7th week 1st week in Honduras

Hola a Todos,


So yeah, we left differently, we left on Monday, so we didn't get the chance to write. I have even less time to write actually out here, but I'll do the best i can. My first Sunday It was so hard to sing, i actually couldn't sing, I'd get flashbacks of you guys and the ward, and i couldn't cry there in sacrament, so i just mouthed the words but didn't let anything out so i could hold back the tears, but besides that, it was great. We have a recent convert named Gorge, he has a speech problem, he speaks very slow and broken Spanish and he looks like a child, so although hes 40, he looks 20, and he acts like an innocent child too, of course he can do all the adult things, he works and stuff, but he speaks as a child, and i love him so much. We are trying to get him the priesthood soon, hes stopped drinking and hes going to church, he gets up early and knocks on our door during our study time to wait so we can walk with him to the chapel. hes the only member in his family. Besides him, the families that are members are so sweet, they work so well with us, and do not worry, they feed us. We get fed by both members and investigators, its so weird, the investigators feed us just as often as the members. But it shows that they love us and they can feel that we love them. I received my Christmas letters and i loved them, thank you so much for those. I needed that before i began working on my first day, i got them as soon as i got here, so i read them before orientation and all that. We've visited new people daily and only a couple are frequent, since its only been a week, were trying to get to all the members and less actives and still contact as well. There's 106 that showed up on Sunday, and there almost twice as many inactive in this pueblo we live in.I love and miss you all. I'ts very new here, this mission is a great joy though. Its hot just like back home, but the difference is i'm in a white shirt and walking around all day, i live in a little house on the side of a mountain and my area is all mountain, its like our boy scout hikes every day from the time we go out until we get back home. I also got sent to the most dangerous area on this side of Honduras, i can testify to that because we got robbed my second day on the field. Ha ha they just took our cell thanks to Dios, but yeah, we got robbed nonetheless, he might've taken our money too if we hadn't thought fast and lied and then told him we only have our agendas and showed him them with pictures of Jesus. Oh well, its fun, i shower from a bucket too, and the water is always cold, no more warm water. but the holy ghost comforts me daily, or hourly, it just comforts me all the time. I'm growing, I'm changing and its all thanks to the Lord. I'm so grateful for prayer, i get home every night and see my knees dirty and i smile because that means Ive been on my knees praying like i should be. The bad thing is that i only have 50 minutes to write to everyone now and one of those letters has to be to president, but its cool, ill figure something out, but keep sharing with me! it really comforts me! Thank you for your letters they are a great help! i love you all!

Sacrificio es temporal, la gloria es eterna

Elder Chavez

5th week, last week in CCM

Hello everyone,

 Its been a week of gratitude. Thanksgiving was not so hard away from home, i have family now here with the friendships I've built. We still had the wonderful feast of food, but we also heard words from an apostle of the Lord, Elder Oaks, remind us that gratitude is much more than words, its actions. And I'm glad I'm serving a mission where i can show my actions as gratitude to our Loving Father in Heaven for all of the blessings in my life. I recently got called as District Leader, which means im over 10 other missionaries and am responsible for all of their work and obedience and punctuality and everything, its actually really fun since my group is very responsible already, and i get the chance to serve them more. Um, i also am working with an Elder Thomas with building a choir of Latinos and Norteamericanos to sing, in Spanish, What Child is This, for a Christmas special for ambassadors from every country in central america who are coming to see what its like to be a missionary. Its really cool that they're coming to see what we do, and that we get to share some time with these leaders from the countries we are going out to serve. Well, only one week left, and im out to Honduras! I really cant wait, tengo mucho entusiasmado! Pues, hasta la siguiente semana! Te amo a todos! 

Sacrificio es temporal, la gloria es eterna

Elder Chavez

4th week at the CCM

Here is the four week photo of the CCM,  I'm in the middle row, far left this time. Its shrinking but were supposed to gain about 90 Latinos in the next week, so we will have many more in my final photo here, well Happy Thanksgiving everyone!~ Enjoy time with family and lots of food, ill be studying, but its okay because i came out here to bring these families together for all eternity! Esta obra es la obra y gloria de Nuestro Padre Celestial! Te amo todo! Feliz Dia de Gracias!

Just  getting closer to the people here, i love them so much! We've spent such little time together here, but we all feel like its been months already, as if we've all been friends for years! This last week we did the same old thing, but we also wrote a song together about missionary work, maybe i'll send it next week or something and we got really good at our little accapella hymn thing we got going on, its so fun with all of these people, i'll be missing them, all. This last week we had a district meeting and The other day we were having a compliment each other kind of thing during a district meeting and they all agreed that i am the smile of the group, always pushing everyone to be happy because i'm happy here, and they all kind of rotate around me so that i end up in the middle so the 7 can feel that happiness as i look around at all of them, I'm glad i can help them in that way, its so great! Well, FELIZ DIA DE GRACIAS!! Te amo a todo ustedes y estoy agradecido por todo ustedes y sus oraciones y bendiciones para yo y mis amigos! have a wonderful week, love you all! Hasta luego!

Sacrificio es temporal, la gloria es eterna

Elder Chavez

3rd week in CCM

The second and third week have been pretty much study, eat, study, eat, study, eat and sleep. It sound super boring but its really fun, our teachers are amazing and we have lots of fun laughing throughout our classes, singing and teaching and learning Spanish together. Not much different happens, we get a day called Preparation Day (P Day) where we go to the temple down the street, then have an hour to write to everyone and then play sports or hang around getting to know each other for about 4 hours then end the day with devotionals from different people or inspirational videos that really pump us up, then we have our little District meetings and we get to know our small group more and have fun together with singing or just talking and sharing, and its awesome, i love being here! Thank you all who have written to me! I love you all and i know that the work i am out here doing the message i am sharing is true and nothing will ever shake my faith in that! I wish you all the best in all that you re doing!

