Wednesday, January 29, 2014

13 January 2014



Hello family!

Wow! You have definitely had some cold weather there! It's January here, but the cold weather (if you could ever call it that) is already behind us. Right now it feels more or less like May or June to me. And the sun is already strong. 

This week we did divisions with the other sisters in my ward, so I got to go back to the other side of my area. It was good, but it's interesting how areas stop being yours after you leave them. It was good to visit, but at the same time I felt that that area wasn't where the Lord needed me anymore. 

Saturday we (the missionaries) put on a ward activity. At the entrance we gave everyone paper talents. They could use them to buy things like food or clothing that ward members had donated. When they ran out or if they needed more to buy what they wanted, they had to enter the activity rooms. There they could answer questions about scriptures, identify gospel pictures, or watch Mormon messages. It seemed that everyone enjoyed the activity, both the material and spiritual components. 

Sunday I gave a talk in church. The first time that I've had to give more than a testimony. The good part is that a bunch of youth had just returned from SOY (Strength of Youth, the Central America version of EFY). So they took up a good part of the meeting with testimonies, and I just had to give a five-minute talk instead of a ten-minute talk. I talked about missionary work, but I tried to keep it more of an invitation and less of a mandate. After all, I wasn't much of a missionary before the mission so I don't feel like I can tell the members that they have to go out and teach with us all the time. But believe me it helps when the members identify people we can teach. The long-term goal is to get a temple here in Honduras. But to do that they need to create a couple more stakes. And to create stake they need to divide wards. The ward I am in is the strongest ward I have known in my time here and a prime candidate to divide. (Probably in a two to make three with a neighboring ward.) The main challenge is that most of the members and especially most of the Priesthood leaders live in a tightly clustered area. We need to strengthen the other side of the ward (my area and the other sisters' area) so that it can break off and combine with part of another ward. Very few members have friends or family in our area, but we continue to do what we can. And even though we have few members in our area, I am very grateful for how amazing the members in our ward are. So many of them are willing to do just about anything to help us. It's nice to have a home away from home. 

Love,
Hermana Davis

No comments:

Post a Comment