I'm Fasting For My Health! *Almost Dies*

Hi friends!

Like every week, a lot has happened, but something very important did come to pass this week: I am now two months into my mission. That is 1/12 (2/24) of my mission completed already! For those who want stats I am 63 days into my mission, and am 668 days away from the end. I have also been in Hondras for 18 days! Some of you may look at the >650 days and think that that is a ton, but to be honest the 63 days spent in my mission is most impressive to me. A LOT of time has already passed, and it's gone by quickly. The next 668 days may seem long, but it will go by quickly. Also, every new email you get from me, 7 days will be taken down from that large number, and it will decrease quickly.

This week I discovered that I will likely spend about 6 months here in Mochito 2, that being a fourth of my mission spent in the best area in the mission (hooray!). Sadly, I will spend less time with my trainer than most because he needs to be transfered to his new calling in the middle of my training. The next few weeks will go like this: the next 6 weeks will be with my companion, Elder Miles in Mochito 2, then he will leave and I will spend 3 weeks in a trio with the district leader in Mochito 1. Then I will return to Mochito 2 with a new companion, and I will be in charge of training him with the area and introducing him to the people here. I will then spend 1-2 more transfers here (about 6-12 more weeks) before being moved to wherever I'm needed. I may spend Christmas here in Mochito 2, and I think that that would be super cool.

I think that that is about enough to say about dates (though there are a few more events I would like to mention later on in my email) so I will move on to my actual email. Also, I heard that my grandma is printing out my emails to build a notebook for me. Hi grandma!!! Sorry for all the ink and paper you will use.

Monday - Aug 28th

If you want to know the bulk of what happened today, I recommend you read my previous email, but I will briefly summarize what happened today.

I went to an archeological park called Los Naranjos. It is next to Honduras' largest natural (and maybe only natural) lake. It has a handful of ruins similar to Copán, though the best part here was the atmosphere of the jungle.

I ate a burger ... to be honest I believe I've eaten more American food here in Honduras than Honduran food. I've eaten Baleadas a handful of times, but I need to try more Honduran foods.

About 2000 Lempiras was spent today, which is about $100 out of our $150 / 3000 Lempira monthly budget. Luckily, we will be able to withdraw more money in a few days, but we need to be very careful for these next few days.

To prepare for the week, I cleaned the house. The most notable thing I cleaned was my bathroom mat. You guys won't believe this but the mat is WHITE. I've looked at this mat for a few weeks, and thought that it was weird that it was colored brown. It's white! I don't want to think about what this mat has gone through, because it was SO DIRTY, but luckily it is now a little bit cleaner. Maybe I'll share a photo of the mat if you guys want it.

Two lessons were taught today. One lesson was about prayer, and the other was on how God can lessen our burdens. The second lesson was definentally powerful because the person we taught had their husband leave her for another woman one month ago. I'm impressed with her faith, and I know that if she trusts in God she can find lots of happiness in her life.

This week I'm trying to focus on being more humble. We'll see how that goes.

Tuesday - Aug 29th

It's time to actually start teaching. My companion and I have started going through teaching the lessons and planning how we can both participate, and now we're actually putting it in practice. Lesson #1 is about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (but it is not what we teach first most of the time). The most common teaching method for missionaries is the ping-pong method, where each missionary teaches a point of the lesson, and then the next missionary teaches the next point, and so on until they reach the point they want to stop at. 

Each missionary teaches differently, some missionaries teaches only 1-2 points each meeting, meaning it takes many short meetings to teach one lesson, other missionaries teach every point in one lesson. My companion likes to teach half of a lesson in a single meeting, so I need to know the first four points now, and the last four points later.

Today we ran into a lot of cancelled appointments and rejection. Luckily, we did run into a new family that we've started teaching. At the point of writing this email we've had two meetings, or taught both halves of lesson #1. It's nice to meet and teach new people, but I'm not sure at how likely these people will progress to baptism. Either way, bringing some light into their lives will do some good, and will give me good practice.

