Ok so I'm not going to get the mother of the year award!

Hello!
This is Elder Ahlborn's mom and I'm the slacker who hasn't put his letters on the blog.  I could give a huge list of excuses but they would bore everyone.  Needless to say Nathan has been doing great in Honduras and loves his mission.  He has been the Office mission Secretary since April and has been working hard.  He thinks that he will soon be released from that position to work in another area within the next couple of weeks.  As soon as I can figure out this new blog format, I will send pictures and put his letters up again. 
thanks for everyone's patience,
Julie Ahlborn (Nate's mom)

I Feel Ready to Work

I am doing much better, Tuesday the Doctor took my bandages off, and after I got to watch the dvd of my operation. It was pretty cool, I got to see my vasdefrens and a bunch of other cool looking stuff. I got to see how well he put that mess in too, he did a pretty good job, in 45 minutes haha. It made me want to be a doctor. I still have stitches in me, they are the dis solvable ones. I think they will be gone soon, but I'm not sure. I'm just glad that they don't bother me. He also told me that I had to wait two more weeks before working. That was one week ago, so I should be able to start working with my true companion and not with the assistants. Did I tell you that I was working with the assistants? I don't think so, I am with them because they are the only missionaries in the mission that have a car, the Hilux. because I cant walk very much I have to be with them for a bit I will send you all some pics of the truck next week.

With the assistants, I have been working in the area that has the temple, Roble oeste or in English oak west. Its a super rich residential, every there is richer than us. We teach just professional people like doctors and lawyers. Its like teaching in the states i think, I wouldn't actually know. Its funny because they all live in residential areas with guards. We cant knock on doors because we will get kicked out. We can only enter if we are invited. That's kinda hard but its better that way. I have learned alot about how a good missionary should work with the members.

Can you tell everyone that I cant email anyone but my family, its a rule.

I am mostly just working with renewing peoples passports with means I spend a ton of time in the immigration and foreigner center. Its like a DMV from hell. Here its the law that kids, seniors and pregnant ladies get to go first. I have to go in with a bunch of single 20 year olds, so sometimes we have to wait hours after all of the nuns, kids and old American people go. The good part about the office is that I can shop and go freely between the two missions in the city. I have quite a few responsibilities and am expected to work and baptize as much as any other missionary. No pressure right.

Things are good, it has been kinda hard not being able to walk much, exercise, work with and area and a companion of my own. I just feel like the third wheel of the office haha. I feel much better, and I only have to do this for one more week. Its better to wait a week than to have to get surgery again, or go home.
Don't worry about me, if I have learned anything from my mission it's that the Lord loves me and is taking care of me.

Elder Ahlborn

Feliz Semana Santa!!! Happy holy week

Hey mom!!! Things are going great. I am still with the Rays. I am feeling much better, but it still is a bit hard to walk, or to walk fast anyway, the Rays walk faster than me. I have enjoyed their company more than anything. They love talking politics, which I don't really know much about, but its interesting what they have to say.

So as secretary I am in charge mostly of doing passport and visa things which means that I get to leave the office alot only to wait in line for hours and the Immigration center. Its not to bad, I have a good area to work in as a normal missionary at night, I get to shop where ever I want in Tegucigalpa or in Comyaguela, and there is a possibility that If I can get my residence card, I can Drive the Toyota Helix that the mission has (ask dad what a Helix is). I will be here a while though, until the first of July and then probably after so President Fortuna can get to know the mission so he can call a replacement.
Here in Honduras they celebrate Easter different. They celebrate it for the whole week. Banks, business and government offices were all closed for a week. Usually everyone goes to the beach and drinks alot. The Catholics do some really pretty stuff too. They make huge murals in the streets from colored sawdust of tree bark or pretty much anything. They are usually of Christ or of bible stories, they are super colorful. Then Good Friday They have a bunch of people ,with crosses like Jesus had, Drag them through the pretty murals that took weeks to make. That's pretty much it, The rays took some pictures of one of the festivities in Comayagua Ill send those to you. The Catholics really just focus on The death of Christ, especially the gruesome parts of it, They put Christ on the cross, but they just leave him there, They don't have him ever leave the tomb.
I love you so much mom, I'm glad you understood why I wanted to stay here in Honduras. I need to be here right now, there is too much going on to go back home even if it is for a surgery. I am doing amazing, much better than I thought, so dont worry about me!!
I know that Christ died for my sins, I know that I can repent of my sins because of this. I know he loves me and has and is truly watching over me. He has put amazing people in my life, and in my mission to help me learn and grow. You are one of these people mom, You have always been special to me, don't get me wrong, I love dad too.

