A Visit From Elder Ochoa

Elder Lund and The Zona Choloma with Elder Ochoa and President and Sister Dester

Selling donuts to help members earn money

¡Buenas!!!

Well, another quick week here in Los Almendros.

On Wednesday, we had a multi-zone conference with Elder Ochoa from the Presidencia de Area. It was an awesome conference, and I learned a lot. President Dester showed us the established baptismal goal for 2015...we plan to double the baptisms. I truly believe that this is possible. We are going to work a lot with the members as the primary sources of finding, teaching, and baptizing. The members are encouraged to write down, by name, their contacts. "Si no hay nombres, no hay metas ni planes" Elder Ochoa was awesome. He really focused on faith, repentance, and of course, BAPTISM! We as missionaries are here to find the people who are ready to accept the restored gospel (the sheep who follow the voice of the pastor), teach them and help them repent, and then when they are prepared, baptize them. Simple. We shouldn´t be focusing on baptizing every month, but every week. Always finding, teaching, and baptizing those who have desires to change their lives and follow the good shepherd. Great conference. A lot of ánimo right now (at least on my part).

We had some challenges and problems this week, but overall really good. The "familia de o" is looking more and more golden each time we visit them. We found out last week that they are actually married!!! However, there are still some challenges, the biggest being that the husband drinks. The oldest daughter went to church with a member-neighbor and the parents were going to come in their motorcycle later. BUT, the husband went out to drink with his buddies instead of coming straight home from work (the night shift) and didn´t come back until 2 in the afternoon. I went to visit them with the ward mission leader and found out about all this. The husband was asleep drunk. The 3 year old son even knew about his dad´s problems..."mi papá anda bolo"...speaking of that...the 3 year old son, J, has a genetical problem with two of his smallest toes on his right foot and is going to have surgery this Wednesday. They grew larger than the other ones. The pinky toe and the ring toe are much larger than the big toe. I tried explaining to them the "this little piggy went to market" but the joke didn´t translate well. Anyways, they needed to buy a special soap to wash the foot in preparation for the operation, but the father "lost it" when he went drinking with his buddies. The wife was really upset and started crying after telling us. They had said a prayer as a couple before going to bed Friday night, but she recognizes that the adversary is making his attacks. We had a good lesson with her and gave her ánimo. Yes, their is a challenge, but I know that the Lord can touch and change his heart. This just means that this family has even more to gain from the gospel.

We are working a lot to get other people married. We worked with the Bishop to sell donuts from Pricemart (or Price Smart? I´m not sure...but it´s the equivalent to Costco or Sam´s Club) to members and missionaries. The family also sold 4 boxes door to door. See the pic...We sold 18 boxes with a ganancia of 720 Lempiras. Not bad. My companion and I bought 3 boxes...plenty of breakfast for this week.

Well, I hit the 14th month mark this past Friday...this is going by way too fast. By the end of this change I will have 15 months in the mission with about 8 1/2 months to go. Still not too baggy...just focused on working hard. #dedicated #loseyourself (in the work)

I´ll end with a story from the ward mission leader´s testimony yesterday:

Hay la historia de una conversación entre un padre y su hijo. El hijo le preguntó "Papá, ¿crees que puedo vivir todos los mandamientos durante el transcurso de este año?" El padre, riéndose un poquito, le respondió "No hijo, no creo que puedas." El hijo, le preguntó otra vez "Papá, ¿crees que puedo vivir todos los mandamientos este mes?" Otra vez, le respondió que no. "¿Una semana?" "No" respondió el padre. "¿Un día?" Tampoco. "¿Una hora?" "Bueno," respondió el padre esta vez, "tal vez, pero todavía creo que no puedas" El hijo preguntó a su padre una ultima vez, "Papá, crees que puedo vivir perfectamente los mandamientos durante el transcurso de un minuto?" Por fin, el padre le contestó "Sí. Creo que puedes." Entonces, el hijo le dijo a su padre "Bueno, este significa que debemos vivir los mandamientos minuto trás minuto, y luego hora tras hora, hasta que podamos vivir los mandamientos perfectamente y lleguemos a ser como Nuestro Padre Celestial. Claro, no somos perfectos en esta vida, pero podemos tratar de vivir los mandamientos perfectamente en cada momento."

Well, have a great week!

-Elder Lund

Los Almendros, Zona Choloma 2/23/14 - 3/2/15