My mission president is coming tomorrow, so Elder Miles and I started cleaning the kitchen to prepare. This house has only been in use for ~9 months, but there are some scary things hidden in the bowels of our kitchen. Each drawer brought some new surprise, and I don't even want to guess how long the food has been in the fridge. We basically threw out everything in the kitchen because we have no idea how long it's been there. We only know that they have been around for more than 6 weeks.

Speaking of food, Elder Miles and I hatched a plan to buy Baleadas tomorrow morning, but it seems God heard our hungry stomachs because we were fed Baleadas for dinner by our pensionista. From what I've heard, she's never served Baleadas before now, so clearly some divine intervension was made to prevent us from making Baleadas tomorrow. I'm just glad I could have some yummy food today.

Wednesday - Aug 30th

We did surprisingly little teaching today because we had a bunch of meetings to attend to. Today we had both Mission Council and Ward Council. 

Mission Council is basically all of the missionaries in the district reporting their progress and their plans for the week.

Ward Council is almost the same as Mission Council, but now we're reporting to the leaders of the ward and asking for their help. The members of the ward also pitch their ideas to bring in people to the ward.

An additional meeting we had today was our meeting with the mission president! They came to our house, dropped off some resources (most notable being Books of Mormon that we can now pass out), drooled over house nice our house was (I guess we really do have the best house in the mission, even the mission president was impressed with it), and gave us interviews. 

Out of our ~7 hours we have to work, we really only had ~4 hours with all of the meetings we had to attend to today.

Some news came with the mission president today. 

1st: Out of the 20 missionaries that came in my group to Honduras, only 19 are serving now. We already lost 1 brethren!

2nd: I will only have Elder Miles for 9 out of my 12 weeks of training. For the last 3 weeks, I will be with my district leader for training.

3rd: Elder Miles is going to be the mission's next Financial Secretary, he has to start early because the mission is switching the bank/card they are using .

4th: I will be in my current area all the way to December at the least. Hopefully I can celebrate Christmas here, but I'll go wherever God wants me to go.

I got to try a new Honduran food today: Tortillas con Quesilla (I spelled Tortilla right this week). Tortillas con Quesilla is basically a quesadilla, but with Honduran cheese, which has a stronger flavor than most American cheeses.

I got to witness my first bit of Bible Bashing. It's amazing how many bible scriptures the people know and have memorized, I hope I can increase my knowledge of the bible to be able to easily know useful scriptures, but I don't want to fight with the bible. It's supposed to be a book of peace, not a book of war (even if the Bible and the Book of Mormon talks about war occasionally).

Thursday - Aug 31st

We started the day with a District Council. District and Zone councils are similar because they have songs, teaching sections, and practice sections. After this district meeting, however, I traded places with Elder Porter and we had a companionship exchange today. 

Companionship exchanges happen once a transfer (though I will have a sort of companionship exchange for 3 weeks next transfer cycle because my companion will leave) and they allow people to learn new teaching methods and take a break from living with their companion for 24 hours.

I was with Elder Van Dyke in Las Vegas (Mochito 1 area) while Elder Porter paired up with Elder Miles in Mochito 2. My impressions of Las Vegas: busy and loud. There are certainly many more people here in Las Vegas, and you don't need to walk far to find someone to teach. That is definentally something I like a little bit better than my area, because my area is a bit more spread out and we spend a surprising amount of time travelling between houses.

Elder Van Dyke teaches very differently than Elder Miles, teaching every point in a lesson at once. He also spends less time doing small talk than Elder Miles. In many ways Elder Van Dyke and Elder Miles are opposites, so now I can see both sides of missionary work. Something cool about how they both work is that neither are perfect, and both are successful in bringing people to Christ. 

In my mind I have ways I see a missionary being, and Elder Van Dyke fits some of those traits, and Elder Miles fits some of those traits. Sadly, neither fit the ideal missionary I have in my head, but I am realizing that you don't need to be like that to have success. God makes do with what you have, and any missionary can have success here, regardless of their efficiency or energy.  

