to talk about. I have a change this week, so this is my last email from Cerro Verde. Bitter sweet. I seriously love these people here, and I think they at least tolerate me. It will be quite the bummer to leave, but I am stoked to see where I end up next in this sweet, sweet country. Stay classy world!

Elder Shuga

IMMIGRATION STRUGGLES, RAIN SEASON, INDEPENDENCE DAY

What Up World!

Be forewarned. This is going to be kind of a lame email, because it was kind of a lame week. Allow me to explain why. So, this week, we had to go to immigration TWICE to try to get my picture taken so I can get my residency card. The first time we did, we waited for like an hour, and it turned out they werent accepting people, so we had to come back the next day. So we come back the next way, and they do everything by alphabetical order, and I was the last one. Everyone does there thing, and then its finally my turn, and they go "oh, sorry. Youll have to come back another day. Its not working anymore". WHAT. We waited THREE hours in this building just for them to tell us it didnt work. What a waste of time. Then getting back to the area was ridiculous. What is normally a 20 minute drive was an hour because there was some accident as a result of the rain. The rain was pretty nuts though. Everything was pure river. It is quite the transition going from Arizona to a place like this haha. The other reason it was lame was because of this weekend. September 15 is like some independence day here, so all weekend it was just parades and all that jazz. The whole community was at these parades. No one was in there house. AKA, we couldnt teach anything haha. Great times. We had a baptism though! Her name is Kimberly. Quite the name if I do say so myself. She is super cool. She is a little girl who is the daughter of this convert who got baptized a couple years ago, and just turned 8 a couple months ago. Even though it doesnt look like it based on the pictures, she was really happy to be baptized haha. She didnt like how she looked in the little white jump suit thing, and she started bawling, hence why she looks like super sad in the pic hahaha. It was kind of sad, but kind of funny. Other than that, really not much happened. We played baseball today for P Day, which was quite the ordeal. As it turns out, latins have no idea how to play baseball hahaha. It was super funny. First we had to teach them how to use gloves, then how to hit a ball. The first one to hit a ball just stood there, because we forgot to teach him that he had to run the bases haha. Oh cultural differences, how you make me chuckle. Stay classy!

Elder Shuga

WALKING IN THE HIGH SEAS, "SO WAS I", OBLIGATION

Whats Up World!

Another week in Cerro Verde. Livin' the Honduran Dream. Monday was pretty nuts because I trekked through the most insane storm I have ever witnessed in my entire life. We walked home for 30 minutes, during a black out, in knee deep water. Everyone was all huddled up in their houses, looking at us, the only two people in the street like we were crazy. We kind of were, but we had to get home soooo there werent many options. But yeah, it was seriously so crazy. I was like screaming and laughing the whole time at how dramatic the situation was. It seemed like one of those pirate movies when they are on the high seas and the rain and wind is coming from every which way. It was basically like that, except we were in Honduras on a street, not in a pirate ship on the deep blue. Good times. We had some pretty swell lessons this week. I dont know why, but people felt the need to be sassy this week or something and try to call us out on stuff haha. Being a trainer for stuff like that is kind of interesting. Why you might ask? Because when missionaries start the mission, we have no idea how to answer people who actually know what they are talking about and use all this crazy information to try to prove what we say is wrong. I remember being with my trainer Elder Zura while he was going back and forth with this pastor and he totally killed it. But I just sat there like a chump and had no idea what was going on haha. Now, I have to be the one to talk because Merlos really isnt there to help me yet haha. It is pretty crazy how much you can learn here though, or even stuff you say that you didnt even know you knew. During my time training, I have yet to meet someone who considered themselves victorious coming out of a conversation with me about proving our doctrine wrong or something. That isnt a pride thing at all, I dont do anything, I just study and teach haha. It is just crazy to me to see how far I have come with all that stuff. For example, this Saturday, we stopped by a member's house and her cousin was there. We have met him before, but he is kind of crazy, so we havent really talked to him about the church. I felt that I should invite him to church on sunday, and he straight up said no. I asked him why and he said because he is catholic. Naturally, I responded with my favorite line; "So was I." haha. I asked him if he just didnt want to come or what, and he said "to be honest, I think the whole mormon church is a lie". Those are fighting words...just kidding haha. I asked him why he thought that (he couldnt back anything up. shocker haha) and then taught him a little bit about what we believe. After it was all said and done, he just said "So what time does church start tomorrow?" and then he actually came the next day. It was seriously so crazy haha. Merlos and I walked out of the "lesson" and were just shocked. It was awesome haha. That happened like 4 times this week. They all didnt come to church, but a bunch of people just tried to call us out. It was random. But, we came out on top every time and left them more interested in our church than against it. Twas grand. Not much happened this week! Life is good, the mission is good, and I completed 9 months this week! If anybody conceived a child on December 5th, the day I entered the MTC, it should be being born right about this time. Out of obligation it should be named Elder Shuga. Boy or Girl. Stay Classy!