Happy Easter!!!
Your wounded Stripling Warrior,
Elder Nathan Lynn Ahlborn

I'm still Alive!!!

I am doing very very well, better than I thought. Thursday I went in for surgery, the doctor was running like two hours late, so I had to wait by myself in the recovery room until he came. I think the operation itself was really quick, like an hour or less. I'm not sure what type of material he put in me but I know that my surgery was laproscopic. I just have three little holes below my belly button. I'm still kinda sore, I feel like someone punched me in the stomach last week haha, but I feel really good today. I still can't go out and work with the missionaries, so I will be with the Rays at night. Today we are all pretty excited, we are going to have family home evening with a family from their apartment complex. I think that they have been dying to share the Gospel with their neighbors, they just haven't been able to speak Spanish with them. I'm here for at least 3 or 4 more days so at night we will be trying to invite people over for dinner and family home evenings. I am actually really excited, The Rays are more excited haha. I am hoping that they get the chance to baptize someone here!

The Rays have just been the best. I have decided to adopt them as my third set of grandparents. Sister Ray has been cooking good ol American food these last few days. I almost cried this morning when we had bacon, hash browns and eggs with orange juice. They have made me feel right at home. They really do do alot for our mission and the Tegucigalpa misson. I will ever be indebted to the Rays.

President Flores came by to visit me Thursday night. He told me that I would be the general secretary in the office for a while, at least until the new president comes. He also told me that I would be the district leader, and even though we only work three hours at night, he still expects us to baptize as much if not more than other missionaries. I am excited to take on another challenge in the mission.

So I left Bulevar after five months. I think my companion Elder Banegas and his new companion Elder Jones are going to baptize two families this month. I'm kinda bummed that I wont be there to see it. O well I feel like I did my best in that area.I started teaching, someone else gets to baptize haha.

I am very grateful for the prayers from you and the family. I know that you all love me very much and I can feel your support everyday out here. I very much enjoyed conference and I hope you did too. Please don't worry about me too much, I should be back to working soon enough. I love you all so very much!!!!! Happy Easter!!

Con todo mi amor,

Elder Ahlborn

The Final countdown!!

So the time has finally come to cut me open and sew me up. I'm actually kinda excited, not many people can say that they got surgery in another country haha. Today I have to go in and get some blood tests or something. I will talk to President Flores today to see if I can call after my operation. If not Elder Ray should do. I am kinda sad to leave my area. I have been there for 5 months. I am going to be working in the office for at least 6 weeks during my recuperation. I think I actually might be the general secretary, but I sure hope not. I hate paper work....

So we had an amazing turn out Sunday, we had 12 investigators in sacrament meeting, two of which were families. One was the Ferrera Family!!! I think that they really enjoyed it, and realized what they had been missing out on. I'm thinking that they could possibly get baptized in April. Also the wife and younger daughter of the H family came. I am almost sure that they will get married this month. I'm kinda bummed that I wont be there for it haha.

So I'm sending some photos, the family is the H family, Govany the dad, Ada the mom, Cecila 20, and Gabriela 12. The other photo is of a guy don't worry haha. He is a little emo, but is way cool. I think he will be getting baptized soon, that is after he cuts his hair.

