Hola everyone!! I hope you are having a wonderful halloween with a ton of candy and fun. What I wouldnt give to have some good american candy haha. Things here are good, the weather has been really cool, we have been having more rainstorms because of a hurricane in the gulf of mexico or something. Hopefully this all passes soon.
I had two baptisms saturday of Maria and her niece Isis. It was awesome, I was so happy to finally bring them both to baptism. It was a battle and it took a bit longer then I would have liked, but it was all worth it. Im not sure how november is looking with baptisms, but ill keep you all posted.
I am doing very well, I have been learning a lot here in La Villeda. I am able to do so much more from then when I came. My spanish isnt perfect but its getting better everyday. Im worried that im forgetting English. Its weird to speak english right now, like it doesnt sound right. I guess thats a good sign haha!!
I have to go, I love you all, take care and have fun today!
Elder Ahlborn
Honduras
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
I got cold in Honduras!!
So this week was chilly, ya that's right, cold, cold in Honduras. No worries I lived haha. It rained for like 2 and a half weeks straight, and its just finally stopping. I didn't see the sun for a while, and I think that's why it was so cold. The sun couldn't break through the cloud cover. I had to use a jacket like all the other people here, I felt so weird, like the Utah part of me died like 4 months ago haha.
This week we should have two baptisms, but I am so so so worried about them. The baptisms are a aunt and her niece, Maria and Isis. They are family of a family of recent converts. They know the church is true and they are reading the Book of Mormon everyday, but they are going to move sometime this week, and there baptism is Saturday. I'm scared that if I baptize them, they'll move and never attend church here the Villeda or there other ward, ever again. I will let you all know what happened next letter.
We have been struggling to find new people to teach. We had a baby die in our branch this last week, and everyone in the ward and the community has been doing things to help the family ,Everyone has just been really busy, including us. I hope that this week things will calm down a bit. Who knows maybe with the death of this baby more people will want to know about the church and what we believe about death. I'm Just being positive!!
I gave a 17 min talk in church yesterday about the talk from Elder Perry called, Raising the Bar. I hope that it made an impact on the young men in our branch. They all need to serve missions, that cant even imagine what the mission can do for them. I also taught the Sunday school class for the recent converts, with my companion. It was on the Millennium, The talk and the class went well. I feel pretty good about my Spanish now, I think people can actually understand me haha.
So the last thing I want to share with you is some of the weird customs here that I have learned. The first is called something weird in Spanish, I don't remember exactly, but its when you eat a meal but in the incorrect hour, they say that your stomach is all messed up and that someone has to massage your stomach with oil to fix it, ya weird. I don't want anyone rubbing my stomach with oil.
The other is with babies. Here they believe if you stare at a baby to long, it will get sick, so to protect against this they put a bracelet on the baby's wrist. This Bracelet has like a Giant seed on it and supposedly this protects the baby. Literally every new born has this.
And the last one is how they propose engagement. The man has to go gather wood, like a bunch of sticks, the more the better, and place them in front of the door of the brides house. If the father approves of the wedding, he will take the sticks in and use them for fuel, if not he will just leave them in front of the door until the poor wannabe groom figures out that he isn't getting married. These are all things that most of the people believe in, with all there hearts they think its true. Its quirky but I like it, it makes them unique.
Anyways I gotta go eat some good food, I love you all so much, thank you for the prayers and support. I am so glad to be a missionary our here in Honduras. Take care, be safe, make good choices!!!
With love from Honduras,
Elder Nathan Lynn Ahlborn
This week we should have two baptisms, but I am so so so worried about them. The baptisms are a aunt and her niece, Maria and Isis. They are family of a family of recent converts. They know the church is true and they are reading the Book of Mormon everyday, but they are going to move sometime this week, and there baptism is Saturday. I'm scared that if I baptize them, they'll move and never attend church here the Villeda or there other ward, ever again. I will let you all know what happened next letter.
We have been struggling to find new people to teach. We had a baby die in our branch this last week, and everyone in the ward and the community has been doing things to help the family ,Everyone has just been really busy, including us. I hope that this week things will calm down a bit. Who knows maybe with the death of this baby more people will want to know about the church and what we believe about death. I'm Just being positive!!