I met many people today, and participated a lot in teaching (more than I'm used to ... I may need to ask Elder Miles to include me more in the teaching so I can become more acquainted with it). The most notable person I taught was the bishop! It was very cool meeting the bishop and learning about him. He certainly is a very faithful man. Additionally, I was fed SO MUCH FOOD today. I was pretty sure I was going to burst at the end of today. Elder Van Dyke is definentally more strict with eating EVERYTHING than Elder Miles is.

Friday - Sept 1st

I am now reunited with Elder Miles (Yay!!!). We started our time back together by choosing a piano song to play as a duet. Next week (tomorrow at the time of writing this) we will be performing at a multi-zone conference in San Pedro Sula. 

We don't have a lot of time to practice, so we'll have to rely on many prayers to perform this well 😂😇. Elder Miles is a great piano player and it's nice to be playing with someone else.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm starting to realize that there is no ONE way to be a missionary. Everyone missionaries a different way, and everyone can find success regardless of what they do right and what they do wrong. What matters is that you are connected with God, for God is the real converter of persons.

Some advice I recieved from my companionship exchange was to improve my listening, so that is something I will try to do. Listening is HARD. Listening in Spanish is HARDER. Listening in Spanish for a full day is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. This next week I will try to really focus on listening, because the times I focus and listen well are amazing, but it is so tiring I need to practice a ton before I get good at listening.

Final note for today: I have lost a pair of pants to bleach! (Technically two pairs, but one is easily hidden with a belt). I hope my replacement pairs come in soon, because I really only have two functioning pairs of pants now.

Saturday - Sept 2nd

First weekend of the month! That means it's time to Fast! No food for 24 hours with hard work and heavy labor? No problem!

Today I'm fasting for many things, but one of them is for good health. Guess what happened today that did not go to plan. I was almost hit by a car. I was in a mototaxi with Elder Miles heading back home when a car came out of nowhere and almost hit us! I'm fasting for health, and being in a car crash does NOT help my health!!!

I was also able to witness the quickest rejection in Honduras. 

"Buenos-"

"No Gracias"

We didn't even get the chance to finish saying "Good afternoon" before we were rejected. Usually we'll be allowed a little bit of conversation, or a bit of time to talk and teach before being rejected, but this time we weren't even able to start.

I personally find this very funny because this is the first flat out rejection I was given. Usually it is just, "I'm not sure I want to keep going", but this was a solid "No".

The people here in Mochito 2 are very nice, but they are not super willing to share stuff. When I was in Las Vegas I was surprised by the amount of food that was shared with me because that rarely happens in my area, but guess what happened today.

All of the sudden, EVERYONE was wanting us to eat dinner with them, they were leaving avocados and bananas with us, and we had to deny ALL of them because we were fasting. I know that we get tempted sometimes, but I didn't think it would be like that! We told everyone that we can come another day to share dinner with them, but NOT today.

Sunday - Sept 3rd

Our fast is over: Hooray! Fasting (Not eating or drinking for 24 hours for those who don't know) is something that is pretty hard to do, but I love doing them because they allow us to grow our connection with God and show to him that we are willing to give up temporal things to go to him. I love the symbolism that accompanies fasts, and I firmly believe that we are blessed for participating in fasts.  

My companion hooked me up today with a bunch of photos of me that he has on his phone, as well as with a bunch of talks and discussions about the church that I can listen to, and all of the episodes of The Chosen that I can watch on Sunday (The whole mission watches the Chosen in Spanish on Sunday, but I have the English versions that I can watch instead). I am definentally glad to have some more church resources that I can use.

Bryan Castellanos, who was baptized last week was confirmed a member of a the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost today!!! I'm so excited fr him, and I hope he is very blessed as he continues the covenant path with faith.

Today is 2 months into my mission!!! I'm surprised by how fast the time has gone, and I sure hope that time will just continue to pass by faster each day so I can enjoy my progress more than worry over my struggles.