I had an interesting experience Tuesday night. We talked to a less active mom, well inactive, she hasn't attended church in like 15 years. Her two kids have been coming to church without her, and we had no idea why. Finally Tuesday she told us what was up. Her and her husband have been separated for like 3 years, and her kids don't know it. She caught him with another in bed and since then they have been living a lie. She told her kids that their dad has to work the whole week and only comes home Friday night and leaves Sunday morning. During this time she leaves to visit her mom or sister. We are going to try to get the family back together. If we cant.... well they would have to get divorced. The situation is complicated but its nothing that the gospel cant fix.

Well I love you so much, please no worries, I will be fine. I'm super excited for conference, and Mother's day is coming up..... my life is good, REAL good!!!





Love,

Elder Ahlborn

buenos dias!!! hey mom!!

Hey mom, no worries, everything is still fine here. I should be
going in for surgery in 10 days the 29th, you can tell the family
everything if you want. I don't have anything to hide.

My new mission president, President Fortuna will be coming in the
first of July. He is a young guy(43) from the Dominican republic. He
is black haha so he should be cool. I think his biography is on the
church website.
I had an interesting experience this last week with the H
family. The father, Govany is really an amazing guy, he didn't graduate
high school but he is super intelligent. He has accepted everything we
have taught and wants to get baptized, but there was always something
bugging him. A few weeks ago he told us that he wanted to talk with us
before i left. Friday night we finally talked. He has been smoking
marijuana for over 20 years, a real strong addicion. He told us that
he is ready to change, and that its going to be hard but he wants to
be baptized and be a better father. It was a privilege for me to see
him start the process of repentance. He should be getting married and
baptized in April. I'm sad I wont be there, but I'm thinking I can get
permission from Pres. Flores to attend the baptism.
I love you all so very much, I'm glad you got the letters. Please
be so careful with my memory cards, they have all my photos.
o last thing, today in Honduras is fathers day, so tell dad, HAPPY
FATHERS DAY, tell him to write me too haha.
I love you so much mom, please don't worry, I'm not going to die
and the Rays will take good care of me.
Elder Nathan Ahlborn

All is Well!!

So Thursday night I had an appointment with the Surgeon. He is qualified, and he is very smart. He speaks English which says alot about him haha. He told me that it was a really simple surgery and that there are not many complications. I'm not worried. The hospital is super nice, it really is one of the best in Honduras. Even the elevator was nice haha. I will be having my surgery March 29th at 1 30 in the afternoon. I have to stay over night, so I am sure that I will be able to call you from the hospital. O the name of my doctor is Roberto Esquivel if you want you can look him up on facebook, he is a good guy. An LDS doctor gave us the reference so I trust him, and you should too, so stop worrying =)

I thought I told you that President Flores changed the rules of emailing, we can only write our family, bishops ( tell Bishop Judd to email me) and stake presidents. Thanks for sending me the package, and putting my name in the temple, it means a lot =)



So I these last two weeks I have met some interesting people in my area. The first is named Hazam Khury Alyateem, He was born in Bethlehem and at age 5 moved to Detroit where he lived and worked. He was the owner of 3 liquor stores until he decided to stop drinking and got a job with the Government working as a translator. After he started working for Immigracion haha. His mother is from Honduras so he family and friends here, and his first wife is from here too. She and the daughter joined the Church in Detroit after Hazam and her got divorced, so he knows alot about the church. He got remarried in Israel and has a wife and baby boy there. He can speak four languages, English, Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic. He showed me how to write ELDER in Hebrew and Arabic haha. We have a lesson planned with him today. He will be leaving for the Israel in a week. Crazy right, I met a Jew speaking Spanish in Honduras.

