My Comp's Dad Is Mr. Bean?!

Hi friends!

I'm sorry for pranking you guys last week.  That prank even went into my weekly video call with my family and my mom was not happy about it.  Anyways, I now feel like I owe it to you guys to share with you.  

I am now in area Las Brisas in zone San Pedro Sula.  After being situated in a chilly area many hours away from the mission center, I am now super duper close to all of the action and am able to frequently hear from the leaders of the mission.  I loved my last area, and I would never trade it for any other place, but I'm so glad to get a new area with new challenges and new blessings.  I feel especially blessed to now be so close to everything I need, rather than a mototaxi's drive away.

Right now I am loving being just down the street from: The Chapel, Our Pensionista, Our source of purified water, etc. I am also loving being part of the zone of the APs and Secretaries (including my trainer, Elder Miles).  I can also see the home of the mission president from my area so I feel so close to all the action.  There's a very good chance that I'll be able to visit the Temple sometime soon, but I'll keep you posted if/when that happens. 

Getting to know new people has been exhilerating, and names are finally starting to stick in my mind. This area has had a rich history in missionary work, and I can see the love members have for each other and for the missionaries. Just yesterday we were chatting with the members after church and we could see the love they shared for each other.  I felt a certain peace fill me as I remembered the relationships I had with my home ward in Utah and I was comforted in a way I hadn't felt in a while.  In my past area, we were always rushing to the bus to return to our area, so I wasn't able to witness or experience that kind of feeling very much, but I'm comfortted to be able to be a little more relaxed here and able to get to know the members in a more personal way than before.  

Something you should know about me: I love learning new things.  

I learned early on in my life that adults posses a ton of knowledge and wisdom, and I've always gravitated towards the oldest person in the room during any kind of event.  I'm friends with most of my teachers, and I feel a particular pull to be near any sort of leader whenever possible just so I can hear *anything that could be useful.  I gained experiences with many members of my home ward just by choosing to position myself close to them and participating in their conversations, and I have decided to continue doing that here.  

I am loving the things I've learned so far and am learning every day, and I have seen fruits of those labors in an increased capacity to communicate in Spanish.  As we teach I pick up bits and pieces of Spanish, but the conversation is almost always directed towards us, so I spend more time focusing on how I'm going to respond rather than how they are saying things.  Listening on a conversation between members has helped me discover more ways of communicating and more common phrases to use.  I also learned a few jokes along the way to share with people.

Here are some jokes:

¿Cual es la diferencia entre una pera y la novia de un misionero?

Uno es pera, y la otra no espera

¿Porquè los americanos nunca ganan partidos de ajedrez?

Porque les faltan los dos torres

¿Porquè los inglès tampoco ganan partidos de ajedrez?

Porque les faltan la reina

¿Que dijo una iguanita a otra iguanita?

Somos iguanitas (igualitas)

The second joke was brutal to hear, and a kid named Reynaldo shared that one with me (along with the third joke)

Anyways, this week has been super fun, though a plot twist halfway through the week has made this week extra interesting.

To start off: On Tuesday we had a multi-zone conference where we heard the first talk by our new AP Elder Martinez (he talked about how we think and how we can think more positive). We also heard the final talk of our old AP Elder Jarvis (he'll likely finish his time as AP this transfer - he talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy).

Additionally, we recieved amazing talks from President McClellan and his wife, and beautiful testimonies by my ZL Elder McCoy and another sister missionary (one I have not met personally).  I should mention that both Elder McCoy and I started our missions in the same area (he opened the area and I held the one-year-aniversary during my time there). He's now my Zone Leader and I'm so glad to get to know him because he is awesome and he shows how a person can change and become converted over time.  His hard work has also born the fruits of Nelson and Freddy Benitez who will soon serve their own missions to bless even more lives.

After our training we ate lunch and had the opportunity to chat with other missionaries.  I managed to snipe a seat next to the mission president and his wife, and Elder Porter and Elder Van Dyke joined me.  I loved chatting with them and hearing their support and wisdom.  I always feel good when I'm around them.  I also got to chat for a while with Elder Rodriguez (shoutout to my second cousin Liberty, who also knows Elder Rodriguez).  Right now he is in an area that is larger than many zones, and he feels a bit overwhelmed with all the work that he needs to do there.  Keep him in your prayers tonight so he can feel comforted and capable to do this hard work.

Following the training we worked extra hard to serve the people.  Later in the week we also had a district council where I was asked to give the training.  I decided to base my lesson on how to ask better questions, a follow up on the talk we recieved by Elder Martinez.  I was scrambling to get all my sources organized and a general agenda of my lesson with the little time I had to prepare, but I think it turned out well. Sadly though, the ZLs could participate in person because they caught a pretty rough illness (I think it was Dengue, but I'm not sure).  

Speaking of illness, this past week I've also been a little sick.  Starting on Friday I woke up with the driest throat I've ever had.  I'm pretty sure I'm eating dust in my sleep, because my throat is super scratchy.  That's also been accompanied by extreme drowsiness and headaches.  I'm not sure if I'm sick because of the heat, or because I caught something, or because I've been getting less sleep than usual (the cars driving by usually awake me before the 6:30 alarm goes off).  Either way, both my comp and I have been feeling less than 100% these past few days, and we've been trying our best to juggle serving other people and serving ourselves in appropriate ways.

I'm running out of time to talk, and there's still so much I want to say! There are so many cool people here and so many stories I want to share.  I'll give a short bullet-point list really quick, and then I'll end it all off.

 - We've been painting the mural most days this week.  Our personal studies have suffered because of it (and maybe our physical health too), but it's been super fun and people are interested in the message we're trying to share.  ((But we're not going to work so much this next week, it's time to start focusing on the most important stuff)

 - We've given a butt-load of blessings this past week.  We're not the only ones who are feeling ill, but a ton of people are sick also. I'm now feeling pretty fluent in the art of giving blessings, but I may struggle when I have to give them in English after my mission

 - My comp's younger brother was baptized this week!  We hopped on zoom and we saw this beautiful ordinance happen. I also got to meet his family, and I have to comment that his dad looks like Mr Bean, but with glasses (and from Guatemala).

 - We put two baptismal dates this week.  I don't know the two kids very well, but I'm worried that it won't actually happen. We'll see how it goes.  Something interesting about this area is that most every parent is okay with letting their kid be baptized, but don't want to do it themselves.  I'm worried about baptizing kids, and then having them be 'alone' in the gospel.  I would prefer to find an entire family willing to join the church, so they can get all the support they need ... we'll see what happens.

Anyways, that's all for this week.  Keep doing great and keep being happy!  Today's my birthday, and though I'm far from home, I'm happy to be able to spend this time of my life serving the Lord.

Keep safe, search for happiness, search for the Lord.  I promise you'll find both if you search hard enough! See ya!

 - Elder Grant

PS: I almost forgot to mention, my new comp is

Okay, okay, the joke has gone on long enough... my comp is named Elder Muñoz. Sorry