I gave a 17 min talk in church yesterday about the talk from Elder Perry called, Raising the Bar. I hope that it made an impact on the young men in our branch. They all need to serve missions, that cant even imagine what the mission can do for them. I also taught the Sunday school class for the recent converts, with my companion. It was on the Millennium, The talk and the class went well. I feel pretty good about my Spanish now, I think people can actually understand me haha.
So the last thing I want to share with you is some of the weird customs here that I have learned. The first is called something weird in Spanish, I don't remember exactly, but its when you eat a meal but in the incorrect hour, they say that your stomach is all messed up and that someone has to massage your stomach with oil to fix it, ya weird. I don't want anyone rubbing my stomach with oil.
The other is with babies. Here they believe if you stare at a baby to long, it will get sick, so to protect against this they put a bracelet on the baby's wrist. This Bracelet has like a Giant seed on it and supposedly this protects the baby. Literally every new born has this.
And the last one is how they propose engagement. The man has to go gather wood, like a bunch of sticks, the more the better, and place them in front of the door of the brides house. If the father approves of the wedding, he will take the sticks in and use them for fuel, if not he will just leave them in front of the door until the poor wannabe groom figures out that he isn't getting married. These are all things that most of the people believe in, with all there hearts they think its true. Its quirky but I like it, it makes them unique.
Anyways I gotta go eat some good food, I love you all so much, thank you for the prayers and support. I am so glad to be a missionary our here in Honduras. Take care, be safe, make good choices!!!
With love from Honduras,
Elder Nathan Lynn Ahlborn
Monday, October 17, 2011
No worries!! All is well with me!
Hey everyone thanks for all your "get well soon" emails. I think they worked cause I am doing much better! So I have a lot to write this week, because things are crazy here haha.
So last Monday after me and Elder Muñoz returned home around 5. We had a message from the assistantes. They called again and said that we needed to wait in the house until they arrive. What!! In 10 minutes we cleaned the whole house haha. The assistants arrived at the house with a new elder. They told elder Munoz to pack his bags because this new elder was going to be my companion. My first Emergency change!! So my new companion is Elder Beltran. He is from Santa Ana, El Salvador. He started his mission in February of 2010 in The Montevideo mission in Uruguay. Something happened with other missionaries of something problems, its none of my business, but he went home to El Salvador for a bit until returning to the field here in Honduras. He is a good Elder, a bit weird but what missionary isn't haha. I feel a bit stressed because I have to do everything, it should be better this week because he is getting back into the swing of things. We had some good things happen this week.
We placed a baptism date with a girl here. She is the neighbor of a member and she was been attending church for the last two months. She had an accident when she was younger and is a bit slower then the average bear, but she wants to be baptized. We have the challenge now of teaching her as simply as possible. Her date is for the 5 of November.
We still have two dates for this month, the 29. I am a bit worried that once Maria and Isis are baptized that they wont attend church again. We are going to talk, but I have confidence that the Lord will guide me in what I should do. I will tell you all it all turns out, but no worries =) I just don't want to baptize anyone else into inactivity.
We are teaching the sister of Maria, Santa. She is very smart, loves reading the bible and the Book of Mormon, and of recently has worries about what lies ahead of this life. She is building a testimony slowly but surely. The only problem we have right now is coffee. She drinks coffee like 10 times a day. She even told us that she bleeds coffee. This last week after teaching the Plan of Salvation she expressed to us that she needs to stop drinking coffee, that she needs to be baptize and accept Christ in her life. She attended Conference and loved the talk of the Young women's president about how fathers should love there mothers to be an example for their girls. I am very confident that she will over come her challenges, she knows what is right.
We talked with a less active member Sunday. My heart broke a little. Her husband has a strong testimony of the Gospel, he shared the Gospel with his family and they were baptized in February. She was baptized by the missionaries a year ago without a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, I don't know how its possible but it happened. Now she doesn't come to church because we don't use the bible as much as she would like. Her mother was Jehovah Witness and her beliefs reflect the beliefs of the Jehovah witnesses. She only believes in the Bible and doesn't want to accept that Jesus Christ is Jehovah. We talked for a long time and built her trust. I left her with two of my favorite scriptures, one in 2 Nephi about how if you believe in Christ you will believe in the Book of Mormon, and that it is possible to have more scripture than just the bible. We have another meeting with her Wednesday, we challenged her to read and pray. We will see what happens, but I am just hoping and praying that she will be able to gain a testimony for herself.