The other guy is named Lucky. He is from some little town here in Honduras that nobody knows and he is like 55 years old. He studied at the University of Utah and has a masters degree in Forestry and National Resources from there. He works for the government here in Honduras. He knows salt lake, the temple, the lights, the Cristus, and pretty much everything about the church because he lived in Utah for like 5 or 6 years. o ya he can speak English too obviously. We have a lesson planned with him tomorrow, I'm pretty sure all the sisters at temple square probably already bombarded him with the lessons but we are going to see if it is his time.



I wanted to tell you that I bought a pair of like dress shoes that have a boot tread so no worries there, Also two more pairs of pants because my others are all dying haha. Can you call Mr. Mac to see if we still have money on credit there, I really think we do. Maybe you could send some shirts in a few months.



I know that April will be hard, but I am not worried. The Lord wants me to learn something from this. I know that this is the True church of God, restored by Joesph Smith. I can honestly say these things for myself.

Last week of February

So things here in Honduras have been good as always. Nothing to crazy has happened to me in the past few months which is weird hahaha.

I really just want to share one story with you. About three months ago I started teaching a family of three, Juliet the mom, Jorrlyn the oldest 17 years old, and Nelson 16. They have had a hard life. They had a lot of money at one point in time when their dad was alive, but sadly he was killed in Guatemala. He left an inheritance for them but for legal reasons they didn't receive it. They have struggled together for a long time. I baptized the sister of Juliet in December. After that we started teaching them, we even had a baptism date with them. They were really positive until we talked about the Word of Wisdom. Nelson and Juliet have a problem with smoking. I asked them to take the first step and give me all the cigarettes in the house but they refused and never let us into the house again. We dropped them in January. Last week I received the strong impression to go out of the way and visit them. Jorrlyn answered the door almost crying. She told me that Juliet is in the hospital with lung cancer, its terminal. The doctors think that they can extend her life with a surgery, but they just don't have the money for it. It made me really sad to see that her disobedience will probably cost her her life and it will affect her kids greatly. I am hoping that she will humble herself and by a miracle we can get her home to baptize her and prepare her to return to her Father in Heaven.
I love you all so much I pray for you and just want the best for you,
Elder Ahlborn

Ya one year wow!

Hey mom!! Thing are good here. Last Wednesday I was made District leader of Torocagua. Its funny because I have only been out of this area one time in my mission and for only two months, everyone says that mission call should have said, Honduras Torocagua mission haha. Ill at least be here until March maybe April. I don't have a problem with staying here in this area for so long because we have a ton of progressing families. I will keep you posted with baptisms like always, but as of now we don't have any baptism dates.
I'm still waiting for my companion to go to Mexico, who knows when he will go but it should be soon. He is super quite, people ask me if he speaks Spanish haha. He is really humble, not very educated, but he is an excellent missionary.
The time is going by so fast I don't even understand how its possible. I love serving, sometimes it is hard, almost always actually, but the mission shouldn't be easy. I am still learning alot, and I have the desire to BAPTIZE.

I love you all so very much!!! Send me pictures of the house and the snow!!

With all my love,
Elder Ahlborn

So the 70 that came was Elder Martino, he is from Texas, and he is a pretty cool servant of the Lord. He taught us that when we teach in members homes we baptize 3 of the 5 people we teach. I am going to try to apply this with two families that we are teaching. I want to baptize one of them this month, but we will see what the Lord says.
We baptized Jefferson the son of Giovania. Josue, a convert of 4 months and a huge help in the ward baptized Jefferson, it was amazing. Givonania was crying like you cry when we got baptized haha it was cute and brought back fond memories. They are defiantly converts, I have faith that he will serve a mission and that she will marry in the temple.
So we have heard that the temple here in Honduras should be done in June or something like that. I don't think I will have the opportunity to see the C family be sealed while on my mission. I Think Iwill be able to help my friend here in Centro America Oeste take out his endowment in September. I am just excited for the temple!!!
So I think I'm going to send this letter to you all soon, like this week, I'm going to send back a memory card, but the data in it is weird, the photos show up on the camera but not on the computer, please give it to peter so he can fix it but please don't delete any photos, this card has half of my mission on it!!