Elder Shuga

BROKEN DRAIN BAPTISM, BITTERSWEET MOMENTS

What Up World!
Life is quite grand here in Cerro Verde. Just living the dream as usual. Where to begin. Well, we have this investigator, Patricia, who has been sick for like 3 weeks straight now. It is a super bummer because she wants to get baptized, but has to go to church one more time before she can, but is too sick to go. She doesn't know what is wrong with her, but she thinks it is related to her diabetes. Not cool. Pray for her! We also have another investigator, Desire, who is the mom of a recent convert named Liliana. Both of them are super super cool and think we are just the most fun people on the planet haha. Desire is seriously so receptive and has such a genuine desire to learn. She says that when Liliana got baptized, she didn't want ANYTHING to do with it. She didn't even show up to the baptism. But she told me that I've helped her get to a point where SHE is wanting to be baptized now. Nice haha. I say "I" as opposed to "we" because for whatever reason, Merlos is always SO nervous around these people. I'll say something and then look to him to talk, and he just looks back at me and whispers frantically "no no you go!! Keep going!" It cracks me up. I seriously don't know why he does it. It is just with them haha. But yeah, they are awesome. Now, on to Mario. He got baptized this week! We found him about a month ago through the bishop's wife, and he is the coolest. I guess he talked to missionaries like 2 or 3 years ago, and even went to church, but the missionaries dropped him for some reason. I don't know why. But we picked him back up, and he got baptized! Merlos baptized him, which is the first person he has ever baptized. Sweet memories <3 The service was kind of crazy though haha. Merlos had to baptize him twice because he said the prayer wrong, and the drain was broken on the baptismal font so by the time he did it the second time, there was almost no water left haha. Quite the experience. But it all turned out well in the end! I'll share one funny story. So we were sitting with an investigator by where he works, and there was this big old fluff monster Chow Chow dog. We asked our investigator what was up, and he said the dog just showed up. We sat with it for a while, and I fell in love with this ball of fur. It was so friendly and lovable and fluffy and nice. It was like laying on my lap and we started a forever friendship. Then, this lady frantically comes up saying, "have you guys seen my dog?!?! It's big and hairy and yellowish and-YOU HAVE IT OH MY GOSH THANK YOU!". Joking around I was like, "actually, this is my big, hairy, yellowish dog. I think you have it confused with another one. There are many like it, but this one is mine." and she got all defensive like "no! It's my dog!!! She just ran away! Seriously!". Sarcasm isn't that popular here haha. She realized I was kidding, then forcefully grabbed the dog (who didn't want to leave my side) and dragged it away. She was like punishing the dog as she walked away, telling it to not run away again and all that jazz, and I could have sworn I saw the dog look back at me with a single tear rolling down its fluffy face, imagining the broken dreams of the new life we could have built together. It was a bittersweet moment. Well, that's all for this week! Stay classy!
Elder Shuga