Honduran Spaghetti

**Dad note, I have been slacking in getting these letters posted.  Here are the last two notes from Chandler**

Dear Family and friends,

I have had many funny experiences this week and also things that have helped my testimony grow.. and experiences that have pushed my buttons, but all in good fun.

We have many awesome members in our branch, many of which give us food and cook for us. On one occasion this week I helped make some Honduran spaghetti. I say Honduran spaghetti because it is different than any spaghetti that I have ever had. The noodles are normal, but as I watched the member make the sauce I was shocked! she started off with a little bit of tomato sauce and some oil.. pretty normal. she proceded to add water.. ok. then she added some mayonase and milk.. weird but not too bad. Then to finish she added a glass of coke. Only then did I understand why I love Honduran spaghetti. 

Some things as we were walking in the street that are out of the normal were a full on techno dance party in the evangelical church by where we live.. and something pretty normal is little kids shouting, asking us if we want coffee. I dont give it too much attention, its kinda funny I think.. but I think it makes my companion mad because he always says yes to see what they will say.

We also had a new investigator come to church with us! we have been offering her service and one morning we took her some firewood. She has 2 little kids who are a little bit crazy. I got to help her out with one of her kids during sacrament meeting and wow. I have no Idea how I will be a dad someday! 

It is normal for some people that we teach to not have a place to sit, so we find a rock or cement blocks nearby to pop a squat. It was so nice outside this week that I wore a sweater one of the days. I never thought I would use a longsleeve shirt but the weather makes all the difference. I think one can feel the spirit more in colder weather. Not doctrine, just opinion. 

This week was a milestone for me as well because I finished reading the book of Mormon in spanish! It took forever, but It really helped me to learn spanish better and to learn the book of mormon stories. I know it is true. I know that the book of mormon is true and It didnt take reading it in spanish for me to know that. Its teachings are based upon those of Jesus Christ. His teachings are perfect, and only through living what He taught will we reach our eternal goal of returning to live with Heavenly Father.

Along with teaching and trying to find new people to teach, it has been hard to be with my companion. That is something that every missionary will say so I wont spend too much time on that, but I was reading the general conference Liahona or Ensign and it was the talk, What Lack I Yet? I read the talk and did what it says to do. The answer that I got was to love my companion. 

This is one of the many things that Heavenly Father could have told me, but I know that if we really ask and have the desire to act on the answer, Heavenly Father will point us in the right direction. 

Mom asked me a few questions this week too so I will share my answers.

Where did you see the hand of the Lord in your life this week?

I saw Him in the weather this week. It could have been hot like any other week but my problems didnt seem as bad because the weather was perfect. It was a big blessing.. and reminded me of the AZ winter!

Where did you see the hand of the Lord in one of your investigators this week?

This week we had the opportunity to share the first vision with a few of our investigators. I was thankful that I could recite the first vision, its my favortie part. Our investigators rarely read what they ask them to and rarely pray to know that the message that we are giving is true. even after we explain it in simple terms, I feel that some people still dont understand why we are different than every other church. But, after explaining the first vision and asking a few questions, I could tell that they were thinking. They seemed like they were starting to understand the information that we gave them. Jesus Christ is able to help us understand through the spirit and when we learn something new, I think it is the spirit that makes them think and understand. In moments of true undertanding I think the Lord helps us with the spirit to understand.

What stuck out to you in your scripture study this week?

John 13.15

I have given you an example.

The gospel is so simple that its easy to get frustrated when peop`le dont understand.

faith in Jesus Christ leads us to repent of the bad things that we have done in our lives. Faith that we can be freed from our burdens, pains, and sins lead us to follow the commandments, repent, and be baptized. If we are baptized with the authortiy of God, we will recieve a remission of our sins. 

I learned of many instances in the scriptures that Jesus says Follow me, I am the way, Do as I do, etc.. but this is very misunderstood by our investigators. They think that being like Jesus means doing good deeds every now and then and then youll go to Heaven. There is some truth in this, but Jesus taught us to have faith unto repentance, be baptized with His authority that has been restored on the earth, recieve the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the end. Nothing more and nothing less can allow us to enter into His kindgdom. I know this is true.

 I love and miss you all at home.. enjoy the colder weather!

Love

Elder Dowell

Family and Friends,

This week has been a good week here in Paraiso. We have been trying to get a few people excited for baptism. We have been focusing on teaching repentace and baptism to our investigators so that they can understand the importance of making covenants with Heavenly Father. As we have been teaching, our investigators have had a few challenges. The first is an 18 year old. He is a very sincere guy and wants to be baptized. This past lesson he told us that his girlfriend might be having a baby, so we had the opportunity to teach him about the law of chastity, and the need for repentance to be baptized and be clean from his sins. He was very receptive and accepted a baptismal date in February. 

Another Investigator of ours was having challenges understanding some commandments that we have because her friends at her work were telling her a bunch of lies about the church. They were absolutely crazy things. One was that we have a steeple at the church because Joseph Smith was decapitated on a steeple. Another one was that after women get baptized, they are forced to marry a member of the church right after, even if they were married with someone who is not a member. The other lies were pretty normal to hear such as, we dont drink pop or eat meat. We were able to clear up her doubts and challenged her to pray for a baptismal date in February also.

This week we also had the opportunity to sell donuts to members of the church to raise money for the Family Humania who wants to be baptized soon. It was difficult because my companion had to get half of his toenail removed because it was an ingrown toenail.. It looked like it hurt really bad.

I am also convinced, after all my years of training for football, that there is no better way to train than going deep into a mountain to chop and haul wood. We helped out 2 young men from the church Jason and Jimmy(names not very hondureñan) get some firewood for their house so that they could cook. I weigh about 200 pounds and these guys are about 150 pounds and they were kicking my butt hauling this wood. it was probably around 50 pounds but it was rainy so the ground was slippery and I could tell they were laughing a little bit because I had never done it before, but they were good sports for letting us help them.

When we went to San Pedro Sula to go to the doctor for my companion I could help but smile the whole time.. I love it! It brought back alot of good memories from the first part of the mission and I loved being there for a bit. 

This week after church, the church bus got in a small accident. It was a big yellow school bus and nothing happened to us or anyone else on the bus.. we barely even felt anything, but a car had pushed a little taxi car into the back of the bus and the driver of the taxi shattered the windshield with his head and had to go to the hospital. That was a little bit scary. My companion thought it was his fault because one of our investigators was complaining that they wanted to buy watermelon and so he told the bus driver to stop.. I was like.. um its Sunday! It is true that everyone has their own thought of the rules of what is ok and whats not on the sabbath day. Keep it Holy! 

Have a great week, I love you guys!

con amor

Elder Dowell