Untitled Work

So this week not much eventful happened.

This week Hermana Vasquez and I did divisions with the sisters in good ole Olanchito! I love Olanchito with all my heart. It´s just a small friendly town. It was so sad to know that this really was the last time i´ll see Olanchito, and all the people there.

On Tuesday we had a really  inspiring Zone Meeting and I just kept thinking "maybe I should extend another month" and then we did the divisions with Hermana de Leon who was supposed go home with me but she told me she´s extending!! So on friday I shot President Klein a text and asked if it´s too late for me to extend and he called me and just said, "youre telling me this now??" We talked and... it{s too late because the church already had my plane ticket booked, so don{t worry. I´m coming home April 30.

It´s official: Olanchito is WAY hotter than La Ceiba. I was dying when we did divisions. I love Olanchito but at this moment I´m grateful to be in Ceiba where it´s not as hot.

On my ipod I have a song by Motab "Old time religion" and it says basically that the religion of Moses is "good enough for me" and I thought: APOSTASY If that were true we wouldn{t need a modern day prophet. 

Hermana Vasquez and I have been working really hard and it feels so good. I loved Las Colinas but it got me really disannimated. Being in this new big area has given me more ganas (I don{t remember how to say ganas in english... I´m not sure it exists)  to work. WE have a lot of new investigators but not a lot of progressing investigators. We two with a date, but our most promising has a problem and we all know what it is: he needs to get MARRIED!!!!!!!!! But really though this guy is amazing. He comes to church, he reads all his assignments and I know sometime his girlfriend will turn around and realize they need to get married. I have faith.

One the young women in our ward has a friend who is a foreign exhange student from ITALY. It was so cool to talk to her at dinner last night. It made me trunky because someday I´ll make it over to Europe.

Hermana Vasquez went to visit a family of members because he is the Elders Quorum President and she is the Relief Society President. It was such a great experience to be in their home. We walked in just instantly felt good, we felt the Spirit. They were all so happy and you could see that it is because they are living the gospel in it´s fullest. I wish ever home could be like theirs.

Yes, today I complete 17 months. NBD

Baleadas: 436

Enjoy General Conference. Eat lots of Rice Krispey Treats. Cuidense mucho.

Love,

Hermana Odekirk

Confused

The mission is a year and a half of awkward and confusing moments. This week was full of those.

I was with Hermana Orosko for a few days leading up to transfers. I really clicked with her and was really hopeful that she would be my new companion. My ZLs never told her where she was going nor her ZLs so we assumed she must be coming with me!! About 10:00 the day of transfers I called my new ZLs in La Ceiba to ask something about my apartment and I mentioned that we were planning on getting to Las Acacias about 1:00 but Elder Vargas was all, "Hermana your new companion isn´t here yet" and I asked him, "what are you talking about? Hna Orosko isn´t my companion??" "No, hna Vasquez is your new compnaion." "Entonces, where is Hna Orosko going??" "um.... I don´know let me call the APs" There must have been a last minute switch. So we put Orosko on a but Mezapa and I´m here with Hermana Vasquez. It was pretty stressful morning.

On tuesday we had the trunkiest district meeting in the history of district meetings. Elder Hansgen decided we need to live what we teach (which is true) and he wanted to focus on lesson 5. So do you know what he had us do? He made us each write a list attributes of the "ideal mariage" (because lesson 5 is when we teach about eternal families)  then we all had to go around and share what we wrote.

We got to our new area on Wednesday went to look in our area book and let me tell you, getting white washed after elders os AWFUL!!!!!!  They had about five teaching records, their progress form most recent was in october and the teaching records of the recent converts don´t have telephone numbers!!! It´s a little frustraing but we are making it work. They also left the house really dirty , but whatever, it´s all good now.

Sunday we went to church and it was so weird. Las Acacias is a ward of about 200-250. I´ve never been in a ward this big before. I felt really unneeded. In some wards the missionaries have to do so much but here they all function just fine without us. It´s wierd but it´s really great. They´ve already given us lots of refernces and we already have a full dinner schedule set for this week. What more can a missionary ask for, right?

I am now missing TWO girls scout cookie seasons in a row. So i need people to but aa box a thin mints and save me some!!!!!!