I am so glad that I was raised in our family. I do miss you but it has never been a distraction, only something to push me along, so I can help other families have what ours has.
Tell the kids to be good! Tell Dad that I love him, I wrote him but just in case. Say hi to the ward and family for me,
With much love!!!
Elder Ahlborn

A Week of Miracles!!!

Hey mom!! so I had an awesome week, but I'm dang tired haha. Sunday we had an attendance of 217 people, with 25 less actives in the church for the first time in over 3 months, and 12 investigators. One of the investigators, G, I have written about her before got baptized after church. Half of the ward attended her baptism, one of my best friends and a convert of 4 months, Josue V baptized her. It was amazing. We are going to baptize her son this Saturday. O ya the F family came to church!! all but the dad, Manuel but it's only a matter of time. I'm really loving this part of my mission, it's pretty hard but I just feel good, the Lord has given me a lot of strength. I'm going to send some photos of all the baptisms that I have had here in centro america.

I'm still with my companion, Elder B, he is the one in the first picture. He is still waiting for his papers to Mexico. We will see when he goes. He is a good guy. He reminds me of Brandon.

The temple should be done in June, and it should be dedicated in July. But who knows haha. I'm so dang excited. There was an apostle here to verify the work so I have a lot of faith that it should be done by June. Ill keep you posted.

This week Elder Martino, a member of the second quorum of the 70 is going to visit us. He is also going to accompany one of us.

Tell Steve congrates. (Nate's cousin Steve Williams got his mission call to Kobe Japan). It's good to have the support and prayers of you all.

I love you all!!!!

Elder Ahlborn

Hey mom!!! I'm glad to hear that you and the family are doing very well. I had no food haha but the members are good and keep us fed no worries. But forgive me I'm trying to be good, but its hard when I have had 6 companions in 3 months.

So my new companions name is, Elder B, haha he is from the country of Honduras. He is super humble and quiet and in truth, a good Elder. He is leaving for Mexico in two weeks. He was suppose to leave 4 weeks ago but the embassy of Mexico screwed up one little letter in his name, and it set him back a bit, he is with me in the mean time. That means that I will be having another companion soon. I still feel pretty good, I feel kinda like a one man companionship because nobody is with me long enough to get to know the ward or our investigators.

So Thursday our district had interviews with the President. I must say that I have changed alot in one year. The only thing that I really got scolded for was my hand writing haha. I think I'm going to do what Heber J. Grant did and practice until my handwriting is perfect. That's the Goal anyways.

We have a baptism this week. I think I wrote about her and her son before, but her name is Giovava. She has so much faith, she always keeps commitments and well ya she is pretty much a chosen daughter of God. Her son is kinda unsure about baptism still. He will get baptized this month, he is ten and likes the church so I have no doubts.

The F family is struggling a bit. They love when we come over because we bring the Spirit, but when we leave, so does the spirit. They have some marriage problems, problems with Trust, patience and communication. I feel super unqualified to help them because I have never had a wife before. I think I'm going to ask President Flores for help on this one, or the Bishop. I have faith that they will get baptized soon. I cant let them go.

we started teaching a kid named Christian the other day. He is 22, his mom died, and his best friend from our ward just left on a mission. He is really cool. I have the feeling that we will be baptizing him soon =)

I am writing you all personal letters, Hopefully you will get them some time in February but we will see. They are very special and believe it or not I have put a ton of time into them haha. Please read them and treasure them !!!

So I'm thinking that I need some more nose flutes, and maybe you could send that Nephi movie. Don't worry about it now, when you can't. There's no hurry.