So I really haven't seen the sun in two weeks. There has been a tropical storm or something close to us and it has been raining for the last two weeks every day. I talked to President and I can use my jacket, so no worries I shouldn't get sick again haha. Its crazy though, living in Utah my whole life, I didn't know that it was possible to have so so much rain.
I love being out here serving. It is hard there is no doubt about that but I love it!! I love the people, my companion and my Savior. I hope you are all doing well in school and in work or whatever it is that you are doing. Take care!!
With much love from Honduras,
Elder Ahlborn
So last Monday after me and Elder Muñoz returned home around 5. We had a message from the assistantes. They called again and said that we needed to wait in the house until they arrive. What!! In 10 minutes we cleaned the whole house haha. The assistants arrived at the house with a new elder. They told elder Munoz to pack his bags because this new elder was going to be my companion. My first Emergency change!! So my new companion is Elder Beltran. He is from Santa Ana, El Salvador. He started his mission in February of 2010 in The Montevideo mission in Uruguay. Something happened with other missionaries of something problems, its none of my business, but he went home to El Salvador for a bit until returning to the field here in Honduras. He is a good Elder, a bit weird but what missionary isn't haha. I feel a bit stressed because I have to do everything, it should be better this week because he is getting back into the swing of things. We had some good things happen this week.
We placed a baptism date with a girl here. She is the neighbor of a member and she was been attending church for the last two months. She had an accident when she was younger and is a bit slower then the average bear, but she wants to be baptized. We have the challenge now of teaching her as simply as possible. Her date is for the 5 of November.
We still have two dates for this month, the 29. I am a bit worried that once Maria and Isis are baptized that they wont attend church again. We are going to talk, but I have confidence that the Lord will guide me in what I should do. I will tell you all it all turns out, but no worries =) I just don't want to baptize anyone else into inactivity.
We are teaching the sister of Maria, Santa. She is very smart, loves reading the bible and the Book of Mormon, and of recently has worries about what lies ahead of this life. She is building a testimony slowly but surely. The only problem we have right now is coffee. She drinks coffee like 10 times a day. She even told us that she bleeds coffee. This last week after teaching the Plan of Salvation she expressed to us that she needs to stop drinking coffee, that she needs to be baptize and accept Christ in her life. She attended Conference and loved the talk of the Young women's president about how fathers should love there mothers to be an example for their girls. I am very confident that she will over come her challenges, she knows what is right.
We talked with a less active member Sunday. My heart broke a little. Her husband has a strong testimony of the Gospel, he shared the Gospel with his family and they were baptized in February. She was baptized by the missionaries a year ago without a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, I don't know how its possible but it happened. Now she doesn't come to church because we don't use the bible as much as she would like. Her mother was Jehovah Witness and her beliefs reflect the beliefs of the Jehovah witnesses. She only believes in the Bible and doesn't want to accept that Jesus Christ is Jehovah. We talked for a long time and built her trust. I left her with two of my favorite scriptures, one in 2 Nephi about how if you believe in Christ you will believe in the Book of Mormon, and that it is possible to have more scripture than just the bible. We have another meeting with her Wednesday, we challenged her to read and pray. We will see what happens, but I am just hoping and praying that she will be able to gain a testimony for herself.
So I really haven't seen the sun in two weeks. There has been a tropical storm or something close to us and it has been raining for the last two weeks every day. I talked to President and I can use my jacket, so no worries I shouldn't get sick again haha. Its crazy though, living in Utah my whole life, I didn't know that it was possible to have so so much rain.
I love being out here serving. It is hard there is no doubt about that but I love it!! I love the people, my companion and my Savior. I hope you are all doing well in school and in work or whatever it is that you are doing. Take care!!
With much love from Honduras,
Elder Ahlborn
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
It isn't fun being sick on a mission!!
