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