I was browsing through this book called "honduras and the world" and it said that there are only 6 continents because south and north America are just one continent. That´s not what I learned... 

hermana Zamora taught a new phrase I really liked. "El es mi gallo" o "He is my rooster" It´s saying that you put your trust in him, he´s a really a good guy. If he were a rooster in a fight you would put money on him because he is your rooster.

Now that I am serving in a richer area of Honduras i see lots women with really pretty clothes and it makes me really baggy. Sometimes I really excited to go home and where high heals again. and drive a car, and bake cookies and all that jazz.

I´ve been thinking that last couple of months that need to improve my sacrament meeting worship. Not just show up and listen, but really think about the Savior during the Sacrament and think about how I can improve. It´s a work in progress.

Enjoy your week! Love the snow.

Love,

Hermana Odekirk

Betooooooooooos!‏

These last two transfers I have been craving a egg and ham breakfast burrito from Beto´s all the time. Zamora and I were talking with a member who happened to live in utah for a couple of years and she was telling us this story and she was all "  We were at Beto´s, do you know beto´s?" I almost screamed!      "When  you feel Beto´s you Beto´s, but when you don´t Beto´s you don´t Beto´s." -Deanna Wilson

She was at the drive through at Beto´s and she didn´t speak english yet. She was there with some women who had been the states for years so she assumed they spoke english but they didn´t. They wanted 4 burritos so one of them said "how do you say burritos in english? I think it´s donkey" so they askedthe lady at Betos for 4 donkeys! Then the lady asked if they spoke spanish and they ordered in spanish. Hermana Leti and Zamora and I laughed pretty hard.

I want Beto´s so bad!

I went to Las Acasias twice this week to get to know the area. It seems really great! I actually feel a little intimidated because it is a ward of over 200 people and they want to divide it soon. I´m excited for another adventure.

yesterday Hermana Orosko and I (not Hermna Zamora because she´s ending her mision so I¨m with Orosko until wednesday) were coming back from Las Acasias in a taxi and I noticed the taxi driver had a Real Madrid Sticker AND an F.C. Barcelona sticker. For you Americans who don´t know soccer (like I was) they are the biggest rivals int he world. So i asked why he has both of the stickers and he laughed and said, "because I don´t who is going to get in my taxi!" He said that if a Real sees that he only has a Barcelona sticker they´ll find another cab so he has to have both, but he´s really a Barcelona fan. IYou had to be there. I love Honduras.

I SHOOK THE HAND OF AN APOSTLE!!! We got up at two in the morning to take a bus to San Pedro. We had a conference with "la otra mision" San Pedro Sula West. It was really good. I really loved that Elder Anderson only talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Sometimes in this Church we get so cought up in planning activities and procedures and all that jazz that we forget the point of it all: strangthening our Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

A received her mission call yesterday so we thought "yeah we can take 15 mintues to go watch her open her call" but we didn´t know how the catrachos do it. Her brother stood in front of everyone in the house said, "wlecome to this mission call opening. I am conducting. We aer going to have an opening hymn and opening prayer by tal person." Then we listened to a talk by her cousin about missionary work, then there was a musical number, then we all guessed where we thought she was going. I thought she was about to open it but then her mom did another musical number! She finally opened it but there wasn´t time for being all excited because then her grandpa spoke, then her grandma gave a talk, then her dad , then her mom, then her aunt, and then Hermana Orosko and I were all "whoa, Ain´t no body got time for that. ya nos vamos." and we left. 

This paragraph was really long because I want you all to feel who long the mission call opening was. (She is going to Guate East btw)

I start my last transfer this week. It´s weird.

I´ve eaten 427 baleadas.

Love,

Hermana Odekirk

The surprises never stop!‏

So... do you remember how I said that President Klein said there is small chance he is going to close my area? Well, the APs called about an hour ago... Las Colinas 2 is getting closed and next week when transfers happen I am going over to Las Acacias. Las Acacias is another part of La Ceiba, but it is in another zone, so I´m really going to miss my zone and my district and the 2 elders here in Las Colinas. The good news is I still have a week and a half to enjoy my time here in Las Colinas. Hermana Zamora goes home next week so I´ll be getting a new companion. 

This Elder Duncan of first quroum of the Seventy came. He is also the President of the central american area. It was really great. He talked about how if we want to be good missionaries we have to have a vision of the perfect missionary. 

