Christmas Preparations

This week has been a good week because it is finally starting to cool down!! I don't think I will ever need a sweater, but it is perfect t-shirt weather. As it is getting close to Christmas, everyone has started preparing with their trees and food! There are many nice people and they sometimes just come up and give us tamales or baleadas. As we are contacting people for Christmas, there are some that do it for the right reasons, but when we ask them what the reason is for celebrating Christmas, there are not many that know that the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate Jesus! The people celebrate by throwing little fireworks and more than anything, by drinking. it is a bit redundant, but I suppose it is the Honduran culture. 

 

We have even ran into people that do not celebrate Christmas. When we ask them if the believe in Jesus Christ they say yes of course! One lady specifically told us that it is a sin to celebrate Christmas because it is not in the bible. We were shocked, but she said that nobody in her church celebrates Christmas because that is what their pastor taught them. I asked her if she thinks its OK that we celebrate Christmas. she said no. Then I asked if it is okay if we celebrate Jesus Christ every day. She said yes. Then I asked if it were ok if Christmas was everyday, and she said yes! I think we just have to make it a little more clear for them what Christmas really is.

 

Although they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, we invited the other elders, elder Navarro (from Panama) and elder Chapeton (from Guatemala and my first Zone leader) to eat with us at Bettys. We go to a restaurant called Bettys because they have giant baleadas and hamburgers too! We had a little thanksgiving dinner with them. To them it was a normal meal but for Elder Markus and I it meant alot! 

 

We have also been teaching a few younger guys. one kid that is 18 and one that is 16. Elder Markus and I noticed how when people are young it is easier to teach them. I think its because they havent quite figured out what they want in life. We meet with the 18 year old and his family too. We visited them with a very helpful sister in our ward, she is almost like our mom in the mission because she gives us food and sometimes visits investigators with us. Her son is serving in Nicaragua. But we went to visit Juan and his family and we taught them the plan of salvation. I could tell the spirit was there. We explained it, and the sister testified of the plan and it was very powerful. It is better to have a member of the church there to help us, and to testify of what we are teaching. 

 

This week until the 13th there is a fair in town and so El Centro, the main part of our area, is packed with people from out of town. It is awesome! They sell stuff for super cheap and there are tons of people for us to talk to. This week we have plans to have lessons with lots of members, and to contact many people that are in our area for the fair.

I hope you all have a great week, I love and miss you!

 

Love

Elder Dowell