Con todo mi corazon,

Elder Nathan Ahlborn

I got the Package!!!Thanks I love you

So the first three days of the week, my companion Elder Espinoza was sick. I read so much. I read in Jesus the Christ, The Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel, literally everything that I could possible read. I learned a ton of patience haha. My companion is better now ....
So all of the sudden this morning while writing, President Flores called our zone leaders and wanted to talk to my companion. He is being transferred to another part of Honduras, a part that is like 4 hours away. Once again I'm going to have another emergency Transfer. I'll tell you who my new companion is next week haha.
We are still working with the Familia f. Last week their 16 year old neighbor showed them an anti-Mormon website. I was really worried, I prayed and studied a ton to help this family. With a lot of faith, we answered there questions and I think all is well right now. They also stopped drinking coffee, we just have to get them going to church.
We are going to baptism Sister G and Jefferson her son the 4th of February. She is a divorced mother with two kids, she has another girl, Grecia. She has a ton of faith, and she has been coming to church for the last month. She has had some doubts about the work for the dead, but we have been teaching her and is starting to understand the importance of it. She is super smart too, right now she is on vacation, but normally she is working, studying at the University of Honduras and caring for her two kids. We were really lucky to find her while she was on vacation. She is truly a chosen daughter of God.
So something cool I found out this week is that here in Honduras, they have a Boy Scout program. It's pretty similar to our program in the States, except I don't think they have Merit Badges, and they don't have the resources to do a lot of the things that we do. To me, the only big difference is that their uniforms are forest green haha.
I am doing well, I think I will be in Centro America Oeste for a while with this new transfer, but I don't really mind, I need to baptize a few more people before I can leave.
I love you all, I know that you are praying for me, I know that our family here on the earth and on the other side of the veil are praying for my success as well. Elder Nathan Ahlborn

Baptisms!!

Hey mom!! things are great here. I'm still waiting for the package, but no worries I should get it soon. Thanks for Austins testimony, I loved it.

So my companion is still sick, today he has an ear infection. We are going to the office today to talk to the Doctor. I hope he gets better soon. I just want to work and work, and I know he does too, but its hard when you're sick.

So we baptized two people this last Saturday and Sunday. The first was Katherine, from the F. family that I baptized in December. She quit smoking and decided that she was ready. I'm a bit worried for the whole family. They all came to church yesterday which my day.

The other baptism was of a 10 year old girl that didn't have the chance to get baptized at eight. She was born in the church to parents that were sealed in the temple. Her parents got divorced a while ago and its just her, her mom and her two brothers. The baptism is a convert baptism because she is older than 8 years old. Her whole family came, everyone but her dad. That broke her little heart. It makes me sad to see a broken family. She felt better afterwords no worries!!

The Fr. family came to both the baptism but not to church, It kills me that they can't wake up early. Every Sunday morning for the last 8 weeks I have knocked on there door without success. Yesterday morning, I finally woke up one of them, Manuel the dad haha. He was like ya maybe we will come haha. I'm still waiting for them to make the decision to come to church on their own. They loved the baptisms and told us that they would be there soon. I just have to gain a little bit more muscle says Manuel so I can baptize him without killing him haha, he is a big guy.

I am doing very well, I'm really happy, I think its because I am seeing my work go somewhere. I really enjoy being out here, and I'm already making plans to come back haha.

One last thing, this is the better address of the mission
Misión Honduras Comayguela
A.P. 2625 y 3688
Tegucigalpa Honduras C.A.
Things should arrive faster with this address!!!
Love you all so much, I'm writing hand written letters for you all, they should get there to you around the end of February.
Elder Nathan Ahborn.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year love you all!
So Elder Rivera left for Mexico, his mission, on Thursday. Right now I'm with an Elder from Utah, Elder Taylor. We are only together until this Wednesday when we have changes. I'm going to be training again, for 12 weeks. I'm a bit nervous but excited. I will be in Centro America for a while. I hope I train this missionary well. I'll tell you more about him next Monday.
So I think I lost all my photos to a virus. I'm kinda bummed but I'm going to see what I can do. We are still working with the "F" Family. (I've decided not to put full names on here to protect their privacy--Julie). I want my new companion to start of his mission baptizing a family. I have faith that my new companion will be just what they need to get baptize. Some good news with the family is that Ana the mom stopped drinking coffee and Manuel stopped drinking. They really are progressing but its super slow. I'm not worried, I have a ton of time here to help them.
I have to move today, I'm not excited about that cause the house isn't as nice as the one we have now, I'll send pictures later.
Well I gotta go, love you all!!!
Elder Ahlborn

Merry Christmas!! It was good to talk to you!

