Week 9 from Honduras

hola familia!!

   alright, strap in, i have a lot to write so there might be some errors haha. The flight to tegucigalpa was pretty good i couldnt sleep much but it ended up being alright. The landing into the Toncontin airport was CRAZY. super short and super hard. it was cool lookin out the window as we were flying in and seeing how the city sprawls out everywhere...it wasnt quite like mexico city but it was still pretty cool. Some parts of the city actually looked pretty nice, others were SO GHETTO. when we got off the plane we went through to customs. i was the first to get through and president flores and the APs were there to meet us. we got in the car and drove to the mission office. the streets are nuts here. so many dogs and crazy driving. When we got to the mission office we had a meeting about rules and all that other stuff for a few hours. I also had my first interview with president flores. he is awesome, i can tell that he has a lot of love for the missionaries and the work. I also ran into moms second cousin Elder Ray! that was kind of cool to meet him. After that we went to the mission home to meet president flores family and sister flores cooked us dinner. on the drive there, it was crazy, every single store had at least 1 or 2 armed gaurds out front with big shotguns or other kinds of rifles. After dinner we went to the APs house where all 13 of us newbies stayed the night. (all of these buildings so far arent in my mission boundaries haha). the next morning we got up and went back to the missio home to have breakfast and then we went to a stake center some other place to have the transfer meeting. There was a slideshow showing where everyone was going. my picture popped up in the San Rafael area in the Torocagua zone. and my companion is elder Perez. from guatemala...he speaks NO english haha. so family, your prayers were answered haha. After that we took a taxi to my area...it is one of the most poor areas in the whole mission...its nuts. we got to our apartment and then i unpacked and then we started teaching right away. San Rafael is set up in this valley with 2 cliffs. hills on either side and the houses go up these steep hills so it is a LOT of climbing and hiking...legit hiking. there isnt concrete or anything. we climb up these steps carved into the side of the cliff but a lot of the area doesnt even have steps. most of the houses have dirt floors, all of them have tin rooves. some are made out of concrete, and a lot are just pieces of wood nailed together...these people have basically nothing. the area is soooo poor, tons of dogs and pigs and chickens in the street... and soooo ghetto...AND I LOVE IT. its crazy to look out the window and see all these shacks. its so different and this is exactly what i wanted! we dont have any dinner appointments though because the people barely have enough money to feed themselves...so i havent had a native meals yet...just pb and j every day basically. im going shopping today to buy more food. Everyone here is so nice though, i definitely feel very welcomed. the bishop is an awesome guy and really cares about his ward. but there{s this one guy that we see all around. I{m pretty sure hes homeless and he is always drunk...he always comes up to me and shakes my hand and hangs on for way to long and gives me a big toothless smile and calls me amiguito...haha its weird. i always use hand sanitizer after. but its still so surreal to just look out and see this village in the jungle, and its home for the next 12 weeks.

    and as far as the missionary work is going, we had a baptism on saturday! Natalia Mejia, she is this 60 year old woman and is so nice. we have a family of 4 we are baptizing next weekend. and then we commited a family to baptism last night in their first lesson. The people here are so ready for the gospel. i love it. well i dont have much time so i{m gonna attache some photos. i love you all!!!!