So this last week, since Tuesday I have had a cold, which got worse on Thursday because I refused to rest . Also on Thursday I got pink eye haha. so I did, until Sunday. But no worries I learned my lesson. After working everyday this week, I finally called the mission doctor, Elder Rey Saturday, He gave me eye drops for the pink eye, which is almost gone, and told me to drink water and REST. Sunday after church I slept like i was dead for 2 hours. I feel much better, but feel a bit bad that I didn't work yesterday.Ya I know I'm a bit prideful, but I'm not here on the mission to sleep, I'm here to work. I should be 100% better soon!
So I have another crazy food to tell you all about. Two weeks ago I tried Honduran Blood sausage. It was dang good, a bit spicy but good. It is the weirdest color, like a really dark brown. All and all wasn't to bad, it was better than cow lung haha
We are still working with Maria and Isis. They have a baptism date for the 29. I'm a bit worried because they don't like to stay in church the whole 3 hours. I actually think that nobody in our branch likes to sit in that little hot house with 70 people for 3 hours. Its hard, but the church is going to buy land soon for a chapel. They should start construction in April. I'm worried for all my investigators, if they cant feel the spirit in church, then why go right? Just another obstacle in the mission =)
So this last week Elder Muñoz and I had a sweet opportunity. Wednesday night we were talking to the Principal of the School here. Her name is Sandra, She is one of the leaders of the community. We were talking, and she told us that she is starting to notice the community change, and because of the work that we are doing. I think that she might actually let us in her house to teach her haha. We will see.
One last thing. One night this last week, I don't remember which, We came home for the day, and on our wall was the scariest looking insect that I have ever seen. This thing looked like a spider but it only had six legs. It had long antennas, with these crazy looking pincer. I could actually see with my naked eye how many teeth were on each pincer. It was about as big as my hand. Long story short, I killed it, resprayed the house with Permithirn ( a super strong bug repellent) and tried to sleep haha. This country is pretty crazy, but I love it to death!
Life is super good, I am having fun and loving being a missionary. I really am learning something new everyday. I have an unbreakable testimony and a love for the people. I'm grateful for all of you and your support!!!
Love you all!!
Elder Ahlborn
So I have another crazy food to tell you all about. Two weeks ago I tried Honduran Blood sausage. It was dang good, a bit spicy but good. It is the weirdest color, like a really dark brown. All and all wasn't to bad, it was better than cow lung haha
We are still working with Maria and Isis. They have a baptism date for the 29. I'm a bit worried because they don't like to stay in church the whole 3 hours. I actually think that nobody in our branch likes to sit in that little hot house with 70 people for 3 hours. Its hard, but the church is going to buy land soon for a chapel. They should start construction in April. I'm worried for all my investigators, if they cant feel the spirit in church, then why go right? Just another obstacle in the mission =)
So this last week Elder Muñoz and I had a sweet opportunity. Wednesday night we were talking to the Principal of the School here. Her name is Sandra, She is one of the leaders of the community. We were talking, and she told us that she is starting to notice the community change, and because of the work that we are doing. I think that she might actually let us in her house to teach her haha. We will see.
One last thing. One night this last week, I don't remember which, We came home for the day, and on our wall was the scariest looking insect that I have ever seen. This thing looked like a spider but it only had six legs. It had long antennas, with these crazy looking pincer. I could actually see with my naked eye how many teeth were on each pincer. It was about as big as my hand. Long story short, I killed it, resprayed the house with Permithirn ( a super strong bug repellent) and tried to sleep haha. This country is pretty crazy, but I love it to death!
Life is super good, I am having fun and loving being a missionary. I really am learning something new everyday. I have an unbreakable testimony and a love for the people. I'm grateful for all of you and your support!!!
Love you all!!
Elder Ahlborn
Monday, October 3, 2011
Conferencia!!!
Hey everyone, I had a good week this week. We did a ton of work, and best of all we got to finish it off with confrence! I am super excited for the new temple in provo, I am hoping that it will be done by the time I get back. By the way, I totally knew that it was going to become a temple haha. The best part of confrence was, we had seven investigators attend the sunday morning session, and a bunch of them watched the sessions on their TV!
Im sorry this letter is so short, I had some computers problems. I love you all so so much, take care!
Elder Ahlborn
Im sorry this letter is so short, I had some computers problems. I love you all so so much, take care!
Elder Ahlborn
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