Sacrificio es temporal, la gloria es eterna

Elder Chavez

1st week en la CCM

Alright,so the first day here was pretty intense. The flights were so long and tempting with tvs in every single seat and movies and music going off while i tried hard to sleep or something so as to keep my missionary promises,haha. I was alone all the way up until i got to the LA airport, where i walked to my next gate and saw that it was changed! so i went searching and found the right one and then right when i was turning to find something to eat,there were about 15 other missionaries walking straight to m and we all immediately bonded. Somebody had given them a 100 dollar bill on their previous flight so they used it to pay for everyone for dinner,it was the first miracle of the day. That day we got to the CCM after hours in the airport and a bus but eventually were here. They split it up here in Rama (branches/zones) and distritos (districts), i got put with 5 other elders who are just so spiritually amazing. My companion is Elder Daines and he is a spiritual and knowledgeable giant, he really does know a lot, and although it gets him a little excited and prideful he always triesto ask for charity so he can become as close as he can to Christ. Elder Gorze and Elder Dickson are companions,both from utah and Elder Dickson is district leader, very powerful testimony and spirit, and his companion is fun-loving, quick learning, talkative but always happy to help and serve. Then the final pair are Elder Hafoka(from Australia) and Elder Landgraf(from Hawaii) theyre so cool and theyre so great with their dedication to learning the language and having fun here as well. the Hermanas in our distrito are super nice too and have strong testimony and quiet spirits that reminds us to stop and listen sometimes,it crazy, we all have only been together for 4 days but i feel that i've known them all for months now and they all feel the same to me. So our first night, we were blessed to exercise our priesthood in such a magnificent way. after so many hours of flying and moving and working we were to follow schedule still until 10.30 to go to bed, so we were EXHAUSTED. Well, Elder Landgraf was getting down from his bed so we could kneel together in prayer,and he slipped and fell but we thought nothing of it, but once he was climbing back into bed he was convulsing almost like mini seizures when he layed down,we asked if he was alright and he stopped and said yes, but he picked up his Libro de Mormon and suddenly threw it against the wall and shaking again, so Elder Dickson and I looked at each other and said together, he needs a blessing now. We closed the door, locked it,i pulled out my oil and Elder Dickson annointed him. I then gave him the blessing, he was still shaking under our hands,and i felt the spirit so strongly that i have no idea what i was even saying half of the time, but as soon as we closed, he shook no more. Never again. He told me later that my blessing was everything he needed to hear and i am so grateful for that to have begun our first night as a powerful group of elders.

 We learn so much spanish, i can ask people to be baptized, recite the mission purpose and the first vision all in spanish now and can speak so much more fluently than ever before. They have us split here into two groups, Norteamericanos and Latinos.The Latinos are the ones from the areas around, from Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and they are such strong people, the Latinos are my favorite around and my districts too,we love hanging around them, they know why they are here, dont ever complain and are so patient with us as we learn the language, and even ask us to teach them english as well. The norteamericanos are a different story, there are the strong and there are the weak. Some complain and moan and are not missionaries in their actions at times, but we stay strong and try our hardest to hold each other up in Distrito Pablo (im sure that we have the strongest district here,not to brag,just truthfully) the hermans and us elders hold each other up and already care for each other like family. The food here is the most amazing time of the day and each meal is so delicious and filling. We get to play sports at night from 7.30 to 9,00, but not soccer! at least there is basketball and volleyball, so im okay.Next week we may go to the mercado and practice handing out libros de mormon, we did already start teaching our own pretend investigators and are to have them ready for baptism by our date we set with them which is el 20 de noviembre for my companion and i. When we go, we want to get matching jerseys for our squadron (squad) and ties that have our missions written ont hem,its so cool what they have to get for your mission. I cant send pictures and can only take them on p-day,but its okay, ill send some once i get out to honduras. Its just the CCm rules here. Welll,thats pretty much the week, monday through saturday, class, eat, class, eat, class, eat,teach our investigator,sports and then prep and sleep.Sundays are sacrament, talks(in spanish and we get called onto speak at the meeting too, so we have to be prepared), district class(lessons we also have to have prepared before hand since we get picked at that moment with who is teaching that class),devotionals,and prep and study. of course with meals in between and a snack time every day as well right before sports. I have my p-day on tuesdays, so ill be writing back then and i only have an hour, so ill be trying to write to as many as i can as much as i can.

Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadero. yo se que dios ers nuestro amoroso padre clestialy la obra misional as necesario por la eternidad do otra familias. yo seque Jose Smith fue un profeta y Thomas s Monson esla profeta en ese dia y dios los ama a todos. until next week,love you all! Nos vemos! 

P.s. i can also pray in spanish and i dont miss home much, i have so much to do and the lord has changed me so much, he has blessed me with humility and patience,both things ive never had much of before and they are helping me now so much to learn and teach, i thank Him so much for all the spiritual gifts that He blessed me with as  his instrument! Always remember Him, thank Him, talk to Him and love Him! I know He will answer you, he literally hugged my soul on Sunday, i felt like i was wrapped in His arms and i could hear whispering his love and happiness for my faith and obedience to be a missionary. Hasta Luego! Te amo muchisimo!

Sacrificio es temporal, la gloria es eterna

Elder Chavez