Monday - Sept 4th

New P-day, new message with you guys. I'm so glad for the opportunity to email you guys each week, and for the opportunity to call my family as well. My family has been doing good, and for that I'm very grateful. I hope that each of you guys are finding happiness and peace in your lives, and if you are not, then I recommend looking towards Jesus Christ and the things that bring you closer to him. I can guarantee that those will improve your lives significantly as you HAVE faith, and you ACT on that faith.

This morning we took it slow compared to last week's p-day. In an effort to decrease expenses we only ate Baleadas this morning and spent time in the Chapel downloading church talks and videos with the Wifi and practicing the piano for our upcoming duet.  

I spend a surprising amount of time each P-day writing emails and calling family. Maybe I ought to write parts of emails in the evenings of other days so I can open up more time for study and chores, but really I don't mind as long as I don't fall too far behind with my laundry (which I admittedly do need to catch up on quite a bit).

I have some things I did want to mention though before ending this email, so I will write them down in fun-fact format!

#1: This next Sunday, September 10th, the citizens of Honduras will be celebrating Día de los niños, or Kid's day. We don't have this in the United States so I'm excited to see what it will be like.  

#2: Next week, on the 15th of September, the citizens of Honduras will be celebrating their national Independence Day. Similar to Kid's day, I'm curious to see what the festivities will be like. The children in the school next to where we live have been practicing non-stop for the past month for this day, so maybe I will be able to see them perform in a parade or something of the like.

#3: Elder Snyder, a member of my district in the CCM is currently in the hospital recovering from an illness. I hope he get's better because I would like to keep serving with him here in Honduras.

#4: To keep myself entertained, I've started keeping track of the numbers of the Mototaxi's that I've seen. I'm clling this Mototaxi Bingo, and I've already made a bunch of progress in filling out the sheet. If I finish I will share the file with you guys so you guys can know the colors of all the mototaxi's here in my area (if you guys are interested.)

#5: There is a Honduran drink called Avena (which translates to Oats) which is basically oats with water (or milk). Something that surprises me though is that it tastes REALLY good, kind of like Horchata, if you've ever tried that. I recommend it.

#6: The Baleada I recommend is a Baleada with: Beans, Cheese, Mantequilla (basically Sour Cream), Eggs, and Chile/Hot Sauce. The best Baleadas I've had have these, and these are considered the 'Basic' baleada. I don't recommend them with Chicken, though I can imagine ground beef tasting good.

#7: My area has a small town split up into two parts: Mocho Arriba & Mocho Abajo (Basically Higher Mocho and Lower Mocho). Between the two sections of the town there is a staircase with about 480 stairs. I DO NOT recommend climbing up those stairs.

#8: Coca Cola is very popular here in Honduras, but most members believe you shouldn't drink it as it should break the Word of Wisdom. This is a very hot topic that deservese more attention later when I understand the conflict better.

Spanish Word of the Week

Catracho - Honduran. Technically the correct translation is Hondureño - Honduran, but Catracho is local slang for Honduran. 

Another local slang thing for Honduras is that instead of saying 'muy' to say a lot (muy means very in English). They say 'bien' . Bien means 'good' in English, so instead of saying "I'm very wet" it's like saying "I'm good wet".

To help this make more sense, it is kind of like saying "You got me good" when someone scares you a lot. This personally confuses me a lot and I'm trying to build the habit of saying it for the people here.

Scripture of the Week

2 Nephi 32:3 - "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." 

I implore all of you to read through the Book of Mormon again with the intent of learning and applying the book in your life. I can testify that this book WILL change your life, and that your questions WILL be answered by searching through these scriptures. I can also add that by reading this book, you will find greater peace and happiness in your life, and will find comfort in having a resource always there to support you.

I suppose I should end my email now. My P-day is almost over and I still have a bunch of stuff to do. Thanks for you time in reading this email and I hope you will be blessed greatly as you try to find your way to Christ!

Check out my photos! https://photos.app.goo.gl/g2QAHn4xdMnPx4JT8

Don't forget you can email me for any reason. I won't bite! mgrant@missionary.com or reply to me here on this email.

Nos Vemos!

 - Élder Mason Grant