This is excerpts from Nate's letter.

It was really weird to hear your voices again, especially David. I'm kinda mad that he is as tall as me, o well, I can still beat him up haha. I hope you enjoyed your Christmas! I did! thanks for the presents!! I am going to try to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish in two months starting in January so the Cd's will help. I am going to give Junior the living scripture DVD,

Thanks so much for all the candy, I have been giving it away to all the people that I love! Its been a really good Christmas.
We had a Christmas devotional with the whole mission and we watched 17 Miracles, its about the martin and willie handcart companies, I think you all saw it. I bawled, I love that movie and I really want to see it again. I have the song from the movie on a CD and I cant stop listening to it haha. President and Sister Flores gave me some candy and like a picture board thing of everyone in the mission. Things have just been really good, busy but good. Elder Rivera says thanks for the gift, he is leaving for Mexico Friday I think. I will miss him.
I will wish Junior a happy birthday for you all


Please tell everyone thanks for the presents and everything, especially Peg.

I love you all so so much thanks for your support, I couldn't do this without you all!!
Elder Nathan Ahlborn

Nathan called last night -- Merry Christmas!

Nathan called us last night. He had permission from his Mission President to talk for 45 minutes and he was very clear on keeping that time limit. He talked to each one of us individually and as a family. He also said "Hello" to the extended family via speaker. He sent pictures with a Christmas package for our family a couple weeks ago. He gave Eric, Dave and I Honduran soccer shirts. He gave the girls necklaces and earrings. He gave me a purse. He gave Liz and Dave these spinning tops and all of us some wooden knives and a Hondurian flag. It was really cool.

Some of the highlights he told us last night were:
*He loves being on a mission!
*He really hasn't had any problems with his mission companions who have all been native central Americans. He even said this "what that primary song says Kindness Begins With Me really is true when dealing with other people. (Finally that one sunk in -- I used to sing that one to the kids when they were fighting!)
*When I asked him what the hardest part of his mission was he said the heat. He said the temperature has been nice now but that it can get really, really hot. He also says he is getting tired of eating rice and beans because it is hard to cook anything also on their little hot plate. He said he can sometimes get bananas but apples were really expensive because they get them from the states.
*He talked about how he is learning to respect free agency and that you can't make people change or join the church even though you know how much it would bless their lives. That has been hard to watch.
*He said they all drive cars and trucks like his little Toyota truck. He is amazed at how old many of the cars are (many are Toyota's) how the people can repair them. He said he helped a guy translate an English Toyota manual into Spanish. He said it reminded him of the times he and Eric would work on the Toyota truck together.
*He said the houses reminded him of Lego houses. Just kind of stuck together, right next to each other and you can hear neighbors fighting and stuff. He said you can often stand in an alleyway and touch 4 houses at once.
*Finally the best thing was that he really appreciates his family and realizes that he has taken for granted the home he grew up in. He said he has seen some really sad family circumstances here and didn't realize how blessed he was until now.


He sounded really good, happy and like a missionary. At one point he had a hard time coming up with the English word for what he was trying to describe. His mission is having the missionaries study "Preach My Gospel" an extra hour a day and he says he loves it. Right now he is training a new missionary and really likes being the one in charge. He says they have been having a lot of "emergency transfers" because a lot of the central American missionaries are having a hard time getting visas to serve in Mexico or other countries.