It was super funy because since the CCM we´ve been teasing Elder Marsh about how he grew up in the middle of nowhere because he is from Joseph Utah, and when we all got to shake Elder Duncan´s hand Elder Marsh said he was from Joseph Utah and Elder Duncan said, "where´s that??" Hermana Turner and I laughed so hard! Reverently, but hard.

Remember how I´ve been dreaming of opening Yoro for almost a year? President Klein talked to Elder Duncan and he said go for it!! I´m so excited that after all these years we will finaly see missionaries in Yoro but I¨m so bummed  I won´t be one of them. I walked up to President Klein and he just looked at me. Elder Moffit walked up and said, "It´s okay Hermana. I´ll take care of Yoro for you." Then President Klein said, "You can see in her eyes how much she wants to punch you right now." But haha to Elder Moffit too because he goes home the transfer after me so he won´t be able to open Yoro either. We did it guys. #yoro2015

So, Aaron got baptized that week and yesterday he BLESSED THE SACRAMENT!! We´re so proud! Also, we went to teach him Family History again and I expected that when I asked to his My Family book he wouldn´t have any of it done because no one ever does, but NO! He had made a chart with all his brothers, cousins, great grandparents, todo. And he had all their birthdays and where they were born. It was so great! We have an appointment tomorrow to get his Family Search account started. He is so pilas. I´m going to miss him so much when I go to Las Acacias.

I wrote my address worng on my mission papers and now every time I have to type my address I get really nervous and have to check like five times. ha ha

Enjoy your week!

Love,

Hermana Odekirk

Oceans, Zits, and Baptisms!‏

This week we were a teaching this 12 year old convert named Brigeth. So is super super smart but has a hard time staying focused. At one point she told Hermana Zamora that the siz on her chin looked like a heart. hahaha I then got a good look at it and it really did look like a heart.

This week we did divisions with Miramar 1 again. So I went over to Miramar with Hermana Turner. They live about 50 yards from the beach!! It´s pretty. In the morning Turner and i went running on the beach. It was cool but it made my knees hurt.

At lunch one day Elder Monterrose challenged Elder Clouse to put two corn tortillas in his mouth at one time. Elder Clouse said no, so naturally Elder Monterrosa and I started chanting Elder Clouse, Elder Clouse. and I told him that the whole point of this life to learn new things, like puting tortillas in your mouth!! We were all screaming and Hermana Zamora was screaming about how there are poor kids in africa because she didn´t want him to do it. Eventually, he shoved the tortillas in his mouth and Elder Monterrosa and I started cheering. Meanwhile, the sister who makes us lunch and her kids were watching and laughing the whole time. It´s a hoot hers in Las Colinas.

Cassidy Lloyd just told me that Layton High won the state basketball championship. That rocks.

My spanish is getting so good that one day Zamora and I were speaking english to each other and I used the word especially. 

Some elders in my zone baptized a 7 yeat old!! hahaha The family told them he was eight but when the ZLs were looking over the baptismal registro a few days after the baptism they did the math and realized the kid was really only 7!!! hahaah We´ve been giving those elders a really hard time about it. 

On saturday we had an AMAZING service project with the ward. The whole ward came out to help a family in our ward. They nine people living in one bedroom house, and they really don´t keep it clean. We built tables and picked up trash. It was so great to see how everyone came together. The elders quorum president was teaching the young men how to saw and the women were organizing the kitchen (which is outside) and the ysa and other youth were picking up trash. It was great.

During the service project I had a mission first: I CHOPPED!!! Here everyone cuts the grass and plants with a machete but I´ve never done it because that´s something people ask men to do. I picked up a machete and a yound woman and i started chopping. I mentioned to Elder Clouse that it was the first time I had chopped and he looked at ground I had chopped and said, "Yeah, it shows." I guess I need more practice.

Another mission first this week: I filled the baptismal font myself! Just out of coinsidence there has always been someone else who does it.

We had to fill it because Aaron got baptized on saturday!! It was the best baptism I´ve ever been too. Hermana Zamora and I found Aaron our first week here and it has been so amazing to he how he has changed his life. He understands the Atonement and the purpose of baptism so well. 

I hope you all have a great week!! 

Love,

Hermana Odekirk

 

 

Fotos: Aaron at his baptism

     The kitchen we organized in the service project.