It was wonderful to talk to Nathan and it was nice to hear his voice and be able to tell him again how much we love him and pray for him everyday!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

It's almost Christmas!!

Hey mom!! I haven't received your package yet, but we have a Christmas devotional this Friday and I'm sure the office will bring them all to me, no worries!!
So a lot has happened. Last Monday me and Elder Rivas got a call, yup emergency changes again. I got a new companion Wednesday. His name is Elder Rivera, he is from San Pedro Sula. He isn't actually suppose to be serving here rather in Mexico. He is only going to be here for three weeks waiting for his visa. I have the opportunity to train him!! I am loving being a trainer, and I love Elder Rivera, he is a good missionary and we are going to have a ton of success together!! We got 2 baptism dates his first two days and found a new, positive family of four last night. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve as a trainer!!
I need a few more things from you for the familia Ferrera. Juniors birthday is the 26th too haha and I want to get him something good. Could you send like English phonic cards for a Latino that is learning Spanish? I'm not sure if they exist, if not just send English phonic cards. Also for his little brother i need like a hot wheel four wheeler, just a little simple one but it has to be a 4 wheeler ATV dad would know what it is. Also some kazoos too would be nice.

I love you all so so much I gotta go, I dont have much time, I dont have much time to send pics, so I'm just going to send them by snail mail haha.
Merry Christmas!!
Elder Ahlborn

I'm glad you got the package!

Hey I'm so glad you got the package, were the knives in there? was there anything missing from the list? I'm worried that something might have been taken. I am so relived that you got it.

Anyways this week was alright. We are trying to help a 15 year old girl quit smoking. She had a baptism date for the 3 of December with her mom and brother but couldn't get baptized. She had been telling us that she quit, until my companion really grilled her and she told us that she has been smoking everyday. She is struggling with a lot of things like depressing, typical teenage girl stuff. Hopefully we can baptize her the 23!
We are also working with another family, The Ferrera Family. The mom and dad are married, Catholic, with two boys, Junior who is 11 and Christopher who is 5. I really want to baptize this family. Satan has a firm grip on them, and we are slowly but surly loosing that grip. We have gotten them to pray together to Heavenly Father, instead of Mary, a few times and they are reading The Book Of Mormon. They have some marital problems, but its nothing that the gospel cant fix. I don't think I will see them get baptized, but I believe that in the future they will take that important step as a family.
We are working with the brother of a recent convert. He is really smart, he is attending the University here. He also loves music. He can play the Bass and the Piano. I gave him one of your nose flutes mom and he loves it haha. He is going to try to read the Book of Mormon in a week. They are out for school here and he is sick, so he has a bit of time. He has a very open mind and I think that he really wants to know the truth. With the support of his brother I think that we can baptize him soon. We are also going to try to work with there father but he is a bit harder haha.
My Spanish is getting way better, I feel confident in my ability to teach, or at least I can teach in Spanish when I have the Spirit. Things are awesome here, I'm excited for Christmas!!!
Love you all so much!

Letter from Elder Ahlborn

I have some bad news. I
only have a half hour to, in order, Read the letters from the
president, write him in Spanish, read your letters, and after write
you. I cant do the general letter anymore, you have to write it from
what i tell you. Sorry, I think president will give me a bit more time
I asked him in my letter.
Thanks for sending me stuff for Christmas and birthday, it means
alot out here. I hope your package gets to you all soon, I guess we
will find out.
So we baptized a mother and her son, Vanesa and Linardo Saturday. I
love this little family they are really special. Her two sons,
Linardo 10 and Jared 6 carry around there backpacks with there books
of Mormons and Bibles, like they are missionaries. It's cute. I like
being an example.
We were going to baptize her daughter Katharine but she has some
problems with the word of wisdom, we will baptize her soon. Just
little things right, she can overcome her addiction, its all possible.
I'm very grateful for the gift of repentance.
I will send the photos next week I'm outa time...
With mucho amor,
Elder Ahlborn